Chapter 11- So Far From the Bamboo Grove

A major theme that I notice in So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins was that most people tend to go out of their way to help others, even people that they don't really know. For example, Yoko and her family helped that pregnant woman on the train to Seoul. Thet gave her food and water, and Yoko even shared her blanket with the woman. I don't think they even knew that lady's name! Then, shortly after Yoko's and Ko's mother dies, a woman by the name of Mrs. Masuda help them with the burial process as well as offer them living quarters in her family's empty warehouse. Even though Yoko and her family could have saved their food, or Mrs. Masuda, could have ignored them, they chose to be kind and lend a helping a hand.

Amnesty International

As I read the Case Study: Iraq, I felt really bad. I was leading such amazing, pleasurable life compared to those refugees and imigrants! I wanted to help the Iraqi people in Syria and Jordan, where they were saying that supplies weren't enough. I also got rather horrific images from my rather imaginative brain about those peoplle who needed urgent medical care, or were torture survivors. However, my imagination is not broad enough, I couldn't possibly feel the terror and tension these people felt during this time. I could only hope that the US, Uk, and all other states contacted were doing their best to help.

Theme of Red Scarf Girl

I think that the theme of Red Scarf Girl is that no matter what people think of you, you should stand up for what you think is right, and no matter what, and that no matter how horrible life may be, one can still love and hope. The book consistently shows examples of these. For instance, one time, when Ji-Li went to change her name so that she and her family wouldn't be persecuted. However, when she found out that changing her name would mean making a clean break with her family, she ran away from the Red Guard. Obviously, she would rather be tortured than stay away and not protect her family. The story also hints that though sometimes she hated her landlord family, no matter what, she still loved them very much.

Response Paragraph on Red Scarf Girl

The book I'm reading is called Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang, and is the memoir of the story of Ji-Li during the cultural revolution. She and her family are considered black whelps because of the bourgeois lifestyle they led. Ji-Li thought this was unfair, and personally, so did I. Why were she and her family treated unkindly just because the generations before them in their family exploited many people? Ji-li was successful in all of her schoolwork, and hard-working as well. I didn't understand why her future, hopes, and dreams should be limited by the Cultural Revolution. I thought the Cultural Revolution was cruel, and almost utterly pointless. It was a power struggle in the upper-classes and did nothing to benefit the people.

Main Character

The main character of the story Ties that Break, Ties that Bind by Lensey Namioka is Ailin Tao. The story of her life starts when she is four years old, at a time when girls must bind their feet. However, Ailin is hard-headed and stubborn, so she won't follow this ancient practice without a fight. She is also angry and shows internal bitterness as well as resentment to the fact that men could do so much more than girls in China. However, though she is spirited and mischievous, she is still kind and considerate of others. She is also very pretty and clever, and can also mimic sounds quite well. Overall, Ailin is a kind, but headstrong girl who refuses to considered lower than men.

Setting of Ties the Break, Ties that Bind

This story was most likely set in the past, during the revolutionary, when times were changing in China. The story is about a girl named Ailin, who was a daughter in the wealthy Tao family in Nanjing, China. The main character is a girl named Ailin, who lives withing the aristocratic Tao family. The mood of the story starts out as lively and happy in the view of Ailin, who was mischeivous and loved to run. The story gets more serious as I found at that girls in Ailin's time had to follow an ancient tradition of foot-binding, which at the same time was pure agony and reduced their feet to pitiful three-inch stumps. Ailin's early life is mostly in her large home, with her running and hiding in the lush gardens.

The Scholarship Jacket

The Scholarship Jacket is a story by Marta Salinas and is about a Mexican girl named Martha. Every year in Texas, a scholarship jacket was presented to the class valedictorian. This scholarship jacket was about the only object in Martha's mind. She was a skinny girl, and not very pretty either. However, she was incredibly smart and had maintained an A plus average in her eight years of school. That year, all her hopes came crashing down. She overheard a conversation between two arguing teachers, about how the jacket should be given to Joann, since her father was part of the Board and also owned the only shop in town. The next day the principle called her in, telling her that the scholarship jacket was going to cost fifteen dollars, and if she couldn't pay for it, it would be given to the runner-up. Martha left school tearfully, and was even more heartbroken when her a Grandfather said she couldn't have the money. She wept her heart out in the bathroom, though she knew her Grandfather was right when he said that she shouldn't have to pay for something she earned. The next day, she dejectedly told the principle that she couldn't have the scholarship jacket and explained why. She made a slip-up as she was about to exit the office and mentioned Joann's name. The principal, feeling guilty told Martha that she would have the scholarship jacket. So, in the end, Martha knew that she earned her jacket, and hadn't purchased it.

The theme of this story that I recognized was that when you earn something, it doesn't mean you purchase it. Just like the scholarship jacket was to be earned and not purchased. Martha had the best grades in her school, and to represent that, she was supposed to get the jacket. Instead, since Joann's father had a higher social status than Martha's father, so it would have benefited the school to present Joann with the jacket. So, to make their (not that Martha didn't already know the plan) plan work subtly, the priced the jacket fifteen dollars. Obviously this wasn't right, since originally a scholarship was meant to be free. The author explains this through Martha's grandfather's wise words, "Then if you pay for it, Martha, it's not a scholarship jacket anymore is it?".
Those simple words summed up the entire theme to me.