Dragonwings

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1975

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapter 9-Afterword

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 5-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 5 Summary: “Windrider’s Claws (February, 1904 – May, 1905)”

The Company men share the cost to pay Black Dog’s debt. Black Dog remains with the Company and vows to change his ways. For a while, he works hard helping at the laundromat, but he soon becomes irritable and disappears again, rejoining the opium dens. Moon Shadow notes that his problem is the “inability to control himself” (78). After two years in America, Moon Shadow assumes the responsibility of collecting the customers’ bills around the Tang town. One day, he encounters Black Dog, who tells him a story about opium. The conversation leads to a disagreement, and Black Dog becomes furious and hits Moon Shadow, knocking him out and stealing the money he carries. When Moon Shadow awakens back at the Company, the men correctly suspect that Black Dog is the culprit, and Moon Shadow finally admits it. Windrider expresses his exasperation with the criminal brotherhoods that harm Tang people and reveals that he once belonged to the Sleepers when he was young.

He decides to avenge his son and goes to the Sleepers, demanding to see Black Dog. In the ensuing struggle, Moon Shadow’s intervention saves his father’s life, but when Windrider kills a member of the Sleepers in self-defense, he and his son must both leave the Company to prevent the gang from retaliating against their community. Windrider secures a job at Mr. Alger’s estate and rents a barn from a “demoness” (91), a white woman named Miss Whitlaw. Uncle Bright Star resents his decision and warns him about the dangers of living so close to white society. Finally, everybody presents them with gifts and bids them farewell.

Chapter 6 Summary: “The Demoness (May, 1906)”

On the way toward their new home, Moon Shadow observes the streets where “the poorer demons” (95 must live. As always, the white people’s houses look scary to him, and he is worried that somebody might harm him. Father and son settle in and meet the white property manager, Miss Whitlaw. Moon Shadow is nervous to meet “white demons,” but Miss Whitlaw greets them with a hearty welcome, and Moon Shadow is surprised to feel “calm and unafraid” (101). They also meet Robin, Miss Whitlaw’s niece who has lived with her since losing her parents.

Miss Whitlaw’s library is full of travel books, and she expresses her love of travel. She shows them a glass window, and they are amazed to see a dragon depicted on it. Miss Whitlaw thinks of dragons as evil creatures killed by St. George. Disappointed in her negative attitude toward dragons, Moon Shadow insists on explaining the positive nature of dragons in Chinese culture. Later, Robin plays the piano, and Miss Whitlaw sings. Moon Shadow sees the dragon reflected from the window on Miss Whitlaw’s skirt and thinks that she might have been a Tang woman in her former life. That night, he muses that they could have been mother and son in a previous life.

Chapter 7 Summary: “Educations (May – June, 1905)”

Moon Shadow’s life does not change much after leaving Chinatown. He helps his father at Mr. Alger’s estate and spends his evenings learning the Tang language. However, he must always return to the stable before “the demon children” finish school and avoid large groups of white people (113-14). One day, he decides to visit Miss Whitlaw. She welcomes him with cookies and milk, and he gives her a pack of jasmine tea in a small box decorated with a dragon and tells her more about the positive role of dragons in Chinese culture. Moon Shadow’s perspective of America changes as he learns that there are good white people in the world, too. However, one day he has a confrontation with a “demon boy” (118) in the neighborhood. The boy (whose name is later revealed to be Jack) kicks Moon Shadow and makes him fall as other boys gather around and mock him with ethnic slurs. Moon Shadow starts swearing at the boy in Chinese, and they throw garbage and stones at him. Moon Shadow leaves quietly without showing his fear and pain. He says nothing about the incident to Windrider, but he becomes afraid of going outside. His fear increases when his father comes in one day “with a black eye and his right sleeve torn” (120). Robin starts doing chores outside and notices Moon Shadow’s nervousness as he tries to wash the dishes. Robin starts keeping him company, and although Moon Shadow is still uncomfortable around “the demon girl” (122), he joins her outside to prove he is not afraid.

Windrider builds a model glider based on his aeronautical books, and he, Moon Shadow, and Robin test the glider at the sand dunes together. Back home, Robin joins Moon Shadow and Windrider at the stable and looks at their books. Robin asks Moon Shadow to see the books with the imaginative dragon stories. Moon Shadow explains that dragons are real and exist anywhere. Later, Robin shows her books to Moon Shadow. He soon starts English lessons with Miss Whitlaw, and his friendship with the Whitlaws grows as he relates stories of dragons and of his home. He is certain they shared a bond in a previous life. Moon Shadow notices his father’s struggles to construct an airplane and writes a letter to the Wright brothers to ask for advice. After two weeks, he receives a response from Orville Wright, who shares information like diagrams and charts. Excited, he shares the news with Windrider who is initially angry that Moon Shadow revealed his dream and asked others for help, throwing the letter away. Miss Whitlaw consoles Moon Shadow, and he compares his father to a dragon. The next day, Windrider studies the letter and suggests writing another letter to the Wrights.

Chapter 8 Summary: “Earth, Wind, and Water (June – September, 1905)”

Father and son continue their correspondence with the Wright brothers, and Windrider makes more glider models. On a Saturday, they go to a picnic with Robin and Miss Whitlaw and test one of the airplane models. After a pleasant lunch, Windrider cuts the chord off the glider and lets it fly away, explaining that he will make more models. Despite their new home, Moon Shadow and Windrider stay connected with the Tang town, there sending and receiving letters or shopping for groceries there. Their mother and grandmother send a letter saying that they are worried about the move out of Chinatown.

One Sunday, Robin reveals to Moon Shadow that Jack is afraid of being punched in the nose. Later, when Moon Shadow hears Jack and the boys playing outside, he confronts them. Jack mocks Moon Shadow again with slurs, and Moon Shadow punches him. All the boys are surprised, but Jack does not react. Moon Shadow helps him stand up and Jack admits that he is “all right” (145). Moon Shadow feels accepted and is not afraid of them anymore. One evening in September, Moon Shadow and his father spend time with the Whitlaws looking at the stars. Robin names some of the constellations in Latin and Greek, while Moon Shadow and Windrider explain the names of the Chinese constellations. Miss Whitlaw realizes that they “see the same thing and yet find different truths” (147).

Chapters 5-8 Analysis

This section of the novel outlines many of the social and cultural clashes that the protagonists must struggle to overcome, and with the problems surrounding Black Dog’s behavior, it is clear that even the close-knit Tang community is not free of internal conflict. Because the Company functions as a family, they decide to work together to pay Black Dog’s debt. Yet despite this generosity, Black Dog reneges on his promise to change and instead becomes resentful and rejoins the opium dens. Seeing this, Moon Shadow describes Black Dog as a man whose “mind had become poisoned and he had begun to think like a demon” (77); thus, the external pressures of white society have profound effects on the internal doings of the Tang town itself. The passage also describes Black Dog’s lack of character and emphasizes his alienation and estrangement from the communal bond, as his inner conflict makes him “despise the Tang people around him” (77-78). In a later encounter with Moon Shadow, Black Dog tells a story about the opium use by Chinese people, and hints that opium is his way of escaping his difficult life. His hostile attack on Moon Shadow and theft of his money also serves as a pragmatic plot device that starts a chain of events that ultimately forces Windrider and his son to leave the Tang community and become more fully immersed in white society: a risky endeavor for them.

Both father and son soon learn that living so close to members of white society in San Francisco creates a mixture of positive and negative experiences. As they begin their lives anew, Moon Shadow is still frightened and suspicious of the “white demons,” but his feelings change when he encounters the many kindnesses of Miss Whitlaw and Robin. This point in the text constitutes a vital shift in the protagonist’s perspective of white society and expands on the theme of The Importance of Community to the Immigrant Experience. In their first meeting, the group starts a process of positive intercultural exchange. For example, Miss Whitlaw’s glass window featuring a dragon inspires a comparative discussion of the dragon’s role in Chinese culture and white American culture. Similarly, Moon Shadow’s fondness for Miss Whitlaw makes him think that she must be “the ghost of a Tang woman” (111), and thus it is clear that despite the difficult sociocultural climate of San Francisco, these four characters are able to transcend cultural and ethnic boundaries and forge strong friendships with each other. Even though Miss Whitlaw is not knowledgeable about Chinese culture, she is always willing to listen and learn. Moon Shadow comments that she has “a genuine interest in learning about people as people” (116), and her lack of prejudice and openness is the key that allows Moon Shadow to create a new community for himself outside of Chinatown. His view of white people shifts somewhat as he begins to appreciate this new friendship and realizes that not all white people are hostile to Chinese people.

Even with these positive developments, racial discrimination remains a pervasive issue throughout the narrative, one that sometimes turns dangerous. Moon Shadow quarrels with Jack and the other white boys of the neighborhood who bully him with ethnic slurs, while Windrider is also attacked by two white men. Robin, however, offers friendship to Moon Shadow and helps him to overcome the boys’ bullying. With her encouragement, he eventually confronts the white boys and overcomes his fear. When Jack acknowledges his courage, Moon Shadow realizes that the white boys do not differ much from the Chinese boys he knows. The passage demonstrates that despite reproducing the prejudices that surround them, children are more open to accepting each other than adults are.

Windrider’s determination to fly also becomes an opportunity for further bonding between the two families. Windrider constructs a number of glider models and when he and Moon Shadow decide to test one, Robin follows them with curiosity. Like her aunt, she listens to Windrider’s flying explanations with interest. She and Moon Shadow start discussing stories and books, and their friendship begins. Their budding friendship further illustrates The Importance of Community to the Immigrant Experience. Just as Windrider and Moon Shadow integrate more fully into white society, Miss Whitlaw also develops her own cross-cultural understanding as she describes her view of the dragon as a creature “in between the American and the Chinese versions” (132). When Windrider and Moon Shadow correspond with the Wright brothers and fly some of Windrider’s new model airplanes, Miss Whitlaw and Robin join in the endeavor and together, the four characters form a new familial group. Their moments together reflect a mutual willingness to share and understand each other’s cultures and ideas. As they spend evenings in the yard looking at the stars, they compare their cultures’ respective stories about constellations and find connection by accepting their cultural differences and sharing their perspectives of the world.