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Jeremy Brothers
Booker is an undocumented Taiwanese immigrant who starts working as a busboy at Mr. Chang’s pancake house. He proves to be a diligent and talented worker, but he’s often out sick, leading Mr. Chang to hire Booker’s undocumented friends like Cedric when Booker is out. Mr. Chang feels a strong sense of loyalty to Booker and Cedric, who remind him of his own struggles as a new immigrant in the U.S. He calls the two “my boys” and shows his loyalty by bailing them out of jail when the immigration police catch wind of their whereabouts. Although Booker (along with Cedric) initially praises Mr. Chang’s legal savvy, he ultimately flees town before his trial, leaving only a letter thanking Mr. Chang for his generosity and apologizing for not paying back the bail money.
Booker Quotes in In the American Society
The In the American Society quotes below are all either spoken by Booker or refer to Booker . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
His Own Society
Quotes
“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.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Booker Quotes in In the American Society
The In the American Society quotes below are all either spoken by Booker or refer to Booker . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
His Own Society
Quotes
“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.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
