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The main character, Danny, showcases this idea when he recounts how his parents acted in the past and how they were grieving even before he found out about his sister, “It’s not that I didn’t feel my sister there, even before my mom told me she was dead because I did. I felt the way they grieved, but I was always wrong about what it was for. I thought that it was for a sister whose body had long ago broken down, her molecules dissipating back into the world, but I was wrong. It was the grief of parents who chose one child over another, who chose me as the one who lived.”(pg. 309) He realizes they chose between their children and lied to Danny about what happened. Overall, Kelly Loy Gilbert wants the reader to confront our pasts to face our futures because everyone has skeletons in their closet, but the first step towards peace and healing is to accept the past.

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Picture Us In The Light addresses how life has hardships: grief, loss, envy, and crime, and how these things can make you want to hide your past. Accepting the truth is the first step toward healing. This book addresses that by forcing Danny and his family to go through several difficult events, including the move to San Jose and the car accident. It is addressed when Danny’s parents come clean about their past and explain how they live illegally in the country.

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The economic struggles of the Cheng's affect Danny because he has to leave some of his most important support pillars (Harry and Regina) to support his family. This problem influences Danny's frustration toward his parents because it puts a lot of distance between him and what makes him happy. This, and the parents lying to Danny about why they are hiding, drives a wedge between the family.

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In Picture Us In The Light, it’s important to note that Danny’s family is poorer than all of his friends in the book. He is one of the only characters struggling financially. The impact money has on Danny’s family is shown when his father loses his job. For example, it’s clear when his parents said "Daniel, Cupertino as a whole is very expensive. Apartments are no more affordable. Cupertino is a terrible value for the money, and we don’t need to pay for a good school district anymore because you have already been accepted for next year. So we will move to San Jose.”(pg. 174) That affects Danny’s life and how he sees his family compared to his friends. We see that Cupertino is a small rich suburb when Regina said “I’ll miss driving down the street and seeing nothing but tutoring centers? I’ll miss everyone else’s parents knowing exactly what I got on my SAT’s and teachers having to commute from like Morgan Hill because Cupertino is full of rich white NIMBYs who refuse to build more housing?” (pg. 33-34) The town is very close-knit. Cupertino has a large Asian population, and is filled with mostly upper-class families.

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Danny says: “I’m not going. I’d spend the whole time worrying, anyway. It wouldn’t be worth it even if I did. But also, just-- I can’t. Maybe I can take classes at a community college here, and I’ll get a job and help out. Maybe I could get a job at the mall with you, Ba. Or something. I’ll figure something out.”(pg. 345) This moment shows that Danny is selfless and willing to do anything for his family. This impacts the moral dilemma of whether or not Danny should dig deeper into his family’s history or keep the peace. It shows that, even though Danny decided to dig deeper into his history and confront his parents, he would still do anything for them regardless of their criminal history. This impacts the plot and theme by pushing Danny’s parents to leave so Danny can chase his dreams and go to RISD instead of supporting his family.

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In the novel Picture Us In The Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert, the main character is a high school student named Danny Cheng. Throughout the novel, he deals with people hiding the truth, his friends and family's economic disparities, and losing a friend. Danny copes with these things by pushing and searching for the truth about his family’s past. He scours the internet for any trace of his parents or late sister. Through doing this, Danny realizes that his family had a much darker past than he thought and that he would do anything to protect his family once he found out his parents' motives for hiding. This shows when Danny decides to withdraw his application from RISD so he can stay with his parents in California.