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The Illusion of Belonging
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in In the American Society, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
For the Chang family, loyalty is a core value, albeit one that is applied unevenly. Within the Changs’ marriage, loyalty is paramount and equal to love in importance. After Mrs. Chang voices her hesitation about moving forward with the country club idea, citing her husband’s distaste for wearing suit jackets and joining “the American society,” Callie notes, “My mother could not simply up and do as she pleased. For to embrace what my father embraced was to love him; and to embrace something else was to betray him.” In other words, for Mrs. Chang to join the country club anyway would be a disloyal act and a demonstration that she doesn’t really love Mr. Chang.
Mrs. Chang’s loyalty to her husband holds steady, even when his employment practices undermine the family’s security. Ultimately, then, Mr. Chang’s definition of loyalty differs from his wife’s. He feels the deepest sense of duty towards his employees and fellow Chinese immigrants, even when their behavior threatens his family’s livelihood. For example, he gives his workers extra money beyond what they’ve earned, and he endangers the pancake shop by hiring undocumented Booker and Cedric. When Booker and Cedric are caught by police, Mr. Chang bails them out of jail and tries to seek legal help. “What about your family?” Mrs. Chang demands. “What about your wife?” She is angry about the risks he’s taking, but once her husband makes up his mind, she just “scrutinize[s] her hem,” a gesture that underscores her submission to her husband’s judgment. When it turns out that neither Booker nor Cedric feel particularly loyal to Mr. Chang—they run away to avoid trial—Mr. Chang is left to consider what loyalty means to him in his new American society. However, the end of the story—when Mr. Chang and his family leave Jeremy Brothers’s disastrous party, his daughters complimenting his performance and Mrs. Chang taking responsibility for the mishap—suggests that his family’s loyalty is what Mr. Chang can count on most.
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Loyalty and Family ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Loyalty and Family appears in each chapter of In the American Society. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Loyalty and Family Quotes in In the American Society
Below you will find the important quotes in In the American Society related to the theme of Loyalty and Family.
His Own Society Quotes
“Your father doesn’t believe in joining the American society,” said my mother. “He wants to have his own society.”
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For the first time in the story, Mrs. Chang explicitly states that her husband would rather maintain the Chinese customs he knows than adopt American traditions. Her remark comes during the first conversation she has with her daughter about joining the town country club. Among other hang-ups—the cost, the waiting list, the lack of tennis or golf players in the Chang family—Mrs. Chang knows that her husband won’t want to wear a suit jacket for dinner, as required at the club. To explain his preferences, she draws a contrast between American society and Mr. Chang’s “own society.” The use of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. S
For to embrace what my father embraced was to love him; and to embrace something else was to betray him.
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This quote appears in Callie’s narration of the country club scene. After Mona flippantly says that Mrs. Chang should go to dinner at the country club without Mr. Chang (who won’t want to abide by the dress code), Callie shows the futility of that concept by clarifying that the entire family cares what Mr. Chang thinks. In fact, their whole concept of familial love is rooted in the idea of loyalty: that is, embracing what Mr. Chang embraces. The equivalence between loyalty and familial love informs the rest of the story. As a guiding principle, the Changs remain loyal to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessit
“You know, the Chinese have a saying,” said my mother. “To do nothing is better than to overdo. You mean well, but you tell me now what will happen.”
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Mrs. Chang’s interpretation of Mona’s lack of propriety—Mona tells her friend Annie Lardner that the Changs are considering joining the country club, and Mrs. Lardner pays a surprise visit as a result—relies on the wisdom of a Chinese saying. It is an interesting choice for Mrs. Chang to reference a Chinese adage, as, in a way, Mona has behaved in a distinctly American way by trying to further assimilate her family into town life. Mrs. Chang’s words imply that she is not only angry at her daughter for overstepping and creating what might become a problem; she also recognizes Mona’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque o
“So what else I should do?” My father threw up his hands. “Those are my boys.”
“Your boys!” exploded my mother. “What about your family? What about your wife?”
My father took a long sip of tea. “You know,” he said finally, “in the war my father sent our cook to the soldiers to use. He always said it—the province comes before the town, the town comes before the family.”
“A restaurant is not a town,” said my mother.
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Mr. Chang and Mrs. Chang argue about his next steps after Booker and Cedric are detained for working without the proper documentation. Because Mr. Chang kept his hiring of Booker and Cedric a secret from his wife, she is irate at learning that the restaurant might now be in peril. The subsequent argument pits Mr. Chang’s loyalty to his employees against his loyalty to his wife and daughters. Mrs. Chang’s question—“What about your family? What about your wife?”—compels Mr. Chang to choose between his workers’ best interests and his family’s. It is notable that, in this moment of crisis, Mr. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic
In the American Society Quotes
“You girls are good swimmers,” he said finally. “Not like me.”
Then his shirt started moving again, and we trooped up the hill after it, into the dark.
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In the final two lines of “In the American Society,” the Changs are discussing how to get back Mr. Chang’s keys, which are still in his suit pocket in Jeremy Brothers’s pool. On a deeper level, however, these lines show Mr. Chang contending with his daughters’ level of assimilation into American life versus his own. Earlier in the story, Mr. Chang dismisses the notion that Callie could possibly understand America better than him. Now, after the incident at Jeremy Brothers’s party, he not only accepts that Callie and Mona might be better “swimmers” than he is, literally—a sign of an Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantiu
