A recipe is a set of instructions that lead to an outcome. Recipes are most common when cooking food. If all of the ingredients aren't there, the recipe can't be completed. In the book, Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng includes ingredients about characters and events, but she has not yet included all of the ingredients. Ng wrote a list of all the ingredients that are needed.
We take that list of ingredients and bake the cake following the recipe, keeping in mind what ingredients we have and how much. These ingredients make you feel a certain way, kind of like how if one adds extra sugar, the final result will be sweeter. A few examples of ingredients to describe characters and events is when Ng describes who Lydia is as a teenager, hints about the affair between James and Louisa, and gives clues that make the reader believe Jack has something to do with the death of Lydia.
No one knows what Lydia was actually like as a teenager, you only know what other characters describe Lydia as which is the presentation part of the recipe. These ingredients make up who Lydia is. Nath narrates a physical description of Lydia which is like how the final product should look not taste.
“The same elvish chin and high cheekbones and
left cheek dimple, the thin shouldered build”(Ng 3). You only know the ingredients about Lydia as much as Lydia’s family does, and each member has a different recipe. Nath knew that Lydia did not have any friends, and his parents thought she had friends because of the excuses she made like how she is going to the movies with her friends. You can also infer which ingredients about Lydia are true like how when she smells like smoke, it is her smoking and not one of her pretend friends. Also, when Marilyn finds condoms in her backpack, you can infer that Lydia must have been hooking up with Jack. There are still many ingredients not added to this recipe, but the real identity of Lydia will soon unfold.
Ng adds ingredients that give hints than an affair between James and Louisa was going to happen. Louisa is the first Asian student James has taught, so there was an instant connection. The diction of the scene between James and Louisa in chapter one hints at a sexual connection between them. They have a moment when James takes a ladybug out of Louisa’s hair. “Louisa holds quite still, her eyes open and fixed on his face. It's not a flower petal, as he'd first thought. It's a ladybug, and as he picks it out, it tiptoes, on threadlike yellow legs, to hang upside down from his fingernails”(Ng 11). After Lydia's funeral, James goes to work to look at the autopsy about Lydia. Louisa is there and offers lunch at her place. James accepts this offer. They go to her place and immediately start kissing. James knew that there was never going to be lunch. This is the first time this happened, but not the last. James regrets what he did, but falls back to Louisa after having a fight with his wife. James can finally have a good sleep when he is with Louisa. “Louisa wraps her arms around him from behind, as if he is a child, and says “Stay.” And he does”(Ng 118). Ng hints at this affair might be more regular, and there will be consequences for this regrettable action because James finds comfort when he is with Louisa. This is a recipe for disaster for James because James can't say no to Louisa, and Marilyn will eventually find out if he keeps going back.
Ng gives ingredients that make you think that Jack is suspicious. These clues are like the steps in a recipe, and they come together to conclude that Jack has something to do with Lydia’s death. The beginning of the recipe starts with knowing that Jack is known to run wild at night because his mom works night shifts at the hospital, and he is known to get with a new girl from his school every few weeks. The next ingredient builds off of how Jack is a bad boy, and that Jack influenced Lydia to make bad decisions which leads to bad habits because they were spending so much time together in the Spring. Lydia knew that Marilyn and James would not approve, so she did not let them know about this relationship. Nath would always come up with excuses for Lydia when she was with Jack. “‘Lydia’s staying after to work on math,” he had really meant, She’s with Jack or She’s riding in Jack’s car”( Ng 17). After Marilyn found condoms in Lydia's bag, you know that Lydia wasn’t so innocent with Jack. Another ingredient is when Nath talks to Jack at Lydia’s funeral, Jack gets this worried look like there is something he is not saying and does not want anyone to find out. “For the first time Jack looks Nath in the face: a flash of startled blue eyes”(Ng 63). This makes you think that Jack has something to do with the death of Lydia. The next time Nath sees Jack, Jack runs to his house, so Nath can't interrogate him. “As Jack spots Nath, his face changes. He looks away, quickly, as if pretending he hasn't seen either of them, and walks faster”(Ng 121). Jack is not saying something, and the recipe isn't complete without it.
Celeste Ng uses recipes to describe who Lydia is even though the reader never met her as a teenager, to imply that the affair between James and Louisa would occur, and to give clues to make the reader believe Jack has something to do with the death of Lydia. Ng adds ingredients to make the reader feel and taste certain ways about events and characters. These recipes are not over yet, and there are more ingredients to be added. The cake can't be baked.
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