My Family History

          As a child, my mom started school at the age of seven. At school, they would have plantations and make the children help them grow crops. They would grow crops such as sugar canes, peanuts, and etc. They would even raise pigs at school. The purpose of this was to teach them to how to be farmers. There are normal classes consisting of math, Chinese, science, and history. Classes were almost the same as what we would learn. School would end at three in the afternoon and my mom would head home.

          In China, you normally have to pay for your education. All my moms siblings went to school. My mom was the fifth child out of the eight. Her older brothers were the ones paying for the fees in order for my mother and her sisters to go to school. She has two older brothers and their education was paid for by their parents. They earned money to help pay for their younger siblings. They took jobs and went to school at the same time.

          My mom would wake up at seven in the morning and head to school. When she comes back, she would be asked to do chores by her parents. Each of her siblings were assigned to do a different job. My mom had to take trips to the wells or to faucets to gather water for the family. For each bucket they got, they had to pay a cent. Back in the day, they had no access of water at homes. My mom took care of the water and took many trips back and forth from the well until she had eight buckets full of water. Water would be boiled up to take baths with, but most of the time they had to take cold water. When she comes comes back from school, she doesn’t have much time to do her homework. Most of the time, she just did whatever she was told to do.

          Other chores include cracking beans, peeling ginger, sewing blankets, and much more. These would be used to sell and earn money. In a day of work, there were a lot of chores to be done. If my mom didn’t do her part, her older sisters would pinch her and make her do it. She had no choice.

          After everything, they would eat the dinner that their mother had cooked. Her mother was only in charge of cooking and the rest of the chores was left for all of the other siblings to finish. Food was always limited and there was not much to eat. There would be more food on the table when they had more money and less when they had less money.

          At the age of seven, my mom got a high fever and almost died. Her parents took her to many doctors, but they didn't really help much, until they found this doctor that helped her get better. Medical care was not as good during her age. Most of the time going to the doctors didn’t really help much.

          In the family, my mom would be favored the most by her father. Her mom didn’t really like her and the bond between her and her father was very strong, while her mother favored her older brothers and the youngest siblings.

          In her family, many people had jobs to earn money for the family. Her mom didn’t work hard and only stayed home to take care of the children, while her father worked in a business in the city. When my mom finished school at fifteen, she started to earn money for her family. She was put in a sewing company from eight in the morning until ten at night. This job only paid a dollar a day. With the little amount of money that she would get each day, half of it went to the family to help pay for food.

After working there for eight years, she moved to the companies to work, selling books and shoes to the people in the hotels. They paid a reasonable amount of money, about a thousand or more a month. Then she started working in Hong Kong and found another job.

          When my mom was eighteen, she first met my dad. My father chased her and followed her everywhere although my mom didn’t like him. As a child, my mom’s parents were very strict, they didn’t allow them to hang out with their friends or go out. If they didn’t listen, they would get locked out of the house as a punishment. My dad loved my mom a lot, and he did everything to win her heart. As time went by, they got together and started to date. After that, she gave birth to me.

          When I was born, my mom and dad's family weren't very nice to my mother. They didn't like her very much and that she has a lot of money to spent. My dad's mom won't allow my mother to buy me milk to drink and I should only be breast feed. My mom was an very ignorant women, she didn't even bother to listen to her, and just did anything she wants. Since she was spending her own money, she could use it however way she wants. My mom told me that when I was little, I didn't always finish all my food and often wasted it. My dad's mom didn't like the fact that I wasted food and didn't feed me much. A few years after I was born, my mom immigrated to America.

           When my mom immigrates to America, she started a new life. I was left in China with my dad and his family. My mom came to America because her parents have moved here and she followed them. In this new community, she didn't understand what people spoke around there. She and her family moved in a Asian community where there were Chinese people like her. My mom had to adjust to the American culture that she as experiencing. Soon she found a job here and lived with her friends in Alameda. My mom thought that the jobs that they provided here did not pay her well, they weren't fair and lied about how much they would get for an house and gave the workers less money. She thought that payments weren't as good as before, but she still tool the job and earned money because that was the only thing she could do.

          My mom would come back to visit me a few times a year when she comes back from America. She would tell me that I looked like I was starving to death when she would see me, and that I didn't have enough food to eat. I would weigh the time she left me before she went to America. I haven't changed a lot and my mom was worried for me because I got sick often. This was because I wasn't feed much and wasn't treated well. A couple years later, mom mom immigrated my whole family here in America and start a whole new life without my dad's family. And this is how I ended up here right now.

          From this story I learned that my mom was raised in a big family and the way she raised me was similar to her own experience. My mom raised me like how her parents did, she was strict at first and would make me do chores and help her out. I am lucky that life here in America was more different because I wouldn't have want to go through the time that my mother did. Her life didn't seem so pleasant back then, and it often included lots of work. Although my mom was a strong willed person. I think that may be the reason I have to much motivation in myself and that I believed that I could do anything in which I put my whole heart in. I an guessing I got that trait from my mom, and I like it a lot.

          This story hasn't really survived in my family. My parents don't tell much stories and I don't think that they heard much stories from their parents either. Its sad to think that the family history kind of broken down and didn't get passed from generations to generations. I believe that there is a great story out there to tell, and it just never really got passed on. My only guess is that they don't want to tell the life of their sad living styles. I heard from my mom that my grandma's family was very rich. It would be very nice if I could travel back in history and know more about my background and discover the mysteries out there. I have learned about from doing this assignment and further more learning about about my mom. Next I am going to learn about my dad's family history, but I didn't really get to ask him. I really enjoyed leaning about the life of my mom from a little kid to and adult, in which turned out to be my mom.

Amy Tan v.s. Amy Chua

     In Amy Chua's "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior", she talks about the steps that the parents encounter to make their children successful. She describes how you must be able to discipline them so that they will listen to you.  In the "Twenty-Six Malignant Gates", Amy Tan describes the mother-daughter relationships that they encounter as Americans. These two readings shows lots of similarities about parenthood and the expectations that they want their daughters to follow. In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, in the section called, The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates, the story called Two Kinds explains how Jing Mei Woo is pushed to learn things that she doesn't want to do. These two discusses how their daughters aren't able to make their own decisions.


     In the story, Two Kinds, Jing Mei's mother wanted her to be a prodigy and made her learn many things. Her mother wanted her to learn the piano, but Jing Mei didn't want is and she knew that she would not do good. The duaghter was often made to follow the decisions that the mother choose and don't get to choose their own choice, she can only listen to her mother:

"Why don't you like me the way I am? I am not a genius! I can't play the piano. And even if I could, I wouldn't go on TV if you pay me a million dollars!" I cried. My mother slapped me. "Who asked you be genius?" she shouted. "Only asked you to be your best. For you sake. You think I want you be genius? Hnnh! What for! Who asked you!" (Tan 136)

 This shows that even though the daughter doesn't want to be like a prodigy and play the piano, her mom says that she has to even though she might not be good at it. Her mom wants her to learn the things that she could now at this point so that her future would be better. Her mother just wants her daughter to try her best and play. This will teach her a lesson that life is hard and nothing is easy. Her mother's intentions are that the skills that she learn now will come in very handy.


     In the discussions that Amy Chua makes, her observations and teaching are similar to Jing Mei's mom. Their intentions are the same, and they both want their child to be successful:

Chinese mothers said that they believe their children can be "the best" students, that "academic achievement reflects successful parenting," and that if children did not excel at school then there was "a problem" and parents "were not doing their job." What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work. (Chua)

This connects to the Jing Mei's mothers experience. They don't want their child to do bad because it would be their fault if they kids does do well. They feel that they have to take responsibility and make them learn something they don't like. By doing this, it means that they gave them am chance to do something, but they didn't, which means its not their fault. These two parents does not intend to do bad for them, but want them to be well grown fine ladies.


     I think that Amy Tan's novel does endure Chua's argument about motherhood. Even though their expectations might be strict, their intentions are the same. The only thing they want to do is do good for their children. They way they teach their kids has a meaning to it and they want their child to be successful. If you connect the pieces of Amy Chua and Amy Tan, their sense of parenting is very similar.

The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates

     In the book, Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, she includes an introductory piece in the beginning of the piece, "The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates." From my observations, I think that the purpose to her introductory it to explain the period of time where kids will start making their own decisions. The daughter was told by her mother that she was not to bike around the corner because her mother can not see her. The daughter chooses to disobey her mother and fell before she reached the corner. The purpose might be that if you don't listen to your parents, you might regret it in the end because you might end of making wrong choices. From this short introductory I think that it means that the first step to independence is hard because you will get lost later on and need someone to carry you back up.

     In the story called Rules of the Game, the mom had high expectations for her daughter in the game of chess. She would be always next to her to see her make her next move so that she will not make a mistake. The daughter was bothered by the fact that her mother was always standing by her side. It seems as if she was not able to choose her own path and always follow the orders from her mom:

"But I found it difficult to concentrate at home. My mother had a habit of standing over me while I plotted out my games. I think she thought of herself as my protective ally. Her lips would be sealed tight, and after each move I made, a soft "Hmmmmph" would escape from her nose" (Tan 98).

 From  this reading, the daughter wanted to make her own choices and she doesn't want her mom to choose the next steps that she took. Her mom is being over protective about her, and she brags about her achievements to other people which upsets her. The daughter runs away and come back home in the end. This means that even though the daughter was able to escape her mother's expectations, she came back home because she still needs someone to support her. In the end of the story it says, "I closed my eyes and pondered my next move" (Tan 101). From the ending when she was all alone, she starts to think about her own decisions without her mother being too protective of her. When she was able to make her own step towards the game, it was like making the next step to her life and choosing to balance out her mother and herself.

     In the story called The Voice from the Wall,  when the daughter and her mother was walking around chinatown, her mother said,

"Don't look at her,"said my mother...And of course I looked...."She met a bad man," said my mother. "She had a baby she didn't want." And I knew that was not true. I knew my mother made up anything to warn me, to help me avoid some unknown danger. (Tan 105).

This means that the reason parents often tell us these lies is because they want us to be safe. They don't want you to be in danger. Although you might know that they are lying to you, you will just follow what they say to you because you know that they are just being protective.

      Parents cannot dare to let go their child, and they want to make their decisions. They don't want them to go through the wrong path and make the wrong decision. This is the reason parents or mothers tell you to follow what they tell us. I have a question through this introductory. Do we really get to grow up because we keep taking orders from others? Shouldn't we make you own decisions and fall down at times and learn from it? Isn't that the meaning of life? To fall down and stand back up by ourselves....

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.