Fanny Mei Hi
Wife of Nag Hong Fah and mother to Brian and Fanny.
Core Belief
"She believes in personal freedom and the right to choose one's own path, but also values honesty and loyalty. She is torn between her desire for independence and her need for security and love."
Worldview
Fanny views the world as a battleground where she must fight for her rights and assert her identity. She is wary of being controlled or confined, and seeks to create a life on her own terms, even within the constraints of her marriage.
Personality
Fanny is a fiercely independent woman, shaped by her mixed heritage and life in the Bowery. She is assertive, honest, and yearns for freedom, but also craves stability and respectability. She is portrayed as having a complex internal struggle with her identity.
In Their Own Words
"“You bet yer life, you fat old yellow sweetness!” agreed Fanny; and then—as a special barbed shaft leveled at Miss Rutter’s retreating back: “Say! Any time yer wanta lamp my wedding certificate—it’s hangin’ between the fottygraphs of the President and the Big Boss—all framed up swell!”"
"“Sure I’ll marry you,” said Fanny. “Sure! I’d rather be the wife of the fattest, yellowest Chink in New York than live the sorta life I’m livin’—see, Chinkie-Toodles?”"
"“Chinkie-Toodles,” she said the day before the wedding, and the gleam in her eyes gave point to the words, “I’m square—see? An’ I’m goin’ to travel square. Maybe I haven’t always been a poifec’ lady, but I ain’t goin’ to bilk yer, get me? But—” She looked up, and suddenly, had Nag Hong Fah known it, the arrogance, the clamorings, and the tragedy of her mixed blood were in the words that followed: “I gotta have a dose of freedom. I’m an American—I’m white—say!”"
Other Characters from The best short stories of 1918, and the yearbook of the American short story
Nag Hong Fah
Proprietor of the Great Shanghai Chop Suey Palace, husband to Fanny Mei Hi, and father.
Miss Frances Giddings
A polite, elderly spinster and proprietor of a small general store in Ivy Corners.
Edith Preston
Narrator of the story 'Buster,' a perceptive and well-meaning spinster visiting Cape Ann.
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