QuickWrite: Joy Luck (Stories)

                                                         QuickWrite: Joy Luck (Stories)

                The first story started happy and ended exactly the same tone: happy and cheery. Although she did tell a part in the story that could have shifted the tone dramatically--how the people’s (neighbors and friends) feelings towards them celebrating when there was a war between their people were spiteful and mean spirited, the tone could have completely gone into something much more depressing. However it was not.
                The second story that was told by her mother, was a more sadder story. Completely different from that of the first story. The things that struck the daughter (even after realizing that the story was changed completely), was that there were still some of the same materials or objects from the story before. For example, the mother told of the mahjong table in the first story, where things were happy, then in the second story, where things were a bit more depressing and gloomy, the mahjong table was left behind due to the fact that the mother did not have the strength to carry it with her to safety. The mother also had two babies, who also, did not carry along with her in her search for safety-- Chinese and Japanese war took place at this point. The two babies also stayed along with the mahjong table. Since the stories were true, as the daughter finds out, I think that the message the mother was trying to subliminally send her daughter through them was that strength and courage run throughout the family. Independence is something that grows within their family is also another thing I think she was trying to send to her daughter through telling these stories.
                 So all in all, I think that she was trying to give hope to her daughter that although there are some bad moments in life there are always chances for good moments as well. Never losing sight of what could be good in the future in those times of bad situations I think was one of the main pictures. Overall, I think that since the mother’s stories always seemed to switch and change up, different messages and morals were supposed to be encouragement for her daugher--to see the strength within her own family.

I believe that this paragraph strongly shows racism, even though i am open to the fact that each person is entitled to his or her opinions. The fact that this author puts Chinese mothers, and their teachings of their kids being successful, ahead of other ethnically different women\mothers, gives off an impression that those other mothers are inferior to those of the Chinese. The paragraph That I chose supports my opinion\ point that Chinese mothers in this article are put ahead of other races mothering skills:
"I'm using the term "Chinese mother" loosely. I know some Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Irish and Ghanaian parents who qualify too. Conversely, I know some mothers of Chinese heritage, almost always born in the West, who are not Chinese mothers, by choice or otherwise. I'm also using the term "Western parents" loosely. Western parents come in all varieties. All the same, even when Western parents think they're being strict, they usually don't come close to being Chinese mothers. For example, my Western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practice their instruments 30 minutes every day. An hour at most. For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. It's hours two and three that get tough."
Even though the author does recognize other races as possible canidates for being good mothers, still she is glorifying the mothering skills of the Chinese.

quickwrite orwell. egypt.

       i believe that total dictatorship is the connection  shared between george orwells, animal farm, and the events happening in Egypt. i think that rebellion has similar points in each thing im comparing. In the story, the animals began a revolution with the humans and the farm animals. everything was working out fine between the animals in the beginning. selfishness and a need or strong desire to take control was lurking in a pig named , napoleon who soon announced he was the new head of the farm. napoleon turned out to be just as bad as the farmer who was thrown out of his own farm. so the question of who will rule next is something that applies to the overthrow of egypts dictator and oppressor mubarak. like alexia said, i also agree that these are similarities between the two. “The connections I see between the revolution in Animal Farm and the events in Egypt, Tunisia, and Honduras are the reasons why they chose to overthrow their government/leader. In Animal Farm the animals decided they needed to have a revolution because they felt that the farmers were unfair. In Honduras they felt that their "dictator" they had, Zeleya, was doing things that were unexceptable. The main thing that poeple didn't like was how he was changing the constitution so he could make his term longer. In Animal Farm Napolean does something similar. He starts to eliminate and/or edit the 10 commandments that the animals had originally set together. The reason he did this wasn't because he wanted to make his "term" longer, it was so he would be able to act like a human. Napolean becoming the dictator is similar to the question "who will replace Mubarak?" I think it's similar because the main person that's going to most likely be the dictator after Mubarak is Suleiman. It connects to Animal Farm because after the farmers Napolean became the "dictator" and that's what's going to happen in Egypt. In Animal Farm one corrupt leader led after the other so the outcome of Egypt will probably similar. Something that is also similar is that Mubarak sent Suleiman to calm down the people and that's exactly what Napolean did with Squelar and the animals.”