How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Exiled like a criminal to a distant land."
"With no clan to nurture you. Surrounded by strangers." (1.71-72)
When Shirley's departure from China is announced at home, her aunts cluck over her. They're bemoaning her leaving, not so much because they're losing a relative, but because America is so barbaric. She's got no family, a nucleus of Chinese culture, except for her parents, and will be bereft of her important extended family. She won't know anything about where she lives, either. Those two qualities—family and surroundings—help make up the home, and Shirley won't have them.
Quote #2
Home was Brooklyn, New York, but Shirley would not know that for a while. To her it was simply Mei Guo, Beautiful Country. (2.42)
Shirley doesn't know anything about Brooklyn, but she doesn't even entirely identify it as her home yet. For her, it's a "beautiful country," but it's not her country… at this point.
Quote #3
Shirley's new home was on the third floor. Altogether, the place was barely larger than her own room had been in the clan compound. But her disappointment did not last, for Father was so proud of it. (2.48)
The Wong family's new apartment is entirely different from the Wong clan's big house in China. It's a tiny place, but her dad's so into it—he finally has a place that he's worked so hard for—and Shirley gets into it, too. If anything, we can assume this is her dad's first home that he's made for his own family without the help of his parents. For him, this independence feels good.