In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord

First published: 1984; illustrated

Type of work: Social realism/historical fiction

Themes: Family, friendship, and race and ethnicity

Time of work: 1947, the Chinese Year of the Boar

Recommended Ages: 10-13

Locale: Brooklyn, New York

Principal Characters:

• Shirley Temple Wong, independent, spunky, and zealous in her desire to experience all that the United States has to offer; Shirley’s efforts to make friends lead her to an obsession for broadcast baseball
• Father, Shirley’s engineer father, the first of the family to immigrate to the United States to prepare for his wife and daughter
• Mother, a worrier, who dubs Shirley “China’s little ambassador”
• Mrs. Rappaport, Shirley’s fifth-grade teacher, who is particularly aware of the struggle that Shirley is having gaining acceptance
• Senora Rodriguez, who, with only her parrot for company, owns the apartment house in which Shirley and her parents live
• Mabel, the biggest, toughest, best ball-playing classmate at PS 8, who is black and the first real friend Shirley makes

The Story

In spite of his chagrin that his youngest son has sent for his wife and daughter to join him in the United States, Grandfather gives his consent to the long and uncertain journey. To honor the occasion properly, Grandfather decides that Bandit must have an official name. The most American name Bandit can think of when Grandfather allows her to choose is Shirley Temple. Shirley Temple Wong is so excited about her new name and the fact that she and her mother will soon be joining Father in New York that she pays scant attention to her cousin’s tales of the barbaric life she will encounter in the United States. The vivid picture of life in the Wong family compound described by Bette Lord is comfortable, bound by tradition, and secured by the presence of a close-knit family. Nothing in their honorable, nurturing, and predictable homeland could prepare Shirley and her Mother for the exciting trip by boat and train to Brooklyn.

Their home life in China is a sharp contrast to the tiny apartment Father has secured for his wife and daughter in New York. After a proper greeting and celebration with friends, Shirley begins her U.S. odyssey by getting lost after insisting she can run an errand to the corner store.

School presents its own challenges. Unfamiliar with the Chinese custom of counting newborns as being one year old at birth, Shirley is misplaced by the school officials in grade five. Her difficulties with classwork are compounded by her inability to speak English. Shirley’s communications with her classmates are subject to ridicule even on the playground. Shirley wants so badly to become American and be like the other children that she rejects Mrs. Rappaport’s pronouncement that everyone must memorize a poem except her. Intending to surprise both her teacher and classmates by her skill in memorizing, Shirley is humiliated when she learns that the faithfully rendered recitation taken from an English-language recording, given her by her father, is not a poem but a Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse dramatization.

Shirley is also unsuccessful in her attempts to make friends by learning American children’s pastimes. Cultural differences and misunderstandings make each new experience a disaster. The Juicy Fruit gum on which she spends her pennies will not produce bubbles. Her first chance to join the others in playground games ends with the team losing and Shirley being asked to leave. The roller skates that her father brings home turn out to be hazardous to Shirley’s knees.

Alone and dejected most of the time, Shirley is perhaps at her lowest ebb of despair and self-pity, when a compliment from her teacher, Mrs. Rappaport, proves pivotal to Shirley’s acceptance by the children. Embarrassed by the directness of Mrs. Rappaport’s praise, Shirley leaves the classroom hastily. Emboldened by a renewed sense of worth and self-confidence, Shirley is reminded that she was, after all, the fifth cousin of the most honorable Wong clan. With prideful thoughts in her mind, Shirley is moved to stride across the center of the playing field like a Chinese emperor. It is time others made way for the Chinese.

Intent on a game of stickball, the children are furious when Shirley unaccountably interrupts their play. Shirley is challenged angrily by the class bully, Mabel. Tired of being teased, ignored, and mistreated, Shirley stands firm to the challenge. She is rewarded by her courage with two black eyes.

It is Shirley’s steadfast refusal to reveal how she came by the bruises that earns her the respect and eventual friendship of Mabel and her classmates. At Mabel’s insistence, Shirley gets a chance to join in the game of stickball. She later learns that this American game is also played in a stadium and people everywhere cheer the home team. Shirley becomes obsessed with the game and tries not to miss a single broadcast of the Brooklyn Dodgers. With Jackie Robinson as her hero and the great American equalizer, baseball, as her vehicle of assimilation, the reader is confident that Shirley Temple Wong will soon feel at home in this new land.

Context

The tone and humor of the writing style ensures both comic relief and accessibility. The author’s use of the episodic plot divided by months of the year enhances readability. Lord’s skill in providing clear images from both the old and new worlds lends credibility and authenticity to the telling. Drawn from personal experiences, Lord presents a chapter on immigration in American history from a child’s point of view. Readers will relate to the scenario of immigrants who arrive in this country without benefit of the English language or the support of an extended family. In contrast to the many ethnic groups that immigrate to the United States and are welcomed by strong community support, Shirley did not have the support of persons beyond her parents who shared her background and experiences.

There are certain autobiographical parallels between Shirley’s beginnings in the United States and those of the author, Bette Lord. Lord was brought to the United States when she was herself eight years old. Her parents cautioned her as did the mother in In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, “You represent all the Chinese in China. You’re the only Chinese these kids may ever know—so behave.” Lord recalls frequent and “intense discussions around the kitchen table about the significance of her Chinese heritage.” In discussing her feelings about adopting a new country, Lord has noted, as a “hyphenated” American that she is able to choose the best from both cultures. This is clearly a discovery that the protagonist, Shirley, made during her painful and difficult year of the boar in the United States.

Lord’s use of sports hero Jackie Robinson, whose silent omnipresence has a strong thematic function, provides a unique social context. Although the personal obstacles faced by Robinson as he fought to gain acceptance in major-league baseball are not mentioned, the historical perspective provides the implication. The similiarities between Robinson and Shirley Wong’s fight to participate in the American dream bear a strong message that will have different levels of meaning to every reader.

The ideal of assimilation as a desirable objective can be viewed from both the historical and present-day perspectives. Shirley’s strong desire to become an American does not happen until she begins to place her cultural beginnings in perspective. In an increasingly multicultural society, Lord’s portrayal of the initiation of a hyphenated American has much to say to its readers.