Measuring Up

A-má is a guiding figure in Cici’s life, the person whom Cici finds near-constant comfort. To Cici, she is “the best part” of life in Taiwan (1). She teaches Cici to wash rice, an image that recurs throughout the novel. She also encourages Cici to find her own spice combination: “[Y]ou, Cici, you are always ready to learn and…part of me will go with you” (11). A-má remains with Cici via cooking, and Cici does find her own spice blend.

A-má’s faith in Cici serves as a reminder to persist. Without Cici’s desire for A-má to come to Seattle, it is unlikely that she would have entered the competition. When A-má confides that she purchased luggage at the market, Cici feels emboldened. Ultimately, this, along with the faith that Cici’s parents and friends have in her, spurs Cici on during the final round of the competition.

Cici also pushes A-má. Cici encourages her to step outside of her comfort zone and come to the United States. Cici also challenges her belief that her “life was easier because I taught in the high school. And your mother and father’s lives are even better. Your father wants you to be more successful” (143). A-má is relaying a common immigration narrative in which each successive generation has a higher level of success. Cici shows her, just as she shows her father, that she can find success through cooking, even if it is a form of success that looks different from what her family expects.

Miranda first appears as Cici’s rival in the cooking competition, and her arrogance makes it seem like she and Cici will not get along. Her cockiness, along with her initial unwillingness to recognize that Cici is Taiwanese, initially makes her seem like the antagonist.

However, as they compete together, Cici begins to see their similarities. For example, when Miranda insists on making risotto, Cici laughs, thinking that the dish “sounds like an Italian version of Mom’s muê” (51). As they grow closer, Cici realizes that Miranda experiences similar pressure from her father to follow a certain path, just as she feels with her own father. She comes to understand that Miranda carries her own burden of parental pressure.

At the end of the novel and with Cici’s encouragement, it appears that Miranda will confide in her father that she doesn’t want to run their family’s restaurant. She stands up to her father, defending Cici as she didn’t earlier in the novel, illustrating her growth. By the end of the novel, she respects the complexity of Taiwanese food and isn’t willing to bend to exactly what her father wants.

Cici’s father follows in his family’s footsteps; he wants each successive generation to achieve more, a pressure that he likely experienced as a child and that he replicates in the way that he pushes Cici. He sees school as a means through which the highest level of success can be achieved. The weight of this pressure is most evident in Cici’s reaction to getting a B+: “When Dad sees this [test], I’m dead” (158).

Cici’s father is also motivated by inequality and others’ expectations. He says that Cici’s American friends “don’t have to try as hard. When people see us, no matter how American we become, they always see someone who’s not like them. We always have to prove ourselves first” (168). As a parent, he is afraid of the racism that Cici will experience as a Taiwanese immigrant. Cici knows that he is not wrong, having experienced a variety of microaggressions, such as when Emily spoke slowly because she assumed Cici didn’t speak English well.

Cici’s father eventually comes to the realization that Cici is also “an American girl” (200) By giving her permission to attend the sleepover, he surprises Cici’s mother and shows Cici that he is there to support her in her American life.