Post 4: (7, pages 65-80) After reading one additional chapter: Pick a character you are interested in and spend some time writing about them. Who do they remind you of in your own life? Why? Try and use specific references to events in the book and your own life. What do you think of the decisions they have made up to this point? Do you like this person? What advice would you give them? Who else do they remind you of from other literature you have read or other characters in movies, television shows and other texts from popular media? Share some links to these things on the blog.
OR – Use all the dialogue this character has spoken or any narrative passage describing or related to the character and create a word cloud using wordle (http://www.wordle.net/). Post your cloud to the blog and describe what you think the cloud reveals about the character, the story and the larger ideas, themes and issues it is dealing with.
I really have taken a liking to Jing-Mei Woo (June) in the story. In some ways parts of her relationship with her mother reminds me of aspects of my relationship with my mother. Both of my parents always wanted to me strive to do my best, but my mother when I was younger would harp on things that had to do with school and it would drive me crazy. Every single day the minute my mom would get home from work the first thing she would say after we kissed hello was “did you do your homework?” It drove me absolutely crazy, and she knew it too. My Mom is very quick to speak her mind, as June’s mom seems to be so often when I would be really excited about a plan to do something or an idea, she would ask questions that I had not yet thought of in my excitement. I would get angry at her and say “why do you have to bring up the negative things when I’m excited about something?” She would say that she is just thinking about things that I haven’t thought about yet. June’s mother pushed her to be a “prodigy” throughout the chapter “Two Kinds” and I could feel June’s frustrations. I could completely relate to her when she hardly tried to learn piano because it would mean not being herself but what her mother expected of her. June says “I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations…the girl staring back at me was angry, powerful”(134). Like June, I suddenly decided to internally battle my mom. Anything I thought she’d want me to put 100% effort into, I didn’t. I knew that she would ask me every day when she got home if I did my homework and I’d say “nope, not all of it” full well knowing she would ask me many questions about why I did not finish. These questions turned into me getting angry and then we would argue. This went on all the time. I like June a lot because she sticks up for herself when it comes to the restrictions her mom puts on her without noticing. June’s mother’s expectations are too high and setting June up for failure. As I do not think my mom was setting me up for failure or had too high of expectations for me, I knew that I was conflicted like June was after her piano recital. I hated giving into my mom, but at the same time I felt utterly horrible if I thought I disappointed her. “But my mother’s expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything” (140). When June and her mother begin to fight about practicing piano again after she bombed her recital, I felt the anger that June felt. I felt bad for her mother though when June said “I wish I was not your daughter” (142), I would have never dared take things that far. Although June and her mother share forgiveness later on in life, I would have advised June to express her feelings towards the situation sooner as an adult. I think when I finally learned to express myself calmly in a mature way to my mom, she was more likely to see where I was coming from and compromise with me. I like how no matter what, June stayed true to herself. That is something I am very proud that I do. Now, although we sometimes disagree and I often feel like she is sometimes too critical of my ideas, my mom and I rarely argue. I have learned that she is a harsh critic, and sometimes you need those in your life. I honestly can not think of another character who reminds me of June right now but I am going to think about it and get back to that.
ReplyDeleteI liked Waverly Jong’s story about her mother meeting her long time boyfriend, Rich. This story reminded me of the first time that I met my fiancé’s family, especially her grandmother. Her family is 100% Italian, and her grandmother is extremely traditional when it comes to family values. Even in the 21st Century, she wants everything the way it was back in 1940 – good for some things, not so great for others. I remember going to her apartment for dinner during my first year of college. My fiancé’s family picked me up from campus and together we went to Grandma Flitt’s for a nice chicken cutlet supper. I kept my mind sharp and played scenarios in my head over, and over again. What if I said the wrong thing? What if I forgot to say “Please” and “Thank You”? What if she didn’t like me simply because I didn’t have an ounce of Italian blood in my family? I think Waverly was more concerned than Rich in her story, but each and every time he said something out of place it made me cringe. The worst was when Waverly’s mother mentioned that the dish needed salt and Rich responded: “You know, all it needs is a little soy sauce” (178). The poor man meant well, but he should have just waited for someone else to say something then follow suit. Believe it or not, I made the mistake once of telling my future mother-in-law that her tomato sauce was a little bland. I never intended it to be mean, but Italian sauce was different to me as I was brought up on the stuff in the jar. She took it better than Waverly’s mom, good thing, and to this day we still joke about it. Now I cringe when I think about how I used to love spaghetti sauce from a jar. My mother-in-law’s sauce is the best, but everyone is familiar with foods they were brought up eating, and sometimes it is hard to transition.
ReplyDeleteMy heart sank a second time when Rich got Waverly’s parents’ names wrong. First impressions are so important, and from this perspective it almost seemed like Rich just wasn’t thinking hard enough. He tried too hard to be friendly, and if I’ve learned anything from meeting a family for the first time, it is better to stay reserved until you can judge a person’s character and behavior. I measured my fiance’s grandmother, and I am sure she measured me when we first met. I kept conversations to a conservative tone and pace and made sure I listened to every word that she said. I also made sure to look at my fiancé from time to time to see her reactions. Eventually I was able to read her grandmother and realize that I could loosen up a bit and reveal my affection. I praised her cooking, never called it bland or salty, and gave her a great big hug and kiss before we left. To this day she tells everyone that I am her favorite of all her grandchildren’s significant others, and refers to me as “Honey”.
I guess my advice to Waverly would be to actually help Rich when you know you are putting him in an awkward position. I mean, she talks about how he brings wine when her parents don’t drink it, and takes big portions the first time around when no one else does. Why doesn’t she simply tell him about these things before hand? She is so afraid of her mother and how her family will react to Rich that she basically sets him up for failure by not giving him some insider tips. Her family sounds like they have a very intricate ritual for supper, and I for one would be terrified if I had to eat at the Jong household without knowing proper etiquette. I like Waverly, but she needs to stand up to her mother and understand that her and Rich are in this together, and in order to ensure happiness for all parties, she will need to be hyper aware of her surroundings and the situations she puts them into.
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3253011/Waverly_Jong
Ying Ying may have an interesting story after all! Thinking back to the earlier vignettes with Ying Ying compared to how she is in the “American Translation” section, I can definitely see how she has progressed more into an independent thinker. Before, it seemed as if Clifford dominated her because of the language barrier, and that she was frequently misquoted and misunderstood. Now, although I still see her with some of the same superstitions from earlier in the novel, I can see how they’ve become somewhat lax as she is starting to realize that she has her inner self and that she needn’t be guided by fate entirely.
ReplyDeleteOne reason I think Ying has made this transition is because she sees how Lena behaves with Harold in a similar passive manner. Because she sees how much her daughter’s marriage is in trouble, I think she’s going to start coming out of her shell in order to inspire her daughter to speak up in the marriage.
I really feel terrible for the situation that Lena is in with Harold and I can definitely see how her upbringing played a role in developing her personality. In many ways, I see that she is very similar to her mother. I have a friend who is money oriented like Harold and it drives me insane to actually have to sit and calculate down to pennies what each of us owes at a dinner. In a way, because she works so hard for money not to be a factor in the friendship that it almost becomes a major factor because of her precise calculations. I think this is the exact way Lena feels about being married to Harold. Although dividing the money up may have been a good idea before the marriage, it is putting a strain on it instead. I am interested to see where this relationship goes and what role Ying will play in any; will she help the marriage or destroy it?
PS: Who thinks Ying broke the table on purpose?
Here is the link for my wordle for Lena
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3257144/Lena_St._Clair
She probably did. In a way, I am starting to hate how philosophical this book is at times - seems pretty unrealistic and I am becoming more disconnected with each story.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3270615/Joy_Luck_Book_Club
ReplyDeleteAs the story continues, I start to feel a little disconnect to all the characters and rather am seeing parts of each character within myself. However, similar to Randi I instantly connected with Jing-Mei Woo. Like Jing-Mei’s mother, my mother believed I could be whatever I wanted to be. She pushed me to try new things and not give up on whatever I was currently working on. My mother never expected me to be a prodigy but she did want me to do well in school since she lacked an education and realized how important it would be for me later in life. I guess where I relate most to Jing-Mei is how her mother’s pressure connects to who she is as a person and how they define or rather do not define her self-worth. On page 134 while her mother is quizzing her Jing-Mei says, “ I won’ t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not.” I really liked this paragraph and thought about how not only did Jing-Mei deal with the pressure that her mother was exerting on her but also her own pressures and tensions. For me, I constantly feel a pull between what my mother wants and what I want to do with my life. Grant it, my mother is happy I am in graduate school but nonetheless she didn’t necessarily want me to become a teacher. Growing up I wanted to be a veterinarian and work with animals and still to do this my mother will make off-handed comments about how wonderful veterinarians are and blah blah blah. At this point, her comments don’t bother me but when I was in undergrad and even applying for grad school it still made me feel disappointed in myself that I was letting her down especially since she had done so much for my brother and I so we could go to college unlike her. In this chapter I also found it interesting that Jing-Mei didn’t try and knew she wasn’t trying. She says that she “was so determined not to try”(138). I don’t think that ever didn’t ‘try’ but I know there were certain things my mother wanted me to do that I didn’t do or rather put on the back burner. But I think Jing-Mei’s resistance to her piano playing goes much further then just the simple idea that all kids at some point rebel against their parents. I think there is a major ideology shift in the two generations. Her mother believes that anything can be achieved through hard she says, “Just like you, Not the best. Because you not trying”(136). Her mother coming from China has ideas and hopes of the ‘American Dream’ for her daughter. Here in America you can anything you want as long as you work hard for it. Jing-Mei on the other hand, doesn’t want to be a prodigy she just wants to be herself.
When I did my wordle the top three words were prodigy, never and thoughts. I thought these were very symbolic words in the chapter in how they related to Jing-Mei’s life. Jing-Mei will never be the prodigy that her mother wanted her to be but throughout the chapter there was not a whole lot of dialogue but mostly Jing-Mei’s thoughts and feelings about herself and her relationship to her mother. The next biggest words were anything and mistakes. I found this to be interesting because Jing-Mei’s mother, like my mother, thinks that anyone can be anything they want if they work hard enough and don’t make any mistakes. I think it will be interesting to see how Jing-Mei comes to terms with disappointing her mother time and time again.