5/4/3/2/1 NOTES # 9
5) *Baba Quan was scared to leave Vietnam according to Mai and supposedly he would suffer by coming to this country as Mai expresses in on of her quotes "I imagined his slow agonies: a frail figure pacing the cement sidewalk below a row of corrugated roofs."
*Mai did not like the "help" that the United States was giving to her country. This feeling is shown when she says in page number 165, " The picture of a helicopter, courtesy of the American taxpayers, jackknifed headfirst into the ocean."
*Mai is very different from her mom in attitude behavior. Mai shows this fact in page number 166 when she says, " As my mother made the transition into the complex business of fully recovering, I seemed to be doing the reverse."
*The interview that Mai had about going to college had never answered back. It had been two months and nothing seemed to be a sign.
*Mai is has now come back to the story of their apartment in the American Continent.
4) *Why doesn't Baba Quan want to go to the United States?
*How would it be painful for Baba Quan to go to the United States?
*Where does Mai live right now?
*When did the Vietnam War ended completely?
3) *Vicinity: neighborhood.
*Hover: stay close.
*Hinge: turning point.
*Plausible: reasonable.
2) *Simile: "In Saigon like a lantern on a gray, motionless light" (164)
*Allusion: In page number 165, the narrator makes a reference to ABC News by giving them a role into the novel. This role is the informative role that they gave during the Vietnam War.
1) In this chapter, the narrator has come back to the topic of Baba Quan coming to the United States. She says that it would be an agony for Baba Quan to come to the United States. Besides, now the narrator has begun to talk about the apartment again.
Monday, April 27, 2009
5/4/3/2/1 NOTES # 8
5) *Mai learned to fight with the martial arts native from Vietnam. She also compared the college interview with one of the fights in which her parents taught her. She said that she felt as a fighter and she felt that the interviewer was her opponent.
*Apparently Mai has an army of fighters.
*Mai has fought against some kind of army together with her sister-the sister's name is not mentioned anywhere- and they have learned to survive.
*Even the government has an army "The governor's army had been massively equipped with the most up-to-date weapons.
*Mai has gone back to Vietnam to fight in the war.
4) *Who are the Trung sisters?
*What was the Chinese Invasion?
*Where did Mai get the Army?
*Why does this narrator changes bigly every time she moves from each chapter?
3) *Swamp: flood.
*Nomad: traveler.
*Foresight: prudence.
*Reinforced: resistant.
2) *Metaphor: " When the black sky."(120)
1) In this chapter, the author has weirdly changed her topic or theme to a theme of fighting and the way attacked with her army. This chapter truly hard to understand because of the way she radically changes her theme of focus.
5) *Mai learned to fight with the martial arts native from Vietnam. She also compared the college interview with one of the fights in which her parents taught her. She said that she felt as a fighter and she felt that the interviewer was her opponent.
*Apparently Mai has an army of fighters.
*Mai has fought against some kind of army together with her sister-the sister's name is not mentioned anywhere- and they have learned to survive.
*Even the government has an army "The governor's army had been massively equipped with the most up-to-date weapons.
*Mai has gone back to Vietnam to fight in the war.
4) *Who are the Trung sisters?
*What was the Chinese Invasion?
*Where did Mai get the Army?
*Why does this narrator changes bigly every time she moves from each chapter?
3) *Swamp: flood.
*Nomad: traveler.
*Foresight: prudence.
*Reinforced: resistant.
2) *Metaphor: " When the black sky."(120)
1) In this chapter, the author has weirdly changed her topic or theme to a theme of fighting and the way attacked with her army. This chapter truly hard to understand because of the way she radically changes her theme of focus.
5/4/3/2/1 NOTES # 7
5) *Mai is telling us the environment going around while she was in the Pan Am Flight, an airplane in which she left her country with the illusion or proposal that she would come back.
*Once she was in the plane, she says that she saw a country in which everything it was and was before was gone and that nothing looked to be the same from high above.
*" The fear of separation I suddenly understood that day to be a fear as primordial as the fear of death." Mai expresses in page number 97 showing the profound terror she had when it came to leave her loved country.
*After the "two months" had passed, it had felt like "light years afterward" Mai says she saw her future unfold on television as many must have seen on April of 1975 when The Vietnamese country suffered the most cruel attack and all population had to just stand and wait for the bullets and the Americans left.
*America finally decided to leave the country find their own solution as it should have been since the beginning. They shouldn't have been there forcing a country to become what they wanted just like Puerto Rico.
4) *Why is this flight so important for us in order to comprehend the story?
*What really happened on April 1975?
*Who won the Vietnam War?
*How did this event on April 1975 affect Mai's future?
3) *Ether: the atmosphere.
*Clench: compress.
*Indeed: without a doubt.
*Transfix: mesmerize.
2) *Hyperbole and Simile: "The flight attendants moved back and forth, floating in and out of the cockpit as astronauts." (97)
*Metaphor: " a galaxy of electronic devices, phosphorescent squares and flashing red lights, put on tiny beeps as the captain announced our take off." (97)
1) In this part of the book, Mai has now taken the Pan Am flight and she has arrived to the house. Also, she has seen on TV what she call the her "unfold future" because of what happened in Vietnam on April, 1975 when the Vietnamese country suffered the biggest attack of all and the Americans retreated and left the country to decide their own future as it should have bee since the beginning.
5) *Mai is telling us the environment going around while she was in the Pan Am Flight, an airplane in which she left her country with the illusion or proposal that she would come back.
*Once she was in the plane, she says that she saw a country in which everything it was and was before was gone and that nothing looked to be the same from high above.
*" The fear of separation I suddenly understood that day to be a fear as primordial as the fear of death." Mai expresses in page number 97 showing the profound terror she had when it came to leave her loved country.
*After the "two months" had passed, it had felt like "light years afterward" Mai says she saw her future unfold on television as many must have seen on April of 1975 when The Vietnamese country suffered the most cruel attack and all population had to just stand and wait for the bullets and the Americans left.
*America finally decided to leave the country find their own solution as it should have been since the beginning. They shouldn't have been there forcing a country to become what they wanted just like Puerto Rico.
4) *Why is this flight so important for us in order to comprehend the story?
*What really happened on April 1975?
*Who won the Vietnam War?
*How did this event on April 1975 affect Mai's future?
3) *Ether: the atmosphere.
*Clench: compress.
*Indeed: without a doubt.
*Transfix: mesmerize.
2) *Hyperbole and Simile: "The flight attendants moved back and forth, floating in and out of the cockpit as astronauts." (97)
*Metaphor: " a galaxy of electronic devices, phosphorescent squares and flashing red lights, put on tiny beeps as the captain announced our take off." (97)
1) In this part of the book, Mai has now taken the Pan Am flight and she has arrived to the house. Also, she has seen on TV what she call the her "unfold future" because of what happened in Vietnam on April, 1975 when the Vietnamese country suffered the biggest attack of all and the Americans retreated and left the country to decide their own future as it should have bee since the beginning.
5/4/3/2/1 NOTES # 6
5) *At this point, Mai is boarding an airplane heading to Hartford, where they-she and her uncle- would head to the house in Farmington.
*Before Mai left Saigon, it had been "hit by rockets several days before" (94). Perhaps this could have provoked the final decision that the family made of coming to America besides the other fact of education.
*Mai did not know any political activities going on in her country because she was thirteen when her mom first told her that there would be no debacle, but the opposite happened.
*"A communist victory was practically inevitable and preordained as early as 1973, when South Vietnam had had to sign the Paris Peace Accords under considerable American pressure."(95). This quote shows us the history behind the Vietnam war and also help us to better understand the novel because it becomes a historical context.
*During most of her childhood and juvenile life, Mai was completely into a world dominated by her mom as she explains in the quote, "mine was still an unimpaired world in which my mother's words were the complete truth.
4) *Why is this novel going like back and forth?
*How is it that Mai is now coming to the United States again?
*How involved was the United States in the Vietnam War?
*What is the Paris Peace Accords?
3) *Debacle: catastrophe.
*Tarmac: black top.
*Hum: whine.
*Stillness: motionlessness.
2) *Simile: "People sat like scarecrows in their assigned seats" page # 96
*Metaphor: "the red apricot glow of rocket fire still glued to the far end of the sky". Page # 96
1) Right now Mai apparently has going back in time and has started to tell us the story of how and why she came to the United States. Nevertheless it got me confused when she just changed setting from one chapter to another, but this change of setting wasn't only of radical places but radical time.
5) *At this point, Mai is boarding an airplane heading to Hartford, where they-she and her uncle- would head to the house in Farmington.
*Before Mai left Saigon, it had been "hit by rockets several days before" (94). Perhaps this could have provoked the final decision that the family made of coming to America besides the other fact of education.
*Mai did not know any political activities going on in her country because she was thirteen when her mom first told her that there would be no debacle, but the opposite happened.
*"A communist victory was practically inevitable and preordained as early as 1973, when South Vietnam had had to sign the Paris Peace Accords under considerable American pressure."(95). This quote shows us the history behind the Vietnam war and also help us to better understand the novel because it becomes a historical context.
*During most of her childhood and juvenile life, Mai was completely into a world dominated by her mom as she explains in the quote, "mine was still an unimpaired world in which my mother's words were the complete truth.
4) *Why is this novel going like back and forth?
*How is it that Mai is now coming to the United States again?
*How involved was the United States in the Vietnam War?
*What is the Paris Peace Accords?
3) *Debacle: catastrophe.
*Tarmac: black top.
*Hum: whine.
*Stillness: motionlessness.
2) *Simile: "People sat like scarecrows in their assigned seats" page # 96
*Metaphor: "the red apricot glow of rocket fire still glued to the far end of the sky". Page # 96
1) Right now Mai apparently has going back in time and has started to tell us the story of how and why she came to the United States. Nevertheless it got me confused when she just changed setting from one chapter to another, but this change of setting wasn't only of radical places but radical time.
5/4/3/2/1 NOTES #5
5) *Mai's mom is a very devoted catholic. She became a catholic in a French boarding school.
*Mai's mom says that her in America everything changes at a point that everything turns all the way around of what we are used to see and feel. She says in page number 60 " In Vietnam, the saying used to be 'parents point, children sit.' In this country, it's become 'Children point, parents sit.' "
*Mai's mom says in her letter that it was because of her long, long ears that she was first tugged from her mother's womb.
*Mai also says that college is the "American equivalent of the Shaolin Temple and the bo tree and the emperor's court and other, similar nonsense." Pg. number 53
*Baba Quan is described as a "not big man, and although he could look delicate and slender like an impeccable specimen of driftwood, it would be more accurate to compare him to a bamboo.
4) *Why does our narrator tell us her mom's religion?
*Why does the narrator tell us about Baba Quan's features and character until now?
*Why is Baba Quan very a religious character?
*What does Baba Quan mean when he says " the farther we wander from the earth and water of the burial ground, the weaker our ties to our ancestors become" on page number 59?
3) *Burial: interment.
*Bulge: protuberance.
*Reassure: encourage.
*Sleek: glossy.
2) *Simile: " and slender like an impeccable specimen of driftwood." Page number 59.
*Hyperbole: "it can get so cold that dragons have to blow fire into the sun so hard their scales drop off." Page number 48.
1) In this chapter number 6, a little of background and exposition is shown with the exposition of Baba Quan' features and character. Also, we discovered that Mai's mom is a devoted catholic because of the school she went to, and her more of the story of her ears.
5) *Mai's mom is a very devoted catholic. She became a catholic in a French boarding school.
*Mai's mom says that her in America everything changes at a point that everything turns all the way around of what we are used to see and feel. She says in page number 60 " In Vietnam, the saying used to be 'parents point, children sit.' In this country, it's become 'Children point, parents sit.' "
*Mai's mom says in her letter that it was because of her long, long ears that she was first tugged from her mother's womb.
*Mai also says that college is the "American equivalent of the Shaolin Temple and the bo tree and the emperor's court and other, similar nonsense." Pg. number 53
*Baba Quan is described as a "not big man, and although he could look delicate and slender like an impeccable specimen of driftwood, it would be more accurate to compare him to a bamboo.
4) *Why does our narrator tell us her mom's religion?
*Why does the narrator tell us about Baba Quan's features and character until now?
*Why is Baba Quan very a religious character?
*What does Baba Quan mean when he says " the farther we wander from the earth and water of the burial ground, the weaker our ties to our ancestors become" on page number 59?
3) *Burial: interment.
*Bulge: protuberance.
*Reassure: encourage.
*Sleek: glossy.
2) *Simile: " and slender like an impeccable specimen of driftwood." Page number 59.
*Hyperbole: "it can get so cold that dragons have to blow fire into the sun so hard their scales drop off." Page number 48.
1) In this chapter number 6, a little of background and exposition is shown with the exposition of Baba Quan' features and character. Also, we discovered that Mai's mom is a devoted catholic because of the school she went to, and her more of the story of her ears.
5/4/3/2/1 NOTES # 4
5) *The only reason why Mai wanted to leave was because she wanted to attend to college as she says in one of her quotes in page number 32. "I tricked her into believing the reason I wanted to leave was to attend to college, not to flee from a phantom world that could no longer offer comfort or sanctuary."
*Mai is the kind of person who does not believed in the spiritual world. As she clarifies in page number 46 " If I were the kind of person who believed in the spirit world, I would describe the feeling as that of someone who had come upon the presence of an enormous ghost."
*Mai has found a letter that her mom had hidden for a long time. In this letter her mom clarifies how she got her ears to be like they are, deformed.
*Mai's mom says that she inherited her grandmother's ears from a strange ritual they used to do when Mai's mom was little.
*Besides, in this letter Mai's mom declares that she is very worried about what Mai does and wants because she is the most important part of her life.
4) *Why is the story of her ears involved in the situation?
*When did they start to talk about their ears?
*What does Baba Quan have to do with all these story of the ears?
3) *Stupor: state of unconsciousness.
*Tassel: decoration.
*Pummel: punch.
*Monsoon: torrential rain.
2) Hyperbole: "it can get so cold that their breath does acrobatics in the air just to keep warm."
*Personification: "its muscular letters, erect and vertical, marched across."
1) At this point of the book, we have been shown that Mai, which for the first time was name-mentioned, is completely the opposite of her mother. First because Mai is not a spiritual girl at all, meaning that she doesn't have the same believes of her mother. Secondly because Mai does not want to stay in the same situation as her mother, Mai wants to go to college and become something else. Also, in this part of the book the story of the deformed ears is presented to the reader and we now know that is inherited from generation to generation. Since the strange rituals from a long time ago.
5) *The only reason why Mai wanted to leave was because she wanted to attend to college as she says in one of her quotes in page number 32. "I tricked her into believing the reason I wanted to leave was to attend to college, not to flee from a phantom world that could no longer offer comfort or sanctuary."
*Mai is the kind of person who does not believed in the spiritual world. As she clarifies in page number 46 " If I were the kind of person who believed in the spirit world, I would describe the feeling as that of someone who had come upon the presence of an enormous ghost."
*Mai has found a letter that her mom had hidden for a long time. In this letter her mom clarifies how she got her ears to be like they are, deformed.
*Mai's mom says that she inherited her grandmother's ears from a strange ritual they used to do when Mai's mom was little.
*Besides, in this letter Mai's mom declares that she is very worried about what Mai does and wants because she is the most important part of her life.
4) *Why is the story of her ears involved in the situation?
*When did they start to talk about their ears?
*What does Baba Quan have to do with all these story of the ears?
3) *Stupor: state of unconsciousness.
*Tassel: decoration.
*Pummel: punch.
*Monsoon: torrential rain.
2) Hyperbole: "it can get so cold that their breath does acrobatics in the air just to keep warm."
*Personification: "its muscular letters, erect and vertical, marched across."
1) At this point of the book, we have been shown that Mai, which for the first time was name-mentioned, is completely the opposite of her mother. First because Mai is not a spiritual girl at all, meaning that she doesn't have the same believes of her mother. Secondly because Mai does not want to stay in the same situation as her mother, Mai wants to go to college and become something else. Also, in this part of the book the story of the deformed ears is presented to the reader and we now know that is inherited from generation to generation. Since the strange rituals from a long time ago.
5/4/3/2/1 Notes # 3
5) *The narrator was told that she would just stay temporarily with Colonel Michael McMahon and her Aunt Mary and she would return to Vietnam when the communist offensive was pushed back.
*A few months before she came to the United States of America, the war ended in Vietnam but our character never went back to her loved country.
*The narrator stayed separated from her mother for six months because mom was trying to convince Baba Quan, her father, to come to the United States, nevertheless as we know old people always want to stay where they are and die in the same place.
*Apparently, her mother has had issues with the Americans because in one quote she says " you have to stand up to the Americans if you want anything in this country". This means that perhaps in someway she has confronted conflicts in this country already.
*According to her father, "one wrong move" was what decided or conduced the course on one's life. It is something like "think before you leap" meaning.
4) * Who is Ho Minh?
*What type of war was going on in Vietnam by that period time?
*Why did the family never return to Vietnam?
*Who governed the United States by that time?
3) *Impend: be about to happen.
*Hex: curse.
*Prowl: hang around.
*Plaster: make public.
2) *Simile: " his beard, my father described, silver and majestic like a thunderbolt in a dark night.
*Vocabulary word: in page number 20, there is a word from our vocabulary book. The word is "ominous."
1) in this part of the book, we see that the narrator has told us the story of how and why she came to the United States. She has also showed us the reason her mom gave her so she would come to the country. Her mom told her that after the war was done they would go back to their home country. Nevertheless the war ended and they never went back to Vietnam.
5) *The narrator was told that she would just stay temporarily with Colonel Michael McMahon and her Aunt Mary and she would return to Vietnam when the communist offensive was pushed back.
*A few months before she came to the United States of America, the war ended in Vietnam but our character never went back to her loved country.
*The narrator stayed separated from her mother for six months because mom was trying to convince Baba Quan, her father, to come to the United States, nevertheless as we know old people always want to stay where they are and die in the same place.
*Apparently, her mother has had issues with the Americans because in one quote she says " you have to stand up to the Americans if you want anything in this country". This means that perhaps in someway she has confronted conflicts in this country already.
*According to her father, "one wrong move" was what decided or conduced the course on one's life. It is something like "think before you leap" meaning.
4) * Who is Ho Minh?
*What type of war was going on in Vietnam by that period time?
*Why did the family never return to Vietnam?
*Who governed the United States by that time?
3) *Impend: be about to happen.
*Hex: curse.
*Prowl: hang around.
*Plaster: make public.
2) *Simile: " his beard, my father described, silver and majestic like a thunderbolt in a dark night.
*Vocabulary word: in page number 20, there is a word from our vocabulary book. The word is "ominous."
1) in this part of the book, we see that the narrator has told us the story of how and why she came to the United States. She has also showed us the reason her mom gave her so she would come to the country. Her mom told her that after the war was done they would go back to their home country. Nevertheless the war ended and they never went back to Vietnam.
Monday, April 13, 2009
5/4/3/2/1 Notes #2
5) * The characters, the protagonist and Bobbie are heading to Canada in order to call Baba Quan and tell him that Mama is sick.
*Background: in 1975 thousands of Indochinese began settling in Virginia. They came to the country as refuges from the Vietnam War.
*Their mission in Canada was to phone the post office from Vietnam and have the Baba Quan located, and tell him that his daughter was in the hospital with a blood clot in her brain.
*Apparently, Baba Quan had never assumed his role as father or had never gotten his fatherhood as the writer says in the quote" He would assume a new form and step into the ways of fatherhood."
*Our main character is heading to college and needs her grandfather to come to America to take care of her daughter in order for her to can go to college.
4) *Why do they have to travel all the way to Canada to call Baba Quan?
*How did the Indochinese refugees come to America?
*Who else lives with the character and her mom?
*How old is the character? Because they are driving.
3) *Cozy: pleasant.
*Tug: jerk.
*Jiggle: waggle.
*Gust: blast of air.
2) *Personification: " But the vast vacant sky was shrinking fast." The author has given the sky characteristics of living organisms.
*Allusion: in page number 21, the author makes reference of a major league baseball team, The Orioles.
1) At this point, our characters are heading towards Canada to call her grandfather and tell him that Mom is in the hospital with a blood clot in her brain so he could now " assume a new form and step into the ways of fatherhood" the author says in page number 17. Also, now we now what the real purpose of this trip is for; she wants Baba Quan to come to America so she can go to college while he takes care of her sick mom at home.
5) * The characters, the protagonist and Bobbie are heading to Canada in order to call Baba Quan and tell him that Mama is sick.
*Background: in 1975 thousands of Indochinese began settling in Virginia. They came to the country as refuges from the Vietnam War.
*Their mission in Canada was to phone the post office from Vietnam and have the Baba Quan located, and tell him that his daughter was in the hospital with a blood clot in her brain.
*Apparently, Baba Quan had never assumed his role as father or had never gotten his fatherhood as the writer says in the quote" He would assume a new form and step into the ways of fatherhood."
*Our main character is heading to college and needs her grandfather to come to America to take care of her daughter in order for her to can go to college.
4) *Why do they have to travel all the way to Canada to call Baba Quan?
*How did the Indochinese refugees come to America?
*Who else lives with the character and her mom?
*How old is the character? Because they are driving.
3) *Cozy: pleasant.
*Tug: jerk.
*Jiggle: waggle.
*Gust: blast of air.
2) *Personification: " But the vast vacant sky was shrinking fast." The author has given the sky characteristics of living organisms.
*Allusion: in page number 21, the author makes reference of a major league baseball team, The Orioles.
1) At this point, our characters are heading towards Canada to call her grandfather and tell him that Mom is in the hospital with a blood clot in her brain so he could now " assume a new form and step into the ways of fatherhood" the author says in page number 17. Also, now we now what the real purpose of this trip is for; she wants Baba Quan to come to America so she can go to college while he takes care of her sick mom at home.
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