Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, bullying, emotional abuse, and child abuse.

Magnolia Wu is the protagonist of the novel. When the narrative opens, Magnolia is a nine-year-old Chinese American girl living in New York City, where her parents run a laundromat. Although she will not be having a birthday party—because she has no friends—she still looks forward to being ten soon, because the number nine seems more fragile to her than the number ten. These details illustrate the feelings of loneliness and vulnerability that Magnolia struggles with early in the story. Magnolia is an independent and creative child—she finds many ways to entertain herself while stuck all day at the laundromat—but she’s desperately in need of a friend her own age.

Magnolia also needs to learn to be a more active participant in her own experiences. She “[thinks] of life as something that [unfolds] around her and [happens] to her while she [is] content being an observer” (24). The introduction of Iris into her life solves both of these problems: Iris becomes an almost instant best friend, and when Iris suggests the sock-returning scheme, she models for Magnolia what it looks like to take action in her life.