The Joy Luck Club

I read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan for my first inquiry project novel. Although there are stronger themes of family relationships in this book, my topic of immigration is highlighted as a cause for differences between generations. There are four Chinese mothers who have immigrated to the U.S. in search of better lives and fortune. They each have a daughter and their daughters’ perspectives in their respective stories contrast with the narration of each of the mothers’ stories. The mothers want their children to assimilate into the American culture while still retaining a traditional Chinese nature of politeness and respect for their elders (filial piety all the way, of course).

Since the whole topic of my inquiry project is immigration, I’ll refrain from being too repetitive on this post and just talk about another topic I found interesting in this novel. Chinese parents tend to prefer sons (more so in the past than now, but there is still a preferece). Boys were seen as the gateway to success since they were the ones that were more likely to break through the strict boundaries of social classes. For girls, especially the mother’s generation of the book, they were only seen as ways to marry into families with connections. Therefore, I liked how the daughters were the symbols of strength for their mothers. They all had successful jobs and fulfilled their mothers’ dreams of bringing opportunities to their families. The sons, when mentioned, were still living at home in their late thirties or had been in jail for some minor crimes. I’m not sure if it was exactly Amy Tan’s intent, but I was glad to see a focus on the strength of the daughters instead of the sons.

"Outlining in Reverse": My Thoughts

This New York Times article by Aaron Hamburger introduces a way to tackle the tedious process of writing an essay. Instead of writing an outline to plan for the essay, the outline is written after the completed essay to better comprehend/critique the work. Now, the outline becomes a revision process instead of a planning device. This concept intrigues me because I’ve always thought outlines were a waste of time – especially during timed writings. I may brainstorm and write down a few ideas before writing, but I don’t go and spend a full ten minutes writing out each claim, detail, and concluding sentence of each body paragraph. I find the process a bit repetitive when I start writing my essay. It also conforms my writing into a certain structure and doesn’t allow for creativity when writing a fictional piece.

For in-class essays, I wouldn’t necessarily write an outline after my writing is complete because of the time constraints, but I would consider outlining in reverse for longer and more analytical essays that I write at home. I always like to just sit down and write a complete essay instead of writing one section at a time. That way, I can keep a constant flow of ideas without breaking my train of thought. However, this can cause me to leave out certain details, so outlining afterwards would help me fill in the gaps of my essay.

To and Fro in the Void of Reality

Ashes
blowing in loose swirls
Blackened, charred and limbless.
Bleak incandescent orange
Sagging hands
of blind wire

The flame-
don't let it go out.
We're carrying the fire.
We're the good guys.

A trellis of a dog
straw hat, cob pipe,
rowboat-
nothing at all,
violence to its origins.

In the cave
the child led him
through the waking world
of the night.

The man,
the boy
wandered in the cold wake
trailing his hand.
Horror, creatures.
Please,
just be a dream.

This was my found poem for The Road. As much as I'd like to say I wrote this poem, all the words and phrases come from McCarthy. I actually enjoyed this exercise since I do like to write poems once in a while. I find poetry to be like a form of art- words don't have to strictly follow their definitions and the tight boundaries of sentence structure can be ignored. Speaking of art, The Road has actually had an influence on one of my paintings for my art class. I am juxtaposing the image of a colorful "Tree of Life" with the dark, post-apocalyptic world found in the novel to bring up the issue of environmental awareness.

As for this poem, my two topics are dreams/flashbacks and ash and fire imagery. The beginning of the poem sets up the "void of reality" the man and the boy must face every day. However, the man is also stuck in the past. His dreams are always filled with his memories- ones he hopes to dispose of because he doesn't want to have "good" dreams. To him, having good dreams means to give up. My title for the poem highlights the man's path as he drifts between past and present.

First Thoughts on *The Road*

I am intrigued by the fact that the man and his son still have hope through their difficult journey. While the mother was suffocating from the emptiness around them and subsequently killed herself, the man and his son were able to walk away from her death in hopes that they will reach a safe haven in the south. I don’t believe that either of the main characters is afraid of death. The father’s sole reason for living is his son, and the boy has already mentioned that he wants to be where his mom is (aka dead). Therefore, I am curious as to what the characters’ reasons are for surviving. However, I doubt I will have my question answered given the ambiguity of the story.

I also find it interesting that the boy has so much trust in others even after being born into a world where sanity is all but lost. If he had a goal, it would probably to go to the south to find other young boys and dogs to befriend. His motivation indicates that he hasn't completely lost a sense of trust, even though his dad keeps him constantly aware of the “bad guys” they often encounter. He also seemed disappointed in his dad for killing the man that put a knife to his throat. Death and murder are things the boy still can’t accept even if he witnesses them on a daily basis.