Girl In Translation

During senior year, Kim continues to hook up with Curt, and people start rumors that they're going out. "Although I knew it wasn't true," Kim says, "I enjoyed having other people think this" (235). When she overhears Sheryl wondering out loud what Curt sees in her, Kim responds that "'brains are beautiful'" (235).

Dr. Weston helps Kim with her application to Yale. Kim worries that Yale will somehow sense that she doesn't belong in the world of Ivy Leaguers and won't admit her. Her wealthy peers have all been enrolled in lessons or private tutoring for years, to give them a competitive edge with their applications. Ma's way of helping Kim get into college is by buying cheap china plates and breaking them, to bring good luck.

Annette gets the starring role in the school's production of Our Town. Because of her job at the factory, Kim has never been able to see her friend in a play. Annette makes Kim promise that she'll be at the opening night. Kim realizes that the opening night falls on the date of her naturalization exam. She needs to take it and pass to become an American citizen in time to apply for college financial aid. Annette asks her if it's just another one of her excuses, but Kim assures her that it's true.

On the day of her naturalization test—which Ma has failed twice since coming to America—Annette shows up at Kim's apartment. She reacts without "pity of embarrassment," but with "pure anger" (242). She's upset that Kim never told her, nor asked for help. She sees Kim's stuffed-animal fur vest and a cockroach drinking from the food Kim's left on the kitchen table for a moment and tells her, "'I don't want you to stay here one day longer'" (243). Annette urges Kim to tell Mrs. Avery, who is a real estate agent, that she's looking for a "'dirt cheap'" apartment (244).

Kim goes to meet with Mrs. Avery at her office. She says she's found a place for Kim and Ma in Queens. She explains that the place is not in "'optimal condition'" (246), by which she means that the paint is peeling and the carpet is thin. Kim is thrilled to learn that the apartment has central heating, a washer and dryer, an oven and refrigerator, and neither roaches nor rats. Mrs. Avery tells Kim that they will need a security deposit, Ma's pay stub, and a character reference to secure the apartment. Once she sees that the rent is not much more than what they'd been paying Aunt Paula for their combined debt and rent, Kim doesn't worry about the deposit. She does wonder, though, who will be able to provide a character reference for Ma.

One afternoon in March of senior year, Matt shows up at Harrison. He sees Curt and Kim walking together, joking around. When Curt notices Matt and how he's looking at Kim he says, "'Now I get it'" (249). She walks away from Curt and sees that Matt is upset. She asks if Vivian broke up with him. He tells her that his mother has just died. The two of them go to Kim's apartment and have sex for the first time. Kim tells him to use two condoms to be safer. Afterwards, she asks again about Vivian, and Matt tells her that as soon as his mother "'collapsed from her heart attack'" that "'all I wanted was you. I had to see you. It's always been you'" (252). Kim is finally able to admit that she has always liked him, but thought he liked Vivian more. When Matt leaves and Kim is cleaning up the apartment, she notices that the condoms on the floor tore from rubbing together.

Kim and Ma are at the factory when Aunt Paula summons them to her office. She has two envelopes from Yale on her desk. She scolds them for not telling her that Kim had applied to Yale. She tells them that they "'are not supposed to take one step without telling [her]'" (254). Kim asks Aunt Paula if she means what she's saying, that she would have done everything she could to help them had she known that they needed help. Aunt Paula insists that she would have, despite that her behavior has indicated to the contrary. The conversation becomes explosive between the sisters. Ma begins to stand up for herself and Kim, while Aunt Paula accuses the women of being ungrateful and having forced her hand.The argument ends with Paula saying that the women are free to leave the factory and the apartment she's provided to them if they feel she's mistreated them. "'We've already repaid our debts to you," Ma tells her. Kim adds that if Aunt Paula does anything to stop them, she'll report her.

In the evening, Matt stops by the apartment. Ma gives Kim permission to go out for the evening with Matt. He takes her to a busy restaurant in Chinatown, where Matt, who seems to be a regular, gets seated right away because he used to be a dishwasher there. Kim breaks the news to Matt about being accepted to Yale. He worries that she'll be moving away from New York. She tells him she wants him and Park to go with her, to "'take [him] away from all of this'" (261). Matt protests that they don't need money or success to love each other, or have a family. Kim says she's thinking about being a surgeon, not a mother. This hurts Matt's pride, but she reassures him she won't leave him. He tells her that he'll go anywhere with her, as long as he is the one taking care of her.

Ma gets a job at a jewelry factory in Chinatown, and Mrs. Avery arranges for them to move into their new apartment in May.

Matt asks Kim to stay in Chinatown with him instead of going to Yale. He tells her that school doesn't matter now that they have each other. Kim tells him that she can't consider not going. She explains that once she's done at Yale, she'll have a high-paying job and be able to care for them. Matt's traditional values get the best of him, and he says he couldn't have Kim provide for him. He also worries that she'll meet another guy like Curt and forget about him.

Kim finds out she got pregnant when she and Matt had sex with the broken condoms. When Ma comes home from the jewelry factory, Kim is overcome with emotion. Ma knows without Kim telling her that Kim is pregnant. Kim tells Ma that she wants to have an abortion. She asks if Ma ever had doubts about marrying Pa instead of Uncle Bob. Ma says she has no regrets about it, and how if she had married Bob, she would have regretted it as long as she lived. Kim says that her situation with Matt is different because she feels that being pregnant has forced her to be with Matt, rather than making the choice of her own free will.

Kim has become a heart surgeon, and meets with the waiter from the restaurant Matt took her to in Chinatown. She asks the man if he remembers her. He doesn't, but agrees to pass her business card onto Matt. She had broken up with Matt, but has never stopped thinking about him. She has often returned to Chinatown to look for him. Once, she actually did see him, going into a bridal shop. Inside, a little girl and a woman had greeted him. Kim had left, not wanting to "disrupt his happy life" (278).

One morning, Kim rides her motorcycle to the hospital to check on a patient on whom she's recently operated. Matt is there. She finds he is still handsome, with the same golden eyes. Matt tells her Park helps at the UPS, where Matt works, and Vivian works at the bridal shop. He still regrets her decision to break up with him, saying they could have made it as a family. Kim explains that she also regrets her decision. They both agree they needed closure.

She gives him a ride back to his house on her motorcycle. Matt gives her the gold-and-jade necklace his mom had given him years earlier, the same one he handed to Kim for safekeeping back at the factory. They kiss and she starts to leave. From the street below, she looks up to see Matt on the fire escape of he and Vivian's apartment. It's covered with plants and reminds Kim of her own garden, which Ma has recently taken over. Vivian comes out onto the fire escape and embraces Matt.

When she returns home, Kim is greeted by her and Matt's son, Jason. He has Matt's golden eyes and thick eyebrows. She realizes that even though she thinks of him often, she feels "glad [she] had given [Matt] his happiness with Vivian" by breaking up with him (286). In a flashback, Kim reveals that during the ultrasound before her abortion, she fell in love with her and Matt's child and couldn't go through with it. She and Ma brought Jason up together, first in their apartment in Queens, and then in New Haven, Connecticut. Kim deferred her enrollment at Yale for a year, and she and Ma worked multiple jobs to be able to support themselves. She also worked during her time at Yale, before going onto Harvard Medical School.

As she reflects on the decision she made to end things with Matt and raise Jason as a single mother, Kim balances out her regret with the idea that she has given Matt a chance at the kind of "simple happiness" he wanted (290), with Vivian.