My lit seminar was spanned over the course of two days due to the delayed opening. I think that the first day of my seminar went really well. On the first day we only had time to cover one of my questions. That question was :
Amy Tan used the expression pulled through the wall twice in this chapter, in the beginning and at the end what do you think she meant by this statement?
This question took up all the time i had on the first day. The class had diverse definitions; one person said that the side they were being pulled through to was a worse side than the side they were pulled from. Another person interpreted it as being pulled into someone else's shoes. Another one of my class mates stated that the wall is a metaphor for understanding. I agree with all of these statements. Especially with the one about understanding. That one side could be really bad because you do not understand, but once you go to the other side you understand it is much worse than taking the heat without understanding.
My third question was:
How is the dad in a misplaced state in the family?
What I really should have said was:
Which member of the family do you think is the most misplaced and why?
Many people, even though I said father, disagreed and said that the mother was the most misplaced. Some people also said that Lena was the most misplaced and stuck in the middle of two worlds; her mother's Chinese world and her father's American world.
Please state who you think is the most misplaced give a reason too.
My second question was:
What was the significance of the little girl in this chapter?
This question was on the second day and was the very first thing asked. I do not know if people were just tired or did not understand the question but it unfortunately did not spark a lot of conversation. I will try rephrasing the question now and if this makes any more sense comment your ideas and get some extra credit!:
The little girl in this chapter played a large role in Lena's life. She played a large role even though she only talks to her once. How does this little girl help Lena understand the death of her grandfather better by grasping the concept of being pulled through the wall?
I have one more question that i did not ask in my seminar but i think it is a good question:
Lena has a relationship with both of her parents; which parent do you think that Lena has a better relationship and why and why is the relationship with the other not as great. Does Lena's relation ship with either parent remind you of another relationship in this book? Explain.
I personally like this question and thought i was too long for class, but i wish i used it. Please comment your thoughts and ideas about this question.
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3 comments:
I think the mother is the most misplaced because she is not used to the American culture. She still sticks to her Chinese ways and does not want to have anything to do with the American culture causing her to be misplaced.
To answer your third question, I think Lena has more of a relationship with her mother. In the book she does not talk about her father as much. Her mother plays a big role in her life, even though their cultural differences get in the way of their relationship.
While I agree with Narcissus about Ying-ying being misplaced because of her stubbornness in keeping to old Chinese ways and not accepting the new, American ways, I believe the father is not any less misplaced. Ying-ying knew her place was to leave China for America, and it's not like she was the only Chinese immigrant to hold to older ways. The father, however, did not need to find a Chinese wife like Ying-ying needed to escape to America. The part he played was the most unnecessary, and some could see that as misplaced. Also, he understands his wife less than Lena does, isolating him more. Though, to be fair, Ying-ying understands him less than Lena, so on that point both are more isolated than Lena.
On Narcissus's point on the father's less mentioned role, the story is based on the relationships between daughter and mother, and how these relationships grow, change, and symbolize the similarities between the two. The father plays a smaller part because he does not fit into the basic theme of the story. One might argue that this isolates him more from the family, but one must remember that he is only secluded in the matters of the book, which focuses on the mother-daughter relationship. He could play a greater role in more every-day life circumstances.
All in all, the father is the most misplaced/isolated, mostly because of the book's skewed vision, which hones in on the mothers and daughters and only mentions the outside environment when it is convenient to the theme being shown through a chapter.
I feel as though the father is the most misplaced of the three because he is not Chinese, and therefore, doesn't have that cultural bond which is a big theme in the book. In the last story, Jing-mei Woo talks alot about the different feeling she gets from being in China and surrounded by the culture there. Like Jing-mei, I think that Lena and her mother still share that common Chinese bond which cannot be understood by her father.
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