Choose a short section of the text (about a page) and write a detailed response that addresses its significance within the novel as a whole. Think about the choices the author makes (word choice, paragraphing, etc.). What purpose does this section serve?
I chose page 141, 3rd paragraph where Sookan thinks about her freshman year and her first year in USA. In the paragraph she mentions how hard the year had been, but also how exciting and developing it was. She thinks about her mother who was the one that worried the most about her. She thinks that this year was a good year through all the exhausting nights of studying, long days of working and studying. The last sentence where it says "It was a grand accomplishment." summarizes Sookan's feelings for the end of her freshman year. She thinks that she had done a great job and worked a lot to accomplish her goals for her freshman year. I believe that the word "accomplishment" is the key word for that page, since studying in USA was something Sookan wanted to accomplish. This section summarizes her freshman year and prepares the readers for the summer vacation or the second year of the school.
ReplyDeletePage 134, from " Freshman year was drawing to a close." to " Marci would like this one I thought." Those two paragraphs prescript Sookan's life after the final exam. She felt free and confident. Sookan loved painting. At the beginning of this page, she sat in a sunny studio and concentrated on her art work. This is an obvious difference compare to her old life. She used to only focus on study and work. Although she wanted to have her own free time as Ellen and Marci, she did not dare to "waste" the expectation that her family pushed upon her. However, though a whole year of learning and feeling new culture from another different country, Sookan started changing her opinions. She gets to fill her life with something she truly likes. Moreover, at the end of the second paragraph, Sookan decides to send her paintings to Ellen and Marci. It shows the firm friendship between them, as well as her happiness of living a life like that.
ReplyDeleteIn page 129, Marci said to Sookhan “Sookhan, she is not a good sister to you. She’s making you miserable. You’ve got to tell her to stop trying to run your life!”. This will be the most serious part of the book, because she is the only student who came from Korea, and she was just living with Americans for a while. Therefore, her thought could be changed a little bit, for example if she were in Korea, she wouldn’t go to the dance party, drinking, and dance with boys (black dress). She bought a black dress, and went to the party, this means that she is already thinking like an American, so if her sister is going to interferes more, than Sookhan would fight with her sister, to not taking care of her life.
ReplyDeleteI chose page 2, first paragraph where Sookan worry about her first American life in the USA. In this paragraph, Sookan said, "Would I understand people there, and would they be able to understand me? How would I keep up with all the American students at college? Would they like me? Would I like them?" I think this part is one of the most important and powerful part in this book. The reasons are this part tells me that this is Sookan's first time to spend time in America, and she wants to have good relationship with the people because that is why she is caring about the relationship between American poeple and Sookan so much. Few chapters after page 2, I can see the good relationships between Sookan and people who live in the America. For example, the relationship between Sookan and professor. In addition, page 2, I think the author's word choices for this part are good because the word "like" and "understand" are strong enough to describe this scene. The purpose that this section serves is to tell to readers that Sookan is worrying about the American life and Sookan wants good relationships with American people.
ReplyDeleteIn page 90 to 91, from "Trying hard to remember all the things I had watched my mother do," to "I said with satisfaction". Soaks was doing great in almost every aspects. Not only studying, working for school, her part time job, but also cooking! She is being thankful to those who had help her, even though they might didn't helped a lot. She is trying to do her best to help others and make others feel happy. She is doing a lot more than a college student suppose to do. Because she is a international student, she had to work so much harder to keep up with other students, and also use some time to work for the school's dinning hall, she did't need to cook for others but she was so warm hearted that she want her friends feel happy since she doesn't have enough money to buy them gifts. She is a very nice girl.
ReplyDeleteI chose page 135, from"My parents and Kyle came early." to "Maybe my sister was right. Maybe I had left home too early.." In this page, Sookan actually said something that makes me really surprised because I didn't expect she can open her mind and express her feeling out. She admitted that she like Tom and their delicate relationship. Well, of course everyone would fall in love with somebody, but she was such an conservative, foreign girl at the beginning, the quick change from her is quite amazing. She also mentioned that she has no experience on this kind of thing so she gave up, that's a bit unexpected too, because I thought she would be consist on everything, but maybe she is just being shy as any other girls. One thing that I don't like is that she connects everything to her family, I want to know more about her own opinions.
ReplyDeleteI choose the begining or chapter sixteen which is page 134 it is quoted that "freshmen year was drawing to a close". This quote means a lot in terms of her efforts that she has put in in academics and adapting. It is a meaningful paragraph because she is confident of her grades and her life in school. Unlike at the beginning of the year, when she was always nervous about her grades and relationship between people around her, now she found ways to keep her comfortable and to relax herself. For example, she said that she feels the most comfortable in the art center which is her favorite place to stay in. Now that she found new hobbies, comfortable places and good friends which means that next year, she will have a better time in school and she will be able to enjoy her life more. Furthermore, this paragraph is a important part of the book because it sums everything she worked for which are her grade papers and perhaps, these might be a reward for her hardworking and the trouble she has gone through
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