1. Why the author chose to tell the stories independently and then connect them all together?
2. What the male identity in this book should be? Do you think men should live like that?
3. What is the women role in this book? Do you think women should live like that?
4. Some people suggest they should follow the tradition, but some people suggest they should walk their own way. Which side do you support?
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Women Like Us
For the last story, the author used the second view to tell her story. A lots of paragraphs start with the sentence, "You remember thinking while braiding your hair that you look a lot like your mother. Your mother who looked like your grandmother and her grandmother before her," to show how the tradition and heredity flow in her blood. Haitian women always head down, so her family, her mom asks her to head down as well. They refused the author to be a book writer, so writing actually brought a lot of pains to her. She also admitted that being a writer does not end well.
"In our world, writers are tortured and killed if they are men. Called lying whores, then raped and killed, if they are women. In our world, if you write, you are a politician, and we know what happens to politicians. They end up in a prison dungeon where their bodies are covered in scalding tar before they're forced to eat their own waste."
Someone thinks the sentence telling above might be too extreme, too cynical. However, I believe what author mentioned is true. People judge an art or literature easily, and usually, they incline to judge or criticize the artists or writers easily through seeing their works. They feel litterateurs are unreasonable, and they criticize the litterateurs just because litterateurs show something that they do not want to see. People will pretend the bad never happened because they are far away from the tragedy; the victim will keep silence because they are afraid to recall the mournful memories. In addition, the society asked for silence, then no one will speak but the writers. Writers found the truth, poke the knife into hearts and unripe it, so that the readers can feel the same feelings that writers want to tell. It is truly a torture for writers.
Lastly, I would love to quote these sentences. I think they are pretty good.
"This fragile sky has terrified you your whole life. Silence terrifies you more than the pounding of a million pieces of steel chopping away at your flesh. Sometimes, you dream of hearing only the beating of your own heart, but this has never been the case. You have never been able to escape the pounding of a thousand other hearts that have outlived yours by thousands of years."
I cannot assert I totally understand the words, but I think what the author wants to tell us is the strong connection between you and your ancestor, the strong connection between individual and the whole society. In other words, what you decided and what you felt were probably influenced by the culture and your ancestor in a great content, and what you did would decide the next generations. You think you are alone, feeling or suffering your own things, but it is never be true. You think you are special, but actually you just transfer a thought or behavior from your ancestors.
10/25 In class writing
Theme
It is usually hard for the first immigrant, but second generation will live easily in the United States. Therefore, immigration creates a generation gap and the feeling of unsettled simultaneously, and sometimes it requires the sacrifice of the first immigrants. The first generation incures the culture habit, but the second generation often anchors the native culture.
Generation Gap
Bone Soup: “If she keep smaking this soup, I will dip my head into the pot and scald myself blind. That will show her that there’s no magic in it.” “Ma believed that her bone soup could cure all kinds of ills.”
Marriage Shower: “I don’t really like showers, but I’ll let you give me one because there are certain things that I need” Caroline said. “A shower is like begging. In Haiti we are poor, but we do not beg” mom said.
Sacrifice
“When I was born, they felt a sense of helplessness. Papa would need to pull more carts. Ma would need to sell more water, more charcoal, more peanuts. They had to try to find a way to leave Haiti.”
“She laid the bag on her bed, taking out many of the items that she had put in it years ago when she left Haiti to come to the United States to be reunited with my father.”
Caroline's weddings
The storyline basically is from the preparation of Caroline's wedding to the end of her wedding with Eric, who is not a Haitian. However, the story starts with Grace's verification. She becomes one of the American citizens, and her mother cooked bone soup for them to celebrate. Her mother is a really traditional woman, who dissatisfies that her daughter Caroline would marry a non-Haitian person. She decides to cook bone soup for Caroline every day. Because in her thought the bone soup is so magical that it can solve every problem, and then Caroline will not marry. Actually, her mother agrees with her wedding and sends her best wishes to her daughter in the end. In fact, compares to the tradition, rituals, and gossips, the mother respects Caroline and cares more about Caroline's happiness. Even though Caroline is living like an American, she accepts it eventually even though sometimes she is not happy with it.
The story also talks about Caroline and Grace's father. They love their father so much that even their father died a long time ago, they still dream of him and remember the past with him. The game of question is started between the children and the father, and I think this game is really important for readers to notice. "Why is it that when you lose something, it is always in the last place that you look for it?" "Because once you remember (find it), you always stop looking." This riddle appears the first time when the Narrator, Grace, recalled the memory of her and her father. It is a great answer, and I can understand it. However, after Caroline went to honeymoon and so many concerns were raised in Grace's mind, her mother mentioned the question again, and the answer ends up the story. I am really confused about it. I felt her mother wants to tell Grace one thing will end when you find the thing or achieve a goal. Therefore, to make the life more abundant or interesting, it is okay sometimes we should keep looking and remain the questions and worries in our mind.
The story also talks about Caroline and Grace's father. They love their father so much that even their father died a long time ago, they still dream of him and remember the past with him. The game of question is started between the children and the father, and I think this game is really important for readers to notice. "Why is it that when you lose something, it is always in the last place that you look for it?" "Because once you remember (find it), you always stop looking." This riddle appears the first time when the Narrator, Grace, recalled the memory of her and her father. It is a great answer, and I can understand it. However, after Caroline went to honeymoon and so many concerns were raised in Grace's mind, her mother mentioned the question again, and the answer ends up the story. I am really confused about it. I felt her mother wants to tell Grace one thing will end when you find the thing or achieve a goal. Therefore, to make the life more abundant or interesting, it is okay sometimes we should keep looking and remain the questions and worries in our mind.
Monday, October 22, 2018
Comparison between New York Day Women and Night Women
Women are trying to fight for more freedom and equality in modern history, but how they make effort, women are defined as a group of vulnerable people in both social bias and biological description. The reason is that in biological and psychological explanation, the female pay more effort on having a child; in the social script, the female should become mother eventually, and they have to raise their children. Therefore, in both subconsciousness and lead of gender role (or culture), the ladies in New York Day Women and Night Women are both mothers who love their children so much.
Besides the love, they are both ashamed of their jobs and even ashamed of themselves. In Night Women, the mother chooses to be a prostitute, so that she can earn more money to provide her son having a good education. The job decides once she becomes the night women, she is stuck in this job and will never go back to day women. In a traditional mind, the job is really filthy and inappropriate so the mother cannot tell the truth to her son about her job. She desires to be a day woman who she will never become from the time she decides to be a night woman.
The mother in New York Day Women holds the same shame about her job and her identity, I think. In her traditional mind, she should be a mother taking care her child, but the truth is that she has to take care of other children, spending more time with other children instead of her daughter. She is a nanny. In addition, because of that, I feel she is a little bit guilty to her own child, and that is why she chooses to hide her job from her child. She also ashamed of her identity. When she lives in New York, she never goes out of Brooklyn, and she is living with a heavy Haitian tradition. Back at that time, I know Brooklyn is a massive place that so many black people live there. I watched some movies and read some books that mentioned people in 19 century would not go to Brooklyn because of chaos and filth. Even though the black could have the opportunity to find a good job and a good place to live in the eastern coast of USA, the racism decides that the black people still cannot be treated equally. Therefore, as a Haitian, the mother cannot get into society, and she is ashamed that she lives in Brooklyn with Haitian, black identity. However, the mother is as proud to her child as the mother in Night Women.
These two mothers also have differences. The mother in New York Day Woman is a little more fortunate than the mother in Night Women. The mother still has a husband supporting the family, and she does not have to be a night woman. However, the mother in Night Women has to raise her child by her own, facing the danger all the time because she is in Haiti. For example, the driver will be responsible for the car accident in the USA, but in Haiti, "the owner of the car gets out and kicks you for getting blood on his bumper." Haiti is lack of justice law, and it makes the mother in Night Women even more tragic.
After reading these two stories, I am confused about the gender role. I think the gender role in these two stories suggest the children are the future of the mothers. Children come first. Therefore, as mothers, they have to sacrifice themselves, and they are so easy to be ashamed. Women are tough and independent because of their children.
Thursday, October 18, 2018
New York Day Women
1. Would you get up and give an old lady like me your subway seat?
2. Tonight on the subway, I will get up and give my seat to a pregnant woman or a lady about Ma's age.
3. She is standing in a circle, chatting with a group of women who are taking other people's children on an afternoon outing. They look like a Third World Parent-Teacher Association meeting. My mother, who never went to any of my Parent-Teacher Association meetings when I was in school.
4. You're so good anyway. What are they going to tell me? I don't want to make you ashamed of this day woman. Shame is heavier than a hundred bags of salt.
5. I cannot just swallow salt. Salt is heavier than a hundred bags of shame.
6. With her blood pressure, she shouldn't eat anything with sodium. She has to be careful with her heart, this day woman.
This story is like the Children of the Sea, one perspective in normal words front, the other is in bald. However, the normal fronts are from the child, and the other is from her mother. Like all the kids in the world, when we get puberty, we will have a period to go against our parents. There is a big gap between the child and the mother. For example, the child does not want to give the seat that her mother asks her to do. However, she loves her mother, and that is why she meets her mother, follows her, and worries about her diet. The mother does not know, and she feels her daughter is ashamed of her because of her job. Actually, she is ashamed of her job. For the child, after she stocks her mother, she suddenly feels that she will lose her at someday, just like she says that she might chase after a woman who looks like her mom. She scared, and she tries to give up the seat.
I do not get the salt, is there any culture or metaphor behind it?
2. Tonight on the subway, I will get up and give my seat to a pregnant woman or a lady about Ma's age.
3. She is standing in a circle, chatting with a group of women who are taking other people's children on an afternoon outing. They look like a Third World Parent-Teacher Association meeting. My mother, who never went to any of my Parent-Teacher Association meetings when I was in school.
4. You're so good anyway. What are they going to tell me? I don't want to make you ashamed of this day woman. Shame is heavier than a hundred bags of salt.
5. I cannot just swallow salt. Salt is heavier than a hundred bags of shame.
6. With her blood pressure, she shouldn't eat anything with sodium. She has to be careful with her heart, this day woman.
This story is like the Children of the Sea, one perspective in normal words front, the other is in bald. However, the normal fronts are from the child, and the other is from her mother. Like all the kids in the world, when we get puberty, we will have a period to go against our parents. There is a big gap between the child and the mother. For example, the child does not want to give the seat that her mother asks her to do. However, she loves her mother, and that is why she meets her mother, follows her, and worries about her diet. The mother does not know, and she feels her daughter is ashamed of her because of her job. Actually, she is ashamed of her job. For the child, after she stocks her mother, she suddenly feels that she will lose her at someday, just like she says that she might chase after a woman who looks like her mom. She scared, and she tries to give up the seat.
I do not get the salt, is there any culture or metaphor behind it?
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Ackerman's reading
1. I've learned to write prose, too, and that has brought its own frustrations and freedoms. (?) Why? What do you frustrate about?
2. In both genres, writing is my form of celebration and prayer, but it's also the way in which I explore the world, sometimes writing about nature, sometimes about human nature.
3. The real source of my creativity continues to be poetry.
4. There is nothing like poetry to throw light into the dark coroners of existence, and make life's runaway locomotive slow down for a moment so that it can be enjoyed.
5. Words are small shapes in the gorgeous chaos of the world.
6. The apparent subject of a poem isn't always an end in itself. It may really be an opportunity, a way for the poet to reach in and haul up whatever nugget of the human condition is distracting at the moment, something that can't be reached in any other way.
7. As many have pointed out, poetry is a kind of knowing, a way of looking at the ordinary until it becomes special and the exceptional until it becomes commonplace. (?). Does that mean teaching us to be special as an ordinary person till make the extrordinary to commonplace again?
2. In both genres, writing is my form of celebration and prayer, but it's also the way in which I explore the world, sometimes writing about nature, sometimes about human nature.
3. The real source of my creativity continues to be poetry.
4. There is nothing like poetry to throw light into the dark coroners of existence, and make life's runaway locomotive slow down for a moment so that it can be enjoyed.
5. Words are small shapes in the gorgeous chaos of the world.
6. The apparent subject of a poem isn't always an end in itself. It may really be an opportunity, a way for the poet to reach in and haul up whatever nugget of the human condition is distracting at the moment, something that can't be reached in any other way.
7. As many have pointed out, poetry is a kind of knowing, a way of looking at the ordinary until it becomes special and the exceptional until it becomes commonplace. (?). Does that mean teaching us to be special as an ordinary person till make the extrordinary to commonplace again?
Friday, October 12, 2018
Krik? Krak! Performance Reflection
In this performance, we were asked to act the character in the book who we analyzed. I chose Lili, and a lot of people chose the characters from The Wall of Rising Fire. However, our partner is the character from different story. Therefore, the performance is to show the interaction of these characters.
My partner is Helen, and her role is the unknown girl who loves the boy in Children of the Sea. My character and her character have a big age gap, which means the communication between us is limited in some ways, so we were stuck in the plot. How they meet is difficult. The casual meeting, which you just force them to meet in the script without any reason, is kind of boring and not convincing. Afterall, it is impossible to have a long conversation between two strangers meeting each other in a random walk. Therefore, in the end we decided to start with the girl running away to say goodbye to the boy at night. She runs so fast that she runs into Lili by accident. Lili worries about her safety, so she tries to convince her to go back home. However, it causes the girl miss the boat where boy is on.
The girl still loves the boy, and Lili is as kind as always. Besides that, I do not think the performance can reveal many possibilities of interactions between them but meet in accident, or Lili takes care the girl when the girl's father die by accidents. The reason is that generations do not interact so often because they are living in different time line. Look at others' performances, I think they can have interations, such as Guy and night woman who is Lili.
My partner is Helen, and her role is the unknown girl who loves the boy in Children of the Sea. My character and her character have a big age gap, which means the communication between us is limited in some ways, so we were stuck in the plot. How they meet is difficult. The casual meeting, which you just force them to meet in the script without any reason, is kind of boring and not convincing. Afterall, it is impossible to have a long conversation between two strangers meeting each other in a random walk. Therefore, in the end we decided to start with the girl running away to say goodbye to the boy at night. She runs so fast that she runs into Lili by accident. Lili worries about her safety, so she tries to convince her to go back home. However, it causes the girl miss the boat where boy is on.
The girl still loves the boy, and Lili is as kind as always. Besides that, I do not think the performance can reveal many possibilities of interactions between them but meet in accident, or Lili takes care the girl when the girl's father die by accidents. The reason is that generations do not interact so often because they are living in different time line. Look at others' performances, I think they can have interations, such as Guy and night woman who is Lili.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Between the Pool and the Gardenias
1. Her lips were wide and purple, like those African dolls you see in tourist store windows but could never afford to buy.
2. Her eyes closed as though she was dreaming of far other places.
3. At night, I could rock her alone in the hush of my room, rest her on my belly, and wish she were inside.
4. But Rose. My, she was so clean and warm.
5. Rose didn't stir or cry. She was like something that was thrown aside after she became useless to someone cruel.
6. There was my great-grandmother Eveline who was killed by Dominican soldiers at the Massacre River. My grandmother Defile who died with a bald head in a prison, because God had given her wings. My godmother Lili who killed herself in old age because her husband had jumped out of a flying balloon and her grown son left her to go to Miami.
7. Maybe I was to do some good for this child.
8. I pretended that it was all mine.
9. Rose listened with her eyes closed even though I was telling her things that were much too strong for a child's ears.
10. She looked the same as she did when I found her. She continued to look like that for three days. After that, I had to bathe her constantly to keep down the smell.
11. I left her in a shack behind the house, where the Dominican kept his tools. Three times a day, I visited her with my hand over my nose.
12. I knew I had to act with her because she was attracting flies and I was keeping her spirit from moving on.
I thought it is a romantic story, but it actually ends up as a thriller. The woman in the story is called Marie, who finds a baby on the street. She adopts the baby and names her Rose. She is the last one of her family, and she is the main key for the audience to connect the other stories in this book because the characters that showed up in the previous passages are her family members. She also has an unfortunate marriage, so she leaves her husband. As a result, she does not have any child by her side due to some unknown reasons.
She desires for control. We can see it through her description. She clearly said that she hopes everything is hers. Therefore, based on the thoughts and the other evidence that I found above, I have a strong feeling that Marie is a psychopath. I do not know whether she kills a baby, but I am really confident that she is keeping a dead baby from the beginning to the end. When Marie first looks at Rose, Rose's lips are purple. Then, after three days, Rose's body is corrupted quickly. Besides, Rose does not cry, which it is really uncommon for a baby.
In addition, through what Marie does, I am scared completely. When I read Rose smells and Marie compares Rose to a pig intestine, I know something wrong. As a normal person, we usually feel something wrong. Even though Marie is not a normal person, she should be panic and send her child to a hospital being a mother who she really wants to be. If she is yearning to be a mother, whether she is a psychopath or not, she will act like a mother and worry about her child. However, she does not. Instead, she leaves Rose in a shack, where the Dominican kept his tools. She treats Rose like a tool. I do not get it, and I am afraid of her.
Monday, October 8, 2018
Children and Hope
Children are the hope of most parents. Whether the love for children is driven by natural ability or nurture personal love, love for children and put hope on them is what everyone does in the first four stories in Kirk? Krak! In Children of the Sea, the girl is protected by her father, and Celianne gives birth on the boat. In Nineteen Thirty-Seven, the mother passed her Madonna, also her religion and her hope, to her daughter, Josephine, before she died. In A Wall of Fire Rising, Lili fully supports her son, and in Night Women, the mother also deeply loves her son and lives for this love and hope. People live with hope and die with hopelessness. Children of the Sea and Night Women show the two clear examples by comparing and contrasting Celianne in Children of the Sea and the mother in Night Women.
Even though Children of the Sea is not Celianne's story directly, we can tell that she is pregnant after she is raped by the soldiers through the boy's letters. Then, she gave the childbirth on the boat on the endless sea. It is a brave action, and it is so painful for Celianne, but what happened after can be even painful and frustrated. How to raise the child becomes a big problem. In the first few days, the boy writes, "Celianne is holding her baby tight against her chest. She just cannot seem to let herself throw it in the ocean." The words are written when the baby is still alive but not crying. Maybe the baby never lives because it is not crying, but at that moment, none of them is sure the baby is dead. Celianne still holds her baby when water leak into the boat. Many people slap behind Celianne, but she is not crying and not angry about it. She sits in silence and lives for the baby until the baby turns to purple: the baby is dead. Then, the words show, "she threw it overboard. And quickly after that she jumped in too." When the baby turns purple, Celianne is still waiting for the baby to turn back. People want to throw it overboard while Celianne is sleeping, but Celianne does not sleep, which shows that she still keeps her baby and fight for it. However, after she ensures the baby is dead, she throws it into the sea and jumps with it. We can tell that she is hopeless and tired of everyone in the world. When the baby is alive, she will endure every judgment behind her, but when the baby is dead, she cannot stand the life anymore. It demonstrates how much hope and wish of living she put on her baby.
People die because of children, but people also live because of them. The mother in Night Women is a prostitute, which has the same condition with Celianne. They experience what they do not want to. However, the mother is more fortunate. She has a healthy son, and the son is studying in school happily. Therefore, the mother will live for it. At the end of the story, "When I walk back into the house, I hear the rise and fall of my son's breath. Quickly, I lean my face against his lips to feel the calming heat from his mouth." It is casual description without so much emotion in it. However, if we relate the words to the women last description that describing the sex last night, we can see that how numb she is when she works. "Calming heat" is the heat from her son's mouth, and it can also show how calming that the mother feels. It means that the heat will calm her down from the work last night. It is like an atonement that heals the mother's negative self-cognition and warms her cold heart. The mother put all hope on her son because her son is her hope, and the mother will live strongly with her son, with her hope.
Even though Children of the Sea is not Celianne's story directly, we can tell that she is pregnant after she is raped by the soldiers through the boy's letters. Then, she gave the childbirth on the boat on the endless sea. It is a brave action, and it is so painful for Celianne, but what happened after can be even painful and frustrated. How to raise the child becomes a big problem. In the first few days, the boy writes, "Celianne is holding her baby tight against her chest. She just cannot seem to let herself throw it in the ocean." The words are written when the baby is still alive but not crying. Maybe the baby never lives because it is not crying, but at that moment, none of them is sure the baby is dead. Celianne still holds her baby when water leak into the boat. Many people slap behind Celianne, but she is not crying and not angry about it. She sits in silence and lives for the baby until the baby turns to purple: the baby is dead. Then, the words show, "she threw it overboard. And quickly after that she jumped in too." When the baby turns purple, Celianne is still waiting for the baby to turn back. People want to throw it overboard while Celianne is sleeping, but Celianne does not sleep, which shows that she still keeps her baby and fight for it. However, after she ensures the baby is dead, she throws it into the sea and jumps with it. We can tell that she is hopeless and tired of everyone in the world. When the baby is alive, she will endure every judgment behind her, but when the baby is dead, she cannot stand the life anymore. It demonstrates how much hope and wish of living she put on her baby.
People die because of children, but people also live because of them. The mother in Night Women is a prostitute, which has the same condition with Celianne. They experience what they do not want to. However, the mother is more fortunate. She has a healthy son, and the son is studying in school happily. Therefore, the mother will live for it. At the end of the story, "When I walk back into the house, I hear the rise and fall of my son's breath. Quickly, I lean my face against his lips to feel the calming heat from his mouth." It is casual description without so much emotion in it. However, if we relate the words to the women last description that describing the sex last night, we can see that how numb she is when she works. "Calming heat" is the heat from her son's mouth, and it can also show how calming that the mother feels. It means that the heat will calm her down from the work last night. It is like an atonement that heals the mother's negative self-cognition and warms her cold heart. The mother put all hope on her son because her son is her hope, and the mother will live strongly with her son, with her hope.
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Lili, A Wall of Fire Rising
Lili, one of the main characters in A Wall of Fire Rising, is a wife of Guy and also a mother of little Guy. She and her family are living in a sugar mill, and she has daily work to do. Therefore, the family is not rich enough, but the family has the basic supply and has a stable life in peace.
It is easy to meet Lili's satisfaction. She is not blaming her husband, Guy, cannot earn a lot of money. When Guy asks Lili how does she thinks a man is judged when he is gone, she responses, "People don't eat riches. They eat what they can buy." She thinks judging a man cannot depend on his salary or reputation but his deeds. In other words, she does not care about the money too much. As long as their boy is fed, she is fine and happy about it. The words can be also regarded as a comfort. She does not want her husband to have any burden, so she says this way. Then, we can see how kind and thoughtful she is.
Secondly, she is a good mother and a tough woman. Being a good mother, she is always standing on her kid's side. Truly, she is putting her most of hope on little Guy, which it is a parent's way of living I strongly disagree with, but from the reaction, we can see Lili encourages and supports her son all the time. Specifically, Lili believes her son should go to college and continue receiving the education until they cannot afford. Education decides the future of a child in a great content, and Lili thinks for her son. She does not want her son to be limited by this small area by putting him on the lists. Back to the old time, it is a rare and great choice that a mother can do for her children. Being a tough woman, I can see through Lili teaching little Guy to speak his line louder. "You know you must not humble," she talks to little Guy, "next time say them loud, so he knows what is coming out of your mouth." Boukman is a leader of the evolution, and he is also a hero in many people's mind. Therefore, Lili is excited for her son for acting this character. Basically, when Lili teaches little Guy to speak louder so that others can hear is mainly teaching him to speak proudly. Speaking loudly needs confidence, and speaking with confidence requires courage. When Lili knows this idea, she is not a soft person I think. Otherwise, she will not realizes and teach him in this way.
She is also a good wife. The description of her and her husband talking at night in bed shows a warm communication. Lili would love to talk to Guy when Guy is lying on her chest even though sometimes she cannot understand him. She is satisfied with this lives' condition, but her husband is not. She would love to communicate with her husband and try to know him more, but her husband sometimes says "ask me nothing about today". Therefore, when Guy talks about the hot balloon, she feels like Guy is going to leave her and her son. However, she is not mad at him at first. Instead, she asks whether she and her son will ride on the hot balloon together. I can feel she worries, but she does not show. And then, what happened on the next morning breaks her heart and solve her confusion at the same time. For the first look at the balloon, she must think about whether Guy really left her and her son alone until Guy jumps out of the balloon, and until then, she remembers what Guy said and understands her husband completely.
It is easy to meet Lili's satisfaction. She is not blaming her husband, Guy, cannot earn a lot of money. When Guy asks Lili how does she thinks a man is judged when he is gone, she responses, "People don't eat riches. They eat what they can buy." She thinks judging a man cannot depend on his salary or reputation but his deeds. In other words, she does not care about the money too much. As long as their boy is fed, she is fine and happy about it. The words can be also regarded as a comfort. She does not want her husband to have any burden, so she says this way. Then, we can see how kind and thoughtful she is.
Secondly, she is a good mother and a tough woman. Being a good mother, she is always standing on her kid's side. Truly, she is putting her most of hope on little Guy, which it is a parent's way of living I strongly disagree with, but from the reaction, we can see Lili encourages and supports her son all the time. Specifically, Lili believes her son should go to college and continue receiving the education until they cannot afford. Education decides the future of a child in a great content, and Lili thinks for her son. She does not want her son to be limited by this small area by putting him on the lists. Back to the old time, it is a rare and great choice that a mother can do for her children. Being a tough woman, I can see through Lili teaching little Guy to speak his line louder. "You know you must not humble," she talks to little Guy, "next time say them loud, so he knows what is coming out of your mouth." Boukman is a leader of the evolution, and he is also a hero in many people's mind. Therefore, Lili is excited for her son for acting this character. Basically, when Lili teaches little Guy to speak louder so that others can hear is mainly teaching him to speak proudly. Speaking loudly needs confidence, and speaking with confidence requires courage. When Lili knows this idea, she is not a soft person I think. Otherwise, she will not realizes and teach him in this way.
She is also a good wife. The description of her and her husband talking at night in bed shows a warm communication. Lili would love to talk to Guy when Guy is lying on her chest even though sometimes she cannot understand him. She is satisfied with this lives' condition, but her husband is not. She would love to communicate with her husband and try to know him more, but her husband sometimes says "ask me nothing about today". Therefore, when Guy talks about the hot balloon, she feels like Guy is going to leave her and her son. However, she is not mad at him at first. Instead, she asks whether she and her son will ride on the hot balloon together. I can feel she worries, but she does not show. And then, what happened on the next morning breaks her heart and solve her confusion at the same time. For the first look at the balloon, she must think about whether Guy really left her and her son alone until Guy jumps out of the balloon, and until then, she remembers what Guy said and understands her husband completely.
Friday, October 5, 2018
Night Women
1. Why the woman kiss her son after he is asleep?
2. Why the woman mentioned the daily workers?
3. Why she mention the roof at the beginning and the end of the story?
2. Why the woman mentioned the daily workers?
3. Why she mention the roof at the beginning and the end of the story?
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Note 1-4
Children of the Sea
The main characters' names are unknown.
The boy and the girl are in a relationship.
The boy worked for radio and got into the college, but because of the radio action, he has to go far away from home. Therefore, he is on the sea to the United States writing. He does not end up in the United States.
The girl is protected by her father at home. She also writes letters to the boy. She does not understand why her father refuses her to meet the boy, but later she understands.
Celianne: The girl that the boy meets on the boat. Her brother is working at the radio station. Her brother is prisoned, and she is rapped by multiple people. She gave birth to the child and a few days later she tosses her child into the sea and she jumps out of the boat.
The boy describes Celianne's story is that he feels like Celianne and her family's situation might be true for him if he does not run away from home early. He will hurt others.
Black Butterflies: Metaphor. News.
Nineteen Thirty-Seven
The main Character Josephine visits her mother in the prison periodically. Every time she visits her, she finds her mother is getting weaker. Josephine knows soldiers in prison do not treat her mother well because they all think her mother is a witch. In the end, one midnight, Jaqualin, a woman in a white dress, tells Josephine that her mother is dead. Her mother got burned, and one of her mother's property, Madonna, is passed to Josephine. Watching the fire, Josephine is released and feel peaceful for her mother because the death is the freedom.
Josephine does not understand her mother at first, but when her mother passes Madonna to her and dies, she knows her mother.
Madonna, a religious figure.
Fire: Metaphor. Means blood, living life. A strong, passionate but dangerous spirit.
A Wall of Fire Rising
A family lives in the sugar mill peacefully. It is not a rich family, but they can survive without hunger. Guy, the husband, gets a steady job, and his wife, Lili, also gets a job. Their son is smart and talented on acting. Their son, little Guy, will act Boukman in school. Everything goes well until one day morning Guy rides on the hot balloon, jumps out of it and dies.
Guy's wife does not expect Guy to be really tough and successful, but Guy often regards himself as a loser, and he is struggling on it for a long time. Lili and Guy have some misconception about each other. When Guy dies, Lili knows that freedom in his spirit is more valuable than his life.
Sky: Metaphor. freedom.
Night Women
The woman is a prostitute. Her husband is dead a long time ago. The short story shows her struggling about her identity and education to her son. She distains and feels sorry about her filthy body, so she always gave her humble love to her son when her son is asleep. She fears that her son will know her job, and she feels distant from her son because of the job identity. Actually, her son still loves her so much. Her son is her hope and angel. She is her son's angel appearing in his dream.
Angel: Metaphor; Beauty and innocence.
The main characters' names are unknown.
The boy and the girl are in a relationship.
The boy worked for radio and got into the college, but because of the radio action, he has to go far away from home. Therefore, he is on the sea to the United States writing. He does not end up in the United States.
The girl is protected by her father at home. She also writes letters to the boy. She does not understand why her father refuses her to meet the boy, but later she understands.
Celianne: The girl that the boy meets on the boat. Her brother is working at the radio station. Her brother is prisoned, and she is rapped by multiple people. She gave birth to the child and a few days later she tosses her child into the sea and she jumps out of the boat.
The boy describes Celianne's story is that he feels like Celianne and her family's situation might be true for him if he does not run away from home early. He will hurt others.
Black Butterflies: Metaphor. News.
Nineteen Thirty-Seven
The main Character Josephine visits her mother in the prison periodically. Every time she visits her, she finds her mother is getting weaker. Josephine knows soldiers in prison do not treat her mother well because they all think her mother is a witch. In the end, one midnight, Jaqualin, a woman in a white dress, tells Josephine that her mother is dead. Her mother got burned, and one of her mother's property, Madonna, is passed to Josephine. Watching the fire, Josephine is released and feel peaceful for her mother because the death is the freedom.
Josephine does not understand her mother at first, but when her mother passes Madonna to her and dies, she knows her mother.
Madonna, a religious figure.
Fire: Metaphor. Means blood, living life. A strong, passionate but dangerous spirit.
A Wall of Fire Rising
A family lives in the sugar mill peacefully. It is not a rich family, but they can survive without hunger. Guy, the husband, gets a steady job, and his wife, Lili, also gets a job. Their son is smart and talented on acting. Their son, little Guy, will act Boukman in school. Everything goes well until one day morning Guy rides on the hot balloon, jumps out of it and dies.
Guy's wife does not expect Guy to be really tough and successful, but Guy often regards himself as a loser, and he is struggling on it for a long time. Lili and Guy have some misconception about each other. When Guy dies, Lili knows that freedom in his spirit is more valuable than his life.
Sky: Metaphor. freedom.
Night Women
The woman is a prostitute. Her husband is dead a long time ago. The short story shows her struggling about her identity and education to her son. She distains and feels sorry about her filthy body, so she always gave her humble love to her son when her son is asleep. She fears that her son will know her job, and she feels distant from her son because of the job identity. Actually, her son still loves her so much. Her son is her hope and angel. She is her son's angel appearing in his dream.
Angel: Metaphor; Beauty and innocence.
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Freedom
Why there have to be some people die in the stories? Born in troubled times, most people lead their lives of vagrancy. Then, when we read their stories, we know the how insignificant an individual's strength is. Therefore, how can we carry the heavy spirit of freedom on our shoulder?
In the Children Of the Sea, two main characters put their freedom into letters with hope and love. The girl has to stay at home, and her father does not allow her to go outside and does not allow her to meet with the boy. Even though her father wants to keep her safe, she is yearning meeting the boy. The boy is on the boat and leaving Haiti involuntarily. He seems to look for freedom because he was going to the United States. However, his heart always belongs to the girl, and his freedom is her.
He wrote on his notebook, "I look up at the sky and I see you there." Before the sentence, he mentioned the endless mountains and endless sea. The mountains and sea can symbolize the overcome, and in his description, they are suppressing the boy's living space, and I felt the endless waiting of new life brings hopelessness to the boy. Then, he wrote, "I look up at the sky and I see you there." It is unrelated to the environment he mentions, and it does not fit the feeling that he wrote before. It is a short statement without any word polishment. The simple and straightforward sentence is written so easily that it is like the boy is discussing the weather, common and emotionless. However, compared to the sentences before this statement, I can see a huge emotional crush between the sentences and the statement. The statement is like a depressant of the negativeness; it is also like an only light shone through the boy's darkness and consoled his heart. The sky can save you from the endless mountains and ocean, and the girl is there, so she is the savor for the boy to set him free.
In Nineteen Thirty-Seven, the main character's mother is persecuted to death. Actually, not only her mother is persecuted by the soldier in the prison, but also her mother's mother is killed by soldiers near the river on the same date that her mother gives birth to her. At the end of the story, Josephine, the main character, remembered, "When Jacqueline and I stepped out into the yard to wait for the burning, I raised my head toward the sun thinking, One day I may just see my mother there." The tone of the story is full of sadness because, from the beginning of the story, Josephine's mother is in the prison. Her mother spends a long time in the prison and dies there. Each time Josephine visits her mother, her mom's health is getting worse. However, when Josephine really sees her mom's dead body is burning in the fire, she does not feel that mournful. Instead, she looks up to the sky, to the sun and thinks she might meet her mom one day. The sentence is not negative at all. Instead, it contains a bit of wish and a bit of hope, because for her and for her mother, death might be a good choice. After all, death is better than suffering through the life. Compare to suffering, death is a form of freedom for Josephine's mother.
In A Wall of Fire Rising, the setting is not as mournful as Nineteen Thirty-Seven. The story tells a small family living in small lives. Mother, Lili, is a strong and nice woman; father, Guy, a man who has a stable job and take care of his family all the time; their son, Little Guy, works hard and gets the main role, Boukman, and a lot of lines in drama. The lives are simple until Guy flies the hot balloon. When I read he is fling the hot balloon, I know everything cannot come back. Their normal lives cannot come back, and the relationship between Lili and Guy is broken completely. I think he leaves Lili and his son and flies away, but I don't expect Guy will jump out of the hot balloon. I am completely shocked. I do not understand his action until I read Lili's words, "No, leave them (Guy's eyes) open. My husband likes to look at the sky." Here comes another sky, and clearly, this sky represents the strong will of freedom. Guy eagers to fly to the sky, so that he can escape from the unsatisfied job and an unsatisfied life. Then, when he chooses to jump from the hot balloon, I think he denies every possible happiness in the future and there is nothing left for him to expect. It reminds me of a Germany philosopher, Nietzsche. He said if you cannot live proudly, then you should die proudly. Therefore, Guy chooses to die in his most free, glorious moment. I feel pity about him, but ar that moment, he is completely free.
All three stories mention the sky, and their themes all contain freedom. Different people in the different family environment look up to the same sky and seek for the different freedom figure in their minds. Even though they use their stories and lives to define freedom, they are seeking for a same goal and a same spirit, freedom.
In the Children Of the Sea, two main characters put their freedom into letters with hope and love. The girl has to stay at home, and her father does not allow her to go outside and does not allow her to meet with the boy. Even though her father wants to keep her safe, she is yearning meeting the boy. The boy is on the boat and leaving Haiti involuntarily. He seems to look for freedom because he was going to the United States. However, his heart always belongs to the girl, and his freedom is her.
He wrote on his notebook, "I look up at the sky and I see you there." Before the sentence, he mentioned the endless mountains and endless sea. The mountains and sea can symbolize the overcome, and in his description, they are suppressing the boy's living space, and I felt the endless waiting of new life brings hopelessness to the boy. Then, he wrote, "I look up at the sky and I see you there." It is unrelated to the environment he mentions, and it does not fit the feeling that he wrote before. It is a short statement without any word polishment. The simple and straightforward sentence is written so easily that it is like the boy is discussing the weather, common and emotionless. However, compared to the sentences before this statement, I can see a huge emotional crush between the sentences and the statement. The statement is like a depressant of the negativeness; it is also like an only light shone through the boy's darkness and consoled his heart. The sky can save you from the endless mountains and ocean, and the girl is there, so she is the savor for the boy to set him free.
In Nineteen Thirty-Seven, the main character's mother is persecuted to death. Actually, not only her mother is persecuted by the soldier in the prison, but also her mother's mother is killed by soldiers near the river on the same date that her mother gives birth to her. At the end of the story, Josephine, the main character, remembered, "When Jacqueline and I stepped out into the yard to wait for the burning, I raised my head toward the sun thinking, One day I may just see my mother there." The tone of the story is full of sadness because, from the beginning of the story, Josephine's mother is in the prison. Her mother spends a long time in the prison and dies there. Each time Josephine visits her mother, her mom's health is getting worse. However, when Josephine really sees her mom's dead body is burning in the fire, she does not feel that mournful. Instead, she looks up to the sky, to the sun and thinks she might meet her mom one day. The sentence is not negative at all. Instead, it contains a bit of wish and a bit of hope, because for her and for her mother, death might be a good choice. After all, death is better than suffering through the life. Compare to suffering, death is a form of freedom for Josephine's mother.
In A Wall of Fire Rising, the setting is not as mournful as Nineteen Thirty-Seven. The story tells a small family living in small lives. Mother, Lili, is a strong and nice woman; father, Guy, a man who has a stable job and take care of his family all the time; their son, Little Guy, works hard and gets the main role, Boukman, and a lot of lines in drama. The lives are simple until Guy flies the hot balloon. When I read he is fling the hot balloon, I know everything cannot come back. Their normal lives cannot come back, and the relationship between Lili and Guy is broken completely. I think he leaves Lili and his son and flies away, but I don't expect Guy will jump out of the hot balloon. I am completely shocked. I do not understand his action until I read Lili's words, "No, leave them (Guy's eyes) open. My husband likes to look at the sky." Here comes another sky, and clearly, this sky represents the strong will of freedom. Guy eagers to fly to the sky, so that he can escape from the unsatisfied job and an unsatisfied life. Then, when he chooses to jump from the hot balloon, I think he denies every possible happiness in the future and there is nothing left for him to expect. It reminds me of a Germany philosopher, Nietzsche. He said if you cannot live proudly, then you should die proudly. Therefore, Guy chooses to die in his most free, glorious moment. I feel pity about him, but ar that moment, he is completely free.
All three stories mention the sky, and their themes all contain freedom. Different people in the different family environment look up to the same sky and seek for the different freedom figure in their minds. Even though they use their stories and lives to define freedom, they are seeking for a same goal and a same spirit, freedom.
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