Megan hinted that slapping children in the face was not Chinese. "We are not in china, Megan," Edna would say through her teeth. "That is precisely the point I am striving to make." (Page 97) Kai's family moved to the United States to escape Communism from Shanghai China. After Kai's mother had died, his dad remarried Edna, and she is trying to wipe all the Chinese Culture from the household. She had forbidden Kai and Janie …showed first 75 words of 356 total…

…showed last 75 words of 356 total…savage. Through all this, Janie was the one showing a strong character and standing up to Edna, while Kai decided he deserved all the bad things that had came to him. He accepted the fact that he is the one that should be beat up by the crowd, and he accepted her stepmother's abusive behaviors. It was until he had joined the YMCA that he realized and learned that it is okay to fight back.