Three Keys

“You’d think now that we were making more money, my parents would stop bickering. But every morning, my dad still pours the cooking oil he saved from the previous night’s dinner into the breakfast pan, saying ‘Don’t waste’ in Chinese.”

Mia provides context for her family’s financial situation. The first book in the series showed them struggling below the poverty level. Now that the hotel is turning a profit, the same impoverished mentality continues to haunt them anyway. 

“Then I turned to Hank and asked, ‘But why immigrants?’ He put his barbecue prong down and thought for a minute. Finally, he said, ‘Because it’s easy to blame those in a weak spot.’”

Hank is explaining the concept of scapegoating to Mia. The novel contains multiple examples of employers eager to exploit immigrants because the latter can’t fight back. Vulnerability of any kind makes one an easy target for abuse. Lupe’s family exemplifies this principle. 

“I couldn’t believe it. Mrs. Welch had just snapped at me for not waiting to be called on before speaking, but when Bethany did it, she was all jazz hands and dancing fingers.”

Initially, Mrs. Welch is in favor of Proposition 187. Mia’s comment implies that her teacher is projecting her dislike of undocumented immigrants to all the immigrants in her class. She blames Mia for speaking out of turn while rewarding Bethany for doing so. This judgmental attitude will change radically throughout the novel.