Will you play with Jane?

The beginning of The Bluest Eye holds a very interesting couple of pages. They tell the story of "Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane" who live in a green and white house that has a red door and is pretty. They have a dog and a cat and seem to be very happy overall. Yet, the question that continues to pop up in this cheerful story is "Who will play with Jane?" I noticed that as all of the good descriptions are being presented that questions keeps breaking through. It is there but almost ignored and pushed aside. Jane asks everyone to play, but does anyone really stop to play with her? This story reappears throughout the book, usually at the beginning of chapters. I think that the author, Toni Morrison, is trying to force the reader to remember the words and connect them to the book in general. Could this story be Pecola's internal struggle with wanting so badly to be a child who plays all day? However, she cannot because her surrounding force her to grow up.

Thesis for Paper #1

I want to write about something pertaining to the Breedlove family and how their name contradicts the general perception the reader gets of them. I just dont know how to word it. Any ideas?

Texts in Conversation

When I read through Ralph Waldo Emerson's piece from his "Self-Reliance" essay about trusting thyself, it was as if it fit perfectly with "American Born Chinese." The whole story wraps around the idea that we are who we are and we were made that way for a reason. The quote "Accept the place the divine has providence has found for you" is the exact concept the characters in the book struggle to come to an understanding of. The monkey wants to be a king even though he was brought into the world as a monkey. He eventually learns that this is what he is and to accept it. Jin wants so badly to just fit in with everyone else in his school. He stands out and is made fun of because he is Chinese. When he wakes up and finds that he has transformed in to the typical blonde, blue-eyed boy next door he is pleased and tries to deny who he truly is. His cousin Chin-kee is a constant reminder to him that he wants to escape from. I believe what Emerson meant by writing that great men "predominate in all their being" was the fact that if one embraces who he truly is he will go farther and truly dominate the position of being himself and reach his greatest potentil.

American Born Chinese pt.1

My initial impression of this book was "This is kind of a weird book to be reading, it looks like it's for kids." However, as I continued reading it I got sucked in and couldn't stop. I ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting. So, I'm going to try to only talk about the first half even though I know what happens throughout the entire book. I liked how there was a transition between three completely different stories. The one that I found the most interesting was the boy, Jin Wang, who moved to a new school and his trials of fitting in with that environment. I chose a few panels from the this story to focus on in order to really analyze it piece by piece. Pages 27-29 are a great example of multimodal learning. This scene reveals Jin's experience in the waiting room of the Chinese Herbalist his mother would visit for her allergies. He describes how he listened to the sound of the abacus the Herbalist's wife used to calculate bills. The next panel focuses on the abacus only and "click, clack, clack" is written across the panel. When I read this I could definitely here it immediately. When she stopped to ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up it stopped and picked right back up when the conversation ended. The first panel on page 29 was the most dramatic overall. The "click, clack, clack" stopped a few panels before, she reveals that she has a secret and then.....there is a close up of here face along with a black background to had intensity. What she is saying is very important. It even resonates into the next panel where little Jin is just sitting a staring. You can almost here a nervous "gulp." In the last panel, the Herbalist's wife just goes back to working on her abacus like nothing ever happened.

bell hooks

I don't really even know where to start. She spoke about a lot of very interesting subject matter throughout the clips. In the first part she made the statement that someone who thinks critically can transform regardless of what their background or current situation might be. I believe that an upper middle class individual and a person the grew up in an inner city can have equal amounts of success if they have the drive. If one doesn't think critically about life and what they have to do to rise above their situation...then...of course they wont go anywhere. Does that make sense? An individual who has all the privileges the world has to offer can still fall flat on their face if they don't want something bad enough.

My Analysis of American Gothic

I have seen this painting many times in my life yet I have never really had the chance to give my interpretation of it until now. Everyone tries to pick it apart and analyze every inch of it but, what if it isn't meant for such things? What if it was supposed to be a glimpse into the life of an American family. Thats it. Yes, the house in the background as a strong, angular roof....but do you see many houses with round roofs? This is just a normal home. The colors in the background are also very light and happy. This isn't a tense environment. Yes, the man seems to be standing in front of the woman which does clue the viewer into him being more dominant. He seems to be the leader and provider. Considering that this was painted many years ago, this is not a surprising concept. As far as the woman looking off to the side...well...it might be to show that she is the follower. However, she might be keeping a watchful eye on her children playing in the distance.

Real Books??

What is a real book? Well, it can be many things depending on who you ask. There isn't a set of guidelines hidden somewhere saying what makes a book. I believe that all books are real, it just depends on the audience. Different types of books are appealing to different types of people. Their are children's books that have lots of pictures and color which helps them, being at a young age, to learn and associate words with images. There are books for the older child and pre-teen group, which are simple in their format but lack graphics. So, as we grow and develop we gain experience reading both books with and without pictures. Therefore, as an adult, we are experienced in reading both so we can chose what we would like to pick up. Personally, I enjoy novels that go on for hundreds of pages but I occasionally like to just pick up something that is simple with graphics. There is nothing wrong with that at all. It only becomes questionable when one can only read book with pictures because this is all they know.

Multimodality

I found this article to be very thought provoking. As a pre-nursing student I have taken many science classes that use the multimodal approach to learning. Instead of just listening and taking notes, we have labs where we can actually physically do the experiments that are talked about in textbooks. All of these approaches to learning are very diverse. Some people are visual, some can just listen to a professor speak and completely understand the topic, and others are more hands on. I think it is really important to learn from various methods in order to completely understand a topic. As far as "multisemiotics" and "multiliteracies" go, well....... to be honest, I am slightly confused about this whole topic in general. I don't want to go on writing about something I don't completely understand. Hopefully, my confusion will be clarified a little bit during class discussion.

What is an American?

What is an American? Well, this question definitely will bring up a variety of opinions from different people. Personally, I feel that an American is someone who not only lives in the United States, but is proud to be able to travel anywhere in the world and say that they are an American. They should stand behind their country no matter what the situation and never turn their back on it. Though there are many controversial issues at the forefront in the United States today, a true American should never be ashamed of who they are and where they came from. There are many countries where people are constantly suffering because they lack the freedom that we all overlook so easily. The poem "I Hear America Singing" is a perfect example of pride in one's country. It reveals that no matter the job someone works hard at every day, we each sing the same tune. Though we are all unique individuals we all have one thing in common and that is that we are all Americans.

Two Theories for 9/8/08

Though each of the theories were interesting in their own unique way, the two that stood out most to me were Biographical and Pop Culture. Before I read my first biography I thought that they might not be something I would enjoy. However, after completeing my first book, which was a detailed story of the life of Malcolm X, I found that I was very wrong. It is amazing to learn where someone who made such a dramatic difference in our history came from and the struggles they went through to get where they are today.
The Pop Culture theory is equally as fascinating to me. Knowing what is going on in the world today is just as important as knowing about our history. Not to mention, though I do like learning about traditional views, contemporary is a little more interesting because I feel like I can relate to what is going on.