I decided to focus my final journal entry on the journal that Thanh leaves for Mai. Now, what I decided to depict here was an over-exaggeration. Thanh's intentions for the journal's appeared to be that she wanted Mai to have a connection to her homeland and to through that, have a connection with her mother. Now, while she still depicted Vietnam in a somewhat gloomy light, there were areas that she enhanced in order to create a rosier picture. Particularly with the sections that deal with Baba Quan. By speaking better of him, this helped developed Mai's desire to reconnect with him and what made things seem better then they actually were. This is where my over-exaggeration comes in. In order to show the strong feelings of longing for Baba Quan and the Vietnam Thanh was depicting, I decided to draw a rainbow and bright light erupting from the pages of the journal. Obviously it Thanh's depiction was not that spectacular, but the actual reality of the situation was far worse then what Thanh was letting on.
Side note, I never intended for my journal to reach human eyes other then the Professor's, excuse my horrific artistic skills. :p
Jefferson says
ReplyDeleteI like your depiction of the journal Jason. I enjoyed the thematic expression that you were going for. I thought that the initial impetus for Mai to seek out Baba Quan was because of Thanh deliriously moaning Baba Quan's name when she was in the hospital. When we see the journals depicted it seems fairy tale like and I believe that your journal gives that impression.
I agree with Jason’s Journal saying that Thanh depicted the situations with Baba Quan better than they actually occurred as being an understatement and that speaking highly of people in Vietnam was the cornerstone to their history. Thanh’s use of Baba Quan to idealize herself and Vietnam caused a chain of reaction for Mai to desire these connections. By the end of the final chapters, do we read the truth when the narcissistic qualities of Baba Quan are revealed.
ReplyDeleteI think this illustration is a great depiction of how Thanh fabricated a beautiful family history for Mai. She worked so hard to create a lie that she believed would allow Mai to make peace with the past. In reality, it's like you said...the journals backfired and caused Mai to feel intensely nostalgic for a past that didn't exist. The longing for Vietnam and for a relationship with Baba Quan is exactly what Thanh was hoping to avoid and instead she created it.
ReplyDelete