Week 17, Weekly Analysis, America is in the Heart

America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan (604-610)

How do you keep your personal worth from changing when your environment tells you are not worthy?

In the passage, America is in the Heart, by Carlos Bulosan, there is a man that has traveled from his home country of the Philippines, to the United States. The passage talks about his travels from Seattle to Lompoc. During his travels from Stockton to Lompc, the main character, Carlos, traveled by many trains in the freight cars, and then was driven by car by another Filipino man. When Carlos arrived in Lompc he found his brother. His brother was not the same person he was in American as he was in the Philippines. “We are in the bootleg racket,” said my brother. “Alfredo and I will make plenty of money. But it is dangerous.” (609) This quote is an example of how Carlo's brother changed from the man he was when he was in the Philippines from an honest working man, to who he is now, which was a result to his new environment. 

I came to know afterwards that in many ways it was a crime to be a Filipino in California. I came to know that the public streets were not free to my people….. We were suspect each time that we were seen with a white woman. And perhaps it was this narrowing of our life into an island, into a filthy segment of American society, that driven Filipinos like Doro inward, hating everyone and despising all positive urgencies toward freedom. (606) The literary device used in this quote is tone, the author uses this to let the reader know how Filipinos were treated and how it affected them. 

In the following quote Carlos's brother lets him know that he is there for his brother and if he wants to go to school he will support him and reminds him to not lose his self worth because of what happens around him. “If you would like to go to school, “ said my brother in parting, “just let me know. But whatever you do, Carlos, don’t lose your head. Good-bye!” (610)

“Please, God, don’t change me in America!” I said to myself, looking the other way so that I would not cry.” (610) Carlos is talking to himself to remind him, do not let the environment around him change him. 

Reading Notes B, Week 17, Bulosan

America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan (604-610)

Go back to Stockton and look for a job in the tomato fields…(604)

I was in flight, again from an unknown terror that seemed to follow me everywhere. (604)

Niles (grape fields and apricot trees)

San Jose got on a freight going south

Salinas to San Luis Obispo

Filipino man too him by car to Pismo Beach.

…community was a small block near the sea- a block of poolrooms, gambling houses, and little green cottages where prostitutes were doing business. (606)

Filipino man took him to Lompoc, passed through Santa Maria

I came to know afterwards that in many ways it was a crime to be a Filipino in California. I came to know that the public streets were not free to my people….. We were suspect each time that we were seen with a white woman. And perhaps it was this narrowing of our life into an island, into a filthy segment of American society, that driven Filipinos like Doro inward, hating everyone and despising all positive urgencies toward freedom. (606)

Standing behind him was my brother Amado, holding a long-bladed knife. (607)

My brother grabbed me affectionately and for a long time he could not say a word. (608)

“We are in the bootleg racket,” said my brother. “Alfrado and I will make plenty of money. But it is dangerous.” (609)

He put some money in my pocket. “Here is something for you to remember me by.” (609)

“If you would like to go to school, “ said my brother in parting, “just let me know. But whatever you do, Carlos, don’t lose your head. Good-bye!” (610)

“Please, God, don’t change me in America!” I said to myself, looking the other way so that I would not cry.” (610)

Reading Notes A, Week 17, Wong

From Fifth Chinese Daughter by Jade Snow Wong (593-603)

Chapter: A Person as Well as a Female

After graduation from the Chinese school, Jade Snow seriously sought a solution to her money problem. (593)

Jade Snow  worked in seven different homes and was exposed to a series of candid views of the private lives of these American families. (593)

“Education is your path to freedom,” Daddy had said. “In China, you would have had little private tutoring and no free advanced schooling. Make the most of your American opportunity.” (596)

“But Daddy, I want to be more than an average Chinese or American girl…..”If you have the talent, you can provide for your own college education.” (597)

No, his answer tonight left Jade Snow with a new and sudden bitterness against the one person whom she had always trusted as fair to her. (597)

She was trapped in a mesh of her tradition woven thousands of miles away by ancestors who had had no knowledge that someday one generation of their progeny might be raised in another culture. (597)

Chapter: “Learning can never be poor or exhausted” – Chinese Proverb

Jade Snow’s years at Mills College were inseparably colored by living at “Kapioani,” the dean’s little brown-shingled home. This simple structure located on a hillside road wore a charming crown: a garden of gaily colored fuchsias, bamboo….(598)

Now, living became fun! The fun was partly in being able to participate in the home activities of one of the campus’ central figures. (599)

Jade Snow though hard, wove her best Chinese and English knowledge into the paper, and felt satisfied with her work……. He told her that he had chosen the paper for reading at an English conference to be held at the college…. Jade Snow heard this announcement, smiled, but could find no words to answer when her classmates congratulated her. (603)

Revision 1, Project 3, The Joy Luck Club

Editing Challenges:

Answer the Question with a Clear, Debatable Thesis

Paragraph Development

Expand your submission

Project 3: Choose a reading selection. Explore the relationship between elements of the selection. 

Growing up in two different settings, such as China and San Francisco can influence a characters development.

In the book, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tran, there are four mothers, who were born and raised in China. All four woman immigrated to San Francisco, California, and had children of their own. Their children were born and raised in San Francisco, which was very different from China. Each mother had at least one daughter. The mothers wanted a different life for their children, a better one, but at the same time tried to instill their cultural values. Many years later, the mothers realized that although they wanted a better life for their children in America, it was very different from what they had envisioned and expected.

The author Amy Tran used many different literary devices throughout the book. The four literary devices that were used to tell the story of their past and current lives were flashback, characterization, paradox, and simile.

Flashback is one literary device that was used in the book, in the following quote; “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… They had no choice. They could not speak up. They could not run away. That was their fate. But now they can do something else. Now they no longer have to swallow their own tears…” (241) Ani- mei Hsu, one of the mother’s was flashing back to her childhood, which was a memory of her mother. Ani-mei watched her mother not have a voice for herself. She had to keep her feelings to herself, which lead to her misery, and ended when she killed herself with an overdose of opioids. Ani- mei did not want this for her daughter Rose Hsu Jordan, she wanted her daughter to speak up for herself and fight for what she wanted. In the  end Rose did speak up for what she wanted from her soon to be ex-husband, Ted, she tried to fight for her marriage but once she realized it was over, she fought for her house because she wanted to keep it and live there.

“My daughter did not look pleases when I told her this, that she did not look Chinese. She had a sour American look on her face. Oh, maybe ten years ago, she would have clapped her hands – hurray!- as if it were good news. But now she wants to be Chinese, it is so fashionable. And I know it is too late. All those years I tried to teach her!” (253) This quote is using characterization as a literary device as Lindo Jong tried to explain to her daughter, Waverly Jong, even though she is Chinese, when she goes to visit China, they will know that she is a foreigner. Lindo also explains her frustration about all of the years she tried to teach Waverly about her Chinese culture, she did not want to have anything to do with it or learn. Now that she is an adult she wants to know and learn but her mother knows she cannot teach her everything that she wanted to in a lifetime, it’s too late to learn everything.  

An example of a paradox from the story is “.. Chinese New Year, my mother gave me my “life’s importance,” a jade pendant on a gold chain. …..I stuffed the necklace in my lacquer box and forgot about it. ….I wonder what it means, because my mother died three months ago…. Shes the only person I could have asked, to tell me about life’s importance to help me understand my grief. I now wear that pendant every day” (197) This quote shows that although the jade pendant was supposed to show life’s importance to June Woo, but it did not mean anything until her mother, Suyuan Woo was gone. Now June wears it daily and wants to know what her life’s importance is, but she has no one to ask what will give her the meaning that her mother wanted for her.

The following quote is an example of a simile in the book, “I love my daughter. She and I have shared the same body. There is a part of her mind that is a part of her mind. But when she was born, she sprang 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.” (242) Ying-ying St Clair, the forth mother, watches her daughter Lena St. Clair, live a life that appears to be good on the outside but on the inside, it is meaningless and broken. Ying-ying wants her daughter to have a meaningful and wonder life and not settle for anything less, so she decides to tell her about her past so it can open her eyes.

The following are quotes from the last few chapters when the mothers realize that although they wanted a better life for their children and they tried to find a balance and teach them the Chinese and American cultures, it could not be done and they feel like they failed and now it is too late.

 “It’s my fault she is this way. I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things did not mix?” (254)

“…but I couldn’t teach her about Chinese character. How to obey parents and listen to your mother’s mind. How not to show your own thoughts, to put your feelings behind your face so you can take advantage of hidden opportunities.” (254)

I really enjoyed reading this book and seeing the difference from the Chinese and American cultures and how hard it is to find a balance and teach children a different culture when they are surrounded by another. Especially, when the children can not see the benefits of knowing both. The children also want to be like the other children and families they seen around then, which is a part of assimilation, wanting to be like others and not being different because they might stand out.

Cited Work

Tran, Amy, et at “The Joy Luck Club”, Penguin Books, 2006

Reading Notes B, Week 16, The Californians by Gertrude Atherton

The Californians by Gertrude Atherton chapter 6

·         Magdalena had failed at every point. She had expected to fail, but she felt miserable and discouraged, nevertheless….With the sad philosophy of her nature she put the impossible for her, and considered the future. It had been arranged long ago that she, Helena, Ila and Tiny, were to come out at the same time; the great function which should introduce to San Francisco three of its most beautiful girls.. (311)

·         … stared in fascinated amazement at the red tongues darting among the blackened shells, the crashing roofs, the black masses of smoke above, cut with narrow swords of flame, the solid pillar of fire above the factory, the futile streams of water, the gallant efforts of the firemen….. her brain a medley of new sensations, as Helena went about, questioning, fascinating, sympathizing, giving. It was the first time she had seen poverty; she had barely heard of its existence…(314)

·         …it was her father she feared, not the law…. She had been a dociled child, and her father’s anger had never been visited upon her; but she had seen his frightful outburst at the servants… (315)

·         …he called her a “greaser.” She had all the pride of her race. This insult stifled her. She felt smirched and degraded. (316)

·         His face had turned livid, then purple. “”Dios!” he gasped…. Her father sprang to his feet with a yell of rage. He caught his riding –whip from the mantel… She turned her back on it and sat down on the floor. She had not uttered a word as her father beat her. .. But her self-respect had been cut through at every blow, and it quivered and writhed within her. She hated her father and she hated life with an intensity which added to her misery, and she decided that she had made her last confession to any one but the priest, who always forgave her. (320)

Reading Notes A, Week 16, Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson

Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson, chapter 4

·         As he brooked over sad memories and still sadder anticipations, - the downfall of the Missions, the loss of their vast estates, and the growing power of the ungodly in the land. The final decision of the United Sates Governent in regard to the Mission-lands had been a terrible blow to him. (269-270)

·         The fairer this beautiful land, the sadder to know it lost to the Church, - alien hands reaping its fullness, establishing new customs, new laws. (270)

·         The plant is tyrant and a nuisance, - the terror of the farmer; it takes riotous possession of a whole field in a season; once in, never out; for one plant this year, a million the next; but it is impossible to wish that the land were freed from it. Its gold is as distinct a value to the eye as the nuggest gold is in the pocket. (271)

·         Her hair was like her Indian mother’s, heavy and black, but her eyes were like her father’s steel-blue. (272)

·         “Ah, Father, I knew you would come by this path, and something told me you were near!” (272)

·         ..have perceived, perhaps, what would have saved him sorrow, it he had known it, that a girl who looked at  a man thus, would be hard to win to look at him as a lover. But being a lover, he could not see this. He saw only enough to perplex and deter him. (274)

·         … Senora had resigned herself to the inevitable; piously praying, however, morning and night, and at odd moments in the day, that the Father might arrive before the Indians did. (276)

Project 3, Week 15, The Joy Luck Club

Project 3: Choose a reading selection. Explore the relationship between elements of the selection. 

How does setting influence character development – China vs San Francisco, California, US.

In the book, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tran, there are four mothers, who were born and raised in China. All four woman immigrated to San Francisco, California, and had children of their own. Their children were born and raised in San Francisco, which was very different from China. Each mother had at least one daughter. The mothers wanted a different life for their children, a better one, but at the same time tried to instill their cultural values. Many years later, the mothers realized that although they wanted a better life for their children in America, it was very different from what they wanted and expected.

The author Amy Tran used many different literary devices throughout the book. The four literary devices that are used to tell the story of their current and past lives are flashback, characterization, paradox, and simile.

Flashback is used as a literary device in the following quote; “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… They had no choice. They could not speak up. They could not run away. That was their fate. But now they can do something else. Now they no longer have to swallow their own tears…” (241) The mother is flashing back to her childhood, tells a memory of her mother and how she could not have a voice for herself, she had to keep her feelings to herself, which lead to her misery and killing herself with an overdose of opioids.

“My daughter did not look pleases when I told her this, that she did not look Chinese. She had a sour American look on her face. Oh, maybe ten years ago, she would have clapped her hands – hurray!- as if it were good news. But now she wants to be Chinese, it is so fashionable. And I know it is too late. All those years I tried to teach her!” (253) This quote is using characterization as a literary device as the mother tried to explain to her daughter even though, she is Chinese, when she goes to visit China, they will know that she is a foreigner. She also explains her frustration about all of the years she tired to teach her daughter about her Chinese culture, she did not want to have anything to do with it or learn and now that she is an adult she wants to know and also her mother can teach her, it’s too late to learn everything.  

An example of a paradox from the story is “.. Chinese New Year, my mother gave me my “life’s importance,” a jade pendant on a gold chain. …..I stuffed the necklace in my lacquer box and forgot about it. ….I wonder what it means, because my mother died three months ago…. Shes the only person I could have asked, to tell me about life’s importance to help me understand my grief. I now wear that pendant every day” (197) This quote shows that although the jade pendant was suppose to show life’s importance but it did not mean anything until her mother was gone and now she wants to know what her life’s importance is.

The following quote is an example of simile, used as a literary device in the story. “She lies down on a psychiatrist couch, squeezing the tears out about this shame…..I know this, because I was raised the Chinese way. I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people’s misery, to eat my own bitterness. And even though I taught my daughter the opposite, still she came out the same way!” (215) The mother expresses her frustration about her daughter being able to tell a psychiatrist about her failures but does not tell her mother. She also gives a perfect example about how she was raised the “Chinese way” and she tried to teach her daughter the opposite. Although, she wanted differently for her daughter, still turned out the same way. The mother blames herself because her daughter watched her desire nothing and learned it from her.

The following are quotes from the last few chapters when the mothers realize that although they wanted a better life for their children and they tried to find a balance and teach them the Chinese and American cultures, it could not be done and they feel like they failed and now it is too late.

 “It’s my fault she is this way. I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things did not mix?” (254)

“…but I couldn’t teach her about Chinese character. How to obey parents and listen to your mother’s mind. How not to show your own thoughts, to put your feelings behind your face so you can take advantage of hidden opportunities.” (254)

I really enjoyed reading this book and seeing the difference from the Chinese and American cultures and how hard it is to find a balance and teach children a different culture when they are surrounded by another and the children can not see the benefits of knowing both. The children also want to be like the other children and families they see which a part of assimilation, wanting to be like others and not being different because they might stand out.

Cited Work

Tran, Amy, et at “The Joy Luck Club”, Penguin Books, 2006