Post your reflections on ten years after Kimberly "took a breath, got off the bed and opened the door" (Kwok 303).
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This is a college level tranfer course, the second in a series where we will examine the poetics of life lived on the ground...as in rough and tumble, as in America at war with herself. This is a world art alone makes sense of, an artist's work is a gift freely shared like air...sympathetic systems aligned, the the fictive or imaginary worlds of possiblity simply an inhale or exhale away. This class is an opportunity to close your eyes and believe.
18 comments:
Jordan Li
Wanda Sabir
English 1B
Sept.29,2001
Ten Years Later
After I got up that day 10 years ago, I rushed over to Matt’s house to tell him the truth. When I got there, Matt was standing on his balcony were the flowers made his rugged figure look gentle as a summer breeze. I stood there at awe, reminicsing of the past days when we were a couple and that one faithful night. As I walked toward him I yet again felt pain in my chest because I saw his beautiful daughter run over and pull him back into their apartment. At theat point I realized no matter how much I think about the past I will never be with Matt and the life I have was not only made by my choices. My fate was decided by the gods as Ma told me when I was a little girl, there is a path decided for each of us when we were born and no matter how much we stray we will always end up on that path we were destined to take.
Tia Gangopadhyay
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B 9-10:50 AM
29 September 2011
Epilogue, 10 Years Later After That Reflection
Vivian could be seen walking around the boarded up bridal shop late in the evenings with her children in tow. Poor and heartbroken, grief enveloped her to the point that no one could reach her. Her children only served as constant reminders of her unfulfilled life of love and happiness.
It hadn’t been too long before Jason started asking questions. Questions that Kimberly couldn’t answer. She had no choice but to introduce him to his father, the love of her life. To say Matt was shocked would be an understatement. He was in an uproar and ecstatic at the same time. Torn between anger at the lost years with his son and true love, and the excitement of their new life together, Matt took no time in leaving Vivian like Kimberly knew he would. And while remorse filled Kimberly’s heart at having snatched away an innocent girl’s happiness, she was too wonderfully wrapped up in her own bliss to waste too much time in repentance.
Matt loved Jason dearly. But he loved Kimberly with a kind of insane passion that is impossible to even describe. He loved his children with Vivian, and spent time with them but his new life with Jason and Kimberly took precedence over everything. Park was not with them anymore. He died shortly after Matt discovered Jason. It was just Matt, Kimberly, Jason and Ma. As it should have been all along.
From, across the neighborhood, I, their long watchful neighbor, could see their peaceful lives together. Initially, Matt was enveloped with jealousy—having to share his new wife with her colleagues and patients, having to spend so much time alone worrying and waiting. But he learned quickly that in order to keep Kimberly happy, he must accept that Kimberly was brilliant and any attempt to suppress that brilliance would only result in loss and heartache. So he kept himself busy with Jason. Swallowing his pride, he became Jason’s primary caretaker, providing his masculinity to take care of his son and his aging mother-in-law. Kimberly provided the rest. She fulfilled her brilliance and her love too, a feat that is nearly impossible to accomplish. From the poor, ignorant, lowly immigrant she had been to the wealthy, intelligent, high class woman she becomes took a journey to tell of. She became the rags to riches story to tell of in Hong Kong; the idea that hard work can conquer any hardship in America, the land of opportunity; for love and for success. For Kimberly, it was one and the same.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. Penguin Books, Ltd. New York: 2010. Print.
Jacqueline Diulio
Professor Sabir
English 1B
29 September 2011
Epilogue
The novel “Girl in Translation” by Jean Kwok, has a very interesting twist ending when Kimberly Chang, the main character of the story, gets pregnant. Kimberly has the child while attending Yale University, and goes on to later graduate from Harvard Medical School on full ride scholarships. She tells us she how Jason, her son, never finds out the true identity of his father, Kimberly’s true love, Matt. If we were to fast-forward ten years into the future, Jason, who still has never met his father, begins to ask questions about who his father really is, and why Kimberly has been hiding him for so many years. I believe that as Kimberly would tell Jason the whole story of why she never told Matt about their son together, and why she let him go forever. Jason will simply respect his mother’s wishes and will not want to find his father. Jason has such a profound love for his mother that, although she may have kept him from growing up without a father, she did all she could to give him everything she didn’t have as a child. Jason would recognize the struggles and hardship his mother went through in order to provide him with all the things she didn’t have growing up as a result to her own mother marrying for love.
Although I believe Kimberly was selfish by not telling Matt he has a son, I think she may have done the right thing because, in the end, if she had told Matt they wouldn’t have been happy together. Matt would not have been able to provide for Kimberly the way he always wanted to provide for a family, and Kimberly would always regret not going to Yale, always looking back at the past and what could have been. Kimberly had too much gift and talent to be kept in Chinatown. She sacrificed her happy life for a bright future for Jason. Although she may not have married her true love, Matt, she still finished what she came to America to do: to get her mother out of the projects.
Jason will simply grow up to be grateful to his mother for all her sacrifices, but will also learn from his mother. He will go on to be just like Kimberly in that he will be successful in his life, going on to do great things; but, Jason will be like Matt by being selfless in his personal life. He will provide for a wife and a family the way his mother always did for him, but he will be there for them, in a way his father was never able to be for him.
Jacob Stabler
Professor Sabir
English 1B
29 September 2011
Ninja Volleyball Master
As Kimberly enters the room, she is met by her curious son, Jason. As she tells Jason that his father is Matt, he is forced to contemplate his existence on this earth. A vision comes to him in a dream. He is thrust into consciousness when he realizes his calling in life is to become the world’s greatest ninja volleyball player. He doesn’t know much about the sport, but with his mother’s intelligence and his father’s physical attributes, he would be sure to succeed at anything he put his heart into.
When Jason graduates from high school, he gets serious about his training. He feels a strong gravitational pull to his roots in China, and his mother is obliged to send him back for the elite ninja volleyball training he so desperately needs. When he arrives, he is instantly broken of his western ways. He is humbled and disciplined by masters of the sport. He trains night and day, readying himself to engage in fierce ninja volleyball guerilla.
Jason completes his training and comes back to America. He joins the Olympic ninja volleyball team, quickly earning the spot as the captain, and takes his team all the way to the top. The final match is with bitter ninja volleyball rivals, Ethiopia. The match is intense and Jason hurts his ankle on a reverse McGilla Cutty pile-driver spike. Fearing he can’t continue, he looks to the crowd for inspiration. He sees his mother and Matt making out. “They must be back together”, he thought. Not sure if he should be overjoyed by the thought of his mother and father rekindling their love or absolutely grossed out by them making out, he chokes back his nausea and presses on. The ball is served by Ethiopia and it comes straight to Jason. He channels his all his emotions into one solid kick and returns fire, killing one of the opposing team’s forwards. He feels both terrible and overjoyed. Jason knows he just solidified his spot as the greatest ninja volleyball player ever, and would be the only man in history to kill someone with volleyball to the jugular.
June Yee
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B Tuesday/Thursday, 9:00-10:50
29 September 2011
Ten Years Later
Ten years after the epilogue the readers see in “Girl in Translation”, I would not change all that much. I would definitely have Kimberly tell her son more about her father. Maybe not the complete story, but tell him nonetheless because he does have the right to know and of course he would want to know. However, I actually would not have Matt and Kimberly find their way back to each other again. The feelings then might have been intense, but I still feel like it was intense in the way first love always is. After all, first love is a very formative love anyways. First love does shape people regarding in the love and after that first love, it also one where people learn from that first love in terms of learning how to love and how not to love and all the mistakes they made. So I just figure it is something Kimberly and Matt even both take to account as the years go by. Because at the end of the day, both Matt and Kimberly always seemed to me to want different things in their lives and are on different paths. They are both fundamentally different people so it is also that difference that makes it so it cannot quite possibly work again. It would be a nice thing to see Kimberly move on and not having all those feelings with her and just to take that weight off of her shoulders. After all, she has her life now and it is a good life. She does not necessarily have to find someone again in her life as her life already seems hectic, but if it is something that would make her happy that would be nice because everyone deserves some bit of happiness.
I could see her son Jason also set and doing well in school as he most likely inherited his mother's brains. I do not see him actually meeting Matt at the moment because I can imagine that it took Kimberly a while to tell him.
NINJA VOLLEYBALL!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z6zgoPWGbA
Nick Malecek
English 1B
T/Th 9:00-10:50am
Professor Sabir
27 September 2011
10 years later
I see Jason in the distance, talking to his friends from the baseball team one last time. I notice that his hat is not with him. “Jason! What happened to your hat?” I say as I walk towards him. He had already lost his tassel earlier. I looked for it all morning until I found it among the scrimshaw collection. “Oh!” he jumps as if I shocked him with an electrified reminder. His friends chuckle a nervous laugh. “I put it down somewhere Ma, just let me think. I was over at the flight 103 memorial a little earlier…” He was always so forgetful. He had the mind of a genius, but he was always somehow losing things. “Well come on, let’s find it. Grandma wants to take some family pictures before it gets too late. She’s getting old you know”. Ma was in her late sixties now. Sixty is not very old but the clothing factory took its toll on her lungs; my colleagues have already removed three growths from her left lung, deadly souvenirs of those times in the factory among the chemicals and dye-saturated fabric dust. We walk back in the shadows of the monumental buildings with a brisk pace. We’re in a hurry and I can tell Jason is flustered by the absence of his hat. This is why I was a little surprised when he slows down. I look back at him and see the urgency in his eyes. “Ma…” I almost knew before he said it. “I found him. I talked to him. He had no idea I even existed.” I could tell this was something that was not easy for him to tell me. I imagined him looking at the phone every night, hoping he had the courage to call and tell me what he was telling me now. The next thing he said I did not expect. “He’s here”.
The silence lasted for what seemed like an eternity. I had no idea what to say. All my life I had known what I needed to do in every situation. When a patient goes into a cardiac arrest during surgery I know exactly what to do. Even though their life is on the line, I don’t panic. My colleagues have lauded my calm demeanor in these stressful situations, and they say this uncanny composure of mine has saved the lives of countless patients. None of that prepared me for what was unfolding before me this instant. I knew this day would come, and I was dreading it. As time went on I realized that the longer I waited the more painful it would be, but I was hoping it would be the other way around.
Jason finally broke the silence with something that pierced the inner folds of my heart. “He would like to see you too”.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. Penguin Books, Ltd. New York: 2010. Print.
Joe Quattrocchi
Professor Sabir
English 1B Tu/Th 9-1050am
29 September 2011
10 Year Epilogue: Girl in Translation
In the last chapter of the novel, Kimberly and Matt sever all ties to one another. They acknowledge the fact that their love is boundless, but that their fates do not hold a fulfilling relationship for the two of them. This is expressed through Kimberly saying, “but sometimes our fate is something different that what we imagined for ourselves”(Kwok 283). This exchange symbolizes a parting of ways, an understanding. The pain is too great for either of them to be around one another. Although Kim and Matt may not further develop their relationship in the future, it is very possible that Jason will eventually meet his father.
Like any child, curiosity is often an incentive to act. Kimberly mentions in the last chapter that she “owes Jason a great debt, one [she] could never repay”(Kwok 302). She herself is questioning whether the decision to keep their son a secret from Matt for all these years was the right decision. It is obvious that Kim is unclear of what the future may hold for Jason and his father, but the audience is aware that the relationship Kim and Matt have will not progress past understanding. When addressing what would happen when Jason asks for more information regarding his father, Kim reflects on her past and contemplates what will happen in the future.
For my attempt at nobility, our son paid the price.
He was still young enough not to ask me too much about the topic I didn’t want to talk about: his father. I knew there would be a time when he would want to know the whole truth. What would I tell him? How could I know what the truth was, so long ago, when I knew so little myself (Kwok 303).
Kim states this just before the end of the novel and therefore I believe that Jason’s curiosity will lead him to meet his father in the future. Their is potential for a functional relationship between Jason and his father. Kim and Matt came to an understanding and although the two of them did not work out in the end, Kim knows the pain of not having a father around, and will allow Jason to fill the void left in his heart by not having a father during childhood. This is much potential for this relationship to blossom based off of the loving personalities expressed from both Matt and his wife Vivian.
Although it may be awkward for Vivian, she plays a strong and loving character that accepts she does not have Matt’s heart like Kimberly does, and still remains his wife, understanding that he loves her in a different way. The power of family bonds will transcend any sort of awkwardness and I imagine Jason spending time with Matt and his family. Contrary to will happen with Matt and Jason’s relationship, I do not believe that both sides of the family will ever be able to reconvene. Purely because of the passion and timeless love that Kimberly and Matt have for one another, I do not see the possibility of Kim spending time with Matt’s family. Kim will be respectful of Jason wanting to spend time with his father, but will not indulge in spending time with Matt’s family herself. It would be too painful and burdensome.
Melvin Arquero
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
30 September 2011
10 Years Later
My unhappiness in my life grew bigger each day. Each time I looked at Jason, I was reminded of the life I could’ve had. “We can make it, you and me. We don’t need no money. Just me and you- a perfect happy family.” Those words never escaped my mind. It’s as if Matt just said it yesterday, with his golden eyes piercing right through my soul. All my life, I’ve worked so hard to be free. Free from the factory, the filthy house Aunt Paula had forced down our throats, free from poorly home-made clothes, free from every bad memory Ma and I had to endure for years. For a second, I believed that I was, but now, I look back, and it seems that I was never able to remove myself from anything. Here I am, almost 30 years later still trapped, longing for the impossible.
“Ma, I’m almost a foot taller than you. When are you gonna realize that I’m too old for this?”
“Just one last time, come on.”
Jason walked over to me and reluctantly chanted, “I love you, give me a whack.” And we gave each other a high five. “Have a great day, and I’ll be back.” Jason was going into his last semester in Manhattan School of Music. He was studying Music Theory and Composition, something that made Ma especially proud. “Ah-Kim, I’ve always wondered when will be the time someone inherited my good gene.” By this time, Ma’s English had improved dramatically, thanks to Jason’s daily tutoring lessons. I remember she would always pick up the morning newspaper and attempt to comprehend whatever the latest topic was that day. In between turning the pages, she would moan and groan, “Mmm,” followed by such a disdainful look on her face. “Anything bad happening?” Ma was silent. I walked towards her and looked over her shoulders. “Have an everlasting white smile. Come to Brooklyn General Dentistry for a free consultation.” I realized that Ma was pretending to read the newspaper, copying the astuteness of the men she often saw outside coffee shops with their legs crossed, religiously turning the pages one after the other, accompanied by a random chuckle, or a groan here and there. “What’s the matter Ma? You don’t agree that Brooklyn General Dentistry can make your teeth everlastingly white?”
“Stop it Ah-Kim, you know I’m still chrynn to learn slowly. One day, I’ll get there.”
It had been more than a week since Jason left for college. Here I was, stuck in a mundane life I once imagined to have been paradise. I was still working as a surgeon at the hospital fairly close to Chinatown- or in essence, close to Matt. One day, I got a call from the hospital during dinner. One of the kids that I recently performed open-heart surgery on was going into a cardiac arrest. I immediately hopped onto my Ducati and began to drive. Kim was only six years young. She had been a regular patient at the hospital, and I became particularly akin to this little girl.
My heart was racing. I must have been going at least 75 mph on the incredibly busy streets. I had to get to the hospital. I took a sharp turn on the corner of 25th and Broadway Ave. when all of a sudden, I felt myself fly off my bike. As I turned the corner, a drunken driver took a wrong turn into a one way street, where I was coming from and crashed into me. I had no time to react and could not avoid the collision. I must have been at least 30 feetup in the air. Suddenly, everything flashed back at me. “Ah-Kim! Number one in the class again!” Could I have been dreaming? “Kimberly, why don’t you just hit this joint one last time?” It was Curt that I was seeing. And then it was Matt. There he stood looking straight at me, and behind came Jason, rushing towards me. And then it was Ma, working tirelessly at the factory. And then came silence, an eerie, yet the settling comfort came over me. My life was over.
To Melvin A-
Please return the manuscript for the sequel to "Girl in Translation" that you stole from Kwok.
But seriously, I believe you actually may have superseded Kwok's story telling prowess. While "Girl in Translation falls flat at the end, your extension of the story thrills. This is how the book should have ended, not that I wished anything ill upon Kimberly, it's just that this was infinitely more fascinating.
You obviously have a penchant for creative writing. I think you should pursue this talent further.
From Nick Malecek
Adetona Adewale
Professor Sabir
Eng 1B
01 October 2011 The Epilogue Response 10 Years Later
I predict that ten years from the ending of the twelve years later epilogue Jason Kimberly’s son will have eventually gotten to know his father and she would have worked out some kind of relationship with matt to normalize her and her son’s life. I believe that Jason would have demanded a relationship with his father and his father would have demanded at least a real friendship with Kimberly to put his soul to rest. As well, I think that Jason would have most likely have gone down the same route as his mother and gone to attend med school so that he could become a doctor as well. In addition, Vivian would have left Matt because she would have sensed a great deal of distance between herself and matt due to the inclusion of his son Jason in his life, and because she would feel Matt’s yearning for another life with his son and his son’s mother Kimberly.
Alternatively, perhaps Jason refuses to get to know his father matt entirely and blames his absence from his life entirely on his mother. Consequently, I believe that would make Jason defy his mother and go down a path of crime just to anger her in a way that was similar to the way she had angered him. Moreover, Jason and his mom would not be getting along that well because Jason would resent his mother very much for keeping him away from his father and he would despise his father even more for not trying to be a part of his life. In conclusion, this response in particular is especially interesting because I was able to analysis to diverse possibilities, which I really enjoyed doing.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. New York: Riverhead, 2010. Print.
Angela Stokes
Professor Sabir
English 1B
30 September 2011
Continuation of Girl in Translation 10 years later
Although Kimberly is happy in her life style and happy with work, looking at her son become a young adult eats away at her shame of not telling her beloved child all he needed to know. Would the bond that Jason and his mother share become brittle and eventually break? Not quite sure where to begin; Ma lying very still pulls Jason to her side and only above a whispers in her still broken English says “I so sorry!” Ma had been sick for some time; the Tuberculosis had returned with avenges. Being the puppeteer all along, Ma on her death bed would now apologize for her selfishness. Would her only grandson forgive her? It wasn’t her place do reveal her daughters secret but she felt for the sake of Jason she had too. Jason kisses his dearest friend and confidant good-bye. He could not confront his mother; forcing her to fill in the gaps of her loveless life. All that she had sacrificed for the three of them, all of the sleepless nights, his mother always moaned in her sleep, calling to some sort of ghost of her past.
While riding the bus in China Town, a beautiful women tending to her heard of children pointed out the Goddess Kuan Ying carved in Jade at the end of my gold chain. “A gift from my mother” I said, the women appeared shocked when I told her who my mother was. After telling her that I didn’t have a father, she quickly jotted down a phone number then raced off the bus. Vivian always the type of women to stand by her man; the always dependable knew that something was wrong with Matt. As the years have gone by he had become distant like something was missing. After seeing that boy with her husband’s pendant she was heart broken. Unsure rather she was upset with that fact that he lied to her about losing it so many years ago, worse; not telling her that he had a son, something she wasn’t able to produce. A spitting image of matt, she had figured it out. Given the young man’s age, (around 15 or 16) Vivian knew that he was older than any of her 5 children. Was this why Matt had become distant? Is that why she was in love with the remaining pieces of his soul?
Having some of Matt was far better than not having him at all even if he was just a shadow of himself; but she had to know for sure.
Kimberly couldn’t believe her ears, why was her son questioning her- her of all people. “I am your mother Jason, Grand ma-ma is gone, and it’s just the two of us. Your remember, mother and cub?” Kimberly started to tear up, “Ma is that man my father?” although angry with his mother he thought of his grandmother and how furious she would be at him for not being respectful towards his mother. The women on the bus invited him over one day and disclosed everything to Jason. Kimberly’s mind raced trying to figure out how he knew; sure she prepared herself for this very situation but prayed it wouldn’t be so soon.
Kimberly filled every section of Matt’s mind; he would day dream about her and the love that he had lost. Honor had kept him with his daughters, Loyalty kept him with Vivian; she had become so dependent on him. Although Matt was angry that his wife had no will to do or think for herself, she had never left his side…why couldn’t she be more ambitious like her? “My climbing will never reach your heights” that phrase echoed every night in his dreams. It wasn’t until one night after work, Matt came home and there she was! Kimberly holding his youngest daughter made his heart skip a beat; his wife smiling pouring spouts of tea into 3 glasses. “Honey I’m so glad your home” she said, “This is Jason- your Son!” Matt couldn’t believe his ears; his wife was obviously the bigger person. Vivian managed to keep all parties involved, and over the years Kimberly learned to trust and love Vivian for the kind hearted person she was. Matt and Jason developed a father son relationship as if no time had passed between them.
Works Cited
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation
Ltd. New York 2010
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201B 9:00-10:50 T/TH
3 October 2011
10 Years Later: Jason’s life
Every time I asked mother about her life story I always felt that there was a missing piece to it. She would always tell me vividly of how grandma and her had to live in a rundown apart, living miserably but never giving up. Mother would bring up her schooling years and how early on it was difficult because she was not aware of how western culture schools acted. She would tell me with a laugh about her old teacher Mr. Bogart and how the kids would always make fun of him or the time when a boy named Luke wanted to fight her because in reality he really liked mother. Mother would talk about how she would always exceed the teacher’s expectations when it came to math and science. She also brings up how the teachers accused her of cheating and how she proved them wrong. I always smiled when she told me that. But mother would always smile when she talked about Annette and how Annette was a true friend also and her best friend. Because of this mother would always go to Annette’s Broadway shows when it came out. Mother was always happy when telling me this story. Still though, something was missing.
Currently it is the middle of December which symbolizes that Christmas is almost near. Both Derek, Annette’s son, and I came home from Yale this December to celebrate Christmas with our families. Derek tells me that his father will be able to make it to their Christmas dinner party this year and that he is very excited about that. I just smile and pat his head, for I always did think of him like a younger brother and always wished him to be happy. But that did leave an uncomfortable feeling in my chest for I never really did know my father. That feeling of not knowing my father has been with me since the time that I realized that I did not have a father like all my other friends. I think this is also the missing part of the story that mother would tell me.
While these thoughts were going through me I did not realize that I had started to cry. I also did not realize that mother had returned from work and had seen me crying. “Jason what is the matter?” she says. I looked down at the ground, hesitating to answer her, for I had never asked her about my father in the past. “Mother why do I not have a father?” I said in a weary voice. “Why is he not here?” There was silence and I thought that I wasn’t going to get an answer. As I looked up I saw tears in my mother’s eyes. She saw me looking at her and began to spoke, “I’m sorry Jason that I never told you about your father. I didn’t want to think about him after seeing him again 10 years ago.” She paused and took a deep breathe. I could tell this was hard for her for her voice was shaky. Mother continued speaking and said “Before you were born I broke up with your father in order to pursue my dreams. I wanted to help my mother and succeed in life. But because I broke up with your father I also broke his heart and he never came back to me.” Tears were flowing down even harder. “Your father is Matt Wu. The man who delivers packages to our house.” Mother began to cry even harder than before. I now began to realize why mother never answered the door when she was expecting a package. “I’m sorry Jason I have been so selfish.” By now my tears had stopped falling. I could tell that my mother still loved Matt but couldn’t get back together with him. “I understand mother” I said in a steady voice. “There is no need to cry anymore. I understand now.” With that I stood up and gave mother a hug. “Don’t worry, I’ll always be around. Mother and cub, always and forever.” With that I smiled and saw that mother had a smile on her face. “Thank you Jason, for understanding” she said. “Now I guess we should get ready for the winter celebrations.” “Yes I think we should” I said. I felt a bit more at ease in my heart and I know that mother also felt the same way. With that I finally got my missing part of the story.
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201B 9:00-10:50 T/TH
3 October 2011
10 Years Later: Jason’s life
Every time I asked mother about her life story I always felt that there was a missing piece to it. She would always tell me vividly of how grandma and her had to live in a rundown apart, living miserably but never giving up. Mother would bring up her schooling years and how early on it was difficult because she was not aware of how western culture schools acted. She would tell me with a laugh about her old teacher Mr. Bogart and how the kids would always make fun of him or the time when a boy named Luke wanted to fight her because in reality he really liked mother. Mother would talk about how she would always exceed the teacher’s expectations when it came to math and science. She also brings up how the teachers accused her of cheating and how she proved them wrong. I always smiled when she told me that. But mother would always smile when she talked about Annette and how Annette was a true friend also and her best friend. Because of this mother would always go to Annette’s Broadway shows when it came out. Mother was always happy when telling me this story. Still though, something was missing.
Currently it is the middle of December which symbolizes that Christmas is almost near. Both Derek, Annette’s son, and I came home from Yale this December to celebrate Christmas with our families. Derek tells me that his father will be able to make it to their Christmas dinner party this year and that he is very excited about that. I just smile and pat his head, for I always did think of him like a younger brother and always wished him to be happy. But that did leave an uncomfortable feeling in my chest for I never really did know my father. That feeling of not knowing my father has been with me since the time that I realized that I did not have a father like all my other friends. I think this is also the missing part of the story that mother would tell me.
While these thoughts were going through me I did not realize that I had started to cry. I also did not realize that mother had returned from work and had seen me crying. “Jason what is the matter?” she says. I looked down at the ground, hesitating to answer her, for I had never asked her about my father in the past. “Mother why do I not have a father?” I said in a weary voice. “Why is he not here?” There was silence and I thought that I wasn’t going to get an answer. As I looked up I saw tears in my mother’s eyes. She saw me looking at her and began to spoke, “I’m sorry Jason that I never told you about your father. I didn’t want to think about him after seeing him again 10 years ago.” She paused and took a deep breathe. I could tell this was hard for her for her voice was shaky. Mother continued speaking and said “Before you were born I broke up with your father in order to pursue my dreams. I wanted to help my mother and succeed in life. But because I broke up with your father I also broke his heart and he never came back to me.” Tears were flowing down even harder. “Your father is Matt Wu. The man who delivers packages to our house.” Mother began to cry even harder than before. I now began to realize why mother never answered the door when she was expecting a package. “I’m sorry Jason I have been so selfish.” By now my tears had stopped falling. I could tell that my mother still loved Matt but couldn’t get back together with him. “I understand mother” I said in a steady voice. “There is no need to cry anymore. I understand now.” With that I stood up and gave mother a hug. “Don’t worry, I’ll always be around. Mother and cub, always and forever.” With that I smiled and saw that mother had a smile on her face. “Thank you Jason, for understanding” she said. “Now I guess we should get ready for the winter celebrations.” “Yes I think we should” I said. I felt a bit more at ease in my heart and I know that mother also felt the same way. With that I finally got my missing part of the story.
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201B 9:00-10:50 T/TH
3 October 2011
Response to a classmates post:
-To Nick Malecek
I like how it flowed and how you used her occupation and compared it to her own feelings. I also liked how the end leaves room for more interpretation of how the story will continue on from there.
Good Job.
Tia Gangopadhyay
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B 9-10:50 AM
October 3, 2011
Response to Nick Malecek:
I really liked your ending! It was very suspensful and left a lot of details up to the reader's interpretation, which I really enjoyed.
@Melvin
noooo; you can't kill off Kim. Please tell me she was having a dream or something! Very different ending though.
Angela Stokes
Ninja Volleyball? Um ok (smile)
Angela Stokes
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