Poem---Well

Well

So, I happened to fall into this well
This deep and dark well
I yelled aloud for help
Awaiting for someone to come
But none did

I kept waiting and waiting
Until the sun started sinking
Until the sky started dimming
Until there was nothing, no one but I
Lonely I alone in the lonely well standing

By chance, I lowered my head
Found in the well water
Flecks of glittering starlight
Overwhelming my sight
Flickering, ravishing
Stunningly gorgeous

As always, I found
In the deepest despair
The fairest beauty

Found Poem

Fire (Found Poem)

Fire, as a comfort in the night

A pyramid of leaves and twigs

Branches and logs

A ceiling of smoke

And a bush of yellow flame

Littluns dancing and clapping hands

As the fire died

So did the excitement

Littluns drifted away

Towards the sea

Or the fruit trees

Or the shelters

The roar of the forest rose

Burst into a great fan-shaped flame

Running fast

With the heat beating

And the fire racing forward

His voice rose

Under the black smoke

Before the burning wreckage

Ninth Reflection

       After finished the book, I think this is a really attractive novel. Not only because this is a really interesting book, but also because I feel connected to it. The characters and I have the same background, and I understand all the problems they are having. For example, at first I was also confused if I am a Canadian or a Chinese. Therefore, when I was reading the book, I felt like I was reading my own story.

Eighth Reflection

   In the novel, the characters feel confused about their ID. They always ask "Am I a Chinese or a Canadian?" I can understand this feeling because although they speak Cantonese at home, the culture and environment they are in are Canadian. Because they are born in Canada, they feel like more of a Canadian than a Chinese. Sek even wants to give up learning Chinese, because he wants to be a Canadian and keep says that he is a Canadian. As for me, because I was born in China and spent 14 years in China, I consider myself as a Chinese.

Seventh Reflection

     In 1940, Grandmama died. After her death, Sek was extremely sad when he thinks of all the sweet memories between him and Grandmama. When Grandmama died, Sek is only 7 years old. He cannot even fully understand "death", he used to think that she would be around forever, and she tells him that she would never leave him. After a month of Grandmama's death, Sek states that he sees Grandmama in the house, shutting the door, smiling at him. As I have mentioned before, even though everyone in Chinatown believed in ghost, every family member but Liang think Sek is crazy and send him to see a herbalist. When I was reading this part of the story, I was not sure if Grandamama was really in the house looking after Sek, or it was just because Sek missed her so much that he began to see her in his mind.

Six Reflection

      In my second reflection, I mentioned that some Chinese parents prefer boys to girls. In the third part of the novel, the third brother Sek-Lung was born and he knows that Liang (the first sister) is jealous of him because Poh-Poh pays all her attention on Sek, ignoring Liang. He says to Liang that boys are better than girls. I started to think why a boy at such a young age knows that a certain gender is better than the other one, there is one way to explain this, that the way all the family member treat him make him feel like he is better than his sister. Not only the parents treat the children differently, they also misguide the children into thinking that boys are better than girls. As time goes on, when the children become parents themselves, they are likely to treat their children like the way their parents treated them, and so the vicious cycle begins.

Fifth Reflection

     The second part of the novel mentioned a superstitious thought, which happened when Jung accidentally discovered his uncle's turtle, Grandmother told him to look out for ghosts, because they were the turtle's company. During those times, everyone in China believe in ghosts, they even separated them into good ghosts and bad ghosts. However, when my mom told me about ghosts, she said only people die with dissatisfaction will become ghosts to wander in the world, and more anger they have, the more powerful they are. Most of the Chinese people believe in ghosts, and they believe you must never try to offend the ghost, because they are much more powerful than human.

Fourth Reflection

      In the novel, it is easy to see that the older you are, the more power you have. So in the book, when Poh-Poh suggested to call the girl's mother "Stepmother", nobody protested, and in the girl's words, "That was the order of things in China." Even now in China, it is still the order of things, because the elders have lived longer, they are more likely to know better. Therefore, it is important to listen to their opinion and let them make the decisions, that is why in the novel, Poh-Poh is the master of the house.
     However, although it is the right thing to do to respect the elders, it doesn't mean they can always make the right decision. In my opinion, it is much better if the family sit together to decide on something important.

Third Reflection

           Further in the first chapter, this nine-years old girl, Jook Liang, becomes friends with an ugly old man, who is described as a “monkey face”. I was surprised that at a such a young age, this little girl had the ability to see someone’s inner beauty when her other family members were frightened by him. She even hugs him because she thinks he looks like the monkey king in a Chinese myth. Perhaps when children are young, their thoughts are not as complicated as adults’ thoughts. Nowadays, people value others based on their monetary fortune, power, and appearance more than on their inner beauty. However, a girl like Jook does not do this;  she is precious because she is able to make friends with an unattractive person with a  kind heart.

Second Reflection

After reading the first 50 pages of “The Jade Peony”, I felt sorry for the main character, Jook Liang, the only girl in her family of three children. Jook states that she feels useless at home, even her grandmother says “Jook-Liang, if you want a place in this world, do not be born a girl-child.”

Even though today is 80 years after the setting in this novel, some Chinese parents still feel that boys are better than girls and thus favor boys, especially the elders. Some uneducated Chinese parents even starve their daughters to death while feeding their sons expensive food. Fortunately, both my parents are well-educated and I am so loved and cherished given I am also an only child. Furthermore,  all my cousins are girls, so I do not feel I am treated differently than anyone in my extended family.

First Reflection

       TI chose to read the novel  "The Jade Peony" by Wayson Choy, because it tells a story about an immigrant family who has moved from HongKong, China to Vancouver, Canada during the late 1930s up until the early 40s.
       I believe that this will be a very interesting story. I hope to learn what the immigrant people in Canada were like back in the '40s. My inquiry question is about the differences between the Chinese immigrants from that time until today