The Emperor of Gladness: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

Even just before Thanksgiving, HomeMarket is overrun with customers. As Hai hurriedly fills the corn bread mold with more batter, Maureen tells him BJ’s secret—she adds cake mix to the standard HomeMarket corn bread mix. Truthfully, their corn bread is cake. Hai decides, despite its simplicity, BJ’s secret recipe is still innovative since their customers are obsessed with it. Maureen agrees, saying it’s essentially a drug, as sugar spikes insulin and increases hunger. In other words, it’s good for the restaurant’s business.

Maureen calls their corn bread a lie, just like America, and questions when exactly the corn bread becomes corn cake. Hai isn’t sure, and Maureen once again relates the situation to her distrust in the government. She says America was built on war, which helps fuel the lizards that run the world. Then, she explains that everything is a simple matter of good and evil, like Star Wars. At the end of the night, an old man comes in who has “a Boy Scout somewhere inside him.” He thanks them for being open so close to the holiday because it saves people from sorrow. The team is filled with tender and heartfelt pride.

The following day, Hai smells something burning in Grazina’s house. He finds Grazina in the hall, and she asks for his help. While trying to curl her hair so she could feel pretty, she burned a large chunk of it off. Hai sits her down in the bathroom and cuts her hair, giving her a bowl cut that looks just like his. He says she looks like Julius Caesar, and Grazina only responds by saying that she was pretty once, though she knows she no longer is.

Later, Hai picks up Sony from HomeMarket. Sony is wearing his uniform because it’s the nicest outfit he owns, and he wants to look presentable for Thanksgiving with Hai and Grazina. Once home, the three sit down for dinner. Grazina praises the cabbage someone named Lucas brought her; Hai assumes this is a dementia-caused hallucination but goes along with her. Grazina microwaves frozen Salisbury steaks for dinner, and Sony explains how they were named for a doctor in the Civil War. Grazina is thrilled to learn this and shares how her father invented fruit salad.

Sony grows quiet after they’ve finished eating, so both Hai and Grazina catch onto his melancholy mood. After they ask him what’s wrong, he tells them that Sony's mother is not getting out of prison. Grazina reassures him, saying that, because she’s in an American prison, she’ll be just fine. Hai says he would’ve gone with him to visit Aunt Kim, but Sony only says that he wasn’t sure if he would since Hai’s never helped before, and Hai recognizes this is true.

They end the night by watching Sony’s favorite movie, Gettysburg. As they watch, Sony excitedly rambles about Civil War battles and generals, ending his spiel with the sorrowful thought that “everything bad always happens to the South.” His father, he tells Hai, was a corporal for South Vietnam, who lost the war miserably. His dad leaves no legacy behind, now living a miserable life in Vermont. Sony then asks Hai if his mom is going to be alright. Instead of responding, Hai takes a Goldfish cracker and runs it along his cousin’s scar. Sony is delighted and amused as Hai eats the cracker. After the movie, Hai calls his mom, continuing his ruse. He then lies down next to Sony, who asks why he’s always so sad. Hai doesn’t answer but silently vows to protect him in the future.