Kitchen God's Wife

Women Writers
Dr. Ramirez
Amy Tan's Kitchen God's Wife, Chapters 7-11

Characters:
Winnie--Narrator, Pearl's mother, married to Wen Fu and then to Jimmy Louie; she is also known as Jiang Weili and Weiwei
Auntie Du--Helen's relation who dies and leaves Pearl her altar.
Peanut--Winnie's cousin, also known as Huazheng/Huasheng; daughter of New Aunt
Little Gong and Little Gao-Peanut's brothers
Jiang--Winnie's father
Wen Fu--Winnie's husband; also took his brother's name, Wen Chu
Auntie Miao--arranges marriage between Wen Fu and Winnie
Sz Ma, San Ma (most envious of Winnie's mother), Wu Ma--3rd, 4th, 5th wives of Winnie's father
The first dies of TB; the second kills herself; the "double second" is Winnie's mother.
Old Aunt and New Aunt--wives of Winnie's Uncle
Hulan--Helen, Winnie's friend
Jiaguo--Hulan's husband, Wen Fu's superior. He is also the father of Hulan's sister's deceased child.
Gan--a pilot and friend to Winnie

Themes:
Having a choice and being stuck
Dominance and Submission
Innocence versus experience

Settings: 1937 and years during WWII
Hangchow: where Wen Fu and Jiaguo train as pilots and where Helen and Winnie meet at monastery
Loyang: where pilots were stationed site of the hundred thousand buddha statues; Helen is from nearby village
Yangchow--Northwest of Shanghai, dusty, where Helen makes her egg batter to harden the floors and walls.
Nanking--where Gan's plane goes down