The Woman Warrior - DJ #3

The Woman Warrior - DJ #3

Quote 1:
"Among the sellers with their ropes, cages, and water tanks were the sellers of little girls. Sometimes just one man would be standing by the side of the roads selling one girl. There were fathers and mother selling their daughters, whom they pushed forward and then pulled back again. ... If they could just hear from the buyer's own mouth about a chair in the kitchen, they could tell each other in the years to come that their daughter was even now resting in that kitchen chair." - page 79, paragraph 2, Maxine

Significance:
I thought that it was really sad to see how people would sell their own children as slaves to work for other families; and to think that so many children aren't cared for or loved just because they are girls!? That is heart breaking to me and hits home for me. A lot of countries still have sexist problems where women have either no rights or very few at all. Its really sad to think that there are women who have intelligent minds yet are not acknowledged because of it and are simply put down because they are women.

Personal Connection:
This part in the story really hit a nerve for me because I was given up just like most girls in China. I was found in a basket, and with me a blanket, at a train station with a red ribbon attached to my sweater stating only my birth date. Luckily for me, I was found and put into an orphanage for save care and protection. It still hurts to think that people keep their children up till an age where they have a brain and can talk, walk, sit, stand, and then put them up for sale as slave girls or ditch them at a public transportation center. I would like to think that my biological parents cared for me, but then I always think, 'you know what? If they really cared for you then they wouldn't have cared if you were a girl or a boy. They would've loved you and given you the best care they could provide for you at the time.' It was just really hard to read this part in the book because of my birth story.

Question 1:
What do you think some of the reasons why some parents would want to market their daughter as a slave?

Quote 2:
"... That's because she was sixteen years old. Eight-year-olds were about twenty dollars. Five-year-olds were ten dollars and up. Two-year-olds were about five dollars. Babies were free. During the war, though, when you were born, many people gave older girls away for free. And here I was in the United States paying two hundred dollars for you." - page 83, paragraph 2, Aiaa (Maxine's mother)

Significance:
I choose this quote for very similar reasons as the 1st. It is sickening to think that people gave away their children because they were, as a so called, 'burden' to them. Personally, I think that it was really wrong for Aiaa to even consider barganing for a slave girl. But I am really glad that she gave her 'slave' some what of a good abode and found her a nice husband. Its saddening to think that people sold their own children for less than 10 dollars, depending on age. Why not find them a good home or go to an orphanage and make sure that they help fund for the kid or at least make sure they get to good hands. I still can't think of why anyone would want to sell their daughters besides for money and selfishness.

Personal Connection:
Although I was not sold on the streets, it is a possibility that I easily could have been. I still and very fortunate that I was found and given to an orphanage where I would be taken care of and later be put up for adoptioin. Without the generocity of that person, I may not be living the life I am today.

Question 2:
Picture yourself as one of the parents who is selling their young daughter off on the streets for 10 dollars. Tell me why you think you doing that is okay.

Vocab for DJ #3:
surfeited (pg 74) - to feed or supply to excess
permeate (pg 83) - to pass into or through every part of
palanquins (pg 84) - a covered litter carried on poles on the shoulders of four or more bearers, formerly used in eastern Asia
defecate (pg 86) - have a bowel movement
recedes (pg 87) - move back or away from a limit, point, or mark
dromedaries (pg 90) - the single-humped camel

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The Woman Warrior - DJ #2

The Woman Warrior - DJ #2

Quote 1:
"We had lost males before, cousins and uncles would were conscripted into armies or bonded as apprentices, who are almost as lowly as slave girls." - page 33, paragraph 1, Maxine

Significance:
I choose this quote because it told us alot about the author, Maxine. She has seen a lot and had to deal with tragedy before and that the people who recruited her family members are treated just as if they were slave girls; without care, without respect, and highly frowned upon.

Personal Connection:
There will always be those times when you feel like you looked down upon in, maybe, differnt or similar ways as Maxine being a female. Also, there are still many countries out in the world that do still have sexism and woman have either no rights or very limited rights as a woman.

Question 1:
Try picturing yourself as a teenage girl living in a country full of sexism and racism. How do you think that those years of sexism and lonely-ness will affect the decisions you make for your future?

Quote 2:
"I went away to college -Berkeley in the sixties- and I studies, and I marched to change the world, but I did not turn into a boy. I would have liked to bring myself back as a boy for my parents to welcome with chickens and pigs. ... If I went to Vietnam, I would not come back; female desert families. It was said, 'There is an outward tendency in females,' which meant that I was getting straight A's for the good of my future husband's family, not my own." - page 47, paragraph 4 & 5, Maxine

Significance:
I think that this quote really tells us readers that the move to America has been life changing for Maxine. With all of her success in school and her helping around the house while juggling two part time jobs -one at an art supply store and the other at a land developers' association- not a single moment is she recognized for her hard work and dedication. And the only reason that is, is because she is a female. If she were male, she would have the world at her feet; her family would congratulate her and support her and the decisions she makes. If she were a man, she wouldn't be beated or hit if she said or acted out of line. Who knows, maybe she would but her family would be grateful for her existance which is not the way it is for Maxine right now. The result of that is that Maxine doesn't want to feel like a burden anymore and she wants to avenge her family.

"To avenge my family, I'd have to storm across China to take back our farm from the Communists; I'd have to rage across the United States to take back the laundry in New York and the one in California. Nobody in history has conqured and united both North America and Asia." - page 49, paragraph 6, Maxine

Also, the 1st quote above is telling me that the Chinese culture respects men more than females and all do respect but in my opinion, it seems as though they could have less cares in the world than to give birth to a baby girl. Thats why I thank and truely do respect people in countries, inclusing China, who respect and love every one, no matter their race, their religion, or their gender.

Character Judgement:
So currently we have been slowly unwrapping our narrator Maxine and finding out little things that make her unique. From the quote obove, it tells us that Maxine is a good student and got a really good education at Berkeley here in California. I really do respect Maxine's thoughts in which she wants to avenge her family. I do understand where she is coming from and would respect her decision if she really were to. Although, I would really worry about Maxine if she were kicked out or left to fend for herself. Especially since she is still in the 60's when America was still having dificulties with segregation in the public and dificulties accepting people of a differnt culture and/or religion. I think that Maxine is a strong woman and strives to complete the goals she sets for herself.

Question 2:
Do you agree with some of the reasons for Maxine's anger towards her family? Why or why not?

Vocab for DJ #2:
gourd (pg 33) - the hard-shelled fruit of any of various plants
culled (pg 36) - to pick out from others
abreast (pg 37) - side by side; beside each other in a line
marauders (pg 37) - to roam or go around in quest of plunder
fontanel (pg 40) - one of the spaces, covered by membrane, between the bones of the fetal or young skull
palpable (pg 41) - readily or plainly seen, heard, perceived
avenge (pg 49) - inflict a punishment or penalty in return for
enumerate (pg 57) - specify, as in a list

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The Woman Warrior - DJ #1

The Woman Warrior - DJ #1

Quote 1:
"There were ghost plagues, bandit plagues, wars with the Japanese, floods. My Chinese brother and sister had died of an unknown sickness. Adultery, perhaps only a mistake during good times, became a crime when the village needed food." - page 13, paragraph 2, Maxine

Significance:
In Maxines (narrator) home country, it was a hard life. The Chinese culture had a lot of punishments and supperstitions realated to spiritual belifs and therefore had many restrictions on what and wasn't allowed to be done. This phrase above also tells me that adultery might had been only taken very seriously if or when a village or family was in need of money and food. In their need of food, the family might have used the excuse of adultery to raid someones house and steal their food or take their animals for food. Otherwise, the phrase above is telling me that they would not think to use this as an excuse to break into someones house, it would just mean that the person guilty of doing it would curse themselves and their family forever.

Personal Connection:
Well, here in the U.S, we have crimes such as adultery still going on and we have other terrible things happing due to sexual assult and it seemes as though it happened in China too.

Question 1:
From reading this first part of The Woman Warrior, do you think that the narrators (Maxine) aunt was raped? Because she states that her aunt always gave up her family for beauty and men, so I'm still wondering if she was that relentless as to what the consequences might have been.

Quote 2:
"The Chinese are always very frightened of the drowned one, whoese weeping ghost, wet hair hanging and skin bloated, waits silently by the water to pull down a substitute." - page 16, last paragraph, Maxine

Question 2:
So we are introduced to alot of the authors (Maxine) relatives in this first part of the sotry and I am still confussed wether or not her aunt (Aiaa pg, 13) drowned herself with the baby. Any thoughts on that?

Quote 3:
"I watched powerful men count their money, and starving men count theirs." - page 30, paragraph 3, Maxine

Significance:
In their home country, there is extreme poverty and even her family stuggled to make a substancial living, but it was even harder for them when the village people came and raided all of their belongings taking everything and destroying everything that was on their property. I thought that it was really cruel and unneccesary to sloughter all of their animals. It was hard making a living and so I think that this is why Maxine's family laster leaves for America. Along with the fact that her family is being split up to go fight in war in America.

Personal Connection:
All the time, there will be people who are wealthier than yourself, but we have to remember that there are always people who are struggling with extreme cases of poverty, and so it just reminds me how thankful I am to have a home, a fmily, an education, to have clothes on my back and much more. It just hurts me to think that there are people on the street trying to make a dollar go as far as they can, but in reality, things these days cost much more than just a dollar.

Question 3:
Do you think that Maxine really has enough self-control to hold herself back from going to help save her new husband and her brother? or will she go without considering what the old folks told her about waiting and not wasting the 7 1/2 years of her life training?

Vocab for DJ #1:
abhorrent (pg 11) - utterly opposed, or contrary, or in conflict
atavism (pg 12) - the reappearance in an individual of characteristics of some remote ancestor that have been absent in intervening generations
talisman (pg 13) - any amulet or charm
spasmodically (pg 14) - pertaining to or of the nature of a spasm
alighted (pg 24) - to settle or stay after descending
peony (pg 24) - any of various plants or shrubs of the genus Paeonia
self-immolation (pg 28) - voluntary sacrifice or denial of oneself
transmigration (pg 28) - the passage of a soul after death into another body

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Immigration Field Trip Reflection

Immigration Field Trip Reflection

PART I - From Heaven to Home:

In this exhibit, I was told more about Jewish history and their struggles to make a substancial life in America. In 1654, many Jews fled their hometowns due to violet attacks towards them, poor living conditions, and from Nazi prosecution. To get to America, most had to travel from Spain all the way to Portugal, then would get deported to South America where they later arrived in New York or 'Amsterdam'. Arriving, were 23 adults and children which later led the way for the many immigrants coming to America. Most Jews coming to America from the 1820's-1923, were mostly German and Austrian Jews. From the 1880's-1923, Eastern Europeans were fleeing from the Nazi prosecution.

When coming to America, the Jews began lived in small houses, housing as many people possible, and being put to work in jobs where they got very little pay. They Jews fought for equality for 122 years; from 1654-1776. At one point, General Grant attempeted to abolish all Jewsish people from the states of Kentucky and Tennessee but president Lincoln Refused. Once George Washington was the 1st American president, the 2 thousand Jews that were currently residing in America turned to George Washington to assure them that the goverment would protect religious liberty.

In 1790, president George Washinton stated, "Shall give to bigitry no sanction, to persecution no assistance." By the 1860's the Jews were still fighting for their religious rights and the Civil War broke out. By that time in history, 7 thousand Jews fought for thr north and liberty from slavery, while 3 thousand fought in the southern regions. I found out that Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King walked in the Cilvil Rights march together. For a long time, the poeple of the Jewish religion had to pay to be a part of the navy and army to fight for their country.

After many years, the had this rule abolished. Something else that facinated me, was hearing that 20 thousand Jewish woman broke into the butcher shops and tossed all of their meat into the streets. It surprised me when I heard that mostly woman were boy-cotting the butcher markets, because the kosher meats - which they were eating at the time - were doubled in price. After a few years, they finally dropped the price from 18 cents to 14 cents. Although it was not much, they were satisfied and the boy-cotting finally ended.

Slowly but surely, America was making process. In 1838, Rebecca Gratz founded the first sunday school and in 1841, the first Jew sat in congress. Also, in 1906, Oscur Stratus becames the first Jew to be a part of the U.S cabinet and to believe it or not, the Jews helped pineer most of the things that began America; such as theatre, rock and roll, and even hollywood. Jews were the bigginging of Las Vegas and were even a part of the first mafia.

Overall, I learned that without the Jewish people settling and immigrating to America, we wouldn't be the America that we are today. Without all their sacrifice and strive to make their new home country the best one, the America we live in now, would probably have more discrimination, more religious prosecutions, and a country without American theatre.

PART II - Children of Immigrants:

Quote:
"I believe as an individual I can help America achieve its goals. I remember last year I helped collect canned foods for the soup kitchen. Also I raised money when the Twin Towers fells. I believe things like this may seems little but can mout to larger and bigger things." -Zainab Sozzer, Pakistan

I choose this quote because it sends the message that even the smallest things make a difference. Wether it is helping someone up off the ground, to raising money and sending it to a charity, as long as we help one another out, then we will be passing on helping hands which we know America is known for.

Photograph:
I choose a phtograph that was taken in 2000 and that had two kids - both under the age of 7 or 6 - and riding one of those electronic elephant rides in Chinatown, New York. You could tell that they were both sibilings and that the younger one was clingging to his brothers weist. The first thing I saw were the expression on the kids eyes. They seemed very relaxed in the situation that they were in and I could see people waling by and little markets in the background which I interpurated as if the phtographer were trying to indicate that their life was speeding by but that they were lving in the monet, because their faces were completly focused.

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Immigration Reflection

Immigration Reflection

An immigrant is a person who enters a different country to reside in for many personal reasons. Some may include finding better job opportunities, living a more substantial life style, and/or possibly for relative needs. Some people grow up in a country that may not enforce the certain protection rights that they may want/need. Also, some people grow up believing in different beliefs, religious or non-religious and want to move to a country they believe will be accepting and/or recognizable. In some countries, there are social unrest religious persecutions going on and the person may feel unsafe and un-protected. In their country, their may be problems with sexual harassment and sexual discrimination against gay and lesbian rights. Also, there may be country disasters where the individual is feared for their life and belongings and would want to immigrate to a different country. Another reason an individual would want to reside in a different country, would be because of freedom of speech. Some countries don’t approve of their citizens speaking out against them and lock them up, torture them, kill them, or they disappear. In some countries, their punishment acts would be to cut off human limbs and torture the.

In the United Sates of America, all citizens’ are under the protection of the constitution and the bill of rights. Because of this, they are entitled to a free and appropriate public education, have the right to buy property, all citizens have the right to vote, and all of America’s citizens have the right to a fair and speedy trial under the law. They also have the right to public services such as the police, health care policies, and insurance.

Immigration has changed our country very much. We have added different language studies into the classrooms, we have different cultural events, and we allow people to gather as a group if they want to or they can do what they please. I believe that my life has been affected by immigration because I have been able to learn different languages and experience different experiences by taking trips to different cultural events around the city or being able to taste the different cultural foods. I think that my awareness for different cultures and traditions has really widened and opened up because I have been able to learn and be introduced to many different living styles.

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Immigration Reflection Questions -

Immigration Reflection Questions -

1) Whatis an immigrant?
2) What are some reasons an immigrant would want to leave their home country?
3) What does our country have to offer that other countries may not offer?
4) How has the US been affected with immigrantion? (culture, languange, food, laws, etc.)
5) How has your life changed due to immgrantion?

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