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. 

Literary Analysis, Week 15, Orientation: A Short Story by Daniel Orozco

This week I read and am using Orientation: A Short Story by Daniel Orozco, which was about an employee’s first day of work and is given an orientation by another co-worker for my analysis. The information given was too much, would be very overwhelming, and could cause anxiety. As I was reading this story I was getting anxiety with the information overload and trying to figure out who everyone is, and how to process all of the information given to me. I have given many new employee orientations and they were nothing like this. During the reading, I was envisioning the new employee’s face during this orientation and was laughing to myself.

Literary Elements: The character I will be analyzing as my literary element is the employee giving the Orientation. From the beginning of Orientation: A Short Story by Daniel Orozco, the employee giving the new employee the first day orientation provided too much information at one time and also provided information that was not needed and did not relate to the job. He was too concerned with sharing the other’s personal business and not focused on the new employee. Additionally, the information he provided was very vague and overwhelming, “This is your phone. Never answer your phone. Let the Voicemail System answer it. This is your Voicemail System Manual.” Paragraph 1.

Themes: The whole short story was about information given during a new employee orientation. During this time the employee was given a lot of information about his workplace, however much of this information had nothing to do with his actual job. I feel like of the personal information given about the co workers was inappropriate, not related, and could cause pre-judgement of them. It is important to learn about others character for yourself because the experience or view someone else has may not be yours and can cause issues.

Context: The amount of personal and non-work related information given was inappropriate. “Russell Nash, who sits in the cubicle to your left, is in love with Amanda Pierce, who sits in the cubicle to your right. They ride the same bus together afterwork.” Paragraph 4. This is a perfect example of information given and not needed.

This was a good short story to read because it made me think about how I have felt during a first day orientation of a new job. I already feel anxious, nervous, and unsure, if I had this orientation, I honestly would not come back. I believe first impressions are everything.

Cited Work
https://fsgworkinprogress.com/2011/05/17/orientation-by-daniel-orozco/

Analysis, Week 14, The Joy Luck Club

Life is not always what it seems.

In the book, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tran, there are four mothers born and raised in China, and later immigrated to San Francisco with their husbands and had daughters. The book contains stories from the mothers and daughters growing up and then talks about their relationships once the daughters became adults. The daughter’s views of what their mothers wanted for and from them were very different than what the mothers want for their daughters At the of the book the daughters finally see what their mothers have been trying to show and tell them for all of their lives.

There are many literary devises used throughout this book, however I am going to focus on tragedy and symbol.

Tragedy is shown in the following quote. “But today I realize I’ve never really known what is means to be Chinese. I am thirty-six years old. My mother is dead and I am on a train, carrying with me her dreams of coming home. I am going to China.” (268) This is a very meaningful quote to me, the character Jing-Mei, has a realization that she is not who she thought she was and now that her mother has died. Now, she is taking a journey with her father to find the two daughters her mother left on the side of the road in Kweilin and was never able to find while she was alive. Sometimes in life we have a picture in our mind about who we are, how we see our self and how others see you, even though you may think you know who you are, with a single event in your life, your whole world can change and you can find yourself lost, confused, and with a lot of unanswered questions. I have felt this way in life and in the previous quote it reflects that Jing-Mei feels the same way.

Symbol is another literary devise used in this book. “Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish.”(288) Jing Mei and her twin sisters are three adult children, who share the same mother, Suyuan Woo. Jing-Mei grew up in America with her mother that she did not always see eye to eye with and did not appreciate her, and now regrets. Her twin sisters grew up in China with a mother, who raised them, but also honored Suyuan Woo as their mother. The only thing these two daughters had of their mother was a picture. However, once they are together they see that they share the same facial features as their mother, a symbol that they share a special bond as sisters.

It is very true, Life is not always what is seems, but we have to make the best of it and try to take the challenges on head on, go with the flow and make the best of it. It might just turn out better than we had planned.

Citied Work

The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tran, Penguin Books 2006

Close Reading, Week 12, The Joy Luck Club

“I once sacrificed my life to keep my parents’ promise.” (49)

This is a quote from, The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tran, the chapter was about one of the club members, Lindo Jong, and the title was The Red Candle. When Lindo Jong was 2 years old she was betrothed to a younger baby boy, Tyan-yu by the towns old village matchmaker. At the age of 12 years old her family had to move away because their family home was destroyed. Lindo Jong had to stay and was sent to live with the betrothed’s family. “But I could not stop my mother from giving me her chang, a necklace made out of a tablet of red jade. When she put it around my neck, she acted very stern, so I knew she was very sad. “Obey your family. Do not disgrace us.” She said. “Act happy when you arrive. Really, you’re very lucky.” (54) Throughout this chapter Lindo Jong is mistreated and is expected to learn all of the things she needs to know to be a good wife to her soon to be husband. Lindo Jong was not happy with her life and once she married Tyan-yu at the age of 16 years old, they acted happy infront of the family but slept separately at night in the same room. Tyan-yu was not happy and did not want to be with Lindo Jong, they never sleep with each other and were forced to after many months of her not being pregnant. Through the unhappiness Lindo Jong did not disobey her family, she acted as if she was happy and did everything she was told. She was able to use a dream and a young pregnant servant girl as her way to be released of her promise to Tyan-yu and at the same time she did not disobey her parents, however she did scarified her life for many years to keep her parents promise.

The literary devises used in this section of the story were flashback and imagery. Flashback was used to tell the story of her past and how she kept her parents promise. Imagery was used when she tricked the Tyan-yu’s mother and the matchmaker in thinking she had a dream and used facts she had seen to create a story that she was able to prove and use to show that she was not Tyan-yu’s spiritual wife. These literary devices were key to this part of the story and really give it meaning and kept me as the reader engaged.

Works Cited

Tran, Amy, “The Joy Luck Club.” Pp 49-66

Week 9, Weekly Analysis, Thurman

Literary Elements:
Characterization: is used throughout this passage, it is used a lot for the characters of Emma Lou and Hazel Mason. Emma Lou was an African American girl from Idaho, who came from a upper class family. She leaves home to go to college at the University of Southern California, which is primarily a white school but many upper class African Americans are also enrolled. Emma Lou is in search for friends at school with her same skin color and is hoping that she can be treated equally as everyone else. Characterization is use by giving us a brief description of Emma Lou's background, her search for fellow colored classmates, her disappointments, struggles and how all of these events leads to the change of her views and expectations.
“..in the colored social circles of Los Angeles, Emma Lou was certain that she would find many suitable companions, intelligent, broad-mined people of all complexions, intermixing and being too occupied otherwise to worry about either their own skin color or the skin color of those around them.” pg 438

Themes: Discrimination: Emma Lou is trying to go to school in a different state and area then her hometown, looking for equality for an upper class African American, in a school that is primarily white.
“Besides being disappointed at the drabness and lack of romance in college routine, Emma Lou was also depressed by her inability to make much headway in the matter of becoming intimately associated with her colored campus mates.” pg 442 This selection from the story tells me that Emma Lou really went to college to look for colored campus mates and the education was not her main focus, she was good at it, but it did not make her happy. After Emma Lou’s first year of college she returned home for the summer, discouraged and depressed, her college experience was not what she wanted it to be. “There was no place in the world for a dark girl.” pg 446 Emma Lou could not escape the challenge of being born a dark skinned girl.

Context: Through out the passage, there are signs of discrimination and inequality.  Although, this was a college that allowed African Americans to be students, they were not treated equally, still felt uncomfortable and not apart of the college experience. Unfortantally, still today many years later there is still discrimination, races that are treated unfairly and do not feel welcomed.

Literary Analysis, Week 8, From Martin Eden

The passage from, From Martin Eden, by Jack London, left me feeling very sad because a passage went from childhood memories of being beat up for years and not giving up to Martin earning everything he could have wanted, but gives up on life. London used many literary devices in the passage.

The first literary device was flash back, Martin was in his apartment and frustrated that his writings were being returned from the publishers. He then shared his childhood memories about being bullied and beat up on and off for many years, which ended in a huge gang fight that left him with a broken arm and so angry that he could not stop punching his attack, Cheese-face, he had lost control of himself. These memories tell moments when he was as young as six years until he was eighteen and how these moments made him a fighter in life and not give up.

The second literary device used was conflict, London writes about how Martin is having inter conflict with himself, later in Martin's life, when he becomes famous for his writings and has a lot of money, but he talks about how unhappy he is in life and he does not like to be around others. He goes to the doctors because he feels like something is wrong with himself, he is told that he is psychical healthy. "It was his "thinking machine" that had gone wrong, and there was no cure for that except to get away to the South Seas." pg 366 He boards the Mariposa and is a first class passenger, something he had wanted in the past and thought would be so great, but he was still unhappy. "There was no satisfaction in being awake." pg 367 Martin was miserable, nothing around him made him happy.

Lastly London uses irony and suspense as literary devices. One evening Martin picked up a volume of the Swinburne and he found himself interested and happy. "That was the meaning of it all: he had been drifting that way all the time, and now Swinburne showed him that it was the happy way out."pg 369

"Life was ill, or rather, it had become ill-an unbearable thing. "That dead men rise up never! That lined stirred him with a profound feeling of gratitude. .... When life became an aching weariness, death was ready to soothe away to everlasting sleep."pg 369. Martin climbed through the porthole in his room and went into the milk sea and drowned himself.

Martin gave up on life, he was not happy and although he became a successful writer, he was not happy, the money and all the things he wanted and was able to have were not enough for him in the end.

From Martin Eden, Jack London 356-371

Week 7, Weekly Analysis, Closed End,

In the Land of the Free, by Edith Maud Eaton, takes place in San Francisco. A Chinese couple were living in the San Francisco, the wife, Lae Choo, returned to China to give birth to their child, The Little One. Her husband, Hom Hing stayed in San Francisco and continued to work as a merchant, he owned a store and they lived above it. Lae Choo and her son had stayed in China longer than they expected because Hom Hing’s parents were ill and she needed to take care of them. Hom Hing had never met his son, who was 20 months old. Lae Choo and The Little One arrived under the Golden Gate bridge aboard, Easter Queen. Hom Hing met his son and as they were leaving the ship the family was stopped by two men with the intials U.S.C. on their caps. The Little One did not have any papers and none of the papers about Lae Choo had mentioned anything about a child, because he was not born when the papers were filed. Against the parents will they had to hand their son over to the men, until they could get approval from the government to let the child in to the US.

The next day Hom Hing when to get his son, when he returned home, he did not have his child. Lae Choo was devastated.

One literary device used was suspense, Easton had me wanting to read faster to see how and when was Lae Choo, going to get her son back. This is shown in the story with the following quote. “Her food she takes only when I bed her and her tears fall continually. She finds no pleasure in dress or flowers and cares not to see her friends. He eyes stare all night. I think before another moon she will pass into the land of spirits.” pg 326. As a mother I cannot even imagaine having my baby taken from me for so long, from what started as a day turned into 5 months and then 10 months.

The second literary device used was tragedy, this is shown when after 10 long months Lae Choo was able to get her son from the missionary where he was taken care of. She was so happy to see him but he did not know who she was when he saw her. “But the Little One shrunk from her and tried to hide himself in the folds of the white woman’s skirt. “Go ‘way, go ‘way!” he bade his mother.”pg 329 As I was read this last quote and then end of the story in our book, I felt so heartbroken for Lae Choo. After all of those months, tears, sleepless nights, Lae Choo just wanting to hold her son again and when the moment comes he rejects her. This is a true tragedy for this mother. 

Week 5, Analysis, Literary Analysis: De Burton

"The Squatter and the Don," Maria Amparo Ruiz De Burton pg 244-253

Literary Elements: 

Don Mariano Alamar was a Spaniards that owned land and cattle in San Diego, although the Mexicans thought their claims to their land prior to the Treaty of Guadalupe in 1848 (A Treaty that was thought to be created in the spirit of peach and friendship) was going to remain, however the laws did not protect the land owners, "but in reality to destroy cattle and ruin the native Calfornias." pg 248. Don had already lost some of his land to Mathews and Hagar, two squatters, who left and decided to bring a few more men to squat and claim land that does not belong to the US. Darrell was one of the squatters, Don knew about and thought that he was no longer claiming land. Through out the story Don believed Darrell was a man that knew he was taking land from him, he assumed the worst about him and told his family.

William Darrell (The Squatter)living in Alameda County, took over Spanish people's land in Napa and Sonoma Counties, (Squatter's Sovereignty) he became rich and promised his wife he would only claim land that belonged to the United States. He went to San Diego to claim land that he believed belonged to the US, however it belonged to Don Mariano Alamra.

Themes: 

I believe that Darrell did not know he was taking Don's land and if Don would have approached him they could have discussed the misunderstanding. Don did not believe he could stand up for his family and land. I believe that this makes him a strong but weak man. Strong because he does not want to cause any issues or fight with other's since he believes the law is not on his side. However I also believe he is weak because he is not fighting for his land and his family, he is allowing others to push him out.

Context: 

I researched the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848,  which was described in the story. The information I found, follows the information in the story, it was a "peace treaty," and was suppose to ensure safety to the land of the Mexicans that had exciting property rights, but it was not honored. 

Articles VIII and IX ensured safety of existing property rights of Mexican citizens living in the transferred territories. Despite assurances to the contrary, the property rights of Mexican citizens were often not honored by the U.S. in accordance with modifications to and interpretations of the Treaty.^[6][7][8] The U.S. also agreed to assume $3.25 million (equivalent to $94.1 million today) in debts that Mexico owed to United States citizens.

The residents had one year to choose whether they wanted American or Mexican citizenship; Over 90% chose American citizenship. The others returned to Mexico (where they received land), or in some cases in New Mexico were allowed to remain in place as Mexican citizens.^[9][10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Guadalupe_Hidalgo,

Week 4, Analysis, Close Reading: The Outcast of Poker Flats

Bret Harte, 1836-1902, The Outcast of Poker Flats, pg 216-225

"But at the head of the gulch, on one of the largest pine-trees, they found the deuce of clubs pinned to the bark with a bowie-knife. It bore the following, written in pencil, in a firm hand: -

Beneath The Tree

Lies the Body 

of 

JOHN OAKHURST

Who Struck A Streak of Bad Luck 

on the 23rd of November, 1850, 

and

Handed in his Checks 

on the 7th December, 1850.

And pulseless and cold, with a Derringer by his side and a bullet in his heart, though still calm as in life, beneath the snow lay he who was at once the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker Flat" pg 224-225

I found this passage important in understand the character of John Oakhurst because throughout the story he was described as a calm, strong, man. I felt like he was a good man, he didn't tell the Tom and Piney that Uncle Billy took their mule and left them, he did not tell them that Mother Shipton starved herself and died, so Piney could have her food, he made snow shoes for Tom to go and get help. But in the end he knew his good luck was done and he hit his, "Streak of Bad Luck," and decided to end his life on his own terms, and did it in a way that he wanted.

This passage symbolizes the character of John Oakhurst even at his grave site. He was a gambler and there was a "deuce of clubs," he "struct a streak of bad luck", and "handed in his checks", theses are references to gambling, how it was his life and how it identified him.

This passage was a resolution to my question, why did Mr. Oakhurst leave the woman to die alone. Once I read this last passage it connected the unknown, did he leave the woman alone to die? Why did he leave them? Where did he go? The passage shows that although Mr. Oakhurst appeared strong and the leader of the group, he was really weakest. He left the two woman in the cabin, after he convinced Tom to leave and get help, and then he killed himself. He was weak because he could not freeze or starve to death with the woman. He left them with questions about when he was coming back and after he did not return by the morning, they knew he left them to die alone, but at least they died in each other's arms.

Week 3, Analysis, Literary Analysis, The Luck of Roaring Camp

The story of, The Luck of Roaring Camp, was very detailed on the culture of the camp and how the camp started regeneration, once a child was born. Roaring Camp was a male only camp, with one woman, Cherokee Sal. The men at this camp were "rough", missing fingers, toes, and eyes, strong, and a close cluster of men that stuck together. Cherokee Sal was a woman, that was coarse, feared and a very sinful woman, she was abandoned, isolated, and alone at a time that she needed another woman. Cherokee Sal was pregnant and in labor, with only rough men around her and helping. 

Once the baby was born, his mother, the only woman in the camp died. All of the men were invited into the cabin to see the baby boy and contribute anything they wished for the newborn baby. Kentuck, who was a very roughed, walked by and the baby boy grabbed his finger, this interaction affected him, you could say changed him, he went from a man that was, "habits of frontier life, had began to regard all garments as a second cuticle, which like a snake's only slought off through decay.... Yet such was the subtle influence of the innovation that he thereafter appeared regularly every afternoon in a clean shirt, and face still shinning from his ablutions." To a man that cleaned up every day so he could hold the baby.

The men in the camp decided to keep, care and raise the baby, they decided against giving him to another camp or having a woman come to the camp to take care of him, they did not want another woman in their camp. “This unkind allusion to the defunct mother, harsh as it may seem, was the first spasm of propriety, - the first symptom of the camp’s regeneration.” This is when the camp started regeneration.

Stumpy, the man who helped deliver him, was his caregiver. The men named him Tommy Luck. It was thought that he brought, "the luck," to the camp. 

Tommy Luck was given a cabin that was keep clean and had improvements to make it a comfortable. Regeneration continued at Roaring Camp, a changes happened all over the camp, they started to improve their personal cleanliness, social sanitary, and moral laws. It was a honor and privilege to hold the baby. The camp was not allowed to be make loud noises, yell, cuss, smoke around Tommy, the men started to whisper, use soft vocal music, and see the beauty around them.

The golden summer came and the claims had yielded a lot, the camp was becoming prosperous. "With the prosperity of the camp came the desire for further improvements." The camp decided that they would build a hotel the following spring and have a family or two come and stay, they thought it would be good for Tommy. Most men agreed but there were a few that were hesitant, but it was not going to be for a few months, so they continued to plan.

That winter there was a lot of snow on the mountains, rain, rivers looked like lakes, a camp nearby, Red Dog, was flood twice and Roaring Camp was warned. One day the water from the river rose above the bank and flood the camp. The next morning, Stumpy's cabin was gone and his body was found, but Tommy Luck was missing. A relief boat came with Kentuck and he was holding Tommy Luck in his arms, he was dead. Kentuck was dying and was upset Tommy Luck was dead. He continued to hold Tommy Luck in his arms and said, “he’s a taking me with him, - tell the boys I’ve got the Luck with me now.”

A camp that was full of rough men, raised a baby for a year, changed their culture to be cleaner and not as rough around the baby, they were open to improving their camp and inviting others, but with one bad winter the camp was destroyed and Luck, the baby who brought their camp luck was gone. 

Week 2, Analysis: Closed Reading: About the House Girl

Why would Ifapi's father send her away to her aunt's house?

".it was foolish thought that you might continue to keep yourself from men and that the Flute Player of Rekwoi.... wish to marry you." When I read this part of the story, the story had fallen together for me. Ifapi's father sent her to live with her aunt near Patapir because he wanted her to marry him, it was his plan. At first I thought that Ifapir's father was not going to approve of her marriage to Patapir, but in fact he wanted his for many years.
"before you were grown and went away from me" Ifapi's father uses this to say when you were younger and lived at home, I felt he was trying to make her feel like who she chose as her husband was not what she was suppose to do and tell her that he does not approve of this man he has not hear anything about.
This passage elaborates on the background of the story, it helps build the climax. I thought the climax was when Patapir went and took Ifapi from her aunt's house, but once I read this part, this was the climax and it made the story connect and fall into place. All of the events of the story from when Patapir was little and played his flute and the music would travel up the river, to the details of Ifapi's shyness and stayed away from men, Patapir's interest in a girl across the river, he never met or even seen, these details build the story, that means to me that they were meant to be with another, it was like an arranged married from birth, but Patapir found his way to a woman that he had never met. Ifapi's saved herself for a man she never met, only heard his music. 

“Tell me then - who is this man, your husband – you must know, my child, that when I let you go away from me, it was with the foolish thought that you might continue to keep yourself from men, and that the Flute Player of Rekwoi might one day come to know of your being chosen by the Leader and wish to marry you. I know his family, and perhaps you have not forgotten how we used to listen together to his songs as they floated up the river – before you were grown and went away from me.” pg 47-48