Portrait of a Thief

“China was many things—traffic and mountains and the brush of ink over paper, emperors and innovation and the heavy hand of an authoritarian government—but she would never call it foreign.”

Grace D. Li’s lyrical style is apparent in this quote. Her use of metaphor, rhythm, and syntax evokes nostalgic longing and a sense of timelessness. This description of China utilizes the motif of balance; in this case, that between history and modernity, old and new.

“Irene had never cared for the bronze zodiac heads, but she knew how much Will did. She knew how much it meant to China, to have these pieces. Art and power. They were always one and the same.”

Li adapts the narrative though perspective, as the novel follows five characters. Irene studies geopolitics, power dynamics. Her perception of the colonization of art, therefore, relates to the power dynamics between countries, creator and possessor. Unlike her brother Will, who craves art for its beauty and permanence, she sees it as a form of currency, which explains why some museums refuse to return artifacts.

“When he had first told his parents he wanted to study art, their silence had been long, excruciating. And how to explain this—the ache he felt when looking at the lines of a sculpture, how history could be found, made, left behind by an artist’s deft hand?”

Will’s perspective as both artist and art lover often beautifies the narrative. This quote describes his recognition of the connection between art and history, which is at the center of his need to reclaim China’s art. It also reveals his belief that he’s not skilled enough to pursue art professionally. Having to settle for studying history instead of making history, curating art rather than creating it, pains Will.

“China and its art, its history, would always be a story of greatness. It would always be a story of loss.”

This description of China reiterates the motif of balance. China’s complex history and cultural identity are shaped by opposing forces. In the novel, the story of the Old Summer Palace and its looted artifacts becomes an allegory for the story of China as a whole. Therefore, the repatriation of the palace’s artifacts symbolizes the restoration of balance between China’s greatness and loss.

“But Daniel—he still did not know how to make this place his own. All these years, and he still dreamed in Chinese, closed his eyes and saw Beijing. Even if he wanted to, he could not let go of the past.”

Daniel wrestles with past wounds, his inability to embrace America stemming from the loss of his mother and homeland. He joins the heist thinking he’ll find healing, but learns the real source of his inertia is his fractured relationship with his father. Forgiving Yaoxian allows him to heal and move forward. Daniel’s fraught relationships with China and America contribute to the theme of Diaspora and Belonging.

“In that white, empty interview room, Daniel smiled, let himself pretend. This was the story he told: a research lab, an experiment that was bold and ambitious and almost certain to fail, students who were still almost strangers to each other. Long nights beneath the lab’s fluorescent lights, a bench that grew more and more crowded with notes and new ideas. And yet, still, the lingering uncertainty, the fear of failure. All the important parts were true.”

In a medical school interview, Daniel is asked about a time when he worked on a team. He answers by reframing the heist as a lab experiment. The heist resulted in more meaningful teamwork than any other situation he’d encountered so far, perhaps because the crew’s motivations were genuine, desperate for change. Daniel’s story emphasizes the crew’s fear of failure, of the high stakes of the heist, adding tension and suspense.

“How could he explain how it felt to know, with a terrible and unflinching certainty, that you were not enough for your dreams? There was so much he wanted, so much that would always be out of reach.”

Despite his confident demeanor, Will feels he’s “not enough.” He overcomes this belief through his character arc, as the heists help him realize he is capable of achieving his dreams.

“I am afraid I will get everything I ever wanted. […] Because what I want is not what my parents want. Because this is not the American Dream I was told I should chase.”

The crew feels pressured by their families’ expectations, which are influenced by their experiences in China and reasons for immigrating to the US. They seek to protect their children and pave the way for their futures. The crew try to fulfill their parents’ idea of the American Dream, but this leaves them feeling overwhelmed and unsatisfied; yet, chasing their own dreams feels like betrayal.

“They had all been home, the year strange and tumultuous and full of grief, and none of them had emerged unchanged. They had lived through a pandemic, through all that had come with it. What could they not survive?”

This quote reveals the sociohistorical significance of the years preceding the novel’s present. Li wrote Portrait of a Thief while attending medical school over Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This context makes the novel both relatable and relevant as a form of entertainment and discourse.

“Sometimes, if you wanted change, you had to make it.”

The idea of change recurs throughout the novel, becoming a motif that supports explorations of both personal and societal transformation. Part 3’s epigraph equates the crew to artists inciting a revolution, which they later do by putting public pressure on museums to clarify art acquisition and repatriate stolen artifacts. This quote emphasizes the ethical aspect of the crew’s thefts, intimating they are justified to achieve injustice.

“‘History is an ongoing process, though, isn’t it?’ Will asked. ‘And what we remember has always been determined by what museums choose to display.’”

This quote rewords the common aphorism “history is told by the conquerors.” Society’s views of history and culture are shaped by museums, which act as social institutions. If museums and other means of education refuse to acknowledge their artifacts as products of colonialism, such injustices will likely continue.

“What is the Chinese American experience, if not white people gawking at you when you speak English?”

This quote illuminates one of the struggles faced by multiethnic individuals. It ironically reduces the Chinese American experience to a single stereotype to highlight the diversity of Chinese Americans.

“The pyramids in front of the Louvre had been designed by a Chinese American architect, and the choice of location felt deliberate—a place where history could be remembered, where it could be made.”

Given the crew’s motivations for the heist, it makes sense that certain locations hold symbolic meaning for them. After the completion of this pyramid in 1988, many critics maligned the choice of a Chinese American architect to update it. The crew experience similar struggles with acceptance and belonging.

“Because the Old Summer Palace means something to me. Because I know what was taken, and what is owed. China remembers, and so do I.”

Liu Siqi asks the crew why they’re doing the heists, since they’re Americans. Daniel responds that he feels an emotional and symbolic connection to his homeland’s art and how its history shapes national identity. Siqi’s question allows Li, through Daniel, to voice support for repatriation.

“Beijing awash in red light, the Old Summer Palace in the morning sun. This language, this country, that she might someday call hers. What it might feel like to run toward something instead of away. These weeks, planning and dreaming and having all of it made real. She was so close to everything she could ever want.”

Li’s lyrical style continues to capture the crew’s emotions regarding their Chinese American identities. She employs figurative language and an informal, rhythmic syntax to mimic the way the individual characters see and interpret the world.

“All parents leave their own scars. We’re the ones who have to heal from them.”

Irene says this line to Daniel as they discuss his relationship with his father. He tries to articulate why he’s so angry with his father, but admits his resentment stems from Yaoxian being able to move on after his mother’s death. Daniel joins the heist in search of healing, but instead finds healing through forgiveness.

“‘And if we had pulled this off? What would you have done?’ […] ‘I’d do something of my own,’ she said.”

During a conversation with Lily, Irene admits feeling pressured to be perfect and follow a specific career path. As is the case for many children of immigrants, The Weight of the American Dream on the Children of Immigrants is often prioritized over personal interests. While loyal to her family, Irene wants the financial freedom to follow her own dreams.

“He was the oldest child, the only son, all the things that meant something to their family in China, and though he had accepted he would never make history, he had wanted to anyway. He’d always felt like he had so much to prove.”

Will’s Chinese heritage continues to impact his sense of self. His decision to accept the heist seems foolish considering what’s at stake, but his need to prove himself and resentment toward Irene for better adhering to the American Dream overcome these risks.

“‘Art’s purpose is to create bridges, not to burn them,’ he said. ‘We have a responsibility to look to our own collections, examine what belongs to us and how it was obtained. Like every museum, the Met ought to make its decisions based on not just the law but on moral grounds.’”

In a mock interview to help Will apply to the Met, Lily asks him to describe what he’d change about the museum if hired. When he gives an honest answer, Lily and Irene caution against it, saying museums don’t want to acknowledge how they benefit from imperialism. This triggers his disillusionment and realization that change will require revolution, leading the plot in a new direction.

“It was a story about the West, but it was also more than that. Art and empire, how those in power always took from those without. This was how things changed. With museums and shattered glass, history stolen back, but also the eyes of the world, the weight of expectation.”

This quote reveals the significance of public pressure, the role the media can play in eliciting societal change. In the novel’s falling action, museums begin repatriating artifacts and increasing transparency regarding their collections’ provenance. However, the crew knows this change isn’t due to good intentions. Rather, it’s the result of a cost-benefit analysis in which the harm museums risk by keeping appropriated artifacts outweighs the profit.

“Already museums were starting to make changes. To return looted artifacts, but also to display the history of the art they had, to speak of conquest and war and all that had been taken by blood.”

Despite recognizing the museums’ use of cost-benefit analysis, this outcome still means victory for the crew. For most of the story, their ideal outcome was stealing all five zodiac heads and getting paid. The plot twists that threatened to undo their work led to a greater victory, one which makes a lasting impact on museum practices and society.

“Galveston, China, all these places that were hers, by birth and by blood. They were not all she was, but they were a part of her. She would claim it at last. […] It meant so much to be the children of immigrants, to build on a legacy that spanned oceans, that had traveled lifetimes.”

This quote encapsulates the crew’s search for belonging as children of diaspora, torn between two cultures. This search was most apparent with Lily, who knew little about her Chinese heritage and never felt she belonged anywhere. Through the heists, she recognizes her claim to both cultures.

“The past, the present, the future—it might have been a river, time tumbling over itself, stories that could be told and retold. Grief, healing, it was all possible.”

In yet another example of Li’s lyrical style and voice, she combines metaphor and balance to create an atmosphere of optimism and resilience. The portrayal of time as a river tumbling over itself invokes a nonlinear vision of history and human existence, one which suggests past wounds can be healed in the present.