Reading Literature that Explores Another Culture Serves as a Vast Learning Experience
Reading literature that explores another culture serves as a vast and
positive learning experience. By providing material that not necessarily
relates to the reader's background, a multicultural curriculum opens up
the opportunity for a reader to absorb the material as is, without the
interference of previously gained information or prejudices. Such
materials have a tendency to immediately interest and captivate the
reader, and therefore can easily integrate in the book cultural and
historical facts that will be remembered. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy
Tan is a perfect example of a fictional novel in the American Literature
curriculum that expands the students' knowledge of Chinese culture. The
novel contributes to the reader's understanding of pre-World War II
Chinese customs and exposes to the reader information about political and
social events in China during the World War II time period. While
providing a wealth of information, the novel still manages to retain a f!
ictional plot that keeps the reader entertained and interests him or her
in continuing the reading.
The Kitchen God's Wife opens up as a simple modern day narrative
about a family to which a modern day reader can relate. The story leads
into a flashback, which almost immediately begins to shower the reader
with examples of Chinese culture and intricate explanations of Chinese
customs. This overwhelming amount of cultural information is closely
woven into the plot, which combined allows the reader to, without
realizing it, understand and remember facts about Chinese ways.
Immediately the reader is wrapped up in a world where polygamy and
polytheism are commonly accepted practices, and where all customs are
believed to be practical. As the story unwinds, the reader is bombarded
with all these multicultural facts, and virtually without realizing it, he
or she is exposed to a wealth of information.
Not only cultural but also political and social events are
presented throughout the book. The war between China and Japan is
constantly mentioned, remaining in the background during most of the book.
References to Japanese and Chinese tactics, meetings, bombings, and
American help are constant. All the time battles are mentioned as well as
a chronology of the events of the war. Important facts such as city
takeovers are noted and in some cases details are given. For example,
counts of casualties were presented during a discussion of Japanese
destruction of a Chinese capital city - the information goes almost
unnoticed by the reader, yet it remains the back of one's mind and serves
as a fact which in widens the reader's scope of knowledge.
He, Qiang Shan. "Chinese-American Literature." New Immigrant Literatures in the United States: A Sourcebook to Our Multicultural Literary Heritage. Ed. Alpana Sharma Knippling. WEstport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996. 44-65.
Throughout history artists have used art as a means to reflect the on goings of the society surrounding them. Many times, novels serve as primary sources in the future for students to reflect on past history. Students can successfully use novels as a source of understanding past events. Different sentiments and points of views within novels serve as the information one may use to reflect on these events. Natsume Soseki’s novel Kokoro successfully encapsulates much of what has been discussed in class, parallels with the events in Japan at the time the novel takes place, and serves as a social commentary to describe these events in Japan at the time of the Mejeii Restoration and beyond. Therefore, Kokoro successfully serves as a primary source students may use to enable them to understand institutions like conflicting views Whites by the Japanese, the role of women, and the population’s analysis of the Emperor.
In the passage, "Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer", Annie Murphy Paul uses evidence from actual research and studies to support her claims about the importance of deep reading. She lays out specific statistics, then she continues to use those statistics to make a point that seems true and inarguable.
Oftentimes the children of immigrants to the United States lose the sense of cultural background in which their parents had tried so desperately to instill within them. According to Walter Shear, “It is an unseen terror that runs through both the distinct social spectrum experienced by the mothers in China and the lack of such social definition in the daughters’ lives.” This “unseen terror” is portrayed in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club as four Chinese women and their American-born daughters struggle to understand one another’s culture and values. The second-generation women in The Joy Luck Club prove to lose their sense of Chinese values, becoming Americanized.
The family's personal encounters with the destructive nature of the traditional family have forced them to think in modern ways so they will not follow the same destructive path that they've seen so many before they get lost. In this new age struggle for happiness within the Kao family, a cultural barrier is constructed between the modern youth and the traditional adults, with Chueh-hsin teeter tottering on the edge, lost between them both. While the traditional family seems to be cracking and falling apart much like an iceberg in warm ocean waters, the bond between Chueh-min, Chueh-hui, Chin and their friends becomes as strong as the ocean itself. While traditional Confucianism plays a large role in the problems faced by the Kao family, it is the combination of both Confucianism and modernization that brings the family to its knees. Chueh-hsin is a huge factor in the novel for many reasons.
This paper will compare Gordon W. Prange's book "At Dawn We Slept - The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor" with the film "Tora! Tora! Tora!" directed by Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda. While the film provides little background to the attack, its focal point is on the Pearl Harbor assault and the inquiry of why it was not prevented, or at least foreseen in adequate time to decrease damage. Prange's book examines the assault on Pearl Harbor from both the Japanese and American viewpoints to gain a global view of the situation and the vast provision undertaken by Japanese intelligence. The film and book present the Japanese side, the American side, the events that lead up to the attack, and the aftermath.
Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. “Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman and the Surrender of Japan.” Taking Sides: Clashing View in United States History. Ed. Larry Madaras & James SoRelle. 15th ed. New York, NY. 2012. 289-298.
“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strengths to establish realities”(5). In the book “The Woman Warrior,” Maxine Kingston is most interested in finding out about Chinese culture and history and relating them to her emerging American sense of self. One of the main ways she does so is listening to her mother’s talk-stories about the family’s Chinese past and applying them to her life.
At a young age children believe almost everything that they hear. Parents and teachers need to be very careful and selective with what they talk about around children. One challenge that teachers and parents face is choosing the appropriate books to read for their young ones. One book genre that has caused a good amount of chaos and controversy are multicultural books. Adults are afraid of exposing their children to these kinds of books because they do not want them to be influenced by the negative stereotypes that many of these books contain. However multicultural books can help children to empathize with others and learn about different cultures, the right books just need to be selected. Parents and teachers need to find books that
The Fifteen-Year War was a time of great turmoil and uncertainty in Japan. Various facets of the country were tested and driven to their limits. During the occupation, race and gender began to evolve in ways that had not exactly be seen before. War had a tremendous impact on every part of the life of a Japanese citizen. Both men and women began to fill roles that were completely novel to them. Race became a part of the definition of who people were. As the war progressed and American troops landed on Japanese soil for occupation, more drastic changes occurred. Economic hardship and rations befell the people of the Land of the Rising Sun. Prostitution began to rear its ugly head and rape transpired. Through memory, research, and vivid creativity, the evolution of Japan during the Fifteen-Year War can be analyzed with great scrutiny.
The event that I choose was the Global Voices because I wanted to hear from people from different countries. There were people from the Congo, Mexico, Canada, and the Bahamas. The Congo seems to be known as a third world county in poverty and hardships. In fact it has the most exports in metal materials; most commonly, the metal used in our very own smart phones. You can also go snowboarding or skiing in Congo. Mexico is always look down upon as a very poor dirty country that is full of drugs and rapists. In fact Mexico is a very beautiful country with waterfalls, mountains, islands, and beaches. You can also snowboard and ski in Mexico. It has very sophisticated and modern capital. Many pyramids and ancient empires. Canada is seems to be known for bacon, hockey, and those ranger in red outfits. Canada is actually much more than that.
Reading was never something I fussed about growing up. As a child, I loved genres of realistic fiction. I was hooked on The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley, Goosebumps, The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, Judy Moody, and especially, Zoobooks and Highlights magazines. My mother was always ready to help build my reading and writing skills. She took me to the library constantly to feed my passion for books and knowledge. I loved exploring the shelfs, organizing the books, and filling up my library cart. I tried keeping a diary in elementary school to keep track of my outings with my parents and grandparents to museums, zoos, movies, and libraries. This flash of writing enthusiasm was spun from books I read in the 4th and 5th grade that were
Culture is a very large part of the world’s past, present, and future history. Schools teach the history of the United States and of African American enslavement. They teach how the Trail of Tears was born which forced the migration of Indians from their homes. They are also teaching multicultural literature. With the inclusion of multicultural literature in education, some perspectives may be changed and create a better understanding towards others’ traditions and views.
When asked the question, “what is world literature,” the typical response you get from people (mostly students) is, world literature is this boring college course in which students are forced to take, as it is a requirement for everyone’s education and is about what some dead guys wrote centuries ago. However, I personally do not have that same response because world literature is much more than that. In actuality, yes, world literature is composed of tremendous works of literature throughout the world that will forever be pasted down and learned from, although, it is much more important and serves as a bigger purpose. This purpose is to enlighten today’s society on how the world once was, making world literature important for three main reasons.
The beginning of my interest in reading goes way back, although I don’t have any defining “aha!” moment, where I all of a sudden enjoyed reading books. There were always books around when I was growing up, if I was at my grandparents house it was the books they kept from their youth; classics like Treasure Island or any Hemingway book, the hard covers permanently infused with dust; plenty of History books, particularly World War II history; and the children’s books I always received as presents when I visited. My mom also read a lot, but more modern books, like supernatural or light horror books, nothing too difficult (or scary). I spent a lot of time reading magazines, mostly Video Game (note: spent more time creating stories off the video game articles and stories than actually playing the games; remember also creating stories from multiple video games) and newspapers, particularly the baseball scores I always was into creative things as a kid (note: the baseball simulation tournaments).