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.

March 31, 2011

It is fairly easy to criticize the story that Bechdel tells in her story, but I feel it is saying more about life and speaks to those who don’t have a cookie cut one. Everyone wants to identify with their parents and Bechdel just so happened to identify with her father more when it came to matters dealing with sexuality. Her father was a closeted homosexual and was jealous of her because she could be open with hers. Homosexuality in women is generally more accepted that that of men. She was interested in protesting with gay rights groups at her school. And I am pretty sure her father was unable to do so.

But the next question that arose through discussion in class was can you make somebody homosexual? And I feel that homosexuality can stem from different places depending upon the individual. Meaning if you met 45 homosexuals then you have met 45 different people with different with reasons why they identify as a homosexual.

Bechdel’s story is one of a coming of age for a family. How tells every significant characters past to shed light on why they ended up where they did. I loved the concept. Just not too thrilled with the contents.

March 27, 2011

Absent Love

Can you believe that someone loves you, if they cannot express it? Allison must have felt as though her father hated her, because nothing in the illustrations gives me the impression that love was in the air amongst them at all.

The Father kind of creeps me out, because no one in the family could give him compliments without him freaking out. Compliments are just a means for expressing a likeness in something. He also seems peculiar in his dealings, because he and the mother never show any type of affection. And the only emotions that are conveyed through the illustrations are despair.

I believe that if this novel didn’t have the illustrations it wouldn’t have its effectiveness in showing how this family was unhappy, and there really was no foundation for a home. Having the ability to show love is really ones confirmation of what is actually being expressed.

That’s why people say that the tongue can be a tool and a weapon.

March 24, 2011

Initial Reactions to Fun Home by Allison Bechdel

I haven’t read a graphic novel before, seems kind of interesting. From the beginning I noticed that the father seems detached from the daughter, based upon the blank facial expression on his face in the illustrations. The family lives in a Victorian home built in 1962, and the father is very handy in trying to re-store the house to its Lumber-Era Glory. There are other siblings that are introduced later in the story. I have the impression that the parents have a withdrawn relationship with each other. It strikes me that the father is more interested in restoring the home in which the family lives in as opposed to being interested in the family dynamics/ He treats the children like furniture and the furniture like children.

The father and mother have reversed roles in the home. The father bathes Allison and dresses her and her mother is not included in any of the illustrations. The father has sex with teenage boys, which shocked me! Because he tries to give the allusion that the family is happy and they’re not.

This entire family isn’t physically expressive at all. Such a shame

March 17, 2011

Dede Timeline

·         Born 1925

·         Fortune Telling as a child

·         Goes to Imaculada Concepution (1938-1941 somewhere during this time)

·         Meets Lio with Minerva (1948)

·         Lio goes into exile, and She and Jamito get engaged (1948)

·         Goes to Trujillo’s ball with Minerva and others (1949)

·         Father is taken to jail for them leaving ball early (1949)

·         Has a Baby

·         Father Dies (1953)

·         She and Jamito have to failed businesses, and filed bankruptcy twice.

·         Moves back home with parents

·         Patria asks them to bury guns in the backyard, she refused. (1960’s)

·         Sisters approach her to join them in the rebellion, Jamito refuses (1960’s)

·         Dede goes to church to talk to Revolutionary Priest, Jamito sees her and packs up the children and leaves (1960’s)

·         Dede tries to reconcile with Jamito to keep her family together

·         People start getting arrested. (1960’s)

·         Dede and Jamito go to capital to try to bail them all.

·         Dede finally realizes that no matter what she is going to be involved with the revolution regardless because her sisters are involved

March 13, 2011

Love and Lies

Minerva is the strongest of the sisters she has her own drum that she marches to. And I like that. Since the last time I’ve blogged I have read of the encounter that Lio and She have had. He had to flee because he was a rebel fighting against Trujillo. Before he left he revealed his love for Minerva to her sister Dede, who doesn’t tell her about the letter.

Minerva is left alone no husband, children or anything. People in the town and her parents are starting to believe that she is a lesbian. Minerva soon discovers all the letters and money that Lion has been sending to her father so she could join him and marry him. Minerva is so hurt she goes to her father’s mistress’ house and confronts him. She does so and leaves. He meets her back at their home and slaps her for disrespecting him.

Then a letter arrives to invite Minerva to Trujillo’s ball. She goes with her sisters and their husbands. She ends up meeting Trujillo again and he makes an advance at her. She declines because she knows what he is capable of. Then she does the ultimate. She lies about knowing Lio when he asks her. After that she is so scared that she and her family leave the ball- which is a crime. She left her purse behind with all the letters from Lio. She is going to get in trouble for that….

March 10, 2011

Initial Reactions

In the Times of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

This novel seems like a slow and bumpy read. Reason being is because the plot jumps around a lot. In the first chapter we see a sister Dede is celebrating the anniversary of some event that she is upset about her surviving. Abruptly the author jumps from present day to 1943. There is not too much going on in the first chapter. The next few chapters are where the plot thickens up. We learn that the dictator is a creep who will kill anybody who gets in his way to keep him from doing whatever he wants when he wants.

This chapter is being voiced by Minerva, who to me seems like she is going to be trouble throughout the novel. She meets some girls at the boarding school and they put on a play called Viva Trujillo. She and the girls get an opportunity to put this play on for Trujillo in person and the girls plan to change their play’s theme so Sinita can attempt to murder Trujillo in the name of her family all of who Trujillo had murdered.

I can only imagine what the next few chapters have in store.