Monday, June 15, 2009

Without Wood and Best Quality Blog

I think the major themes of are having a voice and standing up for yourself and working hard to use your best qualities to the best of your ability to get what you deserve. The last one was sort of hard to put into words, especially to summarize it. What I am trying to say reminds me a lot of a certain Bible story, I’m not sure if it is from the Old Testament or the New Testament, but I think it is from the new one, but it’s the point made or the moral of the story that’s important to this theme. The basic plot line is that a man gives out a bunch of money to his servants and says he wants them to do what they think is best with the money and he will come back in a few years to collect the money. When he comes back years later he goes to the first group of servants and asks what they have done with the money and for whatever they have left or made back. The first group squandered away all of his money for their own uses and don’t have any left. He is disappointed in this group and moves on to the second group. He asks what they have done with their money and for it back. These very loyal servants of his tell him they invested the money for the better and in return have made three times as much as he originally gave them and offer to get the money, but instead he tells them not to and that he very pleased with what the have done. He tells them that his plan was only to see what they did with his money and since he knows they used it so well he tells them to keep all the money and that he is very proud of them. He then goes to the third group and asks them what they did with his money and for it back. They tell him they hid away the money and never used it for anything. They assume he will be pleased they kept his money and never squandered it away, but instead he is outraged. They ask why he so outraged at them, but not at the servants who squandered away the money and he tells him that when he left he told them to use the money to best of their ability and then return it when he returned. Instead though, they didn’t use it for anything, the first group may have not used as they should have, but at least they followed his orders to use it to the best of their ability, and second group used it as they should, to the best of their ability and for the best. Jing-Mei would be in the last group because this story was a metaphor for the talents God gives us when we are born. Waverly is right her work isn’t good enough, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be. This is what Suyan is trying to say by agreeing with Waverly, and this is how An-Mei feels about Rose letting Ted control everything. They both have the talent, but neither use their talents and are like the last group of servants who will always be servants to others. The second group were no longer servants because they used their money and became rich and were now equal to the man they used to work for because they used them correctly. These servants are now lords and are being treated as they deserve. The last group could have also become lords, but instead they just remained lowly servants. Rose and June are like this because they could be treated better and they could be “lords”. So what I think their mothers are trying to say is that it’s not too late to use their talents, to make their lives better because at the moment their lives aren’t good enough for what they deserve. Suyan is just trying to tell June this, but An-Mei is trying to tell Rose this and that she herself was like this once, as was her mother. It was too late for her mother, but she managed to give An-Mei the best she could and now An-Mei wants to give her daughter this too, but she can’t because it isn’t in her hands anymore it’s in Rose’s so the best she can do is tell Rose this and warn her before it’s too late to have the life she deserves.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

First JLC Blog

I’m not really sure if I like this story yet because it was kind of interesting, but so far it’s really weird and sort of confusing. There were lots of references to the game because the joy luck club is where all these women meet up to play mah jongg. From what I can tell so far if I had to write one sentence about the theme of this story it would be After her mother’s death a young woman takes her place playing mah jongg with her mother’s friends and begins to unravel her mother’s true story. I think I would like to read more of this story because, although I’m not really that interested in it, the story of this woman’s mother has intrigued me enough to want to keep reading to learn the story even if it’s one I don’t like. Now that I’ve finished the book I think this story was a really good way to start off the book, except for the fact that I don’t think it is interesting or intriguing enough to get people to want to really continue reading. For example, when I started writing this blog I said I didn't know if I wanted to keep reading because I didn't really like it all that much yet, in fact if this wasn't a school book, I probably would have put it down and stopped reading because I didn't like it. Now that I have finished it I liked it and I would have ended up regretting it if I hadn't finished reading it. Of course when I first started it though I would have never known that I would end up liking the book and I wouldn't regret putting it down because I wouldn't know what I was missing. I guess in a way I sort of have to thank Nijole for forcing me to read this because if she hadn't I would have never read this great book.

Rules of the Game and Wall Blog

I didn’t really like either of these stories all that much, but I did recognize some similarities between the mothers and daughters. I did like how the theme of wind repeated in Waverly’s story just like her mother’s. Wind was very significant in both of their stories. In Lindo’s it was what “blew out her husband’s end of the candle” and for Waverly it was the source of her skill. She said that when playing chess it was like the winds were blowing her pieces in the right directions, and whispering secrets in her ears. As for Lena’s story I didn’t really see that much of a point to it. I understand that in the story there were connections to wanting to be found, just like her mother, but in the end I think this story wasn’t really necessary for the rest of the book. I feel as though we didn’t need this story to recognize the connection and similarities between Ying-Ying and Lena. Like I said, I did see the connections between mother and daughter in this story. The neighbors Lena always heard fighting were sort of like her. The daughter would runaway and all she really wanted was to be found and all her mother really wanted was to find her, and they always did, and I think that’s sort of a metaphor to how Lena feels about her and her mother. All she wants is to be found and for her mother to want to find her, and for her to find her. The problem is Ying-Ying was never really found, so she didn’t pay attention, she didn’t know her daughter was “lost” and she didn’t know how to or that she needed to find her own daughter.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Two Kinds Blog

I would have to say in a way I sympathize with June, but in a way I also sympathize with her mother. Her mother’s intentions were good, but the way she tried to show them wasn’t the best way because to June it felt and looked like she was always a failure and was never good enough for her mother. It also felt like to June that her mother never wanted her as a daughter, instead she always wanted Waverly as her daughter, but this isn’t true, that’s just the way it seems. I think June was in the wrong here, but I still sympathize with her because she didn’t know she was in the wrong because she misunderstood her mother and her mother’s intentions and wants and dreams for her. Overall I can see it from both of their points of view, and because of that I sympathize with both of them equally.

Friday, June 12, 2009

tickets

I’d say thaat this story really finishes the book off very nicely because it brings it all together in one final sort of moment. It was funny to me how somehow out of the blue Jing-Mei’s great aunt was there and talking about what her father was like as a little kid. And it seemed ironic to me that everybody in the family wanted American food while Jing-Mei was eager to try real Chinese food. Then Jing-Mei’s family recounts her mothers journey from her home to her husband’s home. The journey it seems was extremely rough, and it seems many people were also fleeing. While it does kind of confuse me as to why she left her children on the side of the road, I can also understand it at the same time. I can see that while hundreds of people were fleeing death Jing-Mei’s mother had no food and no water for days and she was carrying twins that needed things she couldn’t provide. So she had to do it. She had to leave her children alone, and it seems that her wish came true. I really liked the whole book very much.

four directions

The story "Four Directions" is about Waverly, and her struggle to tell her mother about the engagement between her and Rich. In the beginning of the story she talks about how her mother told her to take the piano with her, and that it is always her piano no matter what happens. She talks about her long period of chess-less days and how her mother says she'll never be able to instantly get her talent of chess back, and when Waverly enters the contest, she looses against a boy that she easily beat before she quit. I'm starting to pity her a little bit because her mother is still holding that argument against her, and she's acting like each failure at winning a chess game that Waverly has, it's a good thing, and she's not being a very good parent. Something that i like in this story that Waverly has great friends that encourage her to stand up to her mother, and tell her that what she's doing is really affecting Waverly, and that she needs to stop. Something i find interesting though, is that Waverly has a strong weakness towards her mother, when to anybody else on the street, she'll snap on you like it's nothing. I think that both Waverly and Lindo have some growing up to do, and I think they need to put their differences behind them.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Western Skies

With this being the last part of the book, I think everything came together and everyone finally understood each other. I think the daughters did realize what their mothers were trying to get across and they are now taking that into consideration. And I also feel that the mothers have truly learned a lot from their daughters and can appreciate them to an extent where they understand the frustration their daughters dealt with while they were raising them. I will say that I am happy for June to go to China to find her sisters and even though things with her and her mother weren’t always kosher, they finally came to a point where they actually understood each other and they know that they love each other. The same thing goes for the other mothers and daughters, I’m really glad they all became unified with each other and know that they have each other’s support. I think they also realized that they did have a voice and knew that everything happens for a reason and know they can be happy with their lives and continue to grow each day while raising their families, working their careers and still being one big family.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Two Tickets blog

I really liked this story. I think it was a great, perfect way to end the book and it was very inspirational. It was a great way to finally connect everything. All the daughters and mothers had finally connected and understood each other; except for Jing-Mei who couldn’t really because her mother was dead, but in this last story they managed to still have that understanding and connection even though she was dead. I found the last part of Suyan’s story was very cool and interesting. I also loved that we got to hear a little bit about the dad because we didn’t get to know a lot about the men in any of these women’s lives and the ones we did hear a lot about were because they had bad impacts on one of these women. Of course there were some exceptions to this like Rich and most of the mothers’ current husbands, but it was nice to sort of hear how one of them views things. Overall this was the best story because it is mostly happy unlike my other two favorites, the red candle one and the one about An-Mei’s mother as a concubine. I don’t really have a reaction to the name of this section, but it does sort of how people say that when someone you love dies that they’re always watching over you. I sort of get a picture of all the grandmothers and June’s mother watching over their daughters from the sky and west because that’s where the sun sets and people also say that when someone dies you can see them in the stars. As for the Queen Mother only one person comes to mind and seeing as I am a Catholic that person is Mary the Mother of God. The teachings are that she is the mother of all and watches over each and every one of us as if we were her only child.

Monday, June 8, 2009

A Pair Of Tickets

The story, "A Pair Of Tickets" was basically ending the story in the beginning of this book with Jing-Mei getting money from the joy luck club, and getting a plane ticket to China so she can see her sisters that her mother left behind. I like the way this book ends, because despite everything that has happened to these women, these sisters have been able to meet, and come close, and i like that Jing-Mei had the chance to travel with her father, and they were able to form a good relationship. I like that the sisters don't blame Jing-Mei for their mother leaving them behind, and i find it interesting that the daughters don't expect their mother to still be alive when Jing-Mei tries to tell them what she thinks will be a shock to them. I think that this type of ending is getting a little bit old, but in the case of this book i find it necessary for these women to have some good int heir lives because each of the mothers and daughters are struggling with their marriage, or some kind of relationship, whether it be with their parents or their husbands. I liked this book a lot, and I'm happy i got a chance to read this story, and i might look for more books that this author has written, and maybe i could do a book report on the books. So in conclusion, i think this book was great.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Double Face and Tree blog

I feel really bad for Ying-Ying, but at the same time, I hate her and view her as a cold-blooded psycho-maniac murderer. I know I am just being stupid, biased, and prejudice, but I can’t help it. I want to feel bad for Ying-Ying, but I can’t because of how I view her. I know that I’m probably wrong about how I view her, but that’s Amy Tan’s stupid fault. I love Amy Tan and I hate her because of how she made me view Ying-Ying. I view her the way I do because she murdered her baby. In the movie, they make her love her baby and accidentally kill it after it is born, but in the book, its totally different because she says she killed the baby on purpose because of how mad she is at her husband. I suppose it could have been a mistake, but from the way it sounds, they make her like some murderer, but I don’t think that’s what Amy Tan wanted it to sound like, I think she wanted us to feel pity not hatred. I’m sure I’m wrong and my brain just interoperated what she said wrong and that Ying-Ying really is a good person, but I’m mad at Amy Tan for not making it clear what she wanted and I’m mad at myself or my brain for automatically coming up with this conclusion when I’m almost positive its wrong. As for Lindo, she has remained my favorite character, but in Gabby’s blog and other people say Lindo ended up loving her hair and how she looked, but I don’t remember reading that she liked it. Maybe I just missed that part somehow, but I definitely don’t remember it, all I remember is them looking in the mirror and the mom getting mad at the daughter because her nose is crooked and the barber said Lindo and Waverly looked alike. Either way I liked this story because Lindo and Waverly really, finally understood each other and connected. I also liked how Lindo saw herself in her mother and Waverly saw herself in Lindo and probably later in her life Waverly’s daughter will see herself in Waverly. It really reminded me of one of the other mother’s (I think it was An-Mei, but I don’t remember) when she said they were like stairs, each one slightly different, but at the same time still the same. The picture I get in my mind when I remember this story is sort of like the scene in the first Harry Potter book when he is looking in the mirror and sees his parents, only what I imagine is Lindo and Waverly at the hairdresser, looking in the mirror and you see three faces, Lindo’s mother, Lindo, and Waverly. Although, Lindo’s mother wasn’t there her sort of faded face in the mirror shows her presence and I imagine them all smiling, proud of each other and proud to be related to each other. Also, as I said before I can’t see her face, and her face isn’t in that scene, but I can imagine later Waverly in Lindo’s place seeing both Lindo and Lindo’s mother and Waverly’s daughter in Waverly’s place.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

w/w and best quality

The story "Without Wood" really interested me. This story is about a woman that's having trouble standing up to her husband, and she's getting a divorce, and she is starting to feel badly about herself because she feels like she's nothing without her husband, and that she's letting her husband do whatever he wants with their divorce settlements. During this story, her mother starts telling her that she should talk to her mother instead of a psychiatrist because she says psychiatrists only make everything seem. I think that this story is about standing up for yourself, and, like the mother said "A girl is like a young tree, you must stand tall and listen to your mother standing next to you. That is the only way to grow strong and straight. But if you listen to other people you will grow crooked and weak. You will fall to the ground with the first strong wind." In the story "Best Quality" there's a woman that's having major self-esteem issues. Her and her mother go to the market to buy crabs for a dinner they're having later on that night. After they buy the crabs, Waverly, like a jerk, takes the best-looking crab and gives it to her daughter, and talks about how badly Rose is doing in life. I think this story's meaning was that Rose needs to start standing up for herself, and start trying to think she deserves the best looking crab instead of the worst looking crab. I think the whole crab thing is just a metaphor for her life. She always puts her self down and gives herself the bad things while putting other people, such as her husband, up on a pedestal and giving them the best things.

waiting between the tree's/double face

In these two stories, we learn of all the hardships both Ying-Ying and Lindo went through before their children were born. In Ying-Ying’s story, she had an arranged marriage when she was young to a drunk man. She never liked the man but knew he was destined to be her husband. And eventully fell in “love” with the man. A few months after becoming pregnant with a boy, her husband left her after having cheated on her several times. Out of shame, she chose to abort her baby, never telling anyone she was pregnant. I think this is a very big deal and if her daughter had known even about the bogus marriage, it would have changed the way she viewed her mother. In Lindo’s story, she is worried about her daughters upcoming marriage and doesn’t think its going to work out. Her daughter Waverly wants to spend her honeymoon in China, but thinks they will mistake her as a Chinese citizen and not let her back into America. Her mother promptly tells her that they will know she is American before she even opens her mouth. Waverly is disappointed by this notion and blows her mother off. To Lindo’s surprise, she also visited China wearing her “Chinese face” and thought she blended in, but they knew that she too was from America.

Magpies

I found this story to be very interesting. This story is about the early life of An-Mei and the mystery behind her mother. We learn that she left with her mother after Popo dies to live in Tiensten and as soon as An-Mei leaves, she becomes dead to her family. She is told that once she leaves she will never be able to hold her head up again. She doesn’t believe him but when she looks back to see her little brother's sad face she realizes that this is true. And that she won’t be able to hold her head up any more. This relates a lot to Scar, involving the drama surrounding her mother, personal sacrifice, and the suppression of emotion. An-Mei’s mother was miserable being a concubine for that old man, but she didn’t have another choice. It turns out that her baby she had with Wu Tsing was taken from her at birth and disguised as one of his other wives children. I cannot imagine the heartbreak she felt at this and it is obvious that it hurt her deeply. I also feel that her mother was ashamed in a way for bringing her daughter there to witness the degrading life she lives. Both Scar and Magpies bring about the aspect of hiding one’s sadness because it only feeds upon other’s happiness. And that is what her mother tells her. It was told to her mother by the little turtle that lives in the pond.

waiting behind the trees/Double face blog

The story "Waiting being the trees" was about Ying-Ying and her personal struggles with marriage as a young woman. She married a drunken man that obviously didn't give a care about her, but even so she fell in-love with him. She really revolved her entire life around being with her husband, and she even got pregnant by him. Later on in the marriage, she found out that he was cheating on her, and she was bot mentally and emotionally crushed. After she found out he was cheating on her, she killed her newborn baby, and moved to America to marry an American man and have a whole new family. The story "Double Face" is about how Lindo's daughter Waverly is getting married, and she wants to go to a beauty salon-type thing and get "touched" up so that she looks beautiful for her new marriage. Also, this story really brings out the mother-daughter relationship between Lindo and Waverly. I'm starting to understand a lot of why problems in each of the families are so dramatic and harsh. For example, now i know why Ying-Ying had that hallucination of the baby floating in the air and pointing at her like it's mad at her, it's because when she was younger, she was so mad at her old husband that cheated on her, that she killed her new-born baby.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

A Pair of Tickets

I think this was a satisfying way to end the story, with Jing-Mei telling of her journey to China to meet her long lost half-sisters. Seeing as her mother was absent throughout the book, I think it is nice to wrap it up with her one wish being fulfilled. Jing-Mei goes through a lot of drawn out anticipation and anxiety in this story, not knowing what to say or do when she sees her sisters. She is afraid they will be angry with her for not bringing her mother whom they think is still living. As soon as she meets them, however, something clicks inside them and they just know that she is gone. It was also an interesting experience for her to travel that long distance with her father and have the ability to grow closer to him. I think the parable in the beginning of the section relates to the mothers experiencing raising their children, learning through hard times that you need to let a person live and experience things, but to make sure that as they shed their innocence they must keep happiness in their hearts and never stop laughing. Throughout the book, the mothers have shed their sometimes hidden wisdom to their daughters and watched patiently as they learned. This was an incredible book and I am very glad to have had the opportunity to read it.

Behind the Trees/Double Face

In these two stories, we learn of the hardship both Ying-Ying and Lindo went through before their children were born. In Ying-Ying’s story, she had an arranged marriage when she was young. She never liked the man but knew he was destined to be her husband. A few months after becoming pregnant with a boy, her husband left her after having cheated on her several times. Out of shame and remorse, she chose to abort her baby, never telling anyone. I think this is a very big deal and if her daughter had known even about the botched marriage, it would have changed the way she viewed her mother. In Lindo’s story, she is worried about her daughters upcoming marriage and doesn’t think its going to work out. Her daughter Waverly wants to spend her honeymoon in China, but thinks they will mistake her as a Chinese citizen and not let her back into America. Her mother promptly tells her that they will know she is American before she even opens her mouth. Waverly is disappointed by this notion and blows her mother off. To Lindo’s surprise, she also visited China wearing her “Chinese face” and thought she blended in, but they knew that she too was from America.

Magpies

I found this story to be very intense, filled with lots of charged emotion ranging all over the place. This story let us glimpse into the early life of An-Mei and the mystery behind her mother. We learn that she left with her mother after Popo dies to live in Tiensten and as soon as An-Mei leaves, she becomes dead to her family. This relates a lot to Scar, involving the drama surrounding her mother, personal sacrifice, and the suppression of emotion. An-Mei’s mother was not happy being a concubine for that old man, but she had no other choice. It turns out that her baby she had with Wu Tsing was taken from her at birth and disguised as one of his other wives children. I cannot imagine the heartbreak she felt at this and it is obvious that it hurt her deeply. I also feel that her mother was ashamed in a way for bringing her daughter there to witness the degrading life she lives. Both Scar and Magpies bring about the aspect of hiding one’s sadness because it only feeds upon other’s happiness.

A pair of tickets blog

To mark this story as being the last one in the book. I’d say it really finishes the book off very nicely because it brings it all together in one final sort of moment. It was funny to me how somehow out of the blue Jimg-Mei’s great aunt was there and talking about what her father was like as a little kid. And it seemed ironic to me that everybody in the family wanted American food while Jing-Mei was eager to try real Chinese food. Then Jimg-Mei’s family recounts her mothers journey from her home to her husband’s home. The journey it seems was extremely rough, and it seems many people were also fleeing. While it does kind of confuse me as to why she left her children on the side of the road, I can also understand it at the same time. I can see that while hundreds of people were fleeing death Jing-Mei’s mother had no food and no water for days and she was carrying twins that needed things she couldn’t provide. So she had to do it. She had to leave her children alone, and it seems that her wish came true. I really liked the whole book very. It kept me entertained because I am so interested in Asian history and their ways that I just was drawn in.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A Pair Of Tickets Blog

I was very interested in how this book would end especially because it was called A Pair of Tickets, which led me to believe that she was going somewhere, perhaps to Waverly’s wedding. However, I believed that she was going for another reason. I found it so strange that she did not feel at all connected to her heritage in China. I kind of found it funny how on her first night, they ate American food and she was anticipating her first Chinese meal. I thought what was really cool was when she was talking to her father and she asked him to speak in Chinese. I thought that stood out to me the most because it seemed to me like she was reaching out to try and learn about her heritage. I thought that learning about her mother’s story gave her a better piece of mind, and although she may have felt that it would be difficult to explain, it would be easy for her to explain. I liked the book overall, I just wish that I could really know how the story ends for everyone as a whole. I think that she ends it the way she does to let the reader decide how it ends based on this last story.

Feathers from A Thousand Li Away

This would be the first section of the Joy Luck Club. I had a feeling that the mother’s would start out with their stories first, just because it seemed like the right thing to do. One thing I noticed is that the mother’s dealt with a lot growing up in China and pretty much made one heck of a sacrifice for their daughters to have a better life in a better country and what they’re trying to say is that their daughter’s don’t understand that. Because her mother died a few year’s earlier, Jing-Mei has a big responsibility to take her mother’s place in Mah-Jong. The problem is, is that she doesn’t know anything about her mother or her life but only the fact that she has two older twin sister’s that her mother left behind as infants in China. So Jing-Mei tells us her mother’s story in second person. Suyuan keeps alot of things from Jing-Mei but I just don't understand why. I'm not sure if it's that she feels Jong-Mei is too young or because she is american and won't understand the chinese values. All of the mothers pretty much have done something the daughters wouldn't even think about doing because there is a difference between them and I think that is what the paragrapgh in the beggining is talking about. Because of the fact that they are from China they grew up much different than their daughters and they have completely different views on life and life values.

JLC

I found that there is a lot from when we learned to play mah jongg. Her mother used to play it a lot with her friends and when she died there was only 3 people but they needed 4 people to play the game. So the next person in line was her daughter. The number 4 was also very important the needed 4 people to play. The signs on the pieces of wood it was N, E, S, W. and I believe that those four sign were though as to be the directions North, East, South, West. But any case 4 was an important number. I guess the theme would be 1 generation to the next. I’m not really sure if I like this book because it can be confusing at time to figure out who is talking. No I’m not interested in reading more.

American Translation

I think this section of the book is really interesting because there are a lot of conflicts throughout each story and it seems as if each person is holding some kind of guilt or shame on them. Since this is mainly the daughter’s telling their story, I think it reflects on how they react to their mother’s opinions and what they think about them. One thing I noticed about Lena, Waverly, Rose and Jing-Mei, is that they don’t like what opinions their mothers have about them, yet they criticize them or each other. Waverly in particular is one individual who feels that she shouldn’t be criticized but at the same time she is very opinionated. These stories reflect on the daughter’s and their growth and what their mistakes and their mother’s take notice in that. Two stories that I really focused on were Rice Husband and Best Quality because I feel sorry for Lena and Jing-Mei and what issues they have to deal with their mothers. With June it’s as if she doesn’t do anything right for her mother to be at least proud of her and personally I don’t think Waverly should have any say on her life. Part of Suyuan’s problem is that she wants Jing-Mei to be like Waverly instead of being herself, which to me is something that would hurt me. And because Jing-Mei can’t be like her or probably doesn’t want to be like her, it causes her mother to criticize her a lot and it also causes Waverly to look down on her. In Lena’s story, I really think her mom jinxed her when she was really young about the whole rice thing because that’s exactly what happened. Ying-Ying also confused Lena as well because it made her think that the one boy who was treating her bad as a kid would end up being the husband who would treat her bad so she made sure that wouldn’t happen and in the end he died and that made Lena feel terrible. Now that she’s older and married to a husband who treats her bad, she feels horrible about everything and to me I think Lena is mad at her mother for telling her about it and making her believe it too. If I were Lena, I would think that it was my mother’s fault who got me in a situation like this. I think the paragraph relates very much to the Rice husband story because Ying-Ying has all of these visions of the bad things that would happen in the future if certain things were out of place nad that's exactly what happens to Lena.

other essay ideas

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/The-Joy-Luck-Club-Study-and-Homework-Help-Essay-Topics-and-Review-Questions.id-39,pageNum-101.html

A Pair of Tickets Blog

How do you feel about this story being the final one in the book? Was it a satisfying ending? How do you think the title of this section, "Queen Mother of the Western Skies," relates to the stories in this section?

Waiting Behind the Trees/Double Face Blog

What do we learn about Ying-Ying and Lindo in these stories that maybe makes us more sympathetic to them? Do you think their daughters would have been more sympathetic to them if they'd known these stories all along?

Magpies Blog

What do you think of this story? How does it relate to An-Mei's first story, "Scar"? What do you think she passed down to her daughter, Rose?

Waiting by the trees and Doulbe face

In the first story “Waiting By The Trees”, I think it has to do with a little deception that is well known around the world. It was a strang kind of deception. One to get a person into marrying someone else. Apparently after accidently cutting a flower it seems this young girl, Ying-Ying was forced into a marriage she didn’t want. It’s really strange, because Ying-Ying doesn’t even know this guy and all of a sudden she is sleeping with him. And then right after she has a kid, her husband up and cheats on her and eventually disappears. The rest of the story details her transformation from a small girl into a strong western woman. In “Double Face” it seems that Waverly is very scared to go to China for her honeymoon, because she is afraid that they won’t accept her. This story details, Waverly’s marriage from her mom’s point of view. Then (I can see how why this story is called “Double Face”) Mr. Rory says that the look very much a like, and it seems to be very true. Waverly’s mom then talks about how she met An-Mei Hsu in China.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Waiting Between The Trees/ Double Face Blog

I thought that this was an interesting part of the book because it showed another change in a relationship in the story. I think what has surprised me the most about these last few chapters in the book is how quickly everyone started to realize how wrong they were about each other especially the daughters and their mothers in particular. I thought that this was significant because it showed all the progressions that have been made in the story. I also think is starting to bring up the question of whether this family will find “balance.” I found this story particularly interesting because of what Ying-Ying does. It seemed as if the roles switched as she found herself talking about her daughter June’s marriage, which then goes into her story. One thing I noticed was this questionable superstitious idea that Ying-Ying has that her daughter has not taken on the spirit that she should have due to her being born on the Year of the Tiger. I say questionable because it is a question of the heritage that has been passed down to her. All throughout the book, each mother and daughter seem to have very similar events that have happened in their life. In Double Face, I thought it was weird because it revolved around heritage as well. I think that Waverly and Lindo’s relationship has showed the most change because you can see that their interactions with each other have changed greatly. I am curious about how this story will end especially because it ends with Jing-Mei who has been through some tough situations through most of the book.

Magpies blog JLC

This story is about a woman named An-Mei, and her struggles to watch her daughter go through her divorce, and she remembers a lot of different; depressing, and cruel stories of her past life. For example, An-Mei, as a child wasn't aloud to see her mother because she was shunned by her family. Something that really made me feel bad is that An-Mei was only aloud to take one of her two children back with her to America. She made the choice to take her daughter to America, and to leave her only son in China, and it was very likely that she would probably never going to be able to see him again. Eventually An-Mei moves in with her mother, even though she's a concubine with a lot more women, and she begins to see the hard life of living with a lot of women that really don't have a life outside of a house with an terrible and cruel man that abuses his wives. As An-Mei continues to live with her mother, she seems to start to dislike the other women in the house, and they seem to grow a type of "Hate" towards each other, and they show this hate by committing many different rude and disrespectful actions towards each other. Something i think would've been hard for An-Mei to do is to grow familiar with the different rules of America, because she comes from a very different culture, and she's diving into a whole other society filled with ignorant jerks.

Without Wood and Best Quality

The story "Without Wood" really interested me. This story is about a woman that's having trouble standing up to her husband, and she's getting a divorce, and she is starting to feel badly about herself because she feels like she's nothing without her husband, and that she's letting her husband do whatever he wants with their divorce settlements. During this story, her mother starts telling her that she should talk to her mother instead of a psychiatrist because she says psychiatrists only make everything seem confusing and covered without a dark fog. I think that this story is about standing up for yourself, and, like the mother said "Girls are like trees, but if you're a weak tree you'll end up being a wild weed that will get torn out by the roots and get thrown away." In the story "Best Quality" there's a woman that's having major self-esteem issues. Her and her mother go to the market to buy crabs for a dinner they're having later on that night. After they buy the crabs, Waverly, like a jerk, takes the best looking crab and gives it to her daughter, and talks about how badly Rose is doing in life. I think this story's meaning was that Rose needs to start standing up for herself, and start trying to think she deserves the best looking crab instead of the worst looking crab.

Four Directions JLC

The story "Four Directions" is about Waverly, and her struggle to tell her mother about the engagement with her and Rich. In the beginning of the story she talks about how her mother had told Waverly to take the piano with her, and that it was always her piano no matter what happened. She talks about her long period of chess-less days and how her mother says she'll never be able to instantly get her talent of chess back, and when Waverly enters the contest, she looses against a boy that she easily beat before she quit. I'm starting to pity her a little bit because her mother is still holding that argument against her, and she's acting like each failure at winning a chess game that Waverly has, it's a good thing, and she's not being a very good parent. Something that i like in this story that Waverly has great friends that encourage her to stand up to her mother, and tell her that what she's doing is really affecting Waverly, and that she needs to stop. Something i find interesting though, is that Waverly has a strong weakness towards her mother, when to anybody else on the street, she'll snap on you like it's nothing. I think that both Waverly and Lindo have some growing up to do, and I think they need to put their differences behind them.

waiting between trees & Double Face

These two stories were quite interesting as they show how the two mothers, YingYing and Lindo describe and their daughters and display their feelings on them. In the first story, YingYing tells of her life before Lena. She tells of how she has not shared her past with her daughter because it was painful and looked down upon. She is ashamed all her previous actions but at the same time wants her daughter to finally know all the pain and disgrace she went through. Ying Ying tells of how she was married to a drunk guy at a very early age because of something to do with a watermelon. She hated him and eventually got pregnant with his son, which she then killed before the baby was born. She told the nurse to throw the child away into the river like a piece of trash because she wanted nothing to do with her husband. This is when she states that she can first predict the future. Late on she tells of hw she runs away from her husband and becomes a sales lady, bitter with her own actions, she sometimes contemplates suicide but does not go through with it and eventually meets St.Clair which she then marries. The next story, Double face is not as bleak as the first but depicts the differences Lindo has with her daughter appearance wise. Waverly is getting married for the second time and is going to china for her honeymoon. She is worried of her mothers appearance and wants to modernize her in a sense. She wants to cut her hair and make her look nice for the wedding. In the end Lindo is totally shocked by her makeover and sees her face as it was so many years ago. It makes her think of her mother and her grandmother and makes a very sentimental tale.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Magpies Blog

I thought this story was interesting because I found myself intrigued about the name of the chapter. I also find the chapter names interesting because I always think that it has a hidden message because there tend to be a lot of secrets throughout the story. I was also curious because this is the last section of the book and it is called Queen Mother of the Western Skies. Upon hearing that, I wasn’t sure if this was a cheerful or a sad part of this book. However, I was sure that there would be a lot of references to Chinese heritage while they were in China. I wasn’t actually expecting this chapter to start off as a flashback because it seems like the book would stay where they are now since the book is about to end. In addition, I was very surprised that magpies were birds of joy. I agree with Gabby, I thought that there were some parts of the story were sad and when I though a lot of parts were sad. I thought that this chapter allowed me to see why An-Mei was always so upset. I know the turtle told her earlier in the story not to cry and continue to be sad, but when someone goes through some of the stuff that she went, she couldn’t help it. I am very curious to know where the story goes from here especially for An-Mei because it still doesn’t seem as if she is at peace.

Without Wood/ Best Quality Blog

I thought these chapters of the book were very interesting. I find a lot of these stories interesting because of how the relationships between the daughters and mothers continue to change throughout the story. I think that the book it starting to change for the better, because it seems like each person is starting to realize that each person is not what they turned out to be. After reading Four Directions, I was curious as to how this will have an impact on how they treat their daughters. One example of this came in both chapters. In Without Wood, Rose’s mother came to her and told her not to given into what Ted was doing. In the end, Rose ended up with a voice and let Ted know how she felt and as a result got exactly what she wanted. The next example came in Best Quality. I thought this chapter stood out the most because it showed how much the relationships in the story had changed. I think that the most significant part in the story came when Jing-Mei was given the pendant. I think that for her mother to give her such a valuable thing says a lot about the trust she has for her daughter, despite the issues that she had spoken of before. I think that because the daughter’s realize the things that they have done to cause the rifts in the relationships with their mothers. I am very curious to see where the story goes from here, because it is getting closer to the end.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Magpies

In a way I sort of liked this story for a few reasons. Although, I think it is very sad An-Mei's mother died, this sounds wrong, but I believe that for the most part her death was for the best. I think this because of how horrible their lives were. Her mother was tricked into being Wu Tsing's Fourth Wife and lost everything including the son she bore to Wu Tsing to his Second Wife. His Second Wife even tried to win over An-Mei and almost succeded, but her mother saved her by crushing one of the fake pearls on a necklace Second Wife gave her to show her it was fake. She was treated horribly, wanted her son back, hated Second Wife and wanted to stop her from getting everything she wants by faking suicide, and wanted her son to be recognized as hers and for An-Mei and her son to be treated well. An-Mei’s mother had already lost her life when she married Wu Tsing and when she committed suicide she was only giving up the last of it, but this tome she made sure it would be for the best and worth something. Her death was very sad, but by giving it up she was doing good. She planned it so it would stop Second wife and make her children’s lives better. From her death she made Wu Tsing paranoid so he promised to recognize her son as hers and to treat An-Mei and her brother as if they were his only and First Wife’s children. Also, since she actually died Second Wife’s pretend suicides wouldn’t work anymore and to prove she was in charge and could stand up for herself now An-Mei stood in front of Second Wife and smashed the fake pearl necklace she had given her under her foot and shouted like she had wanted to for so long. This part was my favorite and I loved it especially the part when she said that was day Second Wife’s hair started to turn white and she got old. I really liked this story and it made me like An-Mei much more. Overall this story is now tied with “The Red Candle” as to which is my favorite, I guess I’ll just have to wait to find out for sure which one I like best.

Friday, May 29, 2009

magpies

I found this story to be very sad and disturbing. The fact that An-Mei’s mother is ripped away from her family, her two children is horrible. Her brother and his wife are so mean to her and are so offended by her presence and condescending to her when she comes back to see her children. The fact that she is only allowed to take her daughter with her is also a terrible thought. Her son is not allowed to live in a household with only one parent??? Why is that? Poor An-Mei is then rushed into a world completely different from the one that she is used to. After a weird vision or dream that she has with a turtle and birds or something, she moves into her mothers house full of her new husbands other wives, which are actually just concubines to the old fat dude. Here An-Mei is exposed to rivalry between wives as well as possible abuse by the old guy. That part was very unclear and vague so I don’t know exactly what happened when she went to his room. An-Mei must also adapt to new customs and apparel in this new world that she has been thrown into and must deal with all the hardships of being just another girl in a house full of fatherless children.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

half and half blog

I absolutely hated this story. It was extremely sad, very weird, and not matching up or having a good title at all. Also one part in particular bugged me a lot and made me quite angry at Nijole. I also didn’t really see any similarities between the mother and daughter in this story until after I’d read it when I thought of one or two maybe. The part that really bugged me and made me mad at Nijole was the part when Rose is describing how her relationship with Ted used to be. She said that she was always the one needing to be saved and that Ted was always the one saving her and he also made all the decisions and they were both perfectly happy that way, in fact it wasn’t until Ted stopped deciding everything and always being the savor that their marriage started getting messed up and ended, and yet somehow Nijole still manages to like this book, but for some reason she can’t like my favorite book “Twilight” for that exact reason, so that makes me mad, really mad. So I want an explanation as to why Nijole can like this book, but not “Twilight” when the reason she claims not to like “Twilight” is because she doesn’t like the fact that Bella is always being saved by Edward and that she lets him decide most things and that is exactly what Rose was like with Ted, oh and don’t say you can like this book because Rose is only one character and there are other strong female characters in the book because first off, look at Ying-Ying and Lena and An-Mei when she was little before her mother came. Second, there are also very strong female characters in “Twilight”, but most of them aren’t that big of characters until the third and fourth books, but of course Nijole wouldn’t know that because she never took the time to read past the second book. Also I’d like to point out a few things to Nijole. First of all, Rose was perfectly happy to let Ted be the one saving her and for him to decide everything and so is Bella, and Rose’s marriage only messed up after Ted stopped deciding everything and saving everyone that it got messed up. So, although I am 100% for equal rights for all I do think it’s ok for women to let the man be dominant if that’s what the woman wants I think its fine as long as it’s not forced. I think that for some women it’s good for them to be dominant and for others they prefer not being the dominant person. In fact feminism was originally to fight for women’s rights so that they could have their own say and be equal instead of being forced into doing whatever society wants. Yet now that women are treated almost equally to men, some women still want to be treated the way they were or be considered an equal, but still let the man be in control, and feminists hate these women because it seams like they’re just giving in, but that’s not necessarily true. Maybe some of them are giving in, but that’s not true for most because in today’s society women generally aren’t being pressured to give in to a man’s control, but in fact it’s the other way around. Other women who are feminists are pressuring the rest of their gender to be like them, which is exactly what this fight was started for, women being pressured into doing something they don’t want to by society and their peers only now the pressure is from the opposite side. So, you would think feminists would want all women to be treated equally and be able to have their own opinions without being pressured by anyone or anything and if you ask a feminist if this is what they want and are fighting for they’ll say of course, but in actuality they are doing exactly what they are fighting against without even realizing it by being the peers and society that is pressuring other women to have the same opinion, instead of letting them have their own no matter what that opinion might be without any pressuring or prejudice, only politely disagreeing. So, I ask you Nijole to please consider this and ask yourself are you really a true feminist who isn’t prejudice or one who says they are, but when it comes to disagreeing with you, you suddenly are prejudice.

Magpies

This story was based on the Point of Veiw of An-Mei who is Rose’s mother. It sort of begins with what happens when An-Mei’s daughter is going through her divorce and is really depressed. Then it shifts to where An-Mei has left with her mother and is experiencing life with her. My best guess as to why she is remebering this is because, An-Mei herself might even think of getting a therapist to help her. An-Mei seems to have a really hard past. Like with her grandmother dying and her aunt and uncle shunning her and treating her like dirt. And then suddenly traveling with this women she hasn’t seen in years. Then her life changes as she’s thrust into this new family she knows nothing about. There are so man things in this story that would make a person practically beg to have therapuetic help. And then An-Mei goes into this long monologue about what has happened in her life, sort of. She says like it was all a bad dream of sorts. And then An-Mei tells a little story that I think would have a therapist etremely stunned and just not be able to talk. That would be so funny.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

W/W and Best Qualities.

The major theme of each of these two stories I guess would be the daughter discovering something amazing, and learning a life lesson about themselves, and also realizing something about their mothers. The mother/daughter relationships are evolving to a new level from where they were before. In “Without Wood” Rose admits that her mother was right when she said that Rose shouldn’t marry that person that she did. In “Best Qualities” Jing-Mei thinks that her mother doesn’t think much of her and she becomes a little depressed because of it. But as it turns out her mother is just stating the truth. In my opinion I think the relationships between the mothers and the daughters are getting better slowly, because it’s a long and very tedious process. I actually like the stories very much because of how it usually plays out and ends with one big soul crushing revelation. Overall the book is very good. The reason I like it is because of the insight it gives into Chinese culture. It really interests me as to how the Chinese culture and belief system works. All in all I really do like the book very much. It captivates me.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Without Wood & Best Quality

One of the major themes present in these two stories is the persistent worrying and advice from the mothers. The daughters usually take it the wrong way and view them as annoying and inappropriate, but really they are showing concern because they care for the well-being of their daughters. In both stories, the two daughters involved are both hurt by someone. In Without Wood, Rose is served a cruel and shocking divorce from her cheating husband, and in Best Quality, Jing-Mei is embarrassed and beat down mentally at the dinner table by Waverly. Both times, their mothers came to their aid in their own odd ways and comforted them. It feels like as the stories continue, the daughters are slowly coming to understand their mother’s intentions about specific things and are coming to respect all that they have sacrificed for them to live a good life. As we read each story, they don’t necessarily get better, but we are able to appreciate and understand them more as we get into the lives of these women and their stories. I think the book as a whole is fantastic. It is not something I would usually pull off the bookshelf and read voluntarily, but I am glad to have the opportunity to read such great storytelling and learn about so much Chinese culture.

Amy Tan Blog

Amy Tan seems to have been as affected by her mother as her the characters in her book were. And it seems that Amy Tan can see ghosts and hear them while other people cannot. And apparently she hears the Jeopardy theme sung right behind her back by some unexplained person or persons. Eventually Amy Tan talks to her husband about all the noises she hears and he simply claims that it is something like their house being old. While Tan’s mother says something completely different. Apparently her mother states that Amy did really have ghosts in her house because of her work and how idiotic it was to Chinese culture. And then Tan pissed her mom off more by writing some story about a women being raped and Tan’s mother took it to heart, but not in a good way. Tan’s mother would say to her that she doesn’t know anything about her grandmother and would ask very personal questions. And apparently Tan’s mother believed that her grandmother acted as a sort of guide for Tan and would tell her what to write on the computer.

Four Directions

In the story Four Directions, Waverly shows that there are some sides of her that haven’t changed in the least bit and there are some parts of her that have changed significantly. She is still struggling to understand her mother and thinks more of herself than anyone else. She is mainly concerned with her mothers reaction to the news of their engagement and how Rich’s behavior towards her was not a winning success. Waverly brings back the story about her younger self when she temporarily quit playing chess in order to hurt her mother. What she soon realized, however, is that she didn’t hurt her mother (or at least her mom didn’t show she was hurt) and ended up coming back around and hurting herself. She began to loose competitions, making her very nervous, and ended up quitting altogether because she couldn’t handle the stress of loosing. At the end of the story, Waverly and Lindo share a moment together that seems to further bring them together and helps clear the fog between their relationship. She even considers bringing her mother along for the honeymoon in order to connect and replenish some of the time lost between mother and daughter.

Monday, May 25, 2009

without wood

I am actually starting to really like the book. This specific story was so sentimental and I really felt that it really captured something a lot of people today go through. Rose is getting divorced and her soon to be ex husband Ted wants to take the house. Like most men in these situations, he is all set to get married again to his next temporary muse and thinks that he can throw Rose away like an old shoe. His garden plays a very significant metaphor for their marriage in this story. The once prosperous, fruitful, beautiful garden that used to surround their house is now a dead, decaying, mass of nothing. He has forgotten to take care of it and has neglected it completely. Rose’s mother surprisingly plays a rather supportive role in this story. Unlike all her other appearances in the novel, she shows Rose that she is actually worth something, she lets her know that she is worth a great deal and plays a very large part in getting her daughter through this difficult time in her life. Like most mothers, she is a hundred percent there when her daughter really needs her; and through everything they have been through, through all the disagreements and struggles they faced while she grew up, they have a beautiful relationship full of support and love. They just needed a little push to show it. Because of her mothers help, Rose is able to stand her ground and tell Ted that she is going to fight to keep the house. She will not be discarded and she wants to show Ted that, like her mom says, she is worth something, she is worth a lot.

4 directions

This story was really touching. It shows how much Waverley and her mother have changed through out the years. She is still, after everything, out to impress her mother and in the story, you can really tell how she still needs her approval to do things. She postpones telling her mother that she is engaged till the very last minute because she doesn’t know how she will react to Rich; she kind of slowly tries to give her obvious clues, like waking her through her apartment where all of Rich’s clothes are thrown about so that she will already know what is going on when she drops the news. She seems happy though, and her mother can probably see this. To Waverly’s surprise, her mother does not object to their marriage, and with her blessing, and some advice for when it should take place, they remain happy. Its quite touching how, after all those years, Waverly’s mother knows when her daughter is happy and knows what is good for her and when she has a good thing going. She probably also took into account that Waverly’s daughter likes Rich a lot and that she needs a father figure when she grows.

Four Directions blog

Waverly has changed a lot since “Rules of the Game”. She is still just as annoying, but now in a way I pity her. I pity her because she seems to have lost her talent for chess and because of how she felt about her mother with all her boyfriends. I still hate her and think she is a total brat, but I can understand how she felt about her mom even though she was wrong about her. She and Lindo have only grown to misunderstand each other even more than in the first story. Despite my feelings of hate towards Waverly I do like the fact she has a daughter and how much she loves her daughter and her fiancé Rich. I pity Rich because he seems like such a nice guy and deserves someone much better than Waverly. I don’t know if I like Waverly better now or when she was little because I dislike both, when she was little she was just as bratty and annoying, but she was young and didn’t necessarily know how badly she was acting because although Lindo is still my favorite character so far in a way it was sort of, in a way partly her fault Waverly was and is such a brat because no one ever taught her manners or disciplined her because she was a chess genius.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Foure Directions

Four Directions Blog.

This story was another little chapter where the mother and daughter are at odd ends with each other and don’t really understand each other. The daughter in this story is Waverly who was the chess wiz, and we eventually find out that she attempted to play chess but she sucked at it and she tried to impress her mother, but her mother wasn’t very impressed. Later in her life Waverly is engaged to a man named Rich and she thinks that her mother doesn’t like Rich because when ever Waverly brings up her boyfriend, her mother changes the subject. Eventually Waverly brings up the subject with her mother after visiting her and finding out that her mother actually knows about her daughters plan to marry again. She finds out that every time her mother sort of puts Waverly down she is just looking out for her so to speak and while somethings she did say about her daughters fiancee were a little mean they were just the truth. Waverly’s mother even likes her daughters choice in a man, to some degree. And when it was time to decide when to get married, Waverly’s mother had a huge input.

Half and Half

Half/Half Blog.

This story like all the rest were good, but just the way it is and how it ends is always a surpriser for me. it’s funny the way that mothers when their kids get married, always know how the marriage might or might not turn out. Both mothers of the chinese women and the american man knew the marriage might end badly. Which it did. Both people eventually wanted a divorce and while Rose felt a little pain, but not much. Then while watching a young relative who was like 4 years old or something. She then notices that her relative, who’s name is Bing is taken away by the surf and drowns. Her family is distraught and Rose’s mother then goes back to the surf to try and trade for Bing in a way. Rose’s mother then tells her a story of how one of their ancestors stole some water from a sacred well and now the water was stealing back. This sort of gives you another lesson in the Chinese belief system as to what they worship or believe.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Without Wood and Best Quality Blog

Write 250 words. Consider: What is the major theme of each of these stories? How are the mother/daughter relationships evolving? Are they getting better? Did you like these stories? How about the book as a whole, so far?

Four Directions Blog

Write about 200 words. Consider: How has Waverly changes/stayed the same as she was in the "Rules of the Game?" How has her relationship with Lindo evolved?

Rice Husband Blog

In a way I liked and hated this story. I loved how Lena’s and Ying-Ying’s stories related and how they had the same theme of invisibility and wanting to be found. I felt I really related to the wanting to be found part, but in a different way then they did. They wanted to be found and noticed by other people, but I want to be able to find myself. One of my greatest fears is that I won’t ever find myself, that I won’t ever really know who I am and what and who I’m supposed to be. I think I know things about myself until I really think about it, like I say my favorite color is blue and I think its is, but is it really I don’t know, I know I like blue most of the time, but sometimes I don’t and then I also like other colors too, so if I don’t even know something as simple as my favorite color how can I possibly know myself, well I don’t and that’s what scares me what if I never know what I really want and who I really am. In fact last session when we were writing poems from song titles I got the song “Still Lost” and I found that sort of ironic seeing how that’s what I’m afraid of being, so I picked that song and I wrote a poem about how I felt called “Unfound” and now we are reading these stories about these mothers and daughters and all of them are sort of lost in their relationships with each other, especially Lena and Ying-Ying. So, although I don’t really know the feeling of being invisible that well I can understand their feelings and wanting to be found. I think when Ying-Ying compares to a ghost she is saying she is just lost in his world with everyone including herself sometimes not paying attention to hers. In this way I think people see her as sort of like a bed, table, or chair or any other everyday inanimate object that you take for granted and only pay attention to when want it or it is helping you, without ever thinking about how it would feel or need if it were a living being. This is exactly how Lena’s husband treats her how he doesn’t even know that she doesn’t like ice cream, but paid attention to her when she was giving him all these great ideas and then not giving her any credit for them. This why I hated this story because of they way he treated her and how she never did anything about it and I hated the whole thing with not eating and then the boy dying. I also hate that Lena notices they way he treats her and doesn’t like, but doesn’t do anything and feels she should be treated better and noticed when she doesn’t even treat herself well. This sounds horrible, but I think she deserves to be stuck with someone so horrible because I think she can think she deserves better, but she doesn’t because if you wanted to be treated well and better by others then you have to treat yourself well too, and if you don’t you deserve what you get because if you don’t respect yourself you have absolutely no right whatsoever to complain about it because of course if you don’t treat yourself well then no one else will either and you’ll deserve it. When I say this I’m referring to Lena because she wants to be respected and treated well, but she doesn’t even respect or treat herself well. If she really deserved to be respected and treated well she would realize this and start by respecting and treating herself well, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t respect and treat herself well, instead she does the opposite. She treats herself horribly and doesn’t respect herself or her body by being anorexic and never doing anything that would make people look at her and want to respect her. She lets everyone treat her badly and doesn’t do anything about it, when if she stood up for herself and didn’t let people push her around and if she took credit for her ideas instead of letting people take credit for them people would start to respect her because she is respecting herself and not letting people treat her badly, and if she doesn’t let them then they can’t and after a while they won’t want to, either because it’s too hard and they want easier prey or because they respect her for standing up for herself. It doesn’t matter why they are doing it as long as their doing it, because people who have learned to respect her have some view of righteousness, and the people who think its too hard are bullies and bullies only bully people until they’re stood up to and then its too hard for them and they’re too scared to continue because bullies are people who like to control others, but when the others start to rebel they don’t know what to do and don’t want to then be bullied themselves so they give in and just pick new people to bother. So since Lena just lets these things happen to her and even helps by bullying herself by being anorexic, I believe she deserves it all because its one thing to just be too afraid to rebel and not do anything, but it’s a totally different thing to not do anything and assist in it. I think Yin-Ying’s story is very similar, but the one main difference is that Ying-Ying was just being ignored and not bullied, but even to just being ignored she rebelled in her own way by forcing people to pay attention to her when she would wander off and even though this attention never lasted long at least she got some and at least she was trying whether she meant to or not.

Four Directions Blog

I liked this part of the book considerably more than Rice Husband, simply because it made more sense. I found this chapter interesting because it also showed another daughter taking their mother’s feelings into account. Although Waverly is a bit showy and flashy, it seemed like she was really hoping for her mother to accept her and Rich’s relationship with each other. I was also surprised that she went back to continuing her story about her, chess and Lindo’s relationship. I thought it was so interesting that her mother’s actions changed entirely after Waverly announced to her that she was returning to chess. I found it even more surprising that Waverly realized how wrong she was about her thoughts about her mother. Especially when her mother understood where she was coming, that was pretty cool. I thought this chapter made Waverly appear very vulnerable, because she seemed like a polar opposite of that, because of how bossy she has acted throughout the book with her sisters, mothers and daughters. I think the main thing I am curious about now is what her mother are going to do next if she decides to go on the honeymoon with her.

Rice Husband

The Story “Rice Husband” focuses on the life and story of Lena. In this tale, Lena is now married to a guy who works in the same architect company as she, and has just bought a new house. When her mother comes by for a visit, she says that her house is too expensive for a done up barn and a mildew stained pool. The story also focuses around the fact that Lena’s mother can somehow predict the future and knows what is going to happen in her family. The tale reminisces on a story her mother told her long ago, about her future husband and how not eating enough food and being wasteful led up to her ending up with her present beau. Lena’s mother claims that she has married a bad man because she did not eat as much as she should as a child. During this time, Lena’s marriage is clearly depicted as being less than great. They must split everything, including bills, house payments, date expenses, etc.. all down the middle, and her mother tells her that that is not good. i agree with her mother because you are in a marriage which is a union of 2 people so you should not split anything you should share eveything. He seems to treat Lena as more of a room mate than a wife. At the end of the story, despite the fact that Lena’s marriage isn’t perfect, she finds out that she has inherited the same gift that her mother has.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Rice Husband

In the story Rice Husband, Lena’s mother, Ying-Ying, comes to visit Lena and her husband Harold. Her mother comments to Harold that Lena looks so thin, she is like a ghost, you cannot see her. This statement symbolizes a lot of things that are intertwined between mother and daughter. In the way Ying-Ying was raised, she was taught to “keep her mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out”. I think she passed on the same way of doing things to her daughter, Lena. Lena is now not able to speak up to her husband about the things he does that bother her, one being the fact that he makes seven times more money than she does at the same company. The reason his salary is so much larger than hers is because he has used all of her great ideas over the years that brought him success and never gave her a raise because people in the office would deem it “unfitting”. Since Lena does not have a voice, she is simply a ghost, walking around unseen and unheard.

Two Kinds

The parable at the beginning of the section mirrors the attitudes of the young daughters and the hard lessons they had to learn. In both stories, the young girl doubts her mothers words and refuses to listen. Only after being told to not do something for a long time, they do it and realize their mistake of not listening to their mothers. The girl in the parable rode off on her bike even though her mother told her not to and fell down before she even got away. Jing Mei does not listen to her mothers wishes of her being a great pianist because she thinks she has an obligation to show up Waverly and wants to find things she likes on her own. After a very long time of being as difficult as possible to everyone does Jing Mei realize that what her mother told her was very wise and she should have listened, because she knows something great would have come out of it. I do not necessarily sympathize with Jing Mei, although I do understand where she is coming from. It is normal for people to defy against their parents at some point in time, but I feel more for her mother. An-Mei truly wanted the best for her child and at times she may have seemed to be a little to harsh, but that is only because she loved her so much and wanted her to do her best.

Half & Half

Rose and An-Mei have both had their fair share of dark, awful experiences that have severely damaged many facets of their everyday thinking. I believe both of them share an immense guilt for the death of Bing and will never forgive themselves for what happened. An-Mei in a sense lost her mother as if she had died. She only saw her a few times in her life and knew hardly anything about her. Although her family bad-mouthed her, she still found love in her heart for her mother and felt no remorse towards her. At a similar age as her mother, Rose lost her youngest brother to what she thinks is her “inattention”. There are symbols and elements that repeat themselves in the story, including water and death. I think Rose has an unfair disadvantage seeing as her mother was raised to keep her mouth shut and not have an opinion, and she definitely passed on those traits to her daughter. Rose seems like a nice person who tries to do her best, but lacks the strength to stand up for herself or make decisions, which is one of the main factors that lead to her divorce with Ted.

Rules of the Game & The Voice From the Wall

These two stories differ from the ones we have read so far because they touch upon subjects we haven’t heard about yet. In Rules of the Game, we learn how Waverly became a world-champion chess player and all the ups and downs she and her family went through getting there. In The Voice From the Wall, Lena hears her very loud next door neighbors fighting, screaming, and crying. She is incredibly shocked at their outrageous behavior because her whole life all she has heard in her household was hardly anything at all. Both stories deal with young children rebelling against their parents in order to feel a sense of independence. In the first story, Waverly comes to despise her mother and her eagerness at making her the very best chess player and her incessant bragging towards her friends. In the second story, the character who seems to stick out the most is the girl next door who gets into screaming matches with her mother, gets kicked out, and then sneaks back in again. This is one of the more obvious cases of teenage defiance, but I believe Lena is going through some of that herself, just on a quieter level. Lena’s mother is not quite right in the head, and when she translates to her father, she often changes what her mother says to make her seem like a less crazy person. She also comforts herself with the idea that at least the girl next door is a little more miserable that her. Lindo and Waverly have similar issues in their childhood, being forced to do something your not sure you really want to do. Ying-Ying and Lena both had the sense of being invisible in their stories, not being noticed by anyone when they need it the most.

Scar, Red Candle, Moon Lady

It is hard for me to choose which of the three stories I enjoyed the most, because I thought all of them were great. In the first story, Scar, An-mei inevitably becomes punished for her mothers bad doings and disgracing the family. Her mother becomes a concubine in China and her children are taken away from her. When she comes back to visit, a pot of boiling hot soup falls over and severely burns An-mei’s neck during the heat of a family battle. Her mother proves herself to be a good person, however, when she came to visit her mother on her deathbed and sacrificed a piece of her own flesh in an attempt to save her mother. All three of these stories have to do with the role mothers’ play to their daughters and the role of women in general according to tradition. The three daughters in these stories do not hate their mothers for their seemingly terrible actions, rather they sympathize with them and realize the sacrifices they had to make for their children. The parable in the beginning of the book about the old woman traveling to America with her swan parallels itself almost perfectly with the underlying story. The woman in the story is like the mothers in the Joy Luck Club. They all started out in one way or another leaving behind everything they knew for something bigger and better. They all had to make large sacrifices along the way and lost many things that they loved. Now, all they wish for is for their daughters to listen and consider the many things they went through in order to provide their daughters with a better life.

two kinds

Two Kinds.

I am completley torn between the mother and the daughter. The mother wants her daughter to be something and someone she is not. And whenever the daughter makes a mistake, no matter how small, the mother completely blows it out of proportion. She will scream and cry at her daughter and try to make her succesful. I think then mother is this way because she kind of wants to be in the spotlight but all the while pushing her daughter out of it so the newspapers can talk about her and say things like “Mother raises aspiring new piano star” or something. But It’s like the mother is jealous of many other people trying to get her daughter famous and all butn goes about doing it the completley wrong way. She hires a deaf piano teacher of all things, probably to save money and it doesn’t help the daughter out at all, it kind of holds her back. It’s extremely hard to find who you find any sympathy for in this story. While the mother wants her daughter to only succeed she is still trying to make her daughter into something that she doesn’t want to be.

Rice Husband

I really do feel bad for Lena in this story. I really don't like the fact that her mother has all these crazy beliefs dealing with not eating all your food as a bad luck or something. She made her feel really bad when the boy Arnold die and I think that Lena doesn't really like it when her mother says whats going to happen next, think she's ashamed that her mother really thinks of things that way. I don't understand why but it might be what Lena's mother believed in when she was growing up. But with Lena, she's basically putting bad luck on her daughter. She was the one who told Lena that if she didn't finish her food she would have a bad husband and as a kid, she took that seriously and made that the little boy who was messing with her was going to be that bad husband. But really, he liked her and that was his way of showing it. and now that she realizes that, it's already too late for her to redo that whole point in her life again. To me, I thuink Ying-Ying cursed her own child but in a way, she's trying to protect her but I just don't agree with the way she's doing it.

Two Kinds Blog

No I do not sympathize with Jing Mei at all. I mean I have a heart so I do at those moments where her mother tries to make her into something that she's not. Like when her mother is watching TV and sees the little girl playing the piano and wants her to be like that. But then there are those moments where I do not sympathize with her. I sympathize with her mother. Her mother has to deal with the smart mouth she has on her. She has to deal with her talking back and being rude and in my opinion that is ridiculous. No mother should have to deal with that and if that were my child we would have had a huge issue.

JLC Blog 1

In the first story of the book, we learn about the author’s mother having died a few months beforehand. In her mothers place, her father has asked her to join The Joy Luck Club and play mah jongg every week with the rest of the group. There she learns the real story on how her mother ended up escaping and coming to America. Jing-mei had always heard different versions of the story that made it seem like a fairy tale, but now she knows that in order for her mother’s survival, she had to sacrifice leaving her twin babies behind. The group tells Jing-mei that her mother had secretly been tracking them down and received an address right before her death. Now the group is asking Jing-mei to travel to China and find her half sisters and tell them all about their mother. She now has an incredible responsibility placed upon her shoulders and is expected to succeed. I do not think it is fair of her family to expect her to carry out these extreme wishes, although I do realize that it has more to do with their Chinese tradition than anything. So far I am really enjoying the book. I think the author is a great writer and a good storyteller, and I am excited to learn more about the book.

Rice Husband

Consider what Ying-Ying says about Lena in this story: "so thin now you cannot see her. She like a ghost, disappear." What do you think that means? How does that play out throughout the entire story? How might it also relate to Ying-Ying herself?

Game/Wall Blog

Game/Wall Blog.

In these two stories it seems to have a sort of visual effect on the mind and it’s very fragile ability. In the first story kind of is about the pressure coming with stardom and how everyone expects you to be better and show off when you don’t want to. In one case is where the girl in the story is used by her mother, so her mother can have fame while her daughter is the one more deserving of praise. And it just seems so conceited to me. And then in the second story this is a weird family because the father thinks he knows everything, the mother is goes kind of crazy (But I mean, because her unborn child did die, I mean that’s understandable) and the daughter just kind of sits by and listens to people next door who seem to hate each other but in fact, love each other dearly. These stories just get to me in a deep moving and a kind of crazy way. Because each story either involves tradition, or insanity within a family and it really creeps me out.

Rice Husband

Rice Husband.

This story was very oriented with the Chinese belief system in how in some Chinese counties or regions they believe that if you don’t eat all your food, you will get a bad husband depending on how much food is left. I kind of like that rule. Cause that will mean that women won’t starve themselves to death to try and look “Good”. Then the daughter falls in love with a semi-rich businessman and it sort of starts off strong and goes down the mountain, if you know what I mean. And then her mother comes to town, which just about every married couple just can’t wait for. And her mother gets kind of revealing when it comes to her daughters personal life. Eventually the husband and wife sort their problems out with one another and of course something has to break at that exact moment completely ruining the moment between the two lovers. I kind of find it funny at how financially organized they are. They even have a balance sheet where they share everything and knows what they each owe each other. It’s kind of funny if you ask me.

Rice Husband

The Rice Husband is about a woman named Lena. The story talks about her daily struggles of trying to deal with all of the negative things her mother says about the future. For example, this story talks about a lot of different predictions about her daughters past, such as, when she said that for every grain of rice she didn't eat, her future husband would grow more spots on his face, and she would be destined to be married to a very mean and bad guy. Another thing the mother predicted was that Lena's father would die because her mother planted a seed that he gave her, and even though she nurtured it affectionately. the plant still died out. Basically, the whole story is about Lena and her husband trying to impress Lena's mother because her mother finds something wrong with everything, and because Lena is starting to feel that ever since Harold, her husband, started getting paid seven times more than Lena did, that everything slowly started to grow more and more un-equal; and this concerns her because when they had started dating, they used to divide everything straight down the middle, and now she feels that everything is leaning towards Harold. I think this story really connects and picks at my interests of superstition, because i really feel that there are signs of things around you that mean you're going to have a good or a bad day. I'm really starting to like where this book is going and i hope that this sense of suspense keeps going through-out the rest of the book.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Rice Husband

The Story “Rice Husband” focuses on the life and story of Lena yet again. In this tale, Lena is now married to a guy who work in the same architect company as she, and has just bough ten a new house. When her mother comes by for a visit, she says that her house is too expensive for a done up barn and a mildew stained pool together they must face the hardships of Lena‘s married life. The story also focuses around the fact that Lena’s mother can somehow predict the future and knows what is going to happen in her family. The tale reminisces on a story her mother told her long ago, about her future husband and how not eating enough food and being wasteful led up to her ending up with her present beau. Lena’s mother claims that she has married a bad man because she did not eat as much as she should as a child. During this time, Lena’s marriage is clearly depicted as being less than great. They must split everything, including bills, house payments, date expenses, etc.. all down the middle, which quite annoys me. Where did chivalry go?? He seems to treat Lena as more of a room mate than a wife and they even have to make lists of things they buy that they both use so that they can pay each other back for it. At the end of the story, however, despite the fact that Lena’s marriage isn’t peachy, she finds out that she has inherited the same gift that her mother has.

Rice Husband Blog

I was very interested to know what this chapter was about because there was a possibility of what the story could be about. It thought this chapter could have been about one of the daughter's relationships with their father's or one of the mother's relationships with their husbands, both of which have not been talked about in the story yet. However, my assumptions were not entirely correct but I did find this story interesting. I thought one of the weird things was that Jane was actually taking what her mother's thoughts were into consideration early on in the story. I found this strange because due to their "relationship," I would think that she would be as concerned with something like that. I also thought this chapter was a lot more confusing because of Ying-Ying's interventions throughout the story. But I thought that although it explained the strenuous relationship between Lena and her husband while they had the business going, as well as before that with the expenses, it was not clear what this entire chapter was about. I thought that the vase that was broken was a possible metaphor for the sense of stability in their relationship. Especially since Ying-Ying asked her about it. I seemed reminiscent of her situation with Arnold, where she felt like she had no control over what happened to him but the same time, she still felt responsible. I am hoping that "Four Directions" puts things into better perspective about this chapter’s situation.

1/2 + 1/2 blog

I think that this story was very, very dark. I think that rose's life, is very dark and sad, and just not very happy. Also, i think that something big in this story so far is that mothers and daughters in this book have very stressful relationships. Like in this story, Rose is telling her past struggles with her life, even though her and her mother's relationship wasn't good at all, they still managed to deal with each other, somehow. Something that i felt was important in this story was the mentioning of water, life, death and a dragon that gets spoken about during a conversation with Bing. Something I found out, is that in the Asian culture, life, death, and elements are very important to them. Also, i think that this book has a very unique way of creating the minds of Chinese and Asian people, because they talk about seeing demons and dragons and their ancestors in their dreams. I am starting to really like this book, and I think it's beginning to get a lot better.

Game/Wall blog

I found that both stories, rules of the game and the voices from the wall, both told very interesting stories. The girl in the first story adapts herself to her surroundings and situation by learning how to play chess and being good at it, this in turn makes her and her mother disagree and bicker about the game. Her mother thinks it’s a useless game, while she thinks of it as her passion and uses all her spare time to get better at it. In the next story, the main character is mixed with Chinese. Like most mixed kids, she goes through some pretty rough times trying to find her real identity. So focuses her emotions into the sounds and conversations that she hears coming through her bedroom wall. During this time, her mother, who was pregnant, loses the baby and starts to go crazy, her dad doesn’t say much either. She becomes very sad and lonely and then starts paying even more attention to the things that go on in the apartment next door because her life is so full of sadness. she wants to focus on other things.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

two kinds

These stories are getting really into relationships between parents and their children and focusing on how difficult their lives are because of their differences, not only because of the different generations, but also because of the differences in culture. I really did hate the fact that the fights between mother and daughter got so ugly during this story and I really do not like the daughter. In a mother daughter relationship, in all relationships as the matter of fact, you have to take the other persons feelings in consideration, this is partially why I don’t like dealing with relationships, but I digress. It just seems that in this story, the daughter just blurts out anything that pops up in her little brain, which happenes in most cases but is not as painful as what she says to her mother. Comparing, and even speaking about the daughters her mother left behind was sooooo beyond the line and I feel that she totally crossed the boundary on that one. Imagine how her mother must have felt when she heard those words come out of her daughters mouth!!! Instead of feeling fortunate that her mom even considered keeping her, she brings up the less fortunate daughters who weren’t as lucky as she has been, what an obnoxious little poop kid!!! I really really really do not like her, but sympathize for her poor mother who must have made huge sacrifices for her daughter and must have gone through intense changes arriving to a new country and everything.

half and half

I really didn’t like this story at all, but sadly I can relate to it in my everyday life. It just seems really bleak and negative. It just seems focused on all the negative things in Rose’s life and in her not so good relationship with her mother. I can definitely relate to this, however, even though my relationship with my mom is totally different, and good actually. Although the situation could never be, and will never be as serious and as bad as the situation with Rose and her mother I think that fighting and disagreements are a part of being related. Moms push and shove their children for a reason, and that reason is because they want the best for them. In this particular story, Rose and her mother want fame for her. Rose’s mom wants her to be the best, and maybe does push her a little too hard while Rose needs a little more love. But Rose could do a little more to improve her relationship with her mother. I think its really hard, in these kinds of situations because the only way to fix the problem is to communicate and compromise. Such things are always difficult to discuss with moms because they are moms and they sometimes forget to listen. They think the world of their children and might sometimes be a little too critical and a little too judgmental while comparing us to other “perfect” children. The problem in this particular story however, was probably the fact that Rose and her mother were so very different. Communication between different generations is hard enough, but it must be especially hard for people who were born in two totally different places and raised in totally different ways.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Two Kinds

When i read this story, the more i read, the more frustrated i grew. This book really gets into the "nitty-gritty" of the parent child relationship. This story was about a girl named Jing-Mei, and her being brought up from an ignorant society where children run the house-holds and they talk back to their children, and make it seem normal; and a mother brought up from a disciplined background, and not understanding the kind of society she transfered in to. I really don't sympathize with Jing-mei because she went WAY too far with saying she wished she was dead like her other sisters. I feel this way because she's obviously unaware on how hard it is for a mother to have to leave her children behind, unsure that they will even make it out alive, and you might not ever be able to come back even if they are alive. I only sympathize with jing-mei when her mother watches T.V. and is impressed by a little chinese girl playing the piano very beuatifully, and immediately expecting her daugher to be the same, but by NO MEANS WHAT SO EVER! Does that mean her daughter can stabb her in the back and just say something so rude and ignorant that it just makes you go speachless and leave the room, but then, she was happy! Her daughter was happy, and felt that the prodigy inside of her was meant talk back to her mother, and to do whatever she wanted. Also, she said that she felt that she had won the battle with her mother just because her mom was generous enough to give her a piano. I feel Jing-mei needs to grow up and appologize for what she did, or she needs to be slapped one or the other.

Half + Half

I think that this tory was very, very dark. I think that rose's life, is very dark, and it's not very happy. Also, i think that something big in this story so far is that mothers and daughters in this book have very stressful relationship. For example, in this story, Rose is telling her past struggles with her life, even though her and her mother's relationship wasn't good at all, they still managed to deal with each other, no matter how stressful it got. Something that i felt was important in this story was the mentioning of water, life, death and a dragon that gets spoken about during a conversation with Bing. Something i've realized over the years, is that in the Asian culture, life, death, and elements are very important to them. Also, i think that this book has a very unique way of creating the minds of Chinese and Asian people, because they talk about seeing demons and dragons and their ancestors in their dreams, when Americans, and this whole other society just looks at them in confusion, wondering what they're talking about. I really like this book, and I think it has been getting a lot better, and it's beginning to be understandable to my mind now, and i can't wait to read the ending.