Everyday people go about using different types of things for their own personal needs. But do we ever think about how our actions are affecting Earth? On Friday, April 19 my school held a small 'fair' where the purpose was to create awareness of the resources that we use everyday and how we can reduce the amount of something we use, Etc to help our planet in some way. Around the entire 'fair' there were plenty posters that had different "Did you know?" facts stating how much of 'something' we use everyday and how doing 'something' about it can help the environment. Some of these were...
Save 40 liters of water by taking a shower
By recycling 1 aluminum can it's enough to run a T.V. for 3 hours
A ton of recycled paper equals 17 trees in paper produced
More than 1/3 of ALL energy is used at HOME
(Found at the Hawaiian Water Plant Station: Random Fact:
Purple is the color of non-drinkable water whereas the color Blue is drinkable (normally) Although not always true, it's believed to be true most of the time.)
These are only a few of them, there had been plenty more around the fair, but these are a few that I found the MOST interesting. Not only were there posters, but there had been sections, each with a table and posterboard explaining different aspects of the Earth and what damage we're causing (as humans) and what we can do to prevent different 'disasters'. One station that I went to explained fuel cells and their purposes. Apparently, fuel cells can be used instead of gasoline and are a better way of receiving power because it saves up energy. Fuel cells can be used with laptops and other electronics through satellites that give off solar energy.
Another station that I went to described my school campus and what the members of my school's staff are trying to do to make our campus a better place. In our school we have a Lily Pond with fish, turtles, and other thriving life. That water has been used to water our fields and such therefore conserving some water that would've been used on that grass. Also, the water doesn't evaporate any more which saves our planet even more water. Since the Lily Pond water contains nutrients as well, it also makes the grass happier and healthier. On my school campus, there are golf carts that drive by, carrying boxes and other items from one places to another. We have these golf carts because our campus is very large and it's very hard to transport things and even people from one place to another within a short period of time. Previously these golf carts had been running on gasoline, but now 85% of them run on electricity and that saves a lot of energy. Like the water, it's not only beneficial because of the conserving part, but also because it makes the air a lot cleaner for the students. The last one that I'm going to mention about how our school is trying to help the Earth is our biodegradable forks, spoons, and knives. These utensils had previously been plastic until early this year when we switched to starch based utensils. They aren't costly at all, so it's not only helping the environment but it saves some for the school to use for other environmental or educational purposes to make the atmosphere a better place for the students. Unlike regular forks, spoons, and knives, these biodegradable utensils are well, biodegradable and decompose faster than the plastic ones.
On the topic of decomposing there had been a timeline that showed how long it takes for different objects to decompose. Here is a list of things that I wrote down from that timeline:
4 yrs - Paper
25 yrs - Magazines
40 yrs - Cigarettes
120 yrs - Plastic (Bottles, Etc.)
200 yrs - Aluminum (Cans, Etc.)
300 yrs - Plastic bags
500 yrs - Styrofoam
Forever - Glass
One of the most impressive stations of all the stations was the one where a bunch of 5th grades (50 kids) had collected 1,800 bottles from the ground where they found them all over campus, Etc. and got $90 dollars for them. With this money they found a Adopt-A-Tiger Foundation where they could adopt the endangered species of Sumatran Tigers. With just $90 dollars they adopted three Sumatran tigers named Djelita, Berani, and Chrissie. The money was/is used to help these tigers and trying to help bring up their small population of 400-500 to higher numbers. When I found out about the amount of these tigers left in the world I was taken aback because I would've never even known about this before going to this station. I found it very heart warming to see that these 5th graders decided to do something for these Tigers at such a young age and already had an idea of trying to help out our Earth.
The most interesting, but a little on the repulsive side, station that I visited was the Worm Station. At this station the people explained that a specific type of worm, the Indian Blue Worms, help to decompose rubbish by eating the rubbish and pooping and peeing out a rich soil where people can use this to grow plants in. These worms are photophobic or creatures that hide from the light, so they only live in dark places. The only eat organic foods, so no meats or dairy, but some of the foods they eat include magazines, cardboard, dryer lint, junk mail, kleenex, napkins, vacuum dust, and wrapping paper. These worms really are helpful to the environment and are probably the only creepy crawlies that I will ever accept having on Earth. To give an example on how they work beneath the posterboard was a huge black trash bin where there were different types of rubbish thrown in together and worms crawling around inside making the rubbish into rich soil. I could see some of the soil as well for these worms had been there for awhile. It was amazing what work these worms could do and I was really impressed with what I saw.
At the end of the entire Sustainability Fair I went to the end where there had been a 'WORM GAME' where a person would pick a drawn, colored, and paper cut worm with a question on it from a huge box of sand. On the worm was a question, a question for the person who had received it to answer. They gave the people a chance to walk around to find the answer if they didn't know it already which I found very kind because it gave each person a chance to learn something new. When you got the answer correct they gave you a coffee cup, which held a slip of paper explaining that by using that cup we could save the hundreds of cups we use every day on campus. Instead of using these cups everyday we could use these coffee mugs and ask the snack bar ladies to fill them up with soda with a charge of only 50 cents. I found this a really creative and smart way for my school to try and help the environment and I think that it could make an impact on the amount of cups we use.
The entire Sustainability Fair was breathtaking. It really was marvelous and I had a lot of fun walking around and learning all these new things. I was surprised at most of the stuff that I learned, but happy at the same time. After going to the fair I couldn't help but smile because I was so glad that my school was trying so hard to make Earth a better place. I'm glad that my school had been taking part of helping the environment and really trying to do all these different things. Nothing comes without effort, and effort is what my school is willing to give.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Quotes from A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe
This is the last WW post I am making which consists of important quotes. A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe was the final chapter in Woman Warrior, it summarized many elements, themes, Etc expressed within the entire book and set a good closure for this novel.
"I made other children open their mouths so I could compare theirs to mine. I saw perfect pink membranes stretchinginto precise edges that looked easy enough to cut. Sometimes I felt very proud that my mother committed such a powerful act upon me. At other times I was terrified - the first thing my mother did when she saw me was to cut my tongue." (pg. 164)
This quote reflected the side of Maxine Hong that tried so hard to embrace what she had. Even if it was odd to have a 'cut tongue' she wanted to compare it to others and show them how different she is. I also considered the fact that her tongue being cut by her mother had just been a simple metaphor which described herself and the person that she had become. Her mother had been trying so hard to hurt her in every way that she'd leave cuts in Maxine's heart and mind. It would damage herself, but she'd always try to stand back and stand up for herself, but this would only be on and off. It wouldn't be a continuous feeling, but when feeling strong and confident she'd show her feelings off, when the feelings were opposite she'd shy herself away from others, ashamed of what she was.
"A dumbness - a shame - still cracks my voice in two, even when I want to say "hello" casually, or ask an easy question in front of the check-out counter, or ask directions of a bus driver...A telephone call makes my throat bleed and takes up that day's courage." (pg. 165)
The difficulties that Maxine had to face with her cut tongue were infinite. It was another example of how the lack of communication made her have a hard life where she suffered to speak, just too ashamed because of her own voice. She knew what it sounded like and she didn't like it. In order not to deal with the comments and snickers she expected because of what she sounded like, she decided that it was better to keep her mouth shut as much as she could. Connecting to the idea of how the 'cut tongue' might just be a metaphor, maybe Maxine Hong is just ashamed of herself and doesn't want to reveal herself and who she is to others because she doesn't want to come face to face with the comments (which she expects are bad) that others might give her.
"I liked the Negro students (Black Ghosts) best because they laughed the loudest and talked to me as if I were a darling talker too...Some Negro kids walked me to school and home, protecting me from the Japanese kids, who hit me and chased me and stuck gum in my ears. The Japanese kids were noisy and tough." (pg. 166)
The concept of 'ghosts' reoccurs in this part of the book, but this time the ghosts are good. It builds up the idea that everything in someone's life is a type of ghost, whether it's good or bad, the ghosts are just everywhere. In this case the ghosts protected Maxine Hong and tried to help her out while fending off those that were hurting her. In this case, ghosts were the angels that watched over Maxine and wanted her to feel accepted. They didn't want to cause any harm and had no intention of harming her at all.
"When it was my turn, the same voice came out, a crippled animal running on broken legs, You could hear splinters in my voice, bones rubbing jagged against one another. I was loud, though. I was glad I didn't whisper." (pg. 169)
Another quote that described the unpleasant sound of Maxine Hong's voice. The difference is that this quote says that Maxine Hong tries to be loud and speak out instead of shying away from others. Maybe only when she was required to speak did she talk and when she did talk she tried her best to be loud and outspoken which might have taken away the attention from her weird voice. I thought this quote also showed how Maxine Hong was trying to fight the pain her mom had caused her and trying to cope with everything she had because she knew that there was no way to get rid of it and she had to live with what she had. Maxine had decided to embrace her voice and present it to the world trying not to be ashamed and trying to be confident in herself, for herself.
"You can't entrust your voice to the Chinese, either; they want to capture your voice for their own use. They want to fix up your tongue to speak for them." (pg. 169)
This quote goes back to the idea of looking deep into the Chinese culture that had mentioned quite a bit in the other chapters as well. It is saying that you can NEVER trust the Chinese with your own voice, which I found kind of ironic because Maxine didn't trust her voice with her mom. Her mother had been the one that had cut her tongue so that she would never be tongue-tied, which was a very weird perspective on cutting the tongue. Maxine Hong had never chose to get her tongue cut, but because her tongue had been cut she had restrained from talking therefore making it easier for the mom to do all the speaking. The last sentence of the quote gives deeper questions and thoughts to the readers because the mom had 'fixed' Maxine Hong's tongue to make her able to speak faster without hesitation. Even if the mom had wanted this and tried to make it happen, it hadn't happened, it had only made the situation worse. Maybe this is the reason for this quote in the book, because Maxine doesn't trust anyone, especially her mom and even herself.
"And the Chinese can't hear Americans at all; the language is too soft and western music unhearable...Normal Chinese women's voices are strong and bossy. We American-Chinese girls had to whisper to make ourselves American-feminine." (pg. 172)
Another quote that goes deep into cultures, but this one is more of a comparison. I like the expression 'American-feminine' used in this quote because it's just a funny way of saying these things. It's saying that each nationality had their own way of expressing their feelings, and for America it seems to be that 'quiet' is the best solution where in China being 'loud' is the only option. I think the reason for this is because America is such a free country where everyone's voice really is heard because everyone has their own rights living in America (it was given to them because they are citizens of America). Whereas in China there was so much poverty, still exists today, where not everybody is heard and you have to fight in order for others to listen to you, and that's why you have to be loud. If you're quiet like the Americans then no one will want to listen to your voice, they probably wouldn't be able to hear it anyway.
"I had fragility...I hated her weak neck, the way it did not support her head but let it droop; her head would fall backward...I wanted a stout neck. I grew my hair long to hide it in case it was a flower-stem neck. I walked around to the front of her to hate her face some more...Her skin was fleshy, like squid out of which the glassy blades of bones had been pulled. I wanted tough skin, hard brown skin. I had callused my hands; I had scratched dirt to blacken the nails, which I cut straight across to make stubby fingers....She was so neat. Her neatness bothered me. I hated the way she folded the wax paper from her lunch; she did not wad her brown paper bag and her school papers. I hated her clothes - the blue pastel cardigan, the white blouse with the collar that lay flat over the cardigan, the homemade flat, cotton skirt she wore when everybody else was wearing flared skirts. I hated pastels; I would wear black always...She wiped her eyes with her papery fingers...The skin on her hands and arms seemed powdery-dry, like tracing paper, onion skin. I hated her fingers. I could snap them like breadsticks." (pg. 176-177)
The constant use of 'hate' was a very strong element within these different sentences that I captured in this sequence. Apparently Maxine was trying to toughen up this fragile girl who she had known for quite awhile and began comparing this girl to herself. It seems as if Maxine can't stop the comparing obsession because she has a fascination with learning about others as well as herself. This quote reflected Maxine's angry and tough side, the side she inherited from her mother - being a strong, confident women and having every aspect of your body showing that off.
"They were all funny-looking FOB's, Fresh-off-the-Boat's, as the Chinese-American kids at school called the young immigrants. FOB's wear high-riding gray slacks and white shirts with the sleeves rolled up." (pg. 193-194)
I found this quote very interesting because of the use of FOB, which is actually a commonly used term today. It's funny how this book, not published too long ago, talks about this older time period where the word FOB had originated. It just gave a little history on the vocabulary and explaining a little about how it began.
"My telling list was scrambled out of order...But they kept pouring out anyway in the voice like Chinese opera. I could hear the drums and the cymbals and the gongs and brass horns." (pg. 203)
Maxine Hong finally breaks her shell and speaks her heart out telling her mom her true feelings about her and everything, every event that had occured in her life. When she did this, magic happens and Maxine Hong's voice becomes this beautiful orchestra where there are drums, cymbals, gongs, and brass horns. I think that her voice had just been a mirror image of her brain and because she had been thinking bad thoughts about herself her voice was a mess, sounding horrible and unpleasant. When Maxine finally tries to look on the positive side of things and faces the one enemy she had been battling all along, her mother, her brain opens up and sends signals to Maxine Hong's vocal cords that she has finally done was she should've done from the beginning - stand up for herself.
"That's what we're supposed to say. That 's what Chinese say. We like to say the opposite." (pg. 203)
Although Maxine Hong speaks out her mind Maxine's mother remains as the stubborn and ignorant lady she had always been. She tells Maxine these things that still made Maxine a little sad, but she doesn't react as she would've before. Maxine learns the truth that had been there all along (as well as her confidence), which was that her mom always said bad things about her just to build up her mental strength. Not realizing that this might've been true from the beginning Maxine just told herself that there was something wrong with her and that's why her mom didn't like her, but in fact Maxine Hong's mom really did care about Maxine and her future and only thought that by doing the things she did would make Maxine the strong character she had finally become. Maxine's mom didn't want her daughter to be weak and fragile, but strong and able to speak up for herself and maybe, just maybe Maxine's mom had actually been waiting for that day when Maxine talks to her like that. She might've acted like she didn't care, but deep down she must've been so proud of her daughter for finally finding herself.
"Her is a story my mother told me, not when I was young, but recently, when I told her I also talk story. The beginning is hers, the ending, mine." (pg. 206)
A quote which reflects mother and daughter connection. "The beginning is hers" to me showed that Maxine's mom may have started her life - cutting her frenum (in the tongue), telling her to do this and that, telling her stories, showing her how to be strong, and so much more. But "the ending, mine" Maxine had created her own ending by talking to her mom and telling her how she really felt and how angry she had been with her mother over the years. Maxine finally found who she was and her own inner strength which had been hiding all along.
"During her twelve-year stay with the barbarians, she had two children. Her children did not speak Chinese. She spoke it to them when their father was out of the tent, but they imitated her with senseless singsong words and laughed. The barbarians were primitives. They gathered inedible reeds when they camped along rivers and dried them in the sun....Then, out of Ts'ai Yen's tent, which was apart from the others, the barbarians heard a woman's voice singing, as if to her babies, a song so high and clear, it matched the flutes. Ts'ai Yen sang about China and her family there. Her words seemed to be Chinese, but the barbarians understood their sadness and anger...Her children did not laugh, but eventually sang along when she left her tent to sit by the winter campfires, ringed by barbarians...She brought her songs back from the savage lands, and one of the three that has been passed down to us is "Eighteen Stanzas for a Barbarian Reed Pipe," a song that Chinese sing to their own instruments." (pg. 208-209)
This woman Ts'ai Yen reminded me a little of Maxine Hong herself, because even though the situations are different the actual aspect of both life stories are the same. Maxine had been controlled by her mom most of her life but she found herself after using her voice and standing up for who she was. Ts'ai Yen had been taken away by this barbarian man and had had two children with him who didn't even respect her own culture. But she found herself through her own voice as well, but in song, (like Maxine's orchestra of a voice) and it also connected to the barbarians around her and her children finally found a way to respect their own mother. The importance of both stories is great because they both express that the only way to be who you truly are is finding yourself and expressing that in any way possible with your voice and your actions.
"I made other children open their mouths so I could compare theirs to mine. I saw perfect pink membranes stretchinginto precise edges that looked easy enough to cut. Sometimes I felt very proud that my mother committed such a powerful act upon me. At other times I was terrified - the first thing my mother did when she saw me was to cut my tongue." (pg. 164)
This quote reflected the side of Maxine Hong that tried so hard to embrace what she had. Even if it was odd to have a 'cut tongue' she wanted to compare it to others and show them how different she is. I also considered the fact that her tongue being cut by her mother had just been a simple metaphor which described herself and the person that she had become. Her mother had been trying so hard to hurt her in every way that she'd leave cuts in Maxine's heart and mind. It would damage herself, but she'd always try to stand back and stand up for herself, but this would only be on and off. It wouldn't be a continuous feeling, but when feeling strong and confident she'd show her feelings off, when the feelings were opposite she'd shy herself away from others, ashamed of what she was.
"A dumbness - a shame - still cracks my voice in two, even when I want to say "hello" casually, or ask an easy question in front of the check-out counter, or ask directions of a bus driver...A telephone call makes my throat bleed and takes up that day's courage." (pg. 165)
The difficulties that Maxine had to face with her cut tongue were infinite. It was another example of how the lack of communication made her have a hard life where she suffered to speak, just too ashamed because of her own voice. She knew what it sounded like and she didn't like it. In order not to deal with the comments and snickers she expected because of what she sounded like, she decided that it was better to keep her mouth shut as much as she could. Connecting to the idea of how the 'cut tongue' might just be a metaphor, maybe Maxine Hong is just ashamed of herself and doesn't want to reveal herself and who she is to others because she doesn't want to come face to face with the comments (which she expects are bad) that others might give her.
"I liked the Negro students (Black Ghosts) best because they laughed the loudest and talked to me as if I were a darling talker too...Some Negro kids walked me to school and home, protecting me from the Japanese kids, who hit me and chased me and stuck gum in my ears. The Japanese kids were noisy and tough." (pg. 166)
The concept of 'ghosts' reoccurs in this part of the book, but this time the ghosts are good. It builds up the idea that everything in someone's life is a type of ghost, whether it's good or bad, the ghosts are just everywhere. In this case the ghosts protected Maxine Hong and tried to help her out while fending off those that were hurting her. In this case, ghosts were the angels that watched over Maxine and wanted her to feel accepted. They didn't want to cause any harm and had no intention of harming her at all.
"When it was my turn, the same voice came out, a crippled animal running on broken legs, You could hear splinters in my voice, bones rubbing jagged against one another. I was loud, though. I was glad I didn't whisper." (pg. 169)
Another quote that described the unpleasant sound of Maxine Hong's voice. The difference is that this quote says that Maxine Hong tries to be loud and speak out instead of shying away from others. Maybe only when she was required to speak did she talk and when she did talk she tried her best to be loud and outspoken which might have taken away the attention from her weird voice. I thought this quote also showed how Maxine Hong was trying to fight the pain her mom had caused her and trying to cope with everything she had because she knew that there was no way to get rid of it and she had to live with what she had. Maxine had decided to embrace her voice and present it to the world trying not to be ashamed and trying to be confident in herself, for herself.
"You can't entrust your voice to the Chinese, either; they want to capture your voice for their own use. They want to fix up your tongue to speak for them." (pg. 169)
This quote goes back to the idea of looking deep into the Chinese culture that had mentioned quite a bit in the other chapters as well. It is saying that you can NEVER trust the Chinese with your own voice, which I found kind of ironic because Maxine didn't trust her voice with her mom. Her mother had been the one that had cut her tongue so that she would never be tongue-tied, which was a very weird perspective on cutting the tongue. Maxine Hong had never chose to get her tongue cut, but because her tongue had been cut she had restrained from talking therefore making it easier for the mom to do all the speaking. The last sentence of the quote gives deeper questions and thoughts to the readers because the mom had 'fixed' Maxine Hong's tongue to make her able to speak faster without hesitation. Even if the mom had wanted this and tried to make it happen, it hadn't happened, it had only made the situation worse. Maybe this is the reason for this quote in the book, because Maxine doesn't trust anyone, especially her mom and even herself.
"And the Chinese can't hear Americans at all; the language is too soft and western music unhearable...Normal Chinese women's voices are strong and bossy. We American-Chinese girls had to whisper to make ourselves American-feminine." (pg. 172)
Another quote that goes deep into cultures, but this one is more of a comparison. I like the expression 'American-feminine' used in this quote because it's just a funny way of saying these things. It's saying that each nationality had their own way of expressing their feelings, and for America it seems to be that 'quiet' is the best solution where in China being 'loud' is the only option. I think the reason for this is because America is such a free country where everyone's voice really is heard because everyone has their own rights living in America (it was given to them because they are citizens of America). Whereas in China there was so much poverty, still exists today, where not everybody is heard and you have to fight in order for others to listen to you, and that's why you have to be loud. If you're quiet like the Americans then no one will want to listen to your voice, they probably wouldn't be able to hear it anyway.
"I had fragility...I hated her weak neck, the way it did not support her head but let it droop; her head would fall backward...I wanted a stout neck. I grew my hair long to hide it in case it was a flower-stem neck. I walked around to the front of her to hate her face some more...Her skin was fleshy, like squid out of which the glassy blades of bones had been pulled. I wanted tough skin, hard brown skin. I had callused my hands; I had scratched dirt to blacken the nails, which I cut straight across to make stubby fingers....She was so neat. Her neatness bothered me. I hated the way she folded the wax paper from her lunch; she did not wad her brown paper bag and her school papers. I hated her clothes - the blue pastel cardigan, the white blouse with the collar that lay flat over the cardigan, the homemade flat, cotton skirt she wore when everybody else was wearing flared skirts. I hated pastels; I would wear black always...She wiped her eyes with her papery fingers...The skin on her hands and arms seemed powdery-dry, like tracing paper, onion skin. I hated her fingers. I could snap them like breadsticks." (pg. 176-177)
The constant use of 'hate' was a very strong element within these different sentences that I captured in this sequence. Apparently Maxine was trying to toughen up this fragile girl who she had known for quite awhile and began comparing this girl to herself. It seems as if Maxine can't stop the comparing obsession because she has a fascination with learning about others as well as herself. This quote reflected Maxine's angry and tough side, the side she inherited from her mother - being a strong, confident women and having every aspect of your body showing that off.
"They were all funny-looking FOB's, Fresh-off-the-Boat's, as the Chinese-American kids at school called the young immigrants. FOB's wear high-riding gray slacks and white shirts with the sleeves rolled up." (pg. 193-194)
I found this quote very interesting because of the use of FOB, which is actually a commonly used term today. It's funny how this book, not published too long ago, talks about this older time period where the word FOB had originated. It just gave a little history on the vocabulary and explaining a little about how it began.
"My telling list was scrambled out of order...But they kept pouring out anyway in the voice like Chinese opera. I could hear the drums and the cymbals and the gongs and brass horns." (pg. 203)
Maxine Hong finally breaks her shell and speaks her heart out telling her mom her true feelings about her and everything, every event that had occured in her life. When she did this, magic happens and Maxine Hong's voice becomes this beautiful orchestra where there are drums, cymbals, gongs, and brass horns. I think that her voice had just been a mirror image of her brain and because she had been thinking bad thoughts about herself her voice was a mess, sounding horrible and unpleasant. When Maxine finally tries to look on the positive side of things and faces the one enemy she had been battling all along, her mother, her brain opens up and sends signals to Maxine Hong's vocal cords that she has finally done was she should've done from the beginning - stand up for herself.
"That's what we're supposed to say. That 's what Chinese say. We like to say the opposite." (pg. 203)
Although Maxine Hong speaks out her mind Maxine's mother remains as the stubborn and ignorant lady she had always been. She tells Maxine these things that still made Maxine a little sad, but she doesn't react as she would've before. Maxine learns the truth that had been there all along (as well as her confidence), which was that her mom always said bad things about her just to build up her mental strength. Not realizing that this might've been true from the beginning Maxine just told herself that there was something wrong with her and that's why her mom didn't like her, but in fact Maxine Hong's mom really did care about Maxine and her future and only thought that by doing the things she did would make Maxine the strong character she had finally become. Maxine's mom didn't want her daughter to be weak and fragile, but strong and able to speak up for herself and maybe, just maybe Maxine's mom had actually been waiting for that day when Maxine talks to her like that. She might've acted like she didn't care, but deep down she must've been so proud of her daughter for finally finding herself.
"Her is a story my mother told me, not when I was young, but recently, when I told her I also talk story. The beginning is hers, the ending, mine." (pg. 206)
A quote which reflects mother and daughter connection. "The beginning is hers" to me showed that Maxine's mom may have started her life - cutting her frenum (in the tongue), telling her to do this and that, telling her stories, showing her how to be strong, and so much more. But "the ending, mine" Maxine had created her own ending by talking to her mom and telling her how she really felt and how angry she had been with her mother over the years. Maxine finally found who she was and her own inner strength which had been hiding all along.
"During her twelve-year stay with the barbarians, she had two children. Her children did not speak Chinese. She spoke it to them when their father was out of the tent, but they imitated her with senseless singsong words and laughed. The barbarians were primitives. They gathered inedible reeds when they camped along rivers and dried them in the sun....Then, out of Ts'ai Yen's tent, which was apart from the others, the barbarians heard a woman's voice singing, as if to her babies, a song so high and clear, it matched the flutes. Ts'ai Yen sang about China and her family there. Her words seemed to be Chinese, but the barbarians understood their sadness and anger...Her children did not laugh, but eventually sang along when she left her tent to sit by the winter campfires, ringed by barbarians...She brought her songs back from the savage lands, and one of the three that has been passed down to us is "Eighteen Stanzas for a Barbarian Reed Pipe," a song that Chinese sing to their own instruments." (pg. 208-209)
This woman Ts'ai Yen reminded me a little of Maxine Hong herself, because even though the situations are different the actual aspect of both life stories are the same. Maxine had been controlled by her mom most of her life but she found herself after using her voice and standing up for who she was. Ts'ai Yen had been taken away by this barbarian man and had had two children with him who didn't even respect her own culture. But she found herself through her own voice as well, but in song, (like Maxine's orchestra of a voice) and it also connected to the barbarians around her and her children finally found a way to respect their own mother. The importance of both stories is great because they both express that the only way to be who you truly are is finding yourself and expressing that in any way possible with your voice and your actions.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Cycle 22: At the Western Palace
Quotes from At the Western Palace which I felt described a lot about a character, morals that cultures have, or just something I felt was interesting.
"Her bad boy and bad girl were probably sneaking hamburgers, wasting their money. She would scold them...Her American children had no feelings and no memory." (pg. 114-115)
I found this quote interesting because of the explanation it has for Brave Orchid's "American Children". When reading all that she says about her 'American Children' it seems as if she disrespects the American culture and thinks that the Chinese culture has more respect and such. I didn't like this personality shown of Brave Orchid because it made her look like a bad woman who didn't respect the culture she was living with and who didn't like her children and very stubborn and ignorant.
"She was a tiny, tiny lady, very thin, with little fluttering hands, and her hair was in a gray knot. She was dressed in a gray wool suit; she wore pearls around her neck and in her earlobes. Moon Orchid would travel with her jewels shower. Brave Orchid momentarily saw, like a larger, younger outline around this old woman, the sister she had been waiting for." (pg. 117)
This is the first quote described about Moon Orchid, Brave Orchid's sister. It gave me a clear image in my head of how Moon Orchid looked like. It was quite descriptive talking about her age and the things that she was wearing. It also talked a little about the type of person Moon Orchid was, wearing a pearl necklace while traveling to America.
"Lovely Orchid, the youngest aunt, owned either a shoe store or a shoe factory in Hong Kong, That was why every Christmas she sent a dozen pairs, glittering with yellow and pink plastic beads, sequins, and turquoise blue flowers." (pg. 119)
This is another description of another sister, the youngest sister, Lovely Orchid. It's amazing how the readers had never been informed of any of Brave Orchid's sisters until now and it was fun to learn about them. All three sisters seem to be very different based on the types of things they do. After learning about two of Brave Orchid's sisters I'm wondering if she has any more, or if she has brothers that might be mentioned in the next chapter of the book.
" "Eat!" Brave Orchid ordered. "Eat!" She would not allow anybody to talk while eating. In some families the children worked out a sign language, but here the children spoke English, which their parents didn't seem to hear." (pg. 123)
Another cultural difference and I also learned that Brave Orchid may have not understood much English. Although the story is written entirely in English there had been parts in the book where Maxine Hong writes "the children spoke in English" therefore meaning that most of what we've read must've been told in the Chinese Language.
"Brave Orchid looked at this delicate sister. She was such a little old lady. She had long fingers and thin, soft hands. And she had a high-class city accent from living in Hong Kong. Not a trace of village accent remained; she had been away from the village for that long." (pg. 127)
This was a deeper description of Moon Orchid and her weaknesses. Apparently she is a very frail woman compared to Brave Orchid, who is loud and obnoxious. Even if they are sisters, they don't quite seem to share much similarities at all. It described the place which she came from and talked a little about how she lived her life.
"When she complimented them, they agreed with her! Not once did she hear a child deny a compliment." (pg. 134)
This quote was written from the perspective of Moon Orchid, who had just come from China to America and is fascinated with the American Culture. In this part of the book, Moon Orchid had been carefully observing the life of Brave Orchid's children and even imitating them. She tested things with the children, her nieces and nephews, and learned that they enjoyed hearing compliments and welcomed all of her compliments with open arms.
"Brave Orchid rushed along besides her relection in the glass. She used to be young and fast; she was still fast and felt young. It was mirrors, not aches and pains, that turned a person old, everywhere white hairs and wrinkles. Young people felt pain." (pg. 147)
A very interesting quote in the book because I learned a little about what Brave Orchid felt about herself. She knew how strong and capable she was, but looked a little down on herself. After reading this quote I had asked myself, "Does Brave Orchid yell at her children and Moon Orchid to make herself feel better, or is that just her personality?" She knows that she's getting old, and maybe she's afraid of death, even if she doesn't want to admit. Maybe she's not even afraid of death, she's just afraid of aging and being weaker than others. She seems as if she doesn't want to lean or rely on anybody but herself.
"Brave Orchid's daughters decided fiercely that they would never let men be unfaithful to them. All her children made up their minds to major in science or mathematics." (pg. 160)
This quote explains a little about womanism within Brave Orchid's family. Apparently after watching their Aunt, her daughters wanted to be stronger than Moon Orchid and wanted to be like their mother - a strong, independent woman. I thought it was amusing for Maxine Hong to write that they majored in science and mathematics to become this strong woman. Is that an inference stating that to be a stronger woman you have be good in those areas? It was a very interesting part for Maxine Hong to add at the end of the chapter.
"Her bad boy and bad girl were probably sneaking hamburgers, wasting their money. She would scold them...Her American children had no feelings and no memory." (pg. 114-115)
I found this quote interesting because of the explanation it has for Brave Orchid's "American Children". When reading all that she says about her 'American Children' it seems as if she disrespects the American culture and thinks that the Chinese culture has more respect and such. I didn't like this personality shown of Brave Orchid because it made her look like a bad woman who didn't respect the culture she was living with and who didn't like her children and very stubborn and ignorant.
"She was a tiny, tiny lady, very thin, with little fluttering hands, and her hair was in a gray knot. She was dressed in a gray wool suit; she wore pearls around her neck and in her earlobes. Moon Orchid would travel with her jewels shower. Brave Orchid momentarily saw, like a larger, younger outline around this old woman, the sister she had been waiting for." (pg. 117)
This is the first quote described about Moon Orchid, Brave Orchid's sister. It gave me a clear image in my head of how Moon Orchid looked like. It was quite descriptive talking about her age and the things that she was wearing. It also talked a little about the type of person Moon Orchid was, wearing a pearl necklace while traveling to America.
"Lovely Orchid, the youngest aunt, owned either a shoe store or a shoe factory in Hong Kong, That was why every Christmas she sent a dozen pairs, glittering with yellow and pink plastic beads, sequins, and turquoise blue flowers." (pg. 119)
This is another description of another sister, the youngest sister, Lovely Orchid. It's amazing how the readers had never been informed of any of Brave Orchid's sisters until now and it was fun to learn about them. All three sisters seem to be very different based on the types of things they do. After learning about two of Brave Orchid's sisters I'm wondering if she has any more, or if she has brothers that might be mentioned in the next chapter of the book.
" "Eat!" Brave Orchid ordered. "Eat!" She would not allow anybody to talk while eating. In some families the children worked out a sign language, but here the children spoke English, which their parents didn't seem to hear." (pg. 123)
Another cultural difference and I also learned that Brave Orchid may have not understood much English. Although the story is written entirely in English there had been parts in the book where Maxine Hong writes "the children spoke in English" therefore meaning that most of what we've read must've been told in the Chinese Language.
"Brave Orchid looked at this delicate sister. She was such a little old lady. She had long fingers and thin, soft hands. And she had a high-class city accent from living in Hong Kong. Not a trace of village accent remained; she had been away from the village for that long." (pg. 127)
This was a deeper description of Moon Orchid and her weaknesses. Apparently she is a very frail woman compared to Brave Orchid, who is loud and obnoxious. Even if they are sisters, they don't quite seem to share much similarities at all. It described the place which she came from and talked a little about how she lived her life.
"When she complimented them, they agreed with her! Not once did she hear a child deny a compliment." (pg. 134)
This quote was written from the perspective of Moon Orchid, who had just come from China to America and is fascinated with the American Culture. In this part of the book, Moon Orchid had been carefully observing the life of Brave Orchid's children and even imitating them. She tested things with the children, her nieces and nephews, and learned that they enjoyed hearing compliments and welcomed all of her compliments with open arms.
"Brave Orchid rushed along besides her relection in the glass. She used to be young and fast; she was still fast and felt young. It was mirrors, not aches and pains, that turned a person old, everywhere white hairs and wrinkles. Young people felt pain." (pg. 147)
A very interesting quote in the book because I learned a little about what Brave Orchid felt about herself. She knew how strong and capable she was, but looked a little down on herself. After reading this quote I had asked myself, "Does Brave Orchid yell at her children and Moon Orchid to make herself feel better, or is that just her personality?" She knows that she's getting old, and maybe she's afraid of death, even if she doesn't want to admit. Maybe she's not even afraid of death, she's just afraid of aging and being weaker than others. She seems as if she doesn't want to lean or rely on anybody but herself.
"Brave Orchid's daughters decided fiercely that they would never let men be unfaithful to them. All her children made up their minds to major in science or mathematics." (pg. 160)
This quote explains a little about womanism within Brave Orchid's family. Apparently after watching their Aunt, her daughters wanted to be stronger than Moon Orchid and wanted to be like their mother - a strong, independent woman. I thought it was amusing for Maxine Hong to write that they majored in science and mathematics to become this strong woman. Is that an inference stating that to be a stronger woman you have be good in those areas? It was a very interesting part for Maxine Hong to add at the end of the chapter.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Shaman: Literature Circle
I have the same role as I did in the first literature circle "White TIgers" - analyzing quotes that I felt were important and have some significance. Shaman was a chapter which was mainly focused on Maxine Hong's mother whose name we learn is Brave Orchid. The entire chapter talks about the life that Brave Orchid lived before she had Maxine - the easy life she had with the money her husband was sending her, her education at a medical school, the people she encountered, her sadness after the loss of her two children, and so much more.
"My mother is not soft; the girl with the small nose and dimpled underlip is soft. My mother is not humorous, not like the girl at the end who lifts her mocking chin to pose like Girl Graduate. My mother does not have smiling eyes; the old woman teacher (Dean Woo?) in front crinkles happily, and the one faculty member in the western suit smiles westernly. Most of the graduates are girls whose faces have not yet formed; my mother's face will not change anyone, except to age. She is intelligent, alert, pretty. I can't tell if she's happy." (pg. 58-59)
This quote shows and paints an image of the features that Maxine Hong's mother held. It gives me a clear picture in my mind about the type of person that Maxine Hong's mother had been. One of my favorite parts of this quote is when she says 'smiling eyes' because smiling is something that people normally wouldn't use to describe ones eyes but by using this description I can see that Maxine Hong's mother was something with maybe piercing eyes, and not shining and sparkling or 'smiling'. In this quote there is much confusion and thought going through Maxine's head about the mother she never knew.
"In America my mother has eyes as strong as boulders, never once skittering off a face, but she has not learned to place decorations and phonograph needles, nor has she stopped seeing land on the other side of the oceans. Now her eyes include the relatives in China, as they once included my father smiling and smiling in his many western outfits, a different one for each photograph that he sent from America.
He and his friends took pictures of one another in bathing suits at Coney Island beach, the salt wind from the Atlantic blowing their hair. He's the one in the middle with his arms about the necks of his buddies...My fatherr, white shirt sleeves rolled up, smiles in front of a wall of clean laundry. In the spring he wears a new straw hat, cocked at a Fred Astaire angle. He stpes out, dancing down the stairs, one foot forward, one back, a hand in his pocket." (pg. 59-60)
And so I was right, her eyes were like 'boulders' not 'shining' - they were hard not smooth. Maxine Hong compares the past and present and how she thinks her mother has changed from those times. This is a quote where I also learned a little about the type of person her father was. It seems as if her father had been the opposite of her mother - more outgoing and more friendly, and it goes to show that opposites do attract. There is a hint that her father and mother had a loving relationship and that her mother had really cared for her father
"I keep looking to see whether she was afraid. Year after year my father did not come home or send for her. Their two children had been dead for ten years. If he did not return soon, there would be no more children. My father did send money regularly, though, and she had nobody to spend it on but herself. She bought good clothes and shoes. Then she decided to use the oney for becoming a doctor. She did not leave for Canton immediately after the children died. In China there was time to complete feelings." (pg. 60)
Maxine's mother must've gone through a lot not having a husband there to be for her while she was going through the tough times after losing her TWO children. Even though she had been going through these terrible things she seemed to be a very strong and confident person trying to get on with her life and live it while she was still in her youth. And soon she realized that instead of using the money she was getting from her husband-far-far-away, she decided to do something more worthy and time consuming than shopping - she decided to get an education. I admired Maxine's mother for doing this because she was being strong for not only herself but for her husband as well and even her dead children. She didn't try to look at the negatives or the past too much and tried to look straight ahead and out to her future.
"...she took out her pens and inkbox, an atlas of the world, a tea set and tea cannister, sewing box, her ruler with the real gold markings, writing paper, envelopes with the thick red stripe to signify no bad news, her bowl and silver chopsticks...She would clean her own bowl and a small, limited area; she would have one drawer to sort, one bed to make." (pg. 61)
Although this is a very random quote and doesn't seem to show much significance I thought it was interesting for the book to be listing the things that Maxine's mom was carrying. Maybe each item is supposed to have a significance and open up different parts of Maxine's mother's personality and the type of person she is. She seems to be very prepared and cautious person bringing so many items to a school especially unusual items like a tea set and tea cannister - maybe she was trying to keep her culture as close as she could even if she was gaining an education in America.
"Chang Chung-ching, father of medicine, had told how the two great winds, yang and yin, blew through the human body...By the time the students graduated - those of them who persevered - their range of knowledge would be wider than that of any other doctor in history. Women have now been practicing medicine for about fifty years." (pg. 63)
This quote didn't have much to do with Maxine's mother herself, but it did tell a little about history - more specifically Chinese history. Also it gives a little information about what we might want to look forward to in the near future, back then the generation was looking at the evolution of women and how they were becoming more superior in the world. Maybe in the near future for 'us' as in people of the 21st century, we're supposed to look toward artificial intelligence and new life. It's an interesting fact that I learned while reading Shaman.
"There were two places where a student could study: the dining hall with its tables cleared for work, everyone chanting during the common memorization sessions; or the table in her own room. My mother usually stayed in her room or, when a roommate wanted the privacy of it also, went to a secret hiding place she had hunted out during the first week of school...She quickly built a reputation for being brilliant, a natural scholar who could glance at a book and know it." (pg. 63)
Another quote which I felt expressed Maxine's mother's personality - she was independent, strong, knowledgeable, intelligent, confident, and actually slightly cowardly because she didn't want the others in her dorm to know that she studied so much, she wanted to think that she was that smart. Actually, she felt it was an obligation to be that smart because she was older and elderly and was supposed to be wiser and help and guide those that were younger and had a longer life to live. She didn't want to be distracted while studying, she probably didn't chat much with others while she was studying, she wanted to become successful on her own, she just wanted to do everything alone.
"My mother may have been afraid, but she would be a dragoness ("my totem, your totem"). She could make herself not weak. During danger she fanned out her dragon claws and riffled her red sequin scales and unfolded her coiling green stripes. Danger was a good time for showing off. Like the dragons living in temple eaves, my mother looked down on plain people who were lonely and afraid." (pg. 67)
Using metaphors can often open people's mind about things or look at something in a different way. The way I see it, the closest thing Maxine could compare her mom to was a dragon, or should I say that might've been the only thing to compare her mom too. When reading this quote it made sense because like a dragon she was independent. In stories and fantasy books that I've read there are some dragons that live in 'packs' or 'colonies' but the majority are all isolated living independent and only getting together if they are in need to breed. Her mom liked the attention that she had as an intelligent person just as dragon's seem to attention they get while flying in the sky. People's compliments make them (Maxine's mom and the dragon) happy, and they don't want to hear anything bad about them or they might just get angry. According to this quote Maxine's mom didn't look up to those that were afraid, and I assume that dragon's must've been the same as they did not take self pity on those that they have killed and devoured. Maxine's mom and dragons share many similarities and I don't think there's another animal that has as many same skills and characteristics as a dragon has.
"No true head, no eyes, no face, so low in its level of incarnation it did not have the shape of a recognizable animal. It knocked me down and began to strangle me. It was bigger than a wolf, bigger than an ape, and growing. I would have stabbed it. I would have cut it up, and we would be mopping blood this morning, but - a Sitting Ghost mutation - it had an extra arm that wrestled my hand away from the knife." (pg. 72)
This is a condensed version of what had happened between Maxine's mother and the so called 'Sitting Ghost' - Maxine's mother had said this while explaining what had happened to her and the 'Sitting Ghost' to her friends and she was explaining and talking about all the details of the ghost. Maxine's mother seems to like to get everybody's attention and get them on their toes - she seems to be an excellent story teller with a knack of making everything so alive and reinacted.
"...my mother returned to her home village a doctor...My mother wore a silk robe and western shoes with big heels, and she rode home carried in a sedan chair. She had gone away ordinary and come back miraculous, like the ancient magicians who came down from the mountains." (pg. 76)
She had apparently graduated from the medical school she attended - successful and ready to help those in need. It's amazing what education can earn you - respect from the village and being treated like an empress. The villagers must've been very happy and impressed with the results of her hard work and constant studying.
"My mother would buy her slave from a professional whose little girls stood neatly in a row and bowed together when a customer looked them over...my mother, who distrusts people with public concerns, braggarts, went over to the quiet older girls with the dignified bows." (pg. 79)
Again - Maxine's mom only wanted the best, she may have seemed a little snobbish in this part, but in a quote before this (which I didn't find any significance in so I didn't put it here) she had seen girls crying because their parents were selling them for money. The parents were so poor they didn't have anything else to offer but their daughters. Maxine's mom didn't want to deal with all that drama so she moved on to the more sophisticated section - the section that was suited more to her liking. Maxine's mom had gone to the other section and found a quite pleasant girl whom she paid half the price for than originally offered by tricking the person that had been selling the slave girl. (I didn't put that quote here either because it wasn't much.) In that part of the book I saw a sly, sneaky, but most of all very clever side of Maxine's mom, the side that had been shown in the earlier part of the book where she enjoyed studying alone and felt it had been her duty to be smarter. Maxine's mom seemed to be a very bright woman getting away with everything and getting her way with everything.
"My mother's enthusiasm for me is duller than for the slave girl; nor did I replace the older brother and sister who died while they were still cuddly. At department stores I angered my mother when I could not bargain without shame, poor people's shame. She stood in back of me and prodded and pinched, forcing me to tyranslate her bargaining, word for word." (pg. 82)
Maxine seemed to feel some guilt in this quote. I felt a feeling like "I'm not good enough", Maxine's mom might've been harsh on Maxine because Maxine wasn't a girl like her, she wasn't truly able to stand up for herself like her mother had her entire life and only felt pity for those that didn't live a nice life like one that she had. I could see more compassion in Maxine than her mom, but more strength and confidence in Maxine's mom. Both have pros and cons, but mix them together and I think that would be the best combination.
"My mother is not soft; the girl with the small nose and dimpled underlip is soft. My mother is not humorous, not like the girl at the end who lifts her mocking chin to pose like Girl Graduate. My mother does not have smiling eyes; the old woman teacher (Dean Woo?) in front crinkles happily, and the one faculty member in the western suit smiles westernly. Most of the graduates are girls whose faces have not yet formed; my mother's face will not change anyone, except to age. She is intelligent, alert, pretty. I can't tell if she's happy." (pg. 58-59)
This quote shows and paints an image of the features that Maxine Hong's mother held. It gives me a clear picture in my mind about the type of person that Maxine Hong's mother had been. One of my favorite parts of this quote is when she says 'smiling eyes' because smiling is something that people normally wouldn't use to describe ones eyes but by using this description I can see that Maxine Hong's mother was something with maybe piercing eyes, and not shining and sparkling or 'smiling'. In this quote there is much confusion and thought going through Maxine's head about the mother she never knew.
"In America my mother has eyes as strong as boulders, never once skittering off a face, but she has not learned to place decorations and phonograph needles, nor has she stopped seeing land on the other side of the oceans. Now her eyes include the relatives in China, as they once included my father smiling and smiling in his many western outfits, a different one for each photograph that he sent from America.
He and his friends took pictures of one another in bathing suits at Coney Island beach, the salt wind from the Atlantic blowing their hair. He's the one in the middle with his arms about the necks of his buddies...My fatherr, white shirt sleeves rolled up, smiles in front of a wall of clean laundry. In the spring he wears a new straw hat, cocked at a Fred Astaire angle. He stpes out, dancing down the stairs, one foot forward, one back, a hand in his pocket." (pg. 59-60)
And so I was right, her eyes were like 'boulders' not 'shining' - they were hard not smooth. Maxine Hong compares the past and present and how she thinks her mother has changed from those times. This is a quote where I also learned a little about the type of person her father was. It seems as if her father had been the opposite of her mother - more outgoing and more friendly, and it goes to show that opposites do attract. There is a hint that her father and mother had a loving relationship and that her mother had really cared for her father
"I keep looking to see whether she was afraid. Year after year my father did not come home or send for her. Their two children had been dead for ten years. If he did not return soon, there would be no more children. My father did send money regularly, though, and she had nobody to spend it on but herself. She bought good clothes and shoes. Then she decided to use the oney for becoming a doctor. She did not leave for Canton immediately after the children died. In China there was time to complete feelings." (pg. 60)
Maxine's mother must've gone through a lot not having a husband there to be for her while she was going through the tough times after losing her TWO children. Even though she had been going through these terrible things she seemed to be a very strong and confident person trying to get on with her life and live it while she was still in her youth. And soon she realized that instead of using the money she was getting from her husband-far-far-away, she decided to do something more worthy and time consuming than shopping - she decided to get an education. I admired Maxine's mother for doing this because she was being strong for not only herself but for her husband as well and even her dead children. She didn't try to look at the negatives or the past too much and tried to look straight ahead and out to her future.
"...she took out her pens and inkbox, an atlas of the world, a tea set and tea cannister, sewing box, her ruler with the real gold markings, writing paper, envelopes with the thick red stripe to signify no bad news, her bowl and silver chopsticks...She would clean her own bowl and a small, limited area; she would have one drawer to sort, one bed to make." (pg. 61)
Although this is a very random quote and doesn't seem to show much significance I thought it was interesting for the book to be listing the things that Maxine's mom was carrying. Maybe each item is supposed to have a significance and open up different parts of Maxine's mother's personality and the type of person she is. She seems to be very prepared and cautious person bringing so many items to a school especially unusual items like a tea set and tea cannister - maybe she was trying to keep her culture as close as she could even if she was gaining an education in America.
"Chang Chung-ching, father of medicine, had told how the two great winds, yang and yin, blew through the human body...By the time the students graduated - those of them who persevered - their range of knowledge would be wider than that of any other doctor in history. Women have now been practicing medicine for about fifty years." (pg. 63)
This quote didn't have much to do with Maxine's mother herself, but it did tell a little about history - more specifically Chinese history. Also it gives a little information about what we might want to look forward to in the near future, back then the generation was looking at the evolution of women and how they were becoming more superior in the world. Maybe in the near future for 'us' as in people of the 21st century, we're supposed to look toward artificial intelligence and new life. It's an interesting fact that I learned while reading Shaman.
"There were two places where a student could study: the dining hall with its tables cleared for work, everyone chanting during the common memorization sessions; or the table in her own room. My mother usually stayed in her room or, when a roommate wanted the privacy of it also, went to a secret hiding place she had hunted out during the first week of school...She quickly built a reputation for being brilliant, a natural scholar who could glance at a book and know it." (pg. 63)
Another quote which I felt expressed Maxine's mother's personality - she was independent, strong, knowledgeable, intelligent, confident, and actually slightly cowardly because she didn't want the others in her dorm to know that she studied so much, she wanted to think that she was that smart. Actually, she felt it was an obligation to be that smart because she was older and elderly and was supposed to be wiser and help and guide those that were younger and had a longer life to live. She didn't want to be distracted while studying, she probably didn't chat much with others while she was studying, she wanted to become successful on her own, she just wanted to do everything alone.
"My mother may have been afraid, but she would be a dragoness ("my totem, your totem"). She could make herself not weak. During danger she fanned out her dragon claws and riffled her red sequin scales and unfolded her coiling green stripes. Danger was a good time for showing off. Like the dragons living in temple eaves, my mother looked down on plain people who were lonely and afraid." (pg. 67)
Using metaphors can often open people's mind about things or look at something in a different way. The way I see it, the closest thing Maxine could compare her mom to was a dragon, or should I say that might've been the only thing to compare her mom too. When reading this quote it made sense because like a dragon she was independent. In stories and fantasy books that I've read there are some dragons that live in 'packs' or 'colonies' but the majority are all isolated living independent and only getting together if they are in need to breed. Her mom liked the attention that she had as an intelligent person just as dragon's seem to attention they get while flying in the sky. People's compliments make them (Maxine's mom and the dragon) happy, and they don't want to hear anything bad about them or they might just get angry. According to this quote Maxine's mom didn't look up to those that were afraid, and I assume that dragon's must've been the same as they did not take self pity on those that they have killed and devoured. Maxine's mom and dragons share many similarities and I don't think there's another animal that has as many same skills and characteristics as a dragon has.
"No true head, no eyes, no face, so low in its level of incarnation it did not have the shape of a recognizable animal. It knocked me down and began to strangle me. It was bigger than a wolf, bigger than an ape, and growing. I would have stabbed it. I would have cut it up, and we would be mopping blood this morning, but - a Sitting Ghost mutation - it had an extra arm that wrestled my hand away from the knife." (pg. 72)
This is a condensed version of what had happened between Maxine's mother and the so called 'Sitting Ghost' - Maxine's mother had said this while explaining what had happened to her and the 'Sitting Ghost' to her friends and she was explaining and talking about all the details of the ghost. Maxine's mother seems to like to get everybody's attention and get them on their toes - she seems to be an excellent story teller with a knack of making everything so alive and reinacted.
"...my mother returned to her home village a doctor...My mother wore a silk robe and western shoes with big heels, and she rode home carried in a sedan chair. She had gone away ordinary and come back miraculous, like the ancient magicians who came down from the mountains." (pg. 76)
She had apparently graduated from the medical school she attended - successful and ready to help those in need. It's amazing what education can earn you - respect from the village and being treated like an empress. The villagers must've been very happy and impressed with the results of her hard work and constant studying.
"My mother would buy her slave from a professional whose little girls stood neatly in a row and bowed together when a customer looked them over...my mother, who distrusts people with public concerns, braggarts, went over to the quiet older girls with the dignified bows." (pg. 79)
Again - Maxine's mom only wanted the best, she may have seemed a little snobbish in this part, but in a quote before this (which I didn't find any significance in so I didn't put it here) she had seen girls crying because their parents were selling them for money. The parents were so poor they didn't have anything else to offer but their daughters. Maxine's mom didn't want to deal with all that drama so she moved on to the more sophisticated section - the section that was suited more to her liking. Maxine's mom had gone to the other section and found a quite pleasant girl whom she paid half the price for than originally offered by tricking the person that had been selling the slave girl. (I didn't put that quote here either because it wasn't much.) In that part of the book I saw a sly, sneaky, but most of all very clever side of Maxine's mom, the side that had been shown in the earlier part of the book where she enjoyed studying alone and felt it had been her duty to be smarter. Maxine's mom seemed to be a very bright woman getting away with everything and getting her way with everything.
"My mother's enthusiasm for me is duller than for the slave girl; nor did I replace the older brother and sister who died while they were still cuddly. At department stores I angered my mother when I could not bargain without shame, poor people's shame. She stood in back of me and prodded and pinched, forcing me to tyranslate her bargaining, word for word." (pg. 82)
Maxine seemed to feel some guilt in this quote. I felt a feeling like "I'm not good enough", Maxine's mom might've been harsh on Maxine because Maxine wasn't a girl like her, she wasn't truly able to stand up for herself like her mother had her entire life and only felt pity for those that didn't live a nice life like one that she had. I could see more compassion in Maxine than her mom, but more strength and confidence in Maxine's mom. Both have pros and cons, but mix them together and I think that would be the best combination.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Hawaiian Ghost Story
"This happened when I was 13 years old when I use to live in Hawaii. I'm 21 years old now and live in Maryland. Many things have occurred that were strange and unexplainable in my life. This is one of the scariest event that happened to myself and 4 other friends of mine.
To give a history detail of the two schools I went to is that both elementary and middle school were across one another and both were buried under ancient Hawaiian burial graves. Many things have occured and stories about the schools have been passed down by teachers.
I use to attend Aliamanu Elementary and Aliamanu Intermediate School. It was Halloween night and my friends and I decided to see if the schools were both haunted. We heard many stories about how a mother and a child were both killed in the fields next to my school and that their hands were chopped off, another is the instruments in the band room and the music room of both school will play by itself at night.
My friends and I decided to walk towards the old stairway leading to the schools it was 1:00a.m. at night. We already had our candy from trick or treating and we wanted to investigate whether the stories about the old school were true. Now in the school everything is locked up and there is a gate that is about 30 ft high and no one can enter or leave since the gate covers all around and there is brick that hold it together. It is like a prison cell gate. Anyway, My friends and I decided to walk down the stairs when we started to notice that the school yard seemed to have elongated then as we approached the middle we started hearing loud drums and instruments in both the elementary school and the intermediate school we ended up running back up the stairs to be safe. We came back to the steps and decided to talk but out of nowhere we noticed that one of the portable lights that was white in color turned to red instantly and it freaked us all out we decided to wait and see what happened.
What happened amazed us because we looked at the gates where no one can enter or leave and saw a misty white figure looked like a girl and heard a loud scream asking for help. My friends and i decided to go down and see if we could help and when we got to the middle of the school yard we started to hear laughing and we stopped in out tracks. It wasn't a pleasant laugh it was an evil malicious laugh and it brought us goose bumps. To our amazement we ended up running back to the stairwell as fast as we could because something didn't feel right. We ran to the nearest park and decided to calm down. After awhile, we went back to see the school before going home. It was around 2:15 a.m. and the red light was gone and everything was back to normal."
http://www.castleofspirits.com/stories04/hauntedhawaiian.html
To give a history detail of the two schools I went to is that both elementary and middle school were across one another and both were buried under ancient Hawaiian burial graves. Many things have occured and stories about the schools have been passed down by teachers.
I use to attend Aliamanu Elementary and Aliamanu Intermediate School. It was Halloween night and my friends and I decided to see if the schools were both haunted. We heard many stories about how a mother and a child were both killed in the fields next to my school and that their hands were chopped off, another is the instruments in the band room and the music room of both school will play by itself at night.
My friends and I decided to walk towards the old stairway leading to the schools it was 1:00a.m. at night. We already had our candy from trick or treating and we wanted to investigate whether the stories about the old school were true. Now in the school everything is locked up and there is a gate that is about 30 ft high and no one can enter or leave since the gate covers all around and there is brick that hold it together. It is like a prison cell gate. Anyway, My friends and I decided to walk down the stairs when we started to notice that the school yard seemed to have elongated then as we approached the middle we started hearing loud drums and instruments in both the elementary school and the intermediate school we ended up running back up the stairs to be safe. We came back to the steps and decided to talk but out of nowhere we noticed that one of the portable lights that was white in color turned to red instantly and it freaked us all out we decided to wait and see what happened.
What happened amazed us because we looked at the gates where no one can enter or leave and saw a misty white figure looked like a girl and heard a loud scream asking for help. My friends and i decided to go down and see if we could help and when we got to the middle of the school yard we started to hear laughing and we stopped in out tracks. It wasn't a pleasant laugh it was an evil malicious laugh and it brought us goose bumps. To our amazement we ended up running back to the stairwell as fast as we could because something didn't feel right. We ran to the nearest park and decided to calm down. After awhile, we went back to see the school before going home. It was around 2:15 a.m. and the red light was gone and everything was back to normal."
http://www.castleofspirits.com/stories04/hauntedhawaiian.html
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
New Critic (post 2)
This is another bunch of quotes that I thought were appealing in Woman Warrior.
"In dark and silver dreams I had seen him falling from the sky, each night closer to the earth, his soul a star. Just before labor began, the last star rays sank into my belly. My husband would talk to me and not go, though I said for him to return to the battlefield. He caught the baby, a boy, and put it on my breast. "What are we going to do with this?" he asked, holding up the piece of umbilical cord that had been closest to the baby." (pg. 40)
I thought this was an interesting way for Maxine Hong to illustrate pregnancy. Instead of going into the details which many readers might find a little disturbing, she creates a metaphor which she believes represents how pregnancy happens. I also thought the quote was funny at the end where they ask what they are supposed to do with the umbilical cord. In the next paragraph or the one after that, Maxine Hong explains that they have to keep it so that they can show their baby boy. She said that when she grew older her parents gave her her umbilical cord which had been all shriveled and dry, so she tells her husband (father of the baby) to wrap the umbilical cord around the pole of a red flag.
"The swords opened and closed, scissoring madly, metal zinging along metal. Unable to leave my skysword to work itself, I would be watching the swords move like puppets..." (pg. 41)
The description of the swords slashing together was incredible. I could really hear the sounds coming from the swords and the positions they were in. When I had read this I actually flinched a little because the 'metal zinging along metal' didn't give me a pleasant noise. Instead of saying the swords hit each other, Maxine Hong goes into depth of the imagery and sounds given during this battle scene.
"We faced our emperor personally. We beheaded him, cleaned out the palace, and inaugurated the peasant who would begin the new order. In his rags he sat on the throne facing south, and we, a great red crowd, bowed to him three times. He commended some of us who were his first generals." (pg. 42)
This part was very direct and straight to the point, there was no zigzagging around the idea of the emperor being beheaded, except I think that maybe it would've been better. She could've described how the head came off but maybe that would be disturbing to some. Maxine Hong (as Fa Mulan) creates new order and elects a man, a peasant specifically, who she knows has the best interest for the people of China because he had been through the sufferings and other treacherous things that the previous 'dead' emperor had placed upon the people. From this point I thought of the rest of the story as a 'new beginning' because Maxine Hong 'Fa Mulan' had accomplished what she had wanted to and the training up in the mountains with the old man and woman had really come to good use.
"I touched the Long Wall with my own fingers, running the edge of my hand between the stones, tracing the grooves the builders' hands had made." (pg. 42-43)
Another descriptive quote written by Maxine Hong - just the imagery is wonderful. It may be one sentence but it captures so much within it. Also, I believe that when saying 'Long Wall' Maxine Hong is referring to the Great Wall of China which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World today, so I saw importance of history in this quote as well.
"I attacked the baron's stronghold alone..."I want your life in payment for your crimes against the villagers."...'Girls are maggots in the rice.' 'It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters' He quoted to me the sayings I hated." (pg. 43)
Finally, 'Fa Mulan' finishes all that she wanted to do by killing the baron. She goes in alone, which proves courage and that she is not afraid to do what's right even if it means going by herself. She talks to the baron and explains why she's there, therefore giving his death a meaning. When the baron responds to her by saying these awful quotes - sexist quotes - she is frustrated and angry. I was angry as well because I could not believe this is actually what some of the men thought in China. How can you compare a woman, a human being to a maggot?! An insect! It's just unbelievevable. It's unacceptable and once hearing what the baron said I knew that 'Fa Mulan' was going to kill him - no doubt at all.
"My mother and father and the entire clan would be living happily on the money I had sent them. My parents had bought their coffins. They would sacrifice a pig to the gods that I had returned. From the words on my back, and how they were fulfilled, the villagers would make a legend about my perfect filiality." (pg. 45)
Apparently, from all her success in the battles she had made some money to send back home to her family who had probably been worrying and awaiting the news. I could sense the happiness and thanks that the family had for the gods, since they had kept 'Fa Mulan' alive and well.
The words that she's referring to are the scars on her back that her parents had engraved to keep her safe during her journey and during the battles. She is saying that the scars had helped her through and their purpose had been fulfilled. The villagers would celebrate and honor her as a heroine - a heroine who made a new life for all in China.
"To avenge my family, I'd have to storm across China to take back our farm from the Communists; I'd have to rage across the United States to take back the laundry in New York and the one in California. Nobody in history has conquered and united both North America and Asia. A descendant of eight pole fighters, I ought to be able to set out confidently, march straight down our street, get going right now. There's work to do, ground to cover. Surely, the eightly pole fighters, though unseen, would follow me and lead me and protect me, as it the wont of ancestors." (pg. 49)
In this quote, Maxine Hong is back from her fantasy about living her life as Fa Mulan, but she is comparing her life to Mulan's. It's a very interesting quote which I didn't understand at first and still am a little lost, but she's talking about the journey that she would take to 'avenge her family' if they were hurt in anyway and what she plans on doing if that ever happens.
"Fights are confusing as to who has won." (pg. 51)
This is a very simple statement, but it is absolutely true. It may only be eight words but it applies to many different things. Fights are very confusing as to who has won because it depends on the perspective of people and what they believe 'winning' is. Maybe someone would think that winning is conquering the enemy, or maybe it's learning morals and lessons. Who knows? Each person has their own idea of who has won a fight and each person has their own right to think however they want.
"I live now where there are Chinese and Japanese, but no emigrants from my own village looking at me as if I had failed them. Living among one's own emigrant villagers can give a good Chinese far from China glory and a place...But I am useless, one more girl who couldn't be sold When I visit the family now, I wrap my American successes around me like a private shawl; I am worthy of eating the food." (pg. 52)
Maxine Hong gives an idea of how her life is different from what it would be if the people from her old village were living around her. With the mixed cultures of Japanese and Chinese Maxine Hong seems to be more comfortable and happier with herself. She has gained self confidence from being in America and knows that she's a girl, a girl who is worthy of eating her food, and worthy of her freedom.
" "When fishing for treasures in the flood, be careful not to pull in girls," because that is what one says about daughters...I read in an anthropology book that Chinese say, "Girls are necessary too"; I have never heard the Chinese I know make this concession. Perhaps it was a saying in another village. I refuse to shy my way anymore through our Chinatown, which tasks me with the old sayings and the stories." (pg. 52- 53)
The first part of the quote before the ... has a different idea than the part after the ..., but this is why I connected them together. Because Maxine Hong is trying to figure out the importance of women, and the importance of herself she is learning more and more about the ways that not only her family, but how other people might think. As she says, "Perhaps it was a saying in another village", so maybe other villagers treated women with more importance. Maxine Hong seems to want to find a source that says how important women and girls are because it will make her a stronger person, mentally, spiritually, and physically.
"The swordswoman and I are not so dissimilar...What we have in common are the words at our backs. The idioms for revenge are "report a crime" and "report to five families." The reporting is the vengeance-so many words-"chink" words and "gook" words too-that they do not fit on my skin." (pg. 53)
Maxine Hong refers to the scars on her back that she had when she was Fa Mulan, but also to the invisible scars on her back as she is then. She explains similarities of the lives that both her and the swordswoman live. They both have writings on their back - one visible the other invisible - and how that writing has affected the way they live and the values that they follow.
"In dark and silver dreams I had seen him falling from the sky, each night closer to the earth, his soul a star. Just before labor began, the last star rays sank into my belly. My husband would talk to me and not go, though I said for him to return to the battlefield. He caught the baby, a boy, and put it on my breast. "What are we going to do with this?" he asked, holding up the piece of umbilical cord that had been closest to the baby." (pg. 40)
I thought this was an interesting way for Maxine Hong to illustrate pregnancy. Instead of going into the details which many readers might find a little disturbing, she creates a metaphor which she believes represents how pregnancy happens. I also thought the quote was funny at the end where they ask what they are supposed to do with the umbilical cord. In the next paragraph or the one after that, Maxine Hong explains that they have to keep it so that they can show their baby boy. She said that when she grew older her parents gave her her umbilical cord which had been all shriveled and dry, so she tells her husband (father of the baby) to wrap the umbilical cord around the pole of a red flag.
"The swords opened and closed, scissoring madly, metal zinging along metal. Unable to leave my skysword to work itself, I would be watching the swords move like puppets..." (pg. 41)
The description of the swords slashing together was incredible. I could really hear the sounds coming from the swords and the positions they were in. When I had read this I actually flinched a little because the 'metal zinging along metal' didn't give me a pleasant noise. Instead of saying the swords hit each other, Maxine Hong goes into depth of the imagery and sounds given during this battle scene.
"We faced our emperor personally. We beheaded him, cleaned out the palace, and inaugurated the peasant who would begin the new order. In his rags he sat on the throne facing south, and we, a great red crowd, bowed to him three times. He commended some of us who were his first generals." (pg. 42)
This part was very direct and straight to the point, there was no zigzagging around the idea of the emperor being beheaded, except I think that maybe it would've been better. She could've described how the head came off but maybe that would be disturbing to some. Maxine Hong (as Fa Mulan) creates new order and elects a man, a peasant specifically, who she knows has the best interest for the people of China because he had been through the sufferings and other treacherous things that the previous 'dead' emperor had placed upon the people. From this point I thought of the rest of the story as a 'new beginning' because Maxine Hong 'Fa Mulan' had accomplished what she had wanted to and the training up in the mountains with the old man and woman had really come to good use.
"I touched the Long Wall with my own fingers, running the edge of my hand between the stones, tracing the grooves the builders' hands had made." (pg. 42-43)
Another descriptive quote written by Maxine Hong - just the imagery is wonderful. It may be one sentence but it captures so much within it. Also, I believe that when saying 'Long Wall' Maxine Hong is referring to the Great Wall of China which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World today, so I saw importance of history in this quote as well.
"I attacked the baron's stronghold alone..."I want your life in payment for your crimes against the villagers."...'Girls are maggots in the rice.' 'It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters' He quoted to me the sayings I hated." (pg. 43)
Finally, 'Fa Mulan' finishes all that she wanted to do by killing the baron. She goes in alone, which proves courage and that she is not afraid to do what's right even if it means going by herself. She talks to the baron and explains why she's there, therefore giving his death a meaning. When the baron responds to her by saying these awful quotes - sexist quotes - she is frustrated and angry. I was angry as well because I could not believe this is actually what some of the men thought in China. How can you compare a woman, a human being to a maggot?! An insect! It's just unbelievevable. It's unacceptable and once hearing what the baron said I knew that 'Fa Mulan' was going to kill him - no doubt at all.
"My mother and father and the entire clan would be living happily on the money I had sent them. My parents had bought their coffins. They would sacrifice a pig to the gods that I had returned. From the words on my back, and how they were fulfilled, the villagers would make a legend about my perfect filiality." (pg. 45)
Apparently, from all her success in the battles she had made some money to send back home to her family who had probably been worrying and awaiting the news. I could sense the happiness and thanks that the family had for the gods, since they had kept 'Fa Mulan' alive and well.
The words that she's referring to are the scars on her back that her parents had engraved to keep her safe during her journey and during the battles. She is saying that the scars had helped her through and their purpose had been fulfilled. The villagers would celebrate and honor her as a heroine - a heroine who made a new life for all in China.
"To avenge my family, I'd have to storm across China to take back our farm from the Communists; I'd have to rage across the United States to take back the laundry in New York and the one in California. Nobody in history has conquered and united both North America and Asia. A descendant of eight pole fighters, I ought to be able to set out confidently, march straight down our street, get going right now. There's work to do, ground to cover. Surely, the eightly pole fighters, though unseen, would follow me and lead me and protect me, as it the wont of ancestors." (pg. 49)
In this quote, Maxine Hong is back from her fantasy about living her life as Fa Mulan, but she is comparing her life to Mulan's. It's a very interesting quote which I didn't understand at first and still am a little lost, but she's talking about the journey that she would take to 'avenge her family' if they were hurt in anyway and what she plans on doing if that ever happens.
"Fights are confusing as to who has won." (pg. 51)
This is a very simple statement, but it is absolutely true. It may only be eight words but it applies to many different things. Fights are very confusing as to who has won because it depends on the perspective of people and what they believe 'winning' is. Maybe someone would think that winning is conquering the enemy, or maybe it's learning morals and lessons. Who knows? Each person has their own idea of who has won a fight and each person has their own right to think however they want.
"I live now where there are Chinese and Japanese, but no emigrants from my own village looking at me as if I had failed them. Living among one's own emigrant villagers can give a good Chinese far from China glory and a place...But I am useless, one more girl who couldn't be sold When I visit the family now, I wrap my American successes around me like a private shawl; I am worthy of eating the food." (pg. 52)
Maxine Hong gives an idea of how her life is different from what it would be if the people from her old village were living around her. With the mixed cultures of Japanese and Chinese Maxine Hong seems to be more comfortable and happier with herself. She has gained self confidence from being in America and knows that she's a girl, a girl who is worthy of eating her food, and worthy of her freedom.
" "When fishing for treasures in the flood, be careful not to pull in girls," because that is what one says about daughters...I read in an anthropology book that Chinese say, "Girls are necessary too"; I have never heard the Chinese I know make this concession. Perhaps it was a saying in another village. I refuse to shy my way anymore through our Chinatown, which tasks me with the old sayings and the stories." (pg. 52- 53)
The first part of the quote before the ... has a different idea than the part after the ..., but this is why I connected them together. Because Maxine Hong is trying to figure out the importance of women, and the importance of herself she is learning more and more about the ways that not only her family, but how other people might think. As she says, "Perhaps it was a saying in another village", so maybe other villagers treated women with more importance. Maxine Hong seems to want to find a source that says how important women and girls are because it will make her a stronger person, mentally, spiritually, and physically.
"The swordswoman and I are not so dissimilar...What we have in common are the words at our backs. The idioms for revenge are "report a crime" and "report to five families." The reporting is the vengeance-so many words-"chink" words and "gook" words too-that they do not fit on my skin." (pg. 53)
Maxine Hong refers to the scars on her back that she had when she was Fa Mulan, but also to the invisible scars on her back as she is then. She explains similarities of the lives that both her and the swordswoman live. They both have writings on their back - one visible the other invisible - and how that writing has affected the way they live and the values that they follow.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
New Critic
In English Class we are doing Literature circles and we have to choose a role to play. I chose to be a New Critic and my role is to find passages of importance and significance.
"Even if she had to rage across all China, a swordswoman got even with anybody who hurt her family. Perhaps women were once so dangerous that they had to have their feet bound. It was a woman who invented white crane boxing only two hundred years ago." (pg. 19)
Through this quote I could see the importance of women in the Chinese culture. They invented 'white crane boxing' and some were afraid of the swordswomen because they seeked revenge in honor of their family. Maxine Hong is asking herself why the Chinese women had to bound their feet and came with an idea that they were just to threatening. "Were women in China really that strong?", I asked myself this while reading this passage and according to the author, yes, they were.
" "No, I haven't," I would have said in real life, mad at the Chinese for lying so much. "I'm starved. Do you have any cookies? I like chocolate chip cookies...They gave me an egg, as if it were my birthday, and tea, though they were older than I, but I poured for them." (pg. 21)
Apparently being 'respectful' in China is not saying what you really want, you just say what you think others would want you to say. Both of these quotes pulled from one page in the book gave me an image of respect in China in different issues. The second quote is similar to other cultures where you have to treat elders with utmost respect and show it to them by doing some obvious things, in this case Maxine Hong poured tea for them.
"I hurried along, again collecting wood and edibles. I ate nothing and only drank the snow my fires made run...my eyesight sharp with hunger, I saw deer and used their trails when our ways coincided. Where the deer nibbled, I gathered the fungus, the fungus of immortality."...In the warming water I put roots, nuts, and the fungus of immortality. Oh, green joyous rush inside my mouth, my head, my stomach, my toes, my soul-the best meal of my life." (pg.25)
There was a lot of action and description in this quote and the use of senses. Maxine Hong as the character Fa Mulan, watches the deer to find the types of food that are edible. I think that it's interesting how she uses the term 'fungus of immortality' as if it's the food that will make her survive longer in the wild and will make her stronger and less vulnerable to anything that might hurt her. I thought it was also funny and interesting where she says that the food that she's collected in the wild has become the 'best meal of her life' - is that implying that the food from the wilderness is natural therefore making it the best for your body? or did she just really enjoy those types of food?
"The rabbit and I studied each other. Rabbits taste like chickens...It turned its face once toward me, then jumped into the fire. The fire went down for a moment, as if crouching in surprise, then the flames shot up taller than before. When the fire became calm again, I saw the rabbit had turned into meat, browned just right. I ate it, knowing the rabbit had sacrificed itself for me. It had made me a gift of meat." (pg. 26)
While reading 'White Tigers' I came upon this quote which really caught my attention because the rabbit jumped in the fire while Maxine Hong was on the verge of dying from starvation. She had been making eye contact with the animal and suddenly it just 'JUMPS' and I thought this was really amusing. It was a symbol of sacrifice and possibly a sign that the old man and woman had been watching her and when they saw how hungry she was they sent this animal to give her a meal.
"Even if she had to rage across all China, a swordswoman got even with anybody who hurt her family. Perhaps women were once so dangerous that they had to have their feet bound. It was a woman who invented white crane boxing only two hundred years ago." (pg. 19)
Through this quote I could see the importance of women in the Chinese culture. They invented 'white crane boxing' and some were afraid of the swordswomen because they seeked revenge in honor of their family. Maxine Hong is asking herself why the Chinese women had to bound their feet and came with an idea that they were just to threatening. "Were women in China really that strong?", I asked myself this while reading this passage and according to the author, yes, they were.
" "No, I haven't," I would have said in real life, mad at the Chinese for lying so much. "I'm starved. Do you have any cookies? I like chocolate chip cookies...They gave me an egg, as if it were my birthday, and tea, though they were older than I, but I poured for them." (pg. 21)
Apparently being 'respectful' in China is not saying what you really want, you just say what you think others would want you to say. Both of these quotes pulled from one page in the book gave me an image of respect in China in different issues. The second quote is similar to other cultures where you have to treat elders with utmost respect and show it to them by doing some obvious things, in this case Maxine Hong poured tea for them.
"I hurried along, again collecting wood and edibles. I ate nothing and only drank the snow my fires made run...my eyesight sharp with hunger, I saw deer and used their trails when our ways coincided. Where the deer nibbled, I gathered the fungus, the fungus of immortality."...In the warming water I put roots, nuts, and the fungus of immortality. Oh, green joyous rush inside my mouth, my head, my stomach, my toes, my soul-the best meal of my life." (pg.25)
There was a lot of action and description in this quote and the use of senses. Maxine Hong as the character Fa Mulan, watches the deer to find the types of food that are edible. I think that it's interesting how she uses the term 'fungus of immortality' as if it's the food that will make her survive longer in the wild and will make her stronger and less vulnerable to anything that might hurt her. I thought it was also funny and interesting where she says that the food that she's collected in the wild has become the 'best meal of her life' - is that implying that the food from the wilderness is natural therefore making it the best for your body? or did she just really enjoy those types of food?
"The rabbit and I studied each other. Rabbits taste like chickens...It turned its face once toward me, then jumped into the fire. The fire went down for a moment, as if crouching in surprise, then the flames shot up taller than before. When the fire became calm again, I saw the rabbit had turned into meat, browned just right. I ate it, knowing the rabbit had sacrificed itself for me. It had made me a gift of meat." (pg. 26)
While reading 'White Tigers' I came upon this quote which really caught my attention because the rabbit jumped in the fire while Maxine Hong was on the verge of dying from starvation. She had been making eye contact with the animal and suddenly it just 'JUMPS' and I thought this was really amusing. It was a symbol of sacrifice and possibly a sign that the old man and woman had been watching her and when they saw how hungry she was they sent this animal to give her a meal.
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