Character sketch for grandmother in “The Jade Peony”
Basic Information:
- died at 83
- Recent Chinese-Canadian immigrant
- Grandmother to 4 grandchildren
- Village girl from Southern Canton
- Fell in love with an actor/magician/acrobat/juggler,
- he gave her a wind chime and it broke so she wants to
- make it again the jade carving he gave her is her most lucky possession
- Died of complications of pneumonia
What she looks like:
- round face, looked darker
- gentle eyes
- thin arching eyebrows
- strands of grey, brittle hair
- small body looks even more small
- palm is plush, warm. Slender, old fingers boney and firm.
- Magically strong grip
- hands were magical: long, elegant fingers, with impeccable nails,
and wrinkled skin.
What she does (actions):
- has a garden
- refuses to go to hospital
- instructs stepmother and sister to make traditional remedies for her
(ginseng, peacock’s tail)
- arranges details of her will
- she can juggle
- stories and games with grandson
- showed her love for grandson
- made wind chimes out of string and scraps
- searched garbage for materials
- stops announcing expeditions and sneaks around
- rocks in her rocking chair
- compliments mother’s knitting, brother’s brush strokes
- curses the white cat and then regrets it because she realizes it was her
lover
- she puts the jade peony in Sek-Lung’s pocket and
he finds it when he’s crying for her.
What she says:
- “I am stubborn”
- “I am going to the hospital… I will never leave you” to grandson
- I can’t last forever”
- “That is my body fighting with Death. He is in this room now”
- “This colour is the colour of my spirit”
- “I will always be with you… but in a different way, you’ll see”
What she thinks/feels:
- thinks it’s just a cold
- joy at finding special glass
- believes in spirits and life after death
What others think/say about her:
- Family doesn’t like her searching for garbage, thought their
- friends were laughing at them
- She makes the family look like beggars
- She will make Sek-Lung crazy
- Father calls her “Grand Old One”
- They think she is inconvenient and unsettling
- Neighbours think she’s harmlessly crazy
- Sek-Lung’s “spiritual playmate”
- Hours with grandma were Sek-Lung’s real education
Based on this information from the text she seems kind, traditional, romantic,
loving and thoughtful, spiritual, strong, confident and not worried about what
others think, creative, wise. Is she the protagonist? Round, static.