"No Name Warrior"

This piece by Maxine Huang Kingston talks about a legend her mother has passed down to her about her father's sister. This is relevant to my daily life because my mother would often tell me stories that I never questioned until now. I never questioned why she told me them because there was always a lesson. Don't be greedy, stay humble, or to stay out of trouble. My teacher talks of the tale as a cautionary one that would not be told to boys and it's true! My brother has never heard any of these cautionary tales and it's because men are supposed to uphold a certain standard. They're supposed to be tough and macho.
In a way Kingston would be considered a feminist since she made the point of the unfair advantages men receive. They do not get their houses burned down like her aunt did when the townsmen found out she was pregnant with another man's baby. Kingston also talks about the expectations of women, especially after marriage where wives are not allowed to keep their long hair. However, there are no expectations for the husband.
Women get judged more harsh than men when instances like this happen. Even today in the twenty-first century if a woman were to become pregnant with a man that was already married, the media would slut shame her. They would call the woman a home wrecker even if it were the man were at fault.
The nameless aunt reminds me of the character from the Sound and the Fury. Caddy was promiscuous and also births a daughter but lets her mother raise the daughter and runs away. I see the aunt's choice to kill the both of them done out of desperation. Caddy's family had money whereas the aunt's didn't because Caddy's family could still take care of the child if she made herself scarce. If the aunt's family had money  I don't think she would've killed her daughter.

A Small Place

This piece by Jamaica Kincaid is perhaps my favorite one out of all the ones we've read so far. Her use of the second point of  view to write it was genius. When she uses you instead of he or she Kincaid puts us in the place of the tourist. She wants to say that it's easy to blame someone else but in the end, somewhere along the way we are going to tourists too and we are not blame free. This article debunked the myth that tourist countries are better of than those who  aren't because it's all a facade. Antigua looks wealthy with its new Japanese cars and new paved roads but what these tourists don't know is that they're all for show to keep attracting tourists and pushing the needs of its locals aside. I was shocked to read that they fixed only the road that the queen was going to be driving on. Instead of fixing all the roads with the revenue they earned from the tourists, they spent that money on fixing their image for one specific person.

I found myself frustrated toward the end of the piece because the government has chosen to further expand their business rather than put their focus on fixing the problems within the country and their people. I think Kincaid purposely did that especially when she kept using the phrase "or, worse, Europe" in parenthesis. As I was reading and kept stumbling upon that phrase I actually groaned once and said enough! Kincaid is saying enough too, enough tourists who come and don't know what's really going on and  bring that back to their homes then spreading the lie around.

Latino USA: A Cartoon History

This kind of reading is right up my alley. It was filled with satire and pop culture references that made it easy to comprehend. Perhaps one of my favorite lines is in the very first page where the author is introduced. "scientific name deux obnoxious spanglishicus." Replacing too with the spanish two and adding -icus to the end of spanglish adds onto the satire of people who can't comprehend Spanish but try to. This piece of literature was actually very informative whilst funny compare to history books that give you the hard facts right away. I managed to learn that Mexican descents are the largest subgroup within the latino population and I didn't have to read the sentence twice. I always thought that all comics were constructed the same way just drawn differently, except now. When I read Caroline and American Born Chinese I realize it's the way the author executes their story and the detail they put into color, spacing, and what words they choose.

American Born Chinese

This graphic novel is about a boy who has trouble fitting in at his new school in a new country. This situation is relevant to many immigrants. The fear of not fitting in, being ostracized, and not making new friends because of the language barrier or our "strange" customs. Although it feels nice to fit in and be part of something I feel we shouldn't have to give up our customs and traditions that make us so unique. In the first chapter, Jin Wang has quickly assimilated through his lunch choice. He was seen eating dumplings at first but months later we see him with a sandwich. Although it's hard for children to understand that being different is okay, I want them to understand. Using chopsticks, eating dumplings, and our language add onto our uniqueness. It shouldn't make us feel inferior to those who chose to conform to society. As I was reading the first chapter of this graphic novel I desperately wanted to somehow jump into the comic and tell Jin Wang this. Although I have not read the rest of this novel, I hope the author's purpose of writing this novel was to tell children to embrace their culture instead of leaving it behind for one that people are comfortable with.

Class and the Politics of Writing

I agree with the author of this text because it is still the same in this century. She states that publishers did not publish her work because she was a black woman from the working class. She also states that because she wrote autobiographical works publishers did not consider her works and she had to publish her work from alternative publishers.

Much like this century, publishers are also doing the same thing. This time it's not just publishers it's also news stations and many stores. They're selling to a certain demographic, or advertising for a certain demographic. Fox News is not going to start praising Obama because they are targeting an older audience whose ideas differ from the youth of today. Instead of criticizing the publishers only I think the author should do the same to the public for racism and misogyny. The ultimate goal of a business is to sell to the public. If the public is not interested then the business has to change their product. The publishers that the author went to were big publishers that targeted the "white demographic." It's because the white population didn't want to read her book the publishers couldn't consider her work. She should have wagged her finger at the public for racism besides directing it towards the publishers only.

Another  point I'd like to discuss is when she writes,"...writers from poor and working class backgrounds must still count the emotional costs should they dare to reveal that which the world choose to leave unspoken." In anthropology, my professor gave a very interesting lecture about class and inequality and why it's so invisible in the United States. Publishers and directors portray the poor in a different way deceiving the public. I found it very interesting that this problem took place even back then. The public not only doesn't want to read an autobiography about a black woman, they also don't want to read a book about a poor woman.

The Emergence of Modern Colonialism in the Americas

In this chapter, the author focuses on interracial marriage back in colonial time and although she makes a compelling statement on why it occurred, I'd like to discuss interracial marriage in the twenty-first century. Kathy explains that white men chased black women causing black men to  chase Native Americans. In today's society this is also happening. The percentage of interracial U.S. marriages has gone up to 8.4 percent. Interracial marriages although are more common now are just as taboo as it was back then. In my neighborhood now, if an asian woman were to hold hands and be affectionate with someone of a different culture they would be the talk of the town and I would assume it was the same back then. It is a shock for us all to see people from different cultures coming together in an union and maybe that’s why so many adults are surprised to see it happen in the twenty-first century. I would admit that it shocks me too only because growing up in a community that was very homogenous, this addition of a new culture was an anomaly. However, I try my best to avoid thinking too much into it because what transpires among them is their business and to judge someone before knowing them is not the moral thing and I think it's something that has improved from the past where interracial couples were ostracized and outlawed.