1) Amy Takayesu
2) Farah Schumacher
3) Noah Perales-Estoesta
4) Kelli Yamane
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Spring Break Prompt
1991. Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.
Be sure to not use notes, the book, commentaries or anything other than your brain!!! The best way to practice this is to just jam! Remember to entitle your essay and to mention the novel/play title in your opening paragraph! Please try to knock this out of the ball park!
Your essay needs to be loaded by Saturday, March 20th midnight. You will need to comment on 4 essays by Monday, March 22nd midnight! Think about what you are learning from each other in terms of writing craftmenship, logic, voice. Good Luck!
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The Ties that Bind
One of the most crucial aspects of a story is the setting. A story can seem completely different if the setting doesn't match with the plot, so the setting isn't as trivial as most would think. Having multiple settings to a story also changes its dynamics, and can make a story much more interesting. The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston uses setting to its advantage by taking place in two different countries, China and America. The direct relationship of the two countries through Kingston's eyes brings together one of the themes of her story: women's role in Chinese society.
In Kingston's memoir, the story takes place in China and America. Interestingly enough, it isn't just Present Day China that she talks about. In the first section of "White Tigers," it tells of Fa Mu Lan, a woman warrior who saved ancient China. Rather than it being an ordinary storytelling of the famous woman warrior, Kingston tells it in first person point of view, as if it is her rather than Fa Mu Lan that saved China from its enemies. Besides the difference of time, Ancient China and Present Day China have other differences as well. In Kingston's eyes, Ancient China had accepted the fact that Fa Mu Lan (Kingston in her narrative) had saved the country despite the fact that she was a wife and mother. During the time when her mother lived in China, women were expected to be very submissive when it came to what they could and couldn't do. In numerous cases, Kingston points out that girls are considered useless to the Chinese culture, yet Fa Mu Lan proved otherwise. The differences in the importance of women in these two different time periods shows the conflict that Kingston faced while she was growing up: should she be like Fa Mu Lan and be a woman warrior despite society's disagreements, or should she be submissive like society expects her to be.
Although the events that happen in both China and America seem to be similar in some ways, both countries represent different aspects of Kingston's theme of a woman's role in Chinese society. In China, the women that are alive are the ones that are considered lucky. Society in China views girls as useless to the world, only helpful for producing more heirs. They are also seen as a great burden to their parents, because a girl's dowry will have to be a lot in order for her to get married to a man that will take care of her. In China, the only way for a woman to feel even remotely successful is if she marries into a rich family and produces an heir for her husband. China symbolizes the automatic disadvantage for Chinese women, being that because they are women they are destined to fail at life. In America, the situation can be either positive or negative. Although Americans initially saw the Chinese emigrants as worthless and good for nothing, it wasn't as "set in stone" as in China. With American representing a fresh start for the Chinese who moved there, they had a chance to prove just how worthy they were of being treated with respect. Kingston was able to get many different high position jobs in America, despite the fact that she was a Chinese-American. The way these two countries contrasted with each other showed that in actuality, the only thing that stopped Kingston from proving her worth was the restrictions that she set on herself.
Kingston showed the audience the hardships that were faced by Chinese women in both China and America. Rather than making this whole novel about herself, she was able to broaden the theme to all the women that had to go through what she went though, and what needed to be done so they didn't have to face it anymore. Although the fact that women will be seen as disappointments to their parents despite what they accomplish, Kingston trys to convey to the audience that women need to push on no matter what. Doing what they set their minds on doing doesn't make them a disappointment in their own eyes, and that is what really matters in the end.
Be sure to not use notes, the book, commentaries or anything other than your brain!!! The best way to practice this is to just jam! Remember to entitle your essay and to mention the novel/play title in your opening paragraph! Please try to knock this out of the ball park!
Your essay needs to be loaded by Saturday, March 20th midnight. You will need to comment on 4 essays by Monday, March 22nd midnight! Think about what you are learning from each other in terms of writing craftmenship, logic, voice. Good Luck!
-----------------------------------------
The Ties that Bind
One of the most crucial aspects of a story is the setting. A story can seem completely different if the setting doesn't match with the plot, so the setting isn't as trivial as most would think. Having multiple settings to a story also changes its dynamics, and can make a story much more interesting. The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston uses setting to its advantage by taking place in two different countries, China and America. The direct relationship of the two countries through Kingston's eyes brings together one of the themes of her story: women's role in Chinese society.
In Kingston's memoir, the story takes place in China and America. Interestingly enough, it isn't just Present Day China that she talks about. In the first section of "White Tigers," it tells of Fa Mu Lan, a woman warrior who saved ancient China. Rather than it being an ordinary storytelling of the famous woman warrior, Kingston tells it in first person point of view, as if it is her rather than Fa Mu Lan that saved China from its enemies. Besides the difference of time, Ancient China and Present Day China have other differences as well. In Kingston's eyes, Ancient China had accepted the fact that Fa Mu Lan (Kingston in her narrative) had saved the country despite the fact that she was a wife and mother. During the time when her mother lived in China, women were expected to be very submissive when it came to what they could and couldn't do. In numerous cases, Kingston points out that girls are considered useless to the Chinese culture, yet Fa Mu Lan proved otherwise. The differences in the importance of women in these two different time periods shows the conflict that Kingston faced while she was growing up: should she be like Fa Mu Lan and be a woman warrior despite society's disagreements, or should she be submissive like society expects her to be.
Although the events that happen in both China and America seem to be similar in some ways, both countries represent different aspects of Kingston's theme of a woman's role in Chinese society. In China, the women that are alive are the ones that are considered lucky. Society in China views girls as useless to the world, only helpful for producing more heirs. They are also seen as a great burden to their parents, because a girl's dowry will have to be a lot in order for her to get married to a man that will take care of her. In China, the only way for a woman to feel even remotely successful is if she marries into a rich family and produces an heir for her husband. China symbolizes the automatic disadvantage for Chinese women, being that because they are women they are destined to fail at life. In America, the situation can be either positive or negative. Although Americans initially saw the Chinese emigrants as worthless and good for nothing, it wasn't as "set in stone" as in China. With American representing a fresh start for the Chinese who moved there, they had a chance to prove just how worthy they were of being treated with respect. Kingston was able to get many different high position jobs in America, despite the fact that she was a Chinese-American. The way these two countries contrasted with each other showed that in actuality, the only thing that stopped Kingston from proving her worth was the restrictions that she set on herself.
Kingston showed the audience the hardships that were faced by Chinese women in both China and America. Rather than making this whole novel about herself, she was able to broaden the theme to all the women that had to go through what she went though, and what needed to be done so they didn't have to face it anymore. Although the fact that women will be seen as disappointments to their parents despite what they accomplish, Kingston trys to convey to the audience that women need to push on no matter what. Doing what they set their minds on doing doesn't make them a disappointment in their own eyes, and that is what really matters in the end.
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