essay 4

                    In the story All I Asking For Is My Body, we learn about the struggles of a Japanese American
 family. How they lived when the children were young, following them until the become young adults.  We
learn that the the children are responsible for the parents debt.  In their culture it was expected that the oldest
male child would pay back the debt of his parents.  the reason for this repayment is, in my opinion,  not
warranted.   If it is OK for your child to repay your debt, some parents may loose the drive to make an effort
to repay the debt themselves. In turn, this passes on to the next person in the family, the oldest son.  Now
that his son has the debt, he can not provide for his family, and then the debt may be passed yet again.
                  Tosh's parents expect him to repay their debt of six thousand  dollars.  After working only one
year to repay their debt, Tosh is no longer happy to work.  This makes the father very angry, and when
telling Tosh to do what is expected of him no longer works, he changes his tactics to using guilt.  He tells
Tosh that someday he too will have a bad son.  To me, this was sad.  The way that he communicates with his
children is wrong in so many ways.  This is not uncommon in Japanese culture, so it was hard for anyone to
speak up or to disagree with what he telling them.   When he first starts to question his duty,  he only asks for
how long, and how much does he owe.  This makes his parents very angry, even saying they cant depend on
him, and that they will depend on Kiyoshi instead. 


           When Tosh finally states the obvious, that he will never be able to repay all of this debt,  his father
tries to throw him out.  This was absurd to Tosh, he knew that his father could not keep the family fed
without the contribution of his money, yet his father treated him like dirt. This sense of entitlement that his
parents have is mid boggling. I don't agree with how the parents believe that the children should be
responsible for the debt that they agreed to.  If anything we as parents owe our children, we should never
charge or put our children into debt.



           

The Ending

I really enjoyed this story.  The ending at first felt like it was hurried.  But after reflecting on the rest of the story, it made sense. The way that Kiyoshi is dealing with being gone from home.  The way that he made all the money that his family needs to get out of debt, and how is ready, or maybe not so ready for war.  I thought that this is good way to end a story about superstition, and stories of bad luck, and what seemed a life of hardship.
 In the ending of the story it was like he was obsessed with  money and how he could padroll to win. When he was a child, all he heard about was bad luck and superstition, and now, on his way to war, he is making his own luck.  The way that he feels about taking the money of others was a little twisted, " besides if I didn't take their money another padroller would have".  What a common way of making it OK.  I liked how the last lines of the story, Take care the body.  In the last pages of the story we find him going to war, but he really never talks about how he feels, only the gambling.

Substitue

This is a great question.  Why does Kiyoshi believe that Obaban is a substitute for his mom?  He feels that she is the substitute because of all the superstitions that his mother has taught him.  The way that the older generation believed that all things were connected, and how to get rid of bad luck has been passed down to the next generation.  This bad luck, can be passed on to someone else, a substitute. He thought that Obaban was the perfect substitute because of her age, she had already lived a full life. He had also convinced himself that she would not be missed as much as his mom would.
The way that people believe in superstition is still common.  When you see a ladder, you think about the bad luck of waling under it.  When you see a black cat, one cant help but to think of bad luck. The same can be said about broken mirrors and crows.  Or the one about a penny in your shoe.  Whether you believe or not, we still think about them. I think this is the same for Kiyoshi, he may not believe but he still participates in them.

Chapter 13 Eliminate distracting shifts

      Chapter thirteen talks about points of view, the perspective in which something is written, and why it is important to stay in that perspective.  Informal letters and writing based on personal experience should  be written in first person (I or we).  When the writer is giving advice or explaining how to do something, the writer should use you, which is second person. When the writer is is writing in a formal academic or professional setting, the third person perspective is appropriate,  (he,she,it,one, or they).  When a writer doesn't settle for one point of view it can become confusing for the reader. 
      The writer needs to maintain the the same time table, keep the same verb tenses, or the reader may become confused.  If the writer is talking about past tense and then jumps to the present all of the verbs need to match.  Also verbs that show how the overall mood is should be consistent as well.  The writer should try to keep questions and quotations either direct or indirect.  What this means is that if you are going to quote in one part directly(word for word) you should continue that in all writing.
       This chapter will help in my writing, I tend to shift.  I will try to pay more attention to the time shifting.  I sometimes use past and present in the same paragraph.  The  way that we use the first, second, or third person perspective will also help to write more clearly.  I don't remember learning the part about keeping the quotations the same, and I will definitely use that in my future writing

Extra Credit

The way that we watch movies is for the most part passive. When we watch an action film, we are only watching and waiting for the action scenes.  The reading material explains how we (the audience) don't really pay attention to all of the other things that are happening on the screen.  The way the the director has the lighting can totally change the feeling that the viewer has.  Take for example the Blair Witch Project, the movie was a horror film.  This movie was one of the scariest movies I had ever seen. When I look back, most of the terror I felt was because of the lighting, and the way that the film looked like a documentary.  By making it look like a documentary film, it made it seem more real.  While I was watching the movie I never thought of this, otherwise it might have not been so scary.
I will use this information the ext time that I have an assignment on writing about film.  Now I will be a little more analytical when I watch movies.  I will try to spot the hidden triggers that the directors has in play.  This was and insightful reading for me, I never thought about the way that lighting has such an effect on the viewer.

Essay three workshop

In the story Oomah Loompah, we learn about a young girl named Lovey.  In lovey's life, she takes everything and judges it against what she has learned from the media.  The media has shown her what is beautiful, ugly, accepted, and what your supposed to eat , drink and think. The little girl in the story has internalized on how her life should be according to what she has been shown to her through media. 
In the beginning of the story we find Lovey getting her hair done by her mother. This is where it becomes apparent that the media has told the young girl how she is supposed to look.  The media tells people that if you buy a product, use it , you will look just like the person that is promoting the product.  At least that is what people hear.  But in all actuality, what is said is that by using this product you may, or might, or results may vary.  I have a young girl at home who is, much like Lovey, very connected to the media as well. She wants the skinny jeans and the cool shirts, and just recently the shorter skirts.  This is the media telling her that these things are what she wants.  I know this because it is November and it's cold. Who wants to wear a skirt in the winter?
The way that Lovey takes images from media and uses them to compare real life with fiction, is not uncommon.  Many children, and even adults, compare their own lives to that of the lives of fictional or famous people in the media.  This is one way that a person can feel like they have a connection, or similarity with someone famous.  If you wear the same jeans that the famous person wears, you will look like that person.  This is how big companies make their money, through good marketing. This is what is happening to Lovey, she has been targeted by big media, she is buying what will make her look a certain way. This is how companies make their money, they find a group of people that can be manipulated into thinking that they need something to help fit in, or look better, to be socially accepted.  In Lovey's case this didn't work out, she ended up staying home. 
Even when something looks bad, Lovey turns to the media.  When she describes how something looks bad she calls it Oompah Loompah, which is a reference to the movie Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the funny looking short people in the movie.  She uses this imagery to help explain her distaste of what she sees.  The funny clothes that her father wears, grandma has orthopedic shoes, her friends banana seat bicycle, these are all Oompah Loompah. This child is emmersed in what the media is has shown her what is acceptable and what is not.

Week 11 Dialogue

In this weeks dialogue I decided to pick a quote from the story.  The quote is from when the two are going to the fairgrounds to watch the fireworks.  " You know," Thomas said. " It's strange how us Indians celebrate the Fourth of July. It ain't like it was our independence everybody was fighting for."  After the exchange, Victor tells Thomas that he thinks too much and that the Fourth of July is just for having fun.  The first time I read this passage, I didn't really think about it, but the second time I automatically thought to myself that Victor must understand what Thomas is trying to say. The reason I say this is because the way that Thomas is talking to Victor is how two people talk about something that the two both understand.  He isn't explaining something to him, he is almost complaining about it.  The way that Victor brushes this off, by saying that it is just meant to be fun, sounds like a person who knows what he is saying isn't true, but it is easier than continuing the conversation.
I think that for some people it easier for them to "play down" their own feelings and just go with the flow of other people.  This is how I read what happened in the story.  I think that Victor is well aware of what Thomas is saying, mostly because he grew up with him. I am sure that they had the same conservation about thinking too much more than one time.