The Book Club Project : The Hundred Secret Senses--> 3 QUOTES w/analysis AND Open Ended Questions

The major themes(we picked) in the book:

  1. Identity
  2. Love
  3. Culture
Quotes

Quote 1:
“I wish I knew more about Chinese history.”(319)

Analysis: This quote has to do with culture. Olivia grew up in an American household and in the past has hated that part of her but after coming to China she wanted to know more about her history. This also plays into wanting to know who she is. While holding a book from long ago, she reads the date of an old music box, Olivia still remains skeptical about things like past life and yin people.

Quote 2:

“I think Kwan intended to  show me the world is not a place but the vastness of the soul. And is nothing more than love, limitless, endless, all that moves us forward knowing what is true.”(358)

Analysis: This quote has to do with Love. As long as you have love and you believe that love will continue on, then it will.

Quote 3:

"And believing in ghosts-that's believing that love never dies. If people we love die, the they are only lost to our ordinary senses, If we remember, we can find them anytime with our hundred secret senses." (358)


Analysis: This is a quote about love. If you have someone in your memory and you cherish them, by keeping them in your mind and heart, they will not dissipate. I think it is all about believing. 


Quote 4:
“ The man must think I am urging my husband to buy me an owl for dinner”(192)

Analysis: This quote is about Culture. In American culture we do not eat birds like owls except for chickens. In Chinese culture they eat owls. An American will be shocked by this fact however Chinese people will be fine and think, if they eat chickens why not owls?



Quote 5:

"That's why my work usually feels unsatisfying, pre-edited into safe dullness.... There's  no market for them, and even if there were, hard realism would give people the wrong impression, that all of China is this way, backward, unsanitary, miserably poor. I hate myself for being American enough to make these judgements" (262)

Analysis: This quote has to do with identity. Photography for Olivia is a form of expression and when you express yourself you express who you are as a person. Being held back and trying to take "pretty" photos gives her limited creativity and thus is unable to truly express her passion.

Open Ended Questions 

  1. What have you experienced with your identity and how others perceive you?
  2. How much or how far are you willing to sacrifice for your loved ones?
  1. To what extent are you willing to forgive them?( like how Olivia put Kwan in the  mental hospital)

    3.  Do you feel disconnected with you own culture?







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