Tuesday, March 27, 2012
A Pair of Tickets
Monday, March 26, 2012
Double Face
This link discusses the different customs and traditions of Chinese weddings and honeymoons. In "Double Face", wedding are part of the setting and in my opinion, they reflect Lindo Jong's pride and authenticity to her Chinese heritage.
Double Face poem
My Daughter
I look in the mirror
And me is all i see
I'm proud of my daughter
Yet she's ashamed of me
The nose, it crooked
My daughter will follow my path
I'll name her Waverly
From the Chinese identity, She can Dash
My darling baby
Cosmic surgery is what you need
(Sigh) no mama,
It makes me look Chinese.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Four directions poem-Brian Harrison
Magpies Poem - Brian Harrison
My daughter and I are the same,
different journeys, same ending.
We were one person,
but she sprang from me and became another,
she is my opposite, and my mirror,
she was born to me, born a girl
I was born to my mother, born a girl
All of us like stairs,
one step after another,
going up and down,
but all going the same way.
This poem shows how the mother and daughter feel that they are different, but turn out to be really similar people. The last words of this poem came from the bottom of page 215-Tan.
Double face poem
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
four directions links
Friday, March 16, 2012
Waiting between the Trees- Brian Harrison
"There is a part of her mind that is part of mine. But when she was born, she sprung from me like a slippery fish, and has been swimming away ever since. All her life, I have watched her as though from another shore. And now I must tell her everything about my past. It is the only way to penetrate her skin and pull her to where she can be saved." (242)
This passage shows the mother's need to be close to her daughter. She is describing how she will tell her daughter everything about her past in an attempt to gain some closeness. This passage shows the mothers cultural struggle and how her daughter appears to be in a different land.
"All around this house I see the signs. My daughter looks but does not see. This is a house that will break into pieces. How do I know? I have always known a thing before it happens." (243)
This passage shows the mothers frustration and her inability to properly communicate truths to her daughter. Although the mother wishes to show the daughter that her marriage may be ending, she cannot find a way to share this truth with her daughter because of their disconnection.
"I was like her. That's why she named me Ying-ying, Clear Reflection." (243)
This passage yet again outlines the relationship between mother and daughter. The daughter is mentioning how she is so much like her mother, or at least that her mother thinks so. This brings the reader back to that common theme throughout the book, that is that daughters become their mothers, no matter how different they may feel.
"I will tell her of the baby I killed because I came to hate this man so much...My daughter thinks I do not know what it means to not want a baby. (248)
This passage shows how mothers and daughters become like one another and how mothers know what daughters are going threw even when the daughters do not think it is so.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Double face
Step 1: Hide true self
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Four Directions Poem
Like dirt trapped under my nails
Dirt is a pest but family is kin
On exhibit equivalent to a knight
Though manuevered like a pawn
My wrong decision
My wrong Move
Can we gambit out this stalemate and run away into the bliss?
Four Directions Links Luke
http://books.google.com/books?id=Q15AtCVSiiYC&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207&dq=%22Jong+clan%22+cantonese&source=bl&ots=f7QXihvFZO&sig=Qaiudqloy5elFsxZTMmLpR3Crzw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CTVdT-jQBo-ctwfR05yGDA&sqi=2&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22Jong%20clan%22%20cantonese&f=falseI wanted to find out more about the Jong Clan (p. 182), which is the clan Waverly's father belonged to. I didn't find anything, and wasn't really expecting to. However, I did find an excerpt from a book that is talking about the Joy Luck Club and the passages that I am referencing right now. So I thought that was interesting and worth reposting.
Waiting between Trees, Magpies and Two Tickets
Magpies Quotations
"Maybe it is because she was born to me and she was born a girl. And I was born to my mother and I was born a girl. All of us are like stairs, one step after another, going up and down, but all going the same way" (215). This quotation is located at the beginning of the chapter. I believe that it is a really interesting passage that relates to the theme of this section. It reminded me of the passage in "Let the Great World Spin," where Tilly rants about the cycle her, Jazz, and all the other females in her family were trapped in. In the story An-Mei talks about how she was trapped by being a listener. She is finally able to find her true voice when she expresses her anger and yells at the second wife about the pearl necklace. "But after my mother finished her story, I looked at her and saw she was crying. And I also began to cry again, that this was our fate, to live like two turtles seeing the watery world together from the bottom of the little pond" (217). This quotation ties nicely into the first. This happens after her mother visits and tells her a story about her tears. The turtle in the story eats the girls tears and then throws up eggs which hatch into Magpies. The Magpies then feed off of her tears, but when she tries to grab one to pet it. They fly away laughing and cawing at her. “And on that day, I showed second wife the fake pearl necklace she had given me and crushed it under my foot. And on that second day, Second Wife’s hair began to turn white. And on that day, I learned to shout” (240). This quotation is at the end of the section after her mother dies. It is significant because it is the first time that An-Mei is able to speak up and find her own voice. “My Mother, she suffered. She lost her face and tried to hide it. She found only greater misery, and finally could not hide that. There is nothing more to understand. That was China. That was what people did back then. They had no choice. They could not speak up. They could not run away. That was their fate” (241). Similarly to the last quotation, this one has interesting repetition and an interesting voice. To me, this quotation is the last soliloquy of the section. She is sort of justifying her mother’s life by saying that in was Chinas customs. |
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Double Face Poem
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Maura- Two Kinds
Best Quality
The "Six Ritual Jades"- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_jade
bi- a flat disk with a hole in its center. Represents the heavens. Reserved for barons.
Hu- flat and circular. Represents west
Cong- a ring cuff shape. Represents earth.
huang- a flat, half-ring pendant. Represents the north. Reserved for dukes
gui- flat and blade like. Represents the east. Reserved for earls.
zhang- Flat and blade like. Represents south. Reserved for the king.
Jade Jewelry- http://www.jadefinejewelry.com/
Jade Care-
1. Jade is delicate- avoid bumping it. Although sometimes a crack cannot be seen by the naked eye, the interior structure may have been damaged. As time goes on, it will appear and reduce the value of the piece.
2. Jade is porous so its important not to let it become greasy.
3. When not in use store in a box away from sunlight.
4. Avoid perfume, perspiration or chemicals. The brightness of jade risks corrosion, especially emerald and other high quality jade.
5. Avoid long periods of sunlight for a long time, or it may expand and the quality will change slightly.
6. Jade has certain water content so keep it in an area of humidity to protect it from over-drying.
Folk lore and Jade Legends-
http://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/jade.htm
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Magpies - 3/6/12 - Song Link
This song, "Gold Digger" By Kanye West, is a comical way of looking at this section. Wu Tsing is a self-made success, and he has many wives; kind of like a pimp. However, he picked a bad apple in Second Wife. I think it's safe to say that none of his women are with him for love, but Second Wife is so blatantly out with her greed; this song felt appropriate for the occasion. She fakes becoming sick from too much opium to get more money out of Wu Tsing, and he feeds her gold digging appetite. Kanye West describes many different scenarios involving numerous men who make a very decent salary, and women who tag along just for the opportunity to get a whiff of his bank account. This song describes Wu Tsing's situation perfectly, because if he didn't have the money and assets that he posesses, he wouldn't have any of these women; especially not Second Wife.
Best Quality
Best Quality - 3/5/12 - Poem: Limerick
Zodiac Signs
Best Quality
Monday, March 5, 2012
Magpies-Drawing
Multiple Marriages In Chinese Society (Magpies)
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.