Stories About Stars

"Her [Hulan's] always ended with some sort of hero popping up and marrying an ugly animal who then turned out to be a kind and beautiful prince.  I think mine had to do with lessons learned too late- not to eat too much, not to talk to loud, not to wander out at night late by yourself- in any case, always people who fell off the earth and into the sky because of their willful ways."
- The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan on page 230

The quote above is Winnie looking back on the stories that she and Hulan made up about the different patterns of stars that they saw in the sky.  The stories they make up encompass their hopes, dreams, and even parts of their realities at the time.
Hulan's story encompasses her reality because she married the man who originally would not help her sister, the girl who he had gotten pregnant.  An ugly animal compares Hulan's first impression of her husband to an animal in a fairy tale.  Then, she ends up marrying this man who redirects her poor life style to a wealthier one he pays for.  Later in the novel, the reader learns how much Hulan despises the thought of herself being poor.  Since her husband took Hulan away from her despised life of being poor and made her rich, she probably believed this to be an act of kindness so this man can be compared to a prince.
Winnie's stories were about lessons that she didn't learn on time.  This reflects her relationship with Wen Fu.  The other examples she lists are probably stories she read or heard when she was little.  One of the lines that stands out to me is the last one.  This line states her fears.  In other words, Winnie is scared that if she is willful or stubborn, she will end up in an unknown and mysterious place which scares her.  This might be a reason for why she did not stand up to Wen Fu until much later in her life.
Keeping this section in the novel was clever of Amy Tan because it reminds the audience of the lives that the two characters have lived so far.  How much of our own creativities reflect our hopes, dreams, and lives?

The Importance of Whinnie’s and Pearl’s Side Comments

The side conversations by Whinnie and her daughter, Pearl, lighten the mood of the novel which encourages the reader to continue reading.  These comments not only brighten the mood, but show the positive improvement between the mother daughter relationship that Whinnie’s horrible life eventually ends up.  For example, on page 194 in the novel, Whinnie gets stuck in her own dress.  This leaves the reader with a feeling of hopelessness because the narrator of the story is stuck in such a horrible scenario that she can’t even put on her own dress that she made.  Then, the side comment is added which immediately lifts the mood.  Since Pearl is actually paying attention and listening to her mother (which is shown when Pearl laughs at what is going on in the story), their relationship is improving.  Overall, the side comments are important because even though the past was so horrible, the readers know that Whinnie ends up improving her relationship with her daughter and living a better life in the end.

Is Helen Really Bad?

                “She waved her hand at me. One of her fingers looked broken.  ‘You see how bad the world has become,’ she said.  ‘Now I’m that way too.’

-Amy Tan, The Kitchen God’s Wife, page 217

The quote above is Wei-Wei, Pearl’s mother, narrating when Hulan, otherwise known as Helen, taking Wei-Wei home in the pedicab.  In this quote, Hulan said that she is bad.  She said this because she committed a “selfish” act of stealing the pedicab and beating away the man who had it.  This act was probably done in part out of selfishness and greed of wanting to escape the mass chaos, but she did come back for Wei-Wei.  Wei-Wei was pregnant at the time and an innocent in need of help.  Helping an innocent, especially someone who is pregnant, is a good deed.   Another part of this scenario which is not given to the reader in the quote above is that the man Hulan stole the pedicab from was the man who originally stole it from her and Wei-Wei.  Even though two wrongs do not make a right, at least she did not steal from an innocent.  Hulan did something bad by stealing something, but it was for a good cause.  This is a tricky way to base an opinion of whether someone is bad or good, but judging on the severity of what Hulan did that is considered bad and what she did that is considered good, she is still a good person.

The Importance of Names

The name of the character Bao bao means baby.  At the very beginning of The Kitchen God's Wife, the reader learns how this name reflects the childish personality of this character.  Even though this character has a bizarre name, his personality is addressed quickly which does not encourage questioning and attention towards him.  This character is not a major character in the novel, so this fits him well.
Two other characters in the novel are Mary and Pearl.  Their names are both American names which reflects that they are both a second generation living in America.  Unlike their cousin Bao Bao, they do not have nicknames (Amy Tan does not inform the readers of their nicknames before chapter six) which separates them from their Chinese heritage.  This shows how much more Mary and Pearl are involved with American culture then their Chinese heritage.
According to a quick Google search, the name Whinnie, spelled the same way as the Whinnie in The Kitchen God's Wife, does not exist.  This adds to the confusion of who Whinnie is and what she's been through.  Since a large portion of the novel revolves around Whinnie's past and how she became who she is, I believe that a name that does not carry a significant meaning to the general audience fits her well.  Having an unknown name allows the author to develop the character with out other influences like an artist would paint a blank piece of paper.  Having an unusual name not only draws attention, but also encourages questions.  Whinnie is a main focus in the novel so her name needs to draw its own attention.

Thoughts and predictions on the rest of the novel based on the title of the novel and the story The Kitchen God

The story of the Kitchen God tells the story of a man named Zhang who had everything he would ever need including an amazing wife named Guo, the woman who gives Zhang his wealth.  Zhang decides to give up his wife because he became greedy and selfish.  Zhang loses everything after that, and then is saved by his wife.  When Zhang realizes his mistake, he kills himself.  This is understood as courageous because he admitted his wrong.
If the story of the Kitchen God is a parallel story to the novel "The Kitchen God's Wife," then the two stories must share similar plots and/ or characters (character in the stories share similar personality traits).  Since the novel is about The Kitchen God's wife, I predict that Guo, the wife of Zhang, shares similar personality traits with one of the characters in the novel.  In the story, Guo works hard and then receives some bad luck: Zhang leaving her.  After her bad luck, she still takes care of the people who have hurt her.  So far in the novel, Amy Tan wrote that Whinnie, Pearl's mother, started her life in her loving mothers arms with everything she needed.  Then, her mother died, Whinnie's bad luck.  In the present time, Whinnie tries to take care of Pearl  her daughter, even though Pearl doesn't always appreciate her mother.  Guo and Whinnie seem to be similar in how they act.  Could Whinnie be the "Kitchen God's Wife?"

My Research Paper so far

So far on my research assignment, I have come up with a thesis and five arguments to defend it.  I have also made five notecards and found a few sources to help me make my them.  Two of the sources I have found are Vantage Point: Teaching Online Vs. Face-to-Face by Mike Dubose and Teaching College courses online vs. face-to-face by Glen Ferguson.  I haven't found anything surprising or interesting so far because I had difficulties at the start of this project when picking a thesis and it's supporting arguments.  Since I had difficulties at the start of this project, I tried to alter the question slightly and make a thesis that I believed in hopes to write a paper that could theoretically be used.  Since the thesis and arguments took a lot of time  think through, I have not done as much research as I had hoped I would've done by now.  The original question for this research paper is whether online learning or face-to-face learning is better.  I see reasons for both being better than the other for different people, so I altered the question a little bit to create a thesis that is students whose education benefits more from a face-to-face interaction require a face-to-face education and vice versa; students can not benefit from both.  The arguments for the thesis are that people have different styles of learning, maturity levels, schedules and life priorities, needs for human interaction (introvert vs extrovert), and I'm debating whether to include neuroscience or the chemical make up of the brain.  In other words, some people need the extra part of their day and the structure of the face-to-face classroom and others need the flexibility of an online classroom.  Overall, I'm not where I want to be on this research paper but I have a solid idea of where to go and what to look for.

"Why Read Shakespeare?"

1 and 2.  According to the article, students find Shakespeare difficult because the language is obscure, the plots and characters are complex, and readers do not have an immediate understanding of the piece of writing.  Mack answers to these complaints by recommending to read everything over and over again.  He writes that the more someone reads, the more you will enjoy the work of art.  According to Mack, when someone finally "gets" Shakespeare, they are actually getting help for navigating the real world and the truth about himself or herself.  We get these things from actions and reactions of the characters in Shakespeare's plays.

3. We should read Shakespeare because:
     1.  People can enjoy their results from their hard work.  Shakespeare has very intricate plays and a confusing writing style which people do not understand during their first time reading it.  Although, it is complex, the more someone reads it, the more they will enjoy and understand it.  The understanding and joy gives people a sense of accomplishment.
     2.  The plays are aids for people who are trying to navigate the world and the people in it.  The characters in these plays relate to people living during any time because they struggle with the complexities as people today such as love, hate, power, morals, ect.
     3.  Shakespeare is the source from which our thoughts and ideas come from.  Characters in his plays set up real-world fantasies where people have unrealistic (at the time the plays were written, but not now because the plays introduced the ideas) priorities such as romantic love which people took to heart and enjoyed.
     4.  By persevering  through Shakespeare's literary works, we learn to be flexible with how we think.  Shakespeare throws his characters into extreme and twisted scenarios.  His language is only one part of his plays that is bizarre, but we learn to wrap our minds around these difficulties and make sense of them. This process of getting used to something that we never thought to get used to is expanding and stretching or thoughts.
      5. When reading Shakespeare, people grow in emotional intelligence because of the struggles that the characters face to follow their head or their heart.

4. I find that hard work pays off with Shakespeare to be the most convincing argument in which to read his works.  This is a personal decision because hard work does not always pay off and when it does, it's very rewarding.  Hard work also builds character.  I love the feeling someone gets after working hard and it pays off.  That feeling is accomplishment.