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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rules of game and Voices from the wall

These two stories are very different from the others we've read becuase they both involve a lot of understanding things, and learning how to deal with things. For example, in "Rules of the Game", Waverly is this girl named after her street, and she suddenly has a strong interest in chess after seeing somebody playing it. She starts playing a lot of chess, and the more she plays, the more she understands it, and the more she starts thinking about her moves. As she progresses, she is told that chess is basically a game of secrets that you never tell, and once she's told that, she seems to try and keep her "secret" better. However, in "Voices from the Wall", it's about how people interperate other people's actions and emotions. For example, in "Voices from the Wall", the little girl's father was really ignorant, and obviously didn't know how to interperate his wife's actions, because he would think whenever she would make good food for dinner that she was trying to say that she was happy and that she wanted the family to be happy, when really she was raised to be able to cook very well, and it really came naturally. Also, i liked the way the girl in this story would purposely mis-translate things her parents would say to help her parents out; that just seems like she's very delicate, and sensative. Also, this story is unique because the girl in this story, at midnight would see another girl get chopped into peices, and the next day the girl was walking down the street laughing.

Rules of the game+ the voices from the wall

I found that both stories, rules of the game and the voices from the wall, both told stories of an entirely different race. Generations pass and change throughout time, and as in the book, people start to question their heritage. 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 subject. 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 my opinion, she is kind of bratty and selfish, her mother has worked so hard to give her what she has, and in turn, she is an annoying ungrateful little kid. In the next story, the main character is a mix of Chinese and Irish, I think. Like most mixed kids, she goes through some pretty rough times trying to find her real identity and fixates 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 stats to go crazy, her dad doesn’t say much either. A sad and lonely Leiina then starts paying even more attention to the things that go in in the apartment next door because her life is so full of sadness.

Joy Luck Club "Scar" and "Moon Lady" response

To me, this book is really starting to get interesting. In the story "Scar", Amy Tan wrties about a girl that has a really mean grandmother, or mother I'm not one hundred percent sure which, named Popo. Popo keeps putting things into the little girl's mind that the girls mother was disgraceful towards their family and that she's never allowed in the house again, for being married to a married man, and for being a concubine. The reason this story is called "Scar", is because the girl explains that she got a scar on her neck when she was little because Popo made her spill hot water on her neck, and when the girl's mother came back to get her daughter, she rubbed her daughter's neck to check if she still had the scar on her neck. The next story, "The Moon Lady", is about a girl that's living with a family that really doesn't care about her very much. Also, she is being instructed by the Moon "Lady" that girls are always supposed to listen, and never ask questions because that's the only thing women are good for. I was very surprised at the ending of the story, when the moon lady took of her mask, and insted of seeing some old woman, the moon lady was actually a man in desguise. I'm really starting to get pulled into the "Joy Luck Club", and I think that this story is very complicated, but now, since the peices are starting to come together, everything makes a lot more sense.

the joy luck club

The story of the joy luck club was pretty confusing and I didn’t really like it. It just seemed so sad that the girl didn’t really know what her mother was like. The fact that she needed to resort to her mothers friends to actually learn stuff about her was also quite sad. All she had to learn from was other people’s stories and opinions and clearly that’s not the way a mother daughter relationship should be by nature. At the same time, I felt that her mother was rather careless for the time that she was there. She basically picked her two dresses over her kids and chose to take them with her and leave her children behind. Her history with men does not seem all that bright either, and that fact that she ran off with a man who had already been married a bunch of times and had cheated on previous relationships made me feel sorry for her. All in all, its sad that she couldn’t raise her daughter but she seems to enjoy hearing all about her mothers life and experiences. To add on to the story, she has in a sense, taken her mothers place in the mah jong table with her mothers friends.

jlc feathers blog

The last three stories from the first section of the book were all so symbolic. The first one, the scar, was about a little girl who is left by her mother to live with her grandmother. Her grandmother tells her of how her mother is looked upon as a ghost because she dishonored her family and ran off to marry a guy who had already been married once before and had two lovers. The little girl grows up without her mother, until one day she just shows up. Her grandmother is really sick and her mother kind of takes over. She even takes a piece of her flesh and feeds it to her mother to make her feel better. This, I thought, sounded a lot like giving a little bit of yourself, to help someone in need. Family is so important in this country, and it shows how they prioritize their family before everything. The second story, the red candle, is about this girl who is forced to marry a guy a matchmaker picked for her when she is sixteen and she has to move in with him and serve him as if she were his personal maid. Her family moves away and she is basically left alone and helpless. She is labeled as a piece of property owned by the man. She finds a way to escape this life, and make everyone believe her marriage is cursed and that the guy is meant to marry someone else. She then is allowed to leave the house and go search for her family. The final story, the moon lady, was about a mother and daughter relationship and how the daughter is never paid any attention. While on a boat she falls over board and it is never even noticed that she is gone. She ends up on the boat of the moon lady. She wants to make a wish but when she runs up to her she finds out that the moon lady is actually a man. I don’t have a favorite story I like them all because they all end in a happy way.

the joy luck club

The first chapter was really good but at times it was sort of confusing, more of with what person was telling the story and whom they were speaking of. But clearly, June was speaking about her mother and the stories that she told her before she died. It’s really odd that June doesn’t know much about her mother. It’s almost as if Suyuan didn’t’ want her daughter to know anything about her life, what experiences she had growing up or anything. But when she told her about her journey before June and June’s father existed, I don’t think she really wanted to tell her the story. Which I believe is why she switched up the endings every time she told the story. Now, that her mom’s dead, June has to take this her mother’s place at the mah jong table, which Suyuan started with the other three ladies. I liked this story because I noticed how these four women come together to play this game just to have a good time and converse on life and what the future holds for them. It’s like how my grandmother meets up with her bridge club.

Two Kinds Blog

I was very curious to know about this story. I think I was intrigued to know because I wanted to know what the two kinds are. In addition, I also wanted to know how this story was similar (if at all) to any of the other stories. I thought that this part of the story reminded me of Rules of the Game because of how the events all fell into place. It was very similar because of how their mothers both wanted them to be child prodigies, both following them becoming champions at chess. I think the only difference is that Jing-Mei took a completely different approach. I am very curious as to why she is so forgiving of her mother, especially considering the fact that has taken her mother’s place at the Joy Luck Club! I also noticed that there was a mention of death in this chapter. In addition, I was just as surprised as she was when played the piano. It seems like a lot of these stories have given me an idea of how and why everyone is the way they are. However, I thought that this story threw it off because of her actions in the story. I am very curious to see what happens next and how this “relationship” affects the rest of the story.

Half and Half Blog

I would first like to start of by saying that I thought that this was one of the darker parts of the book (Not as close to Scar, but certainly the second in comparison to it.) The more I read this book, the more I notice these generations of very distant mother-daughter “relationships.” The two main motifs that I noticed in this story were religion and death. One element I noticed was water, which I found particularly important because of its role in the story. A dragon is also mentioned when she is talking to her mother about Bing. Rose seems like she has regrets for what happened in the past, but on the other hand her thoughts on inattention and expectation questionably seem to “keep her at peace.” I am very curious to know what the story is about. I think that it is very interesting to get an idea of how each daughter’s relationship with their mothers differentiate from on another. I am also hoping that it is on a brighter note.

Amy Tan Packet

This packet about the author Amy Tan and the strange incidents that have occurred in her life was a very interesting one. This packet was really about the different unique experiences Amy Tan had with what she calls the "The unexplainable" or spirits. I think that Amy Tan feels that fate is a part of everyone's life and that it plays a large role. Amy Tan's reaction to the "unexplainable" events is just to sort of shrug them off and lets things flow on without interruption. My feelings on ghosts are helped out by religion. There was always the thought the Jesus resurrected and ascended into heaven. I don’t really believe in ghosts I believe more in spirits. I have not experienced any encounters with any spirits myself, but I feel like there has to be some kind of world of the dead because people have been saying that there's a place people go to after death from thousands of years, whether it be heaven or hell; and I think if there wasn't a place people go to after death then people wouldn't have brought it up randomly into their beliefs so freely, without any reason other then just to have it there. I believe that there are coincidences and also fate. But I also believe that God has a line of choices set up for everyone and whichever choices you make personally will affect your life permanently and will shape who/what you become as an adult later in life.

Blog for "Two Kinds"

Write 250 words, thinking about how the story "Two Kinds" relates to the parable at the beginning of this section -- "The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates." Do you sympathize with Jing Mei? How do you think the other stories in this section relate to the parable?

Response to Scar, the Red Candle and Moon Lady

I can’t really decide which story I liked the best, because they were all sort of sad and a little depressing at times. I mean so many people in the stories are forced into these impossible situations. Like in the story “The Red Candle” the girl is forced into a marriage she doesn’t really want and she is always beaten and abused by her lying husband who can’t admit the truth to his mother and it terrified of her. And in the story “Scar” the girl there is beaten and given a wicked scar because of tradition and is told to hate her own mother for life. That is physically, emotionally and psychologically impossible. And in “Moon Lady” the little girl is forced into these traditions and ceremonies that she herself doesn’t fully understand. And then she is thrown overboard from their little raft by her own grandmother. What the hell, man? I mean really it hard enough your telling her things she might not even understand but now you’re abusing her and junk because of a lousy prank and tradition and even throwing her into freezing waters. That’s just crazy.

I think that this section is called what it is because most of it happens back in China, thousands of miles away. And because of the little 1-page thing at the beginning where the lady is coming to America with a swan and is only able to keep a feather from the swan. And while trying to connect the little first page thing to the rest of the section I noticed, that a lot of stories had to do with losing something but in the end gaining something that might be able to replace. In some weird and small way.

Blog for "Half and Half"

Let's draw some more mother/daughter connections. What similarities do you see between Rose's story and that of her mother, An-Mei? What other motifs/symbols recur? Any references to the elements? What do you think of Rose? How would you describe her?

26 Malignant Gates Blog

For the most part, I can say I like The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates. I think that the title in itself caught my attention and made me curious as to what these stories were like. I thought that these stories were both very interesting because of the similarities and differences. In addition it is from the daughter’s points of view, which seems important because they seem to be very reserved so far throughout the book and not as close with their mothers. I thought that the main similarities between Waverly and Lindo’s stories were that they both had very major things happen when they were children. Waverly became a champion at chess at nine, and Lindo was married at 16. They also had very difficult relationships with their mothers. It seems like they were both forced into a lot of situations by their mothers. Whereas for Lena and Ying-Ying, it seems like there is some secrecy between Ying-Ying because of when she says she killed a son a long time ago (another symbol because of death). It is also something that I am very curious to know about especially as the story develops (unless it was hidden message). Even the fact that they can not understand each other because of a language barrier is somewhat ridiculous because of the fact that it’s they are mother and daughter! I am very curious to see where the story goes from this point because of the things that have been established in these relationships between characters.

Response to "Scar", "The Red Candle", and "The Moon Lady"

Of these three stories my favorite would have to be “The Red Candle” and my least favorite “The Moon Lady”. My favorite was “the Red Candle” because of Lindo Jong. So far she is now my favorite character because of her personality. I loved how clever she was to think of a plan to get out of her horrible marridge without ever breaking her promise to her and her husband’s family. The way she devised this plan and waited for the exact moment when it would be perfect was absolutely brilliant. In fact one of the reasons I liked her was because when I read about her clever plan she reminded me of my favorite clever, witty woman, from the past, Elizabeth Bennet. Although these two women are from very different ethnicities and times I found their worlds strangely similar and them also strangely similar. They both came from worlds and families where women were in superior to men and their only purpose and most important thing was marridge. Although these women are so different they both have the same determination to get what they want and they share some of the same wittiness and are both very clever. I noticed a lot of themes and motifs in these stories. The first theme was also in “Jane Eyre” and that would be the color red. The color red was very big in the last two stories. In “The Red Candle” all you have to do is just look at the title and you already see red. In this story the double sided marridge candle was red as well as her wedding dress and the scarf she wore that covered her face the day of the wedding. In the last story “The Moon Lady” she was watching the woman in the kitchen gutting animals and then when she heard footsteps she noticed she had gotten drops of blood on her clothes and decided to cover it up by putting turtle blood all over her clothes. The color red also goes hand in hand with mankind, blood, and human flesh according to the meanings of the mahjongg tiles with the color red, and in the first of these three stories she gets burned which goes with human flesh and her mother cuts out a piece of her own flesh to put in a soup for her mother. There were other themes and motifs, but none were as big as the color red except for maybe the theme of family and promises.

Blog for Rules of the Game and The Voice From the Wall

Write 250 words about these 2 stories. How do they differ from the ones you've read so far? More importantly -- in what ways are they similar? What themes/motifs do you see running through the book so far? Think about the discussions we've had in class having to do with storytelling, colors, women's roles, mothers, etc. How does Waverly's story compare to Lindo's? And how does Lena's compare to Ying-Ying's?

JLC: Last Three Stories

I thought that this first part of the book was very interesting. I found that each story was very different from each one another, aside from the names. One thing I noticed may be a stretch, but I know the woman in the parable says, “In America I will have a daughter just like me. Over there nobody will look down on her, because I will make her speak only perfect American English. She will know my meaning, because I will know my meaning, because I will give her this swan- a creature that that became more than what was hoped for. Metaphorically to me, it sounds like she could have been saying that when I pass, she will never leave her, and I will stay in her memory and with her physically. In addition, when the sisters all come to America, they don’t really have much, they mainly have their stories and that could also be what is given to them. I think that out of the three stories to read was Scar. I thought it was interesting because I was very curious in how she actually got her scar. I actually felt bad for her after I found out how she got her scar, because it seemed like a pretty bad way to get one. All in all I found each story different and I could start to see the differences between them based on their stories and what they did in their stories. I am very curious to see how the language of the stories changes as the book progresses. I like the story so far I am very interested in seeing what else happens in the story. In addition I am also curious in seeing what other symbols and motifs from Mah Jongg show up in the story (even though they occasionally drive me crazy). I also think that it should be interesting to read the next two stories because it is from the daughter’s point of view.

The Joy Luck Club

The first chapter was really good but at times it was sort of confusing, more of with what person was telling the story and whom they were speaking of. But clearly, June was speaking about her mother and the stories that she told her before she died. It’s really odd that June doesn’t know much about her mother. It’s almost as if Suyuan didn’t’ want her daughter to know anything about her life, what experiences she had growing or anything. But when she told her about her journey before June and June’s father existed, I don’t think she really wanted to her the truth or even the story at which is why she switched up the endings every time. Now that her mom’s dead June has take this responsibility, which is a pretty big deal, and take her mother’s place at the mah jong table, which Suyuan started with the other three ladies. I really liked this story a lot because I noticed how these four women come together to play this game just to have a good time and converse on life and what the future holds for them. It’s like how people in America would meet up and play a game of poker or other card games that are famous.

Reaction to the scar, the red candle, and the moon lady

The last three stories from the first section of the book were all so symbolic. The first one, the scar, was about a little girl who is left by her mother to live with her grandmother. Her grandmother tells her of how her mother is looked upon and how she is a ghost because she dishonored her family and ran off to marry a player guy who was married once before and had two lovers. Basically, the little girl grows up without her mother, and one day she just shows up. Her grandmother is really sick and her mother kind of takes over. She even takes a piece of her flesh and feeds it to her mother to make her feel better. This, I thought, was a metaphor for giving a little bit of yourself, in the non literal sense of course, to help someone in need. Family is so important in this country, and it shows how they prioritize their family members before all else. The second story, the red candle, focused more on tradition. This girl is forced to marry a guy a matchmaker picked for her when she is sixteen and she has to move in with him and serve him as if she were a maid. Her family moves away from her and she must face all of this alone and helpless, labeled as a piece of property. She somehow finds away to escape all this, and manages to make everyone believe her marriage is cursed and that the guy is meant to marry someone else, who he does end up getting with. She on the other hand is allowed to leave the house and go search for her family. The final story, the moon lady, was about a mother and daughter relationship and how wishes to the said moon lady, were made as a tradition. Legends are mixed with their everyday encounters and stay with them forever, I didn’t really understand it. My favorite story however, was the one about the red candle. I found that it really captured the frustrations of having to do something you don’t want to and pretend to like it, and all in all had a lot of good metaphors.

JLC 1

It has been a while since I had actually read this book so I wasn’t entirely sure how I would feel about reading this book again. It was actually more interesting reading it this time because I had more of an understanding about what was going on. As I said before in the previous Journal entry, I found the references a lot easier due to knowing the background of Mah Jongg. I can definitely see how this book shares some similarities with Jane Eyre because of all of the motifs and symbols that have been mentioned and shown all throughout the story. In addition to have a better understanding of the material in the book, I am also aware of the fact that the stories are being told be each sister. When I first read The Joy Luck Club, I had no idea there were stories being read by other sisters. I think it will be interesting to see if there are differences between each sister is shown in the book. And if these differences are shown, will they be indicated by what their sisters say or their own actions. I think it also be interested in how the war changes around and what they may do as a result of that.

Amy Tan Article

I thought this article was very interesting, because I think it is always interesting to know about an author's experiences in their life. I think that helps to give a good idea of what makes the author incorporate certain elements into the story. I think when I first read this book it seemed a little difficult to understand because I did not know what Mah Jongg (thank you Nijole! :)) was. That helped me a lot when I saw some of the aspects of Mah Jongg being incorporated into the story. One prime example was the use of the number four. There are four daughters in the story, and they each sit on the end of Jing-Mei's four-sided table. There are four elements, dragons and hemispheres in the game of Mah Jongg. I also found it interesting that her mother “affected her imagination” and way she did by describing different situations. For example, when she talks about how “paper plates moved at a funeral reception wafted up and down whenever your mother’s name was mentioned; or “if your phone disconnected, but only when you were talking to your mother. I thought those two really stood out and gave me an idea of where the idea of an apparition or ghost comes from.

Blog for "Scar" & "The Red Candle" & "The Moon Lady"

Please write 300 words about the last three stories of the first section of the book. Which of the three did you like best? Why? What themes, motifs (recurring structures, contrasts, literary devices that help to develop the themes), and symbols did you notice? Do you have any predictions for any of the characters? Why do you think this section is called "Feathers From A Thousand Li Away"? Hint: Re-read the first page of the section -- the parable about the woman and the swan -- and try to make some connections between it and the stories in this section.