Maizy Chen's Last Chance

Maizy Chen is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. She is a 12-year-old girl who travels to Last Chance from Los Angeles to visit her grandparents. Maizy is a round and dynamic character in that she evolves as she learns about her heritage.

As a Chinese American girl, Maizy struggles with feeling out of place in Last Chance, where she navigates racism against both her family broadly and her specifically. For example, when a group of white girls bullies her by pulling on the corners of their eyes, Maizy leaves in humiliation, wondering why she is “the one who feels embarrassed” (30). This thought and her subsequent silence introduce Maizy’s main internal conflict—her inability to use her voice and recognize her self-worth. Opa helps Maizy overcome this personal weakness by telling her Lucky’s stories to help her understand that she comes from a long line of people who have overcome hardships. As Maizy’s connection to her heritage and culture deepens, she begins to use her voice indirectly through her modified fortune cookies, which allow her to express feelings she does not have the courage to say to the person’s face.

As Maizy’s sense of self-worth grows, so does her confidence in speaking her thoughts aloud.