55 pages • 1 hour read
Thousand Pieces of Gold
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
Gold
Gold is a recurring motif that highlights the theme of The Burden and Pain of Family Betrayal. Polly’s childhood nickname in China was qianjin, which roughly translates to 1,000 pieces of gold. She holds onto this nickname, and it buoys her through some of her darkest moments during her journey to the US. Because her family nicknamed her gold, she sees any mention of gold as a positive sign:
Hugging herself inwardly, she had pictured her parents’ and brothers’ faces when she gave her father the gold that would make him the richest man in the village. The pride they would have in her, their qianjin. And she had held fast to this picture, as to a talisman. First, when the Madam had turned her over to Li Ma, the crotchety, foulmouthed woman who would take her to the Gold Mountains. Then, during the long voyage, when only the men’s talk of gold had kept alive her dream of going home (61).
Even when it is clear that the “golden” America she was told about before coming to the country doesn’t exist, she still relies on gold as a source of hope. While sweeping Hong King’s saloon, she gathers gold nuggets and dust that she finds left by the customers in the hopes that she can use the gold to buy her freedom.
Gold ultimately does provide Polly with the freedom, independence, and family she seeks. At the time, Chinese people were not allowed to buy and own property; however, they could hold mining claims. Charlie buys a mining claim for Polly’s Place, ensuring that the one place Polly feels like she belongs will never be taken away from her due to her race.
Polly’s Feet
Throughout the novel, Polly’s feet are a recurring motif that emphasizes the themes of Gender Expectations and the Quest for Agency and The Shortcomings of the American Dream. When Polly decides she will work in her father’s fields to save herself from being sold into enslavement, she must have her mother unbind her feet. As a result, she walks with a limp for the rest of her life and believes she is less desirable to men because of her mother’s feelings about her deformed feet: “They’ll never have the same perfect shape or be as small. Besides, it’s not just your feet. You’re doing what no woman in this village, this district, has done, and your name is on every gossip’s tongue. What decent, modest woman will take you for a daughter-in-law now” (23). However, she succeeds and finds marriage despite her feet and the pain they cause her, showing that she can overcome both gender stereotypes and expectations to find agency and freedom in the US.
When Polly is dying in the hospital, she asks for someone to put her shoes next to her bed so she can go home. She is told that she is too weak to leave the hospital, but she insists that her shoes are placed out regardless. Polly does not expect someone to carry her home; she expects that she will be able to walk there herself. She intends to walk on her own feet to the place where she found a sense of belonging with Charlie.
Real Estate
Pieces of real estate are a recurring motif in the novel that act as a form of independence and belonging for Polly. When Charlie wins her freedom from Hong King, Polly originally worries that she has just been given to a new enslaver. However, Charlie promises to build her a boarding house that she can pay for and run herself, allowing her independence for the first time in her life. It is only then that she feels like she is her own person: “She laughed, a joyous peal clear as ringing bells. Hearing it, Charlie’s smile grew stronger, deepening into laughter that became one with Polly’s. And suddenly, within the circle of their laughter, she felt finally, wonderfully free” (111). Because a Chinese person was not allowed to own property at the time, Charlie must keep the boarding house in his name, but everyone in town knows it is Polly’s property, and it still provides Polly with the sense of independence she craves.
Additionally, when Polly thinks of where she belongs in her later years, she does not think of China or Warrens, but her home with Charlie: “All at once, a wave of homesickness engulfed Polly, sweeping away doubts and fears in a crest of longing. She knew where she belonged” (195). Charlie and Polly’s home in Salmon Canyon is the place where she feels most like she belongs, and she is ultimately buried there with Charlie.
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