Ying-Ying St. Clair-->The Moon Lady: Chapter 4- term: setting

Feathers from a Thousand Li Away

The chapter starts out talking about the relationship Ying-Ying St. Clair has with her daughter.  She talks about how they do not ever talk anymore, and their relationship isn't that good.  The quote I picked, really relates to modern society as well. Ying-Ying says, "And because I remained quiet for so long now my daughter does not hear me. She sits by her fancy swimming pool and hears only her Sony Walkman, her cordless phone, her big, important husband asking her why they have charcoal and no lighter fluid" (67).  This meant to me that technology has come between Ying-Ying and her daughter.  She is living the fast life and not paying attention to what she should be.  Ying-Ying tells a story about the "Moon Lady".  She talks about the first time she does to the Moon Festival when she was four.  Later, she gets packed and ready to go to the Lake to see the "Moon Lady".  The literary term I chose was setting  because the major part of the chapter takes place at Tai Lake in China.  The setting is an important part of the story Ying-Ying tells about the "Moon Lady".  Ying-Ying says, "At the dock, I watched as the old ladies and men started climbing aboard a large boat our family had rented.  The boat looked like a floating teahouse, with an open-air pavilion larger than the one in our courtyard. It had many red columns and a peaked tile roof, and behind that what looked like a garden house with round windows" (74).  This quote tells a little bit about the setting at the lake.  The reoccurring theme comes back when Ying-Ying talks about the way Amah treated her.  She was to be proper and act like a lady at all times.  She ends up getting lost on the lake and sees a play about the Moon Lady.  At the end she is disappointed because she realizes that her wish won't come true.  The Moon Lady is not real.  This reminded me of a disappointed child when they realize that the tooth fairy is not real.  She remembers everything about this night as she gets older because of the same loneliness and fear she feels.