9. Discuss the ongoing conflict between Fay and her mother, Miss Cicely. How does Miss Cicely treat her daughter? Why does Fay rebel against her mother, even as an adult? What are the origins of their dispute, and why are they unable to resolve it?
10. Pao narrates, “When Michael Manley win the general election in 1972 I celebrate more than I done for Independence ten years earlier, because this time it really seem to mean something” (200). Why is Pao skeptical of the 1962 celebrations of independence from England? Why is he more interested in politics in the 1970s? Does Pao do his part to improve the living conditions of all Jamaicans? Why or why not?
11. Discuss Father Michael’s involvement in Pao’s life. What is the basis of the friendship between these very different men? What attracts Father Michael to Fay, and what price does Father Michael pay for his temptation?
12. Consider Fay’s escape to England. How does Pao react to his family’s disappearance? What steps does he take to get his children back, and how does he realize that they are better off in England than in Jamaica?
13. When Pao arrives from China as a boy, he becomes Philip Young; when his son Xiuquan settles in England, Pao agrees to call him Karl. What is the significance of these name changes?
14. Consider the long rivalry between Pao and Louis DeFreitas, the gangster who controls West Kingston. How do these two powerful men conduct business differently? How do Samuels and Kenneth Wong fall victim to the gang war? How do Pao and DeFreitas finally resolve their rivalry?
15. Kerry Young, the author of Pao , moved from Jamaica to England in 1965, much like Pao’s daughter Mui. How does Young portray Mui in the novel? Why does Mui remain attached to her father and to Jamaica, even as a barrister in England? The novel ends just before Mui’s homecoming to Jamaica. How does this ending feel?
Suggested reading
Cristina García, Monkey Hunting ; Ha Jin, Waiting ; Anchee Min, Pearl of China ; Jean Kwok, Girl in Translation ; Edwidge Danticat, The Dew Breaker ; Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ; Jamaica Kincaid, Annie John ; Julia Alvarez, In the Time of Butterflies ; Lisa See, Shanghai Girls ; Henry Chang, Chinatown Beat ; Beverley Manley, The Manley Memoirs ; Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Kerry Young
Kerry Young was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to a Chinese-African mother and a Chinese father, a businessman in Kingston’s shadow economy who provided inspiration for Pao. Young moved to England in 1965 at the age of ten. She earned her MA in creative writing at Nottingham Trent University. This is her first novel.
