Today in class I reviewed each essay before students sent the assignment to me to make sure it was correct. Some students came in later and missed this long process (smile). If you got to class afterward, ask a classmate to show you theirs before you send your assignment into me.
We then got into "Lit Circles" to discuss Girl in Translation.
The in-class Cyber-Assignment is to look at themes in GIT and write a three paragraph-essay about it. use 3-citations, one per paragraph. Post here and respond to a classmate's post (group post).
Homework
1. Read chapters 6, 7, 8 (up to page 182).
2. Cyber-Assignment: The book lends itself to a hero's journey. Imagine Kimberly with her cape and sword.
What is her kryptonite(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptonite)? Are there villains and other heroes in the story? Who is the love interest? What challenges does Kimberly face of her own creation and that of others like her aunt and her teacher(s), her mother, American of western cultural values vs. Chinese or eastern culture?
Reflect on Kimberly as the flawed heroine in three paragraphs. Respond to a classmate's analysis.
As an aside think about how character development in a novel differ from that in a short story? Don't forget to respond to Tuesday's cyber-assignment re: review and reading the author's website for background information. I had an interview with Jean Kwok. I will post a link here later. It was on my radio show when she was on a book tour: wandaspicks.asmnetwork.org or blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks
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18 comments:
Tia Gangopadhyay
Arjmand Khan
Angela Stokes
Jacqueline Diulio
June Yee
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B 9-10:50 AM
22 September 2011
“Girl in Translation” Analysis
Jean Kwok’s “Girl in Translation” emphasizes the Chinese traditions of honor and repaying debts. Aunt Paula arranges for Kimberly and her mother to immigrate to America from Hong Kong for the sake of family honor, regardless of how she personally feels about her younger sister (Kimberly’s mom). She is bitter and resentful towards her younger sister because Aunt Paula was forced to marry a Chinese American and immigrate to America because her younger sister had a love marriage. Aunt Paula believes that Kimberly’s mom owes her for all that she has done for her younger sister, from marrying the man that Kimberly’s mom (Ma) was supposed to marry, to paying for her medical treatments and her green card. This internal hatred and spite makes Aunt Paula treat Ma and Kimberly harshly, having them work at a sweatshop with very little pay, and forcing them to pay interest on fees that they owe her and her husband, Uncle Bob (Kwok 74). In addition, she forces Ma and Kimberly to live in an apartment that is not suitable to live in, with no heating and an infestation of rodents.
Because of this idea of repaying debts, Ma wordlessly accepts her job at the sweatshop and her living conditions. When Kimberly gets frustrated with Aunt Paula and tells her mother to run away from the situations that they are faced with, Ma teaches Kimberly:
Ma’s eyes were intense. “And our debt to her, then? She brought us here, ah-Kim. She spent the money to cure me, for our green cards and tickets. It’s not a question of what we can get away with, it’s a question of honor.” “To her?” I tugged at a lock of my hair, frustrated by Ma and her integrity. “She’s given us housing and a job. She’s my sister and your aunt. And no matter how flawed someone else may be, that doesn’t give us the right to be less than we are, does it? We are decent people and we repay our debts.” (Kwok 88)
This belief that they owe Aunt Paula reoccurs repeatedly, as Aunt Paula continues to treat them harshly and Ma reinforces to Kimberly the necessity of repaying debts.
Aunt Paula does not feel the need to share her wealth and success with her sick younger sister or her niece, but rather she treats them like any other worker in her factory. Kimberly and Ma tries to understand her and her pain by thinking that “she had been kind enough to allow us to share in her good fortune” (Kwok 10). However, as the story progresses, Kimberly and Ma find more and more examples of Aunt Paula’s unnecessary rudeness, hatred, and spite.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. Penguin Books, Ltd. New York: 2010.
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Alexander Jung
Igor Soares
Adetona Adewale
Nick Malecek
Joe Quattrocchi
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201B 9:00-10:50 T/Th
25 September 2011
Girl in Translation: Write up on the theme Jealousy/Envy
The book “Girl in Translation,” by Jean Kwok, portrays the life of a Chinese immigrant family adapting to the American lifestyle through the characters Kimberly and her mother. Kwok presents multiple themes in her book and one of the themes that is seen is the theme of jealousy. While both Kimberly and her mother slowly situate themselves in New York City, Kimberly begins to show some feelings of envy and jealously towards others. One example of this happens during her elementary school years. After Kimberly befriends a girl named Annette, Annette invites Kimberly to her house. Kimberly finds that Annette’s apartment is completely different from her own home and is very nice to live in. Because of how Kimberly’s apartment is run down, the experience at Annette’s house make Kimberly dream about going and staying at Annette’s house from time to time (Kwok 73). Kimberly feels a sense of envy due to her friends living condition which is why she fantasizes living with Annette for a bit. Even before Kimberly went to Annette’s house, Kimberly wanted to move to another place to live so by going to Annette’s house she reinforced that feeling and also became a little envious of Annette.
Although Kimberly feels some jealousy she is also a person who is envied. Once Kimberly is about to graduate from her elementary school, she is accepted to go to Harrison Prep. Because Kimberly receives her mail from her aunt, Kimberly’s Aunt finds out that Kimberly is going to Harrison Prep. Kimberly’s aunt becomes furious and says to Kimberly and her mom “You’re going to Harrison Prep? The two of you did this behind my back?” (Kwok 119). Kimberly’s aunt is mad with jealously because her own son could not make it into Harrison Prep but Kimberly was able to. Kimberly’s aunt feels that her son should be smarter than Kimberly.
Once Kimberly goes to Harrison Prep, there is a greater sense of jealousy coming from her aunt. Kimberly and her mother are invited to Kimberly’s aunt house in which her aunt talks to Kimberly about going to Harrison Prep. During their conversation Kimberly is pressured by her aunt’s son to tell everyone her grades in which the scene goes as,
“’I know. So what did you get?’ he said. I was ashamed but I had to be honest. ‘A sixty-seven.’ Nelson beamed. Uncle Bob paused in the middle of feeding Godfrey a spoonful of rice. ‘Aaah.’ Aunt Paula breathed out. There was relief and satisfaction in her sigh”(Kwok 148).
Kimberly’s aunt feels a sense of relief because Kimberly did not do so well on her test. Kimberly’s aunt still feels jealous that Kimberly was able to go to a well-known private school while her son was not given the opportunity in which she shows her jealousy through her sigh of relief.
Kwok uses the theme jealously throughout the early parts in her story and later on in the story the theme will reoccur on multiple occasions.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. Penguin Books, Ltd. New York: 2010.
Jacqueline Diulio
Professor Sabir
English 1B
26 September 2011
Heroes and Villains
In the novel “Girl in Translation,” by Jean Kwok, told the story of a young girl’s attempt to make it in America as a new immigrant from Hong Kong. Although Kimberly Chang, the main character in the story, is forced to conform to modern customs of America, she must also try to keep her mores and traditions from Hong Kong. As Kimberly attended school she began to conform to American practices through her best friend, Annette, while her mother remained in her familiar and usual customs from Hong Kong. Because of her mother’s inability to adapt to America’s modern customs, Kimberly was forced to be both the child and the parent.
I grew into the space that Ma’s foreignness left vacant. She hadn’t learned any more English, so I took over everything that required any kind of interaction with the world outside of Chinatown. I pored over our income tax forms every year, using documents the factory provided for us. I read the fine print repeatedly, hoping I was doing it right (161-162).
Kimberly became the savior and hero to her Ma, because, without Kimberly, Ma would have had no chance of survival in the ever-changing world.
Although Kimberly managed to get by on her progressive English skills, she urgently tried to fit in with the other children at school. She became sidetracked when she found a note on the ground from one of the “popular” kids at school. Thinking the note was for her, she picked it up only to find a cheat sheet to the science test the class was about to take. When the teacher found the cheat sheet in Kimberly’s possession, the teacher automatically assumed Kimberly was trying to cheat. In Kimberly’s desperate attempt to fit in, she risked getting expelled and did not tell on the Tammy, the girl who dropped the cheat sheet. “I knew I could be expelled when I was completely innocent. Why couldn’t I open my mouth to tell them the truth” (156)? If it weren’t for Curt, another classmate, who confirmed the fact that Kimberly merely found the cheat sheet on the ground, Kimberly would have been expelled and lost her scholarship to Harrison Prep, the private school she was attending.
While keeping up with school, Kimberly is also forced to keep up with her mothers’ factory work to ensure her mother wouldn’t get fired. Kimberly’s Aunt Paula, the factory manger, ensured to make both Ma and Kimberly’s life as difficult as possible by lowing the wages they were paid per skirt. When Kimberly tried to lash out to fight the unfair punishments put on by her Aunt, Paula simply makes it clear that she did not care whether or not Kimberly and her mother remained at the factory (171). Aunt Paula’s unjust attitude towards Kimberly and Ma influenced Kimberly to do better in school to ensure to save her mother from the hardships of the factory. Kimberly’s heroic attitude shows throughout the story, always trying to do her best for one main purpose: to save her mother from the factory and to make Ma’s life easier. Kimberly never gave up on her fight to save her mother although she was much too young to deal with many of the struggles she faced.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. New York: Penguin Group, 2010. Print.
Angela Stokes
Professor Sabir
English 1B
26 September 2011
Girl in Translation
Although we should feel sorry for Aunt Paula, I don’t; simply because she is not a good example of Chinese family values. Yes she was probably forced to marry Uncle Bob for the sake of her parents, whose plan was already in place. Ma chose to marry for love and her daughter is now suffering the consequences for that action. Kimberly could be looked at as a hero in this story because she has been forced to carry the load for both herself and her mother. She starts out by going to school where she is no longer the top student and has to relearn everything that she has worked for. Ma is trying her best to help her daughter by working but then relies on Kimberly to do practically everything else “If Ma needed to buy something at a store or to make a complaint or a return, I had to do it for her.” (Kwok 162)
Even after getting accepted into Harrison Prep, Aunt Paula seems (word for hater) saying, “little sister, I am surprised you let Kimberly hold on to her hope when you must suspect how much this school costs! You should throw that application form away! Even Nelson couldn’t get accepted there and it is too late anyway.” (Kwok 118) The funny part was Kimberly had already gotten into school and both she and her mother sat and listened to Aunt Paula attempt to knock her down. Paula is so hell bent on not wanting her sister to be better than her and it shows by constantly reminding Ma and Kimberly all of what she has done for them.
I praise Kimberly for being able to recognize her aunts true colors and maintain her dignity; up to a point. Although she has excelled in school, Kimberly still doubts herself saying, “If they were pretty, than what was I?” (Kwok 136) and craves the same social attention other classmates receive. The true constant in Kim's life is Matt and we see more of them connecting, her falling in love with her friend not even knowing it. My prediction; Kimberly's ambitions in school, work and the need to fulfill her mothers dreams for her out weigh her love for Matt and she will repeat Paula's life of not following her heart.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation
Penguin Books, Ltd. New York: 2010.
Adetona Adewale
Professor Sabir
Eng 1B
26 September 2011
Kimberly’s Kryptonite Response
Kimberly’s kryptonite would mostly likely be dishonoring her mother and failing to live up to her full potential. In my opinion there are definitely villains and heroes in the story because just about each and every chapter had at least one. A couple a villains that come to mind right away are Luke and Aunt Paula because they both tried to intimidate not only Kimberly, but anyone else they consider their subordinate as well. Some heroes would have to be Kimberly herself and her Ma because they would both cover for one another all the time and even Aunt Paula can be seen as sort of an heroes too because she did help Kimberly and her Ma come to America to be employed in her husband’s factory. As far as love interest go matt would have to be the primary prospect for Kimberly and her classmate Tyrone is also attractive looking to her too. The many challenges that she faces are things such as, self doubt, cultural assimilation, classism, bilingualism, general common place insecurities, and many other things of that nature.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. New York: Riverhead, 2010. Print.
Adetona Adewale
Professor Sabir
Eng 1B
26 September 2011
Kimberly’s Kryptonite Response
Kimberly’s kryptonite would mostly likely be dishonoring her mother and failing to live up to her full potential. In my opinion there are definitely villains and heroes in the story because just about each and every chapter had at least one. A couple a villains that come to mind right away are Luke and Aunt Paula because they both tried to intimidate not only Kimberly, but anyone else they consider their subordinate as well. Some heroes would have to be Kimberly herself and her Ma because they would both cover for one another all the time and even Aunt Paula can be seen as sort of an heroes too because she did help Kimberly and her Ma come to America to be employed in her husband’s factory. As far as love interest go matt would have to be the primary prospect for Kimberly and her classmate Tyrone is also attractive looking to her too. The many challenges that she faces are things such as, self doubt, cultural assimilation, classism, bilingualism, general common place insecurities, and many other things of that nature.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. New York: Riverhead, 2010. Print.
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201B 9:00-10:50 T/Th
26 September 2011
A Hero’s Journey: Girls in Translation
The novel “Girl in Translation,” by Jean Kwok, tells a story about a young girl named Kimberly and her mother immigrating to the United States and also trying to adapt and assimilate into American culture while. Kwok’s novel can be seen as a story depicting the concept of the hero’s journey in which Kimberly is portrayed as the hero. Unlike other stories where the hero is bestowed with a certain task and destined with greatness, Kimberly does not know what to do at first and must slowly uncover her purpose in life is and what she is destined for. With that being said, Kimberly does have to face multiple challenges in her life due to the cultural difference and flaws she has. One problem that Kimberly has is her ability to speak the English language. Kimberly herself states that “I had to perfect her English” (Kwok 90). This flaw in Kimberly ties in with the cultural difference she has with Americans and proves to cause some problems and misunderstandings for Kimberly during school. Although this proves to be a challenge for Kimberly, just like many other heroes in stories, she is able to overcome this challenge which enables her to help her mother and progress in school.
Another flaw that Kimberly has is that she cannot fully be honest with people. She does talk to Annette about some things in her life but not everything. Kimberly does not tell Annette that she is very poor and also does not tell her that she does not have a phone even though Annette asks Kimberly for her number. Not only is Annette the only person who asks Kimberly for her number but so does one of her classmates at Harrison Prep. Kimberly’s classmate asks Kimberly and Kimberly tells her that her number changed and then says to her classmate that the phone line is broken when her classmate asks her again (Kwok 149). Kimberly does not want to be fully honest with people because she does not want people to know about her living conditions. Even though she does this because she feels embarrassed about her living situation, she does cause some pain to others by not being honest. Once Kimberly grows older, she only then begins to open up herself more to people.
Even though Kimberly is seen as a flawed hero, she is also a person with a great heart. While both Kimberly and her mother faced hardships in the United States, Kimberly was able to adapt while her mother was not able to. Because of this Kimberly helps her mom when it comes to dealing with things with English in which Kimberly states that
“She hadn’t learned any more English, so I took over everything that required any kind of interaction with the world outside of Chinatown.[…] If Ma needed to buy something at the store or make a complaint or a return, I had to do it for her” (Kwok 162).
Kimberly knows that her mother cannot function by herself in America so Kimberly assists her in her daily life. Kimberly cares for her mom deeply and wants to ensure that her mom can get everything she needs.
Kimberly overall can be seen as a real person in that she has both multiple flaws but also qualities that are praiseworthy. She is not portrayed as a perfect person but as a typically human being trying to get by in life.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. Penguin Books, Ltd. New York: 2010.
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 B 9:00-10:50 T/Th
26 September 2011
Response to a classmate.
In response to Jacqueline’s post, I agree that Kimberly shows heroic attitude throughout the novel. Even though there was much hardship that Kimberly and her mother had to face, Kimberly still took the effort to always help her mom out when needed. She also always aims for success in order to help the family in the future. Because of this quality in taking a heroic attitude, she is truly portrayed as a hero of this novel.
Tia Gangopadhyay
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B 9-10:50 T/Th
26 September 2011
Response to a Classmate
I found the analysis done by my fellow classmates (Alexander Jung, Igor Soares, Adetona Adewale, Nick Malecek, Joe Quattrocchi) very insightful. However, while I agree that Kimberly is envied, I don’t believe that Kimberly is a jealous girl. She does get impressed by Harrison Prep school and Annette’s house and even wishes to live with Annette, but that is her own fantasy or wishful thinking, not jealousy. On the contrary, I found that despite her many hardships and obstacles, she is never spiteful or angry because of her circumstances. Overall, however, I found the group’s analysis detailed and perceptive.
Tia Gangopadhyay
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B 9-10:50 T/Th
26 September 2011
Flawed Heroine
Jean Kwok’s novel, Girl in Translation, tells the story of a young girl, Kimberly, who emigrates from Hong Kong to America with her mother. Trying to assimilate American values and customs into her and her mother’s life, she struggles with fitting in. Kimberly is clearly the hero of the story. However, unlike the typical hero, she is not given extraordinary skills or talents or even portrayed as a rebel or martyr. Rather, she often remains silent when an injustice is done when she should speak up and defend herself and those around her. However, despite these flaws, as well as her glaring weakness: her desire to fit in, she is still inevitably the hero. Her “kryptonite” is her desire to fit in with her classmates, to be popular, and to conform to the American culture. This is shown to be her weakness when she is caught holding a cheat sheet during an exam that she picked up thinking it was a note passed to her by a friend. Even when she is wrongly accused of cheating, she does not stand up for herself. She knows that she could lose her place at Harrison Prep even though she did nothing wrong, but she did not have the courage to speak up and tell the school officials the truth. She wanted to be a part of the circle of friends that attended her school so badly that she risked everything that meant anything to her (Kwok 156). Risking true values and lacking the courage to speak up for the right thing do not seem to be qualities befitting a hero. However, Kimberly faces her own multitude of villains and rises above them.
Aunt Paula is the primary villain of the story, giving Kimberly and Ma such a difficult time at work, and forcing them to pay interest on loans she gave them, and giving them such poor living conditions that they suffer inhuman treatment daily. Kimberly’s first teacher, Mr. Bogart is also a villain. He causes her so much grief for not being accustomed to American culture and not being fluent in English. Rather than protecting her from the taunts and insults of her classmates, he insults her as well. Similarly, many of her classmates play the roles of villains, teasing her endlessly. Kimberly takes on the dominating role of a hero as she defends herself to a bully in her class named, Greg. Regardless of how nervous she was, “up to the last moment, I wasn’t sure if I would be brave enough to see my plan through,” (Kwok 144) she went through with her plan and defended herself in front of all her classmates in such a clever way that she eliminated his teasing from her life forever. Just as there are multiple villains in the story, there are also multiple heroes other than Kimberly. Annette, for example, is a wonderful girl. She stands up for Kimberly and herself from the beginning. She knows her values and abides by them. Matt, is also a young man full of compassion and respect. He is hardworking and caring, especially towards Kimberly. Later on, the teachers at Harrison Prep also play the roles of heroes in Kimberly’s life, allowing her to progress and improve. With all these other heroes and villains, it is easy for Kimberly’s role as a hero to get lost. Kimberly is a flawed heroine because she is conflicted. She creates her own challenges because of her tendency to blurt out whatever comes into her mind, her tendency to believe whatever people tell her, and her desire to fit in. In her desires to fit in, she finds herself in a host of problems. Later on, in her efforts to get herself and Ma out of the factory, she tries to package more clothes faster thinking that if Aunt Paula sees her efficiency, she will treat Kimberly and her mother. On the contrary, Aunt Paula decreases their income. In this way, Kimberly often creates challenges herself that she must face on her own.
Flawed Heroine Continued
As another aspect of the novel, Kimberly also has an attraction towards Matt, a young boy that works at the factory with her mother and her. However, again, Kimberly creates a challenge of her own creation: she starts a fight that Matt involves himself in, resulting in his demotion to working as a steamer in the factory. Despite her many flaws, however, Kimberly is a heroine because her true intention is to get her mother and herself out of the factory. She is kindhearted and genuine. She sacrifices her every desire for her mother and her well being.
She hadn’t learned any more English, so I took over everything that required any kind of interaction with the world outside of Chinatown. I pored over our income tax forms every year, using documents the factory provided for us. I read the fine print repeatedly, hoping I was doing it right (161-162).
In this way, it is evident how selfless and heroic Kimberly really is. She tries to help Ma out in every possible way she can because she knows how much Ma is struggling. So while Kimberly struggles with her desire to fit in, her own insecurities about herself and her circumstances, as well as her struggles with villains in the story (Aunt Paula, Mr. Bogart, etc.) she is a hero because of her willingness to sacrifice herself for her mother, as well as her integrity, high standards of morality, and her sole motivation to give her mother a better life. Kimberly is the novel’s flawed heroine, developed over the course of the entire story, through situations and descriptions, contrary to a character in a short story where either the author directly states the characteristics of a character or readers are left to interpret.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. Penguin Books, Ltd. New York: 2010. Print.
Tia Gangopadhyay
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B 9-10:50 T/Th
26 September 2011
Response to a Classmate
In response to Alexander Jung’s post, I completely agree that Kimberly’s lack of honesty shows her insecurities and a major moral flaw that plays into her “flawed” heroine role. I also agree that it is her kind heart that makes her a praiseworthy heroine. The fact that she can be so loving and caring, despite her circumstances says a lot about what kind of person she is, how she was raised and what kind of values and moral she has.
Nick Malecek
Professor Sabir
English 1B 9:00-10:50am T/Th
26 September 2011
Kimberly’s Kryptonite
Like essentially every heroine in their adventures, Kimberly from “Girl in Translation” is weakened by certain vulnerabilities, or kryptonite as you will. One part of Kimberly’s kryptonite is the suffocating restrictions of her domestic life. Whether this weakness is a product of her creation or not is subjective, but one is free to speculate on how the poison arrow is so well aimed at her Achilles tendon. I suspect that these burdens are a result of a dangerous combination of circumstances within her influence, and those that are beyond her control.
Kimberly’s most prominent kryptonite is her domestic situation. No one can deny the seriousness of her situation or the potential of havoc it could easily cause in her life. She carries the burden of a secret suffering that she does not dare to reveal to her peers at school. This struggle is made apparent frequently in her daily trials, such as this situation with her fellow students:
On the rare occasions when I was invited somewhere, I made excuses without ever trying to ask Ma for permission. I kept a deliberate distance from the other girls because I knew it would inevitably lead to an invitation to their house, and I wouldn’t be able to go. I already snuck off once in a while to see Annette; I couldn’t fit anyone else in. (Kwok, page 207)
But how much of this issue is created by Kimberly herself? She chooses to keep her poverty a secret, thinking that she is protecting herself by doing this. However, by choosing not to tell anyone including Annette about her life, she is creating a bigger problem for herself. Annette could become her confidant, her sidekick, and a source of support in her struggles. Kimberly also had to deal with the expectation of western culture to purchase and wear store-bought clothes, which she does not have the money to purchase. Kimberly overcomes much adversity in her life, yet she is instantly weakened by the struggle to fit in among a society of privileged families who can afford to buy anything they may need. This is something that is probably beyond her control, and persists in being a major distraction for her.
While a majority of Kimberly’s limitations are beyond her control, she has some that may be perpetuated by herself. Kimberly should learn to trust others for a source of support. The amount of shame is not worth keeping yourself locked away from people who care about you.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. New York: Riverhead, 2010. Print.
Nick Malecek
English 1B
T/Th 9:00-10:50am
Professor Sabir
21 September 2011
Jacqueline:
Although you did not explicitly say that Aunt Paula was the villain of the story, I think it was implied since the title of your response was "Heroes and Villains". I sincerely agree with this opinion. Aunt Paula has done nothing but oppose Kimberly and her mother since they arrived in America.
I think it becomes more and more clear as the story progresses that Aunt Paula does not care about the welfare of Kim and Ma, such as the instance you cited where Aunt Paula told them that she didn't care whether they stayed at the factory or not.
Arjmand Khan
Professor Sabir
English 1 A
27 September 2011
Hero's Journey
“Girl in Translation” is about Kimberly, the main character, overcoming the difficulties surrounding her. Coming from a background that is completely different compared to where she lives now, she has a hard time settling in. However, instead of giving up, she is driven by the motivation to take care of her mother and to improve their condition. “This was a chance to get both Ma and me out of the factory, out of that apartment, and I realized I wanted it desperately”(105). She constantly reminds herself of the goal she has to achieve when she feels hopeless or defeated.
Aside from the cultural differences that she experiences, she also finds out that her Aunt Paula is not what she considered her to be. She is one of the villains that Kimberly faces and forces her to overcome the challenges she faces. She has a dark side and wants Kimberly and her mom to live a miserable life:
We were still paying Aunt Paula back and it was clear that she simply did not care to move us. As far as she was concerned, it was most convenient and best to leave us where we were. And the truth is,caught up in the vortex of work and school, we had become too exhausted o fight against the roaches and mice, our frozen limbs the stuffed animal clothing, and life in front of the open oven. (157)
Kimberly realizes this and becomes even more ambitious in order to get out of the vicious circle that her Aunt has placed Kimberly and her mom in. Luckily, Kimberly also makes a friend. Annette, her best friend who is American, helps Kimberly during difficult times and it is because of her that she doesn't give up and looks forward to the future.
Since Kimberly's mom works for Paula and needs help finishing the work, she tells Kimberly to join her after school. It is there when Kimberly meets Matt who is described as a handsome guy with a good heart (173). She starts developing a crush on him since he helps her a few times and even volunteers to show her and her mom around. It is unclear if he is the main love interest of Kimberly but readers can certainly interpret her feelings as love towards him. Even though Matt might be the love interest of Kimberly, her main source of determination is her mom who she has to protect and has to take care of. It is because of her mom that she tries to overcome the impossible and therefore is her hero. Her mom also acts as a hero sometimes since regardless of her social skills, she stands up for her daughter and gives her a sense of security. Kimberly's weakness is the barrier between her American life and her Chinese life. She is afraid of people finding out what her living condition is like and similarly is afraid of letting her mom face what she has to go through. She has these two different worlds that she tries to keep separate and feels like she will be exposed and helpless if these worlds clash.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. New York: Riverhead Books, 2010. Print
Arjmand Khan
Professor Sabir
English 1B
28 September 2011
In response to Nick Malecek's
post, I agree with the part where you said that Kimberly is making things more difficult by not sharing what her life is like. I think she is doing that to fit in. She wants to be accepted and thinks that she is going to lose her best friend and her privileges that she already has. From her perspective, the fear of not being accepted is far greater. So I guess in a way, she thinks its better to keep her life a secret and not lose what she already has.
Melvin Arquero
Prof. Sabir
English 1B 9-10:50 AM
22 September 2011
"Girl In Translation"
Jean Kwok's novel "Girl In Translation" follows the immigrant life maturation of a young girl named, Kimberly. This semi-autobiographical narrative lends many qualities that renders the heroine, Kimberly as a literary hero. Equipped with villains, helpers, and a love interest, the author successfully delivers a very poignant novel.
Kimberly is the heroine of the book for many reasons. Following Vladimir Propp's functions of a hero, Kimberly embodies the attributes that defines her as a hero. First, she was removed from her home and was placed in a new environment. In addition, much like a normal literary hero, she is presented with many tribulations, and of course, villains. It is through these challenges, that our hero, Kimberly, must rise to the occasion to defeat these "villains". As the story progressed, one can definitely point out that the heroine accomplishes all of what a literary hero would accomplish.
The main villain in the novel is represented by Aunt Paula. Ironically enough, Aunt Paula is Kimberly's aunt. Because of Aunt Paula's selfishenss and wickedness towards Kimberly and her mother, she quickly assumes the role of the villain the in the novel. One of the many things she did was placing Kimberly and her mother in a dilapidated home, with out any heating systems, and infested with rats and roaches (Kwok 90). In addition, she also employed the two in her sweat shop factory, despite her abilities to find the two a more decent job. Her indirect villainy towards Kimberly marks her to be even more cruel, because she pretended to be a "support system" for Kimberly and her mother. She also predicated on Kimberly's mother's feeling of indebtedness to her to repress the two from ever becoming successful.
Kimberly is also presented with a Kryptonite. While it is safe to say that her Kryptonite was her jealousy, in contrast, her zealous attitude towards her friend, Annette's wealth, and Vivian, as Matt's girlfriend-- and eventually a his wife-- in actuality became her motivation to strive for success. IN retrospect, her kryptonite was her failed love with Matt. Though she was presented with a another love interest, it was Matt who ultimately got Kimberly's affection. However, because of her stubbornness, and her thirst for success, her love was compromised. It is through this failed love affair that Kimberly became weak, and in the long run, invalidated all of her successes and accomplishments in life. Because she failed to fulfill her love life, she then became frail.
Her traditional Chinese upbringing was slowly interrupted with American ideals. Because of her insatiable thirst for acceptance by her peers at her school, she was wiling to give up some of her Chinese traditions and beliefs. She experimented with Marijuana, and disobeyed many rules that her mother instructed her with. Though one can not blamed Kimberly for her desire for assimilation, it is safe to say that she in many ways, chose to abandon her Chinese upbringing.
Works Cited:
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. Penguin Books, Ltd. New York: 2010.
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