No Name Woman from The Woman Warrior

Comment:When the author uses "I" and "me" it connects to me and lets me fall into the writers shoes while reading the piece. It's also a lot easier to read and its more interesting as well. My sister loves raiding my journal, and I think it's pretty much easy to say that everyone loves to gossip, read gossip, and listen in on gossip which is kind of like what a essay in first person is. I tend to become emotionally invested because of the immigration process that my family went through as well. 

Question: Did all Chinese women get treated so poorly like the authors aunt did? Why didn't the women take a stand and create a movement to go against the sexism happening in the story and in China? How was it okay for the people who lived in the town to barge into the house and kill all their farm animals and create so much rucus?

Critique: I don't like that the author leaves the name of her aunt out, the entire chapter has to do with the aunt. Her aunt has been through a lot and had a tough life since she had killed herself, so i think that she deserves to be named in the story. Everyone deserves some significant value and the authors aunt definetly didn't deserve to be raped and then attacked by villagers for being pregnant while her husband is gone.

Dutiful Hijas

Comment: I love learning about different cultures and the different roles that men and women take in them. Norma isn't given a name when she is approached, yet she is reffered to as the daughter of someone. Norma makes key distinctions as being a wife or a daughter is the aspect of personal identity for Puerto Rican women. I connected with Norma when she was helping her mother. As a daughter she is obligated to help her mother once she is divorced and sick, or else she'd just feel guilty. I totally agree. I'd feel guilty as well if a family member was sick, and I'd want to be there to help as well. Throughout the story, Norma's mother gets a job and makes new friends and receives financial independance from her daughter and husband. I found this interesting because of Norma's explanations about her friends parents. Her mother wanted to be independant so that Norma could start and continue working on her own life and career. This story was very touching because I know that I'd like to be there for my family always, but I would also like to have the ability to create a successful future for myself to be able to give back to my family all that they gave to me.
Question: Why do they believe in these gender roles such as marianismo or machismo? Do they really believe that all hispanic men as masculine? If so, why do Normas' parents get divorced?
Critique: I disagree with the fact that women should be submissive to the male. I don't agree with the fact that Normas' brother was able to finish college and go on with his life, yet Norma had to stop everything she was doing with her life and go back to Puerto Rico to take care of her mother.

Coyote and the Pebbles

Question: Why do the animals dislike the coyote so much for being late? Why don't they save him a spot in the sky? Why do the animals all leave without the coyote because he was running a little bit late? Should the coyote even have went to throw the pebbles into the sky if he is a day and night creature?

Comment: I think that the idea of the animals throwing pebbles at the sky is great and imaginative. The comic is really creative in having the animals throw pebbles to make their own portrait in the sky for brighter nights. Since the animals don't know any better they don't realize that what they are searching for is already there, the stars. I think it is very interesting that each animal is able to turn itself into human form and back to animal form at their own will. The illustrations portray the characters with so many emotions that I find it almost intriguing. 

Critique: I don't like that the coyote is conceited where in the poem he claims to be the "greatest in the world." I wonder why he feels the need to have the biggest portrait of them all. That makes us wonder why can't the other animals have the greatest and biggest sky portraits. Another thing I do not like is that when all is said and done and the wall of mystery announces that the animals won't be receiving more light at night, they once again blame the coyote for their unfortunate news.

American Born Chinese

Question: Why do the children in "American Born Chinese" act as if they've never seen an Asian person before? Do Asian people not exist in that part of America? Why doesn't the teacher try to stop the children or discipline them when they claim that Jin Wang eats dogs?

Comment: When the new foreign exchange student arrives to the elementary school, Jin Wang brushes him off and leaves him feeling uncomfortable. I thought that Jin would be the first child to be understanding of an exchange student and become friends with him immediately. The boy approaches Jin Wang assuming since they are both Chinese, that they would be able to speak to one another in their native language perhaps since the boy has trouble speaking in English. Jin Wang eventually begins to act friendly with the boy but I can't help but to wonder what clicked in his head.

Critique: The point that the author is trying to get across is that Jin Wang is lonely and that he can not find friends. I don't like that he becomes friends with one of the bullies. Since the bullies are constantly picking on him, becoming friends with one of them would make things worse as the author portrays throughout the illustrations in the comics. I think the author is sending a mixed message to the viewers of this comic. He shows the bullies making fun of Jing and then he shows Jin becoming friends with the bully and the bullying basically continues. I think that Jin becoming friends with the bully sends the message to kids reading it that its okay to become friends with the bullies and support the bullies when it actually isn't.

Post#2 Coraline

Question: Why does Coraline constantly go to the flat of Miss April Spink and Miss Miriam Forcible, her neighbors, if they are so elderly compared to her? Shouldn't there be plenty of children in the neighborhood since her mother is preparing her to begin school? Coraline seems friendly, so why doesn't search for friends in her new neighborhood?

Comment: I think that the plot of the story is quite intriguing. The fact that Coraline has a different mother and father that no one is aware of is a great twist to the story. Coralines' other parents are well aware that she has a different set of parents and even refer to each other as her "other mother" and "other father" in such a happy way. The author imagination in creating a completely different family really fascinated me because he created this family to really satisfy Coraline when it came to her taste in food and even bedroom decor. I like the fact that her "other parents" look similar to her biological parents, yet they are easily distinguished by particular features.

Critique: I don't understand the point of having children without being able to give them your all. Coralines' biological parents are always either too busy working to play with her or just aren't paying attention to her. When Coraline asks her father a question, he simply doesn't even look up from his work and when her mother looks in the fridge, all she sees is cheese with mold on it. I think its very irresponsible to bring a child into this world if you are financially and emotionally unable to handle the ability to take care of the child responsibly. A kid needs care, love and attention and without it they could find themselves getting into trouble kind of like Coraline does with her new discovery in the "drawing room"

Post#1

Question: Beli was once mistreated by a family that took her in after her family had died. Then La Inca found out that her and Beli were distant relatives and took her in. Why is Belis' behavior toward her children so mean considering the fact that she knows what being mistreated feels like?

Comment: Being that Yunior is not part of the De Leon family, I don't see why he knew so much about the family. Families can be very open and with that I agree, but Yunior knew a lot of private details about the family. Even though Yunior and Oscar were roommates at Rutgers University, I don't recall Oscar sharing much of his personal issues with Yunior. Yunior is very comfortable with pushing Oscar around when basically forcing him to exercise when Oscar repeatedly refuses which to me is a little over top considering the fact that they are not related.

Critique: I do not like the fact that the story is constantly moving to different points of view and people talking about one another in different person. I found the jumping around from different time to time in the book to be extremely confusing considering the fact that the story starts in the present and the next thing you know it's the year 1955. If the story was just told by the narrator, Yunior, I believe it would've made a lot more sense.