Magpies

Best Quality

When I first read this chapter, I noticed the emphasis characters were putting on the "crabs" they ate for dinner. While researching, the chapter begun to make more since. The symbolism of the crab is very big in chinese. The crab represents success, prosperity, and high status. Many of the Chinese wear crabs as charms to express a desire for peace. In the chapter Waverly made sure the crabs of "Best Quality" went her daughter first, then herself, and then Rich. The Chinese symbolism of the crab played a big role in the choosing of the crab with "Best Quality", which is also the name of the chapter. Early in the chapter, Suyuan explained that the feistiest crabs are of the best quality; even beggars would reject a crab that has died before being cooked. This again shows the importance of a crab in Chinese culture. Not even a man with no food wants a bad crab. Every person wants success, prosperity, and high status.

Magpies-Drawing

This is an illustration of the scene that starts on page 218 and ends on 219. The aunt is standing in the doorway with An-mei's crying brother while An-mei goes to her mother. I think the blurred and vague lines help show the reader that this scene is a memory. As An-mei is leaving her uncle says, "she is already changed"(219). The people in this picture show the change physically. The aunt, uncle and brother all appear to be connected to the house. Their defining lines run into that of the house. In contrast, An-mei and her mother are drawn with darker, bolder and detached lines.  

Multiple Marriages In Chinese Society (Magpies)

While multiple marriages and polygamy are definitely a thing in China, monogamy is considered by and large to be the norm.
The importance of marriage in China has a lot to do with Confucius. According to the Confuscian, the married couple serve as the primary unit in society, the most basic unit. This is a common notion in both western and eastern political philosophies.
A concubine is essentially a mistress, and has a much lower status than a wife. A man is allowed to take a concubine in Chinese society, however how many he is allowed to take was often regulated by his rank. An emperor would almost always have several royal concubines.
Sometimes a man would even take multiple wives, especially if he was someone who traveled a lot. It seems as though there have been some instances of women having multiple husbands, but this was viewed as disgusting (this is one common double standard).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_marriage#Marriage_in_a_Confucian_context

Opium

A plant that secretes a latex that can be manufactured into various legal drugs but also the infamous drug heroin. It has been used as recreational drug in China dating back as far as 1483 and even as far back as ancient Egypt. Chinere opium dens have become a stereotype among popular culture. In China in corresponded with tobacco consumption. It became a luxury drug that the elite would smoke. They would claim that it was for medical purposes, namely male potency. Popularity reached its peak in the 18th century despite the fact that it had been ousted as a medicine, and had been banned on repeated occasions. Arguments over trade of opium lead to the opium wars between England and China. When immigration began to the united states the Chinese along with many other easterners brought with them the tradition of opium smoking. Cities like San Fransisco developed their own opium dens with the same elegant feel as their sisters in the east. During the reign of Mao Zedong the production of opimun shifted south to countries like Vietnam.

David Foster Wallace Lobsters--Best Quality

http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster

I read David Foster Wallace’s article about the Maine Lobster Festival.  It is a very interesting article that explains and debates all aspects about lobsters.  David Foster Wallace uses footnotes, parenthetical writing, and his unique voice to make the article very interesting.  The beginning of the article talks about, anatomically, what a lobster is.  David then describes the hectic setting of the lobster festival. David then goes on to describe the “preparation” of lobster (as he keenly points out in the article preparation is a kinder word for killing).  Inevitably he then raises the ethical question about eating lobster: “ Is it all right to boil a sentient creature alive just for our gustatory pleasure? A related set of concerns: Is the previous question irksomely PC or sentimental? What does ‘all right’ even mean in this context? Is it all just a matter of individual choice?”  Similarly to in the “The Joy Luck Club” David explains the scene and feelings that rise when you drop a lobster in the pot.  Jing Mei experience guilt when her mother threw the crabs in the boiling water:

I remember that crab screaming as he thrust one bright red claw out over the side of the bubbling pot. It must have been my own voice, because now I know, of course, that crabs have no vocal cords. And I also try to convince myself that they don’t have enough brains to know the difference between a hot bath and a slow death (201).

In the article David Foster Wallace looks at all angles of the ethicalness of boiling lobster.

Best Quality-- Links

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2011/03/135_79296.html

This link describes the traditional food Koreans eat when they celebrate a new year. They beleive that eating the snow crab's meat will provide them with 12 months of excellent health. The chemical coumpounds that are found in the snow crab are believed to break down cholestorol, clean the liver and purify the body for a fresh start to the new year
In the book, the Chinese eat crab as well to kick off the new year.

In the book Waverly makes fun of Jing Mei for going to her gay hair stylist implying the stylist has AIDS. I thought that this link about Statistics of HIV and AIDS is really interesting because it shows true numbers of people who are gay that have been infected

Asian Americans are the lowest ethnicity group that are infected. Asians are less than 20%

http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/overview/statistics/


I thought this link was very intriguing because it describes that there is in fact a way you can contract HIV through cutting hair. If a barber does not properly dispose of a utensil that leaves an abrasion and if that person is HIV positive there is a possibility that the virus will stay on the sharp tool and will be transmissed to someone else. There have specific cases of this is countries in Africa and Asia, because of poor hygiene and the repetiveness of re-usable cutting tools.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2932524/