https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9 We do a little trolling en-us 2021-04-12 16:54:08 UTC 2021-05-20 18:15:16 UTC hello@padlet.com 291921 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1457602535 "But when she arrived in the new country, the immigration officials pulled her swan away from her, leaving the woman fluttering her arms and with only one swan feather for a memory. And then she had to fill out so many forms she forgot why she had come
and what she had left behind." (1) This quote highlights how the woman's expectations of America were drastically different from reality. This relates to how she finds it harder to reach common ground with her more American daughter since they both have different experiences and expectations. A quote expanding on this idea is: "Then again, it seemed my mother was always displeased with all her friends, with me, and even with my father. Something was always missing. Something always needed improving. Something was not in balance."(8) -Miheer

]]> 2021-04-26 02:45:25 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1457602535 30656 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1457627458 main one: mother daughter relationship & the fear of lost identity, tradition

 - scars = sacrifices that connect to mother?
 - promises and being genuine
 - being lost and found]]> 2021-04-26 02:56:31 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1457627458 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1458457218 This quote is right after An-Mei's mother cuts out a chunk of her flesh to put in medicine for Popo, her own mother. The fact that she does this painful act to help someone who has shunned her and driven her out of her house shows the strong familial bond between Popo and her daughter. This ties into the theme of family and sacrifice present in the novel. 
- Maxwell]]> 2021-04-26 08:32:39 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1458457218 30656 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1460105829 This is a really long quote, but I feel that this quote encompasses the main struggle in the book; the struggle for the mothers in the story to connect to their Americanized daughters through storytelling, and this barrier to struggle transcends the language barrier, and the mothers fear that their daughters will lose a valuable connection with their mothers. The mothers in the short chapter 2-5 stories all value some aspect of their mother, and they fear they will lose that in the following generations. ]]> 2021-04-26 15:32:15 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1460105829 30656 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1460651741 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fVQzQZjBlTsMW0VL5r6qvKk_y296pgvP/view?usp=sharing]]> 2021-04-26 17:10:14 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1460651741 30656 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1485892248 2021-05-03 15:53:58 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1485892248 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1507146283 This quote in the prologue of part 2 continues the theme of parents thinking they know what's best for their child. The child here wouldn't understand the parent's reasoning for their seemingly over-controlling actions as they're written in Chinese. This represents the cultural disconnect between parent and child.]]> 2021-05-09 23:50:02 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1507146283 30656 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1507497544 2021-05-10 02:33:01 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1507497544 30656 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1507498706 How do miscommunication and cultural disconnects affect the the characters and their relationships?]]> 2021-05-10 02:33:36 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1507498706 30656 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1507528248 Superstition and inevitability- how that creates a cultural barrier
    - Daughter reacts with annoyance but her "murder" of Arnold tells her that there must be  hint of truth]]> 2021-05-10 02:46:19 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1507528248 30656 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1507539656 " I let one thing result from another. Of course, all of it could have
been just loosely connected coincidences. And whether that’s true or not, I know the
intention was there. Because when I want something to happen—or not happen—I begin
to look at all events and all things as relevant, an opportunity to take or avoid. "
This quote encompasses the mental struggle that she faces when coping with ideas of superstition and inevitability.  She notes that changing/predicting the future is marked by "intention," and this shines insight on the relationship between her and her mother. ]]> 2021-05-10 02:51:22 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1507539656 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1508017440 This shows how although Rose was cynical about her mother's overbearing advice she expected to understand it when she was older. She is disappointed and confused by her mother's advice about her divorce. Her mother's voice is also described as coming from up high, which emphasizes how her mother must have carried herself with a lot of assertiveness and authority. ]]> 2021-05-10 06:52:59 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1508017440 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1508019355 - Mother-Daughter relationships
- Miscommunication 
- Tradition ]]> 2021-05-10 06:53:48 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1508019355 291921 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1523483852 "My mother began to bump into things, into table edges as if she forgot her stomach contained a baby, as if she were headed for trouble instead. She did not speak of the joys of having a new baby; she talked about a heaviness around her, about things being out of balance, not in harmony with one another." (55) This shows the imbalance that Lena's mother feels and how it throws her off when she is supposed to be happy about the baby. The imbalance has been consistent throughout her life and she has always felt displaced, an example being how she felt imbalance in a new home. (Miheer)]]> 2021-05-14 02:51:49 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1523483852 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1523902562 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q3nTX5tnVDyyV9FVIlis0ivdJnL4jrMb/view?usp=sharing ]]> 2021-05-14 07:22:55 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1523902562 291921 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529103303 "I used to believe everything my mother said, even when I didn't know what she meant." (101) The quote shows how much Rose used to consider the weight of her mother's words. This is why it is also hard for her to discuss her divorce with her mother, because she feels an underlying feeling of shame. (Miheer)]]> 2021-05-16 21:46:10 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529103303 291921 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529145531 "But thoughts are of two kinds. Some are seeds
that are planted when you are born, placed there by your father and mother and their
ancestors before them. And some thoughts are planted by others." (138) Ying-ying explains how she believes that we are inherently born with some ideas, and we pick up other ideas from our environment around us. This quote highlights the dichotomy of thoughts, and we can project this idea on to Ying-ying and Lnea's situation; Lena clearly has had more influence in her thoughts by "others" rather than her parents and ancestors.]]> 2021-05-16 22:28:54 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529145531 291921 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529758925 How can past trauma affect future experiences?]]> 2021-05-17 03:49:24 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529758925 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529767567 2021-05-17 03:54:51 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529767567 3077335 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529768745 How is the conflict between Chinese and American culture presented in multiple cases in the book?]]> 2021-05-17 03:55:41 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529768745 3077335 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529769206 "We knew the Japanese were winning, even when the newspapers said they were not." This quote really gave me goosebumps, as it shows the propaganda that has been the critical problem throughout the Chinese history. As a flashback to WWII, the chapter also reflects the horror of Japanese invasion to civilians back then.]]> 2021-05-17 03:56:00 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529769206 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529770190 2021-05-17 03:56:41 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529770190 30656 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529779716 Waverly looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. “You aren’t a genius like me,” she said matter-of-factly. And if I hadn’t felt so bad, I would have pulled her braids and punched her stomach. But my mother’s expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything. I felt the same way, and it seemed as if everybody were now coming up, like gawkers at the scene of an accident, to see what parts were actually missing.]]> 2021-05-17 04:02:56 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529779716 291921 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529782059 -The way we see things can affect what the meaning of something is
-Humans subconsciously put on a "mask" to give them a sense of protection (Chinese face vs. American face, Jing-mei wanting to be more American than Chinese)]]> 2021-05-17 04:04:21 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529782059 30656 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529782824 See how truthful my face still looks. Why didn’t I give this look to you? Why do you always tell your friends that I arrived in the United States on a slow boat from China? That is not true. I was not that poor. I took a plane. Why do you always tell people that I met your father in the Cathay House, that I broke open a fortune cookie and it said I would marry a dark, handsome stranger, and that when I looked up, there he was, the waiter, your father. Why do you make this joke? This is not sincere.

I like this quote because it condenses the relationship between waverly and her mother, how waverly mistrusts her mother's supersition of a fortune cookie, which inherently is an American thing, representing waverly. ]]> 2021-05-17 04:04:53 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529782824 3077335 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529784455 "'See,' said my father as we both looked at the crib. 'Nesting instincts. Here’s the nest. And here’s where the baby goes.' He was so pleased with this imaginary baby in the crib. He didn’t see what I later saw. My mother began to bump into things, into table edges as if she forgot her stomach contained a baby, as if she were headed for trouble instead." I enjoy reading this quote because it analyzes the position of a traditional Chinese family. While having a child is an accomplishment for a man to brag about, it means more burden to the women which does the chores and raise up the kids.]]> 2021-05-17 04:06:01 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529784455 3077335 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529790189 "When I offered Rich a fork, he insisted on using the slippery ivory chopsticks. He held them splayed like the knock-kneed legs of an ostrich while picking up a large chunk of sauce-coated eggplant. Halfway between his plate and his open mouth, the chunk fell on his crisp white shirt and then slid into his crotch..." Another very interesting quote that puts a focus on the cultural conflicts: fork (west) vs. chopsticks (east). One notable thing is that ivory chopsticks are used only among aristocrats in ancient China, and the case of Rich struggling to use that reflects his clumsy attempt to maintain his Chinese identity.]]> 2021-05-17 04:09:32 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529790189 3077335 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529798226 "Maybe it was your mother’s dead spirit who guided her Shanghai schoolmate to find her daughters. Because after your mother died, the schoolmate saw your sisters, by chance, while shopping for shoes at the Number One Department Store on Nanjing Dong Road."

I love this quote for two reasons. First, it delineates traditional Chinese superstition, that the dead will remind their acquaintances before departing once and for all. Second, I actually live really near Nang Jing Dong Road in Shanghai (like 10 minute walk from my house), and I've been to Number One Department multiple times. The narrator's experience resonates with mine.]]> 2021-05-17 04:14:05 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1529798226 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1533594253 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IszVVXcgVBmx6g3S2XOPHKsMbiSPvNl9/view?usp=sharing ]]> 2021-05-18 00:46:02 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1533594253 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1533595872 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UlKPTTt_8pbxRhItXkt9htqiFynOefUI/view?usp=sharing ]]> 2021-05-18 00:46:37 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1533595872 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1533698046 What are some sacrifices the characters make, and what do they have in common?]]> 2021-05-18 01:24:21 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1533698046 2581316 https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1533954499 This quote encompasses a conflict that all characters in the book have had to deal with: adjusting to America, whether it be because they're immigrants or their parents were immigrants. It also touches on how the Chinese teachings and traditions the mothers in this book try to teach their kids conflicts with what the kids learn in America.]]> 2021-05-18 03:05:37 UTC https://padlet.com/2581316/h7mv8daa23bunjo9/wish/1533954499