Recitatif

When Twyla first met Roberta, she didn’t like her at first because she was stuck in one room with a new girl of a different color. Morrison said that nobody wanted to play with Twyla and Roberta because they weren’t real orphans with beautiful dead parents in the sky. They were dumped. The older children picked on the younger ones a lot. Twyla reminisce about one lady name Maggie. She fell in the orchard and the older children laughed at her. That Sunday both Roberta and Twyla’s mothers were coming. When Twyla said that her mother dances, I assumed she was a stripper because earlier in the story she said that she loves to dance all night. Roberta’s mother was sick. Twyla thought that if her dancing mother met the sick mother it might be good for her. Later Twyla thought that the reason why she got into waitressing later was that so she could match up the right people with the right food. One day while she was working at Howard Johnson she saw Roberta. She acted different. She was with two guys. One of them was off to the Coast because he had an appointment with Jimi Hendrix. After that Twyla felt turned off. Years later they both got older they met again. They acted like long lost sisters. They are both married and have kids. Even Roberta learned how to read which was good. When they talked about Maggie Twyla thought she fell down by herself. Roberta said that she didn’t, that the older girls knocked her down. Twyla didn’t remember that part. Roberta asked if her mother was still dancing. She was, and Roberta’s mother was still sick. Roberta said that back then was different, black and white. After they were arguing more Roberta said that they both kicked Maggie but Twyla didn’t remember it. It was like she blocked out that part. Again, years later they met again. Roberta wanted to talk to her. She said they Twyla was right, they didn’t kick her.

            At the end of the story, Roberta asked, “What the hell happened to Maggie?” That is the question I wanted to know too. If I was in Twyla’s shoes I would be turned off by Roberta that day in Howard Johnsons. Roberta should have acted a little more better instead acting like the regular teens. But it was good that later she acted a little better like she hasn’t seen each other in a long time.

Zalzah

    I think out of all the stories I read in the book so far, I like this one the most. It talks about a young Jewish girl working her butt off so she can survive. When her aunt in America tells her mom about her son needs a wife, Zelzah’s mother tells her sister that Zelzah would make a good wife. So Zelzah goes to America to Vermont.  The family treats her well. She gets to know Jake (soon to be husband) more until one brother’s girlfriend took him away and gets secretly married and pregnant. The aunt was ashamed and asked Zalzah what she would like to do. Zalzah then went back to New York City to a family’s home to work for a while. Then she found a job in a factory. She started receiving her education. She wanted her sister Shulamith to join her so she started sending money for her to come. After a few years she finally came. She joined with Zalzah to work in a factory. After a while she met a man and married him. They have six children together. Zalzah went to college and got her bachelor degree. She became a third grade teacher. She rented a nice house of her own.

    Towards the end of the story, on page 198 she says that she work up one morning and thought how strange life was. She thought of her life back home and her new life here in America. I think she said life was strange because just years ago she was at home working to survive. Then she moved to America and she has a good life now. She worked hard to get where she was now, education and all. She received news from home that her sisters were getting married too. I think she felt relieved that her sisters were being taken care of. I don’t think she ever thought about getting married, just focused on herself first. This story makes me feel inspired because she moved to America to marry but ended up not getting married but making a better life here. I felt bad for her in beginning because she had a big family and shared a bed with her sisters. She had to walk three miles to work on a farm.  At the end of the story she asks what is happiness? I think the answer to that question would be doing things for yourself and others to be better, around things you love.

Little Saigon

       When I first read it I didn’t understand it at all. Then I read it again and I finally understood it. Little Saigon may be a short story but it was empowering! There were five different parts in the story. It seems that the albino peacock was a symbol of the mother.  For weeks the mother was secretly talking to an old man that lived by the tobacco shop. The mother wanted to leave her home to escape. When they arrive to the boat the Jack Pirate told the mother to go on the other boat while the two daughters go on his boat. Before they left, the mother called to the oldest daughter, saying, “Take care of your sister!” They had run out of food so the oldest had to do the unthinkable to survive. She told the Jack Pirate, “Give me water and food for my sister.” Night after night, she had to suffer so her sister Mai Chi can have food and water. They finally arrived, but their mother hasn’t. They stayed with the mother’s cousin in Little Saigon, California. Later their aunt came and got them. They lived in a nice home with the aunt and uncle was very good to them.

      To actually be asked to take care of your younger sibling? Wow.  I don’t think many people have the courage to do it unless they really have to. To do what she had to do every night took a lot of guts.  I don’t think I can ever do that unless it is the last thing to do on earth. I have a little sister. She is two years old. I think that if our parents left and left my sister with me I think I would be able to take care of her because I have my older brother for support, if you think of today’s modern world. I learned that the younger sister is her half sister. The mother had sex with an American black man. The older sister painted but she never showed to anyone except Mai Chi. At the end of the story she showed her a painting of the mother walking in the streets, and the white peacock was beside her, the tail spread out. Mai Chi began to cry and the older sister consoled her by saying that the mother is finally safe. Mai Chi said, “Ngoc Be! So are we…”

Dawn

       Barnsey had to go to his grandmother’s house for christmas. He was complaining to his mother that what if he sat next to a strange person the whole way. His mother was like, don’t even go there. He was only thirteen years old. At least his mother didn’t pay attention to what she was buying for him, a lot of junk food. He got on the bus there were no other seats except for the one next to a girl name Dawn.she was the total opposite of him. She had nine earrings, nose rings, and a mohawk, orange and purple.she dressed in all black and had walkman on. When he dropped his cassettes he accidently got the tapes mixed up with Dawn. So when he was listening to the music he thought he heard nothing. Then he listened closely and heard soft music with rain noises. Dawn said that one band was rubbish. He thought about that word a lot. The bus had to stop because it was snowing badly. So a tavern offered to take them in for a bit. The bus driver gave the twenty dollars back. In the tavern, Dawn got in a small fight with some men but at the end they ended up laughing. But once Barnsey arrived at his grandmother’s home he had gotten the shock of his life. His parents are divorcing, and he will be living with his father. So he ran away but his father came to the station to see him. At the end of the story he gave the walkman to his father and said, “Listen.” They were listening to the rainforest music.

       I had experience that because my parents are dicvorced. They got divorced when I was around two or three. Me and my brother lived with my father. We moved to Florida and he got remarried. We stayed there until I was about eight and we left my step family. We moved back to Virginia and stayed there. When I was in middle school my brother didn’t want to live with my father so he left to live with my mother, and grandparents, eventually living in Florida with a roommate. My mother has also remarried. I like my step father. He is nice and funny. I have lived with my father since.sometimes it is hard having divorced parents because I don’t like going back and forth. But one positive thing is that my parents only live fifteen minutes away from each other. If my father says no about something and my mother doesn’t care but she rather me ask my father because she doesn’t want my father mad

On the Rainy River & The Setting Sun and the Rolling World

In the story “On the Rainy River”, the author O’Brien reminisces about the time he ran away from home to avoid being drafted into the war.  In June of 1968 he graduated from Macalester College with summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, president of student body and full ride scholarship for grad school at Harvard. He got his draft notice on June 17. When he opened it he felt like he was too good for the war. He hated the dirty things and camping. He didn’t like blood. He’s not very good at listening. That summer he was a declotter, which means that he gets rid of the clots from the dead pigs. One day he just dropped his water gun and walked out of the factory. He went home to pack and wrote a simple message to his parents. Then he left. He drove north towards Canada. He stopped at the lodge called Tip Top Lodge and stayed there for six days. The man didn’t say anything and asked nothing about why O’Brien came. They played games together and ate together.  At the end he realized he should not rum from his fears and should face it. He went back home and went into the war. He survived, but called himself a coward. If that was in his shoes and I was getting drafted I wouldn’t run away. I would face being drafted. I wouldn’t be a deserter because I would have to face the consequences once I was caught.

In the story “The Setting Sun and the Rolling World”, I feel like the setting was based in Africa or some country like it. Mungoshi was telling his father that it was time for him to leave his home and find something better. The father was telling him to think about it and that the land and his family needs him. But Mungoshi was stubborn, saying that the land was overworked. Finally the father gives Mungoshi his blessings. He states that the land is still his and as long as the father is still alive the home is open to him. I would leave home to find something better for me even if it means leaving home. I would want a better future for myself.  I would work until I am successful then I would come back home and help my parents. I have never worked on a farm so I don’t know anything about farm life. But one day I would like to live on a farm to get experience.

Beautiful & Cruel/Trip in a Summer Dress

In the short story of Beautiful and Cruel, the first sentence I see is “I am an ugly daughter.” I felt that she shouldn’t say negative words like that about herself. It looks like she is a teenager going through puberty. Cisneros’ sister says she wont wait her whole life for a husband to come and get her. She reminds me of the popular girls that get what they want and play hard to get. She wants to pick her own husband. Cisneros decides to rebel by becoming the opposite of what women are viewed as in society (clean-looking with manners.) she doesn’t want to give in to what women must do when they grow up. She has become a feminist by starting her own quiet war. Which means that she leaves the table like a man, not putting back the chair or cleaning up after herself.

In the Trip in a Summer Dress, I felt a little sad because Sanford got pregnant at 15 and her mother took her son under her wing. Matthew calls her mother, “mom.” Sanford desperately wanted to tell him that he is her son, not grandmother’s. Sanford and her mother went to her uncle’s house to stay until she gave birth. The family didn’t want the people back at her home to know that Sanford was pregnant because at that time getting pregnant and unmarried was frowned upon. Later when Matthew was a little older she tried to explain about the birds about a different bird was taking care of a baby bird. Matthew didn’t understand. Sanford got on the bus to go to Eureka Springs, Arkansas to get married to a guy name Bill Richards. She didn’t listen to her mother about bringing her jacket. She befriends a little girl on the bus.  Her parents are divorced so she visits her parents during the week and other parent on weekends. Sanford called her mother because she wanted Matthew to know the truth. She wanted to tell Matthew that she is his mother, not the grandmother.

I never had experience with having a child at a young age but I do have experience with divorced parents. My parents have been divorced since I was three I think. I lived with my dad all my life. I never really visited my mom until we moved back up to Virginia. Then I visited her ever couple weeks. Now both of my parents are remarried. I like my mom’s side of family because they are more open-minded and like to have fun. My dad’s side is more humble. They are catholic. But I don’t mind it because my grandparents spoil me. So does my dad ha-ha.

Language and Thought

          

           When reading the article English is andocentric (built in bias towards men), I felt like its all about sexist and language. When it said language was created by men, I was like “WTF?’ Then I started to realize men created it. Even though there are fewer words relating to women than men, reality is that there are 220 English terms for a promiscuous FEMALE and only 20 for a MALE. In the past, I know that women were like the person behind the curtains waiting for their moment to shine. They finally start to shine when they had Acts and Laws passed for their rights. Men built English because men controlled society, and The People with the Power were men in society who can build their point of view into the language. The typical male that society view as were men that were white, straight, middle-aged, and able-bodied (average weight.) So basically insulting the ethnic community and the LBGT community. So the people who are not the typical male were ugly, fat, too skinny, short, tall, dumb, weird-looking teeth, glasses, have disabilities, illnesses and a different economic status.

            People don’t notice language is biased unless it affects them. According to page 128, it states that it’s not the word itself that is racist, sexist or whatever. It is the meaning that we give them. In the debate between thought and language, it is thought that language was controlled by thought but some say it is thought that is controlled by language. Language can affect our thinking by helping our thought process. Like the act of explaining something to someone else often helps you understand it better yourself. One example would be a deaf person signing to another explaining what a word means. The more that person explains the more that person would understand him/herself. Even though thought and language are interdependent, language often assists thought and we have to think to understand and use the English Language. What does euphemism means? It means words that present their subject in a favorable light. Imagine you are watching television and an ad comes on. You see a product that looks odd looking. The person telling you about it is saying that the product is exquisite and is easy to use. You immediately think, “that thing??” even though it doesn’t look the best the person will try to advertise it to sell the product.