Lena St. Clair says that her mother, Ying-ying, never spoke of her life in China. Lena’s father, a man of English-Irish descent named Clifford, says he saved Ying-ying from a terrible tragedy that befell her in China, about which she could not bring herself to speak. Clifford knew only a few phrases in Mandarin, and Ying-ying never learned English very well. Thus, she spoke using gestures, glances, and halting English. Because he couldn’t understand her, Clifford typically would put words into his wife’s mouth. Although Lena understands her mother’s words in Mandarin, she hardly ever understands her meanings, often considering what she says to be crazy or nonsensical. When she is forced to act as a translator for her mother, she often alters the English meanings of what others say so as to trick her mother into acting in more conventional-seeming ways; conversely, she translates her mother’s odd expressions into English words that convey more mainstream thoughts.