Home / Books / Green Island

Green Island

Book by Shawna Yang Ryan · 3 quotes · Cultural Identity, Cultural Critique, Daughters

Browse quotes from Green Island.

Book detail: Green Island is presented as a focused source page for quotations connected with this book, collection, transcript, or source record.

Browse quotes from Green Island.

The quotes below use the same card format as the rest of the site, including topics, source notes, copy actions, image creation, and sharing controls.

Filter quotes by topic

All Cultural Identity Cultural Critique Daughters Dignity Mothers Pride Taiwan

Green Island Quotes

“I understand,” she says, and then she quotes Du Fu: “The country is broken, but the mountains and rivers remain.” Her eyes flash; he catches sight of the fire in this modest woman. “We are the mountains and rivers,” he says, impressed. “No matter what the country is called.”

Pride Dignity Cultural Identity

Book:Green Island

Source: Green Island

“Was it possible this one would be a son too? She hoped so, but not because she favored men. Her husband modeled the seriousness, the stoicism, that she hoped her sons would inherit, but she had nothing to teach a daughter. She could teach her to dream—say, to be a painter, as she herself had been trained—and then teach her to let it go. Teach her to cloister herself in dark hallways, admiring how the light fell through the rice-paper doors while knowing that there was no point in putting it on canvas.”

Mothers Daughters Cultural Critique

Book:Green Island

Source: Green Island

“We are curious creatures, we Taiwanese. Orphans. Eventually, orphans must choose their own names and write their own stories. The beauty of orphanhood is the blank slate.”

Taiwan Cultural Identity

Book:Green Island

Source: Green Island