1. Discussion: Essay 1, Short Fiction
What is the question your essay will answer?
2. Composition
3. Homework: Bring in the completed essay to class Tuesday electronically. Bring in Girl in Translation. Read up to page 63. Students can always read ahead. Write a reading log with character descriptions, a short summary per chapter, any questions.
We meet here.
Future calendar items: On Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011, 9 AM we will meet in the library, behind the reference desk for an orientation with Professor Steve Gerstle.
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5 comments:
Nick Malecek
Professor Sabir
English 1B 9:00-10:50am T/Th
15 September 2011
My essay will revolve around alcoholism in The Dance Boots. More specifically, I will attempt to address this question:
What are the factors behind the presence of alcoholism in the Native-American community?
The answer to this question may be familial, sociological, psychological, circumstantial, or a combination of these elements. These factors will be explored in my essay.
On another note, would anyone like to exchange email addresses so we can peer review each other's essays? I didn't get a chance in class today. Please reply to let me know if you are interested and I'll post my email.
Tia Gangopadhyay
Professor Sabir
English 1B 9-10:50 AM
18 September 2011
Girl in Translation Reading Log
Chapter 1:
CHARACTERS:
Aunt Paula: manipulative, Ma's older sister, manages the clothing factory and a number of buildings for a distant relative of Uncle Bob's, Uncle Bob's wife
Uncle Bob: Aunt Paula's husband, owner of all the businesses, also rude and sly
Mr. N: a businessman in Taiwan, a distant relative of Uncle Bob's, the owner of all the buildings that Aunt Paula manages
Ma: polite, kind, hard working, loving, used to teach music at an elementary school in Hong Kong
Kimberly: very talented student, hard worker, kind, main protagonist of the story
Nelson: rude boy, son of Aunt
Paula,
Godfrey: Aunt Paula's youngest son, Nelson's little brother
Pa: Kimberly's father, Ma's husband, died of a stroke when Kimberly was three, had been the principal of the elementary school where Ma taught music
Mr. Al: owned a store near Ma and Kimberly's place
SHORT SUMMARY:
Kimberly and Ma immigrated from Hong Kong to America under the impression that Aunt Paula was going to take care of them but they are on their own. Aunt Paula places them in an apartment that is infested with rats and roaches. There is no heating system, no window panes, and no furniture.
QUESTIONS:
How did Ma overcome turbuculosis? What about the rest of Ma's family?
Whta will Kimberly and Ma do about their living conditions?
Chapter 2:
CHARACTERS:
Mr. Bogart: Kimberly's teacher, rude and arrogant, does not like Kimberly
Matt: a boy Kimberly meets at the factory where they both work, he's nice and the leader of the children's "crew"
Park: a strange boy working at the factory who neither sees nor hears well and does not respond much either
SHORT SUMMARY:
Kimberly and Ma work at the factory and learn what their roles are. Kimberly hates school because she doesn't understand how things are run and how Mr. Bogart treats her. She skips schools and goes back to the apartment every day for a week. She goes to the factory every day after school and meets other Chinese people and helps her mother.
QUESTIONS:
How is the factory legal with wages per garment rather than a fixed salary?
Why is it a cycle generation after generation when the owners are immigrants themselves?
Chapter 3:
CHARACTERS:
Annette: frizzy-haired girl that befriended Kimberly at school
Tyrone Marshall: a black, tall and soft-spoken boy in Kimberly's class who is incredibly smart, his mother is a saleslady and his father's in jail, he lives in the ghetto, Kimberly likes Tyrone and gives him some of the candy Annette gives her (secretly)
Miss Kumar: a black teacher who taught the other sixth-grade class
SHORT SUMMARY:
Kimberly suffers at school until she meets Annette who helps her bear school. Without heating in their apartment, Kimberly and Ma are forced to do all their work in front of the stove and yet they still freeze at night. Kimberly also realizes that there are parts of her life that she must keep hidden from Annette and others.
QUESTIONS:
When will Aunt Paula give them a new apartment or heating?
Why is Aunt Paula so harsh with her younger sister?
Nick, I'd love to peer review with you. my email is tiencullison@gmail.com and my # is 510 701-1909.
Angela Stokes
Professor Sabir
English 1B
19 September 2011
Girl in Translation Reading log
Chapter 1: We are introduced to 11 year old Kimberly and her mother simply referred to as Ma after arriving to Brooklyn New York from Hong Kong, set up in a filthy apartment by her Aunt Paula and Uncle Bob.
Characters:
Kimberly Chang; very smart and willing to help her mother as needed
Ma-younger sister of Paula, recently overcame Tuberculosis, a widow, and was music teacher at a school in Hong Kong where her late husband was principle.
Aunt Paula- runs a sweat shop paying her workers per item in a garment factory co-owned by her husband Bob.
Uncle Bob-seems to be a nice enough man however not enough has been spoken about him other than him having a problem with his leg and is running a few buildings and the garment factory that is owned by a distant relative of his called Mr. N.
Nelson- cousin to Kimberly and son of Paula and Bob, he is very American in teasing Kimberly and her ways.
Godfrey-three year’s old, youngest son of Paula and Bob, brother to Nelson.
Chapter 2: Kimberly starts school and her mother starts to work for the factory. Kim feels less than while at school and is given a zero on her first test. Ma realizes the amount of work needed at the factory and enlists her daughter to help. While living at their apartment both Kim and Ma realize that it is inadequate and speak to Aunt Paula about it.
Question? If Paula is all so important with her work, then why does she set up her only sister and niece in a filthy dump just to use them as low wage workers?
Characters:
Mr. Bogart- a teacher at Kimberly’s school seems to be a bit of a racist and is especially uncaring the student’s circumstances considering majority of the students are black.
Matt-son of Mrs. Wu Matt becomes fast friends with Kimberly and shows her the ends and outs of factory children and even helps Kimberly come up with excuses for missing school after ditching for a week.
Question? Why does Aunt Paula not treat her sister with a little favoritism considering that they are first family and second Ma is or was sick?
Chapter 3: Not only are both Ma and Kim annoyed that the apartment is infested with rats and roaches but it doesn’t have central heat in the middle of November. Kim decides to return to school to keep her mother from working long hours at the factory forever. She realizes that although her English is not very good, math still comes easy to her and has found a friend in Annette.
Characters:
Annette-one of three white children in a mostly black public school she attaches herself to Kimberly, helping her to understand little things about living in America not taught by books, sharing her snacks and making fun of the teacher. Annette seems to be a bit awkward with her frizzy hair and translucent skin.
Tyrone Marshall- A Black classmate of Kimberly, father is in jail and mother is a cashier. Mr. Bogart continues to praise Tyrone about his work ethics while alienating him from the rest of the class. Kimberly admires the hard work he puts forth and she may even seem to have a crush on him.
Adetona Adewale
Professor Sabir
English 1B
20 September 2011 Girl In Translation First Reflection
I have really enjoyed reading the novel “Girl In Translation” because it appeals to the very immigrant spirit that I believe we all posses. Many of the characters are uniquely individualistic because each character had a way of letting you know that their personalities were very much one of a kind because they would behave very true to themselves. The character Ma was very thankful and cautious and hard working to boot. The next character her daughter Kimberley had a special kind of humor as well as happiness within her because whatever he mom would ask of her she would do it without complaint. Aunt Paula was genuinely herself a real one of a kind type of person that always spoke her mind and was as blatant as possible whether you liked it or not because your feelings in her world from my perspective always came second. Uncle Ben he was the real aggressive type I’m guessing because he was a businessman and owned his own manufacturing factory in new York and he was probably a bit of a ladies’ man as well because his bride came from China. Last but not least Pam was slightly different kind of fellow because he married and wooed a woman that was almost young enough to be his daughter, but still chose to remain with her anyway and Pa passed away as well due to tuberculosis.
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