Thursday, May 7, 2009
Introduction
The term multicultural literature is used to represent literature of many cultures, races, religions, genders, disabilities, sex preferences and so forth. It seems we can look around and find a good amount of multicultural literature, but are these texts GOOD representations of that culture? We need to ask ourselves, what is the purpose of this text? Is it sending a positive or negative message about the group it is representing? The representation of Asian Americans in literature, or literature written by Asian Americans, is vastly underrepresented in the multicultural literature that is being published. This means that the voice of a group that for so long has been struggling to be heard, is still going unheard, or all to often, is being misrepresented in other texts. We need to hear the stories and knowledge only an insider can provide us with. The three books I chose for my project provide that insider's look into a culture so many know very little about. "A Step from Heaven" by An Na, "Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata", and "Hiroshima Dreams" by Kelly Easton are all extremely touching, and eye opening books about Asians and/or Asian Americans struggling to find their place in the American culture. By reading these books, one has the opportunity to feel what it is like to be an outsider, to go unheard, and to go unwanted, in a land that has been known as the land of opportunity. These books all give readers the amazing opportunity to experience the pain, the suffering, and hopefully, the triumph of being Asian or Asian American- an experience many readers have failed to be exposed to due to the lack of good Asian American literature being published. The article, "Editors’ Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Asian American Children’s Literature" by de Manuel and Rocio G. Davis further pushes the need for more Asian American literature in our society. This need, these books, will finally let us hear the voice of Asian Americans, and the amazing insights their stories can provide us with.
Scholarly Article
Editors’ Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Asian American Children’s Literature, by de Manuel and Rocio G. Davis
This article by Dolores de Manuel and Rocio G. Davis successfully discusses many important aspects concerning Asian American literature. Manuel and Davis bring it to the reader’s attention that despite the increase in multicultural literature within our society, the amount of Asian American literature is still marginally low. This article’s main theme could be described as one of insistence. It insists that we as readers open our eyes to how little literature on (or written by) Asian Americans is actually being published. This article also speaks to teachers, describing how even in the classrooms Asian American literature is all too often overlooked, and motivates teachers to change this. The article zeros in on just how important Asian American literature is by explaining how to this day, society often still sees Asian Americans as foreigners who will never fully blend into the “melting pot” we call America. Manuel and Davis successfully stress the importance of children’s literature in telling the story of ethnic American writing by describing how Asian American children are caught in a triple bind. They are “pressured to remain faithful to ancestral heritage, while at the same time admonished to assimilate and become fully American, but ultimately finding that because of their Asian genes, many Americans will never give them full acceptance”. In today’s society where the acceptance and the embracing of one another’s differences is encouraged and promoted, how is it that Asian American’s are not being welcomed into this embrace as easily as other cultures? Manuel and Davis succeed by leaving this question embedded into your mind by the time you finish this article. This article is very informative to the past and current struggle of Asian Americans to make themselves and their stories visible in society. We as readers finish the article with the strong desire to help bring Asian American literature to the forefront and to help bring forth the voice of a group who has been overlooked for far too long.
de Manuel, Dolores and Davis, Rocio G. "Editors’ Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Asian American Children’s Literature." The Lion and the Unicorn 30(2006): v-xv. Print.
This article by Dolores de Manuel and Rocio G. Davis successfully discusses many important aspects concerning Asian American literature. Manuel and Davis bring it to the reader’s attention that despite the increase in multicultural literature within our society, the amount of Asian American literature is still marginally low. This article’s main theme could be described as one of insistence. It insists that we as readers open our eyes to how little literature on (or written by) Asian Americans is actually being published. This article also speaks to teachers, describing how even in the classrooms Asian American literature is all too often overlooked, and motivates teachers to change this. The article zeros in on just how important Asian American literature is by explaining how to this day, society often still sees Asian Americans as foreigners who will never fully blend into the “melting pot” we call America. Manuel and Davis successfully stress the importance of children’s literature in telling the story of ethnic American writing by describing how Asian American children are caught in a triple bind. They are “pressured to remain faithful to ancestral heritage, while at the same time admonished to assimilate and become fully American, but ultimately finding that because of their Asian genes, many Americans will never give them full acceptance”. In today’s society where the acceptance and the embracing of one another’s differences is encouraged and promoted, how is it that Asian American’s are not being welcomed into this embrace as easily as other cultures? Manuel and Davis succeed by leaving this question embedded into your mind by the time you finish this article. This article is very informative to the past and current struggle of Asian Americans to make themselves and their stories visible in society. We as readers finish the article with the strong desire to help bring Asian American literature to the forefront and to help bring forth the voice of a group who has been overlooked for far too long.
de Manuel, Dolores and Davis, Rocio G. "Editors’ Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Asian American Children’s Literature." The Lion and the Unicorn 30(2006): v-xv. Print.
Book Three
A Step from Heaven, by An Na
A Step from Heaven, by An Na is an excellent book that is hard to put down and will indeed bring tears to your eyes. This is a coming-of-age novel as well as a coming-into-the-country novel. This is a story about an Asian immigrant, Young Ju, who comes to America only to find herself entering into a life long game of tug-of-war between two distinct cultures. The story is also about Young Ju growing up in the shadow of an abusive father, and of how she gains the courage to choose freedom for herself and her family. A Step from Heaven, allows readers to step outside themselves for a moment and walk in the shoes of an outsider. Readers gain the opportunity to experience a story of a culture, and of an abused child, both voices that are often overlooked in today’s society. An Na writes with lyrical inventiveness that as the ability to bring forth so much emotion, and to really help the reader experience the pain, sorrow and joy of Young Ju. An Na uses short, powerful strokes of language to propel us great distances – from foreign to familiar, from happiness to a domestic nightmare- all which allows readers to look at situations with new eyes. Na laces Young Ju’s tale with Korean words, their meaning evident from the context, making the experience feel all the more real for the reader. Readers are able to see the transformation of a young, scared child to a strong, admirable young woman with a future full of hope. Anyone who has lived in America all their life and never felt like an outsider, as well as those who have moved to here from another country and had to struggle fitting into American culture, will be able to connect to Young Ju's struggles and eventual triumph. The voice of this story is one that is not often seen in children’s literature. This book successful makes the voice Young Ju’s heard which in turn makes the voice of those who can relate can finally be heard as well.
Na, An. A Step from Heaven. United States: Front Street, 2000. Print.
A Step from Heaven, by An Na is an excellent book that is hard to put down and will indeed bring tears to your eyes. This is a coming-of-age novel as well as a coming-into-the-country novel. This is a story about an Asian immigrant, Young Ju, who comes to America only to find herself entering into a life long game of tug-of-war between two distinct cultures. The story is also about Young Ju growing up in the shadow of an abusive father, and of how she gains the courage to choose freedom for herself and her family. A Step from Heaven, allows readers to step outside themselves for a moment and walk in the shoes of an outsider. Readers gain the opportunity to experience a story of a culture, and of an abused child, both voices that are often overlooked in today’s society. An Na writes with lyrical inventiveness that as the ability to bring forth so much emotion, and to really help the reader experience the pain, sorrow and joy of Young Ju. An Na uses short, powerful strokes of language to propel us great distances – from foreign to familiar, from happiness to a domestic nightmare- all which allows readers to look at situations with new eyes. Na laces Young Ju’s tale with Korean words, their meaning evident from the context, making the experience feel all the more real for the reader. Readers are able to see the transformation of a young, scared child to a strong, admirable young woman with a future full of hope. Anyone who has lived in America all their life and never felt like an outsider, as well as those who have moved to here from another country and had to struggle fitting into American culture, will be able to connect to Young Ju's struggles and eventual triumph. The voice of this story is one that is not often seen in children’s literature. This book successful makes the voice Young Ju’s heard which in turn makes the voice of those who can relate can finally be heard as well.
Na, An. A Step from Heaven. United States: Front Street, 2000. Print.
Book Two
Kira-Kira, by Cynthia Kadohata
“Kira-kira” is a Japanese word meaning glittering, shimmering. It is the first Japanese word Lynn teachers her little sister, Katie. For the Takeshima sisters, “kira-kira” is the things in life that give us hope, give us faith, and in general are the things in life worth remembering. Lynn is Katie’s best friend and teacher. She teaches Katie lessons she deems worthy of knowing. Lynn is the one who tells Katie how the sky and ocean are special, that the family is moving from their Japanese community in Iowa to Georgia, and the injustice of racial prejudice that takes place at school and around town. Both girls have trouble adjusting in a new community where there are only thirty one other Japanese-Americans. The reader sees how the community treats Katie and her family differently because of their appearance, despite the fact that they were all born in America. Katie witnesses as her sister Lynn struggles to fit in with the other girls and in an effort to do so attempts to be less Japanese in appearance or custom, not wanting to partake in anything related even remotely to the Japanese culture. Katie’s mother and father work in a poultry processing plant under horrid conditions typical of factories in the mid-1950s. The girls seldom see their parents who must work constantly in an effort to put food on the table, and later, to pay for Lynn’s medical bills when she falls fatedly ill. The combination of all of these stories, tied together closely with a young girl’s perception of all of these events, provides for a beautifully written story about a young girl struggling to find her own way in a family torn by illness and atrocious work conditions. The reader is exposed to themes of loss, prejudice, and love, just to name a few in this tear-jerker novel. If anything we walk away from this book in search of the “kira-kira” in our own lives.
Kadonhata, Cynthia. kira-kira. New york: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.
“Kira-kira” is a Japanese word meaning glittering, shimmering. It is the first Japanese word Lynn teachers her little sister, Katie. For the Takeshima sisters, “kira-kira” is the things in life that give us hope, give us faith, and in general are the things in life worth remembering. Lynn is Katie’s best friend and teacher. She teaches Katie lessons she deems worthy of knowing. Lynn is the one who tells Katie how the sky and ocean are special, that the family is moving from their Japanese community in Iowa to Georgia, and the injustice of racial prejudice that takes place at school and around town. Both girls have trouble adjusting in a new community where there are only thirty one other Japanese-Americans. The reader sees how the community treats Katie and her family differently because of their appearance, despite the fact that they were all born in America. Katie witnesses as her sister Lynn struggles to fit in with the other girls and in an effort to do so attempts to be less Japanese in appearance or custom, not wanting to partake in anything related even remotely to the Japanese culture. Katie’s mother and father work in a poultry processing plant under horrid conditions typical of factories in the mid-1950s. The girls seldom see their parents who must work constantly in an effort to put food on the table, and later, to pay for Lynn’s medical bills when she falls fatedly ill. The combination of all of these stories, tied together closely with a young girl’s perception of all of these events, provides for a beautifully written story about a young girl struggling to find her own way in a family torn by illness and atrocious work conditions. The reader is exposed to themes of loss, prejudice, and love, just to name a few in this tear-jerker novel. If anything we walk away from this book in search of the “kira-kira” in our own lives.
Kadonhata, Cynthia. kira-kira. New york: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.
Book One
Hiroshima Dreams, by Kelly Easton
Hiroshima Dreams is a coming of age novel about a girl with a sixth sense for seeing events of the future. However, more than that, this book is about a girl’s blooming relationship with her grandmother. By integrating some Japanese words, discussing traditions, and painting a strong picture of the relationships between mother, daughter, and grandmother, this novel does an excellent job portraying Japanese culture and intergenerational relationships. Lin’s grandmother, Obaasan, comes to America when Lin is in kindergarten. Obaasan and Lin share a special gift of second sight and it is not long before Obaasan becomes Lin’s best friend and mentor. Obaasan exposes Lin to the Japanese culture, a culture Lin’s mother chose to leave behind when she came to America as a young woman. Kelly Easton portrays the Japanese culture in a very realistic way, discussing the bombing of Hiroshima, the power of meditation, family and religion. The reader really gets a feel for how difficult it is to be Asian and living in the United States through Lin’s struggle to conform to “what society expects of her” versus what her culture expects of her, but the concept isn’t beaten over the reader’s head because the story is about so much more than the Japanese culture. The book spans from when Lin was five to when she is a teenager, covering events such as September 11th to her grandmother’s death. At times it may seem like the author did not dedicate enough time to each of these big events, but overall the book still sends many messages to the reader and is hard to put down. The many strong themes of the novel, such as being shy, learning to be confident, being lonely, left out, losing a loved one, or the theme of growing up really become apparent to the reader through the emotion they evoke in you as you read. Every reader is sure to relate in some way to this novel, which makes it an excellent read. Kelly Easton’s insider experiences allows readers, whether they be an insider or an outsider, to experience the pain and eventual triumph of a young Japanese girl growing up in a confusing culture.
Easton, Kelly. Hiroshima Dreams. United States: Dutton Children's Books, 2007. Print.
Hiroshima Dreams is a coming of age novel about a girl with a sixth sense for seeing events of the future. However, more than that, this book is about a girl’s blooming relationship with her grandmother. By integrating some Japanese words, discussing traditions, and painting a strong picture of the relationships between mother, daughter, and grandmother, this novel does an excellent job portraying Japanese culture and intergenerational relationships. Lin’s grandmother, Obaasan, comes to America when Lin is in kindergarten. Obaasan and Lin share a special gift of second sight and it is not long before Obaasan becomes Lin’s best friend and mentor. Obaasan exposes Lin to the Japanese culture, a culture Lin’s mother chose to leave behind when she came to America as a young woman. Kelly Easton portrays the Japanese culture in a very realistic way, discussing the bombing of Hiroshima, the power of meditation, family and religion. The reader really gets a feel for how difficult it is to be Asian and living in the United States through Lin’s struggle to conform to “what society expects of her” versus what her culture expects of her, but the concept isn’t beaten over the reader’s head because the story is about so much more than the Japanese culture. The book spans from when Lin was five to when she is a teenager, covering events such as September 11th to her grandmother’s death. At times it may seem like the author did not dedicate enough time to each of these big events, but overall the book still sends many messages to the reader and is hard to put down. The many strong themes of the novel, such as being shy, learning to be confident, being lonely, left out, losing a loved one, or the theme of growing up really become apparent to the reader through the emotion they evoke in you as you read. Every reader is sure to relate in some way to this novel, which makes it an excellent read. Kelly Easton’s insider experiences allows readers, whether they be an insider or an outsider, to experience the pain and eventual triumph of a young Japanese girl growing up in a confusing culture.
Easton, Kelly. Hiroshima Dreams. United States: Dutton Children's Books, 2007. Print.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Confessions of a Closet Catholic.. video?
this is really cute..and kinda lame, haha.. but I wanted to share it anyways. I found this online--it's a recreation of some of the book by a young girl who is pretending to be the main character of "Confessions of a Closet Catholic"..
Friday, April 24, 2009
Stand up Comedian.. Gay Native American
Here is an insider making fun of being gay and native american. When you are an insider, you can make fun of yourself, but if this comedian was not gay or native american, he would not be able to make the same jokes.. But do you find this funny? It seems like the audience doesn't know whether or not to laugh..
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