rephrase all of this such that it rhymes. "In her debut novel, How Much of These Hills is Gold, author C Pam Zhang sets the scene of a family of four living in the wild west. The parents, Ma and Ba, are both of chinese descent, something most people today would consider an anomaly. However, in her book, Zhang sets out to explore the untold stories of thousands of Chinese people who set out towards the wild west in search of gold. Throughout the novel, Zhang explores themes of race, home, belonging, and gender, and how they shape the world around the four main characters, including the two children, Lucy and Sam. When viewing the text from a literary analysis perspective, an interesting question arises: How do Lucy and Ma’s gender as women shape their experiences and interactions with the world around them, and how does Zhang portray gender expression and the connotations associated with that expression? Through the clever use of sentence structure, metaphor, dialogue, and word choice, Zhang uses the characters of Lucy and Ma to tell the untold story of women in the wild west, and comment on the impact that gender had on shaping the lives of these women. 
Utilizing literary devices of metaphor and contrast, Zhang helps the reader understand the implications of beauty and the role of gender in the life of Lucy. Understanding the unfortunate reality of being a woman in the wild west in the 1850’s, Ma takes it upon herself to teach Lucy the strategies and methods that have brought her success throughout life. One of these lessons is to use beauty to her advantage, a theme that is introduced in the first chapter when Lucy recalls her mother’s words, “Beauty is a weapon.” This short sentence fragment allows Zhang to convey the urgency and intensity of Ma’s speech. Oftentimes, the most important ideas must be conveyed concisely, and Ma’s comment to Lucy exemplifies this. Additionally Zhang’s use of metaphor helps to convey the complexity of beauty as a weapon. This comparison implies that it can be used to attack or defend, depending on the wielder's intentions. Additionally, the metaphor underscores the idea that beauty is not simply a passive trait, but an active force that shapes a person's experiences and interactions. Shortly thereafter, Ma tells Lucy that beauty is “not the kind of weapon (Sam) plays with,” creating a contrast between Lucy and Sam, who are different in their gender identities and consequently, different in their life paths. Using this contrast, the author is able to effectively convey Ma’s belief that Lucy's value is in her beauty. While Sam prefers to use guns and knives, Lucy is more traditionally feminine, leading to the world expecting certain things out of her. Through Ma’s teachings, the author reveals the harsh reality of a world that doesn't value women for their intellect or strength, but rather for their physical appearance. Ma teaches Lucy that she is expected to use her beauty as a means of protection and advantage, and that she should leverage it to gain favor and security in a hostile environment. 
Zhang includes literary devices of word choice, analogy, and dialogue to comment on the reality Lucy endures as a woman of Chinese descent in the 1850’s. While Ma taught Lucy to use beauty to her advantage, what Ma fails to teach her daughter is that beauty is a double edged sword. Eventually, Ma’s teachings are put into practice when Lucy and Sam end up in a financial predicament. Sam gets himself into debt when he steals gold from a rival prospector named the Gold Rush Man, and Lucy knows that there will be dire consequences if Sam’s debt is not paid off. Lucy then takes it upon herself to work as a prostitute to earn money to pay off the debt, paying it back remarkably quickly. Lucy describes it as easy, because she “dug a grave years ago; now she throws into it every Sam and every Lucy that came before.” Zhang depicts an almost impossible predicament Lucy finds herself in, as while no part of Lucy wants to be selling her body to pay off a debt, Lucy also understands the unfortunate reality that there are very few other ways for a single woman in the wild west to acquire money. The imagery and analogy Zhang uses of throwing one's old self into a grave serves to depict Lucy adopting a new persona. By burying her past and adopting a new identity, she is able to distance herself from the shame and stigma associated with sex work. The passage also highlights the dehumanizing nature of prostitution, as men see her as an object to be used for their own pleasure and desires. Zhang writes about Lucy’s first experience with her madam, saying that “Lucy knows what value this woman sees in her…Lucy’s difference. She speaks the first words that come to her. ‘Nu er.’ Elske sighs. ‘How very beautiful. How very precious and rare.’’’Zhang’s use of dialogue depicts how Lucy’s difference in race is exploited by others who see her as a commodity rather than a person. Elske is intrigued by her beauty, claiming that she is “very precious and rare,” however Elske’s words are ironic and insincere, as she only values Lucy for the money she can make from her. Zhang utilizes the character of Elske to show how non-white people in the wild west were never able to truly fit in, even with those who claim to value their diversity. Elske does not care about Lucy’s identity or history, but only about her exotic appearance. Zhang also shows how Lucy is forced to lie about her origins and pretend to be a foreigner by speaking in Mandarin. The word “Nu er'' means “daughter” in Mandarin, which is a term of affection that Ma used to call Lucy. By using this word, Zhang creates a contrast between Ma’s genuine love for Lucy and Elske’s fake interest in her. The author’s choices of words and language reveal how Lucy’s race and gender are both sources of pride and pain for her, and how she tries to survive in a society that does not accept her. Shortly after ending her job with Elske Lucy realizes that "Ma wasn’t wrong, just as Ma wasn’t right. Beauty is a weapon, one that can strangle its wielder," which highlights the double-edged nature of beauty as a tool that can both empower and harm women. Zhang’s use of the word "strangle" emphasizes the danger of beauty, suggesting that Lucy’s pressure to conform to societal beauty standards suffocates her true identity. Additionally, the use of parallelism in "Ma wasn't wrong, just as Ma wasn't right," also serves to highlight the nuanced nature of beauty and its impact on individuals. By acknowledging that beauty is not inherently good or bad, Zhang invites readers to consider the complex ways in which gender, identity, and societal expectations intersect. 
Finally, Zhang explores themes of gender and societal expectations through the character Ma, and leverages word choice to underline ideas of gender expectation, and empowering women. This is exemplified when preparing Lucy for her day at school with teacher Leigh, Ma teaches Lucy that “Girls have power too.” In this instance, the word too has interesting connotations, as Zhang uses it to comment on the gender power dynamics of the time. The word too challenges the stereotypes and myths of the Old West, where women are often portrayed as passive victims who are at the whim of their husbands. This challenging of stereotypes is a persistent theme throughout the book, as all four characters' presence in the wild west alone contradicts the norms of the time. Whether it is through race or gender, Zhang is not hesitant to have her characters challenge the status quo, reflective of an intention to provoke deep discourse amongst readers. Circling back to the concept of beauty, it may seem that beauty has only brought Ma and Lucy success in life, however Zhang also shows the limitations and dangers of relying on beauty as a weapon. Throughout the novel, Lucy faces discrimination, harassment, and violence because of her looks, resulting in an inner struggle with her self-image and identity as she tries to fit into different roles and expectations. Zhang’s literary choice reveals how beauty can be both a blessing and a curse for a girl who is searching for her place in the world, ultimately suggesting that beauty is not a reliable or empowering weapon, but rather a source of vulnerability and conflict, as seen in Lucy’s story. Another literary choice Zhang makes is using the word “costume” to describe how Ma disguises herself as a man to work in the mine with Ba. Zhang writes, “Ma transformed each morning before heading to the mine with Ba. She hid her hair under a cap… It was a costume, Ma explained.” Zhang’s utilization of the word “costume” implies that Ma is not showing her true self, but rather putting on a performance to fit into a hostile environment that does not accept her as a Chinese woman. Zhang also uses the word “hid” which conveys the idea of how Ma has to conceal her hair and as a result, her femininity. Ma must reduce who she truly is in order to survive in the wild west. By using these words, Zhang shows how Ma sacrifices her identity and dignity for the sake of survival and protection of her family, revealing how the characters struggle to find a place to call home in a land that does not welcome them.
	In summary, the literary devices Zhang chooses to make help the reader understand the experiences of the characters, and how their gender shapes their experiences and the world around them. Through the use of literary devices such as sentence structure, metaphor, dialogue, and word choice, Zhang tells the untold story of women in the wild west, and uses the characters Ma and Lucy to challenge the gender norms of the time. Additionally, the story of Chinese Americans throughout the gold rush has been historically underrepresented. Moreover, most people today are unfortunately unaware of the lived experiences of women throughout this time, however Zhang makes an important step in the right direction towards representing these historically underrepresented people in literature today.
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