Chapter summaries Last Night at the Telegraph Club Malinda Lo

Chapter 33: A Pledge of Loyalty and a Hidden Yearning

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Lily reluctantly joins Shirley, Flora, and the late Mary at Flora’s father’s shop in Chinatown to plan Shirley’s evening gown for the Miss Chinatown pageant. Lily’s mind is elsewhere—she keeps replaying the kiss she shared with Kath days earlier and the ache of having to part in secret. While waiting, she wanders the shop and discovers a miniature jet airplane that reminds her of Kath. She also finds a yellowed “Pledge of Loyalty” poster from 1951, issued by the Chinese YMCA and YWCA, which declares loyalty to the United States and support for the nationalist government of Free China. The poster makes Lily reflect on how much she has changed since junior high school. When Mary arrives, Lily must push down her panic and join the group to leave for Union Square.

Key Events

  • Shirley announces she wants a separate evening gown for the speech portion of Miss Chinatown, not just the required cheongsam, to emphasize her American identity.
  • Lily’s attention drifts to an Arthur C. Clarke article in Seventeen magazine, but Flora takes the magazine away.
  • Lily volunteers to check for Mary, hoping to delay dress shopping, but Mary has not arrived yet.
  • While alone, Lily finds a toy jet airplane. She peels off a “Made in Japan” sticker, leaving a sticky residue—a symbol of hidden origins.
  • Lily is asked for help by an American woman who assumes she works in the store; Lily directs her to Mr. Soo.
  • Behind the jewelry counter, Lily spots a “Pledge of Loyalty” poster from 1951; reading its four points, she realizes it has been hidden beneath other notices.
  • Lily reflects on how she was a different person in junior high, before knowing Kath, before the Telegraph Club, before her first kiss with a girl.
  • Mary arrives, and Lily suppresses her anxiety to join the others.

Character Development

  • Lily continues to navigate the double life of a Chinese-American teenager in 1950s San Francisco. Her internal world is dominated by her secret relationship with Kath, and she struggles to participate in ordinary activities like dress shopping. The pledge poster forces her to see that her loyalty—to her family, her community, and her own desires—is increasingly conflicted.
  • Shirley shows ambition and cultural negotiation by wanting to stand out in the pageant as both Chinese and American. Her friendship with Lily is tested but seems repaired.
  • Flora appears less accepting of Lily than Shirley is, giving her a reproachful look. She remains tied to traditional expectations.
  • Mary is late due to family obligations, hinting at the pressures faced by Chinese-American girls.
  • Mr. Soo and the American woman (unnamed) represent the broader adult world that often misreads Lily’s role and identity.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • The toy airplane serves as a symbol of Lily’s hidden feelings for Kath and the idea of flight—escape, freedom, and the impossibility of public acknowledgment. The “Made in Japan” sticker that comes off easily yet leaves a sticky residue suggests the difficulty of removing labels of origin or identity.
  • The Pledge of Loyalty poster embodies the theme of divided loyalties in the Cold War era. Chinese-Americans were pressured to prove allegiance to the U.S. while rejecting communist China. For Lily, the poster also mirrors her internal split between her family/community expectations and her nascent queer identity.
  • Secrecy and visibility appear throughout: Lily must hide her longing for Kath, just as the poster was hidden beneath other ads. She feels a “hot, panicky feeling” that her true self might spill out involuntarily.
  • Miss Chinatown represents performance of femininity and cultural identity. Shirley’s decision to wear a separate gown for her speech is a deliberate act of claiming Americanness, similar to how Lily must decide which parts of herself to reveal.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 33 deepens the tension between Lily’s public and private selves. It shows that even an ordinary Sunday errand is fraught with reminders of the impossibility of openness. The toy airplane and loyalty poster are physical objects that crystallize the chapter’s emotional core: Lily is caught between her love for Kath and the society that would condemn it. This chapter also grounds the story in its historical moment—the early 1950s Red Scare—by showing how Chinatown itself was policing allegiance to the U.S. and Taiwan. Lily’s personal awakening unfolds against a backdrop of political surveillance, making her secret feel even more dangerous.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. Why does Lily peel off the “Made in Japan” sticker from the toy airplane, and what might this action symbolize?
    Lily peels off the sticker easily, but it leaves a sticky residue. This action symbolizes the difficulty of erasing one’s origins. For Lily, it reflects her attempt to separate herself from her family’s Chinese identity and the societal labels that would mark her as an outsider, while the residue suggests that the past cannot be fully erased—much like her secret feelings for Kath.

  2. What does the Pledge of Loyalty poster reveal about the political pressures on Chinese-Americans in 1951?
    The poster’s four points demand explicit loyalty to the U.S., support for Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist government, opposition to Chinese communists as Soviet stooges, and endorsement of UN action in Korea. It shows how the Cold War forced Chinese-Americans to prove their distance from communist China, often through public displays of patriotism. The fact that it was hidden beneath other posters hints that such pledges were layered over by daily life but still present.

  3. How does Lily’s encounter with the American woman who assumes she works in the store contribute to the chapter’s themes?
    The woman mistakes Lily for a shop employee, reflecting how Chinese-Americans were often seen as service workers rather than full citizens. Lily’s polite deflection shows her internalization of that role, yet the interaction also reinforces her sense of not belonging—both in the white American world and within her own community.

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