The Joy Luck Club Video Presentation

Remix of The Joy Luck Club

http://www.mindmeister.com/148737779 

Notes on The Joy Luck Club

vThe purpose

The Joy Luck Club is a place where a group of women can come together once a week to play mahjong.  It was created as a place to exchange stories.
vSeven narrators are featured throughout the novel: Jing-mei Woo, Lena and Ying-ying St. Clair, An-mei Hsu and Rose Hsu Jordan, and Lindo and Waverly Jong.

The memories and stories of each of the mother’s take place in either China before their move to America, or in San Francisco after their emigration.
Their daughters only have memories that occurred in either San Francisco or Oakland.
The time frame of the novel spans from the 1920s, all the way to the 1980s.

Characters
The Woo Family
•Jing-mei Woo: The newest member of the Joy Luck Club
•Suyuan Woo: Founder of the Joy Luck Club
•Canning Woo: Suyuan’s husband and the father of Jing-mei
•Wang Chwun Yu & Wang Chwun Hwa Chwan: Suyuan’s twin daughters from her first husband

The Jong Family
•Lindo Jong: A member of the Joy luck club
•Waverly Jong: Lindo’s youngest child.  Has always been in competition with Jing-mei
•The Jong: Lindo’s second husband, and the father of three of her children
•Vincent Jong: Lindo & Tin Jong’s second child
•Winston Jong: Lindo & Tin Jong’s first child, killed in a car accident at 16
•Huang Tyan-yu: Lindo Jong’s first husband when she lived in China.  It was an arranged marriage
•Huang Taitai: Tyan-yu’s mother who made Lindo’s life miserable while they were married
•Marvin Chen: Waverly’s first husband and the father of Shoshana
•Shoshana Chen: Waverly’s four-year-old daughter
•Rich Schields: Waverly’s white fiancé, which is why their engagement remains secret

Hsu Family
•An-mei Hsu: A member of the Joy luck club
•Rose Hsu: The youngest of An-mei and George Hsu’s three daughters.  Married to Ted Jordan
•Bing Hsu: The youngest of An-mei and George Hsu’s 7 children
•George Hsu: An-Me’s husband the father of Rose
•An-mei’s mother: Through her unfortunate upbringing, she was taught to sacrifice everything for her family
•Popo: An-mei’s grandmother.  Disowned An-mei’s mother when she married Wu Tsing.
•Wu Tsing: A wealthy Chinese merchant.  Anmei’s mother became his third concubine.
•Second Wife: Wu Tsing’s first concubine.  Dominates the household in Tientsin
•Syaudi: The son of An-mei’s mother and her second husband
•Ted Jordan: Rose’s estranged husband

vSt. Clair Family
•Ying-ying St. Clair: A member of the Joy Luck Club
•Lena St. Clair: The only child of Ying-ying and Clifford St. Clair
•Clifford St. Clair: Ying-ying’s second husband
•Ying-ying’s Amah: Her childhood nursemaid
•Harold Livotny: Lena St. Clair’s husband

v Possible themes

The Challenges of Cultural Transitions
•The Joy Luck Club consists of Chinese woman who came to America in hopes of a better life.  Their daughters have an incomplete knowledge of the Chinese language, leading to these barriers between mother and daughter.  In order to understand the meaning of the club, one must understand the history of Chinese culture.
The Power of Storytelling
•In order to learn from another’s mistakes and guarantee that you will never make those same mistakes, one must understand the situation.  It can help others better understand the meaning of life, along with so many other things.
The Problem of Immigrant Identity
•The daughters in the novel begin to struggle with their identity, questioning whether they identify more with their Chinese or American heritage.  As each of them grow older, they grow a desire to learn more about the Chinese culture.

The Joy Luck Club

1. The Joy Luck Club is written by Amy Tan, an American-Chinese woman. Both her parents were born and raised in China, but unlike them, Tan was brought to America by her parents and raised there. She adapted to the American culture while balancing her ancestral traditions. Tan’s personal journey is The Joy Luck Clubpremise. It contains sixteen interwoven stories of mothers and daughters that went through the same obstacles that Tan had endured: the conflict between American-raised daughters and their Chinese immigrant mothers. The story revolves around many relationships, but the main focal point is Jing-mei and her mother, Suyuan. Suyuan recently passed away, and Jing-mei has taken her mother’s place play mahjong in a weekly gathering her mother had organized in China and brought with her to San Francisco: the Joy Luck Club. Jing-mei is also on a mission to reunite with her long lost half-sisters who are back in China. Suyuan was forced to abandon the twins when fleeing from the invading Japanese during WWII. The first four sections of the books are told through the mothers’ point of view. They recall their own relationship with their mothers with perfect recollection and reveal that they are afraid that their own daughters do not have the same intense relationship that they had with their mothers. The next four sections are from the daughters’ point of view. They also recall upon their childhood memories with their mothers, putting to rest their mothers’ fear that they won’t treasure the mother-daughter bond. The Joy Luck Club represents the difficulties of the struggle to maintain the mother-daughter bond across cultural and generational gaps.

2. There were multiple themes within The Joy Luck Club, but the most significant one to me was cultural transition and ethnic identity. This is why the Joy Luck Club is such a safe-haven to them. They are all considered an outsider to the rest of the world, but in the club, they are connected to one another through their differences. The daughters are genetically Chinese, but aren’t true Chinese. Their mothers are “true Chinese” and so the gap between the two can put a strain on the relationship.

3. Tan’s tone throughout the book is evocative, memory-filled with happy thoughts and sometimes remorseful ones. Tan’s words are filled with emotions, whether those emotions are bitter or joyful, they bring out your sensitive side.

“It was only later that I discovered there was a serious flas with the American version. There were too many choices, so it was easy to get confused and pick the wrong thing.”

“I raced down the street, dashing between people, not looking back as my mother screamed shirlly ‘Meimei! Meimei!’ I fled down an alley, past dark, curtained shops and merchants washing grime off their windows.

“My breath came out like angry smoke. It was cold…The alley was quiet and I could see the yellow lights shiningg from our flat like two tiger’s eyes in the night.”

4. 1) Tone: Her tone moved you; I couldn’t not help but feel what the character I was reading about was feeling.

2) Diction: She used bold, emotion-charged words that would help convey the character’s feelings.

3) Syntax: Seeing the story from both the mothers’ and daughters’ view explained many of the missing links between the two. While you understood their problems and what they could do to change it, the characters struggled/thrived on.

4) Symbols: Tan used symbols such as the coy fish in the pond that the mother loved and the goldfish in the bowl that the daughter loved. It represented the gap that the two had and the cultural difference they had even though they were mother and daughter.

5) Imagery, specifically metaphors and similes: Like Tan’s tone, her imagery painted in vivid detail the sorrow, happiness or whatever emotion she was trying to portray.

“. . . . I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught my daughter how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it’s no lasting shame. . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. She learned these things, but I couldn’t teach her about Chinese character . . . How not to show your own thoughts, to put your feelings behind your face so you can take advantage of hidden opportunities. . . . Why Chinese thinking is best.”

“A mother is best. A mother knows what is inside you,” she said. . . . “A psyche-atricks will only make you hulihudu, make you see heimongmong.” Back home, I thought about what she said. . . . These were words I had never thought about in English terms. I suppose the closest in meaning would be “confused” and “dark fog.”But really, the words mean much more than that. Maybe they can’t be easily translated because they refer to a sensation that only Chinese people have. . . .”

“I . . . looked in the mirror. . . . I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind. . . . And then I draped the large embroidered red scarf over my face and covered these thoughts up. But underneath the scarf I still knew who I was. I made a promise to myself: I would always remember my parents’ wishes, but I would never forget myself."

Socratic Seminar Discussion

-- It's a necessary part of life for people to learn from their own mistakes, so they need to forge their own path.
-- Taught to prepare for tests in school….not always a good judgement of what we know
-- Don't be forced into doing things you don't want to…."Your life is your life."


     In high school, it is a requirement by law for you to attend school.  Whether you are home schooled or attend a private school, or whatever it may be, you have to get an education.  When you attend a university, you are paying to attend the institution, so there is a certain level of motivation behind you attending school.  You're no longer focusing on what school you're trying to get in to.  Your main focus is to do your best in the now.
     Memorization is the possibly the toughest task I have had to deal with my entire high school career, especially in this class.  Someone brought up the quote in our discussion about loving what you do, and doing what you love.  When a student was called on to recite our most recent memorization, he nailed it, and it was evident that he truly loved what he was doing.  He may not have been thrilled to memorize a fifty line speech, but he was successful and has developed a skill that will aide him in the long run.
     The video we watched demonstrated that the internet is a major tool in forms of global communication.  The table of one hundred questions that is being organized showed how the internet can bring people together to expand understanding and knowledge.  This is motivating because it gives what we are trying to accomplish with our blogs hope for success.

Article notes: The Serious Need for Play

-- Childhood play is crucial for social, emotional, and cognitive development.

-- "Free play" is the most essential type of play.

-- A shooting by an engineering student at the University of Texas was attributed to his abusive past and not being able to play as a kid.

-- A lack of opportunity for unstructured play can keep children from becoming happy, well-adjusted adults.

-- "Free play" helps cope with stress.  Today it may be losing its standing as a staple for youth.  Concerned about getting their kids into college, parents have sacrificed playtime for structured activities

-- The International Play Association of Denmark was founded to protect and promote fundamental free-time for children.

-- Free play should have no clear goal…..imaginative

-- Play appears to help develop strong social skills; lack of play should impede social development.  It promotes neural development in "higher" brain areas involved in emotional reactions and social learning

play helps kids work through anxiety and stress.

-- Parents should let children be children

Video notes: What is "dropping knowledge?"

-- Internet allows both globalization, localization, and re-localization.
-- "We need to use the internet to talk to each other, to understand each other, encompass other religions, and other views of the world."
-- How do you perceive the world around you?  Something strange and unfamiliar, or something with which you can identify yourself with?  What kind, what form of resistance is effective?  Do you think that increased personal choice for each individual actually leads to more happiness?
-- Every effort to change the world starts with people asking questions, asking why this is so.
-- The round table sought to answer 100 questions:
Are brands more powerful than governments? Some brands are and some brands are governments.
Why are African states less developed than western states? This question deals with power relations around the world and how they are structured.
What does the future you want look like?


If you had one piece of knowledge to give to the world, what would it be?
http://www.droppingknowledge.org/bin/home/home.page

Who was the best rapper? Shakespeare of course!

Remix the Textbook (I): Analyzing Sonnets

Sonnet 69

Pablo Neruda

Translated by Stephan Tapscott

1.  The speaker is a young male, speaking about a young female.  The poem takes place in olden times.  The speaker is confessing his undying love, stating that he is nothing without her.

2.  The sonnet is written in two complete sentences.  It is a romantic sonnet about love, so all of the pieces flow together quite nicely.

3.  The theme is undoubtedly love.  The speaker notes at the end, "and through love I will be, you will be, we'll be."  It is about two people that cannot live without the presence of the other.

4.  The meaning behind the grammar of the sonnet is meant to invoke feelings of romanticism.  There is a part that reads, "…without the light you carry in your hand, golden, which maybe others will not see."  The meaning behind these two lines is to show that they are soul-mates for one another.

5.  The sonnet begins with the line, "maybe nothingness is to be without your presence."  This figure of speech likens how the speaker would feel without the presence of his love.

6.  The diction is related to words associated with love.  For example, when I think of a red rose (as talked about in the second stanza), I automatically associate that item with love.

7.  The tone verges on desperation.  The speaker continually mentions that he has to have this person in his life, stating that he would be nothing without her.

8.  Imagery and similes are the two literary devices predominantly used.  The second half of the first stanza reads, "like a blue flower, without you walking later through the fog and the cobbles.

9.  Although the structure fits together nicely, the prosidy is rushed, making me think that this sonnet was written as an apology.  I think that the speaker is worried that he will not be able to get his love back, and so is pleading for her forgiveness by quickly stating how much she truly means to him.

Sonnet 18

Francesco Petrarch

      Translated by Noti

1. The dramatic situation is that the speaker cannot convey how beautiful a woman is and how much she means to him through ryhme.  Her beauty cannot be conveyed through mere words.

2. Structure in the poem includes quatrains, and couplets.  There is alos many commas and semi-colons, which is when one thought switches to the next.

3. The theme is beauty.  He is so enthralled in her beauty that he believes it is indescribable. "But no fit polish can my verse attain."

4. Grammar is long, lenghty thoughts. They all are connected to eachother, however.

5. There is much imagery in the poem.  He uses good action verbs which help readers visualize the situation.

6. The diction is romantic, formal language.  There are no colloquilisms.

7. The tone is admiring. He is constantly complimenting the woman.

8. There is a rhetorical question in the poem. "But say what muse can dare so bold a flight?"

9. The procity is a well flowing poem.  The commas and semi- colons help emphasize at the right times.

Sonnet 28

Francesco Petrarch

Anonymous Translator

1.      Dramatic Situation: It is through a female perspective of how to deal with the loss of a lover; first person.  She wants to shut herself from the rest of the world and hide away with her woes for the rest of her life.

2.      Structure:  Sonnet; ABBA rhyming scheme; broken up with commas and semi-colons.

3.      Theme:  The effects of losing a loved one.  She is so depressed she cannot not go on with life; with the end of her love’s life, her life ended as well.

4.      Grammar:  Uses correct grammar, punctuation such as commas and semi-colon to separate the end of a sentence or end of a paragraph.

5.      Imagery:  There us a lot of usage of metaphors, similes and symbolism. She describes losing her love as “alone, and lost in thought, the desert glade…”

6.      Diction:  She uses depressing and sorrowful words such as lingering, shun, anxious, dreary.  They are powerful words that make the reader feel empathy for the woman in the poem.

7.      Tone: Sad and depressing; she has just lost the love of her life and so she expresses such loss through a disheartening tone.

8.      Rhetorical Devices: Pathos and ethos is something that the reader will feel when reading the woman’s loss.

9.      Procidy: All the words flow with one another, and there is a complete start and finish to the poem’s story.