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I am sorry, Perhaps I did not clarify this book was not “America in Its Heart”, this book is “Woman Warrior” by Maxine Hong Kingston. I need to to redo this assignment because there are some “Amercia in its Heart” plot in it. This assignment is completely about “Woman warrior”. I did not request a refund because I work with you all the time. I will give you extra fee for you to edit it. However I will not give you tip this time since its still about the same homework. Thank you for your understanding.
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Close reading exercise #2: The Woman Warrior
For this close reading, you will develop your own technique meaning thesis statement explaining how
differently Kingston chooses to present her mother across the two chapters below. Begin by answering
the questions below in sequence—citing precise evidence and explaining the implications of those language
choices for each point. Cull evidence ONLY from the passages provided.
STEP 1 [thinking process—no need to submit]: Read through the passages below (refer back to the book
to locate them in context), and note your first impressions. Do you feel positively or negatively toward the
character as presented in each passage? How do you suppose the narrative feels about each?
“My Mother”: In the mountains my mother set up a hospital in a cave, and she carried the wounded there.
Some villagers had never seen an airplane before. Mothers stopped up their babies’ mouths so their crying
would not attract the planes. The bombing drove people insane. They rolled on the ground, pushing themselves
against it, as if the earth could open a door for them. The ones who could not stop shaking after the danger
passed would sleep in the cave. My mother explained airplanes to them as she wiggled their ears. (94)
“Brave Orchid”: When she was about sixty-eight years old, Brave Orchid took a day off to wait at SFO for the
plane that was bringing her sister to the United States. … She had begun this waiting at home, getting up a halfhour before Moon Orchid’s plane took off in Hong Kong. Brave Orchid would add her will power to the forces
that keep an airplane up. Her head hurt with the concentration. The plane had to be light, so no matter how
tired she felt, she dared not rest her spirit on a wing but continuously and gently pushed up on the plane’s belly.
She had already been waiting at the airport for nine hours. She was wakeful.
Next to Brave Orchid sat Moon Orchid’s only daughter, who was helping her aunt wait. Brave Orchid had
made two of her children come too because they could drive, but they had been lured away by the magazine
racks and the gift shops and coffee shops. Her American children could not sit still for very long. They did not
understand sitting; they had wandering feet. She hoped they would get back from the pay t.v.’s or the pay toilets
or wherever they were spending their money before the plane arrived. If they did not come back soon, she
would go looking for them. If her son thought he could hide in the men’s room, he was wrong. (113).
Note: answers in Steps 2 – 4 should run 1 ¶/no more than 200 words apiece
STEP 2: Reverse-engineer the surface meaning. An author’s manipulation of readers’ responses to a
character is generally accomplished far more subtly than by duly informing us that the character is
“honorable” or “cowardly” or “rude.” Your task here is to figure out how you are being cued to perceive the
character in each section.
1.
“My mother”
●
Which details establish differences between her and the people around her? Decide on 1-2 terms
to characterize the intellectual qualities thereby attributed to “my mother.”
●
Which details convey how she treats those around her? Decide on 1-2 terms to characterize the
emotional or relational qualities thereby attributed to “my mother.”
2. “Brave Orchid”
● Which details establish how “Brave Orchid” treats those around her, or what attitudes she bears
toward them? Can you draw direct contrasts between the emotional or relational qualities you
found in “my mother” vs. “Brave Orchid”?
●
Which details establish the quality or nature of “Brave Orchid’s” thinking? Can you draw direct
contrasts between the intellectual qualities you found in “my mother” vs. “Brave Orchid”?
Consider how they each relate to their respective airplanes, especially, and what that implies about
how (well) their minds work.
●
Does “Brave Orchid” compare favorably or poorly to “my mother”?
STEP 3: Consider the use of parallels—common elements or themes—across the two passages, and how
those constants are used to measure the changes in Brave Orchid. How do these authorial techniques/
choices lead readers to perceive the change in Brave Orchid, without Kingston’s stating her opinions of that
change explicitly?
STEP 4:
now
QUESTION the
evidence
as a subjective truth,
rather than accept it as “fact”!
Can you poke holes in the representation of “my mother”? Find the signs of bias in that first
representation? This is where you discover the reason for the underlying meaning that emerges across the
two passages.
STEP 5A: Selecting from your responses above, use the table to break down your thesis statement
regarding how a pattern of authorial tactics conveys Maxine’s polarized views of this figure.
thesis components
point A: Surface meaning
Seeming givens/“facts” about how
the character “is” different
point B: Underlying meaning
New understanding of how the
author has created these
impressions/opinions—while also
allowing us to see them as
impressions/opinions
how we get from point A to point B:
Analytical concept(s) of your thesis
Pattern of concepts or techniques
that you will focus on & prove
STEP 5B: Write out your thesis statement in 1-2 sentences. (Recommended: formulate your thesis not in terms
of what “the character is” but of what “Kingston chooses” and why.)
STEP 6: Use the thesis you have developed and organize your answers into a coherent, linear argument.
Explicating specific evidence, show how and explain why there is a pattern in Kingston’s choices, by
which we are led to judge Brave Orchid as a diminished version of “my mother.” (Approx. 500 words. This
assignment will be graded according to the Rubric for Close Reading Assignments.)
REFLECTION:
This assignment was… (circle one below)
EASY – STRANGE BUT I THINK I GOT IT – CONFUSING, NOT SURE I GOT IT – FRUSTRATING
Compared to the Bulosan CR, this one… (highlight any that apply)
LOST TOO MUCH STRUCTURE – BUILT CLEARLY ON PREVIOUS LEARNING
–
PROVIDED MORE FREEDOM, BUT STILL NOT ENOUGH
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