Finishing American Born Chinese

I found this book to be one of my favorite reads so far! It was easy to follow, and it wasn't hard to fit all the reading in for the week. I even wanted to read father than the required length. In the beginning I was hesitant since it was a comic book, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. For it being my first comic book, I'd say it was a success. There were a few moments where I was confused with what was going on however. The ending was completely surprising. I didn't expect that crazy of an ending. It was interesting to see how everything tied together in the end. Chin-Kee and Danny become their true forms. Chin-Kee becomes the Monkey King, while Danny becomes Jin Wang. And Wei-Chen is the Monkey King's son. This comic book is a story about wanting to fit in. Although the author shows it in a drastic form, it's realistic. I was confused in the beginning as to how these stories were going to tie together, but I am happy with how the book ended. It's an interesting way to view this topic rather than reading a standard novel. And it goes to show you to embrace who you are, and don't try to hide it. Everyone is unique in their own way. You can try to be someone you aren't but you can't change who you are. It's a very realistic topic that many people seem to struggle with. I liked how the meaning behind these crazy stories is actually relevant. Throughout the book, it seemed like every seen had an importance to the bigger story.

American Born Chinese

In the beginning of this book, I was disappointed to see it was a comic book. I've never read a comic book before so I assumed I wouldn't like it. But as I read further I found it interesting and easy to follow for the most part. The book follows a few different characters. This includes a Monkey King, a teenage boy names Jin Wang, and the third is another teenage boy named Danny. I find the Monkey King to be the most interesting character. He's a monkey that masters kung-fu and other things in many forms. He seemed like an everyday, nice monkey until one night he goes out and everything changes. He loves to go to dinner parties until one day he is not allowed inside because he doesn't have shoes. He gets extremely angry and freaks out. When he gets home to his mountain, he then goes into isolation to master other arts. This includes: invulnerably to fire, invulnerably to drowning, invulnerably to cold, and invulnerably to wounds. He wants everyone to view him as a god. He goes off to show off his powers to everyone. The story also follows a young male named Danny. His life is going fine until his cousin comes into town. Danny has changed schools every year since 8th grade. This is because his cousin visits once a year and ruins everything when he does. Jin Wang meets a new kid, Wei-Chen Sun who tries to become friends with Jin. Jin is reluctant but eventually they become best friends. Wei-Chen is thankful for Jin because he showed him the American ways and taught him a lot. He said without him, he doesn't know what things would have been like. So far I've enjoyed this comic book and I'm excited to finish it up!

Finishing Brown Girl Dreaming

I liked Brown Girl Dreaming overall. However, I still prefer the traditional style of writing but the free verse was interesting and easy to follow. The stories she told were intriguing, and at times I could feel like I was really there. Jackie moves around with her siblings for a while until they finally meet their mother in New York. I found Jackie's mother to be an interesting character. I could relate in the fact that she seems strict and some of her rules are too much in the sense that my mom was that way growing up. However, the mother had reasoning for acting the way she did, and she just wanted the best for her children.  Jackie begins to write and writes a story on butterflies. Other people didn't understand how she could write about something so small and something that only lives a short lifespan. But to her, nothing died on paper, on paper butterflies could live forever. I found that thought really interesting because that's not something usually thought about. Her teacher acknowledges the fact that Jackie is a talented writer and mentions it to her. I think that definitely meant a lot for Jackie to her, especially coming from her teacher. I feel like that inspired her to write more. In the beginning of the book I had a hard time seeing the events come together, everything seemed like a separate story. But as I read further into the book, I felt more like I was reading one story and the events began to come together more. As the story goes on, Jackie's grandfather dies. She was close to her grandfather so this was a tragic event for the whole family. I felt bad for them. I feel like this was definitely a turning point for Jackie, and it seems like that was when she really started to realize things.

Brown Girl Dreaming

We started a book called Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. The book is written more in the form of poetry rather than a standard novel text. I don't think I like this way of writing as much as I like the other way. It's easy to follow, it's just not as capturing I guess. I find it kind of boring. The poems are interesting in the sense that this actually happened to someone and this is her story, but I don't see much of a story yet. It just seems like bits and pieces of her life. It doesn't seem to flow very well, almost every page is a different topic. Aside from the writing style, the deeper meaning of the words she writes are incredibly captivating. It's so different than how things are now. Jacqueline was born on a Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio in 1963. Jacqueline, her mom, and her two older siblings moved to South Carolina, however her mom doesn't plan on making that permanent. They stay with her grandparents.You don't read too much about her dad. Jacqueline's mom appears to have raised them rather strictly and 'properly'. I was surprised when Jacqueline's brother was whipped for saying "ain't". That isn't something that would happen today. Usually a parent would just scold their child or something, but then again times have changed and people look at the "right" ways to discipline your children differently. Jacqueline's relationship with her grandparents seems to be a loving and caring relationship. There's multiple scenes when she explains times they were treated unfairly because of the color of their skin. She said when they would walk to the store, people would watch them the whole time they were shopping. I'm curious to see if more of these events line up and if more of a story will grow.

YDWTKYA #2

I thought 'Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass' was an okay book. There were many times when it made me angry though. The bullying scenes are what bothered me but I wish I had known more about Yaqui's character and why she acted the way she did. Bullying was in my opinion, the biggest issue in this book. The author takes it to a deeper and more serious level. I definitely think the bullying is realistic, but I don't think that's the most common type of bullying. The bullying in this book seems more extreme. For most people that experience being bullied, it appears to be more mild. Throughout the novel, Piddy has a series of bad events happen to her. Yaqui continues to bully her regardless of what Piddy does. I feel like the ending could have been better however. I wish Piddy didn't have to switch schools because I feel like in a way that is showing that Yaqui had won. She was able to get rid of Piddy. Yaqui also should have had more consequences. A suspension is not going to fix her. It's just the easy way for a school to say they are trying to help stop bullying when in reality it's not that easy. For all the awful things Yaqui did to Piddy, a suspension just doesn't cut it. It won't fix anything. I wonder what would have happened to Yaqui if the book were to continue. Would she find someone else to bully? Would she change? I think this book does a good job at representing bullying and how it can affect people, but I think the ending should have been a bit different. As much as I wish it had ended differently, I think it shows you that not everything can be fixed completely and that's the point. Not every negative situation can be solved so easily. 

Youth Lens

I will be writing about Youth Lens and it's relativity to Eleanor and Park. Youth Lens can be defined as the way adolescents are perceived in literature. In Eleanor and Park, ultimately the parents have control over the things their children do. Eleanor and Park are seen as 'adolescents' and because of that, they have certain limitations and responsibilities to fulfill within society. They have to follow more rules and are limited to what they can do because of their age. For example, when Park and Eleanor hang out at his house, they are allowed to be in his room, but the door has to be open. Depending on how sheltered a child is, will determine how they grow up. This can vary depending on the child's household growing up. They may grow up to be more independent or they may grow up relying more on others. Youth Lens also talks about adolescents and their sexuality and how that fits into society. We are told that certain ways are right when it comes to our sexuality and what we like. We are made to feel certain ways, so if we don't agree with society and social 'norms' we feel out of place. When in reality that shouldn't be the case. No one should have to hide who they are. Park is worried he might be gay at times because he's attracted to things maybe the average boy wouldn't find attractive. But if people made being open okay, then he wouldn't feel out of place. Youth Lens is an interesting way to look at adolescence. It's interesting to really analyze and think about why kids do or don't do certain things, because it's not really something thought about everyday.

YDWTKYA

We just started the book Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, by Meg Medina. So far I haven't found this novel to capture my attention too much, but it's much easier to follow than Feed. The characters are kind of young for my liking and I want to read something more for adults. It seems slow moving and the story theme is similar to Eleanor and Park. There's bullying going on of course, and it appears to be a big focus in the novel. Piddy, is the main character in the book. Piddy moves in the beginning of the story, and she lives with her mom. Her dad isn't a part of her life, and she wonders what it would have been like if he was. Piddy and her mom don't always see eye to eye, she wishes she was more understanding. This story shows a lot of childhood issues that we can all encounter at one point or another. Including bullying, or feeling like you don't fit in. I don't understand why Yaqui is so mean to Piddy. And I don't understand why you wouldn't get mad at your boyfriend for staring at another girl's ass, instead of the chick he's looking at! It's not her fault. That made no sense to me. She does many terrible things to her. I feel bad for Piddy because she doesn't really have any friends and her best friend had moved. She seems to feel alone. And it doesn't help that she doesn't have the best home life either. This story is depressing so far, and I'm hoping eventually some positive events will happen.  I'm curious to see what will happen in the story between Piddy and her mom and Piddy and Yaqui.

Subvertisement

So for our subvertisement assignment we were supposed to find an original ad and subvert it to what we think it's portraying. I wasn't sure which kind of ad to use, until I found an American Apparel ad with a man in-between a woman's legs. So many ads today are trying to basically say, "If you buy our products you will look and feel sexy". That's the most important thing in today's society; fitting in and looking good (according to society). It seems as if this ad is trying to attract young males in particular. It's saying if you buy these clothes, it will be easier for you to get into women's pants. You will look sexy, you will feel sexy. Sex is basically what this ad is representing, and to many young males, that's appealing. It draws their attention. I also feel as if it's demeaning towards men, however that isn't the ads intent. But by putting a man in-between a women's legs, that basically saying all men only want sex. That's all they care about. It demeans the woman in the ad by saying that basically all you have to do is look good and a woman will have sex with you. Women don't care about your personality, we're "easy". This ad is a good example of what many other clothing companies are trying to portray. They all have the same goal, and that's to get consumers to buy their products. And many portray that in the same way, by having some sort of discreet sexual ideologies in their ads because that's what they think is going to attract younger audiences. Below I have my original ad, and then the ad subverted to what I believe it actually means.