Finally, a novel that was much unexpected. When I say this, I mean in the sense that I wasn’t expecting to be reading a book about Asian Americans. Every book that we have read so far had to do with either rich white people or African Americans committing incest or trying to find themselves or something else along those lines. It was only my last post that I was talking about how I was so tired of every book being so predictable. So I’m happy that we are finally stepping out of those boundaries and reading something that is totally different and new.
However, what I did notice is that this book didn’t fail to have some sort of tragic death like all the other novels we have read. In this novel, Henry and Leila’s son die at the tragic age of seven, from being dog-piled by children in his neighborhood; which is a very unusual way for a child to die.
Upon thinking about this child’s death, I thought about what people stereotype Asian children to be and many people say that Asian boys are small, frail, skinny and weak. Not that I feel this way because stereotypes are always off point but I’ve heard many people say things like that. So when thinking about why the author would chose to kill off the main characters child the way he did I think about that and maybe he did it in the way he did because Asian boys are stereotyped as being so frail. It didn’t take much for this boy to die and it was only a little dog pile by kids his own age. Why didn’t he fight harder to get the kids off him? It’s just so bizarre. And because the author did kill of this child in the way he did, I can help but picture the boy as a frail weak child that didn’t even really fight for his own life. It’s really sad.
Alex T. Said:
on April 23, 2007 at 2:03 am
Yeah, I think the other plays with a lot of stereotypes in this novel. Like the job Henry has, and how it ties into not being able to show emotions. It’s confusing at first because it just seems like it’s the characters themselves, and part of it is, but there’s a larger picture consider it.
I also think it helps that this book is written in a more conteporary style.
froglover Said:
on April 24, 2007 at 2:01 am
I did not think of that stereotype about frail and weak. Good catch! This book does use a lot of stereotypes as its basis… I am not sure how I feel about that… But I do agree with you that it is nice to have a book that is not as predictable as the rest
mich119 Said:
on April 29, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Dev, I enjoyed reading your post mainly because I felt the same way after I was done reading this novel. This was definately one of the most unpredictable books we have read in class. When I read Henry and Lelia’s son had died due to a tragic accident, it was shocking. I liked your point about the stereotypes of Asian American children. I too, have heard people refer to them as being frail and weak which is ironic because the boy seemed like he did not fight harder to get the children off of him before he died. I thought that was very astonishing how he died also.
smileydkj Said:
on April 29, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Devon
As I read all the sex parts I took a different take.
I thought Henry was beating us over the head way too much with in depth sex scenes. After a while, immiture as I sound, it made me sick to my stomach. Enough already.
laughs.
Dawn
kellbell Said:
on April 30, 2007 at 3:44 am
Devon never thought about Mitt’s death this way but yea good catch, I really think you have a point here about how unusal Mitt’s death is and how it does make you think that Mitt is a weak and frail. Then when you think about the usual Asian stereotype yea you really seem to have a good way of thinking about a completely bizarre way for a child to die. Nice Job!
mandy2612 Said:
on April 30, 2007 at 6:21 am
I definitely know what you mean about reading rather predictable books. So many of the books that we have read really are about white people, whether they are very wealthy, or incredibly poor. So, reading about Asian Americans instead of white people is a nice change. Like you said, while this aspect is different, the theme of death and tragedy definitely presented itself in this book early on, of course referring to the death of their son. It’s interesting how these books can seem like they are completely different once we hear briefly what they are about, but then share themes and in a way, are closely related.
alyssa708 Said:
on April 30, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I felt the same way about Mitt’s death. Good job bringing up stereotypes because throughout all the books we have read, we have mentioned about stereotypes. This is a huge problem with society because of the way people think. They refuse to change their ways and many people think that they are right no matter what anyone else thinks. I also liked reading about Asian-Americans too. It was so different from what we had been reading, and it was good to see the perspective of another culture through their eyes. We don’t have the chance to do that because we do not know what it is like to be brought up in a foreign country and I am glad that we got a small perspective of that. I find it sad people have to still feel so uncomfortable in their own skin. America is the “free country” and yet people still don’t feel as they belong and others make them feel unwanted. Well I think it is time for our society to grow up a little, don’t yah think?