21st Century American/The American Dream

What does it mean to be a 21st century American in the United States today? I would have to answer this question by first stating that we are definately in an electronically needy time. Although I believe the increase in technology is great in many ways such as: speedier business transactions and educational answers, instant knowledge about a subject, communication posssibilities, and chances to make money faster, I also believe that if we rely to much on technology, when and if something bad happens, like a terrrorist attack or a disabling of electricity that our country could be thrown into a state of panic and be vulnerable as a result. We must not forget where we came from! That is, be able to be functional without technology, as Americans before us did. There is also a major problem in our country with childhood obesity. Youth of today are playing more video games and also losing touch with the hands-on because they are behind a computer more often than my generation and those before me. I believe that this directly effects self-centeredness and isolation. By not communicating face to face these individuals don't get a realistic approach to love, feelings, a problem, or an important decision that must be made. Another concern is the amount of pornography and the myriad of unrealistic messages that are being witnessed over the internet and cell-phones about sexuality. This is definately affecting the morality of our country and sexual fixations are replacing real life one-on-one physical contact that gives meaning and substance to a relationship. If you're lonely you're lonely. How can you fall in love communicating without any personal time together ? We are still hard working, are still able to reach "The American Dream", the rich keep getting richer, and still have a chance to connect again, if we work at it. We are Americans. We can accomplish anything we set our mind's to. I would also clearly state that we as Americans our more intelligent in the 21st century but not the wiser.

FWoman Warior

I found this book to be a little confusing with all of the story-telling happening. Once I researche d some of the themes, things became a lot clearer for me. I liked the use of metaphors such as: "round cakes" and "doorways" to represent the "circle" or "roundness" of Chinese life- the idea that the villagers are connected and responsible for one another's life. I also learned that Kingston uses talk stories. Talk stories often involve the fantastic and fuses realistic events with majical qualities. The first part of the book was the most interesting to me (No Name Woman). I believe this is definately her Aunt that has supposedly committed suicide. I found the story from Kingston's mother to be quite frightening. Her mother's purpose is to scare Maxine into not having an adulteress affair so that she won't bring shame on herself or the village. Instead Kingston has mixed feelings about her identity as an Asian-American and her gender role as a result. Later in this section of the book Kingston puts herself in her Aunts situation and tries to imagine what it was like. She actually writes as if she is the Aunt telling the story. She fantasizes about her Aunt being a timid woman ordered into submission by a rapist. She imagines her harboring a slowly blossoming passion attempting to attract a mans atttention by carefully defining her appearance. She rejects the idea that her Aunt was a wild woman with loose passion, as woman did what they were told by men in their culture. She articulates that her Aunt's greatest crime was stepping out of the role that Chinese society and traditions has proscribed for her. It was sad to here about the Aunt taking the baby to the well for the suicide. The baby had to have been a girl and I'm assuming she did this act out of respect and love for the child as it would have been discriminated against and ridiculed as an outsider and illigitemate all of its life. This proves that there is plenty of discrimination to go around. An individuals twisted desires and need for power can pollute an entire culture with norms and rules.

Beloved, Here I am

My impression of the novel "Beloved" was that it was very realistic to slavery at the time in Kentucky. As Kentucky was a state that was close to non-slave states the owners were a lot stricter. They wanted to dissuade escape and used fear and beatings to do so. The saddest part about Sethe's story was when they came to claim her two boys and Beloved, and she slit all of their throats to prevent them from becoming slaves. Better off dead was how she felt. I thought it was ironic that the owner cried but spat at her feet and called her an animal to make hisself appear as though he didn't care. There were many instances of abuse: the hanging of her mother, the cross burned into her mother's chest, the shacklin, the mothe pieces, when the boys drank her milk, the beating she took while pregnant for telling about the breast milking incident, etc. I found "baby Suggs" an inspiration as she was bold and preached a positive message to other slaves. I don't think she would have been able to get away with that in Kentucky. There is still slavery today going on. For instance, Haiti inslaves its own people. Those that are less fortunate financially are sold and used as workers whom are not allowed to be in the house while the owners are gone. They beat these individuals on a daily basis and you can imagine what else they do. Any type of abuse is bad. It's just a way for twisted and perversive people to get their rocks off. They should walk a day in the victims shoes and see how tough it is to live an abusive life. Putting money in an evil person's hand is bad for society. We sould take their money and inslave them! Beloved was a little strange with the inclusion of ghosts. I believe as a message to be haunted by your past. But one can only be haunted if they give a damn!