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.