Lydia and her family live in a small town in Ohio. At 1970s, racial and ethnic prejudice discrimination still exists in society. Because they are the only Chinese Americans in this town, where all the white Americans around, they are treated differently. Wherever Lydia walks in the town, she feels uncomfortable with her own skin, as she describes that, you noticed the girl across the aisle watching, the pharmacist watching, the checkout boy watching, and you saw yourself reflected in their stares: incongruous…You saw it in the little boys on the playground, stretching their eyes to slits with their fingers—Chinese—Japanese—look at these—and in the older boys who muttered ching chong ching chong ching as they passed you on the street, just …show more content…
For example, she witnesses bullying in kindergarten class. She fears the white girl with golden hair, “Stacey Sherwin was the kingmaker, already adept at wielding her power. A few days earlier, she had announced, “Jeannine Collins stinks like garbage water,” and Jeannine Collins had peeled away from the group, ripping her glasses from her tear-smudged face, while the other girls in Stacey’s coterie tittered (p.165). Because Stacey has the power to oppress the person she does not like, Lydia experiences panic when Stacey asks her to visit her home. Lydia is afraid for being choosing as the next target of the bullying. Therefore, she refuses to spend time with her peers, and she goes straight home to make her mother smile. Growing up with no friends around, Lydia finally makes friend with Jack in high school junior year. Spending time with Jack, Lydia feels relax when she confides her stress. However, she begins to smoke and becomes curious about sex with the influence of Jack’s behaviors. When she has argument with Jack, she feels regret that she has said something to hurt her friend. The frustration of interacting with her friend triggers Traumatized soul. At the end, she chooses to end up her life in the