The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

“But there was something different about this one, a familiar feeling, like Ci cang soeng sik—waking from a dream—though the Chinese version of déjà vu generally referred to two people who have met before.”

Ford educates his audience in this quotation. As he is writing in English and publishing in America, he can assume that his readers will be much more familiar with déjà vu than ci can soeng sik. Thus, he takes a moment to mention the nuances between the two, which are key to the novel’s depiction of epigenetics and interconnectivity.

“Find me.”

This two-word command presents a paradox at the heart of Faye Moy’s story: how a man she has never met can own a photo of her with this phrase written on the back. Even after Dorothy Moy’s actions resolve the mystery, the idea of being sought and found by a lover recurs throughout the text, making this momentary paradox a major trope.

“While Annabel continued drawing, Dorothy watched the golf-club pipe-thing transform into something else. Something familiar. Something she herself drew as a toddler, almost obsessively. […] But that was years ago, and Dorothy never kept those drawings, let alone shared them with Annabel.”

Ford emphasizes the phrase “Something familiar” by using it as a sentence fragment. It points to the ci cang soeng sik (or déjà vu) Dorothy experiences as she examines her daughter’s drawings—a major trope in the novel that Ford wishes to underscore.