A world where a long pipe can become a murderous weapon, where each hit sounds like something made of glass has broken, and where coherence is rarely present.…
In the book A Separate Piece by John Knowles, A group of teenage boys attend a selective boarding school in New Hampshire called Devon. Throughout the novel, the characters experience the prominent effects of World War II. From rotten apples to the disappearance of maids, the lives of boys at Devon were changing rapidly. Also, because most of the characters were on their way to turning 18, they are faced with the decision of whether to enlist or wait to be drafted.…
Two kinds represents the two kinds of daughters. A daughter who is obedient, who follows her mother's suggestions and a daughter who follows what's on her own mind. This story will help you find your own identity in this complicated world.…
WAKING THE WOLF presents as a dark, crime comedy. The goal is well defined and the stakes are fairly high and personal. The plot is straightforward. There are solid themes about revenge, redemption, and second chances.…
“Be as careful at the end as you are at the beginning and you will not ruin things.” (The Daodejing of Laozi, 64, p. 67)…
One of the traumatic experiences throughout Valentino Achak Deng’s journey from Sudan to Kenya is during the period where they are famished and they have to eat the raw meat. In Book 1 Chapter 15, 250 boys including Valentino stopped at a village to get some protection, rest and food. However a group of boys tried to steal food from the villagers and the group was chased out. They continue their journey with the minimum amount of food and supplies. Many of them complain about empty stomach and some are left to die on the roadside. Luckily, some soldiers offers them meat of an elephant. Most of the boys eat the raw meat because they are too hungry to wait for it to cook. In the morning, Deng does not wake up from his sleeping. Valentino feels very sad, so he remains silent for the majority of the journey.…
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing.” This quote by Pele, a soccer player regarded as one of the best of all time, describes the determination that it took for Adeline to succeed and overcome her childhood. In the memoir, Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, the author writes about the support from Ye Ye, Aunt Baba, and also rising above her abusive childhood.…
The short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, starts off with introducing the mother interpretation of how she want her daughter to live the American Dream. The mothers loses her family in China and now hopes to relive that part of her loss through her daughter. However, the daughter, Ni Kan, is not interested in her mother’s dreams and totally ignores against them. In the beginning, Ni Kan, says that she is “just as excited as her mother maybe even more so” about her becoming a prodigy. She pictures herself in different roles such as a ballerina and believes that once that she has become perfected…
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” (Albert Einstein). This quote especially applies to the main character of Chinese Cinderella, Adeline. Many people gave her the impression that she was worthless, but some believed in her. In the memoir Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, Adeline has a very tough childhood. However, her grandfather, Ye Ye, and her aunt, Aunt Baba, continuously support her, and Adeline would not have risen above her abusive childhood without them.…
Protagonists of a story quickly become favorite characters of countless readers. In The Chosen by Chaim Potok, one of the protagonists is Reuven Malter, the son of David Malter. Along with his father, Reuven Malter is an orthodox Jew. In addition, Reuven has a great friend named Danny Saunders. Danny and Reuven meet at a baseball game between the Orthodox Jews and the Hasidic Jews. Even though other team mates think of Danny and his team as “Murderers,” Reuven decides to not judge them before he notices their character. After Danny injures Reuven during the game, the two become best friends. Reuven Malter shows numerous admiral character traits throughout the book, however, the three most prominent in the story consist of kind, fair, and admirable.…
Only one kind of daughter can live in this hous. Obedient daughter” she shouted in chinese. “Then I wish I wasn’t your daughter, I wish you weren’t my mother” (Chunk 6 paragraph 11, 12). As a Chinese immigrant Jing Mei’s mother gets the idea from television shows and magazines and she does not question the validity of these sources. She meanswhile pushes her daughter to be the best but on the other hand Jing Mei cannot see the value of showing dedication to her mother’s goal, practicing a skill, or collaborating with her mother’s plan because they are both separated by a factor; Culture. After her mother’s death she gains insight into her mother’s underlying motives. In addition Rudy Puana learned to be true in spite of his difficulties in life.…
In Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds” Jing-Mei, the story’s main character, takes a stand against her mother. The story opens as she describes her childhood, which was full of pain and resentment caused by never becoming the “prodigy” that her mother desperately wanted her to be. Despite her best intentions, Jing-Mei always fell short of her mother’s expectations and one night, she made a pact to herself that she would never allow her mother to try to change her. After her mother saw a young Chinese girl play the piano on a television show she decided that Jing-Mei should take lessons from the neighbor. The neighbor, Mr. Chong, Jing-Mei discovered was deaf, and that she easily could get away with playing the wrong notes. Months later, Mr. Chong and her mother entered Jing-Mei in a talent contest. She believed that her inner prodigy would surface and allow her to play well, but the performance proved to be an utter disaster. Two days later, while being urged to go to practice an argument of devastating proportions began. Her mother never spoke of piano lessons ever again. Decades later, she received the family’s piano as a present for her thirtieth birthday. Months after her mother’s death, she plays it and realizes the truth about her mother’s intentions. The central idea in Tan’s story is, parents cannot control or dictate their children’s lives but only try to guide them in the right direction.…
The protagonist in Two kinds is a young Chinese girl named Ni Kan. Ni Kan's mother is an immigrant from China that wants more than any thing for her daughter to be a prodigy. She believes that in America, her daughter can be a child star. So she tests her, and finds out what other extraordinary kids her age can do, and tries to see if her daughter can also do these things. Then one day she decides that her daughter could be an excellent pianist. So she finds a teacher and sets her daughter up for piano lessons. Her daughter does not like the lessons or the tests so she decides to rebel against her mother and start failing the tests on purpose. She proceeds to fail on purpose for the rest of her life and in the end she realizes the irony of her situation in a song that she tried to play for a talent show when she was a child. The song is important because its two parts are "Pleading Child" and "Perfectly Contented" which represent the change in thinking between an adult and a child.…
“Writers provide glimpses of other worlds giving readers opportunities to reflect on their own world”. To what extended do you agree.…
Suyuan had to make the hard decision to leave her twin babies on the side of the road in hopes some kind stranger would take them in, that way she would not have to see them die. Suyuan searches for her babies all through her life in America, sending multitudes of letters; they finally get in touch with her two months after she has died. Because her mother is not alive to meet her children, Jing Mei takes her place and the trip enables her to finally recognize her Chinese ancestry. The minute she enters China she "feels different" and can realize that she is "becoming Chinese" (306). At fifteen Jing Mei believed she was only as Chinese as her "Caucasian friends" (306). Yet her mother counters thoughts, telling her: "Once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese" (306). Once in China Jing Mei decides her mother was right and she "has never really known what it meant to be Chinese" (307). She has never understood her mother or her heritage. This trip is the connecting link to understanding her life. She begins to feel natural in China, thinking to herself on the train: "I am in China It feels right" (312). Jing Mei sees the landscape, the people, the histories, and the families in China and sees where her mother was speaking from all of those years. She knows a "little percent" of her mother know (15). It becomes "obvious" to Jing Mei to see what "part of [her] is Chinese"; it is "in her family, in her blood"…