46 pages • 1 hour read
Grace LinThe Year of the Dog
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 16-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary: “Dreaming of Dorothy”
The students learn that they will be performing The Wizard of Oz. Because she loves the book and movie so much, Pacy wants to audition for the part of Dorothy. Melody decides to play in the orchestra. All week, Pacy practices the songs, but on the day of the auditions, her friend Becky tells her that she cannot be Dorothy because Dorothy is not a Chinese person. Shattered and angry at herself for thinking that she could play this role, Pacy does not try out for the part. Instead, she gets the role of a munchkin.
Later, Pacy asks Melody why “Chinese people are never important” (71) and notes that there are very few people who look like them in film or books. Pushing back, Melody talks about the news anchor on television and insists that there must be books with Chinese characters. They find one in the library, but when Pacy declares it to be unrealistic, she vows to write her own book.
Chapter 17 Summary: “A Real Chinese Person Book”
When Pacy tells Ms. McCurdy her plan to write a book that has a Chinese American character, her teacher is excited and encourages Pacy to write about her own experiences. Despite this support, Pacy feels stuck because she does not think that there is anything exciting about her life. Feeling pressure and watching her classmates explore their ideas, Pacy just draws in her notebook. When Ms. McCurdy tells Pacy that she has something called writer’s block, the girl begs her for a solution. Ms. McCurdy tells her to be patient, which frustrates Pacy because she cannot wait for an idea, and she cannot wait to discover her talent.
Chapter 18 Summary: “The School Play”
One day, during rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz, Ms. Malone selects Pacy to be the munchkin who gives Dorothy a present. Pacy worries that everyone will be whispering about her because “there’s no such thing as a Chinese munchkin!” (77). When she gets home from school, her mom asks why she is so upset, and Pacy admits that she does not want anyone to see her.
In response, Pacy’s mom recalls the day when her grandmother walked her to school. With tiny feet that were painful because of the tradition of foot binding, the elder woman walked slowly and then waited at school all day to minimize the amount of time spent on her feet. Pacy’s mother worried that others would see her grandmother. When she entered the classroom, a boy pointed out the window and laughed. Terrified, she looked too and giggled, for there were many grandmothers sitting in the schoolyard together. Emphasizing that everyone is in the same situation, Pacy’s mom tells her that there is nothing to worry about with the play. Although she feels better, Pacy still disagrees.
Chapter 19 Summary: “The Wizard of Oz”
Backstage on the night of the performance, Pacy is now dressed in her costume and holds the empty gift box. She watches the hubbub with Melody, who is happy to be in the orchestra. With 10 minutes to go, Melody leaves for the orchestra pit, and Pacy continues to worry about what the audience will think of her. When Pacy gets on stage, she freezes until someone pushes her forward to give Dorothy the gift. Instead of hearing laughter, she hears applause. The rest of the performance flies by, and Pacy is filled with pride.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Digging Up a Book Idea”
In school, everyone focuses on the book project, but Pacy still has writer’s block, so she worries about getting a bad grade. One day, when she arrives home, her mother is working in the garden and suggests that if Pacy helps her dig, maybe an idea will come to her. As they dig deep holes to plant the seeds of Chinese vegetables, Pacy’s mom suggests that she write about The Wizard of Oz or even their Chinese New Year celebration, but none of these ideas feel right to Pacy.
Her mom jokes that Pacy is tired not just from planting the vegetables, but also from “digging for an idea” (88). This thought inspires a conversation about the Chinese vegetables. Pacy believes that the vegetables look weird and ugly; however, she remembers the first time she ate her mother’s delicious soup, which was made from the harvest. This thought gives Pacy the idea to write about the ugly vegetables.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Making a Book”
Once Pacy has an idea for her book, she writes and revises all night, taking suggestions from her parents. After showing her draft to Ms. McCurdy, Pacy makes even more revisions before typing the words and painting the illustrations. She reworks the painting so many times that her dad has to buy her more paint. When Pacy has everything the way she wants it, her teachers help her to bind the book.
Ms. McCurdy shows each student’s book to the class and then puts all of the books on display in the library before submitting them to the contest. Since the competition is nationwide, she reminds students of the difficulty of winning and says that they will not know the results for a long time. Even so, Pacy is excited to earn an A+ on the project and celebrates with her mom and Melody by eating candy made from red bean paste.
Chapter 22 Summary: “No More School!”
Once the book project is complete, the rest of the school year flies by, and summer arrives. Melody’s family plans to go to TAC camp—a convention for Taiwanese American families. After learning more about it, Pacy’s family decides to attend as well. Pacy enjoys the first week of camp and is inseparable from Melody.
However, Melody’s family prepares to leave after a week so that they can visit her Aunt Alice in New Jersey. Before departing, Melody notes that her aunt is odd; Melody recalls the time when she accidentally sat on a ghost at dinner. She noticed that two chairs were empty but had two plates full of food in front of them, so she sat down at one, ready to eat. However, her aunt insisted that she move out of the chair because the settings were placed for her aunt’s deceased parents, who were with them. Even though Melody’s parents assured her that this custom was a way to honor the dead, Melody was confused about what happened and worried that she had sat on a ghost. She also wondered how they would know when the ghosts were finished with their meal.
Chapters 16-22 Analysis
Pacy’s experience in the school play highlights the Challenges and Rewards of a Bicultural Upbringing. Because she is one of the only Taiwanese students at her school, she encounters an unexpected microaggression from a girl she considers a friend. The emotional impact of this incident is fully highlighted as Pacy’s excitement for the prospect of playing the role of Dorothy in this year’s performance of The Wizard of Oz is dashed when her friend Becky tells her that she cannot audition for the part because Dorothy is not a Chinese character. The emotional effect on Pacy is immediate, for she states:
Like a melting icicle, my dream of being Dorothy fell and shattered on the ground. I felt like a dirty puddle after the rain. […] Becky was right. Dorothy wasn’t Chinese. I was SO dumb. How could I have even thought about being Dorothy? I’d never get chosen. It was stupid to even try (70).
This downward spiral of negative thinking highlights the fact that because of Becky’s thoughtless comment, Pacy is now internalizing a harmful sense of inferiority. When she compares herself to a melting icicle, she notes that the dripping water is “dirty,” as if there is something wrong with her. When she acknowledges that Becky is correct and that she herself is “stupid,” this word choice indicates that Pacy has accepted the idea that she is not good enough for the part and that she, not Becky, is in the wrong. When she later reflects on this with Melody, Pacy says, “You never see a Chinese person in the movies or in a play or in a book. No one Chinese is important” (71). In this moment, Pacy recognizes that American society does not have many examples of people who look like her being featured in prominent roles. This is a challenge of a bicultural upbringing because the impact can be detrimental; in fact, Pacy’s conclusion is that people like her “are never important” (71). Pacy’s morose reflections on the interaction with Becky underscore the harmful effects of being marginalized and underrepresented in society, a common challenge of growing up within two cultures in the United States.
Despite these challenges, Pacy is supported in her efforts to write a book about her identity, which fuels the theme of Community Influence on Personal Goals. This dynamic is illustrated when Ms. McCurdy, Pacy’s library teacher, immediately supports Pacy’s ideas, saying, “That’s a wonderful idea […] Why don’t you write about yourself […] Write what you know!” (73). Instead of dissuading Pacy from sharing experiences that differ from those of her classmates, Ms. McCurdy encourages the girl to voice her own unique perspective. Furthermore, Pacy’s mom helps her with ideas by making suggestions and giving her the time and space to discover her own inspiration. As the two dig in the dirt to plant Chinese vegetables, this activity is designed to mirror Pacy’s efforts to metaphorically “dig” for ideas. Likewise, just as they plant the literal vegetable seeds, Pacy sprouts her own idea to write about Chinese vegetables. At no point do the adults discourage her idea; instead, they gently support Pacy and offer help when she needs it most. This approach emphasizes the positive impact that a supportive community can have on a person’s goals.
As Pacy continues to explore her world, The Impact of Stories on Identity plays a prominent role in her growing understanding, especially when Melody and Pacy’s mother share their memories. For example, Melody describes her aunt’s way of honoring deceased parents by serving them plates of food, and this story gives Pacy a new glimpse of the different customs and beliefs of other Taiwanese Americans like herself. Her mom also shares the story of her own first day of school, when her grandmother walked with her despite the pain in her feet. Although this story does impart some information about her way of life in Taiwan, lightly touching upon the tradition of foot binding that Pacy’s great-grandmother endured, Pacy’s mom tells the story to emphasize that no matter where people live or go to school, children often feel similar things when growing up. Pacy’s mom felt embarrassment that her grandmother was waiting for her in the schoolyard all day, but she then realized that many grandmothers were waiting there together. When applying this realization to the school play, she tells Pacy, “You are so worried about your part, you aren’t seeing that there is nothing to worry about” (80). Although Pacy’s situation is different, for she is the only Taiwanese American student in the performance, this story does make her feel better. She begins to understand that sometimes if a person only focuses on themselves, they cannot see the big picture. In this story and many others, Pacy’s mom imparts important life lessons that help Pacy to grow and mature.
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