Should Family Take Priority Over The Rights of the Individual Family Member?

True or false? "Family and honor should take priority over the rights of the individual family member." How do you think An-mei and her mother would respond? Would they think the statement is true or false? Would they be somewhere in-between?


     According to the story "Scar"  from Joy Luck Club, I think that An-Mei's response will be in between. At certain points, she would think that family ans honor is called respecting her culture. From the time that her mother came back to her, she starts to understand what happened and believe that her mother made the right choice. An-Mei was always told stories from her Popo about her mother, but her Popo never really mentions her name. As An-Mei grew up with her Popo she was lead to the belief that she should always honor the family and not follow the path that her mother followed or else she would be an disgrace to her family. 


     When An-Mei's mother came to her life again as her Popo was very sick, her mind changes and she starts to think that her mother really needed her individual rights. An-Mei starts to understand the conditions that her mother was going through. She starts to agree that at times you honoring your family can be tough. She thinks that her mother was very brave and she got her individual rights. Although she was a disgrace to her family, she came back in the end. She gave honor to her mother before she died. She did something that was painful as a way to make her mother understand why she had to leave: 

 "Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain. This is how a daughter honors her mother. It is shou so deep it is in your bones. The pain of the flesh is nothing. The pain you must forget," (Tan 48).

This quote tells that An-Mei learned that her mother left for a reason and her individual rights was very important. Even though she was raised with her Popo and her auntie, she never really disgraced her family. As she remembers about the past and what happened to her, she understands her mother more. And the point where she sacrifice her flesh, it was the thing that really surprised An-Mei.

     If An-Mei's mother were to answer this question, she would say that we should have our individual life because we are the one who should choose our own decision. We should be able to break away from that command that family members have given, and choose the right road to follow. I agree very much with her mother and how she got her freedom.

     This could be answered in different forms and because we all have different opinions about this question, what would you do if you were stopped from continuing your decision in life? 

Whats the difference between families?

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior Response:

What do parents owe to their children? What do children owe to their parents?

     "Second, Chinese parents believe that their kids owe them everything. The reason for this is a little unclear, but it's probably a combination of Confucian filial piety and the fact that the parents have sacrificed and done so much for their children. (And it's true that Chinese mothers get in the trenches, putting in long grueling hours personally tutoring, training, interrogating and spying on their kids.) Anyway, the understanding is that Chinese children must spend their lives repaying their parents by obeying them and making them proud.

    By contrast, I don't think most Westerners have the same view of children being permanently indebted to their parents. My husband, Jed, actually has the opposite view. "Children don't choose their parents," he once said to me. "They don't even choose to be born. It's parents who foist life on their kids, so it's the parents' responsibility to provide for them. Kids don't owe their parents anything. Their duty will be to their own kids." This strikes me as a terrible deal for the Western parent." -Amy Chua

      In the Asian (Chinese) society where parents raise their children, I don't think that owe is the right word to use. Asian parents doesn't really owe their children, it would be more of a taking responsibility. The parents would rather take responsibility for giving birth to the child. For that means that they would have to take plan for the child and make them successful. It is like Asian parents would think that it would be their fault if they were not able to make their kids successful. They will feel bad themselves and that they must have done something wrong. They usually take responsibility that the child needs to do well in school and if they don't, they put let them have a tutor to improve their intelligence. Because of what the parents have done for their parents, they would ask their children to take care of them when they have become successful. This is what my parents would tell me; they tell me that I would have to take care of them and pay them back for everything they have done. I would feel like I would be paying a debt and that feeling is not so good.

As in contrast I think that Western parent think that they owe their children most of the time. In my perspective, they gets lots of love from them and get praised for everything they do. They don't really pressure their children as much, although they do want them to be more successful. Western parents in my point of view would let their children have what ever they want. Such a electronics and allowance. From my family, the parents doesn't allow their kids to choose what they want, they only can have what their parent give them. Western children are mostly spoiled from the things they get and they don't really have to owe their parents much afterwords. This is only my perspective of them, but this might be different in many families. This is just my own opinion and I am not stating that they are bad. I really admire Western families and how the parents want the kids to be more open with the society and let them choose their own decisions.

Connections Between Animal Farm and Revolutions

     From the book Animal Farm by George Orwell, he explains a revolution that takes place in a farm. The revolution was started by a pig and he got all the other animals to follow him. Then their revolution begins when they overthrew the humans and developed their own constitution. This story in many ways connect to the real revolutions happening in our world. It explains how a revolution starts and similar characteristics about what would happen.

 What connections did you see between the revolution Orwell described in Animal Farm and the events in Egypt, Tunisia, Honduras, etc.?

     One connection that I found between Animal Farm's revolution and other revolutions around is that they are all fighting for something they are going against. In Animal Farm they started a revolution because the human didn't treat them fairly and they did not feed them one day. Most protesters that are creating a revolution are fighting for similar things such as poverty and the demand to abdicate their rules. "Outside Tunisia and Egypt, Algeria and Jordan are experiencing similar trends where the economic marginalization of young people is driving unrest. Unemployment, housing shortages and food prices hit this group the hardest." Revolutions are mostly because something wrong is going on and the people don't get the right they want.

     Another connection would be that the revolutions mostly starts with one person. In Animal Farm it started off with the pig Major when he had a dream about the future of Animal Farm. When he died, Napoleon ruled over and took over his spot and continued the revolution. Then the other animals in animal farm also combined forces to help out. This is similar to how our revolutions starts. The guy that set himself on fire started a revolution in Tunisia and when other countries such as Egypt heard about it, they started their own revolutions too. From this single event, and what the person did, it caused lots of commotion around. It started to make other countries consider about their problems and so on start an revolution.

     Revolutions spread most of the time and the revolution in Tunisia has influenced other Arab counties to follow on the same road. George Orwell's revolution reflects how revolutions happen around the world. It reflects the cause and outcome of most revolutions

http://www.daily-sun.com/?view=details&type=daily_sun_news&pub_no=114&cat_id=2&menu_id=5&news_type_id=1&news_id=23773&archiev=yes&arch_date=31-01-2011

Animal Farm Chapter 11

The Rebellion
  
    Few months have past, and the pigs have gotten more familiar with the humans. They start communicating with them and playing games with them. As the days past by, the animals work more and more. They were asked to produce more and more crops. Not for them, but for the pigs and humans. The pigs would often be somewhere else in the farm, eating and chatting about their plans to make animal farm grow. The animals would be dead tired after each day, and one or two animals would die each day because of their loads of work. Even though there was the windmill which was originally build so that it could generate electricity, but turned out to mill the corns, it did not improve the lives of the animals. Because animals die each day, more work was assigned to the animals to replace the work for the animals that past away. The condition in Animal Farm was getting worse and worse, and the only ones relaxing were the pigs.

    Soon after the animals were continuously build with more and more work load. The animals start to think about equality and so when ever they passed the barn, they would look at the commandment that says, “All animals were equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” The animals thought that this commandment was not fair, and all the animals should be equal. They thought back to the times when Snowball was still in Animal farm and how he cared for the animals and tried his best to make life more easier for them. They would have more freedom when Snowball was here. Even though the animals wanted to rebel after Napoleon, they weren't strong enough to rebel over him, because he got the dogs. They knew that they must get Snowball back to the farm and hide him somewhere that Napoleon would not know.

    Clover now the leader of the animals without Napoleon knowing. They would plan secret meetings where they would plan a bug feast for the pigs, while they discuss there plan about rebellion. Napoleon and Squealer was going to far. They get far too much special treatment and the animals are working their butts off every single morning.

    In their secret meetings, they were planning to find a way to bring Snowball back and create an plan to attack the pigs. Although Snowball was a pig too, he was known more than just a pig to the animals, he was a great leader. First they have to find where Snowball was located and bring her back. They have found a very good hiding spot they could hide Snowball without the pigs knowing.

    The day has come where Snowball is going to move back to animal farm. Napoleon was out with the humans to plan something. In a good time, the store Snowball in the pen house so that he could get some rest before the meeting they are going to hold. The next night, when the pigs are asleep. The animals hold a meeting in the barn with Snowball. Clover was there to explain the circumstances they were living against. Clover and the animals ask Snowball for help, and ask for forgiveness. Snowball agreed, he said it would be hard because Napoleon had the dogs with him. For the few weeks snowball would be planning a rebellion for the animals. Although it took awhile, the animals were willing to wait for the day that their freedom would come back to them.

    After a couple weeks, Snowball thought of a plan. And while he was creating a plan, he was secretly spying on the pigs and ears-dropping about what they are planning to do next. He found out something that he knew nothing about, but the pigs are at the humans side and currently working with them. They have combined forces and when the pigs and the humans would leave the farm to for plans, they were visiting other farms and ruling over other animals in other farms. It was like they were trying to take over the world. Snowball thought that they were going too far and they had to do something soon, or else it would be too late. He thought that they would have to combine forces with the other farms too in order for the plan to succeed.

    For the few weeks after Snowball told them the truth, they start gathering animals together and working together. They plan to surround the pigs and the humans. To make this work, they will tell the pigs that they will plan a surprise celebration for them because of his leadership. When the pigs heard about this, they were overjoyed and can't wait for the day to come. A big feast was to be planned for them and animals from around the farms would be coming to this event.

    The day has come. All the animals have gathered in the field, where food was placed all around. The humans even came. When Napoleon stepped in, he saw Snowball. He didn't care much about Snowball and he wants Snowball to think that he was successful even after Snowball was gone. Soon Napoleon knew that something was wrong, and it seems like his animals were going quit well with Snowball. This was quit strange, and he thinks that they might be planning something.

    The ceremony has started and Clover was the speaker. All the animals were quiet and Clover soon started his speech. His speech was truly powerful and it was time to give an award. The award was proven the shown the most leadership in the farm. Napoleon was announced the stage and Clover placed a ribbon on his chest. Then passed a cup of wine for him and his companions. The humans also got a glass of wine. Napoleon knew that they were going to attack soon and he was ready. When the animals starts to run after him, the humans were in back of Napoleon to protect him. They were holding guns. Even though the animals knew that their plan has failed, they still charge after the pigs and the humans. Few died and before the animals reached them to knock him off the stage, the pigs and the humans fainted. What the animals didn't know was that Snowball has poured some poison in the wine. Snowball knew that Napoleon has found out their plot, so he plans ahead.

    Napoleon has finally died and so the humans too. The animals succeeded. They thought that they were in freedom, but they weren't. Snowball stood on top the the stage, he announced that he will now rule over Animal farm and all the other farms. The animals didn't know that Snowball was the most cruel of them all. He pretends to care for the animals and help them out. He uses all of them, even Napoleon. Napoleon was a scape goat for Snowball. Snowballs plan has succeeded, and animal farm finally belongs to him. The rest of the animals haven't found this out yet. The beginning has just begun. Snowball is in control and freedom was never found.