Girl/ 4 literary terms revision

Looking at Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”, I noticed that a particular literary term used was a Rhythm. Through out the story the mother and daughter relationship was particularity made up of the mother being very socially aware of their socioeconomic status. The mother wants her daughter to know certain women’s roles in order to live everyday life. The mother uses command verbs like wash, cook, and soak but also explains in the text “This how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard.” Not only does the mother talk to her daughter about cleaning and cooking but also how to react in social situations like how to react if someone smiles at you that you do and don’t like. That particular passage on how to sweep and smile goes into a rhythm that the mother knows first hand how to react to. She must have gone through the experience of getting rid a baby, bullying men as well as being bullied by.  The mother seems to have acceptance of her socioeconomic status and wants her daughter to be just as aware. Another Literary term used is verbal irony shown in the last phrase in the story, “always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker wont let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker wont let near the bread?” The mother finally achieves her goal for the daughter to be socially aware of her position in society yet wonders why her daughter feels a like the baker wont let her squeeze the bread, shaking her confidence she once had. The mother throughout the story tells her that she’s bent on becoming a slut and the daughter defends herself in the beginning knowing in some sense who she is. I found it ironic that the mother states that she should be confident to know that she will wont let the baker push her around yet the mother does that as well as teaching her women’s roles and a women’s status. The mother degrades her daughter by telling her that hanging out with wharf-rat boys will make her slut and that see is bent on becoming one. Teaching these warnings becomes the girl’s identity. The mother tells her daughter how to sweep, clean, a get rid of unwanted babies making them all part of everyday life. The mother in a way suggests that becoming a slut is part of everyday life if she includes abortions just as easily as she includes how to clean and wash. The mother is aware of gender roles telling her daughter “don’t swat down to play marbles-you are not a boy.” Her tone through out is very critical of her daughter. Through out the story the mother is the one narrating what she expects from her daughter, then what her daughter does talk she it in italics.

imitation

go to school;
stay in school;
Keep up your grades;
dont fight with your sisters;
take care of your sisters;
stay in touch with your family;
always be there for your family;
help out around the house;
always listen to your parents;
dont get into fights;
make a lot of money;
go to church;
listen to your elders;
learn to sew;
learn to cook;
clean up the house;
set the table;

Girl/ literary terms

Looking at Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”, I noticed that a particular literary term used was a Rhythm. Through out the story the mother and daughter relationship was particularity made up of the mother being very socially aware of their socioeconomic status. The mother wants her daughter to know certain women’s roles in order to live everyday life. The mother uses command verbs like wash, cook, and soak but also explains in the text “This how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard.” Not only does the mother talk to her daughter about cleaning and cooking but also how to react in social situations like how to react if someone smiles at you that you do and don’t like. That particular passage on how to sweep and smile goes into a rhythm that the mother knows first hand how to react to. She must have gone through the experience of getting rid a baby, bullying men as well as being bullied by.  The mother seems to have acceptance of her socioeconomic status and wants her daughter to be just as aware. Another Literary term used is verbal irony shown in the last phrase in the story, “always squeeze bread to make sure it’s fresh; but what if the baker wont let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker wont let near the bread?” The mother finally achieves her goal for the daughter to be socially aware of her position in society yet wonders why her daughter feels a like the baker wont let her squeeze the bread, shaking her confidence she once had. The mother throughout the story tells her that she’s bent on becoming a slut and the daughter defends herself in the beginning knowing in some sense who she is. I found it ironic that the mother states that she should be confident to know that she will wont let the baker push her around yet the mother does that as well as teaching her women’s roles and a women’s status. The mother degrades her daughter by telling her that hanging out with wharf-rat boys will make her slut and that see is bent on becoming one. Teaching these warnings becomes the girl’s identity. The mother tells her daughter how to sweep, clean, a get rid of unwanted babies making them all part of everyday life. The mother in a way suggests that becoming a slut is part of everyday life if she includes abortions just as easily as she includes how to clean and wash. The mother is aware of gender roles telling her daughter “don’t swat down to play marbles-you are not a boy.” Her tone through out is very critical of her daughter. Through out the story the mother is the one narrating what she expects from her daughter, then what her daughter does talk she it in italics. 

transitions

Addition- Finally, again, then, equally important, finally, second, still, too, last, in the first place, first

Comparison- also, in the same way,likewise,similarly

Contrast-although,yet,still, though,on the other hand,and yet, at the same time,despite that,even so,even though,for all that,however,in contrast,in spite of, instead, otherwise, nevertheless, on the contrary, otherwise

emphasis-indeed,in fact, of course,certainly

example of illustration- after all, for example, for imstance, thus, trulu, that is,namely,specifically, it is true, in other words,indeed, in fact, in conclusion, even

Summary- all in all, altogether, in brief,

Rough draft of formal paper

Jorden Castanon

3/7/11

English 1B

Professor Stacey Knapp

The American Teen

In order to convey Sonny as a normal teenager in the novel The Flowers by Roberto Gilb, it has to be established what normal is and considered what the standard teenager is. “The cultural standards that define normal behavior for any society are determined by that society itself”(Haviland.) The characters that surround Sonny shape his character making him typical and normal teenager in some aspects. In my teenage years I think the influences that impacted my life could be considered normal and typical due to the standards that were socially acceptable.

            It’s almost a right of passage for every teenager to engage in certain risky behaviors. Without those behaviors we cant grow and learn. From a young age we learn right from wrong and we test those limits. Sonny engaged in standard teenage behavior such as stealing dirty magazines, getting into fights, experimenting with drugs, alcohol, and sex. Most of these experiments seemed to be with one of the tenants, Cindy. Sonny’s first experience hanging out with Cindy he states, “I was confused, smelling her marijuana so much it almost felt like I was already smoking it with her. I also kind of hated being around drunk people-her now too-and also, maybe, because she was getting real close to me, fast”(87.)  Throughout the book Sonny never really over abused the experience with alcohol or drugs. I think he saw the effects it had on Cindy, his mom, and Cloyd and was not interested on how it made them act. At that age I occasionally drink but I never liked the way I lost respect for people who went overindulged in drugs and alcohol. The town where I grew up it was socially acceptable amongst the teens to experiment with drugs because that’s what most of the town did in order to escape the boredom.  In order to relieve stress and take a brake from the pressures of everyday life an outlet has to be created otherwise it might drive a person to insanity. Sonny’s outlet was the bowling alley owned by Zuniga’s.  Sonny projects his feelings about the alley by stating, “Every time I came here, I wondered why I didn’t bowl more, and why I didn’t just eat here every single day. I guess maybe I was kind if embarrassed. To not have friends, to not want to be home…. I liked bowling. I liked throwing the ball, aiming. I liked the smash of it”            (145.)  Sonny is the standard teen who has feelings of being distant towards their parents; at the alley he can escape those sensitivities. He can eat, relax, and do what he enjoys which is bowling. In a sense bowling is therapeutic for Sonny and he receives the feeling of being wanting from the Zungia’s. At the same age I never really enjoyed being home with my parents. My friends and I would usually hangout at the Skate Park or river park mostly because we could just relax there and meet up with different friends. At the park we could swim, bike ride, and just enjoy being young. Like Sonny we had chores, but at the same time we could do what he did, which was leave right after and stay gone. School was long and stressful and going home to parents who are equally as stressed sometimes didn’t seem too smart.

            Thankfully I never had to experience anything as intense as riots in my time as a teenager. Riots are something the standard teenager wouldn’t be expected to go through. For Sonny it was inevitable because the surrounding situation of racism and inequality were especially high and in that society it wouldn’t be abnormal. People like Bud and Cloyd are examples of why these riots started. They couldn’t learn how to be flexible and fully tolerant. An example of this is when Cloyd has a fight with Silvia because Bud said he saw a black man in Pink’s apartment. Cloyd declares, “You know there’d be hell to pay! You know it!... That just wouldn’t be right....I didn’t rent to one of them! Wouldn’t either (180.) Bud and Cloyd are closed-minded are set in their ways which helped fuel the fire’s of the riots. I grew up in a small town were it was predominately Caucasian. There was a small mixture of Mexicans, African Americans, and other races. It sometimes caused some gang violence among these races but never riots. A few gang fights took place where some innocent people were caught in the crossfire but never riots that engulfed the whole town. My sister first hand experienced one of the fights that broke out were a person wielding a chainsaw tried to kill someone else, for which she told me was pretty intense. She happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but in a riot it takes the whole city over. Luckily in her situation the police came and it eventually stopped. In a riot it can’t be predicated when the anarchy will end.

            Sonny’s experiences as teenager are standard in relation to where he lives. Looking at the tenants surrounding him those behaviors he engages in are normal because all tenants in some aspects are messed up in their own ways. They have their standards of what’s socially acceptable and the problems they have are tolerated by one another.  Bud, Pink, Cloyd, and Cindy all have encouraged Sonny to drink. At that age my friend’s parents, adults, or stepparents never offered any type of alcohol. It something now that wouldn’t be socially acceptable. It does depend because I’ve seen first hand in some areas where the adults take a lack of interest in their kids lives and don’t care how other parents influence their kids. It really depends on where you live and what the society around you accepts out of a teen to determine if the teen is average or normal. 

Idea paper

I picked Reader Response as my critical theory for the Formal paper. I would like to explore if Sonny is the typical American teen. There's a lot to go off of that because it was only three years ago that I was a teen.  My sister is currently in high school so first hand as well how the American teen behaves and interacts with one another. I decided to look at it in a sociological point of view by defining what is typical and normal. I looked at the risky behaviors I took as a teenager and the ones Sonny did. I also looked at why Sonny went to the Zungia’s to bowel. I’m going to organize it by my experiences, quotes from the novel, and a sociological perspective. 

what do you think sonny is going to do with the money?

I think Sonny is going to run away with the money he has saved.  Cloyd and his mother found out that it was Sonny taking the magazine telling him to go to his room. Sonny claims, “I was relieved to do that. Well, only to not stand there and wait for what was going to happen. Mostly to go see if they knew about the money I stole. I knew if that’d been found-well, I wouldn’t have gotten to go to this room”(191.) I think that if Cloyd would have also found out about the money things like sonny said would go down a lot differently. Sonny isn’t happy were he’s at, and with the money he saved I would have enough to take off but not live off of forever. I think Sonny has a good idea of this and stays because of that and maybe of his mother and Nica. I think its only a matter of time however until Sonny has had enough with his situation and splits. It seems that his mother doesn’t really care about how Sonny is doing with living there but is caught up in her own distractions from being unhappy at the Flowers building. She is never really there to help raise him; he’s mostly on his own. If I were personally in Sonny’s situation I would definitely stop stealing because people will definitely start to take notice. I would try to save as much as possible and leave. 

examine female character, feminist perspective

Nica’s character has always stayed the same in the sense that is a closeted girl made that way because she has to stay at home taking care of her younger brother. Sonny throughout the novel tries to help her get out of this situation her parents put her through but is obligated to be the parent. From a feminist perspective she would we seen as put into a certain gender role and oppressed by not only her father but as well as her mother. Nica is forced not to go to school, to watch her brother, and iron and make lunches. Her stepfather yells at her if she doesn’t iron correctly. Her stepfather talks down to her saying “Didn’t she know how to put starch with the can? Was she a goat? Was pushing a button too hard?”(176.) The way he talks to her is talking to a person that doesn’t respect or care about. Nica stays at home to help out her family but is put down and verbally beaten into submission by her step dad. She is put into a traditional home where the women takes care of the house and family but it’s a lot of pressure to put onto a little girl. Her mother is said to be tired after work but is never there to stand up for her daughter. Nica is forced to deal with these emotions herself and left alone crying behind the sound of her radio put low because her step dad would have turned it off it was too high.

critique of passage employing reader response theory

Pink takes Sonny out in the Bel Air for a quick driving lesson in order to befriend Sonny as well as get information. Sonny is a little taken back that Pink is willing to give the car for free in return that he keeps his ears wide-open to his step daddy. Before Sonny agrees Pink lets Sonny get a test run of the car. Sonny states “the truth was that it was a stick shift and, though I’d barely driven a car one time, I’d especially never shifted a four-speed. I can personally feel what Sonny was going through trying to get the car started and going” (139.) At that same age I was learning how to drive and like Sonny I had only tried to drive a car once before my sister took me out in her car, which was a stick shift. My sister kept telling me its all about feeling what the engine needs and taking it slowly and of course like Sonny I felt I was horrible and wasn’t going anywhere. Later I found I just need more practice and eventually got it. My mother ended up giving me her old car but never wanted anything in return. I think that keeping Sonny’s ears open to what Cloyd says is going to be important to find out more about Pink’ character and Cloyd’s. Clearly both Cloyd and Pink have an interest in each other since they both constantly ask about what the other one is up to. 

metacognitive reflection on your own reading habits

Reading is something I have always enjoyed but I have a tendency to get distracted easily but what’s going on around me. I try to get my reading done during the weekend because I usually have to work throughout the week. On my breaks from work I usually will bring the assigned reading book but my breaks are only 10 minutes. Though when I do take the time to read I try establish good reading habits like underlining words, mostly the ones in Spanish that I don’t know and keeping my laptop handy to translate. I’ve been trying to take my book with me everywhere I go by putting it in my purse. I also have been making a habit of reading during my breakfast and lunch to try to get through as many pages as possible. Having a laptop so close can also be a distraction. I’ve had some difficulty trying to constantly be writing in my book. I usually try to stay away from that because in the back of my mind I think I have to sell back the book but since its required to make notes in along the text, that probably won’t happen. It’s been a while since I’ve had an English class and gotten into the practice of good reading habits but what I think it comes down to is setting priorities. It also has helped by reading other people blogs and seeing how they establish their reading habits.