Reflective Statement: Paradise of the Blind In Duong Thu Huong’s compelling novel Paradise of the Blind, a young woman named Hang is surrounded by an unusual family structure. She has very few family members which include, and are ultimately limited to, her mom and aunt. There is a very distinct flaw in Hang’s family: she has no father figure or even a strong male figure within her life. Keeping this in mind, I became addled by the diversity of emotions that Hang received from her family members. I had trouble determining the factor which caused the characters in the novel to act towards Hang with such different emotions. Before the presentation on “Family Structure in Vietnam,” I was confused as to why the family life that Hang had seemed …show more content…
They both have beautiful landscapes as well as broad varieties of food that further communicate their culture. When described in detail, a reader can hear the sounds of the country, see the landscape of the country, and even taste the foods of the country. This kind of descriptive language can awaken a reader’s many senses and can be used in many different ways to show or emphasize a wide variety of things, such as how a character is feeling and how that might affect the way in which they will react to something. In Duong Thu Huong’s compelling novel Paradise of the Blind, the use of imagery through weather, landscape, and colors amplifies the reader’s understanding of the character’s actions and emotions throughout the fiction …show more content…
She exhibits many colors to express the emotions of the characters and to show the overall mood of certain scenes. In reference to a pilgrimage to Con Son, Hangs says, “Clouds floated like puffs of jade along the horizon, a line broken jagged by solitary rocks. I gazed at the horizon for a long time, this endless jade-colored necklace fallen to earth. Color of clouds at dawn. Color of young leaves tinted with smoke, filtered through the dawning sun, an exquisite green that would only exist once, in one place of the universe,” (Huong, 82-83). The color that is most repeated in the passage is that of the color green, or jade. When thinking of the general feelings that are associated with green, one may think of nature, of fertility, of growth, and of harmony. This is ironic because the last sentence of the passage is, “I’ll never know why this beauty was so painful to me,” (Huong, 83). While the idea of freshness and growth is presented by the author through Hang’s word “beauty,” the idea of pain is shocking because she is looking at such a beautiful landscape. Nature is such a calming environment, so why Hang feels pain is very confusing. The idea that Hang is afraid of beauty makes sense and is emphasized when Aunt Tam gives her a pair of earrings. “I should have been delighted; instead, I was paralyzed with fear,” (Huong, 88). This could be because Hang has never had
Judy Fong Bates’ Midnight at the Dragon Café and Robert Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy” use the representation of the Café to place focus on the hardships of immigration. Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy” “is a thank you poem” (Kroetsch 321), which focuses not only on the life events the narrator is thankful for experiencing in Charlie’s café, but also the isolation and alienation Charlie experienced in that “prairie town” (Kroetsch 321). Much like Charlie in Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy,” the Chens, specifically Su-Jen’s parents and Lee-Kung, also experience alienation and isolation in the town of Irvine. Bates’ Midnight at the Dragon Café and Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy” are both works that use their respective cafés in order to represent the struggles of identity, the discovery of self, and the hardships and sacrifices of immigration.
Thru-out the centuries, regardless of race or age, there has been dilemmas that identify a family’s thru union. In “Hangzhou” (1925), author Lang Samantha Chang illustrates the story of a Japanese family whose mother is trapped in her believes. While Alice Walker in her story of “Everyday Use” (1944) presents the readers with an African American family whose dilemma is mainly rotating around Dee’s ego, the narrator’s daughter. Although differing ethnicity, both families commonly share the attachment of a legacy, a tradition and the adaptation to a new generation. In desperation of surviving as a united family there are changes that they must submit to.
In Paradise of the Blind, Hang and her mother Que, live in Hanoi. Hang's Uncle Chinh, is
All through the times of the intense expectation, overwhelming sadness, and inspiring hope in this novel comes a feeling of relief in knowing that this family will make it through the wearisome times with triumph in their faces. The relationships that the mother shares with her children and parents are what save her from despair and ruin, and these relationships are the key to any and all families emerging from the depths of darkness into the fresh air of hope and happiness.
The contrast Huong provides between the reality of Hang’s impoverished life and the beauty of the scenery that she experiences, emphasise the powerful effect the landscape has on her. When describing the first snowfall she ever observed, Hang noticed that the snowflakes “flood[ed] the earth with their icy whiteness,” this observation “pierc[ing her] soul like sorrow.” The scenery had such a moving effect on Hang, perhaps because she longed for the familiar sight of a Vietnamese landscape. Then recalling a time when her mother took her to a beach, the exquisiteness of the scene at dawn was equally emotionally poignant to Hang, not because she wished for a recognisable sight, but because it was such an extreme difference from the slum in Hanoi where she grew up. The sensory details of her childhood remain with Hang even years later, acting as a reminder of her humble beginnings even as she advances in life. The stench of “rancid urine” that permeated the walls of the slum and the hut where she and her mother lived, with its persistently leaky roof “patched together out of…rusty sheet metal” ; build a vivid picture of poverty. To then be exposed to the breathtaking vista of a natural landscape, having experienced the scarceness of beauty in the slums that is her home, causes distress in Hang.
Zhang’s first person narrative, uncensored and informal diction makes her story and experience relatable and one that touches the reader in ways not many other works are able to. This could be because of the fact that Zhang addresses harder to talk about subjects, but for me it was mainly her ability to deliver her truth in all its raw, real and ugly that is uncommon to find. Zhang’s unique style of writing is bold yet does not alienate readers allowing her to be able to share her story, experiences, and thoughts of depression. Zhang believes that “everyone wants to make something touchable, but most of us don’t out of fear of being laughable (Zhang),” and through “How It Feels”, she has created something that is just that,
Various sources of information that were shown throughout the period of this class used different rhetoric strategies that showcased gender, class, ethnicity, and identity in Vietnam. Each source depicted the aforementioned differently, thus also making readers privy to each source's strengths and weaknesses when covering a certain aspect of Vietnam.
By becoming close with Robert, the man in this story experienced what was necessary to gain an understanding of what life is like for the blind. The man began to draw the cathedral to try and help Robert visualize what one looked like. What he didn't realize at the time was that Robert was helping him to visualize what blindness felt like. Bibliography: Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral".
The second and third sections are about the daughters' lives, and the vignettes in each section trace their personality growth and development. Through the eyes of the daughters, we can also see the continuation of the mothers' stories, how they learned to cope in America. In these sections, Amy Tan explores the difficulties in growing up as a Chinese-American and the problems assimilating into modern society. The Chinese-American daughters try their best to become "Americanized," at the same time casting off their heritage while their mothers watch on, dismayed. Social pressures to become like everyone else, and not to be different are what motivate the daughters to resent their nationality. This was a greater problem for Chinese-American daughters that grew up in the 50's, when it was not well accepted to be of an "ethnic" background.
The theme of this book is that the human capacity to adapt to and find happiness in the most difficult circumstances. Each character in the novel shows this in their way. For instance, their family is randomly taken from their home and forced to work but they still remain a close nit family. In addition, they even manage to stick together after being separated for one of their own. These show how even in the darkest time they still manage to find a glimmer of hope and they pursued on.
Li-Young Lee’s poem, A Story, explores a complex relationship between a father and his five year old son. Although the poem’s purpose is to elaborate on the complexity of the relationship and the father’s fear of disappointing his son, the main conflict that the father is faced with is not uncommon among parents. Lee is able to successfully portray the father’s paranoia and son’s innocence through the use of alternating point of view, stanza structure, and Biblical symbolism. The use of third person omniscient point of view allows the reader to know the inner thoughts of both characters in the poem. By knowing the thoughts of the father and his son, the reader is able to see both the father’s concerned thoughts and his son’s desire for a
An accidental fall from the mountain led Nunez to discover the Country of the Blind. Upon discovery, he sees this as an opportunity to take over and rule the country because “In the Country of the Blind the One-eyed Man is King” (Wells 383). Because Nunez has the ability to see, he often attempts to introduce the concept of “sight” to the citizens by describing where he is from and how he stumbles upon the country. In addition, he speaks “of the beauties of sight, of watching the mountains, of the sky and the sunrise” (389). He wants the blind men to know what it is like to live a comfortable lifestyle by being able to see.
There are two types of blind people that appear throughout the story. The most common are the benevolent and harmless kind, like the “blind singers” (Huong 54) who serenade Hang and her mother on their way to the pagoda. The blind all make a living by pleasing people, with song, or by “fortune telling” (44 Huong), which suggests that the blind can still contribute to society. They are usually shy, and do not talk much. However, the other kind of blind people are avaricious, and self righteous.
Family around the world is a key component on what it means to feel loved, praised, and molded into a young lady. Banana Yoshimoto's novel depicts the story of Mikage a Japanese girl who's lost her entire family throughout the years. However, Mikage soon discovers that a family can be found within the people you least expect for her that was the Tanabe's who helped Mikage gain strength in herself to continue with life once more, as well as comforting her. The author Yoshimoto develops a theme of the importance a family can have among one's life by using Mikage as an example on how difficult life can be without a family. Yoshimoto also establishes that in order for someone to live a happy life you would need support and guidance from a family member.
In her short story "Two Kinds," Amy Tan utilizes the daughter's point of view to share a mother's attempts to control her daughter's hopes and dreams, providing a further understanding of how their relationship sours. The daughter has grown into a young woman and is telling the story of her coming of age in a family that had emigrated from China. In particular, she tells that her mother's attempted parental guidance was dominated by foolish hopes and dreams. This double perspective allows both the naivety of a young girl trying to identify herself and the hindsight and judgment of a mature woman.