Libby Blog Response

Discussing Main Point And Meaning

1. Do the author's survey results indicate that feminist is, by and large, a dirty word for her fellow students? What in the essay makes you agree or disagree?

Answer: I don't think that the author's student feel that feminist is a dirty word because in my opinion, their responses weren't really negative.

2. What reasons does Libby offer why there are not more selfidentified feminists?

Answer: People think about the word feminist in a negative way and they don't want to be known in a negative way.

3. Why does she think more people should identify themselves as feminists?

Answer: Because she feels that feminism is about women having the opportunity to CHOOSE the way they live their lives, whether it be a stay-at-home mom or a working woman, and for men also to have the chance to live the life they want.

Summary

According to Amy Tan, in Mother Tongue, she introduces herself as a writer who is “fascinated by language in daily life” and uses language as a daily part of her work as a writer. Tan loves language, and she points out the fact that she uses more than one type of “English” in her life. She realized that she speaks differently when she's around different people. At a talk she gave on her book, The Joy Luck Club, Tan became aware of her mother in the audience because she was using academic language, language she learned from books, and this was not language she ever used with her mother. She observes another experience that made her aware of another type of English she uses, the language of family. She talks to her husband the way she talks to her mother. The author lets us know about the kind of english her mother speaks and how much she knows. Tan’s mother tells a story about a gangster in Shanghai who had the same last name as her family. She uses very “broken” English to tell the story. She reminds us that even though her mother’s English seems somewhat “broken”, it does not reflect her intelligence. Although her mothers english is broken it contradicts how much she understands; she reads and discusses complex books. Ideas and economies regularly.The author rejects the idea that her mother’s English is “broken or limited”. She dislikes that her mother had limitations in her life because of her english. Tan emphasizes the fact that even her mother recognizes that her opportunities and interactions in life are limited by her English. She used to have to call people on the phone and act as though she was her mother in order to get people to pay attention to her like when she had to yell at her mother’s stockbroker for not sending a check. She notices that people are judged by the way that they speak. Once when her mother went to the doctor to get the results of a CAT scan, her doctors essentially ignored her when she complained about them losing the results. It wasn’t until she actually called the doctor that they cared to solve the problem. Tan acknowledges that perhaps her family’s language had an effect on her own opportunities in life. The language we learn as children can affect the rest of our lives. She questions whether or not other Asian students are discouraged from writing or steered in the direction of math and science. In her experience, Tan notices that Asian students do do better on math achievement tests than language tests. The author acknoledges the fact that people were doubting that she could master english and she did. Tan changed her major from pre-med to English and she decided to become a freelance writer even though her boss told her she couldn’t write. She eventually went on to write fiction. Tan reports that she made a decision to write with a particular reader in mind, which influenced how she wrote. She had a goal in mind, which was for her book to be written in a way that her mother could easlily read it.

Literture Circle Blog Response #3

Q: What are the consequences of gambling?

R:What are the consequences of gambling? Well, gambling can be an addicting activity. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Everyone should be careful about who they gamble with because some people strongly dislike losing and can lose their temper and might seriously injure someone. Another thing that can happen is that you lose everything. I've heard of many cases where people have bet their own home and lost it. And other cases where people have gotten beaten up for winning. One of my uncles actually got beaten. He was gambling with some of his cousins and one of his uncles one night and he had won most games. His cousins and uncle were really drunk and really upset. They ended up beating their own cousin and and nephew for the money that he had won fair and square. His own family beat him up. Now that's scary to know you have family members like that. In Rain Of Gold, Juan is back with Luisa, his sister, and Doña Margarita, his mother. Juan sees how they are living and wants to go back to montana to make money and send them some regurlarly. But Doña Margarita made him promise he would stay. Well Juan is keeping his word and goes off to find a poker game in town and he finds one. He sits for a while and observes a game before he enters it. He noticed there are two men who are "professionals" and decides to take it easy. When he finally enters the game, he wins a couple hands and decides he's going to keep playing. One of the men get suspicious and says that he is going to the bathroom but comes up behind Juan and tries to slit his throat but only slices a little. Juan manages to pull out his gun and shoot but he faints. Getting seriously injured or even killed is a big possible consequence of gambling.

What's my motivation to go to college?

What are my motivations to go to college? Well, my first motivation is, when I graduated from 8th grade, I promised my mother that I would give her a high school diploma and a college degree, and that I would help my two younger brothers along their way to college and get them on their way to being successful. Secondly, One of my mothers clients is really rich and is a very good woman. She started off her life as being very poor and she had to pay for college and university on her own. With all her hard work, she became a multi-millionaire. This wonderful woman saw everything that my mother had to go through with me and my problems. she also saw that I was pushing myself to succeed. After seeing my hard work and determination, she spoke with my mother and told her that she is willing to pay for everything I need to go to college and university. She left me dumbfounded. She is a big motivation for me to go to college because its a once in a life time opportunity and I cannot pass it up or let her down. She had put her trust in one other person once before and that person dropped out of college and let her down really hard. I'm not going to put her through the same thing. Lastly, I want to go to college to become a social worker and help children and teens that are abused. I want them to know that there are people who care about them and want to help. I want to give them a way to escape verbal, mental, and physical abuse. By helping these children and teens, I will feel accomplished in life. These are my motivations to go to college.