The first story of the first part of the Joy Luck Club talks about Suyuan Woo telling her daughter theses stories. Every time Suayan tells her daughter the same story, but every time it has a different ending. The daughter states that each time the ending of the story appears to get darker and darker.
At first the story is very positive. Shiyuan Woo brags about how good she is at majjong. Every time she would win yuan which is the paper currency of China, but paper was not worth a lot back in the day. So she just used the money to buy simple items such as rice, chickens, and eggs.
As the stories began to change, more and more weird twists and details. One day Shiyuan Woo decides to tell her daughter the truth that she had been holding on to for so long. Shiyuan Woo had to leave the city where she was living at because a friend had warned about a Japanese invasion on the city. She gathered all of her belongings including her two babies and began her long walk away from the city. During the walk one of her friends persuaded a man to steal a wheelbarrow so she could put her stuff on it, but it did not really help that much. Eventually, Shiyun Woo could no longer take it, she was tired and she had no choice but to leave her belongings behind, including her two babies.
I believe that the reason why Shiyuan keeps changing up the story is because she feels ashamed and regrets what she did. She attempts to hide this by changing her story, but she could no longer hide nor deny it. She just had to let it out to her daughter in hope that she would learn a lesson. That lesson would be to never give up and quit. I think she wonders about how her two babies ended up and how they are doing now. She thinks of the possibility of a reunion, but it will not ever happen.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Response To Chinese Mothers
People tend to agree with the statement that Chinese Mothers tend to push their children to the limits and beyond when it comes to academics and education, but this article about how Chinese Mothers are superior to other mothers really just strikes me. This paragraph especially strikes me.
I do not find it surprising that seventy percent of western mothers do not stress education a lot to their children because they believe it hurts their child. I can just see that number to be mostly true, but I was shocked when I saw that zero percent of the Chinese mothers interviewed stressed education a lot and believed that it did not harm their children in any way what so ever. Now that I think about it I do not believe that these numbers are accurate because so few people were interviewed. I would have to like to have seen a larger group of people being interviewed.
This article makes it seem as if Western Mothers do not give a damn about education and it is kind of sad because that is not the case. For example, my mother is not Asian, she is Latina, Colombian to be exact, and she stresses education just about as any other Chinese Mother that I know. I also know many kids who have mothers who are not Chinese and yet they still stress education like crazy.
OK I do agree that westerners will tend to play more in sports, but still, that does not always take away from their education at all. I also know Chinese and Asian kids who play and enjoy sports. Sure they may not be on a team, but they still participate in sports. I do not believe that if a student fails at academics then it necessarily the parents. A lot of times it is the child who does not want to learn and therefore it is their fault, not the parents.
Despite our squeamishness about cultural stereotypes, there are tons of studies out there showing marked and quantifiable differences between Chinese and Westerners when it comes to parenting. In one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, almost 70% of the Western mothers said either that "stressing academic success is not good for children" or that "parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun." By contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way. Instead, the vast majority of the Chinese mothers said that they believe their children can be "the best" students, that "academic achievement reflects successful parenting," and that if children did not excel at school then there was "a problem" and parents "were not doing their job." Other studies indicate that compared to Western parents, Chinese parents spend approximately 10 times as long every day drilling academic activities with their children. By contrast, Western kids are more likely to participate in sports teams.
I do not find it surprising that seventy percent of western mothers do not stress education a lot to their children because they believe it hurts their child. I can just see that number to be mostly true, but I was shocked when I saw that zero percent of the Chinese mothers interviewed stressed education a lot and believed that it did not harm their children in any way what so ever. Now that I think about it I do not believe that these numbers are accurate because so few people were interviewed. I would have to like to have seen a larger group of people being interviewed.
This article makes it seem as if Western Mothers do not give a damn about education and it is kind of sad because that is not the case. For example, my mother is not Asian, she is Latina, Colombian to be exact, and she stresses education just about as any other Chinese Mother that I know. I also know many kids who have mothers who are not Chinese and yet they still stress education like crazy.
OK I do agree that westerners will tend to play more in sports, but still, that does not always take away from their education at all. I also know Chinese and Asian kids who play and enjoy sports. Sure they may not be on a team, but they still participate in sports. I do not believe that if a student fails at academics then it necessarily the parents. A lot of times it is the child who does not want to learn and therefore it is their fault, not the parents.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Animal Farm and uprisings around the world
George Orwell's Animal Farm tells the story a farm of animals overthrowing the humans and setting a government for themselves. This is very similar to what is going on around in the Middle East, where multiple countries are beginning to start uprisings against their governments.
In Animal Farm the animals were tired of the humans treating them lesser beings and acting like they were superior to them. One day Old Major, one of the pigs, came up with an idea for the animals to rebel and overthrow the humans. Soon after Old Major died, the animals carried out his ideas and overthrew the humans. They set up their own government with a set of certain rules, much like the constitution of the United States. This is like what is going around the world especially in Egypt. An article by BBC News explains what is going on with some of the protests in Egypt. The people there are tired of Mubarak, the president of Egypt. The people feel that they have been oppressed and are no longer going to take it. They've gathered up in protests. The last straw was when the government disconnected the country's Internet. Eventually President Mubarak stepped down. The people have not been able to set up democracy, but I see it coming some time in the near future.
Protests have also occurred in the small African nation of Tunisia. An article for BBC News reports on some of the violence that has gone in the streets. Although they people have been able to force their leader, the people are still at unrest with their government. While watching KTVU News yesterday there was a report stating that a month after the protests began the people are not happy with their new government. Many workers have gone on strike and trash has been piling up on the streets. Volunteers have had to go out clean up this trash. This is similar to when the pigs in Animal Farm began to change the rules to favor them. Soon after overthrowing the humans, the pigs took charge and began to tweak things to benefit them. The rest of the animals became angry at this.
In conclusion, the book Animal Farm may tell the story of animals overthrowing their owners, the humans, but this story is much like many of the uprisings that have occurred around the world.
In Animal Farm the animals were tired of the humans treating them lesser beings and acting like they were superior to them. One day Old Major, one of the pigs, came up with an idea for the animals to rebel and overthrow the humans. Soon after Old Major died, the animals carried out his ideas and overthrew the humans. They set up their own government with a set of certain rules, much like the constitution of the United States. This is like what is going around the world especially in Egypt. An article by BBC News explains what is going on with some of the protests in Egypt. The people there are tired of Mubarak, the president of Egypt. The people feel that they have been oppressed and are no longer going to take it. They've gathered up in protests. The last straw was when the government disconnected the country's Internet. Eventually President Mubarak stepped down. The people have not been able to set up democracy, but I see it coming some time in the near future.
Protests have also occurred in the small African nation of Tunisia. An article for BBC News reports on some of the violence that has gone in the streets. Although they people have been able to force their leader, the people are still at unrest with their government. While watching KTVU News yesterday there was a report stating that a month after the protests began the people are not happy with their new government. Many workers have gone on strike and trash has been piling up on the streets. Volunteers have had to go out clean up this trash. This is similar to when the pigs in Animal Farm began to change the rules to favor them. Soon after overthrowing the humans, the pigs took charge and began to tweak things to benefit them. The rest of the animals became angry at this.
In conclusion, the book Animal Farm may tell the story of animals overthrowing their owners, the humans, but this story is much like many of the uprisings that have occurred around the world.
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