54 pages • 1 hour read
Kelly YangFinally Seen
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Benefits of a Strong Support System
Content Warning: This section includes discussion of anti-Chinese xenophobia, anti-immigrant biases, abuse, child loss, and racism.
Lina demonstrates ample personal courage and fortitude throughout Finally Seen, from the moment she steps off the international flight to the US to her comments to the school board. Along the way, however, Lina’s family members, teachers, and friends offer her valuable support in a variety of ways. While Lina’s traits are essential in her progress in overcoming conflicts, having a strong support system helps her personal qualities reach full effectiveness.
Lina’s most immediate and intimate support system is her family. Even before she leaves China, Lao Lao supports Lina’s decision to go to California, and she offers advice and reassurance by phone. Millie and Dad prove to Lina that mistakes are not only natural but also crucial for forward progress; Dad’s counsel helps Lina feel better after freezing the bath bombs, and Millie’s spelling error shows Lina that even “experts” make mistakes. Mom is most influential in helping Lina find and utilize her inner core of strength; she instructs Lina that her “blood is made from iron will and determination” (48) and reminds her that immigrants are highly capable when challenges arise: “[Immigrants] pick the something hard” (104). Through her family members’ support, Lina receives encouragement and learns resilience.
Lina’s teachers also offer her a buffer of support. Mrs. Carter chooses the best candidate in the class for a seat partner (Finn) for Lina. She also acts immediately to assess and support Lina’s needs in the classroom by providing English Language Learner support within the week. Mrs. Ortiz, Lina’s ELL teacher, makes connections with Lina by sharing personal stories of her immigration from Guatemala and the subsequent challenges she faced in learning English. Mrs. Hollins, the school librarian, offers Lina the “job” of student librarian, providing a “home” at school. Her teachers’ actions fulfill Lina’s yearning to belong, be heard, and contribute.
Finally, Finn and Carla support Lina with friendship and understanding. They share graphic novels, discuss family conflicts and feelings of loss, and offer her valuable ideas and advice. For example, Finn supplies Lina with the idea to write a graphic novel as a communication tool for Lao Lao, and Carla forewarns Lina that Pete is not a man of his word. Finn and Carla’s support combined with the care of Lina’s teachers and family creates a circle that helps boost Lina’s strength and courage toward raising her voice and supporting others.
Finding the Courage to Raise One’s Voice
Lina leaves China to be free of the “invisible thread” that she must use to “sew up half her mouth” (2). She wants to avoid a Beijing middle school that will, as Aunt Jing says, “get the art out of [her]” (1). Lina looks forward to more freedom in the US to express ideas and convey creativity through art. Ironically, once Lina arrives, others laugh at and misinterpret her use of English, and she decides to keep quiet. Gradually, though, through her observations about unfairness and racism, Lina gains the courage to communicate. Lina’s actions show that finding the courage to raise one’s voice is challenging, but speaking out leads to positive change and fulfillment.
As an immigrant, Lina observes or experiences cruel treatment by others. Others laugh at her pronunciation, the class is unsympathetic toward her first-day reading skills, and Jessica refuses to acknowledge racism in Flea Shop. Mrs. Carter, however, highlights the effectiveness of speaking out about unfairness to marginalized people and immigrants: “But I am so proud of Catherine Wang for shedding light on them so that we all learn and grow. Sometimes an experience that seems impossible to us is the lived experience of many other people. And by understanding that, we all become more empathic human beings” (247). Similarly, Lina demonstrates Wang’s resoluteness when she includes the bathroom stall words in her graphic novel. These events show that speaking out against unfairness and racism takes courage.
Sometimes the benefits of speaking out are indirect. Because Pete holds a powerful position as Dad’s employer, Dad finds it difficult to approach him about the green card. Lina sees, though, how Pete’s insistence they speak only English on his farm is unfair, and she bravely challenges this by questioning him. This brave moment in Lina foreshadows her later ability to speak at the school board meeting. Finding the courage to speak up does not always result in changing others’ ways, but raising one’s voice helps in finding a successful path forward.
Lina’s motivation to speak at the school board meeting grows out of Mrs. Scott’s attempts to remove Flea Shop and silence the voice represented in the graphic novel. Lina finds the courage to present remarks that reach audience members and persuade the committee to return Flea Shop to the hands of readers. Like her original graphic novel and questioning Pete, Lina’s speech represents the courage one must have to raise a strong voice.
Using Imagination to Bolster Positivity and Progress
Millie refers to Mom’s former career at Panda Amusement Park as an “Imagineer” role, an engineering job that involved designing new attractions. This loose allusion to American theme parks where important jobs rely on the use of one’s imagination sets the stage for emphasis on this skill. Mom’s encouragement of the girls’ imaginations, Mrs. Ortiz’s imagination games, and other elements of creativity work together to support a theme of imagination as a real-world skill. Lina and others use imagination to bolster positivity and progress.
Lina bonds with Millie and Mom soon after arriving in the US through imagination. Mom asks the sisters to think about how their lives might be different in five years, instructing them to “dream big.” Checking into this “Imagination Hotel” inspires continued progress. Lina dreams of a day at the beach with the family and Lao Lao; Mom dreams that Target sells her bath bombs. By the novel’s conclusion, both make progress toward these dreams; Lina sees the beach with Dad, and Mom acquires a business partner to increase sales. These examples demonstrate that imagined goals come true in small steps if one works at them.
Mrs. Ortiz’s choice of ELL activities contributes to this theme as well. Mrs. Ortiz opts to play imagination games with Lina in which Lina answers questions in English regarding imaginary scenarios. For example, Lina lists who might join her on a “dessert” (not deserted) island. This not only helps to teach Lina the difference between dessert and desert but also offers a chance to use her imagination. This question also leads Lina to discuss her guilt in leaving Lao Lao behind, demonstrating how imagination and emotions are closely linked. These lessons assist Lina as she reenters the mainstream English class and helps her overcome guilt.
Along with Mom’s Imagination Hotel and Mrs. Ortiz’s imagination games, the novel offers other connections to the imagination through a focus on dancing, fiction, and art. Millie, Lina, and Carla enjoy dancing at the farm, and Millie uses dance to express herself on TikTok. Lina loves art and uses her imagination to design images for bath bombs and draw images in her graphic novel. Flea Shop and other fiction inspire imagination in Lina, Finn, and Carla. In each of these situations, the use of imagination prompts characters to find positivity despite conflict and make progress toward real-world goals.
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