Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Reading Question pg. 158-184

50. The seamstress tells the narrator that she is pregnant. The seamstress will not be able to find a doctor who can help an unmarried pregnant woman. Luo and the seamstress can not get married because they are under 25 yrs old. The narrator offers to go to the town hospital to seek help. The law prohibits people under 25 to get married and yet if they don't get married, the seamstress will never be able to have her baby. Also no doctor will be willing to help her.

51. The narrator thinks that his parents would be devastated and they would throw him out. It is a crime that transcends the Cultural Revolution because it is more of a moral question.

52. He wants to consult the preacher about seeking an abortion for the seamstress. The preacher stuck to his beliefs and continue to speak in Latin when he was dying. He did not say any of Chairman Mao's beliefs as reqeusted by his son.

53. The narrator promised to give the doctor a book by Balzac in exchange for performing an abortion.

54. The seamstress begin to dress more fashionably and modern looking. She cut her hair short. She begin to wear a pair of white tennis shoes. She made herself a brassiere. Luo thinks that her new look made the seamstress even more attractive. He thinks that he has been responsible for transforming the seamstress from a plain mountain to a city girl.

55. The narrator is upset that the seamstress did not even bother to tell him that she was leaving. He thought that they were good friends and he should have been told. He was upset too because he thinks that after what he did to help her when she was pregnant, he feels that she had forgotten about this.

56. The seamstress thinks that anything is worth giving up for her beauty. She is willing to do anything for her own improvement. The seamstress' re-education backfire because they lost her.

57. They were burning the books because the re-education offered by the books has brought them more suffering. It has backfired on them when the seamstress left. It is a purging for the boys because they want to get rid of the images of love and women.

58. The goals of the cultural revolution did not work because it did not stop them from discovering about the outside world. They did not become re-educated as the government wished but they were re-educated in another way when they begin to read western literature.

Notes on Sentence Clarity and Combining

• Purdue University
• Why do we need to be concerned with sentence clarity?
• To communicate effectively to the reader
• To make writing persuasive
• To show credibility and authority as a writer
• Common clarity problems
• Misplaced modifiers
• Dangling modifiers
• passive voice
• Misplaced Modifiers
• A word or phrase that causes confusion because it is located within a sentence so far away from the word(s) to which it refers
• Consider the differebnt meanings in the folowing sentences
• The dog under the tree bit Carrie vs. the dog bit Carrie under the tree
• Sometimes misplaced modifiers are used for comic effect
• How might you correct the following sentence?
• Jennifer called her adorable kitten opening the can of tuna and filled the food bowl
• Better: Opening the can of tuna, Jennifer called her adorable kitten and filled the food bowl
• How might you correct the following sentence?
• Portia rushed to the store loaded with cash to buy the birthday gift
• Better: Portia, loaded with cash, rushed to the sotre to but the birthday gift
• Misplaced Modifiers
• Some one-word modifiers often cyase confusion: almost, just, nearly, simply, even, hardly, merely, only
• Explain the meaning of the sentence
• John nearly earned 100$
• John earne nearly $100
• Dangling
• A word or phrase that modifies another word or phase that has not been stated cleart within the sentence
• Often occur at the begin. and ends of sentences
• often indicated by and -ing verb or a to + verb phrase
• Danglin can be replaced by
• placing the subject of the modification phrase as the subject of the indeendent cluase
• placing the subject of
• Passive Voic
• indicates what is receiving the action rather than explaining who is doing the action
• two indicators
• "to be" verbs - is, are, was were
• "by ___"
• Examples
• Mistakes were made
• The cats were brushed by Laura
• Sentence combining
• Why should we know about sentence combining?
• To build clarity, avoid wordiness, aoid redundancy
• Keys to sentence combining
• Create adjectives, create properly placed modifying cluases
• eliminate unnesssacav or repetitive phrases

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Reading Questions pg. 131-184

p.131-157
46. Yes; I agree because he deliberately slowed down the process of drilling the teeth to make it more painful. He was satisfied while doing this.

47. The Old Miller: He realized how old is he, compared to how young Luo and the Seamstress are.
Luo: The Little Seamstress always dives to retrieve the keys, while Luo thinks that he'll never have use for the keys because he will never be released from re-education and never going home.
The Little Seamstress: She loves Luo and she is willing to do anything to please him. she discovered the experience of acting and she loves it.

48. The narrator thinks that he is a secret agent with a mission because he has to spy on the young men who also like the Seamstress. He pictures himself as the head of a routed army, charged with escorting the young wife of a friend, across the desert.

49. The narrator was a storyteller, laundry man, cook, and an all-around helper at home. The city youths were jealous of the narrator because they also like the Seamstress. After their attack, the narrator dreamt that he was tied to a tree and they cut off his ear. They fled when the seamstress came to save him from the gang.

Compare/Contrast to Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Novel/Movie

In terms of the watching the movie and reading the novel, I thought that the movie was somewhat better than the novel itself. But both sources has similarities and differences.
The ending in both the novel and the movie was different.

In the book, the Little Seamstress leaves Phoenix Mountain and goes to the city. However, in the movie, Ma went back to the village because it was going to be flooded due to the construction of the dam. Ma hopes to find the Little Seamstress again, but unfortunately he didn't.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Reading Questions pg. 109~130

39. The themes are love, women, and sex. These themes are all capturing the boy's attention. By reading the banned books, they can understand what the Little Seamstress is thinking about.


40. The theme of being free and taking independent action as a person captured the narrator because during the revolution, people were not allowed to think for themselves. They are all controlled by the government.

41. Luo trusted the narrator and the narrator took this assignment seriously. The red-beaked raven is a sign of bad omen.

42. The narrator's dream was also a sign of bad omen. He dreamt of the death of the Little Seamstress. It foresees the Luo and Seamstress will be separated.

43. The village headman asked Luo to fix his teeth. The cultural revolutions bans information and makes people ignorant.

44. The Little Seamstress' father decides to stay with Luo and the narrator because he heard from the Seamstress that they are excellent storytellers. And he wants to find more about Luo. The narrator told him a story of Count of Montre Cristo.

45. The village headman protested against the story because he thinks it is reactionary since it talks about somebody who is a Count. He wants the narrator to go with him to the Security Office. The narrator agrees to go with him and asks Luo to stay to watch over the things at home. In exchange for fixing his teeth, the village headman would let the narrator free.

Balzac and Little Chinese Seamstress - Key Themes, Events, Quotations, and Symbols

Luo and Ma: Basic Facts

• Luo is 18 and Ma is 17 when they first experience re-education
• They have only three years of lower middle school, but are considered intellectuals and therefore enemies of Mao.
• Luo's father is a famous dentist who once fixed Mao's teeth
• Luo's father is persecuted and imprisoned for admitting he once fixed Mao's teeth
• Ma's parents are both doctors
• Both Luo and Ma's parents are enemies of Mao (deemed reactionaries)
• Luo and Ma grew up together
• Luo and Ma's new home is a village on the mountain Phoenix of the Sky, a two day walk from civilization (any town)
• pg. 11 "The name.....profoundly solitary"
• pg. 11 quote: foreshadowing? symbolism? contrast?

Setting

• pg 12 "the pehoesxi...gloomy valleys"
• What do these words suggest about their new home? how would you describe the atmosphere?

Alarm Clock

• Luo's alarm clock fascinates the simple peasant who have never seen an alarm clock before
• Notice that the alarm clock has a rooster on it (another bird reference)
• The alarm clock allows Luo and Ma to manipulate the village headman by changing the time one hour ahead or behind in order to suit their desires
• Therefore, technology and education overpower and trick the ignorant peasants

The Little Seamstress

• She is deemed elegant and sophisticated in comparison to the rest of the villagers
• Her pale pink shoes are symbolic: classic and feminine
• pg 21 "In a place.....white nylon socks"
• pg 24 "When she laughed....of unpolished metal"
• She is wild and uncivilized, according to the boys
• She is full of great potential!
• "A steep valley divided her village from ours" pg 21
• She is separated from the boys by a very dangerous path - symbolic?
• Luo: "When she finished.....of the pious (62)

Tailor

• The tailor lives like a king
• He says he is well travelled but he has only travelled 200 km away! (ironic)
• His daughter has never seen the world

Malaria

• Luo gets malaria
• Malaria is an infectious disease caused by parasites such as mosquitoes, often found in tropical regions of the world
• The ignorant peasants try to beat the disease out of Luo by using sticks - where are the doctors?

The Power of Stories

• Luo and Ma are forced to re-tell films that the headman lets them leave the village to see
• "The whole audience wept, even the village headman, who, for all his harshness,couldn't hold back the tears pouring hotly from his left eye, marked as ever by three spots of blood"
• Red = communism!
• Ma: "Picture......hidden from me (57)
• Ma: "I did not...turned the last page" (57)
• Ma decides to copy a passage from Balzac's novel into his old, simple, sheepskin coat (symbolic of education and sophistication meeting ignorance and simplicity)
• Luo: "I could have read.....i'm quite sure" pg 61
• Literature and knowledge = refinement and sophistication
• Luo: "This fellow...intelligent." (62)

Four-Eyes

• Four-Eyes is a teenager
• His mother is a famous poet
• His mother gave him a suitcase full of banned books (literature from around the world)
• Classic Literature = Four Olds!

Four-Eyes' Glasses

• When his glasses are broken by the buffalo tail, it is very symbolic of how he is helpless without his education and how communism works to destroy education
• Glasses = education and intelligence
• No glasses - blindness (literal and metaphorical) and ignorance (lack of knowledge)
• Text-to-text connection: Lord of the Flies (Piggy's glasses break and the boys are doomed!)

Balzac

• A famous French writer of novels (in real life!)
• The book Luo and Ma read is Ursule Mirouet by balzac
• They are instantly fascinated by its romance and exotic location (France)

The Old Miller

• Miller = someone who grinds grains for a living
• The old miller is known for singing simple, peasant folk songs
• His filth, lice, and crumbling home =
• Four eyes wants Luo and aMa top copy down the miller's songs so that he can claim them as his own, and then leave re-e
• Luo and Ma pretenc to be Communist officials who have been given orders to collect his folk songs

Interesting Facts

• Notice it is the Seam stess' idea to steal the suitcase of books
• A buffalo is slautereded for the goig-away ritual that Four Eyes will undergo (this proves his "manhood" and readiness for leaving the village)

Predictions?

• Assuming the boys manage to steal the suitcase, how do you predict it will change all of their lives?
• What does this suitcase mean to Luo, Ma, and the Little Seamstress?

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Reading Questions pg. 80~105

28. Yong Jing is a small town and it only had one street that was two hundred meters long. It had a post office, town hall, general store, library, and school. There was also a hotel that had a dozen rooms. At the end of the town, was a district hospital. the basketball court converts to an open-air cinema when they show the movies. Yong Jing had electricity instead of oil lamps.

29. Four-Eyes' mother was the woman who came to Phoenix Mountain to claim her son. The narrator tells the woman that he is Luo because Four-Eyes writes to his mother and suspects that the narrator is always asking about the suitcase. Four-Eyes' mother is positive that in the future after the Cultural Revolution, the intellectuals will be useful again in the society.

30. It was the seamstress' idea to steal the books. It is interesting because it shows that now, even the seamstress wants to know more about the books.

31. The buffalo was pushed off the mountain to make it look like an accident because the headman wants to kill the buffalo for the feast and it was illegal to slaughter working animals.

32. Re-education has not worked for Four-Eyes. He pretends to go along with the headman and drink the blood of the buffalo. But actually, he does not believe it that it will give him courage. It shows that Four-Eyes is cooperative but looking for an opportunity to help his parents.

33. The sorcerers at the feast were chanting and dancing while at Luo's bedside they were sleepy and did not do anything. I think they were just like performers in the feast and they were paid while the seamstress did not pay them so they did not do anything.

34. The narrator was so excited to find the books and he knows that the books offer more knowledge about human lives. He was angry that the government had denied these books because he wants to know more but these books are banned.

35. The boys want to take the books. But they are also worried that Four-Eyes will denounce them and they will be finished. If they take the books, Four-Eyes will report them to the authorities and the boys might be executed. If they take the books, the whole village will know that Four-Eyes had been hiding books and he won't be able to finish his re-education.

36. Luo wants to take the books to transform the Little Seamstress.

37. The boys are not justified in taking the books because it's considered stealing.

38.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Reading Questions pg. 61~79

22. Four-Eye's mother had informed that an old friend of hers had been appointed editor-in-chief of a journal devoted to revolutionary literature. His mother wants him to work for the journal in order to get off he mountain. Four-Eyes has to collct folk songs from the peasants and submit it to the editor-in-chief. He fails because he did not collect any of the folk songs and the old man who lived on the Thousand-Metre-Cliff, would not be willing to sing.

23. They appear as though they are the soldiers of the revolution. They changed their appearance and wore clothes that was the exact copy of the revolutionary soldiers' and this works on the old miller.


24. Luo and the narrator seem very friendly and kind and asked if it would be okay for him to sing to them. While Four-Eyes demands him to sing so he would become nervous, Luo and the narrator change their appearance and appear as they are the revolutionary soldiers.

25. Four-Eye's mother wants him to find original, primitive words of ancient songs about emotion and love. The miller gave them local song about louse and a young nun, and a monk. The old miller's songs are nonsense and considered trash.

26. The forbidden increases their curiosity and excitement. The more they can't read it, the more they want to know about it. They are smart and aware of the actions and consequences.

27. The narrator fights Four-Eyes because Four-Eyes doesn't want to keep his promise to give them books in exchange for songs. The narrator is defending his privilege to read and he is justified because Four-Eyes did not keep his promise.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstres Reading Questions pg. 45~61

Vocabulary:
sadistic (adj.)
syn: cruel
ant: humane

vigilance (n.)
syn: caution
ant: carelessness

substantiate (v.)
syn: verify
ant: disprove

garish (adj.)
syn: ornate
ant: plain

myopia (n.)
syn: n/a
ant: n/a

belligerent (adj.)
syn: aggressive
ant: kind

redolent (adj.)
syn: aromatic
ant: unsavory

somnambulates (v.)
syn: n/a
ant: n/a

Questions
16. Four-Eyes is a friend of Luo and the narrator. The village where Four-Eyes was being re-educated was situated lower on the slopes of Phoenix mountain than the narrator and Luo's. His family lived in the same city as the narrator's parents; his father was a writer, his mother was a poet. In Four-Eye's presence, everything became tinged with danger. If someone knocked on the door, he would be frightened and he would spring to his feet.

17. The Western literature in China were confiscated by the Red Guards and they burnt them in the public. By the time the narrator and Luo had finally learnt to read properly, there had been nothing left to read and their interest in reading these books became much stronger.

18. Without his spectacles, Four-Eyes won't be able to see whichs makes his daily work harder to do. Luo and the narrator help him carry the rice and Four-Eyes has to lend them a banned book from his suitcase.

19. The narrator also likes the seamstress. Balzac's story also discussed about love and desire which was similar to what the narrator was thinking about.

20. The narrator copies passages from Balzac's book onto the inside of his sheepskin coat. Writing the passages on his coat makes it very secretive because reading western literature is banned. There is a blending of old and new. The old is the way how the narrator writes the passages on the sheepskin coat. It was like in the olden times when there was no paper yet. The new is the western literature. The narrator feels a strong connection to the Balzac story because he wished that he was like Ursule who can somnambulate and see what his parents were doing at home.

21. Lup and the little seamstress made love. Balzac's novel made them excited and more interested about love, passion, desire and impulsive action. And reading the story to the little seamstress also made her feel the same way. Literature can be dangerous because it can make the reader impulsive.

To Live - Grammar and Usage Practice and Application

1. Participle (ing or ed verb tagged on to the beginning or end of a sentence to evoke action) With an instrument, Fugui was singing along with the puppet show.
2. Absolute (a noun combined with an ing or ed participle added onto a main sentence to expand details and create more action) Fugui kneeled behind the puppet curtain, with the whole body curled, unable to move.
3. Adjectives Shifted Out of Order (shift some adjectives after a noun to spotlight and intensify the image) On the walls outside of Fugui's house was a picture of Mao, which was nearly as big as the wall, smiling and independent with the Little Red Book.
4. Action Verbs (eliminate passive vioce and replace being verbs with action verbs to create a motion picture and bring inanimate object to life) When the death comes to the family, it arrives silently and mysteriously.
5. Appositive (add a second noun image to a main subject) There would be a scene of hapiness - the family together around the small table in the house.
6. Methods for Painting Characters

By describing an action of the character Fugui was lost

By sharing specific speech of the character We'll call him little bun

To Live - Questions

Questions - Provide a thoughtful, thorough explanation of your repsonse to each question.

1. Why do you think the the name of the movie is To Live? I think that the movie is called To Live because it is a story where everyone is struggling to live and ironically, so many characters die in the story and only Fugui, Jiazhen, and their grandson, Little Bun, survive to live.
2. How does the main character, Fugui, represent life in China during this time period? Throughout Fugui's life, Fugui is obsessed with appearing to be an enthusiastic communist supporter because anyone else that is not, is deemed a threat to the communist party, publicly humiliated or sentence to death. An example of this is Long'er, who was humiliated and executed for being a privileged landowner in the pre-communist times of China.
3. How specifically does Fugui's wife, Jiazhen, adapt to the changing times? Fugui and Jiazhen continue their fateful service to the communists in their town, delivering water and surrending all of their cooking pots when iron donations are requested.
4. In what ways did the loss of his house and fortune, ironically, become the best thing that ever happened to Fugui and his family? Fugui finds out that if he had not gambled all of his fortune and his house, he could have ended up like Long'er, being taken away by the soldiers and was executed for Fugui's possessions he won.
5. What do you think of Mr. Niu and what do you suppose happened to him near the end? Mr. Niu was known as a capitalist by the party he has faithfull served since the revolution and he was probably humiliated and executed.
6. How do the two children become victims of the political climate? Give specific example. Youqing was a victim of Mao's great idea of social progress because he died in an accident caused by a political leader, but the family couldn't complain. Fengxia was a victim also because all the doctors were counter-revolutionaries and the nurses at the hospital were inexperienced, and no one knew how to take care of the situation so Fengxia died.
7. The Communist Revolution is widely seen to have been successful in raising living conditions for millions of Chinese peasants. Give some positive examples from the movie of improvements in living conditions and good results from the change in political system. Land reform provided equal opportunities to form a living. Everyone was united and the poor people weren't poor anymore.
8. What is the final positive outcome for this one family? Explain. Fugui losing his house was great for him, because it could have cost Fugui being killed by the communists. Having his son pass on was important because Youqing wouldn't hae to go through the trauma of watching his sister die while giving birth to his newborn nephew.
9. To Live was banned in China, and the director, Zhang Yimou, and the leading actress, Gong Li, were bared from film making for two years. What specifically do you think that the Chinese government objected to? Give at least two or three examples. The government did not want people to see the "bad side" of the cultural revolution. They did not want people to see the failures of the Communist society and agriculture. They also did not want to show the failure of their steel industry.
10. Write your own movie review for this film. (Your rating, how many stars, on a scale of 1 to 5? Who would enjoy it? A 5 to 10 sentence response would suffice. Be sure to refer to a remarkable scene to capture your reader's interest in the movie. I would rate this move a 4/5 because the movie was very well-developed and smooth of a family during the Cutural Revolution. At the film's opening, Jiazhen was so angry at Fugui for gambling all of his property and so she took along Fengxia to another place. Ironically, after all Fugui losing his property was a good thing so he wouldn't end up being executed. I thought that this was really strange how you lose your property and end up being very happy in the family. I would recommend this film to other people who are willing to understand how peoples' lives are like during the Cultural Revolution.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Reading Questions: pg. 21~41

Vocabulary:
prudent (adj.)
syn: cautious
ant: careless

pitiless (adj.)
syn: cruel
ant: pitiful

capricious (adj.)
syn: fanciful
ant: sensible

precarious (adj.)
syn: hazardous
ant: certain

anthracite (n.)
syn: n/a
ant: n/a

livid (adj.)
syn: gloomy
ant: radiant

poultice (n.)
syn: dressing
ant: n/a

Questions
10. The Chinese Seamstress wore pale pink canvas shoes while nearly everyone in the village went barefoot. She had fine features and looked almost noble.

11. Because Luo's parents were intellectuals and Luo had also attended school, he finds the Chinese seamstress below his status. She can not read much. And Luo probably hopes to find somebody of the same level.

12. They had to do dangerous work at the coal mines and they felt that they could die anytime at the mines. It was symbolic of their reeducation because their fear that they could die anytime represents the mental torture of reeducation.

13. The narrator describes Luo's crying as "someone weeping with passionate abandon". It was like crying to release the mental pressure he experiences from working in the coal mines. The narrator was convinced it was Luo because they were the only two newcomers to the mine while the rest were old miners.

14. She wrote a letter to Luo to invite him to their village to tell a story and she sent workers to take their place at the mines. She cancelled the oral cinema and she put him into bed when she saw that he was very sick. She pounded some leaves and applied it on Luo's wrist. She invited four sorceress to cure him.

15. A sincere heart can move even the hardest person. And maybe the flower girl was not sincere enough that is why her mother died.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Reading Questions: pg. 3~20

Vocabulary:
risible (adj.)
syn: jovial
ant: melancholy

surreptitious (adj.)
syn: stealthy
ant: honest

sonata (n.)
syn: n/a
ant: n/a

audacity (adv.)
syn: boldness
ant: caution

reactionary (n.)
syn: traditional
ant: liberal

vertiginous (adj.)
syn: dizzy
ant: steady

insidious (adj.)
syn: deceitful
ant: honest

Questions

1. The village headman assumes that the violin is a toy. Luo told them that the violin is a musical instrument and fooled them when he played a Mozart sonata and he called it "Mozart Is Thinking of Chairman Mao". The villagers do not know anything about music and anything outside the village while the boys are educated and had training in music.
2. All textbooks and school subjects were banned. They were only taught industry and agriculture. Peasants and workers became important members of the society. Mao Zedong was the Chairman of the Revolution and they had to read Mao's "Little Red Book". Intellectuals were labelled as "enemies of the people". All young people were sent to the countryside for re-education. The purpose of this revolution is to make everybody equal and suppress learning and ideas that are against the government.
3. Is it ironic that Luo and the narrator were sent to be re-educated because they were not even high school graduates. They have never studied at any institution for education. But they were sent to be re-educated because their parents were intellectuals and they were labelled as "enemies of the people".
4. Luo punches the narrator because he was very angry when he saw his father under public attack. He just needs to release his anger.
5. The mountain was called "Phoenix of the Sky". The narrator thinks that the name is due to its high elevation that even birds and sparrows can't reach it and only the phoenix can fly there.
6. The mountain has copper mines and workers have to carry buckets of copper down the mountains. But because of the lack of transportation, the production of copper has declined and bandits are growing opium. The village is poor and the economy is controlled by the opium growers.
7. The boys changed the time on the alarm clocks to allow them extra time to sleep or end their days' work earlier. This shows that the boys are mischievous and creative.
8. For ordinary families, re-education lasts for 2 years. But Luo and the narrator are sad because they know that they'll never go back to their families. They were identified as enemies of the people and their re-education will last forever.
9. Luo has a gift of storytelling and the village headman appreciates this so he assigned Luo to tell stories about the films that they had seen. The village headman also sends them to Yong Jing to watch a new film and they have to re-tell the story to the whole village. I think that the narrator says that this gift will lead to complicatoins because the boys will discover films and books that were banned.

Notes: The Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution

• Mao Zedong – chairman of communist party of China, on May 16, 1966 began a struggle for power within the communist party of China
• This struggle manifested into wide scale social, political, and economic chaos, which eventually brought the entire country to the brink of civil war
• The Cultural Revolution led to the ban of what became known as the “Four Olds”
  1. old customs
  2. old cultures
  3. old ideas
  4. old habits
• Between 1966 and 1968, Mao and his principal lieutenants placed youth militia called the Red Guards – Mao’s army, usually young students between the ages of 15 and 20, in charge of destroying items from the Four Olds
• In the chaos and violence that ensured many revolutionary elders, authors, artists, and religious figures were purged and killed. Why did this happen?
• Millions of people were persecuted, and as many as half a million people died.
• In 1957, Mao Zedong called for an increase in the speed of the growth of “actual socialism” in China.
• To accomplish this goal, Mao began the Great Leap Forward, establishing special communes in the countryside through the usage of collective labor and mass mobilization.
• The Great Leap Forward was intended to increase the production of steel and to raise agricultural production to twice 1957 levels.
• However, industries went into turmoil because peasant were producing too much low quality steel while other areas were neglected
• Furthermore, the peasantry, as agriculturalists, were poorly equipped and ill-trained to produce steel, partially relying on such mechanisms as backyard furnaces to achieve production goals, which had been mandated by local cadres.
• Meanwhile, farming implements like rakes were melted down for steel, impeding agricultural production. This led to a decline in the production of most goods other than steel.
• To make matter worse, in order to avoid punishment, local authorities frequently reported grossly unrealistic production numbers, which hid the problem for years, as so, intensified it.
• Inadequate resources and unfortunate climatic conditions resulted in widespread famine, while Mao continued to export grain to “save face” with the outside world.
• According to various sources, the death toll of members of the lower classes due to famine may have been as high as 20 to 30 million.
• Understand these key phrases:
  1. intellectual = highly educated person
  2. communism = common or shared ownership of goods; an economic structure which attempts to achieve economic equality for all (a classless society)
  3. propaganda = information intended to persuade and/or brainwash people (mind control)

Notes: Thesis Statements

• After you have brainstormed and you have some main ideas of what you would like to write in your essay, you can begin thinking about writing a thesis statement.
• A thesis statement is a complete sentence that contains one main idea. This idea controls the content of the entire essay A thesis statement that contains sub points also helps a reader know how the essay will be organized.
• Thesis statement states the main idea of the essay in a complete sentence, not in a question.
• Thesis statement is usually at the end of the introductory paragraph
• Thesis statements state an opinion or attitude on a topic. It doesn’t just state the topic, itself.
• Thesis statements often lists subtopics.
• Thesis statements does not directly announce your main topic.
• Since the thesis statement is the main statement for the entire essay, it should express a complete thought and be a complete sentence.
• English readers like to know what an essay will be about near the beginning of the essay rather than at the end. This is why the thesis statement is often found at the end of the introductory paragraph.
• The thesis statement comes at the end of the introductory paragraph.
• Good thesis statements often express a writer’s opinion or attitude on a particular topic.
  You can make you thesis statements mote specific by including subtopics or supporting ideas.
• In thesis statements, you should avoid using statements like, “This essay will discuss…” or "I will talk about..."

Applying Methods of Integrating Quotations

1. "Introduce the quotation with a complete sentence and a colon"
Wang Lung says in his heart: "It is true that this is a shame to me that I cannot read and write. I will take my elder son from the fields and he shall go to a school in the town and he shall learn, and when I go into the grain markets he will read and write for me so that there may be an end of this hissing laughter against me, who am a landed man." (173)

2. "Use an introdutory or explanatory phrase, but not a complete sentence, separated from the quotation with a comma"
He stood there silent for a while and then he said to her roughly, and he was rough because he was ashamed and would not acknowledge his shame in his heart, "Where are those pearls you had?" (199)

3. "Use short quotations - only a few words - as part of your own sentence"
In The Good Earth, a novel by Pearl S. Buck, the author compares Wang Lung to "a rat in a rich man's house". Like a "rat in rich man's house", he earns barely enough money for his family, while around the city, he sees the market full of food and the shops selling silk. The money he earns are merely small money compared to the riches in the city. Wang Lung does not feel comfortable in the city and wants to go back to his land. (112~113)

Lectures Notes: Integrating Quotations in Compositions

Notes on Lectures: Integrating Quotations in Compositions
Goal: Integrate short quotations smoothly into sentences/compositions to make and support a point.

• A quotation is any sentence/paragraph/phrase/words taken word for word from the novel (or other books, magazines, article)
• It does NOT mean only things in a novel which are said by a character.....
• There are at least four ways to integrate quotations
• 1. Introduce the quotation with a complete sentence and a colon (common in research papers).
• Example for #1: Thoreau ends his essay with a metaphor: "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in."
• An easy rule to remember: if you use a complete sentence to introduce a quotation, you need a colon after the sentence
• Be careful not to confuse a colon (:) with a semicolon (;). Using a comma in this situation will most likely create a comma splice, one of the serious sentence-boundary errors.
• 2. Use an introdutory or explanatory phrase, but not a complete sentence, separated from the quotation with a comma (common in literary analysis).
• Example for #2: According to Thoreau, "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us."
• Remember to use a comma to separate your own words from the quotation when your introductory or explanorty phrase ends with a verb such as "says," "said," "thinks," "believes," "pondered," "recalls," "questions," and "asks," (and many more).
• You should also use a comma when you introduce a quotation with a phrase such as "According to Thoreau."
• 3. Make the quotation a part of your own sentence without any punctuation between your own words and the words you are quoting (common in ).
• Example for #3: Thoreau argues that "sham and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous."
• Reminder: Notice that the word "that" is used in three of the example above, and when it is used as it is in the examples, "that" replaces the comma which would be necessary without "that" in the sentence.
• 4. Use short quotations - only a few words - as part of your own sentence (common in ).
• Example for #4: Although Thoreau "drinks at" the stream of Time, he can "detect how shallow it is."
• Remember: When you integrate quotations in this way, you do not use any special punctuation. Instead, you should punctuate the sentence just as you would if all of the words were your own. No punctuation is needed in the sentences above in part because the sentences do not follow the pattern explained under #1 and 2 above: there is not a complete sentence in front of the quotations, and a word such as "says," "said," or "asks," does not appear directly in fron of the quoted words.
• All of the methods above for integrating quotations are correct, but you should avoid relying too much on just one method. You should instead use a variety of methods.
• Notice the there are only two punctuation marks that are used to introduce questions: the comma and the colon
• Note: A semicolon (;) is not used to introduce quotations.

Sources for Vocabulary Lesson 2 Words

The definitions and the other forms of the vocabulary word are all from the Vocabulary For Achievement: Fourth Course and http://www.dictionary.com/.

systematic (adjective)

Other forms of the word: system, systematically, systematize, systematical, systematicness

Definition: Having a system, method, or plan; carried out in a step-by-step procedure.

Sentence Example: At the cafeteria at TAS, the food service office has a systematic procedure for getting lunch.

Picture Example:

selective (adjective)

Other forms of the word: select, selectively, selectiveneess

Definition: Careful in choosing; particular, discriminating.

Sentence Example: Food factories are selective in their products in order to provide people the best quality food.

Picture Example:

punctilious (adjective)

Other forms of the word: punctiliously, punctiliousness

Definition: Attentive to the finer points of etiquette and formal conduct.

Sentence Example: Tom was punctilious in measuring the amount of water in the graduated cylinder.

Picture Example:

prudent (adejctive)

Other forms of the word: prudence, prudently


Definition: Exercising caution, good judgement, ot common sense in handling practical matter; giving thought to one's actions and their consequences.


Sentence Example: Prudent people are very wise in making their choices.


Picture Example:

minutiae (noun)

Other forms of the word: minute, minutely, minutial

Definition: Minor or trivial details

Sentence Example: The minutiae of the science lab data were listed in an appendix.

Picture Example:

meticulous (adjective)

Other forms of the word: meticulously, meticulousness, meticulosity

Definition: extremely careful and precise.

Sentence Example: Scientists need to be meticulous in order to get the right measurements.

Picture Example:

judicious (adjective)

Other forms of the word: judiciously, judiciousness

Definition: Using or showing judgement as to action or practical expediency.

Sentence Example: My mom is very judicious about whether or not I should be allowed to stay after school with my friends.

Picture Example:

foresight (noun)

Other forms of the word: foresee, foresighted, foresightedly, foresightedness, foresightful

Definition: The ability to see what is likely to happen and to prepare for it accordingly.

Sentence Example: Tom had the foresight to invest in the company when it first started.

Picture Example:

fastidious (adjective)

Other forms of the word: fastidiously, fastidiousness

Definition: excessively particular, critical, or demanding; hard to please.

Sentence Example: Bob is a fastidious eater, he is very picky about the food he eats.

Picture Example:

diligence (noun)

Other forms of the word: diligent, diligently, diligences

Definition: Constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken.

Sentence Example: Her diligence paid off and her project won first place.

Picture Example:

What is filial piety?

Filial piety is one of the fundamental values of Confucianism that insures the sincerity of ritual performance. Filial piety is the responsibility to respect one's parents, obey them, and take care of them as they age, and of course, to love them. Filial piety also exists in the form of worshipping ancestries. The Chinese would build shrines to their ancestors and in one case, the failure of proper worshipping often sent people for corporal punishment. The ancestors needed respect because they have helped and supported China and also influenced in how the world worked for the present generation. The Chinese have lived through the filial piety culture for centuries and to me, it is the "bonding chain" between families and generations. In conclusion, filial piety is a value that everyone should endorse to feel respected, loved, and cared by everyone around you.

Sources:
http://www.taoism.net/articles/xiao.htm
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-filial-piety.htm
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/273807/hsiao

The Good Earth: Chapter Two

Thoughts:
1) Wang Lung begins to enjoy not having to bring the Old Man his tea in the mornings.
2) O Lan was a good wife. She did her house work well.
3) O Lan must have been a good servant at the Hwang's house.
4) Wang Lung is proud of O Lan when he saw all the work she did at home.
5) The Old Man was happy to learn that O Lan was pregnant.

Questions:
1) Why doesn't O Lan speak?
2) What made Wang Lung think that O Lan likes him on the second day?

The Good Earth: Chapter One

Thoughts:
1) There is a huge difference between the poor and the wealthy.
2) Wang Lung's marriage day was so simple. There was not even a wedding ceremony.
3) I think Wang Lung only wanted somebody to help do the work at home.
4) Wang Lung was proud of O Lan when she prepared dinner.
5) I think that the Wang Lung's father was a grumpy old man.

Questions:
1) Why didn't Wang Lung want a pretty wife?
2) How did Wang Lung prepare for his marriage day?

Common conflict(s) children have with their parents

The conflicts that I think children have with their parents is grades. Once children start to study for a quiz/test/exam for the next school day, parents just start to give them pressure about that "You have to get an 'A' for this test!" or "If you fail, I'm going to ground you!" etc., and children will start to worry, or maybe even give up! I believe that we should do our own best and not by our parent's force. This topic is oftenly brought up between parents and teenagers and it should stop occuring.

My Name

Erica. It's just a perfect name for me. It means "eternal ruler" or "honorable ruler" which matches me because I like being a leader or the head of a group. I have a lot of nicknames such as beagle, eri, or noise-maker. There's one reason why I'm called by the nickname beagle, because my favorite pet is a dog and beagles are one of my favorite species.

Sources

Some of my definitions and other forms of the vocab words are from
http://www.dictionary.com/

Writing Assignment - Inventing Words

Word: cranberring

Definition: The smashing of cranberries.

Sentence: Cranberring is one of kids' favorite activities.

Method used: portmanteau word

spoonerism (noun)

Other forms of the word: (none)

Definition: an unintentional interchange of the initial sounds of words.

Sentence Example: Spoonerisms of phrases can be really hilarious.

Picture Example:

simile (noun)

Other forms of the word: similes

Definition: a figure of speech likening one thing to another by the use of like, as, etc.

Sentence Example: Ashley likes to use similes in her writing to make her paper more interesting.

Picture Example:

portmanteau word (compound noun)

Other forms of the word: (none)

Definition: a word that is a combination of two other words.

Sentence Example: The word smog, is a portmanteau word for smoke and fog.

Picture Example:

palindrome (noun)

Other forms of the word: palindromist, palindromic, palindromical, palindromically

Definition: a word, line, verse, number, sentence, etc., reading the same backward as forward.

Sentence Example: The word level is a palindrome.

Picture Example:

onomatopoeia (noun)

Other forms of the word: onomatopoeic, onomatopoetic, onomatopoeically, onomatopoetically

Definition: the formation of words by imitating sounds

Sentence Example: Using onomatopoeia in my writing is very interesting.

Picture Example:

malapropism (noun)

Other forms of the word: malapropistic, malapropian

Definition: an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound.

Sentence Example: My friends have a big habit of malapropism.

Picture Example:

colloquial (adjective)

Other forms of the word: colloquially, colloquialness, colloquiality

Definition: informal speech

Sentence Example: "YO MAN!" is a colloquial.

Picture Example:

coinage (noun)

Other forms of the word: coining

Definition of the word: 1) the act or process of making coins
2) the act or process of inventing words

Sentence Example: The government coinages money every year.

Picture Example:

affix (noun/verb)

Other forms of the word: affixes, affixed, affixable, affixial, affixer, affixment, affixal

Definition of the Word: 1) a word or syllable added to a word to change its meaning.
2) to fasten, join, or attach

Sentence Example: I affixed the pictures to the scrapbook before I decorated it.

Picture Example:

acronym (noun)

Other forms of the word: acronyms, acronymic, acronymous, acronymically

Definition of the word: a word formed from the initial letters of other words.

Sentence Example: The acronym, NASA, stands for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Picture Example:

Pon de Lion

I picked this photo because one of my favorite mascots is Pon de Lion from Mister Donut.