Front Desk

“‘Hey, Hank, what’d you mean by what you said earlier about Mr. Yao?’ I asked. ‘That he was anything but all right?’ Hank’s jaw locked. ‘You’ll soon find out, kid,’ Hank said. ‘The man has coal for a heart.’”

Initially, the Tangs can’t believe their luck when they are hired without any prior experience as hotel managers. Hank’s comment foreshadows the Tangs’ realization of their employer’s true intentions. Mia’s innocence during this conversation offers a painful contrast to Yao’s calculating agenda.

“When you’ve moved as much as I have, checking out schools is like checking out shoe polish.”

Mia is less than thrilled to be receiving a tour of yet another school. The reader becomes aware of just how different Mia’s childhood is from most others. The migratory nature of her family is expressed by Mia’s lack of excitement at a place she’s bound to leave soon.

“I wondered which was better—to have had something for just a second and then have it taken away, or to have never had it at all.”

Mia is reminiscing about a school prize that she won by mistake, only to have it taken away moments later. Her plaintive comment applies equally well to her parents’ excitement at receiving their hotel management job. The tragedy of Mia’s quandary is that she’s only offering a choice of evils with no good outcome.

“But I had this thing where if I started something, I had to finish it. It didn’t matter what it was—books, Chinese chess […] When I started something, I finished it.”

In this comment, Mia is referring to the trivial incident of making a duplicate key, yet it speaks volumes about her character. The only reason Mia succeeds in conquering the number of obstacles that block her path is her tenacity. She’s determined to enter an essay contest and equally determined to give her parents a motel of their own.

“I sighed. I missed Popsicle Grandpa. There was no one like that here. Here, everything had a price, even kindness.”

Mia’s interactions with Yao and dissatisfied guests all color her view of generosity in America. She has ceased to expect kindness without compensation. Fortunately, later events will change her perspective on the subject.

“When I went to first grade in China, I got only two minutes a day to play. That’s literally what it said on a schedule I made for myself: 5:00–5:02: Play.”

Mia can’t understand the American obsession with allowing children to have playtime. She ruefully recalls her overscheduled life in China. However, the reader needs to remember that, from Mia’s point of view, managing the front desk is a form of play.

“As I walked, I gave the butterflies in my stomach their usual pep talk—It’s going to be okay. I’ll make friends, and if I don’t, I’ll borrow books from the library.”

Mia echoes the fears of every child introduced to a new school. In her case, the difference is that she’s walked this road many times before. She’s already formed a strategy for the rejection she inevitably expects to encounter.

“One wrong buzz and it was all over. This was not just fun and games. This was dangerous.”

When Mia first learns about the buzzer under the front desk, it gives her a sense of power. She gets to decide who comes through the door. Until the moment she makes this comment, she fails to realize that the buzzer doesn’t represent power; it represents protection.

“You know what’s the difference between a good employee and a bad employee? […] It’s not whether they’re hardworking or even whether they’re smart […] It’s whether they know their place.”

Mia has become uppity in Yao’s eyes. He values abject obedience, which her parents generally accord their employer. Mia’s only offense lies in making suggestions rather than silently taking orders.

“‘Why put a scary part in the middle of a beautiful piece?’ I remember asking my piano teacher. ‘Because life is scary sometimes, little one,’ he had said.”

Mia is thinking about the composition she’s playing on the piano. She always stumbles through the dramatic part in the middle. Perhaps this is an unconscious reluctance on her part to accept the downside of both music and life.

“‘We’re immigrants,’ she said. ‘Our lives are never fair.’ My dad nodded. ‘We have to try,’ he said. ‘We have to try and accept our fate.’”

Mia’s parents are both inclined to accept their awful circumstances. Their very acceptance of abuse is what makes it possible for abuse to continue. Mia’s father even categorizes this abuse as destined. Fortunately for the Tangs, their daughter is less accepting of the unacceptable.

“That night, I could not stop thinking about Uncle Li and how he was willing to do anything, go literally anywhere, even into the belly of a Dumpster, to get what he wanted. Was that insanity or courage?”

Mia is recalling Li’s story about frying a burger for himself and then hiding it in a dumpster, to be retrieved after work. Even as she’s put off by his dumpster-diving, she’s impressed by his determination to get something he wants no matter the cost. Mia soon follows his example by entering her writing contest.

“‘It means a mistake isn’t always a mistake,’ he said. ‘Sometimes a mistake is actually an opportunity, but we just can’t see it right then and there.’”

Mia’s father is talking about flawed pennies being worth more than perfect copies. Of course, he’s also talking about their awful experiences since coming to America. Working for Yao at the Calivista seems the biggest of all mistakes until it transforms itself into the biggest of all opportunities for the Tangs.

“According to her dad, there were two roller coasters in America—one for rich people and one for poor people. On the rich roller coaster, people have money, so their kids get to go to great schools. Then they grow up and make a lot of money, so their kids get to go to great schools.”

Lupe’s father originated the analogy of the two roller coasters that appear frequently throughout the novel. It explains the self-perpetuating nature of both wealth and poverty. Mia spends most of her time trying to figure out how to jump off the “poor” roller coaster. Eventually, she succeeds.

“As he set the Oreos down onto his little table, I stared at the cookies and thought about the world of difference there was between the two colors.”

Mia is consoling Hank after he’s lost his gas station job. All the ills he experiences in the novel are the result of his skin color. Mia understands this concept for the first time while contemplating the difference between black and white in an Oreo cookie.

“When you’ve moved schools as many times as I have, you start to think of everyone as temporary. Friends come and go.”

Mia relates casually to Lupe because she doesn’t expect to keep their friendship alive once her family moves again. Their relationship changes once Mia recognizes Lupe’s attachment as well as her own. She also foresees a permanence to their friendship once her family buys the motel.

“You know what you are in English? You’re a bicycle, and the other kids are cars.”

This is the first time in the novel that Mia’s mother compares her daughter’s English skills to a bike. The image recurs frequently in those moments when Mia either rejects or embraces the truth of her mother’s words. By the end of the novel, Mrs. Tang admits that she is the bicycle, not Mia.

“In that moment, I realized how deep my parents’ love for each other was. It was deeper than anything Mr. Yao or America could throw at them.”

Mia makes this comment after her mother reassures her father that he hasn’t failed his wife. The insight Mia offers can apply to her own situation. Her love of written English can’t be destroyed by any negative influence from outside herself.

“The point was sometimes, you have to take matters into your own hands. And you have to be creative to get what you want.”

Mia’s philosophy of life drives her actions throughout the story. Mia’s creativity is what allows her to overcome every obstacle that life throws at her.

“‘America may not be perfect, but she’s free. And that makes all the difference.’ I finally understood what my parents meant by ‘free.’”

Mia offers this observation shortly after the policeman grudgingly apologizes to Hank for suspecting him of the robbery. Even though Mia’s mother knows all about the downside of life in America, she can’t forget that its upside is freedom. The Tangs might have been more prosperous in China, but they wouldn’t have been free.

“It was the most incredible feeling ever, knowing that something I wrote actually changed someone’s life […] Maybe, just maybe, I could change our lives too.”

Mrs. Tang’s bicycle comment increases Mia’s own doubts that her writing will ever be any good. Not only is her writing good, but it has the power to move other people to action and to change lives. Mia feels vindicated in her efforts to become a good writer.

“My grandmother used to say that people don’t change. Our heart is like a rubber band. It might stretch a little, but eventually it snaps right back. I’m not sure if I believed that.”

Mia is debating whether Jason is capable of change. The fact that she’s willing to give him the benefit of the doubt echoes the novel’s theme of inclusion. Rather than excluding and rejecting someone for superficial reasons, the best course of action is to open your mind to the possibility of change.

“I always thought I was the one who needed her, that I was the barnacle to her whale. But it wasn’t one way. We needed each other, me and Lupe.”

Because of Mia’s migratory existence, she has never been able to form long-term friendships and doesn’t understand the interdependency created by such relationships. This comment represents an epiphany that changes how she views Lupe and how she views the notion of friendship itself.