In the story, "The Joy Luck Club", four families are followed. The four mother's lived a great deal of their lives in China while the daughters of each woman was born and has lived in the US all of their lives. Jing-Mei "June" Woo starts the book out by taking her late mother's place in a ritual game that her mother and three other women made a tradition of participating in. Her "Aunties" ,as she refers to them, tell her that her mother's first two daughters had been found and that they had wrote back. In the end of the book, June is in China on her way to meet her two older sisters. As she embraces the sisters she never knew, the story ends. This reunion seems to connect June to her dead mother through her sisters and brings the story around to and end.
Throughout June's whole life, these two sisters were ghosts, immaterial and nothing more that babies that were lost in the Japanese invasion of China. But when she finds out that she has two sisters that are still alive and living in China, her mother's story becomes less of a story and more of a history. Her mother's past is connected with the life of these two girls and by going and finding them, she is finding her mother's past and in a way preserving it, living out her mother's dream of seeing them again.
In the beginning of her last tale, she tells of how she does not look Chinese. This also comes up in various of the other stories, the daughters are missing something that makes them appear Chinese and in some ways, America has pulled something from the mother's so that they can be distinguished as not fully Chinese. June says as she gets out of the plane and sees her two sisters there, she sees two of her mother, looking at her from the crowd. Her sisters are a connection June has to how her mother once looked when she was "fully Chinese". But June also sees how they are not the same as her mother was. Which pulls her all the closer to her mother by seeing how she might look, containing part of her mother but also being her own person.
This story seems to pull the different stories in the book together. Every story before this one has emphasised how different the mothers are from their children. They tell of how their opinions clash and how the daughters "Americanize" their mother's beliefs so that they fit in the situation that they are already involved in. But in this last story, June goes back to China and sees her mother and all her habits all around herself. And there, in the airport, she sees another branch of the picture. Her sisters are her own age and yet they have lived in the same world that her mother had and she knows that they are coping the same as she is.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Value, "Without Wood"
In the story "Without Wood", the daughter is going through a divorce with her husband and is hearing her mother tell her to stand up for herself, that she too often stoops down to listen to others. It seems important in Chinese culture that you should listen to your own heart and let it lead you, rather than listen to what others have to say. The mother, in this situation tells her daughter that she listens too hard to the phyciatrist, not to her mother at all, and doesn't talk with her husband
The daughter stops listening to all the little things that are not really thoughts at all. She comes to the decision that she is not going to role over meekly and let her soon to be ex-husband run over her. She returns the papers he gave her unsigned and tells him that she is keeping the house, something he wanted so that he could move himself and his soon to be new wife in.
She seems to live up to the qualities by taking her own stand against her almost ex-husband. She stops letting him tell her that she is still special to him, that everything is sorted out, and that he deserves to have the house. She listened to her own heart and lead herself into independence.
The daughter stops listening to all the little things that are not really thoughts at all. She comes to the decision that she is not going to role over meekly and let her soon to be ex-husband run over her. She returns the papers he gave her unsigned and tells him that she is keeping the house, something he wanted so that he could move himself and his soon to be new wife in.
She seems to live up to the qualities by taking her own stand against her almost ex-husband. She stops letting him tell her that she is still special to him, that everything is sorted out, and that he deserves to have the house. She listened to her own heart and lead herself into independence.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Disagreements
As a small child, I had a mind of my own. I was a all around trouble maker though I never tried that hard, it just seemed to happen. Family dinners now are full of joy and laughter and stories of my antics are told over and over again. I had a real fascination with tools and tape from the beginning. No screw was safe when I had a screw driver in my hand and no tool was safe when I had black electrical tape.
I was probably three or four and Mom was a work. Dad worked a ranch job so he was home with us for a while. He and Sam were sitting in his chair watching TV when a silence crept over him. It was one of those eerie silences that happen when something wasn't right. I had been playing on the floor, not paying a lot of attention to what was going on on the TV. My patch of carpet was empty now and my blond head was no where in site. That was bad, normally I was doing something I wasn't supposed to when I disappeared like that. Resolutely, Dad got up and set Sam down in the chair so that he could go and find out what I was doing.
Our house had a back door and a front door. The front door was large and made of heavy wood, and lead into the mud room where coats were hung. Between the mud room and the kitchen was a hollow plywood door that had a corner chewed off from the dogs, but that made a pretty good door for the cats so that they could get into their litter box. A strait shot across the kitchen was the laundry room and main bathroom. The back door left the laundry room and opened up to the yard outside. There was a metal door that led to the outside, but between the big door and the laundry room, we had a flimsy wooden screen door. It was probably home-made and its only purpose was so Mom could open the door and let the air circulate without bugs and things getting in. Turning right out of the kitchen brought you to the dining room which, taking a right out of that room, lead you to the living room, Dad's chair, and my secretly vacated bit of carpet.
It didn't take dad long to find me, though I was being exceedingly quiet. I had found a screw driver in my play and, from there, ventured into the laundry room before I proceeded to take all of he screws out of the old wooden screen door. The door was the only thing that I could find that had the proper screws that fit my new found screwdriver. That was how Dad found me, crouched down with all the screws from the bottom three-fourths of the door, except for the last one which I was taking out at that point in time. I think that I would have managed to take the other's out sooner or later, but I hadn't gotten a chair yet.
My Dad is six foot two inches tall and built kind of like a bear. At the time I was a scrawny three year old, barley three feet tall, and built kind of like a stick person. He was always gentle, but you didn't think twice about not doing something when you were told to do it. On this occasion he just looked at me for a moment, and the guilt began to wash over me, I really did know that I shouldn't be taking the screws out of the door, but it was fun and I was mutinous. Once my dad raised his voice though, the discussion was over and I knew that I had lost. He made me put every screw back in that door, nice and tight. When you are three or four, something you would have considered fun a moment earlier looses its appeal when you are forced to do it. But the screws were back in, and my pants remained untouched by a sharp slap. Mom never did spank my sister and me, but Dad had been known to when we were really bad.
I guess that the "conflict" didn't have a lot to do with an old wooden screen door. It was more of a "busy-hands-need stilling". It wasn't that I had taken the screws out of something, I took the screws out because the screwdriver was there and so was the screen door. Dad was trying to show me a responsibility for what I was doing.
I was probably three or four and Mom was a work. Dad worked a ranch job so he was home with us for a while. He and Sam were sitting in his chair watching TV when a silence crept over him. It was one of those eerie silences that happen when something wasn't right. I had been playing on the floor, not paying a lot of attention to what was going on on the TV. My patch of carpet was empty now and my blond head was no where in site. That was bad, normally I was doing something I wasn't supposed to when I disappeared like that. Resolutely, Dad got up and set Sam down in the chair so that he could go and find out what I was doing.
Our house had a back door and a front door. The front door was large and made of heavy wood, and lead into the mud room where coats were hung. Between the mud room and the kitchen was a hollow plywood door that had a corner chewed off from the dogs, but that made a pretty good door for the cats so that they could get into their litter box. A strait shot across the kitchen was the laundry room and main bathroom. The back door left the laundry room and opened up to the yard outside. There was a metal door that led to the outside, but between the big door and the laundry room, we had a flimsy wooden screen door. It was probably home-made and its only purpose was so Mom could open the door and let the air circulate without bugs and things getting in. Turning right out of the kitchen brought you to the dining room which, taking a right out of that room, lead you to the living room, Dad's chair, and my secretly vacated bit of carpet.
It didn't take dad long to find me, though I was being exceedingly quiet. I had found a screw driver in my play and, from there, ventured into the laundry room before I proceeded to take all of he screws out of the old wooden screen door. The door was the only thing that I could find that had the proper screws that fit my new found screwdriver. That was how Dad found me, crouched down with all the screws from the bottom three-fourths of the door, except for the last one which I was taking out at that point in time. I think that I would have managed to take the other's out sooner or later, but I hadn't gotten a chair yet.
My Dad is six foot two inches tall and built kind of like a bear. At the time I was a scrawny three year old, barley three feet tall, and built kind of like a stick person. He was always gentle, but you didn't think twice about not doing something when you were told to do it. On this occasion he just looked at me for a moment, and the guilt began to wash over me, I really did know that I shouldn't be taking the screws out of the door, but it was fun and I was mutinous. Once my dad raised his voice though, the discussion was over and I knew that I had lost. He made me put every screw back in that door, nice and tight. When you are three or four, something you would have considered fun a moment earlier looses its appeal when you are forced to do it. But the screws were back in, and my pants remained untouched by a sharp slap. Mom never did spank my sister and me, but Dad had been known to when we were really bad.
I guess that the "conflict" didn't have a lot to do with an old wooden screen door. It was more of a "busy-hands-need stilling". It wasn't that I had taken the screws out of something, I took the screws out because the screwdriver was there and so was the screen door. Dad was trying to show me a responsibility for what I was doing.
Monday, May 11, 2009
A story from my childhood.
I was probably three or four years old, and my mom was babysitting mine and my sister's cousin, Layne. Him and my sister were of an age, both in Kindergarten, while I got to spend long, carefree days at home with my mother, waiting for my sister to get home from school. I will admit, it didn't take a lot to get me to do things, I admired both my sister, Sam, and Layne. You can't expect a lot more from one so young. It was the summer time and the three of us had just finished a swimming lesson at the city pool. We all had easy access to water and our parents thought that we should all learn to swim. Mom had bought us a large cup of ice water to share back and forth across the seat. Layne had pulled the guest straw and got to sit up front with Mom while Sam and I got to sit in back together. Mom had thought it better for us to cool down with it in the car while she ran into the IGA instead of bringing three young kids in with her. Her parting words had been to leave the doors closed at all times.
We had a big, OLD car at the time. There were two doors, heavy steel doors that we thought were very heavy. Mom had been in the store for quite some time and we had finished the cup of water. Some how or another, we managed to get into a squabbling match over the flimsy paper cup and the little plastic lid popped off, upturning the ice right into Layne's lap. We were hot, but he wasn't hot enough to enjoy the cold dousing of ice chips. Without an as-you-like-it, he popped the door out and hopped out onto the hot pavement so that he could brush the ice out. Well this was a big no no, one did not open the door when one was expressly forbidden to do so by the attending adult. We all had the same thought running through our minds, "We are dead when she gets back." That didn't have to be, Layne convinced us, if we just didn't tell her then she would never know that the forbidden had occurred. We told almost anything to my mother, there was nothing we didn't tell her, but some how, Layne convinced us that we had to keep quiet about this. Layne had been on Mom's bad side before and was a little frightened of what she might to, though Sam and myself had none of these fears.
And here she came, bags of groceries in each hand. I remember her popping open the door, flipping forward her seat before she slipped the groceries into my floorboards. I was sitting on my ankles so I didn't need the foot room. We all bit our tongs as Mom settled down in her seat. Sam was keeping a close eye on me, because I was the most likely to tell Mom about the door. The old car slowly backed up and as she left the grocery store parking lot, she took a right and went around the parking lot so that she was heading back towards first street. As we rounded the corner, turning left on the first street, we found out our folly. The door had not been closed tightly enough. Layne was to cocky about his success in pulling the hood over Mom's eyes and was leaning hard on the door as if to tell Sam and myself, "See, she never will know." The added pressure of his body as the corner pushed him into the door was enough. That badly shut door told on us. The door popped open and Layne went tumbling out. Mom says now that it was seer luck that the door had remained closed no longer than it had, because as Layne fell out we weren't even going five miles an hour.
I remember Mom yelling, Sam and me hollering, and Layne crying. He wasn't hurt bad, he had just hit his head a little bit and a big goose egg was raising itself. It was a sight for me to see one of my "untouchable idols" crying more than I ever had. His eyes ran a long time, long enough for us to go the the Country Skillet, then Country Pride, and get some ice for his head. Let me tell you he was sure glad of the ice then.
I spilled the beans to Mom, but her reaction wasn't what we expected. There was no yelling, there was no cruel words. Mom just sat the three of us down and told us that we should have told her because she would have closed the door better and Layne wouldn't have fallen out, she meant that we shouldn't open the doors for strangers, and that no matter how angry we thought she would be with her, we needed to tell her those things because they might be very important. I took that lesson a long way, especially the last part, "No matter how mad you think I am going to be with you, tell me when you have done something, even when I told you not to, because there are far more things that could happen to you if you don't tell me. I would rather be mad at you than see something happen to you because you were scared to tell me." I will never forget that.
We had a big, OLD car at the time. There were two doors, heavy steel doors that we thought were very heavy. Mom had been in the store for quite some time and we had finished the cup of water. Some how or another, we managed to get into a squabbling match over the flimsy paper cup and the little plastic lid popped off, upturning the ice right into Layne's lap. We were hot, but he wasn't hot enough to enjoy the cold dousing of ice chips. Without an as-you-like-it, he popped the door out and hopped out onto the hot pavement so that he could brush the ice out. Well this was a big no no, one did not open the door when one was expressly forbidden to do so by the attending adult. We all had the same thought running through our minds, "We are dead when she gets back." That didn't have to be, Layne convinced us, if we just didn't tell her then she would never know that the forbidden had occurred. We told almost anything to my mother, there was nothing we didn't tell her, but some how, Layne convinced us that we had to keep quiet about this. Layne had been on Mom's bad side before and was a little frightened of what she might to, though Sam and myself had none of these fears.
And here she came, bags of groceries in each hand. I remember her popping open the door, flipping forward her seat before she slipped the groceries into my floorboards. I was sitting on my ankles so I didn't need the foot room. We all bit our tongs as Mom settled down in her seat. Sam was keeping a close eye on me, because I was the most likely to tell Mom about the door. The old car slowly backed up and as she left the grocery store parking lot, she took a right and went around the parking lot so that she was heading back towards first street. As we rounded the corner, turning left on the first street, we found out our folly. The door had not been closed tightly enough. Layne was to cocky about his success in pulling the hood over Mom's eyes and was leaning hard on the door as if to tell Sam and myself, "See, she never will know." The added pressure of his body as the corner pushed him into the door was enough. That badly shut door told on us. The door popped open and Layne went tumbling out. Mom says now that it was seer luck that the door had remained closed no longer than it had, because as Layne fell out we weren't even going five miles an hour.
I remember Mom yelling, Sam and me hollering, and Layne crying. He wasn't hurt bad, he had just hit his head a little bit and a big goose egg was raising itself. It was a sight for me to see one of my "untouchable idols" crying more than I ever had. His eyes ran a long time, long enough for us to go the the Country Skillet, then Country Pride, and get some ice for his head. Let me tell you he was sure glad of the ice then.
I spilled the beans to Mom, but her reaction wasn't what we expected. There was no yelling, there was no cruel words. Mom just sat the three of us down and told us that we should have told her because she would have closed the door better and Layne wouldn't have fallen out, she meant that we shouldn't open the doors for strangers, and that no matter how angry we thought she would be with her, we needed to tell her those things because they might be very important. I took that lesson a long way, especially the last part, "No matter how mad you think I am going to be with you, tell me when you have done something, even when I told you not to, because there are far more things that could happen to you if you don't tell me. I would rather be mad at you than see something happen to you because you were scared to tell me." I will never forget that.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Very early Chinese History
China is the only civilization which has maintained a cultural continuity from the second millennium B.C. to the present and is often referred to as the world's oldest civilization. The first Dynasty that we can prove existed through Archaeological evidence is the Shang Dyanasty which occurred between 1766-1122 B.C. The Shang capital is now the ruins of Ao, near present-day An-yan. Ao was a planned city where the buildings were constructed from compacted earth. During the Shang Dynasty a highly organized agrarian society had developed and was founded on Kingship and an elaborate class system.Painting, music, and writing in the form of pictographs had developed.
In 1122 B.C. the Chou people took over command and established a capital in Hao, southwest of modern Sian. Under the Chou emperor, China was split into semi-independent vassal states, later city-states.in 722 B.C. the Chou capital was moved to Lo-yang. The Chou Dynasty is often referred to in two different contexts. Western Chou Dynasty is the time period before the moving of the capital, and the time after the move is refereed to as the Eastern Chou Dynasty. China did not do so great under the Chou people. There was constant war doe to one city-state trying to take over others. The Eastern Chou Dynasty is divided again into the Ch'un-ch'in Period (722-481 B.C.) and the Period of the Contending State (480- 221 B.C.) Due to the contention during the Period of the Contending States, the Chou Dynasty fell and leadership was in contention.
Time Line
Ch'in Dynasty (221-206 B.C.)
Early Han Dynasty (226 B.C.-9 A.D.)
Later Han Dynasty (9-220 A.D.)
The Three Kingdoms (220-265 A.D.)
(Kingdoms of Wei, Wu, and Shu)
The Western and Eastern Tsin Dynasties (265-420 A.D.)
Northern (439-581 A.D.) and Southern (420-589 A.D.) Dynasties
The Sui Dynasty (581-618 A.D.)
The T'ang Dynasty (618-906 A.D.)
The Five Dynasties (907-960 A.D.)
The Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.)
The Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368 A.D.)
The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.)
The Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1911 A.D.)
Modern China (1911-)
The revolution of 1911 overthrew the government of the Ch'ing Dynasty. The Revolutionary League declared the establishment of the Republic of China. A provisional government at Nanking was organised and Dr. Sun Yat-sen was elected president.
In 1122 B.C. the Chou people took over command and established a capital in Hao, southwest of modern Sian. Under the Chou emperor, China was split into semi-independent vassal states, later city-states.in 722 B.C. the Chou capital was moved to Lo-yang. The Chou Dynasty is often referred to in two different contexts. Western Chou Dynasty is the time period before the moving of the capital, and the time after the move is refereed to as the Eastern Chou Dynasty. China did not do so great under the Chou people. There was constant war doe to one city-state trying to take over others. The Eastern Chou Dynasty is divided again into the Ch'un-ch'in Period (722-481 B.C.) and the Period of the Contending State (480- 221 B.C.) Due to the contention during the Period of the Contending States, the Chou Dynasty fell and leadership was in contention.
Time Line
Ch'in Dynasty (221-206 B.C.)
Early Han Dynasty (226 B.C.-9 A.D.)
Later Han Dynasty (9-220 A.D.)
The Three Kingdoms (220-265 A.D.)
(Kingdoms of Wei, Wu, and Shu)
The Western and Eastern Tsin Dynasties (265-420 A.D.)
Northern (439-581 A.D.) and Southern (420-589 A.D.) Dynasties
The Sui Dynasty (581-618 A.D.)
The T'ang Dynasty (618-906 A.D.)
The Five Dynasties (907-960 A.D.)
The Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.)
The Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368 A.D.)
The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.)
The Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1911 A.D.)
Modern China (1911-)
The revolution of 1911 overthrew the government of the Ch'ing Dynasty. The Revolutionary League declared the establishment of the Republic of China. A provisional government at Nanking was organised and Dr. Sun Yat-sen was elected president.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
China, What I know.
China is one of the oldest countries in the world and had a working civilization before most of Europe was inhabited. The Chinese were industrious and advanced a long way. Porcelain potter was first made in China. The Chinese counted their years by Dynasties, which were based off of the ruling family at the time. Some of these dynasties lasted for a thousand years or more. China has a vast amount of different legends, fables, and stories. The Chinese "worshipped" the dragon. Each Chinese year is represented by an animal zodiac. Each year that animal changes, though it does cycle through some twelve animals. I am a sheep, my mom is a boar, my sister is a snake, my aunt is a dragon, and I think that my dad is a horse. The Chinese put great store in your zodiac because it supposedly tells you what kind of a person you are or will be. Mine is pretty accurate and so is my sister's. I think that we are in the year of the ox.
China fell from being and empire and turned into a Communist country. China was one of our biggest fear during the "Red Scare" because we were afraid that they were going to spread the ways of Communism. I don't know a lot about Communism, but I do know that they have no real religion and that is where the Tibetan Monks got into trouble because Tibet is part of china. Taiwan kind of seceded from china and became its own country, I don't think that China is too happy about that. For a while the US had a kind of lease on Hong Kong.
I have a friend from Hong Kong. CC was a foreign exchange student during sophomore year and we had a ball together. She got stuck with a strange family that didn't do a lot so she was around my sister and myself a lot. She was like a little sister. Mr. Bell would make me really mad during PE though, because we would deliberately pretend not to understand what CC was saying to him and when he could see that it was upsetting her he didn't even let up on her. She finally would get so frustrated with him that she would tell me what she wanted to say to him and I would tell him because he couldn't pretend not to understand me. I will admit, CC had a strong accent, but if you actually listened and was patient with her, it was easy enough to understand what she was trying to say to you. I miss CC though.
Fortune cookies are not from china. They were invented in China Town in San Diego or LA ( I can't remember which one it was.
China fell from being and empire and turned into a Communist country. China was one of our biggest fear during the "Red Scare" because we were afraid that they were going to spread the ways of Communism. I don't know a lot about Communism, but I do know that they have no real religion and that is where the Tibetan Monks got into trouble because Tibet is part of china. Taiwan kind of seceded from china and became its own country, I don't think that China is too happy about that. For a while the US had a kind of lease on Hong Kong.
I have a friend from Hong Kong. CC was a foreign exchange student during sophomore year and we had a ball together. She got stuck with a strange family that didn't do a lot so she was around my sister and myself a lot. She was like a little sister. Mr. Bell would make me really mad during PE though, because we would deliberately pretend not to understand what CC was saying to him and when he could see that it was upsetting her he didn't even let up on her. She finally would get so frustrated with him that she would tell me what she wanted to say to him and I would tell him because he couldn't pretend not to understand me. I will admit, CC had a strong accent, but if you actually listened and was patient with her, it was easy enough to understand what she was trying to say to you. I miss CC though.
Fortune cookies are not from china. They were invented in China Town in San Diego or LA ( I can't remember which one it was.
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