blog4 topic 2

The poem “Diving into the wreck” by Adrienne Rich describes a simple experience of diving into the ocean. The narrator, having read the book of myths taking the camera and the knife with her, begins a trip diving into the deep ocean in the first part of the poem. According to the poem, “not like Cousteau/ with his assiduous team/ aboard the sun-flooded schooner/ but here alone”, the narrator indicates that the dive is a lonely trip which has no friends or company. Why would she choose to travel to the deep ocean alone? Doesn’t she know the danger lying under the water? To figure out the reason, we need to understand what specific events make the author want to write the poem at that time.

This poem was published in 1971 and at the same time, the feminist movement broke out in America. According to the article “Breaking down barriers for Women in the 1960s-1970s”, “As one woman at the time put it, ‘The female doesn't really expect a lot from life. She's here as someone's keeper - her husband's or her children's.’ ”, almost every aspect of women’s life is limited at that time from family life to workplace. Back to the personal life experience of Rich, she married her husband Alfred Conrad in 1953 and had three children with him, but their marriage began to fray in the 1960s when she became politically aware. Rich later stated that “the experience of motherhood was eventually to radicalize me”. There must be something special with the experience of motherhood that makes Rich determine to divorce with Conrad and support for the feminism movement by publishing one of the representative collective essays “Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Institution and Experience”. Though Rich did not mention details about what makes her the decision, she wrote them in the poem using metaphors.

Back to the poem “Diving into the wreck”, “the sea is another story/ the sea is not a question of power/ I have to learn alone/ to turn my body without force in the deep element”, though the “I” is a singular form, symbolizes for the group of woman who should fight with the inequality of rights between men and women. The ocean can be seen as the society in 1960s-1970s when women in America are restricted to have the equal right as men’s no matter in family life or work place. According to the poem, “I crawl like an insect down the ladder”, it depicts the harsh environment and hard process while looking for the wreck which is forgotten but should have been remembered by people. The social status and right of women are omitted as the wreck that is forgotten by people in deep ocean.

Blog Post 4 Topic 4

            In “The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts” by Maxine Hong Kingston, the readers are able to sympathize with the protagonist who is a Chinese-American because she has to juggle being Chinese and being an American. The story follows the protagonist as a young girl who goes to primary school at an American school and then going to a Chinese school. The two environments are drastically different in their teaching style and how the protagonist behaved at the two school. The readers then see how the protagonist struggles with the idea of certain Chinese superstitions or ideas. Towards the end of the play, the protagonist physically abuses another young girl probably out of hatred that this girl is perpetuating the image of a stereotypical Chinese-American female.

            As a reader and as a first generation, it is quite easy to sympathize with the protagonist because she is a young girl who is torn between two different worlds. On the one hand she is the quiet Chinese girl at an American school who is too afraid to speak and gets confused between the “…Chinese ‘I’…” and the “…American ‘I’…”. Yet at home she refuses to revert back to traditional ideas that her mother imposes on her. We can also sympathize with how she learns one thing in American school and her mother tells her another thing. An example of this is “…during the next eclipse [they would] slam pot lids together to scare the frog from swallowing the moon” while the protagonist tried to explain to her mom that the the eclipse is just “a shadow the earth makes when it comes between the moon and the sun”. At the end of the story we can again sympathize with the protagonist when she physically abuses the young girl because she has an internal anger towards the way Chinese-Americans act or are expected to act. The protagonist may have done a terrible thing by abusing the young girl, but it was her way of expressing her feelings toward living in a foreign world where they expect the Chinese to sit back and be quiet while at the Chinese school she would be loud and talk, yet she feels as though she can not “… entrust [her] voice…” to either culture. She feels like she can not find a voice as an American or as a Chinese. She is too Americanized to be Chinese, but too Chinese to be American.

            Even though times has changed, the immigrant or first generation experience written in this story is still very relevant and probably very true for many people today. It is difficult to try to immerse oneself in a new foreign culture, while trying to retain their heritage, language, and traditions. As shown in the story, the protagonist became aware of how illogical her mother was when the druggist delivered prescriptions that were not theirs or how her mother would slam pots and lids together during an eclipse. There is a feeling of embarrassment and shamefulness that follows the immigrant or first generation person because their culture does not blend in with what they are taught in school or what they see in society in this new country. They feel out of place because suddenly their way of life is not the right way and they are afraid to get ridiculed. It still holds very true that no matter what background the reader comes from there can be a consensus that they don’t necessarily have a voice as an American or as a traditional person of color. They have been immersed in the American culture long enough to point out certain misconceptions that their culture has therefore they have become too Americanized for their people. Yet at the same time they still retain so much of their culture that to Americans they are still too foreign. This feeling of being in the middle and not belonging transcends time and is still the case for many immigrants and first generation person today.

            

Comparing Kingston and Cisneros' Takes on the Immigrant Experience

Blog Post #4

Maxine Hong Kingston and Sandra Cisneros describe life as an immigrant in the United States similarly, though the ways in which they describe the experience differs. Kingston suggests that Americans are quite different than her place of birth, China, yet she does so entirely in English. Cisneros has a similar take on the life of an immigrant, yet she makes her point by integrating her native language, Spanish, into the piece in order to emphasize the cultural differences. In other words, Kingston and Cisneros describe cultural differences between immigrants and the United States, yet make their points differently.

In Kingston’s “The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts,” it is clear that there are huge cultural differences between the Chinese immigrants and Americans. There is a scene where the main character’s mom asks her to get “reparation candy” because the drugstore delivered the wrong order. She states that they “have tainted [her] house with sick medicine and must remove the curse with sweetness” (Kingston, 66). However, once the drug store owner hears the request, he is obviously mystified as to why anyone would request such a thing. Also, Americans, whether they are white or black, are referred to as ghosts. The connotation behind ghosts is obvious: they are not of this world and are scary. Therefore, it does not take a great imagination to see that Kingston is suggesting that Americans are very different from the Chinese immigrants and thus invoke fear. With that being said, it is worth noting that the entirety of  “The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts” is written in English, and therefore, all of these cues about the immigration experience are observable due to the descriptions rather than the style of writing.

Similarly, in “Woman Hollering Creek,” Cisneros alludes to cultural differences between her homeland, Mexico, and the United States.  For example, the main character, Cleófilas, describes an American woman who “drove a pickup [...] but when [she] asked if it was her husband’s she said she didn’t have a husband.” This woman also went on to describe another car as a “pussy car” (Cisneros, 78). “Everything about this woman amazed Cleófilas” which makes it clear that there are cultural differences between Mexico and the United States that she did not even expect. Furthermore, Cisneros is able to show where certain differences lie through her use of the Spanish Language. Throughout the text, she inserts Spanish phrases that help show the differences between Mexico and the United States. For instance, there are times when Cleófilas tries to cope with hardship by imagining what her favorite soap opera star, Lucia Mendez would do. She remembers “Tú o Nadie. ‘You or No One.’ The title of her current favorite telenovela. The beautiful Lucia Mendez having to put up with all kinds of hardships” (Cisneros, 74). She also hopes that her move to the United States will allow her to “wear outfits like the women on the tele, like Lucia Mendez” (Cisneros, 74). These references to Mexican popular culture intertwined with Spanish words demonstrate that Cleófilas is having difficulty adapting to the culture in the United States and thus, is clinging to what she is comfortable with.

Accounts such as the ones given by Kingston and Cisneros are important for Americans who did not have to adapt to life in the United States as an immigrant. They help us see that it is difficult to adapt and even though they may seem different, they are trying to fit in. In all, Kingston and Cisneros’ different ways of showing those differences provide a look at two different types of immigrants that will help broaden the understanding of those who cannot experience the immigrant experience for themselves.

Post #4 Topic #4

Kingston and Cisneros talk about the immigrant experience in America. They talk about what it is like to live on a foreign land and how America’s culture and environment influence one's upbringing.  In class, we discussed the typical stereotype immigrant community mainly the Asian and Hispanic community. As an immigrant, I do not agree with the authors. Though I feel I can relate the most to Kingston’s piece, as I can relate to it and was in a similar situation.

“The Woman Warrior” by Kingston is the piece I can relate the most too as she talks about her experience as a young Chinese American and the pressure she felt to fit in. I am not a first generation American but as an immigrant, I can totally relate to this, since I am an Indian who has lived her entire life in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I feel fitting in a society is the hardest part of adjusting, I was very quiet at first because there is a saying “ the first impression is the last impression” and I didn’t want anyone to think of me of something I was not. Like Kingston had said, “knew the silence had to do with being a Chinese girl” (64), this was only because of what everyone thought about the culture I belonged to and how different it is from their culture. For instance, In Dubai education is about teaching you all the basic knowledge in the world. We start from world history to the earth geography, economics, politics, different languages, mathematics, computers, science. So when I started university the basic course had a syllabus that I had been doing in high school hence I was good at it and knew the material, which made me the outcast since I was a nerd. Not because I was scoring straight A’s only because I knew the material, which made me the outcast.

            

Though a lot of people say times have changed we still have President Trump who is on full force to drive every immigrant out of the United States. Even though I can say that Americans are getting used to the fact that people from foreign land do live here and call this home. Although I also believe that the culture barrier will also say intact, it will never break. Even though Americans are accepting it, it doesn’t mean they understand it. I think it is only the immigrant’s responsibility to adapt, adjust and thrive in the new surrounding. I fi was to write a piece of article it would be on the different aspects on being an immigrant. I feel and believe that Immigrants who want to adapt and adjust in a new society will have no problem, as they want to put in that effort to fit in.

Blog Post #4, Option #1

          The Beat Generation of the 1950s believed society’s structure was destroying human rights (Britannica.com). The name originated from its double meaning, referring to both the beat of the jazz music that was erupting during this time, as well as the ‘beat down’ many received physically and emotionally (Lecture 05.15.17). They were bold, blunt, and expressive (online-literature.com). A well-known proponent, was Allen Ginsberg whose work titled Howl detailed the destruction of his generation as they turned to drugs, jazz, sex, and violence. Another proponent of this era was Diane DiPrima, whose Revolutionary Letters outlined her ideas about revolution as a response to dealing with this situation. DiPrima’s Revolutionary Letters reads as a response to Ginsberg’s Howl by providing solutions to the problems he presents.

            Ginsberg’s shares his outrage through his overzealous observations of people’s conditions. This is especially true in section one as he is sharing how people with such potential were destroyed by drugs, sex, violence, and even jazz.  He described some people “…who sat in boxes breathing in the darkness under the bridge…” or others “…who sang out of their windows in despair, fell out of the subway window…cried all over the street…finished the whiskey and threw up groaning into the bloody toilet…” (51). Through these descriptions, he suggests how these people have begun to turn to jazz and alcohol as means to express their anti-establishment attitudes. Though his objective is most likely to express his rage for the society neglecting the individual’s needs, DiPrima provides the proper response by taking it a step further in offering a solution. In Revolutionary Letter #1, she shares her realization that “…the stakes are myself…this flesh all I have to offer, to make the play with this immediate head, what it comes up with, my move…” (55). Here she proclaims her control and power to make choices for herself. This provides a response to many of the individuals Ginsberg describes. Rather than sitting in darkness and despair, DiPrima uses her personal revelation to inspire revolution and change in others.  

            In Section Two of Howl, Ginsberg blames Moloch for the destruction of “the best minds of [his] generation” (49). Moloch is a false god or idol to which people sacrificed kids in fire and also represents how social authority exists without people choosing to follow (Lecture 05.15.17). He characterizes Moloch as “Solitude! Filth! Ugliness!...the incomprehensible prison!...the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows!” (53). He portrays this figure as the embodiment of being trapped to conform to societal norms. Revolutionary Letter #19 tackles this subject arguing that if you feel you need a job, housing, or a degree, for example, that you are not considering the real meaning of these things. For instance, she says, “If what you want is housing…you have chosen to sacrifice the planet for a few years of some science fiction Utopia…” (57). In the end, she adds to Ginsberg’s mere complaint by providing motivation to actually consider the repercussions of your decision before you fall into the trap of doing what society says you should be doing, explaining, “you are selling yourself short, remember you can have what you ask for, ask for everything” (58).

            To say Ginsberg’s poem “demands” such a response from DiPrima feels extreme, but the response is indeed appropriate. Ginsberg’s poetic work merely presents problems with the way society is treating people, but DiPrima advances the argument by not only agreeing with the points he makes, but then providing a guide for how these people not only have the power to change their situations, but also how to use that power.