Essay 4

Estela Bustamante

Lauren Servais

English 100

8 December 2010

The good son

            In the Chinese culture, as well as in its surroundings, it’s of high importance to be filial piety; however, the influences of a more liberal American culture had over the two children who grew up under the strict beliefs of a Japanese father add a variation to the meaning of being a “good filial son”.  Toshio and Kiyoshi are the sons of two Japanese immigrants who have a debt that needs to be pay.  Similarly to most Japanese families, it’s the duty of a “good filial son” to help his parent, and so, Tosh and Kiyo are to put their parents’ needs before those of their own, in this case by helping them pay the debt.

            The Japanese camp in Hawaii was merely form by immigrants who had brought with them their traditions and beliefs.  Among these beliefs was that of being filial to one’s parents and elders, which is the primary value in this culture.  According to the web site wisegeek, filial piety is a concept created by a philosopher named Confucius (551 BCE), which was later adopted by the Buddhism religion in China expanding, also, to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.  The definition of filial piety includes the respect that we, the youth, must pay our parents along with unconditional obedience, love, and care; however, filial piety is much more complex that just that.  A definition of the term is also provided by the Washington State University, which states that “Being a filial son meant complete obedience to one's parents during their lifetime and--as they grew older--taking the best possible care of them”.  Moreover, it’s the son’s responsibility to ensure the continuation of the family line by adopting a child or taking a second wife, if the first one fails on giving birth to a male child; while, the responsibilities of a “good filial women” were to serve and obey the husband’s family as well as baring a boy in order to bring pride to her family.

            Mr. and Mrs. Oyama had a clear idea of what a “good” filial son must be like, and Toshio wasn’t what they had expected.  Toshio had a strong character, similar to that of his mother, and he was not to settle with such a debt without a fight.  It wasn’t fair for Toshio and Kiyoshi to take over their shoulders a debt that was caused by their grandfather’s bad investment and the extreme devotion of their parents for him.  Everyone could turn out involve in a misfortunate situation; however, it’s not to be solve by bringing more misfortune to one’s love ones.  The responsibility of a son or daughter to his/her parents comes on second place after s/he’s taken the decision of forming a family of their own.  This doesn’t mean that one would stop loving and caring for his or her parents, but simply that one’s priorities have changed.  For example, while for a single son/daughter the problems of his/her parents might be the main reason of mortification and uneasiness, for a married individual the well being of a spouse and/or children, if any, will naturally come before anyone else’s.  Therefore, it’s not Mr. and Mrs. Oyama’s responsibility to provide Mr. Oyama’s father with monetary stability by jeopardizing the stability of their own family.  Toshio and his parents were “good” filial children to their respective parents; however, Toshio’s parents were blindly helping someone without considering the changed on their responsibilities when they formed a family of their own, while Toshio understood that it wasn’t necessarily the responsibility of a child to support his/her parents.  Toshio might not appear as a “good” filial son for many, as he was very disrespectful to his parents.  Nevertheless, he had the opportunity to leave his family behind and run away with the money he was making as a boxer but he decided to stay and help them, perhaps, because he knew the shame the he would bring to his parents.

            Cultural beliefs, and religion, among many other discussions, are subject to one’s interpretation.  While for some, Toshio might seem as a disgraceful son; for others, he’s simply someone with poor communication skills and an explosive temper that wishes for a better life for him and his family.  However, the frustration his feels for not being able to make his parents understand his way of thinking along with the strong character, inherent from his mother, turn him into a bully.  Toshio might not be the classic example of a good filial son, since he lacks of the basic respect that he must show to his parents, but he still posses the care and love for them, regardless of their different ways of thinking.

"All I Asking For Is My Body" Part III

Toshio and Kiyoshi were settled with a debt that belonged to their parents, which was inherited to them at the same time by Mr. Oyama’s father.  In the Japanese culture, as in many others, the children are expected to repay their parents for and help them, if in need; however, times have been changing and, unlike past times when obeying our parents without questioning was the only option, now, we know that there’s a world out there and that there’s more than one way to do things.  Tosh and Kiyoshi were born on a traditional Japanese family but with the influences a more modern and liberal culture.  On one hand, teachers at school taught them to think for themselves and to understand that their lives belong only to them; that the choices they make should only depend on them, and not on what they have been told to do so.  They’re the owners of their own destiny.  They’re the owners of their lives.  They’re the owners of their bodies.  On the other hand, Mr. and Mrs. Oyama were deeply in debt and, with a quite large family that kept growing, they depended on the tradition in which children put on hold their lives to help cover their parents’ needs in full, first.

Parents dictating over their children’s lives might have seen as the rightful think to do, many years ago; however, how can you ask someone who has the possibility, now, of accomplishing a better life to work as your ‘slave’ for 5, 10, 15 years?  Life is a gift, which means you don’t have to pay your parents for giving it to you.  Gratitude is a different situation.  One can feel grateful for what’s been given to us and return the favor by helping one’s parents, but this doesn’t mean that it’s one’s responsibility to give up live for XYZ years in order to repay.  It’s understandable that times were different, almost every civilization has gone through dramatic changes throughout history, and Toshio and Kiyoshi had the fortune or misfortune of being caught between two very distinct cultures during tough times.  Moreover, I consider that we’re never exactly the owners of our own lives.  Toshio was who fought the most to earn the right of calling himself the “owner of his body”, however, he fell in love and now his live belong to his family, just like Kiyo who on a desperate seek of freedom volunteered to go fight for his country and was ready to give his live for his nation.  “All I Asking for Is My Body” is a good title for the book; however, it’s more about having the right to make our own decision over our lives and bodies.

All I Asking For is My Body Part 2

Kiyoshi’s mother is a very superstitious woman.  After she left her family back in Japan and moved to Hawaii in order to marry, a series of misfortune events took place that forced the young couple to hand over to her parents all of their savings.  Kiyoshi’s mother began to think after this that she was the carrier of bad luck as she told Kiyoshi “A bad wife is fifty years of bad crops,…, I wasn’t a bad wife, but a bad-luck wife.”  Kiyoshi’s mother seems to be slightly more superstitious that most Japanese women.  After she suddenly falls extremely ill, her unfounded fears have her believe that the reason behind her sickness is a debt that a relative must have with life, something similar to karma.  She believes that a relative most have done something terribly bad and had gone away with it; however a retribution must be paid, and if that who did bad is not punished someone else in substitution will be.  She assumes she’s an alternator to pay for who has done badly.  Although Kiyoshi is not a believer himself of all of her mother’s popular beliefs, he respects them, and he’s careful about them.  I, personally, also consider most of them to be “silly superstitions” as Kiyoshi’s father calls them.  However, there’s a part of me that reminds me to know better and respect the wisdom of those who had been here before me, and the rest of us; and so, Kiyoshi asked for Obaban’s help.

The day after Kiyoshi talked to Obaban about his mother’s sickness, how nothing was working for her, and how she was afraid she was being the substitute to pay somebody else’s condemn Obaban died.  After learning the sad news, Kiyoshi felt relief as he understood that if his mother’s beliefs were true, and what she needed was not doctors but someone to be a substitute for herself, she had been saved by Obaban taking her place.

"Rules for Writers" Chapter 19

On Chapter 19 from “Rules for Writers” by Diana Hacker, she talks about sentence fragment.  Hacker explains how a sentence fragment must contain a full independent clause as it must contain a subject and a verb.  A sentence that is missing either a subject or a verb or begins with a subordinating word is consider a sentence fragment and must be submitted to revision.  During the revision of a sentence, it’s important not to confuse a verb with a verbal.  “A verbal is a verb form (such as walking, to act) that does not function as a verb of a clause.” (p. 149).  Hacker also explains how in some other languages a sentence may not need the presence of a subject or a verb but in English both are required with the exception of commands, for example, Get out.  A way to find some possible sentence fragment is using the grammar checker on your computer but just like spell checkers this are not eligible 100%.  On this chapter, Hacker also provides a solution to those sentence fragments, which is to attaching the fragment to a nearby sentence or turning them into sentences that could stand on their own.  Compound predicates are another way of solving a sentence fragment.  A compound predicate is the union of two predicates by a coordinating conjunction such as or, but, or and, since they both share one subject.  Finally, Hacker mentions how some fragments may be place to create one of the following: for emphasis, to answer, a question, as transition, exclamation, and in advertising.  

I understand my writing has various holes that I need to work on, such as, sentence fragments, the use of commas and semi colons, etc.  However, these could only improve with practice since the amount of times I could go over a specific subject would be useless without practice.  I would add the knowledge acquired from this chapter to the things to keep in mind on my everyday writing as this would help me to get better.

"All I Asking is For My Body" Dialogue

In the old Pepelau, Hawaii, there was a camp for Filipinos and there’s a camp for Japanese, as well; however, there’s one Japanese family that despite the separation between the two cultures lived over at the Filipino camp; that was Makot and his parents.  Makot was an outcast Japanese teenager.  Most of the Japanese kids his age bully him because he always had more money than them spend and because of the way his family lived.  People at the Japanese camp couldn’t understand how Makot’s father could afforded to have a car when only “the whites” had cars; also, Makot’s father would always be riding on his car, therefore, it was obvious he wasn’t the one supporting the family but Makot’s mother, which was another big “No, no!” during those times.  Makot couldn’t be friends with kids his own age for all of those reasons, and so he began hanging out with younger kids, buying their affection and friendship with candies and special treats.  However, once he was sure of the children loyalty, Makot began to mislead them from what they knew to be right.

Makot was a very lonely teenager who had to deal with the rejection of many people; however, he also made bad choices all on his own, which didn’t help to his reputation of being a bad influence for those who follow him.  This makes me feel sympathy for him as the reputation of his parents, as well as their misguide dance had turn Makot into an undesirable person to have around.  They’ve provided him with money without teaching him the responsibilities that come with it, since they live in a very poor community; Makot parents’ also failed on teaching him the importance of respect and to choose to do what’s right over wrong.

Parents have an enormous influence on their children’s character, and the education that Makot was receiving from his parents doesn’t seem to be the best.  During the short interaction that Makot had with his mother, he didn’t seem to have much respect for her and to me that’s really sad.  My personal relationship with my parents is one of the most important things in my life.  Makot appears to be ashamed of his parents as he immediately understood when Kiyo told him they couldn’t be friends anymore because of his parents, even though, Kiyo didn’t understand what was wrong with Makot’s parents. 

Essay 3 Workshop

Estela Bustamante

Lauren Servais

English 100

11 November 2010

I’m sorry

In occasions, forgiveness is what keeps a person from moving on with life; this was the case for Victor Joseph as the resentment that he felt for his father’s abandonment held him back from seeking a “better” life for him.  Forgiveness is not something that comes naturally for many of us; it takes a lot of work for people as stubborn and proud as Victor and me; whereas for others, like Thomas, it simply feels right to let the pass be the pass, and look up to the future.  However, forgiving other also has to do with forgiving the self first, which can be the hardest thing to do.

            It’s hard to forgive who causes pain to us or the ones we love; yet not forgiving also means not letting go of that pain and moving on with life. My grandmother blamed my grandfather for her misery till the day she died.  My grandfather, a soldier, stole my grandmother a couple weeks before her wedding with her fiancee, a man from a wealthy family just like hers.  Things were different back then, and a situation like that was extremely delicate.  My grandfather impregnated my grandmother and her parents forced her to get married to the poor soldier against her will.  They had 2 more children but she never love the father of his kids.  She was unhappy for the rest of her life. On the day of her death, my grandfather who had fell in love with her from the moment he had laid eyes on her till the last of his breath, asked her to forgive him for all the pain he’d caused her; there are a few different versions of what happened that day, but legend has it, she died denying him her absolution.  It’s understandable why my grandmother couldn’t forgive my grandfather; however, holding on to all the anger that she felt for her husband only made her more miserable.  They both procreated two sons and a daughter who they deeply adored, and even though, I’m not excusing my grandfather for his actions, I feel my grandmother would have left happy at last if she would had forgiven her partner for so many years.  Victor was able to forgive his father after a long abandonment; yet, just like my grandmother, his pain kept him from being happy for long time.

            Although, some people understand that the best way to continue on with their own life is to forgive those who have hurt you that doesn’t mean that forgiving would be any easier.  In occasions, one also has to forgive the self before forgiving others.  Victor thinking his father had left because of something he had done, and that kept him from forgiving Arnold; yet when he found out the true reason behind his disappearance, Victor was finally able to free himself and his father’s soul.  As Victor forgave his father, he liberated the grudge he had been carrying with for so long. 

"This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" Dialogue

It’s incredible how one story can change so much with the simple omission of some details, and the addition of some others.  The variations between the movie “Smoke Signals” and the written version of the same, “This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, give the story two different perspectives.  I feel as if the core of the narrative, which is Arnold Joseph’s dead and Victor, his son, having to go for his ashes and personal belongings, is one of the only elements that are keeping the two versions as the same story.  After reading the story for the first time, I noticed it didn’t said anything about Arnold being the responsible for Thomas’ parents dead, nor mentions anything about any one named Suzy Song, nor has the same arrogant Victor, compared to the movie.  First, I thought I had probably missed it, but after the tenth time reading it I simply concluded those vital details of the movie weren’t there and they wouldn’t appear on the piece of paper regardless of my persistence to find them.  My interpretation of the reading differs in many aspects now.  Victor was not the selfish, careless, and annoyed loser I saw on the movie.  He tried to go for his dad’s remaining because he wanted to and not because he was, in a way, being pushed by his mother to do so.  Also, my vision of Thomas changed.  The stories of Thomas had more truth in them as I had already imagine; some were real visions something I couldn’t quite get from the movie.  It was clear, to me, that Thomas had a special give to sense events to occur and more, but, a strange reasons, reading it make it more real, more palpable.  It’s like someone saying, “ghost exist people has close encounters all the time, there’s evidence!”, yes, you might consider the possibility of this being true; however, if you actually hear someone say, “I’ve seen ghosts!” or “I’ve felt the presence of spirits”, the confidence on their statements might make ghost more real to us even give you the goose bumps.

After analyzing the differences between the two versions of the story, I feel like I enjoyed more the written story than the movie, even though, I also like the different aspects of the movie.  Perhaps, the fact that Victor was a nicer person and Arnold was not the responsible for leaving Thomas an orphan made the difference for me between “good” and “better”.  Still, I feel a bit confused, I don’t quite understand why make a movie out of a written story without sticking to the actual details of the narrative; it may be as a publicity strategy with the purpose of making the movie more interesting for the audience, which, I have to say, worked.  Throughout the movie, I couldn’t wait to find out the cause of the fire, and if Victor and Thomas would finally become friends at last.