I am contemplating the effectiveness of Thanh’s decision to free Mai from her culture by the means of suicide. Thanh’s rationale for her actions is that her death will have a liberating effect on Main and allow her to pursue her own life in American culture. I disagree with her reasoning, although I can see a reasonable thought process. She wants to free Mai to the human obligation, the Mother-Daughter obligation that Mai our feel like she has toward her mother. Personally, I also think that her mother’s reality of the weight of her past, and the traumatic pain that accompanied her with the act of suicide leaves Mai completely alone without anyone to support her as she goes through college.
Jaylenn
This scene is intended to portray the rice fields of Saigon. The rice fields symbolize so many things in the text-both good and bad. I separated the sky into two colors in order to illustrate this aspect. For instance, the "golden" sky is meant to reflect the "current of grace that runs through [the fields] (like golden light)" pictured on page 172 in Cao's text. However, as seen, the light in my drawing does "evolve" into darkness (the black color) as a means of representing the turmoil of war and even exile. The color red in the water is meant to represent the blood that was spilled in the war (among the luscious greens of the fields-emphasizing the contrasting memories that Lan Cao's family has of this specific terrain). I was really fascinated by the passage on pg. 172- especially when the mother says "She (i.e. Mai) has never known how it farmed, how it is loved, how a bowl of rice is also a bowl of sweat, a farmer's sweat, a mother's sweat." This really puts things into perspective- never take anything for granted-because someone, somewhere, sacrificed in order for us to have it.
The Lotus and Rose
Depiction’s description:
The picture is of a wilting rose over Thanh’s lotus-adorned head, and a wilting lotus over Mai’s rose-bearing head. It symbolizes the view of the American culture (as the rose is the U.S.’s national flower) to Thanh who holds the ideals of Vietnam (symbolized by the lotus as it is Vietnam’s national flower). Thanh’s or Vietnam’s belief system at the time and traditions as well are seen as obsolete and weak in Mai’s perspective, which is why the lotus wilts above her head. The flowers, vibrant and proudly worn, represent the belief systems being upheld by Mai and Thanh while the wilted flowers depict their perspectives of the other culture. Thanh’s perspective of American ways, then, is that they are inapplicable and virtually useless to her thought process and cultural foundation of beliefs. Also, the positioning if their heads signify their clash in beliefs and ideas based on the cultures they inhabit the most.
I chose to write on the “monkey bridge in Ba Xuyen” (179). This is the second time I was in a class that had used this novel. In the initial class, they had thought that due to Cao’s description of the bridge, as being a “thin, unsteady shimmer of bamboo” and that one needs to “propel themselves forward and across” (179) that Thanh had possessed great physical agility instead of realizing that the bridge was created as a link for light, short trips. They had believed that it must be put together only with 2 long bamboos literally and that there was not much material utilized to walk upon. Obviously they were wrong as it holds netting, I believe something similar to the bridges used at Disneyland. Of course Thanh’s physical ability to cross a bamboo bridge astounded Binh since he was just of the literary world, as he stood waiting to embrace this gymnastic athlete in his arms, for the first time. He probably became in awe with her once he found that she possessed an intellectual dimension as well. Thanh had no idea of the monkey bridge that she will need to cross after their marriage. Also, of the trick that will be needed to distinguish when to speak or keep her mouth shut in America. In both cases, it is a monkey bridge but she already knew how to do the tight rope walk as Thanh had lived with nuns in the convent. |
I really enjoyed reading Thanh's journals because it was so interesting to read a mother's take on her daughter. It definitely made me wonder what my own mother would write about me -- does she understand more than I give her credit for? I don't know if I'd want to read her journal if I stumbled across it. Are there some things about our parents we just shouldn't know? I put myself in Mai's place and wondered how it would feel to learn that my mother loved my father with a quiet resentment, or that there were things she desperately wanted to tell me but couldn't.
The more I think about Thanh's journal, the more I believe that she is writing it for Mai to find. In the first entry, Thanh writes about her ears and how she hopes to pass them on to her daughter. It's interesting to learn about what Thanh hopes Mai will inherit, knowing that Mai believes she's inherited her mother's "flawed eye," or the ability to perceive danger where there is none (20). Thanh doesn't know how to speak to Mai in a way she'd understand, so she writes down what she wants Mai to know for later. She feels that she can't directly tell Mai the story of her ears because Mai wouldn't listen since she's too busy trying to distance herself from Vietnam (language, family, culture) so she'll fit in better in America.
It struck me how much Thanh felt she and Mai were similar. Thanh's journal revealed how much she "gets" Mai even though Mai thinks they are nothing alike. Thanh compares her experience of moving to her husband's family's home, and accepting their ways as her own, with Mai moving to America and learning a new language and adopting a new culture. She writes that she understands what it feels like to discover that a "common dream" had never actually been commonly shared. She was referring to her marriage but also relating to Mai's early experience in America and her growing disappointment. I was also reminded about the difference between Mai and Thanh's perception of what was inherited (eyes vs. ears).
I thought it was interesting to see how Thanh was surprised to discover she was a Traditional wife/woman after marriage. My first impression of her marriage to Binh was that they were in love -- happy intellectuals. Thanh's second journal really fleshed out their marriage. She seemed disappointed with the way her marriage turned out -- the desire to have a perfect marriage was not shared by her husband. Binh didn't bend or change and Thanh followed him with a "muteness and mildness" (187). Thanh felt like an exile in her new life as a wife. This made me wonder what Mai was feeling when she learned about her mother's exile.
The section on karma also stuck with me. Thanh views karma as something passed from parents to children. I wondered what kind of karma Mai will inherit from her mother and Baba Quan. This line really stood out to me: "A child born from her mother's womb should be able to unlock double meaning" (171). With this line, I think Thanh is speaking directly to Mai. It seems to me, there are things Thanh wants to share with Mai but she can't -- either because Mai isn't open to listening or because Thanh doesn't know how to say them. I read the line as an accusation, or a scolding -- especially since she also wrote that it isn't enough for a child to obey, but they should also know their parents true wishes. Maybe there is something Mai should be able to discern without having to be told. I can't help wondering if Mai will come to the "true meaning behind all the outward conversations" all on her own? If Thanh reveals it to her, will she say it face-to-face or write it in her journal for Mai to find?
-Julia
