The book that I’m reading Do not say we have nothing by Madeleine Thien is about a girl called Jiang Li-ling or Marie; her English name. In the book she lives in Vancouver with her mother who moved from Hong-Kong. Her father had died when she was only ten and all Li-ling has is her mother. Li-ling and her mother’s relationship is complicated as they used to be close, but the death of Li-Ling’s father made her mother more distant and professional. Soon when Li-ling is older her mother tells her that her cousin Ai-Ming is going to be living with them. Once Ai-Ming arrives Li-Ling is distant but soon grows fond of Ai-Ming’s company and the two develop a bond.
” Ai-Ming told me that I would always be family to her, I would always be her little sister, Ma-li, Marie, Girl. With my many names, I felt like a tree with crowns of branches.” (pp. 53)
This quote in page 53 is greatly significant to me because It captures just how many names Li-Ling has. It was strange for me to hear at first, most people only had one name. In here she has many, as a daughter of a immigrant parent with a Chinese name. Ai-Ming called her Ma-li because she couldn’t pronounce Marie, and her mother called her “girl”. This was especially confusing for me because I have never once heard someone be called ‘Girl’ or ‘Boy’ before in real life. I’m not exactly sure for the reason, however I can draw the conclusion that her mother only called her girl in the presence of other people (Ai-Ming) and called her Marie or Li-Ling when they were alone.