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What did you learn about yourself or the world through this memoir?

I learned a bit too much about myself. I saw myself and my family in James and his family, in so many aspects; Half sibling that try to hide who their parents are and where they're from or how they look, Parents that didn't open up to what their old life was until they were much older, Getting compared to older siblings, Having a bit too many pets, and other things that connected this book to my actual family. This book made me see that it isn't bad to be or look different from your family, that it can be good and shape how unique someone can be. It also showed me what my great-grandmother might have had to live through, she was Jewish and married a christian man, and raised her children telling them nothing about her Jewishness until my mother convinced her to tell her story. I really loved this book and it really connected me to my family.

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Which behaviors of the characters are conscious ones? Which are unconscious?

They show that even when James started working to be able to get to Europe, James avoided some responsibilities, like when he was younger, he avoided his responsibilities as older sibling or student. He doesn't mention this pattern throughout the book, but it appears that James avoided for years anything that was close to routine or mundane, even when it came to getting a stable job, jumping from journalism to music constantly. This is one of his unconscious actions throughout the book that stood out to me.

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In these chapters they spoke in detail about what had happened to James' father. How his father started getting a cough and his mother thought it was just a cold, How he started getting more and more I'll, How they didn't let Ruth visit him much at the hospital, How James got his name, and How Ruth found out about his death. The main issue was that the doctors didn't tell him what he had, and this was because she was a white woman married to a black man, which the doctors didn't like this and refused to tell Ruth what he had as a way to show their dislike for it. Racism is already a very prominent issue in this book, but people abusing their power is something I didn't really expect that from this story, but it's a fact when it comes to those times; Interracial relationships were frowned upon, so many people tried to make it as hard as possible for them to work out.

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I found these chapters a lot different from my life, as I've never lost a parent thankfully, but in these chapters they show that sometimes someone doesn't even have to be your blood for you to mourn them, as James deeply mourned his stepfather and saw how his death affected the family. I just hope that when I lose someone close that I love I don't turn to drugs and alcohol like James did at such a young age.

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1. How are class differences presented in the work? Are the characters aware or unaware of the economic and social forces that affect their lives?

In the book the social classes are shown mostly through how the cities are segregated, with white neighborhoods being considered "higher class" as more money and resources are in these areas, and black neighborhoods being considered "lower class" as the housing and schools in these areas are many times dilapidated and cramped. The characters are aware of their economic conditions and many times struggle with this, an example is the older boys in the family telling their mother they need to move because they couldn't afford the house anymore, and how little money Ruth is able to hand James when he leaves for college.

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How the meaning of a text change as you reread it?

Rereading "brothers and sisters" was interesting, because at first I just saw Helen running away as just her rebellious attitude, but when I reread it I saw that it was Helen being consumed by the pride of being black, forgetting that she's half White Jewish. It really shows how the surroundings of a teen can affect how they see the world.

Which of your personal Experiences or memories is affecting your perceptions of the story?

I relate a lot with James, Especially with the mirror scene. I relate a lot with that scene because I experienced almost the same thing, When I was little I would hate what I saw in the mirror. I compared myself to my older siblings; I didn't have nice and straight hair like my sister Barbie or was "beautiful" like Cleo, I wasn't tall like my brother Robert or "Smart" like Sal, I felt like I didn't fit in. Until recently I started seeing that my Siblings weren't perfect either, and that it was okay to be different from them.

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"As I stepped on the bus she squeezed a bunch of bills and change into my hand "It's all I have" she said. I counted it. Fourteen dollars."

It shows how much Ruth loves her kids; She's willing to give all she has for them, even if it's so little, she'd rather give it to her kids. All of James' underage life we've seen his Mom fight for everything her kids need and even at the door of James' adult life she gives him all she has.

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This week I saw what I found to be a very interesting social issue; How the racial population can affect the quality of schools.

In the book we see that Black schools get much less funding and lower quality materials than White schools, and this still happens to this day, schools in mostly white populated areas have more funding and better quality things than in areas where the population is not mostly white.

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"Tateh would open his knife case- he had a special velvet case with knives just for this purpose- and carefully select one of those big, shiny knives. Then he'd utter a quick prayer and plunge the knife blade into the cow's kneck"

This scene is interesting, seeing that Kosher food is prepared by a qualified butcher called a "shochet" and done with 1 specific knife called a "chalef" and no prayers are involved in making food Kosher. Seeing that Ruth's father is not a shochet and has multiple knives for the process, it gives a certain sense of fear or eeriness to Tateh

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Choose 3 Formalist Lens Questions to respond to. Your responses should thoroughly respond to the prompt in at least three sentences.

1. How does the writer's diction (word choice) reveal or reflect the work's meaning?

It affects how you see the characters in the book, for example; James refers to his step-dad as "Daddy" or "Dad", He considered him his father, despite not being his biological father.

2. How effective is the author's use of dialogue? How does it enhance the storytelling?

He changes between his and his mother's perspective and is shows how different they grew up. James grew up with many siblings and many of them distant, compared to his mother who grew up with only 2 siblings that were close to protect each other.

3. What recurring patterns (repeated or related words, images, etc.) can you find? What is the effect of these patterns or motifs?

A recurring pattern is death, Ruth mentions it since the beginning of the book; She's dead to her family, Her family is dead to her, Her grandfather's death, her fear of being buried alive among the dead, and lastly, her brother getting killed.

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"Tateh kept a loaded pistol underneath the counter next to the cashier. He cleaned that gun more than he cleaned his own trousers, and he had it ready for anyone who tried to fool with his money" -Page 59

Ruth explains that her father kept a gun to protect his money, He feared that black people would steal his money, when in actuality He was the one robing them by cranking up the prices of things by 100%.

Tateh is being a hypocrite by saying this, and the presence of the gun worries Ruth because in her town a man got killed because there wasn't any gun safety, and Ruth fears that the same will happen to her father.

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In what ways was this chunk a window or a mirror? Use the following questions to guide your response, but really we want to hear your personal thoughts and reactions to this chunk!

What experiences do you share with the characters?

I don't share much with Ruth, the writer's mother, but I do share one common thing; The want to be outside of the house all the time, I like being outside because at home I don't have much to do.

In what ways is your family similar or different from those in the book?

It's similar in that the kids are somewhat distanced among each other, like my 2 oldest sisters exclude my brother Robert and me from many things because we only share one parent in common, with only my brother Sal being indifferent to it. Another factor is how the kids became distanced because of a bad parent, with my siblings' mother telling them that I wasn't like them, making 2 out of 4 of them have a certain prejudice against me.

What did you learn about a character or group of people that you have not personally experienced?

Feeling Alone, even when I was "Alone", I really wasn't. Either feeling excluded from my family for having a different parent or because of being neurodevergent, I've never felt alone, as friends and people who aren't even related to me have been supporting me.

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Race/Ethnicity & Religion

Throughout the chapter where they explain how Ruth and her family lived in the south and opened their shop, It's shown that people in the town are prejudiced against African Americas and have it separated by the train tracks. Even Ruth's father is like this, pointing out how they're dumb for being happy without a penny in their pockets, even if his family is miserable but with money. This is because in Orthodox Judaism they are "obligated" to do whatever in their power to keep from entering poverty, normally they are educated with this mindset, as for Orthodox Jews it is important to have wealth and use it however they with, as Orthodox Judaism doesn't share the mindset that many religions have towards charity

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The social issue most focused on in this week was discrimination, showing it both in James' perspective and in Ruth/Mommy's perspective. In James' perspective by showing how the students in his school or how the store owner treated him and his siblings. And in Ruth's case, how they discriminated Jews, and how she saw severe discrimination of Black people in the south; Ruth was insulted as a girl for being Jewish, being called all sorts of slurs, but she also saw how Black people were killed by the KKK (ex. The boy whose body was found in the river)

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In these chapters of the book I see how James feels guilty for how his mother is having a hard time making enough to make payments and keep him and his siblings fed, as he's the one who motivated Ruth the most to move. I relate to this in so many ways: The reason we moved was because my parents wanted a better education for me, even if it means what we have to do know, going to food banks and my mom working tirelessly to pay things on time and get whatever I need.

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What experiences do you share with the characters?

How James sees his siblings behave is similar to mine. Having an older brother that is praised for being the first one to go to college and sisters who rebelled and hated a part of who they are (in Helen's case, hating her half white part. In my sister's case, hating being Mexican). I relate to James on that part.

In what ways is your family similar or different from those in the book?

It's similar in the way that all the kids are different, they all look different and are divided in half because of who one of their parents are. Part of James' siblings are full blood siblings, some are half blood siblings, like mine. (3 of my siblings are my dad and his ex, and me and my brother Robert only share half of their blood)