Identity

At the start of the novel, Ingrid’s accumulating questions about Xiao-Wen Chou and John Smith catalyze her journey towards self-discovery and self-actualization. When Ingrid sets out to research and study beloved Chinese American poet Xiao-Wen Chou for her dissertation, she is unaware of how her doctoral project will impact the way she sees and understands herself. Indeed, prior to the novel’s start, Ingrid has grown comfortable with the way her life has prescribed her identity. Her plans of becoming a tenure track professor and marrying her boyfriend Stephen are chief among these influences. In Chapter 2, the narrator asserts, “She was uncertain about many things in life, but she knew with utmost certainty that she and Stephen . . . were meant to be” (23). In Chapter 3, the narrator furthers this point remarking, “Much like tenure, marriage would offer her a deliciously concrete sense of security” (41). Above all else...