53 pages • 1 hour read
Lan Samantha ChangA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Discuss the use of foreshadowing in the book, citing especially the prologues to the two parts of the novel and Dagou many fantasies about killing Leo. Explain how the foreshadowing affects the quality of narrative suspense and sets the reader up for dramatic irony and surprise.
Discuss the ways Chang, as an author, introduces and uses anti-Asian bias and prejudice by white people to create conflict in the novel. What larger comment is she making about discriminatory stereotypes and attitudes in the United States?
Examine the role that Loyalty, Filial Piety, and Sacrifice for Family play in the plot, up to and including O-Lan’s loyalty to her mother, which makes her want to punish Leo and his sons. Discuss how you see the ideal of filial piety creating conflict between the various characters. Why do each of Leo’s sons feel a sense of guilt and complicity in his death, and why is Dagou willing to go to prison when he didn’t commit murder?
Analyze Winnie’s role in the novel as the so-called heart of the Chao family. What causes her to withdraw from her marriage, and what does her removal to the Spiritual House represent in the context of the story? You may wish to further examine why Winnie retreats to a Buddhist house after she has raised her sons to be Christians, and what that contrast in religious cultures signifies in terms of the larger theme of cultural difference.
Discuss the role of love and desire in creating conflict in the novel, specifically addressing the questions of identity with which each of the Chao brothers wrestle. Dagou’s relationship with Katherine, then Brenda; Ming’s attitude towards Asian women, then his attraction to Katherine; and James’s attraction to Alice Wa represent different versions of desire complicated by what each son sees as his own inheritance from his father. How do you see these relationships contributing to the novel’s larger themes?
Analyze how the Fine Chao restaurant symbolizes the Chao family in general and their relationship with the town of Haven. In what ways does the restaurant figure, or resolve, the larger themes of colliding cultures, foreignness and otherness, assimilation, and cultural connection? Do you see the various Chao brothers having a different relationship to the restaurant, and if so, what does each brother’s perspective reveal about his character?
Discuss the ways in which different characters in the novel navigate Being Both Insider and Outsider in various communities. Consider the relationship each of the Chao sons has to Haven after leaving and coming back; the example that Katherine presents of being raised outside Chinese culture but curious about it; and the ways in which the second-generation characters in the novel deal with both their Chinese heritage and their place in the United States. What might Chang be saying more broadly about community and belonging?
Choose an element you find to be a powerful symbol in the novel—for instance, The Power of Food to signify culture and connect people—and discuss its meaning and significance. Use specific passages from the novel to provide support.
Examine the relationships the Chao brothers have to one another and discuss the various roles they play as mentor, antagonist, helper, or foil. You may wish to extend this analysis by bringing in O-Lan as the fourth child of Leo Chao. What does the novel suggest about family roles and relationships more generally?
Read The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky and discuss the ways in which Lan Samantha Chang has used this classic novel as inspiration but has also introduced a new and unique perspective on some of the Russian novel’s conflicts and themes in The Family Chao.