No, I'm not hearing things

2. Voice from the Wall

3. Most of the chapter was really confusing to me. In the beginning, the begger and basement scenes seemed really unrealistic. I couldn't decide whether she was telling the truth or telling something that had come up from her overactive imagination. After I got past the begger and the basement, the chapter started getting really scary. All the things that Lena and her mother, Betty, saw were so terrifying. It must've been terrible living in such fear and always having to look over your shoulder to check if something is about to eat you or not. Lena and Betty saw all the demons and dangers that most other people, including Lena's father, could never imagine. I can understand that Betty is trying to protect Lena by scaring her so that she can be aware of her surroundings, but that isn't the only way to protect your daiughter. After the miscarriage, I couldn't understand what Tan was trying to say. Although I re-read the chapter a couple times, I'm still confused on what message she's trying to tell us.

4. The relationship between Betty and her husband is a strange one. I don't understand why they got married if Betty couldn't understand what her husband was saying and vis versa. In addition to the language barrier, Betty's husband doesn't seem to notice the physical clues that she's dropping because he doesn't understand that she is sad because of the miscarriage. He also doesn't see the fear she's constantly living in. Lena has the task of traslating between her parents, but because she translates incorrectly sometimes, their relationship is even more complicated. Betty is in turmoil and pain and her husband doesn't seem to notice a thing.

5. Tan uses imagery in this chapter beautifully. She describes all the things that Betty and Lena see in so much detail. The horrible things that Lena saw just in her school playground were brought to life with the help of Tan's imagery. She also describes things like the photo of her mother, the woman in Chinatown, and the apartment complex in such a way that I felt myself walking with Lena and experiencing the things with her.

6. The conflict in this story is mostly internal. Lena has the challenge of choosing whether she should translate exactly what her mother is saying, and create chaos, or she can lie about it and postpone the damage for later. She also has to live paranoid of everything around her because of what her mother taught her.

The Child Prodigy

2. Rules of the Game

3. I really loved the beginning of this chapter. I loved the way Tan described where Waverly lived. It seemed so exciting and interesting. All the shops and sights made me really want to just travel there and spend a day exploring; even though I don't think just spending one day will allow me to soak in all the things that alley had to offer. I liked the idea of having a special place for under-privledged children to go and recieve presents during Christmastime. The fact that being smart and not greedy got the children the best presents made me smile. In the scene where the boy gets slapped by his mother made me smirk because that's what greedy children deserved. It was cute how Waverly thought of the idea of replacing the missing pieces with lifesavers. The chapter started getting confusing when Waverly's mother started talking in her broken English. I had to re-read the paragraph a couple times to get a faint idea of what she was trying to say. This might be the reason why Asian immigrants tended to get made fun of. Waverly must've been very intelligent to become a chess champion at the age of 9. I could really relate to Waverly when her mom showed off that she was a chess champion. My friends' parents always compared me to their kids. I'd be really embarassed if my mom bragged about my accomplishments to my friends and relatives.

4. The relationship that Waverly and Lau Po have is one that a teacher and a student may have with each other. Waverly learns a lot of Lau Po and he tests her skill and knowledge. He doesn't go easy on her and she learbed from experience. He teaches her skills in the game of chess and she learned to become a much better chess player. Not only did she learn skills but she learned manners in the game of chess. Lau po really made an impact on Waverly because she becomes a chess playing prodigy. She would never have been as good if she never met him, just as all good teachers influence their students.

5. A writing technique Tan uses is word choice. The words she uses are very powerful and impact the mood and setting in which the story takes place. The word choice is not only powerful, but it really helps the imagry of the story. Everything in the story is more exciting and interesting because of the superb word choice. Word choice makes any story more memorable and worth reading, including this chapter.

6. The main conflict in this chapter is human vs. human. The conflict is between Waverly and her mother showing off the fact that she's a chess champion. Her mother isn't so obvious about it at the beginning, but as time goes by, she doesn't maintain her modesty and tells anyone who would listen. Waverly confronts her mother about what she thinks, but her mother doesn't understand what she means and becomes angry. This leads into another conflict which is also human vs. human

My Memory of the Moon Festival

2. Moon Lady

3. The imagery that Tan uses in this chapter when she describes the day of the Moon Festival is incredible. In the scene of the preperation of the Moon Festival, I thought the occasion of the Moon Festival must have been very important because they dressed Ying-Ying in thick silk clothing when it was already boiling outside. Amah also spent a lot fo time and effort on Ying-Ying's hair to make it pretty. The day seemed very significant if Ying-Ying had to go through so much just to get ready for it. It was really sad to know that Ying-Ying only thought of her amah as equal to a fan in the summer, or a heater in the winter. I thought that if someone is going to treat her so well and spend so much time and effort just to prepare her and dress her for the Moon Festival, then she should love her and appreciate her a lot more than what she shows. I thought the way the boys caught fish was sad for the bird because it was being used as a tool and had the fish yanked out of its' mouth when it thought it was going to eat it. Although it was sad for the bird, that was a very smart idea for the boys. It seemed a lot less time consuming than fishing with a pole and waiting for them to bite. I didn't understand why Ying-Ying's amah was scolding about when Ying-Ying came to her after she covered her clothes in blood. I thought it might be because her amah thought that she killed something or someone and that's why she was covered. Not only did the reason why amah was scolding confused me, but the story of the Moon lady confused me as well. All I could understand was that the lady was sad because she would be forever seperated from her husband. 

4. The relationship that Ying-Ying had with her amah is like one that a babysitter or a grandmother would have. Ying-Ying is spoiled by the way her amah treats her. Her amah gives her everything she wants and never taught Ying-Ying how to respect her. Ying-Ying only appreciates when she's not around when she's needed. The only time she wants her amah is when she was drowning in the water and no one was around to help her. Amah loves Ying-Ying, because she worked so hard to make her hair pretty for the Moon Festival. Amah spoiled Ying-Ying to the point where she won't ever see any love or respect from her until Ying-Ying grows up and matures.

5. A writing technique Tan uses well in this chapter is imagery. I could feel and understand what Ying-Ying was going through. The hot day was described in amazing detail and all the family members were described as well. It helped me really feel the story because it made me feel like I was there with Ying-Ying instead of being told the story. I think that imagery could be one of Tan's strengths because in each of these chapters, everything was described amazingly and all the details seemed the fit the story perfectly.

6. Something I learned about Chinese culture was that the Chinese liked to dress extravagently when there was a big celebration. The poor Chinese worked very hard, even on festival days. The Chinese also believed in spirits like the Moon Lady and the Master Archer. Silk was also considered very important and high-class in Chinese culture. A coiled braid was considered pretty and was worn on festival days. They also believed that rubbing vigorously will stop a foot from being sore. Rabbit moon-cakes were filled with either sweetfilling or egg yolk and were delicious. Boys were allowed to run around and chase things, but the girls were expected to stay still and behave themselves. A long list of foods were also mentioned in the chapter. During Moon Festivals the Chinese ate sticky rice with lotus leaves, roasted ham, sweet lotus seeds, tea, apples, pomegrantes, pears, meats, and boxes of mooncakes. 

The Ill Treated Wife

2. The Red Candle

3. I thought it was horrible how they had arranged marriages in China. I understand that some of the weddings worked out and the couple was happy, but in the case of this chapter, the bride wasn't happy. How they could look at a person and decide what elements make up the person interested me, but the idea of marrying off your children seems like slave trade to me. When Lindo met her husband, I felt so sorry for her because her husband seemed like quite the loser. It was unforunate that such a lovely, hard-working girl like Lindo would become married to an arrogant snob like Tyan-yu. In the scene where Lindo was forced to move from her family to her new home with the Huang's, I thought her family had a very strange way of telling her they would miss her because all they did was give her a dowry and tell her not to disgrace them. Once Lindo arrived her in her new home, it made me very sad when there was no special celebration for her coming and how she was treated like a servant. That seemed very unfair because not only was she forced to leave her family and move into a house with strangers, she was being treated equal to the servants when she was supposed to be the same status as Tyan-yu. The idea of having the red candle symbolise an unbreakable marriage seemed very sweet to me, but in this case it was sort of like a life-sentence in prison for Lindo. Tyan-yu seemed evil before the actual marriage, but after he kicks Lindo off the bed and forces her to sleep on the couch, he reveals himself to be a nothing but a brat. Also how he lied to his mother to make Lindo seem like the reason why they're not having a child annoyed me a lot. Despite all the hardships Lindo went through, I loved how she still maintained her identity and was still smart enough to think of a plan to get out of her "unbreakable" marriage.

4. Lindo and Tyan-yu seem to have a sibling relationship when they're supposed to be married. Tyan-yu is the annoying little brother who always gets his way and Lindo is the older sister who is always catering him. Lindo is forced to obey whatever Tyan-yu told her to do. She gives up the bed for him and when he lies, she takes the blame, just like an older sister is supposed to. In the scene where Lindo takes off her gown and advances towards Tyan-yu, he runs like a little boy who has never grown up. That's when Lindo realizes that he isn't a husband to her, he's more like a little brother who needs her protection. She isn't afraid of him anymore and sleeps with him in a non-sexual way. She protects him and because they do not have a sexual relationship, they are clearly not friends, the only relationship they could have is a brotherly sisterly one.

5. One writing techinque that Amy Tan uses in the chapter is imagery and it improves the story because I could really see and feel what Lindo was going through. During the wedding, everything was describe in extreme detail and I felt as if I really was with her in the room watching her get dressed. It felt as if I were a guest attending the wedding and partying with the rest of her family. I understood everything that Lindo was feeling before, during, and after the wedding. I was shown every extravagent detail of the wedding instead of just listening to her tell me.

6. This chapter is connected to the allegory at the beginning of the chapter because Lindo seemed to be telling her daughter about how difficult her life was in China. She was telling her daughter about the hardships she did not have to go through because she was born in America. Her daughter, just like the daughter in the allegory, would not ever understand the troubles of China through experience, so the story needs to be passed on or it'll die along with her mother. Lindo is passing her memories and stories of hardship onto her daughter, similar to how the mother in the beginning wanted to pass the swan feather onto her own daughter. Similar to the feather, the stories may seem worthless to the daughter, but to Lindo the memories and stories are all she has of China, just like the feather

The Mother I Never Had

2. Scar
3. I thought this chapter was incredibly depressing. The idea of a child growing up without a mother because the mother did not have enough "face" to keep her child. An-Mei's mother wanted to keep her, but she was not allowed to because Popo thought that her mother should not have the right to take care of a child if she has no face. Even though Popo is watching out for An-Mei by making sure she does not become a concubine like her mother was, it is hard to imagine the pain An-Mei's mother had to do through because she was forced to give up her children. Another part of the chapter that saddened me was when Popo had to trick An-Mei to wake her up and prevent her from dying. I understand that Popo was just being wise and doing that because she knew it would work, but lying to An-Mei seemed unnesscary. The scene where An-Mei's mother cuts off a piece of her own flesh to put into soup for her mother disgusted me while warming my heart. It was really gross because having Popo drink the soup would be like a form of cannibalism. On the other hand, it was warming because An-Mei's mother loved Popo so much that she sacrificed a piece of her flesh in attempt to save Popo from dying.
4. The relationship between An-Mei and Popo seems to be considered as a tough-love relationship. Popo tells stories to scare An-Mei from misbehaving or going against what she says, but her intentions are good and all she wants to do is to protect An-Mei and have her grow up to be a good person. This is shown when Popo tells An-Mei stories about what her mother did to frighten her into being a well-behaved child. Popo also lies to An-Mei because Popo loves her so much that she does not want An-Mei to die from her ingury. Even though lying is something that is normally forbidden in society, Popo uses it for a good cause, and that is the love she has for An-Mei
5. A writing technique Amy Tan uses to enchance the story would be flashbacks. The flashback in this chapter tells us about An-Mei, the relationship she has with her mother, the relationship between An-Mei's mother and Popo, and how An-Mei recieved her scar. The way she uses flashbacks is really exceptional because it flows with the events happening in the chapter.
6. I learned that the Chinese culture is very strict and shows no tolerance or mercy when a person loses their face. It is considered unforgivable how An-Mei's mother became a concubine and she loses respect from everyone in the family. Another thing I learned was that family is incredibly important. An-Mei's mother cut off a piece of her flesh to put into soup because of a tradition. It was considered normal for a child to feed their parents a piece of their flesh to have them feel well again. In China, family is considered so imporant that children sacrifice their own meat to give to their parents.

The Two Daughters Left Behind

2. The Joy Luck Club

3. My thoughts on the chapter are that I really liked the reason why the women created the joy luck club. The reason was that the women would either sit and cry about what was lost and what they don't have, or they could celebrate what they do have. I like the idea of forgetting your troubles, even if for just one day in the entire week, and have a good time with your friends. The silly weekly tradition carried on until they were having children, and their children were having children. This warms my heart because of the strength of the bond these friends had.

I also thought that it was sad that An-Mei Hsu's gifts were rejected by her family on her trip back to China. It really annoyed me that her family could be so greedy and leech $9000 from her and her husband.

4. Lindo Jong and Suyuan Woo were very competitive with one another. They weren't competitive because of their own talents, but by how good and talented their daughters were. The scene that supports this is when Jing-Mei told of all the things they would compete about.

5. A writing technique Amy Tan uses well to enhance the story is flashbacks. The story about the people living in Kweilin leaving because of the Japanese invading sets up the rest of Jing-Mei's story in this novel. Without that flashback, we would not have been able to imagine that struggle that her mother had, the pain it must have felt to abandon her own daughters in China, or why Jing-Mei was needed to go back to China to visit.

6. A few things I learned about Chinese culture are a few food dishes people in China ate. I learned that they played mah jong to pass the time. I also saw how competitive parents were when it came to education and their children. They also seemed to value family if they told Jing-Mei to find her long-lost sisters and tell them about the mother they never had.