The novel also shows what many families go through on there journey to there destination, it shows the heartbreak that they face and the items that are left behind. This is well illustrated in the novel when Suyuan was on the walk escaping the Japanese the piles of family heirlooms left behind on the path such as when "She left the suitcases behind, keeping only the food and a few clothes. And later she also dropped the bags of wheat flour and rice". (Tan, 239) The novel also illustrated how many people were lying at the side of the pathway due to the fact that they had given up on there escape. The novel also illustrated how Suyuan had begun to become worn down from the escape and began to show visible scars such as "Her shoulders ached from