42 pages • 1 hour read
Lily LaMotte, Illustr. Ann XuMeasuring Up
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Finding One’s Identity After Immigration
Cici’s family immigrates because Cici’s parents believe that Cici will have more opportunities in America. Disconnected from her A-má and learning about new life in the United States, Cici navigates blending her culture with the American culture in which she is now immersed. This is only made more difficult by assumptions other students make about her; they call her pickled cucumbers “rotten worms” and make her feel ashamed, a feeling that lingers until the end of the novel (19). As part of her personal journey, Cici comes to the realization that she is both Taiwanese and American.
Cici never thinks about erasing her Taiwanese identity. Rather, she conceals it when people may look down on her for creating a Taiwanese dish or so that they won’t think her culture’s customs contradict American ones. She is open with A-má, who would never view her as different. When she discusses the oddness of fireplaces with A-má, her grandmother says: “I hear American houses are all made of wood. Aiyah! Burning a fire inside!” (131). However, while she feels like she can discuss this with A-má, Cici isn’t candid with her American friends. She spends much of her time being afraid that they won’t accept her, and that she has to keep her ”Taiwanese home separate from [her] American life” (147).
The more time that Cici spends in the United States, the more she builds a life for herself. The cooking competition forces her to accept help from Jenna and Emily and allow them into her home. In doing so, she literally brings her American life into her Taiwanese one, a move that symbolizes how she is working to mesh the two together.
Cici is finally able to reconcile her two identities. In the final round of the cooking competition, she opts to make iû-png but adds lavender. Including a slightly different flavor shows the judges that Asian and, more specifically Taiwanese, cuisine is just as rich as classical French cuisine. Cici is able to build on Taiwanese cooking by incorporating American tastes and flavors. The panel in which Cici stands between her A-má and Julia Child symbolizes how she is “made of A-má…and Julia” (188).
Parental Expectations and Pressures
Cici and Miranda experience similar journeys. Both Cici’s and Miranda’s fathers pressure them and expect them to follow in their footsteps. They can both recite their family’s mottos, “hope is […] a dull blade” and “Good grades, good college, good job, good life” (65, 31). Miranda’s father consistently emphasizes that Miranda will grow up to be in charge of their restaurant, while Cici’s pushes the importance of academic work. This pressure leads to familial distance, which both Miranda and Cici have to navigate.
Neither Cici nor Miranda wish to fulfill their family’s expectations. When Miranda confides in Cici that she does not want to run the restaurant, Cici is able to see the similarities between them and learns that everyone has different expectations from their own life. Likewise, Miranda needs someone that she can trust who will encourage her dream of creating comic books. By recognizing the similarities of their stories, both girls are able to come together and stand up to their parents: Miranda tells her father that Cici deserved to win, defying his stereotype of Asian food as simple and not sophisticated.
Cici’s winning of the cooking competition works in both girls’ favors. Cici is able to prove that she can win by making Taiwanese food, and shows her parents that cooking is an area in which she can succeed. Miranda sees the opportunity to tell her father that cooking is not her passion, especially in seeing how excited Cici is about it.
In contrast to Miranda, Cici is racialized by white expectations about Asian immigrants. Her father reminds her that “[w]hen people see us, no matter how American we become, they always see someone who’s not like them. We always have to prove ourselves first” (168). Because they are immigrants, people will assume that they are different and want Cici and her family to adjust to American cultures and customs. They will also treat them differently because they are not white or may have an accent.
Cici’s father’s concern comes from a place of wanting to prepare her for such biased treatment. Cici accepts that he is right, having been teased for her Taiwanese food, and the many times in which people assume that she is Chinese. However, she finds comfort in the acceptance that she has received from her friends and believes that she can introduce them to Taiwanese culture
Friendship and Teamwork Between People and Cultures
When starting school in the United States, Cici’s first concern is that she won’t make friends. She ends up making friends easily, but her friends don’t see her for who she truly is. When Jenna and Emily defend her participation in the cooking competition, they tell the bullies that she “cooks American”; this disregards how Cici is Taiwanese and that her food does not need to be American to be good. Several times throughout the novel, Cici corrects those around her for thinking that she is Chinese or from another Asian country. She feels like she has to keep her identity secret and that her friends do not fully understand her as a result.
One of the biggest snafus between Cici and her new friends is the difference between American and Taiwanese culture when it comes to sleepovers. Cici’s parents are unfamiliar with sleepovers. The activity symbolizes a gap between her and her friends, as they don’t understand why Cici’s parents won’t let her stay over.
Cici gradually begins to introduce parts of her Taiwanese life to her friends, and learns that she wasn’t giving them enough credit. By cooking for them—even before she introduces them to Taiwanese dishes—Cici shares more of herself, bringing them closer. She also learns that her friends have cultural practices of their own and different traditions stemming from their family heritage.
