In the Land of the Free

The tree with the growing red flower is one of the first symbols the reader encounters in the text. Hom Hing describes to the customs official how his wife dreamed “of a green tree with spreading branches and a single red flower growing thereon” and that he took this as a sign that she should return to China to give birth to their child (5). In this way, the tree represents Hom Hing’s family, with its spreading branches indicating that his family is in the process of growing. The single red flower symbolizes Little One, the new bud in the family tree, in the color red to symbolize life. Lae Choo’s dream about this tree signals to Hom Hing that she is pregnant and necessitates her return to China so that their son can be born in the country of his family’s roots, deepening the tree metaphor.

The reader encounters the tree again later in the story after Little One has been taken into government custody. As Lae Choo gathers her many jewels to give to James Clancy to fund his trip to Washington, Hom Hing prevents her from giving up one particular ring: “He selected a ring—his gift to Lae Choo when she dreamed of the tree with the red flower.