April 28, 2011

Rosa is crazy. Anybody who will smash up her store and leave a life of luxury to live in a “motel” in hell is CRAZY. I have come to the conclusion that she smashed up her store to punish people who do not understand the history behind the pieces she sold in her antique store. Most people are just collectors of items and not the history behind them.  And Rosa is one of those people who question the motives of those in societies, because those pieces represented her story, not just a nameless or faceless persons’ story.

From Rosa’s story Ozick is trying to convey to the readers that the Holocaust experience did not spare any victims even those who did not parish. Rosa’s story is one of survival, but not technically. She hasn’t died like Magda but she is dead inside, she is unable to pick up and move forward and that is true survival.  

April 24, 2011

Cynthia Ozick, author of The Shawl has a very complex style of writing. The first chapter kind of made the book intimidating because Ozick has a very detail oriented writing style. She can talk about the death of a child and make the floating body seem as it’s a butterfly.

So far we see that this story is being told from the point of view of Rosa who is a mother of Magda and the care taker of Stella. The story seems as though it is being told from a diary. Rosa seems crazy calling Stella a devil and carrying on like that. But her daughter was killed right in front of her and she did nothing to protect her. I don’t understand why they killed Magda though. That was cruel.

April 21, 2011

The conclusion of the novel was quite interesting. Being the only time where we get an opportunity to hear the story being told from the father’s perspective. It puts a spin on the whole conflict of the novel. He unveils it in this chapter in his rant and it is racism.

While he never says anything out right, he is basically saying that he is as American as they come and he is also saying that anybody can be a spy not just a Japanese person. Although Otsuka gave him a weird tone, I got the message loud and clear.

While I was reading all I could picture was someone being interrogated and admitting to something they knew they didn’t do, due to the fact that they were being tortured. It’s quite frightening. But Otsuka is pretty much questing the government and their motives in this novel. And I loved it.

April 17, 2011

Being American

The American Dream is based upon firm beliefs established by Middle Class America. The family should include two parents, two children, a pet living in the suburbs. The father works to provide for the family while the mother tends to the home and children. The son usual is an All-American athlete and the daughter is usually some prissy socialite. But can a family of immigrants accomplish the same or comparable measures of success without being seen as a threat?

No. But we sure would like to think that the double standard does not exist. Just more of those White Lies we tell ourselves I guess.

The children in the novel are finding it a struggle to actually identify with a race. And that is quite difficult, because either way it goes they just don’t fit the traditional mold of what it actually is. The son in particular is having a hard time, being flooded with these traditional American values like baseball, and cowboy like symbolisms. It’s quite interesting how Otsuka crafts these struggles through the plot.

April 14, 2011

Lies, Lies, Lies

When a mother has to handle matters regarding the family alone you may see her doing some weird things. The mother from, “When the Emperor was Divine” did something’s that made me question her as a mother. But then I had to put myself in her shoes and I came to the conclusion that I would probably do the same thing to preserve the innocence of my children. And she goes through great depths to do so.

When she is packing up the home to leave for the Internment Camps she makes it seem as though they are going on a vacation. When in fact they are being held as prisoners by the United States Government. But one of the very interesting points that were brought up in class was the thematic point of the book is White Lies.

Sometimes a lie isn’t going to hurt anybody so that is why it is so easy to tell them. Mostly Everybody lives by the phrase that as long as there is no harm done, then it doesn’t matter. And I guess I can attest to that too.

April 14, 2011

Lies, Lies, Lies

When a mother has to handle matters regarding the family alone you may see her doing some weird things. The mother from, “When the Emperor was Divine” did something’s that made me question her as a mother. But then I had to put myself in her shoes and I came to the conclusion that I would probably do the same thing to preserve the innocence of my children. And she goes through great depths to do so.

When she is packing up the home to leave for the Internment Camps she makes it seem as though they are going on a vacation. When in fact they are being held as prisoners by the United States Government. But one of the very interesting points that were brought up in class was the thematic point of the book is White Lies.

Sometimes a lie isn’t going to hurt anybody so that is why it is so easy to tell them. Mostly Everybody lives by the phrase that as long as there is no harm done, then it doesn’t matter. And I guess I can attest to that too.

April 3, 2011

Was the Fathers Death an Accident?

It’s kind of a difficult question to answer because a man with his intelligence would not just walk out into the middle of the street without looking both ways. But there is a chance that there were some blind spots with those logs in his arms over his shoulders. But to counter that, is there is no way that he wouldn’t have heard the truck approaching him.

I honestly believe that his death was a suicide primarily because there was too much evidence shown to support that idea. The death of her father leaves her audience only the opportunity to speculate the reasons behind his untimely death. I feel he did so because he lacked feelings regarding his quality of life. He was miserable. He was already hiding his true sexuality, he was intertwined in a miserable marriage, and he probably felt responsible for his daughter’s homosexuality.  

Is suicide wrong if you hate your life? Yes, because we all have opportunities to change different aspects of our lives. If you don’t like something, change it.