Sunday, December 9, 2012

Literary Analysis: The Joy Luck Club


1. Both of Amy Tans( American-Chinese) parents were born and raised in China;however, Tan was brought to America where she was raised. She was able to adapt to that American lifestyle with still holding on to her ancestral  culture.   The Joy Luck Clubis sixteen stories of mothers and daughters that went through the same problems she had: between American-raised daughters and their Chinese immigrant mothers. She focuses a lot on Jing-mei and her mother, Suyuan. Because she had passed away, Jing-mei took her mother’s place playing mahjong in a gathering her mother had started in China and brought with her : the Joy Luck Club. Jing-mei is trying to to reunite with her half sisters who happen to be back in China. Suyuan was forced to leave the twins behind during the Invasion of Japan in world war II. The first four sections of the books are told through the mothers’ point of view. They state the relevance of being close to a family especially a mother and also point out that she believes her daughters aren't close to her which is why they are having a tough time growing up. The last are from the daughters view. They reminisce on their memories  with their mother, showing their mother that they truly appreciate her. This demonstrates the mother-daughter bonds from culture to culture.
2. They Joy Luck Club theme would have to be although cultures and traditions are always changing you never forget where you came from. The daughters are Chinese, but because they were raised around American traditions they aren't Chinese. Their mothers are “ Chinese” and they see the daughters out take on the world and are confused.
3. Tan’s tone is full of memories, both joyful and bitter,  as each mother and daughter reminisce.  
“My breath came out like angry smoke. It was cold…The alley was quiet and I could see the yellow lights shiningg from our flat like two tiger’s eyes in the night.”


“It was only later that I discovered there was a serious flas with the American version. There were too many choices, so it was easy to get confused and pick the wrong thing.”
“I raced down the street, dashing between people, not looking back as my mother screamed shirlly ‘Meimei! Meimei!’ I fled down an alley, past dark, curtained shops and merchants washing grime off their windows.
4. 1) Tone: Each character had a different emotion because of the different situations at hand. 
2) Diction: to help convey the emotions her words were powerful yet soft spoken.
3) Syntax: By giving both point of views we were able to see both sides and what both sides felt was missing. 
4) Symbols: Tan used symbols such as the coy fish in the pond that the mother loved and the goldfish in the bowl that the daughter loved to represented the gap  the two had and the cultural difference they had even though they were mother and daughter.
5) Imagery:  painted happiness and the emotions of each character as did her tone.
“. . . . I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught my daughter how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it’s no lasting shame. . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. She learned these things, but I couldn’t teach her about Chinese character . . . How not to show your own thoughts, to put your feelings behind your face so you can take advantage of hidden opportunities. . . . Why Chinese thinking is best.”
“I . . . looked in the mirror. . . . I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind. . . . And then I draped the large embroidered red scarf over my face and covered these thoughts up. But underneath the scarf I still knew who I was. I made a promise to myself: I would always remember my parents’ wishes, but I would never forget myself."

A mother is best. A mother knows what is inside you,” she said. . . . “A psyche-atricks will only make you hulihudu, make you see heimongmong.” Back home, I thought about what she said. . . . These were words I had never thought about in English terms. I suppose the closest in meaning would be “confused” and “dark fog.”But really, the words mean much more than that. Maybe they can’t be easily translated because they refer to a sensation that only Chinese people have. . . .”
Character:
Indirect: the way Tan demonstrates the characters thoughts and emotions

Direct: Jing-Mei and her perspectives on different cultures

I . . . looked in the mirror. . . . I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind. . . . And then I draped the large embroidered red scarf over my face and covered these thoughts up. But underneath the scarf I still knew who I was. I made a promise to myself: I would always remember my parents’ wishes, but I would never forget myself."


 I feel as if I met Jing-Mei. She took on the role of a mother at a very young age and even her mother's prized possession, the club. This made her more of a realistic character in the sense that she never gave up and kept going. With the help of her mothers "presence" she was able to fully understand her Chinese culture.


Saturday, December 1, 2012

No Exit Notes

Existentialism :  philosophical and cultural movement which holds that the starting point of philosophical thinking must be the experiences of the individual
Jean Paul Sartre : French writer
characters :   
Valet
Garcin
Estelle
Inez
 takes place in a drawing room
("Think about the place you have chosen as your hell. Does it look ordinary and bourgeois,like Sartre's drawing room, or is it equipped with literal instruments of torture likeDante's Inferno? Can the mind be in hell in a beautiful place? Is there a way to find peacein a hellish physical environment? Enter Sartre's space more fully and imagine how itwould feel to live there endlessly, night and day")
("Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break? Are variety,moderation and balance instruments we use to keep us from boiling in any inferno of excess,' whether it be cheesecake or ravenous sex?") --- appreciation for thought
No windows only floors and rooms
Garcin asks if its day, Valet knows not what he means
Garcin then ask if he has days off...Valet says yes but he only visits his uncle on the 3rd floor
("How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feelslike to stay awake all the time with the lights on with no hope of leaving a specific place?How does GARCIN react to this hell? How could you twist your daily activities aroundso that everyday habits become hell? Is there a pattern of circumstances that reinforcesthe experience of hell?")
Finally Valet and Inez enter
Inez is a woman who is to share a room with Garcin
Valet tells her to ask Garcin about the room since they had such a detailed talk
Inez believes Garcin is the torturer and they separated her and Florence as such.
Garcin says no and goes on to talk her
Inez is unmarried
She says those who torture looked frightened
THEY ARE DEAD! *got it.
In hell! Yet they talk about the living to be "down there"?
Inez died a week ago
Estelle died yesterday from pneumonia, from Paris
Garcin ...12 shots in the chest, month ago, from Rio
They all wonder why they are in hell
They figured out they are all evil in one way or another
And then they realized that there is really no physical pain
That they (the devil) put them in the same room to torture one another since they are all so different
That is how they will live for eternity
No mirrors in hell?
Inez acted as Estelle's mirror, but mirrors sometimes lie
Inez is attracted to Estelle she puts her's and Garcin's acts on blast
Garcin=unfaithful to his loving wife
Inez=killed a man  (3)
Estelle= A man killed himself over her and killed her child
Inez wants Estelle, Estelle wants Garcin, Garcin wants Inez
Estelle gives herself to Garcin but not her trust
Garcin didn't want to fight in the war so he tried to run to Mexico
Garcins wife is dead
Time goes by very slow in hell compared to on earth
Garcin asks Estelle to let him love her forever
Estelle say yes but then Inez butts in and makes him realize she would love any guy down here
Garcin tries to escape
"One always dies too soon-- or too late. And yet one's whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are-- your life,and nothing else"
 Inez keeps pushing, Estelle tries to kill Inez.
Yet they are all already dead!
( Kudos to Ashlie)