Although Ying-ying is rescued by her family, she never believes that she is the same girl. She also forgets many of the details of the day. Today, many years later, when her life is coming to an end, she finally remembers what she asked the Moon Lady: she asked to be "found."
In addition to dealing with the theme of loss, Tan also deals with the concept of the doppelganger. Note that Ying-ying felt that she had surrendered herself "to a shadow, insubstantial and fleeting." Recall, too, the scream of an exploding firecracker and Ying-ying's falling overboard. Stripped of her special tiger clothes and wearing only anonymous cotton undergarments, Ying-ying could be anyone. Indeed, for a moment, she thinks that she may be a little girl on another boat whom she saw, pushing her way through her mother's legs. Ying-ying cried out, "That's not me! . . . I'm here. I didn't fall in the water." The people on the boat laugh at Ying-ying's attempt to understand what has happened.
The phenomenon of the doppelganger, according to psychologists, is fairly common. People feel as though they have met — or seen — their "double," a life-sized mirror image of themselves. Most often, these experiences happen late at night or at dawn and occur during periods of stress and fatigue. This idea of a phantom "double" has existed for centuries. In this case, Ying-ying sees a little girl who is safe; at the same time, she is trying to reinstate herself on shore, as a safe little girl who did not fall in the water. She feels that she should be the little girl's "double" — united with her family again, on dry land.
