Who are the main characters? Lae Choo (mother), Hom Hing (father), and James Clancy (lawyer).

What do you know about the topic/story you are reading? This story is set in a time (westward expansion of America) when Chinese immigrants were racially, politically, socially, and economically mistreated by Americans.

What can you imagine that is not specifically outlined?  I imagine governmental red-tape and a slow bureaucratic process that accompanies many governmental processes, especially on something such as obtaining approval for their son’s entrance into America. I also imagine there is not be a huge rush to accommodate Chinese parents, whereas if these were American parents a quicker and stronger effort might have been made to move the process along.

What do you think about what you read? I am angered at the process of having to take the child from his parents while they wait for a written letter from some centralized office located across the country in Washington D.C. It angers me that the parents could not keep their child in their home or stay with the child at the missionary until the approval was given for these parents to bring their child into this country?

How do you feel about what you read? What is your emotional response? I am heart broken. As a parent I can relate to Lae Choo’s heart-ache, and the lack of life she exhibited from being separated from her son. From the child’s point of view I also understand the child’s reluctance to go to his mother in the end. The child was so young and by the time he grew up enough to understand his caretakers, the missionary was seen by him to be his home. I know from my own kid’s experiences if they go a long time without seeing a relative they hesitate to get close to this relative because it takes time for the child to warm up to people, and being separated from his mom for so long he was going to need time to warm up to this new way of thinking while he adjusted to his new life outside the missionary. Logically this makes sense but from a parent’s (i.e. the mother’s) perspective it is emotionally hurtful and rips at my core that her child does not run into her arms.

What do you want to learn more about? In history class I learned a little bit about the racist attitudes of Americans towards Chinese immigrants in California during the gold rush era, but I would like to learn more about why they were treated so poorly? What threat or perceived threat did they impose to Americans?

Think about the experiences you have just read about. How would you react if these events happened to you? As stated above I would probably be like Lae Choo, a lifeless shell of myself and not a complete person. I would want to inflict some kind of pain or injustice on those who did this to me, but knowing as a foreigner I am powerless to take any action that realization would probably send me further into a state of depression.

How does this reading relate to your own life? This reading makes me appreciate every second I share with my children. I try to soak up and cherish every single moment with them, even if it is as simple as sitting their watching them play. As this story points out just being around or in the child’s life can make all the difference.