The Woman Warrior - DJ #6

The Woman Warrior - DJ #6

Quote 1:
"She wore the same clothers, hair cut, and manner as when we were in elementary school, no make-up on the pink and white face, while the other Asian girls were starting to tape their eyelids." - page 182, paragraph 2, Maxine

Significance:
This quote stood out to me because beauty in America was only defined one way, and that was by your eyes. It makes me sad to think that girls in junior high would tape their eyelids so they could be 'beautiful'. Its heat breaking to think that, up til this day, Asian girls still use that method to beautify them.

Personal Connection:
I can relate because as an asian girl, I have felt the need and want for gorgeous eyes but then I acept myself for who I am and go on my way. People portray beauty as a fake fairy tale in which they want the princess to be a mouth dropping , heart stopping, typical American.

Question 1:
How far would you go to be absolutly gorgeous? Why?

Quote 2:
"I studies hard, got straight A's, but nobody seemed to see that I was smart and had nothing in common with this monster, this birth defect." - page 195, paragraph 2, Maxine

Significance:
I choose this quote because it tells us more about Maxine and how her parents wanted her to marry and FOB (Fresh-off-the-Boat). This is what the Chinese-American kids at school would call the young immigrants. I don't like the fact that her parents would want her to marry a guy who their daughter doesn't want to and/or love.

Character Judgement:
I think that Maxine is a very strong woman in the respect that she doesn't get any attention or much love. She is only descriminated agaisnt because of her sex and because of nationality. Her great uncle didn't even care for her and her cousins or sister. He called her and all of her other female siblings, maggots. For a girl who gets straight A's, strives for attention, and lives in a world among ghosts, she does not deserve to be though of as aburden.

Question 2:
Would you stand to live in a house full of your own family treating you as if you were just another old family trinket that they had to take care of? Why or why not? Would you continue to strive for what you want and axcel in school even if these were the circumstances?

Vocab for DJ #6:
canerry (pg 180) - canerry
gesticulating (pg 183) - to make or use gestures
camphoraceous (pg 187) - camphoraceous
rictus (pg187) - the gape of the mouth of a bird
trestle (pg 188) - a frame typically composed of a horizontal bar or beam
frivolous (pg 189) -characterized by lack of seriousness or sense

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The Woman Warrior - DJ # 5

The Woman Warrior - DJ # 5

Quote 1:
"Brave Orchid saw that all variety had gone from her sister. She was indeed mad. 'The difference between mad people and sane people,' Brave Orchid explained to the children, 'is that sane people have variety when they talk story. Mad people have only one story that they talk over and over." - page 159, paragraph 4, Brave Orchid (Aiaa)

Significance:
I choose this quote because it's kinda showing the harships and challanges that Brave Orchids family is having to deal with because of Moon Orchids going mad. They are having to sneak out of the house because Moon Orchid will grab a hold of the families clothing so that they wouldn't leave her to the "Mexican Ghosts". I blame this on Brave Orchid because she dragged her on a plane from China to the U.S. Then made her go up and down the west coast, back and forth through cities and L.A. I think that Brave Orchid pushed her sister too far, that she went emotionally dead, and ultimately mad.

Character Judgement:
I think that Brave Moon is very pushy, demanding, and guilty for her sister's madness. A part of me thinks that Brave Moon does feel guilty and wants to be with her sister ever step of the way, yet another side of me is telling me that she is a bad sister and justs wants to do whats best for herself. Coming from all this, I have ultimately decided that Moon Orchid is very immature, has not life challanging experiences, but has had to deal with servere heart-ache. She is a very strong woman but needs help.

Question 1:
If one of your siblings went sane or mad, how would you deal with the situation? Why?

Quote 2:
"During air raid drills (it was during the Korean War, which you knew about because every day the front page of the newspaper printed a map of Korea with the top part red and going up and down like a window shade,) we curled up in this basement. Now everyone was gone. The playroom was army green and had nothing in it but a long trough with drinking spigots in rows... When someone flushed you could hear the water and other matter, which the children named, running inside the big pipe above the drinking spigots." - page 174, paragraph 1, Maxine

Significance:
In this quote, it is saying that during school they would have air raid drills when they would hide in the basement and wait for the air to be later cleared. Its telling us more about their life here in America. During the Korean War, schools had drills just like we have fire drills but to think that America has turned into a safe, secure, living space, makes a lot of people want to live here. Although at one time there were such things as air raid drills, it is nice to know that America has shown that we can be strong and pull through. Those raid drills were just for protection but it would've scared me to death just thinking about being in "war" territory.

Personal Connection:
Although America is safe, when I think of war, I think about 9-11 and when the twin towers came down. That was a big shock but it made us stronger. Many lives were taken but many poeople steped up to help one another which America is all about. Also, it just makes me thankful for all of the security and safety we, as Americans, feel living here in America. We are fortunate to not have to worry about people coming and knocking on our doors asking if they can seach our houses.

Question 2:
Do you think that a lot of kids were worried about, possibly, getting bombed on or having war break out right there on school campus? Why or why not?

Vocab for DJ #5:
burlap (pg 148) - a plain-woven, coarse fabric of jute, hemp
frena (pg 164) - a fold of membrane that checks or restrains the motion of a part
frenum (pg 165) - a fold of membrane that checks or restrains the motion of a part
self-assertion (pg 172) - insistence on or an expression of one's own importance

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The Woman Warrior - DJ #4

The Woman Warrior - DJ #4

Quote 1:
"How greedy to play with presents in front of the giver. How impolite ("untraditional" in Chinese) her children were." - page 121, paragraph 2, Brave Orchid/Narrator

Significance:
I chose this quote because it tells the reader how Maxine's mom still keeps the traditional culture alive in the house and how it was thought to be disrespectful to take gifts. Also, in this part of the book, we are introduced to Aiaa's sister Moon Orchid. She is really disrespected by her niece's and nephew's and has just come from China. Although she comes from China, when giving her family rock candy, she wants them to enjoy and take as much as they want; despite the "untraditional" factor of her actions.

Character Judgement:
I think that this part in the book shows us a whole different side of Brave Orchid, or Aiaa's, family and her children. Aiaa has been so close to her culture and all of the traditions that her children are disrespectful to their own aunt who they haven't seen in over 5 years. Also, in this part, it shows how Moon Orchid is struggling to make do with the fact that her husband is living in LA with his second wife and taking care of her kids. She deserves better.

Question 1:
Would you feel abandoned and un-loved if you found out that your spouce had run off to be with another person other than yourself, and in another COUNTRY!?

Quote 2:
"She felt she had accomplished a great deal by folding towels. She spent the evening observing the children. She liked to figure them out. She described them aloud." - page 140, paragraph 3, Brave Orchid/Narrator

Significance:
I chose this quote because it is showing us that Moon Orchid, Aiaa's sister, is trying to understand the American culture by observing her niece's and nephew's who have lived in America her whole life. This quote also tells us readers that Moon Orchid is totally unfamilliar with any activities or doings that her family is performing. Also, she is just trying to get to know and figure out what her family likes to do and kinda connect to them in that way.

Personal Connection:
I am going to have a baby nephew on the way and I know that when he is born that I am going to be observing him very closely to figure out how to entertain him just like Moon Orchid is trying to figure out as well, with her family. Difference is, is that I know my family won't be disrespectful to me or to each other just like Aiaa's children are to Moon Orchid.

Question 2:
Have you ever felt so lost or confussed to the point where you had to closely observe something so that you didn't feel like such an out cast? When and why did you feel that way?

Vocab for DJ #4:
doily (pg 120) - any small, ornamental mat, as of embroidery or lace
lenient (pg 127) - agreeably tolerant
demure (pg 133) - characterized by shyness and modesty

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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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