Monday, February 7, 2011
Joy Luck Club Post 2: Music Video
What do you think of the narrative up to this point? What intrigues you? What characters are interesting to you? What are you not sure about yet? What tensions are you noticing? Where do you think the story is headed? What specific quotes, lines or passages do you like? Why? Find a music video online that you feel connects to your writing and include it at the end of your post.
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Are you serious??? Why the hell is blogger terrible, that is the second time I posted and it didn't take it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do yourselves a favor and complete your writing in Word first then bring it over...can't even express my frustration right now
ReplyDeleteOk, let’s try this again.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the book so far, not this process. I like how the story is split up into separate narrative vignettes, but what bothers me the most right now is the flow of these narratives. We were given this earth shattering moment when June finds out she has long-lost siblings back in China and that the Joy Luck Club wants her to go visit them, then suddenly we are given 50 some pages of other stories that are seemingly unrelated. I feel as though that information was dropped much too soon and really serves to separate June from the rest of the narrative. By the time I reached the end of part 1, I was not thinking about June at all, and maybe that is Tan’s purpose. There are bigger themes and issues that we need to be focused on, and the narratives told by the immigrants serve to frontload some of these. We know there is a conflict between generations, genders, and family obligations/expectations. I hope these things continue throughout the novel, and I think they will, through alternative perspectives.
Looking ahead, I see that the second part of the book appears to be told from the views of the immigrants’ children. This should make for an interesting conflict as I can guess that the stories will talk about how traditional their parents were and how they never understood American culture. This is why I am glad that Tan chose to tell the stories of the Joy Luck Club first. Now we have the perspective from the parents, the sort of untold stories of their past that will probably end up being very similar to the stories of the children. Maybe parents and children are not that different, regardless of cultures. By reading the stories of the mothers first, we are presented with truth and purpose, so when we hear about bad stories later on we can empathize with both parties and understand the sacrifices, trials and tribulations everyone goes through in life. There is a reason why these women had high expectations for their own children, because they wanted better lives for them. However, at the same time, I hope these women will be able to take a critical look at their upbringing and their traditional culture and compare it to how they raised their children.
I think some of the bigger ideas in this novel so far revolve around issues of authority, tradition, gender, and family. All the characters so far have been told what to think, what to do, and very few have had the opportunity to change all that. I found it interesting that the authority figure in each story appears to be a woman, and yet they are told how girls should act and how boys should act.
“‘For women is yin, she cried sadly, ‘the darkness within, where untempered passions lie. And man is yang, bright truth lighting our minds.’” (81).
This comes from Ying-Ying’s story, the Moon Lady who is really a man, and I think it says something about the struggles these women dealt with in their culture. How could they ever accomplish what they hoped for when they were considered “darkness”?
Here is my video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7-AUmiNcA
Not only is it a good song, but it touches upon these ideas of power and gender.
“All my life I’ve tried to make everybody happy
While I just hurt and hide
Waiting for someone to tell me it’s my turn to decide”
The song makes it clear how people feel about being bossed around – they don’t like it. Even in culture, most people have their own ideas and want to “decide” for themselves what is right and what is wrong, but there always seems to be someone or something guiding them. This song is telling those people to stand up for what they believe in, kind of like Lindo Jong. She stood up for and against family in order to make herself happy, and in turn everything seemed to turn out okay.
Tim, that sucks, I’m sorry! That is one of the most frustrating things when you lose a piece of writing and have to do it over. I have really taken a liking to the style of writing in The Joy Luck Club. The book captures my attention and forces me to really pay attention with its narrative. I like how different people get to tell their story, and we begin to learn how characters feel towards one another through their narratives and different point of views. The concept of the Joy Luck Club in general is so interesting, and I think traditions that go along with each meeting extenuates the relationships and closeness the group shares. The conflict that June feels about keeping up her Mother’s place in the Joy Luck Club and understanding their relationship seems very real and relatable. I think that Auntie An-Mei and Auntie Lin both have extremely touching stories to tell. It is amazing how they experienced such hardships but never gave up and made it to a better life. A line that I really loved was from Auntie An-Mei’s story: “That is the way it is with a wound. The wound begins to close in on itself, to protect what is hurting so much. And once it is closed, you no longer see what is underneath, what started the pain” (47). From what I have read so far, I think this quote might set the tone for the rest of the book; that these women who are part of the club had wounds that caused them pain, but eventually closed up and allowed them to move on. Clearly, because they are able to tell their stories and remember how far they’ve come, those wounds made scars. I found “Comfortably Numb” lyrics by Pink Floyd and I think that they could pertain to the experiences we have read thus far in the book. I think you could relate the song to conflict between characters, inner conflict that Auntie Lin experiences, and how the women overcome their challenging lives in the past. (I read through Auntie Lin’s story because 50 pages was witin her story and I wasn’t sure if we were going to stop at chapter 2 or 3).
ReplyDeleteI also think that family obligations/expectations is a very important theme throughout the story that definitly set the tone of the book and must be discussed. I think that this theme contributes to the conflict of the mother-child relationship, upbringing, and expectations in the book, and will be the cause of many conflicts throughout the story. It didn't bother me that June's long lost siblings weren't mentioned again yet within the story. I was pretty engulfed in the stories of the other women.
ReplyDeleteSo far, I have a lot of sympathy for the characters in JLC because it seems as if two things are true with all of them. One is that they all have some type of tragic or life changing event that took place early on in their lives. Because of this event, it shaped their hopes, dreams, and goals and which they all ultimately seem disappointed with in the long run. So far, I can’t really choose the character I think has the most intriguing story because I found all of them to be very intriguing, with the exception of Ying’s falling off the boat story which I found to slightly slow down the pace of the book. Up until that point, I found that the stories moved in a smooth progression but with Ying’s story, I felt as if it was slightly out of place. Of course it’s odd to wish anything bad on a character in a novel, but I just felt as if her story paled in comparison to Woo’s story about leaving her children in China or An-Mei’s shamed mother. To me, the story about losing identity just didn’t seem to fit 100%.
ReplyDeleteI like the way JLC starts with the present and through short vignettes switches to the past and tells each woman’s individual story. As far as where the story is headed, I have a feeling it will move on to the lives on the women in America. At the end of each of their first vignettes (except for Ying’s), the women have moved to America, so the natural progression I think would detail their trials in the new country or perhaps how they met their husbands and started a family. I think it will be interesting to see how their dreams and goals change as time went by and what may have destroyed them on a larger scale. I definitely feel as if many of their dreams in America have been destroyed, especially after reading how they described their American children. The novel is sure to take an interesting turn.
I’m about to get a little corny with my video selection. I chose the video, “Shadow” by Ashlee Simpson. Basically, the song is about self discovery and not necessarily measuring up to the expectations of relatives. I think a song like this applies to many of the JLC women, most specifically perhaps June who was quoted saying, “Something was always missing. Something always needed improving. Something was not in balance,” (31). When I think of the JLC women, I definitely think of unfulfilled dreams and the inability to please others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrqvMnYv9z8
how they will interconnect with each other later on. I like the relationships between not only the mother and the daughter but between the daughters as well. The tension between Jing-Mei and Waverly Jong is very interesting and I wonder how that can be related to their mothers’ relationship with each other. I think it is very interesting to hear both sides of Jing-Mei and Waverly Jong. These opening chapters or so narrated a lot about how the two mothers were always in a competition with each other for their daughters’ accomplishments. A passage that really stood out to me is on page 37 and it goes,
ReplyDelete“I had always assumed we had an unspoken understanding about these things: that she didn’t really mean I was a failure, and I really meant I would try to respect her opinions more. But listening to Auntie Lin tonight reminds me once again: My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other’s meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more”(Tan 37).
I had a feeling of bittersweetness sweep over me while I was reading this passage. I think it is so full of heartache of a relationship that could have been but never was. And going off of my complicated relationship with my mother it is very hard and sad for me to read the feelings of Jing-Mei because I feel like I have been there too. I also think the relationship between the girls and how they react to expectations is very interesting while some meet up to their parents’ expectations others don’t. I think almost everyone can agree disappointing your parents is a terrible feeling and I think Tan does a really great job in explaining these relationships. The mothers come to America hoping for their children to do better then they can and I know my mother is the same way and it is hard to know how much parents really do sacrifice for their children. I am excited to see the conclusions that Jing-Mei will come up with in regards to her relationship with her mother and what stories she will decide to tell her sisters in China. The song I chose was “Sixth Avenue Heartache” Part of the main chorus and first verse is “
Sirens ring, the shots ring out
A stranger cries screams out loud
I had my world strapped against my back
I held my hands, never knew how to act
And the same black line that was drawn on you
Was drawn on me
And now it's drawn me in
6th Avenue heartache
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXDiGtgPL6E
I thought about the line “And the same black line that was drawn on you Was drawn on me” and I kept thinking about how Jing-Mei will realize how much she is like her mother and that no matter they are related. That black line could be the Chinese culture and that stigma and tensions of cultures. There is some sort of marker between the mother and daughter.