The Emperor of Gladness Chapter 3: Routine, Respite, and the Search for Work

⚠️ 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

Hai settles into a daily rhythm at 16 Hubbard Street, managing Grazina’s complex medication regimen for her frontal lobe dementia. He learns to anticipate her episodes—conversations with empty chairs, mass baking of stuffed cabbages. One night during a thunderstorm, Grazina suffers a severe hallucination, reliving a wartime memory of her brother Kristof trapped under rubble. Hai calms her by singing a Vietnamese folk song his grandmother used. Afterward, she ask him about his future; he admits he once wanted to be a writer. She teases him but urges him to pursue it. Grazina also reveals financial strain, so Hai decides to seek work. He visits HomeMarket and reunites with his cousin Sony, who explains that his mother (Hai’s aunt) is in jail for arson. Hai learns Sony lives in a halfway house and got the job himself. He returns home hopeful about an interview with the manager BJ.

Key Events

Hai sorts Grazina’s thirteen daily pills, learning their shapes and sizes.
He monitors her cognitive state by asking “Who’s the president?”—a technique he learned from caring for his grandmother.
Grazina mistakes The Office for the news; she recites furniture prices during The Price Is Right.
Hai wakes early to find Grazina conversing with an empty chair, believing a girl from Schenectady is visiting.
Grazina bakes six trays of stuffed cabbages after a hallucinated call from her daughter Lina.
Hai reads the opening of Slaughterhouse-Five aloud; Grazina reacts to the cuckoo clock marking when Vilnius fell.
Hai discovers a half-full bottle of Dilaudid (hydromorphone) from Grazina’s dead husband Jonas and pockets it.
A thunderstorm triggers a profound dementia episode: Grazina screams, speaks in Lithuanian, and begs Hai to save her brother Kristof from rubble.
Hai sings a Vietnamese folk song he learned from his bà ngoại to soothe her, and eventually she emerges from the hallucination.
During a bath, Hai tells Grazina he dreamed of being a writer. She mocks the idea but pushes him to act.
Grazina reveals their EBT card is nearly empty (thirty-four dollars remaining on the eighth of the month).
Hai decides to find work; he heads to the HomeMarket in East Gladness where his cousin Sony works.
Sony reveals that his mother (Aunt Kim) is in jail for attempted arson with her boyfriend; bail is ten thousand dollars.
Hai learns Sony lives at a halfway house and was born with hydrocephalus, leaving a scar his mother once colored with a marker so he could feel “normal.”
On leaving, Hai spots a new pizza place, Sgt. Pepper’s Pizza, with a hopeful Obama ’08 poster.
He returns to Grazina and tells her about the interview; she says she had a feeling he would get the job.

Character Development

Hai deepens his caretaking role, transferring skills from caring for his grandmother to Grazina. He proves resourceful during the thunderstorm crisis, singing in Vietnamese to calm her. The discovery of the Dilaudid bottle reveals a hidden side: he is tempted by the possibility of other painkillers. He opens up about his dream of writing, showing vulnerability, and takes initiative to seek work.

Grazina displays the cruel unpredictability of dementia—hallucinations, time slips, and sudden rage—but also warmth and humor. She mocks Hai’s literary aspirations yet pushes him to try, and her faith in him (“I just had a feeling”) gives him hope.

Sony emerges as a tragic figure: isolated, intellectually quirky (obsessed with Civil War generals), living in a halfway house, his mother in prison. His memory of coloring his hydrocephalus scar to feel normal echoes Hai’s own scar-covered heart. Sony treats his cousin with guarded affection.

Aunt Kim (offstage) is revealed to be in jail for arson; her relationship with Hai’s mother has fractured. The flashback to her kissing Sony’s inked scar humanizes her.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Caregiving and inherited trauma: Hai’s methods with Grazina mirror those he used for his bà ngoại; the Vietnamese song bridges generations.
Dementia as erasure and invention: The Etch A Sketch metaphor; Grazina’s brain “draws things on its own to fill the gaps.”
The fragility of hope: The end of the chapter—listening to news of troop withdrawals, believing “the worst was over”—is undercut by the Dilaudid and the storm.
Writing as a form of survival: Hai’s desire to be a writer is mocked by Grazina (“Complaining. About weather.”) but also affirmed when she tells him to be “the most considerate observer.”
The Vietnamese diaspora: Sony’s naming (after a Sony Trinitron), Hai’s almost being named Honda, and Bà ngoại’s folk song highlight how refugees name children after desired futures.
The origami penguin: Sony cuts off the wings of swans to make penguins; a symbol of maimed creativity and adaptation.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 3 deepens the novel’s exploration of caregiving, intergenerational trauma, and the search for meaning in a world of scarcity. Hai’s discovery of the Dilaudid bottle introduces a hidden vulnerability—his potential relapse or addiction. The thunderstorm crisis is the novel’s most intense depiction of dementia, illustrating how the past can violently intrude on the present. Hai’s job hunt and reunion with Sony expand the novel’s social landscape, introducing themes of poverty, family fracture, and the Vietnamese-American experience. The chapter ends on a note of tentative hope that readers know is precarious.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Hai’s experience caring for his grandmother prepare him for Grazina? Provide specific parallels. Hai uses the same method of asking “Who’s the president?” to test Grazina’s cognitive state, just as he did with his bà ngoại when she had schizophrenic fits. He also scratches Grazina’s palm—a trick from his grandmother—to settle her during hallucinations. Finally, the Vietnamese song he sings calms Grazina the same way it soothed his grandmother during nightmares.

2. What does Hai’s admission about wanting to be a writer reveal about his character, and how does Grazina’s response shape that dream? Hai confesses a dream he abandoned before it “wasn’t real.” Grazina mocks the idea by comparing writing to “beautiful complaining” and reminds him that even a funeral costs money. Yet she also pushes him to act, telling him to get a job where he can be “the most considerate observer.” Her mixed response forces Hai to confront the gap between aspiration and survival, but her final encouragement gives him permission to try.

3. Why does Hai pocket the expired Dilaudid, and what does this action suggest about his mental state or past? Hai checks the label with “hopes he had all along, though hidden even from himself.” The fact that he notices it is not a weaker opioid but Dilaudid (a strong painkiller) suggests past experience with substance use. Beggars can’t be choosers, he thinks. The action signals that Hai may be struggling with addiction or a desire for escape, and that his caretaking role is threatened by his own demons.