The Paper Daughters of Chinatown

by Heather B. Moore

When Mei Lien was led to a mirror in another bedroom, she stared at her own transformation. Gone was the girl from the Hong Kong countryside. Mei Lien looked like the women she had been warned about, the women who had no other choices in life. In her reflection, she might see the shape of her mother’s eyes, but Mei Lien also saw a young woman who had no future. No hope for a different situation. But she would pay back her contract, if only to protect her mother. “I’m sorry, Ah Ma,” Mei Lien whispered to her mother’s eyes. Then she turned away from the mirror and took the dose of opium offered by the servant. Mei Lien was ready. The girl from the country was gone, replaced by a woman who would forget herself and focus only on what it would take to protect her mother.

This scene reflects my personal belief as a woman and what it's like to be in a traumatic or abusive situation. I believe a young woman like Mei Lien would have disassociated herself from the reality of what she was going through. She would have taken her mind to another place while she was forced to do something against her will and character.