Moon Orchid's stay with Brave Orchid reveals how very different these two sisters are. Brave Orchid represents frugality and tradition; Moon Orchid is frivolous, extravagant, and ephemeral. Their contrasting identities are best embodied in their names: Brave Orchid is "brave"; Moon Orchid, whose name means "flower of the moon," is like a planet circling the sun, a body in orbit around her distant husband. Brave Orchid believes that a wife's primary role is to "scold her husband into becoming a good man"; her sister passively accepts whatever her husband tells her to do, even if that means not being a part of his America life.
Brave Orchid has a strong, overpowering personality that assertively exerts itself in any situation. Single-mindedly determined that Moon Orchid should confront her "barbarian" husband, Brave Orchid exudes unquestioned confidence that any one of the many possible scenarios she devises for Moon Orchid to accost her husband will succeed. Brave Orchid is so totally consumed by her sister's plight that she fails to realize that Moon Orchid's passive, non-confrontational demeanor will not allow her to confront her husband. Note how often Brave Orchid discusses how she would act if she were in her sister's stead. For example, strategizing how best Moon Orchid can impress her husband, Brave Orchid says, "Another thing I'd do if I were you, I'd get a job and help him out. Show him I could make his life easier; how I didn't need his money." However, Brave Orchid is not her sister: She relishes the dramatic opportunity to face her brother-in-law; Moon Orchid would rather move back to Hong Kong.
In contrast to Brave Orchid, Moon Orchid emerges as delicate and vacillating, happiest when following the lead of others. Physically, she has "long fingers and thin, soft hands." Her "high-class city accent from living in Hong Kong" symbolically reveals a frail woman who has never worked in her life, and who has had servants fulfill her every need. Brave Orchid contemptuously remarks of her "wishy-washy" sister, "Not a trace of village accent remained; she had been away from the village for that long." Brave Orchid also notes that "bright colors and movements distracted her" like they would a child. Faced with the looming threat of confronting her unsuspecting husband, Moon Orchid would choose — were it not for her sister's constant nagging — to remain estranged from him. "Do we have to do something?" she passively asks.
