In English we were assigned to read the third chapter of The Woman Warrior, "Shaman", and my role this time was the Biographical Critic, who analyzes what we know and learn about the author from the chapter.
In "Shaman", we learn a lot about Maxine's mother, Brave Orchid, and her family's life back in China. The chapter starts out when Maxine brings out her mother's diploma and graduation photo's from a medical school in the city of Canton, and uses her imagination and her mother's talk-story to make-up her mother's experiences, and then goes on to describe how her life had been like in China, in comparison with the life that she had to live when she came to America. From "Shaman", we learn that in China, Brave Orchid had two other children who both died, and after the second died, she decided to go to the Keung School of Midwifery, to become a doctor with the money that her husband was sending her from America. And while there she encountered her first ghost whom she drove out and showed her bravery to all the other students, as well as teaching them how not to fear the ghosts, and how to rid ghosts from any place.
So, when Brave Orchid returns to her village, she is treated with the utmost esteem and respect, because she could not only cure the sick , deliver babies, but also banish the ghosts. We also learn about how smart Brave Orchid had been when caring for the sick, as we learn about her secret of success, which was that she would never treat a patience who was going to die, so all her patience would be get better and live.
But when Brave Orchid's husband asked her to leave China to live in America, she repeats several times in her talk-story of who far she fell when she came to America. Fore in China, she was regarded as a magician or Shaman for all she could do, then in America, she works in a laundry mat, or the tomato fields, something that she is constantly complaining about, saying that there lives would have been much better if they had stayed in China. However in the ending of the chapter, we learn how the family could never go back to China, because the Communist had taken all their property, after their last uncle was murdered.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Monday, March 5, 2007
White Tigers: Lit. Circle Part 2
Part 2 for my group was from page 34 – 53…
Forebodingly: (p.34) a strong inner feeling or notion of a future misfortune, evil, etc.; presentiment
Tooled: (p.35) To form, work, or decorate with a tool; To ornament (a book cover) with a bookbinder's tool; (Slang) To drive (a vehicle)
Dethrone: (p.36) to remove from a throne; depose; to remove from any position of power or authority
Fiefdom: (p.37) the estate or domain of a feudal lord; anything, as an organization or real estate, owned or controlled by one dominant person or group
Encampment: (p.37) an act or instance of encamping; lodgment in a camp; the place or quarters occupied in camping; camp
Palanquins: (p. 38) A covered litter carried on poles on the shoulders of four or more bearers, formerly used in eastern Asia
Jounce: (p.39) to move joltingly or roughly up and down; bounce
Gestation: (p.39) The period of development in the uterus from conception until birth; pregnancy; the conception and development of a plan or an idea in the mind
Fontanel: (p.40) tne of the spaces, covered by membrane, between the bones of the fetal or young skull
Palpable: (p.41) readily or plainly seen, heard, perceived, etc.; obvious; evident
Mercenary: (p.44) working or acting merely for money or other reward; venal; hired to serve in a foreign army, guerrilla organization, etc
Amazons: (p.45) (Greek Mythology) A member of a nation of women warriors reputed to have lived in Scythia; a tall, aggressive, strong-willed woman.
Vouch: (p.45) to support as being true, certain, reliable, etc.); to attest; guarantee; certify
Emigrant: (p.46) a person who emigrates, as from his or her native country or region
Immigrant: (p.46) a person who migrates to another country, usually for permanent residence; an organism found in a new habitat
Deign: (p.48) do something that one considers to be beneath one's dignity
Forged: (p.49) make or shape (a metal object) by heating it in a fire or furnace and beating or hammering it
Communist: (p.50) political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs
Flotage: (p.52) the act or state of floating.
Anthropology: (p.52) the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind; the study of human beings' similarity to and divergence from other animals; the science of humans and their works.
Concession: (p.53) the act of conceding or yielding, as a right, a privilege, or a point or fact in an argument;the thing or point yielded; something conceded by a government or a controlling authority, as a grant of land, a privilege, or a franchise.
Idiom: (p. 53) an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements or from the general grammatical rules of a languag, and that is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics; a language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar to a people
Forebodingly: (p.34) a strong inner feeling or notion of a future misfortune, evil, etc.; presentiment
Tooled: (p.35) To form, work, or decorate with a tool; To ornament (a book cover) with a bookbinder's tool; (Slang) To drive (a vehicle)
Dethrone: (p.36) to remove from a throne; depose; to remove from any position of power or authority
Fiefdom: (p.37) the estate or domain of a feudal lord; anything, as an organization or real estate, owned or controlled by one dominant person or group
Encampment: (p.37) an act or instance of encamping; lodgment in a camp; the place or quarters occupied in camping; camp
Palanquins: (p. 38) A covered litter carried on poles on the shoulders of four or more bearers, formerly used in eastern Asia
Jounce: (p.39) to move joltingly or roughly up and down; bounce
Gestation: (p.39) The period of development in the uterus from conception until birth; pregnancy; the conception and development of a plan or an idea in the mind
Fontanel: (p.40) tne of the spaces, covered by membrane, between the bones of the fetal or young skull
Palpable: (p.41) readily or plainly seen, heard, perceived, etc.; obvious; evident
Mercenary: (p.44) working or acting merely for money or other reward; venal; hired to serve in a foreign army, guerrilla organization, etc
Amazons: (p.45) (Greek Mythology) A member of a nation of women warriors reputed to have lived in Scythia; a tall, aggressive, strong-willed woman.
Vouch: (p.45) to support as being true, certain, reliable, etc.); to attest; guarantee; certify
Emigrant: (p.46) a person who emigrates, as from his or her native country or region
Immigrant: (p.46) a person who migrates to another country, usually for permanent residence; an organism found in a new habitat
Deign: (p.48) do something that one considers to be beneath one's dignity
Forged: (p.49) make or shape (a metal object) by heating it in a fire or furnace and beating or hammering it
Communist: (p.50) political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs
Flotage: (p.52) the act or state of floating.
Anthropology: (p.52) the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind; the study of human beings' similarity to and divergence from other animals; the science of humans and their works.
Concession: (p.53) the act of conceding or yielding, as a right, a privilege, or a point or fact in an argument;the thing or point yielded; something conceded by a government or a controlling authority, as a grant of land, a privilege, or a franchise.
Idiom: (p. 53) an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements or from the general grammatical rules of a languag, and that is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics; a language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar to a people
Sunday, March 4, 2007
White Tigers: Lit. Circle Part 1
In class, we recently started doing these literature circles with a twist, where we dicuss and share a our ideas about a certian chapter of the book we are reading with a few other people in our class, so we can undersand what it going on in the chapter. Also with these lit. circles, each member has a role to learn more about the story, and it's background. So I chose to be the Lexicographer, which basically means I will read the chapter assigned to us, and define the words that were hard to understand.
This week, we were to read the chapter "White Tigers", in The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. In this chapter, the main character - the girl/ Maxine Hong Kingston - tells the Ledgen of Fa Mu Lan (which is the story that the disney movie "Mulan", was based off of), as if she were Fa Mu Lan. The first part of the reading for my group was from page 19-33, and I am finding my definitions from http://answers.com/ and http://www.google.com/ ...
Page 19
Confucius Church: this site can explain to you what Confucianism is
http://www.religion-cults.com/Eastern/Confucianism/confuci.htm
White Crane Boxing: I found this site that has a brief description of what white crane boxing is http://www.usadojo.com/styles/about-white-crane-boxing.htm
Page 20
Brambles: A prickly shrub of the genus Rubus, including the blackberry and the raspberry.
Fa Mu Lan: This site tells the ballad/ ledged of Fa Mu Lan http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/elejeune/mulan.htm
Page 21
Thatch: a material, as straw, rushes, leaves, or the like, used to cover roofs, grain stacks, etc.; the leaves of various palms that are used for thatching.
Page 22
Encircled: to form a circle around; surround; encompass
Page 23
Ideograph: a written symbol that represents an idea or object directly rather than a particular word or speech sound, as a Chinese character
Dilations: an abnormal enlargement of an aperture or a canal of the body.
Homonyms: One of two or more words that have the same sound and often the same spelling but differ in meaning, such as bank (embankment) and bank (place where money is kept).
Page 24
Peony: any of various plants or shrubs of the genus Paeonia, having large, showy flowers, as the widely cultivated species P. lactiflora: the state flower of Indiana.
Page 26
Acutely: sharp or severe in effect; intense; extremely great or serious; crucial; (of disease) brief and severe (opposed to chronic); sharp or penetrating in intellect, insight, or perception.
Page 27
Javanese: of or pertaining to the island of Java, its people, or their language; a member of the native Malayan people of Java, esp. of that branch of it in the central part of the island; the Austronesian language of central Java
Page 28
Self-immolation: voluntary sacrifice or denial of oneself, as for an ideal or another person.
Transmigration: the passage of a soul after death into another body; metempsychosis; To migrate
Juniper: Any of various evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Juniperus, having needlelike or scalelike, often pointed leaves and aromatic, bluish-gray, berrylike, seed-bearing cones
Page 29
Strata: a layer of material, naturally or artificially formed, often one of a number of parallel layers, one upon another; one of a number of portions or divisions likened to layers or levels
Quarries: an excavation or pit, usually open to the air, from which building stone, slate, or the like, is obtained by cutting, blasting, etc.
Mallard: a common, almost cosmopolitan, wild duck, Anas platyrhynchos, from which the domestic ducks are descended
Resin: any of a class of nonvolatile, solid or semisolid organic substances, as copal or mastic, that consist of amorphous mixtures of carboxylic acids and are obtained directly from certain plants as exudations or prepared by polymerization of simple molecules: used in medicine and in the making of varnishes and plastics
Paradoxes: A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true
Page 30
Scythes: An implement consisting of a long, curved single-edged blade with a long bent handle, used for mowing or reaping
Page 32
Conscription: compulsory enrollment of persons for military or naval service; draft; a compulsory contribution of money to a government during a time of war.
This week, we were to read the chapter "White Tigers", in The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. In this chapter, the main character - the girl/ Maxine Hong Kingston - tells the Ledgen of Fa Mu Lan (which is the story that the disney movie "Mulan", was based off of), as if she were Fa Mu Lan. The first part of the reading for my group was from page 19-33, and I am finding my definitions from http://answers.com/ and http://www.google.com/ ...
Page 19
Confucius Church: this site can explain to you what Confucianism is
http://www.religion-cults.com/Eastern/Confucianism/confuci.htm
White Crane Boxing: I found this site that has a brief description of what white crane boxing is http://www.usadojo.com/styles/about-white-crane-boxing.htm
Page 20
Brambles: A prickly shrub of the genus Rubus, including the blackberry and the raspberry.
Fa Mu Lan: This site tells the ballad/ ledged of Fa Mu Lan http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/elejeune/mulan.htm
Page 21
Thatch: a material, as straw, rushes, leaves, or the like, used to cover roofs, grain stacks, etc.; the leaves of various palms that are used for thatching.
Page 22
Encircled: to form a circle around; surround; encompass
Page 23
Ideograph: a written symbol that represents an idea or object directly rather than a particular word or speech sound, as a Chinese character
Dilations: an abnormal enlargement of an aperture or a canal of the body.
Homonyms: One of two or more words that have the same sound and often the same spelling but differ in meaning, such as bank (embankment) and bank (place where money is kept).
Page 24
Peony: any of various plants or shrubs of the genus Paeonia, having large, showy flowers, as the widely cultivated species P. lactiflora: the state flower of Indiana.
Page 26
Acutely: sharp or severe in effect; intense; extremely great or serious; crucial; (of disease) brief and severe (opposed to chronic); sharp or penetrating in intellect, insight, or perception.
Page 27
Javanese: of or pertaining to the island of Java, its people, or their language; a member of the native Malayan people of Java, esp. of that branch of it in the central part of the island; the Austronesian language of central Java
Page 28
Self-immolation: voluntary sacrifice or denial of oneself, as for an ideal or another person.
Transmigration: the passage of a soul after death into another body; metempsychosis; To migrate
Juniper: Any of various evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Juniperus, having needlelike or scalelike, often pointed leaves and aromatic, bluish-gray, berrylike, seed-bearing cones
Page 29
Strata: a layer of material, naturally or artificially formed, often one of a number of parallel layers, one upon another; one of a number of portions or divisions likened to layers or levels
Quarries: an excavation or pit, usually open to the air, from which building stone, slate, or the like, is obtained by cutting, blasting, etc.
Mallard: a common, almost cosmopolitan, wild duck, Anas platyrhynchos, from which the domestic ducks are descended
Resin: any of a class of nonvolatile, solid or semisolid organic substances, as copal or mastic, that consist of amorphous mixtures of carboxylic acids and are obtained directly from certain plants as exudations or prepared by polymerization of simple molecules: used in medicine and in the making of varnishes and plastics
Paradoxes: A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true
Page 30
Scythes: An implement consisting of a long, curved single-edged blade with a long bent handle, used for mowing or reaping
Page 32
Conscription: compulsory enrollment of persons for military or naval service; draft; a compulsory contribution of money to a government during a time of war.
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