Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Seedfolks, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gardening and Community
Nature, Mental Health, and the City
The Immigrant Experience
Family, Memory, and the Future
Summary
Analysis
Nine-year-old Kim stands in front of the family altar. It’s early morning, and no one else is awake yet. She stares at the photograph of her father, hoping his eyes might move and notice her. Yesterday was the anniversary of his death, and everyone cried—though Kim cried for different reasons than her mother and older sisters.
This passage introduces Kim and one of her central concerns: to connect with her deceased father. It also shows that Kim is somehow different from her mother and sisters in how she grieves for her father, which may explain why she’s the only one awake and at his altar.
Themes
Quietly, Kim sneaks to the kitchen, pulls out a spoon and a handful of dried lima beans, and fills a thermos with water. Then she heads down to the empty street. It’s Sunday in early April, and a freezing wind blows. Coming from Vietnam, Kim isn’t used to weather like this. But here, in Cleveland, this weather is normal for spring.
This passage hints at the idea that life in the U.S. can be lonely and alienating for an immigrant. Cleveland’s weather is extremely different from what Kim is used to, and this perhaps makes the city feel less welcoming. The idea that this frigid weather is normal for Cleveland suggests that Kim’s new home might be cold and unfeeling on an emotional and social level. The city is not going to change to accommodate her—she has to change and adapt.
Themes
Kim crosses to the vacant lot and looks around. No one else is there. She’s never wanted to venture near the lot before, but she steps around the garbage strewn about the lot and tells herself to be brave when she sees rats. When she comes upon an old refrigerator that hides her from view of the sidewalk, Kim stops. She digs six holes in the cold, hard ground with her spoon and thinks of her father. Her mother and sisters remember him, but Kim doesn’t. She was born eight months after he died—so he doesn’t remember her either. Kim wonders if her father’s spirit even knows who she is.
It’s clear that whatever Kim is doing in the vacant lot, it requires great courage. The vacant lot seems dangerous and disgusting, in addition to cold this time of year. In other words, it doesn’t seem like the kind of place a young girl like Kim should be, which raises questions about what she’s doing and why it’s so important. Given that she thinks of her father as she digs in the lot, it’s clear that it has to do with him—and possibly, finding a way to connect with her father’s spirit.
Themes
Kim’s father had been a farmer in Vietnam. In Cleveland, Kim’s apartment doesn’t have a yard, but she knows her father will see her in the vacant lot. He’ll watch her beans grow and be pleased to see her be patient and work hard. Growing lima beans will show him that she’s his daughter. Kim places a bean in each hole, covers them with soil, and waters them. She vows that the beans will grow and thrive.
Revealing that Kim is planting beans to make her father proud is the book’s first suggestion that gardening can be a way to connect with deceased family members or family traditions, particularly if gardening was important to one’s family. Kim recognizes that because she lives in an urban environment, she’s going to have to be resourceful when it comes to finding a place to plant.
Themes
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