Fortune

"The Fortunes" explores the theme of fortune on two levels, first, fortune as wealth, and second, fortune as luck.

The first story shows how Ling, Crocker, Ng, and Little Sister all earn a fortune of some kind. Ling comes to America hoping to earn gold. He is obsessed with this quest, yet he is naive when it comes to business. He is horrified to learn that Little Sister's prostitution earns Ng an income. Little Sister, though, sees profit as profit. It does not matter where it comes from. Ling later sees that Crocker is similar. He views hiring the Chinese workers as a business decision. The Chinese laborers are cheap, except when they strike. Ling cannot help but see Crocker's wealth in terms of the human cost, so he leaves his employment. Throughout the years, Ling earns money through all kinds of different ways, but when...