Week 16: Analysis

Reading Notes W16: Casa by Rigoberto Gonzalez, Part A

My main thought about this poem is the personification of the house.

Hundreds for Pennies

Hundreds for Pennies

Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is a series of mnemonic stories about the relationship between four Chinese mothers to their four Chinese-American or America-raised daughters. These are the characters in the story, as written in this order mother’s name and daughter’s name: Suyuan Woo and Jing-mei “June” Woo, Lindo Jong and Waverly Jong, An-mei Hsu and Rose Hsu Jordan, and lastly, Ying-ying St. Clair and Lena St. Clair. The novel begins with June Woo retelling her mother’s story about her life during the Chinese-Japanese war, and the symbolism about the duck that became a swan – which tells the lesson that no matter how bad things get as long as you hold on to your hope and faith, you will flourish and be your dazzling you, and the logic behind the mah jong club’s name: The Joy Luck Club. June Woo claims that she never understood her mother, so when she passed away, June seeks for her mother from the stories of her three close friends as she is appointed to fill her mother’s spot in the mah jong table. From their stories, we can see that there is an apparent awareness of social and economic forces that affect the relationship between these families and between these mothers and daughters.

The relationship between Suyuan and June is faulty because they are lost in translation. At a young age, June Woo and her mother, Suyuan, always bicker because she wanted her daughter to be a prodigy but June, at a young age, learned to listen to her own self. When Suyuan witnessed a young Chinese girl on TV playing piano so gracefully she enrolled June to their neighbor who happened to be a deaf pianist in exchange for home cleaning services. June reluctantly takes the lessons but instead of being invested in it, she realized that her mentor can only give praises, not exactly an effective learning curve (136-138). Suyuan speaks little English, while June understands little Chinese. Suyuan was not able to convey what her true intentions are, and June never tried to understand because she always manage to hate her mother’s way. Another reason why their relationship is faulty is because they are lost in cultural differences. In Asian culture, as I experience it first hand, mothers always want their children to be the best that they could be even if that means pushing them to their limits. And in the American culture, as I see on TV and observe in my surrounding, Americans let their children explore their own capacities which sometimes leads to the children giving up because they get bored easily and their parents end up encouraging them to do something else. This has been June’s way of thinking when she laments, “Why don’t you like me the way I am? I am not a genius!” but Suyuan replies in her English unreachable to June’s understanding, “Who ask you be genius? … Only ask you be your best. For your sake. You think I want you be genius? Hnnh! What for! Who ask you! (136)” Later, when June performs for a recital, her performance was horrifying, so much so that it dented her social (and in the long run) economic relationship with her childhood friend, Waverly Jong, while Suyuan continued to mask her embarrassment, she developed social awkwardness toward her friend, Lindo Jong.

June and Waverly’s relationship began to get sour when Waverly becomes a chess prodigy and brings hope tons of trophies whilst June is not able to perform gracefully with her piano on stage. Waverly tells June, “You aren’t a genius like me (140)” and that made June think that she’s incapable. But although Waverly is a genius as she can gauge, her relationship with her mother is more sour than it is with June. Same as Suyuan’s and June’s relationship, Lindo and Waverly are lost in cultural differences which enable their relationship to be dysfunctional. Like any mother, Lindo feels the need to boast about her daughter’s achievement but Waverly gets embarrassed about it.

Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. New York: Putnam's, 1989. Print.

Reading Notes W15: Bradbury, Part A

It's just a feeling; sometimes it frightens me, sometimes I'm not frightened at all — but peaceful."

"I guess not. You don't scream about the real thing."

[I would miss] just little things, really. How can we sit here and talk this way?"

"Because there's nothing else to do."

"Maybe it's because it was never February 30, 1951, ever before in history, and now it is and that's it, because this date means more than any other date ever meant and because it's the year when things are as they are all over the world and that's why it's the end."

-----

The exchange of dialogue between the couple may seem confusing since the way it was written only uses quotation marks to mark the speaking tone. It shows that the husband and the wife shares the same thought and thinks on the same train of thought. It shows how connected they are even at the end of the world.

This story is frightening and beautiful at the same time. It urges the reader to think about what is the last thing they want to do knowing that the world would end tonight. The couple discusses what they want to do, but figured they just want to be beside each other, holding and hugging each other.

They accepted that it is the last day of the world, since everyone seemed to have the same dream. They were calm and peaceful, as if it is an inevitable occurrence. It’s also strange, since the last day was specified as February 30, 1951 and we know that it technically doesn’t occur – even on a leap year. The dream was a premonition, and the day itself – although it was not published in the evening paper – is the indicator that tonight is the last night.

WORK CITED:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16083181-the-last-night-of-the-world

Project Action Plan

For the last project I chose this prompt from my topic brainstorm which is: Choose a reading selection, and write an argument in response to it answering: How are class differences presented in the work? Are characters aware or unaware of the economic and social forces that affect their lives? 

I am currently reading The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. This story is about the relationship of four Chinese mothers to their Chinese-American daughters. The Chinese mothers are refugees from China during the Chinese-Japanese war. Thus, I believe that the characters are aware of the economic and social forces that affects their lives. As far as I know, the Chinese mothers and their daughters are friends all their lives, and there is very little class difference amongst them. When one seemed to get better in terms of wealth over the other, they seem to equate it by putting the money they collected through mah jong in stock or other business.

There is, however, a social generational gap between the mothers and the daughters especially since the daughters were born and raised in America. They were raised speaking only in English, which has a huge effect on the bond they ought to share to their mothers.

In my project I plan to write the body paragraphs in this manner:

Explain how the mothers’ unfortunate lives during the Chinese-Japanese war influenced their decision of cutting their daughters out of their miserable Chinese way of living. (economical force)

Explain how the way the daughters were raised stretched the distance between their mothers. (social force)

The mother-daughter realization and hope that their relationship will be peaceful, especially Jing-mei’s (June’s) resolution (and regret that she never understood her mother while she was alive) after meeting her half-sisters and speaking of their mother, Suyuan, to the daughters she left on the roadside in China. (economic and social forces)

I have yet to formulate a concrete argument for I haven’t finished reading the novel. I hope, though, that my plan is a start to help me form an argument.

Work Cited:

Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. New York :Putnam's, 1989. Print.

Topic Brainstorm

Choice 1:  Choose a reading selection, and write an argument in response to it answering:
How are class differences presented in the work? Are characters aware or unaware of the economic and social forces that affect their lives? 

My views from this choice hasn't changed much  since the first project brainstorm. This topic shakes my heart, and I want to delve into it, not because of bitterness, but because I want to learn how the people of upper classes discriminate people of lower classes, and how it is historically relevant. I believe that a child wouldn’t be so mean towards another child if he/she wasn’t taught of their privileges as part of the upper classes. So, is in nature or is it the way they are nurtured that made them discriminate against the “untouchables” (based on the Indian caste system).

As I read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, I feel closely related to what the characters experience especially when they went on a tour back to China. If you are also an immigrant from a third world country, the perspective of your relatives about you changes, as if you have won a million dollars just because you are currently living in a first-world country.

Choice 2: Choose a reading. 

In your project, consider the following: 

What does this work reflect about its historical, social, political and/or economic context? You may focus on race, class, power, cultural values and beliefs, historical events, the author’s biography, gender, psychology, etc. 

I would like to examine the Four poems of Angel Island and Chinatown. I think it gives us a glimpse of how Chinese people are treated for almost 4 decades. Historical, social, political and/or economic context are present from these four poems.

This choice is closely related to my first choice except about historical views. I think that The Joy Luck Club and the four poems of Angel Island and Chinatown can be weaved together to give us a glimpse of Chinese-American history.

Choice 3: Think about a theme you see running through your life (failure is the best lesson, love is eternal, etc). Choose a reading that you think also discusses this theme (even if it reaches different conclusions about it). Explore connections between how the theme plays out in your life, and how the theme gets played out in the reading.

As I read The Joy Luck Club, I notice that the narrator and I share common theme in our life: failure and mistakes are the best lessons. I would like to compare myself to her as a daughter, a woman, and a human being. I have yet to finish the book, so I don’t know her resolution. But in  at some level, I feel connected to her, as if a reflection, perhaps.

Reading Notes W12: The Joy Lucky Club

For the solo reading, I chose Amy Tan's The Joy Lucky Club. I will jot down direct quotes, build a timeline, or write my thoughts.

Characters:
Mothers and Daughters:
1. Suyuan Woo and Jing-mei "June" Woo
2. An-mei Hsu and Rose Hsu Jordan
3. Lindo Jong and Waverly Jong
4. Ying-ying St. Clair and Lena St. Clair

The doctor said she died of cerebral aneurysm. And her friends at the Joy Luck Club said she died just like a rabbit: quickly and with unfinished business left behind (19).

I can never remember things  I didn't understand in the first place (19).

The Joy Luck Club was founded by the narrator's mother in San Francisco 1949 two years  before she was born.

My mother could sense that the women of these families also had unspeakable tragedies thy had left behind in China and the hopes they couldn't begin to express in their fragile English. Or at least, my mother recognized the numbness in these women's faces. And she saw how quickly their eyes moved when she told them her idea for the Joy Luck Club (20).

The moss metaphor on page 21.