A person's name is simply a label, but is it capable of affecting one's character? Thousand Pieces of Gold by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, recollects the story of a woman's lifelong journey. Raised into a penurious Chinese family, Lalu Nathoy was her father's "thousand pieces of gold" (McCunn, 20). Yet, after a prolonged season of severe drought and famine, her father sold her out of desperation. Lalu was shipped to America and auctioned off to an imperious saloonkeeper. In foreign milieu, the young woman was reluctant to be identified as Polly-- the name she was bestowed on behalf of her proprietor. Nevertheless, the name change defined an imperative point of transformation in the life of Polly Bemis because of the past she left behind and the future she embraced.

Polly's name change marked a significant moment in time as it defined the end of her...