Elit 48 c class 21 post qhq revised

ELIT 48C Class 21
Discrete versus Discreet

 "These two words, originally derived from the same
Latin word, are pronounced identically and also share
the idea of 'keeping apart.' But they have acquired
quite different meanings:
 A number of usage books define discreet as “prudent,”
“judicious,” “tactful,” or “circumspect.”
 Discrete is defined as “separate” or “distinct.”

Chair Poet?
'I consider myself a
poet first and a
musician second. I live
like a poet and I'll die
like a poet.'
Bob Dylan

Agenda
 Discussion
 Maxine Hong Kingston
 “No Name Woman”
 Lecture
o The Road: The Age of
Terror
o The apocalypse
o Themes
o Concepts
o Symbols
 Discussion
o QHQ
 The Future
o Self-Assessment
o Last Chair Poet

Historical Context: Women in Chinese
Society
Kingston takes revenge on centuries of Chinese female oppresion
in The Woman Warrior, the larger work from which “No-Name
Woman” was taken. From the days of Confucius through the early
twentieth century, the Chinese placed men above women and
family above social order. When people married, new family ties
formed, and new wives became subservient to their grooms’
parents. Women from the higher classes lived extremely secluded
lives and suffered such treatments as foot-binding. The Chinese
chose young girls who were especially pretty to undergo foot-
binding. The binder bent the large toe backward, forever
deforming the foot. Men favored women with bound feet, a sign
of beauty and gentility, because it signified that they could
support these women who were incapable of physical labor.

Setting
The narrator grows up in Stockton, California,
where she was born in 1940. The events that
actually occur in her life take place in California.
Her imagined warrior life and her mother's "talk
stories," however, take place in China. For
example, the story of No-Name Aunt, the ghost
aunt, occurs in China from about 1924 to 1934.

Style
Kingston combines fact with fiction—relying on
her own memories, her mother's "talk stories,"
and her own vivid imagination—to create a view
of what it is like to grow up a Chinese-American
female.
She reworks traditional myths and legends to
modernize their messages.
Some critics argue that her dependence on
inventiveness (from the myths and legends)
renders her writing difficult to classify as
autobiography or fiction.

Postmodern Aspects
 Shrugs off old forms and limits: Her work differs from most
autobiographies in that it is not a first-person narration of the
author's life.
 Multiple genres and approaches: memory, fantasy, speculation,
translation, and point of view.
 Moves away from the metanarrative: Kingston struggles to
reconcile her identity as a member of two cultures, Chinese and
American, who does not feel entirely at home in either culture. It is
a story of an individual.
 Themes: Kingston combats what Shirley Geok-Lin Lim has called
"the cultural silencing of Chinese in American society and ….. the
gendered silencing of women in Chinese society,” through the
telling of stories about women who are either literally or mythically
her ancestors. Her words are her weapons against silence,
racism, and sexism.

“No Name Woman” and Feminist Criticism
In China, the narrator’s aunt is heavily stigmatized for her premarital
affair and pregnancy, which might have even been coercive. Her family
is shamed for it, leading to her suicide and her child’s death. In fact,
this one incident had hurt the family so much that the aunt’s story
never gets mentioned; it is erased instead. In the text, the late 1800s-
early 1900s Chinese society […] had a strict patriarchal system in
place. In this society, […] “women in the old China did not choose”
(Kingston 3). […] They were essentially groomed for marriage and sent
away to her husband’s home even though the husband usually went
away to America to pursue whatever he wanted to do. […] Obedience
in this society oppresses women because any action the man forces
them to do, regardless of relation, always ends up hurting the women
while the man gets free reign. In fact, the very man who got the aunt
pregnant might have even organized the raid against her and her
family

“No Name Woman” and Feminist Criticism
Much like Mina Loy’s “Parturition” (“The irresponsibility of the male /
Leaves woman her superior inferiority”), the man of “No Name
Woman” is allowed to enjoy the act of sex, while the woman is left to
manage the aftermath and resulting pregnancy alone. The man
escapes the punishment inflicted by the community, and even
organizes the raid on her family’s home.
Because of society in which she lives, the narrator’s aunt becomes a
pariah of the community, a “ghost”. […]
The narrator says, “The real punishment was not the raid swiftly
inflicted by the villagers, but the family’s deliberately forgetting her”
(800). In this way, her punishment is unending. With each new
generation her existence existence fades even more, and eventually
no one will be left to carry her memory.

Themes and Symbols
1. A major theme in this text is gender roles. Gender plays a huge
role in creating different experiences among siblings and other
family members. The narrator’s aunt stayed at home in China,
while her four brothers, her father, uncles, and her husband sailed
to America. These are completely distinct experiences. On one
hand, of those who went to America, they went with many of their
family members, where they had many helping hands and familiar
faces in the new country. The narrator’s aunt, on the other hand,
gets left by her whole family, including her husband
2. One of the themes in “No-Name Woman” is the difficulty of
growing up as a Chinese-American. The struggle of Kingston’s
aunt is likely paralleled to the struggle of Kingston herself, who is
attempting to make sense of the old customs and traditions that
she learns from her mother.

QHQs
1. Q: Why does the aunt haunt the narrator?
2. Q: Why does the mother choose to tell this story to her
daughter instead of keeping it repressed like the
father?
3. Q: How does the story of the aunt shape the speakers
opinion on sex, love, and family?
4. Q: Why does Kingston fill in her own details when
imagining her aunt’s story?
5. Q: What is the meaning of a “dead ghost”?
6. In what ways does the narrator’s story about her aunt
reveal the oppression and inequality women face in
patriarchal society?
7. Q: How does Maxine Hong Kingston make the story of
an ‘invisible’ woman ‘visible’?

The Road
 Set in a conceivable future, after a global catastrophe, The
Road tells the story of a father and a son as they tread along
a forsaken highway awash with marauders and cannibals.
 It is perhaps the most chilling commentary of the post-9/11
world. The post-apocalyptic setting plays upon the public’s
fear of terrorism, pandemics, genocide, and weapons of mass
destruction.
 We can also hear the poetic passages of desolation and are
reminded of Dante’s descent into hell or T. S. Eliot’s The
Waste Land.
 McCarthy also wrestles with the ever-present question of the
existence of God: the father tells the boy, “There is no God
and we are his prophets.”

The Setting
 The Road is set in some undetermined location.
 There is mention of distant mountains, several rivers
and creeks, the Piedmont (a plain that runs along the
eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains), and a
coastline.
 The landscape and the air are soaked in thick, gray
ash.
 Vegetation has been destroyed. There are no fish in
the water.
 When snow falls, it collects the ash in the air and falls
to the earth already gray.

1. What caused the devastation of the
land? Provide the clues you used to
come to your conclusion.
2. Discuss a theme from the novel:
Destruction, survival, isolation, death,
or hope
3. Examine the concept of trust and
mistrust in The Road.
4. Analyze the symbol of innocence
and how it pertains to the son in The
Road.
5. Introduce another concept or symbol
Discussion Questions

What caused the devastation of
the land? Provide the clues you
used to come to your
conclusion.

Discuss a theme from the novel:
Destruction, survival, isolation,
death, or hope

Examine the concept of trust
and mistrust in The Road.

Analyze the symbol of innocence
and how it pertains to the son in
The Road.

Introduce another concept
or symbol

Posting: Self-Assessment
The blogging post points (100) require self-
assessment. Consider three aspects of your
responses:
• First, how many of the posts did you make? (26
possible)
• Second, what was the quality of your response?
• Third, how timely were your submissions?
Write a brief argument justifying your numerical grade.
This is due before the final. Please submit your
assessment via Kaizena’s comment feature. Do not
download an attachment.

There were 28 posts assigned. We skipped 2 for the class we missed, so that
leaves 26. You had one make-up opportunity, so that post isn’t included in your
total, but it does count toward completed posts.
Figure your grade this way: 100/26 = 3.8 points per post minus 1.9 points for
each late post (48 hours after the due time. There are no points awarded for
posts more than 48 hours late). Then, multiply the total times the average grade
percentage for the quality of your work.
Example
Posts completed: 25 x 3.8 points = 95 points
Late posts: 2 x 1.9= 3.8
Subtract the smaller from the larger: 95 – 3.8 = 91.2
Quality of posts: A or 95%
Multiply the total times the quality: 91.2 x.95= 86.64 or 87/100 points.
If I commented positively on your post, add a percentage post to your quality.
So if you got two “atta girl” comments, and you did A work, give yourself a 97%.
If you got negative comments, subtract points from your quality percentage.

End of Days
 Class 22
 The Road
 Self-assessment due
 Discuss Revision
 Final Exam: Class 23
 Thursday, June 23 9:15-11:15
 Revision of essay #1 due before class begins
 Essay #2 due before class begins

HOMEWORK
Post #: 28 (The last one)
1. Discuss the novel as a postmodern
work
2. Use a critical lens to start a
discussion
3. Discuss the American Dream as it
manifests in The Road
4. QHQ
Write Self-Assessment
Work on Essay 2

Elit 48 c class 21 post qhq revised

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (17)

Similar to Elit 48 c class 21 post qhq revised (20)

More from jordanlachance (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Elit 48 c class 21 post qhq revised