Mauricio The Eye Silva

This short story is very meaningful and has lots of powerful words. The way the narrator describes the story itself is also very powerful, and the story "The Eye" tells really brings an emotional side out of the reader but also in the character. The author seems to explain a lot in such a short story. First how "The Eye" is very hidden and somewhat protective of his identity. He didn't go showboating his resistance of Chile or anything. And once the narrator became friends with "the eye" they become closer and he realizes that "the eye" may be homosexual. Finally right before he left for Mexico he confessed. I think this is a very important part of this story, just because it really shows how important and how good it can make somebody feel if they are open with their sexuality. But also there seems to be a reoccurring theme that "the eye" hated violence in which he always avoided at all costs. Then the both of them split up for a few years traveling working in different areas around the world. Then once the narrator ends up in Berlin they run into each other where "the eye", who comes across as this emotion less, strong character has an epiphany. They talk and "the eye" pretty much describes a part of his life that he may not necessarily want to remember. Basically "the eye" went to India to photography brothels for a book, and what he ended up finding was really a life changing experience. First he sees a culture that is wanting attention and really shows struggle for the people. The author makes quite clear that this story is very important to "the eye" by explaining how he always pauses for a couple of minutes and then the narrator "lit up a cigarette". "the eye" is really giving it all hes got not to breakdown in front of his friend. "the eye" talks about how male brothels and prostitutes are basically cutting the boys balls off. This is where "the eye" had a turning point in his life and really couldn't take it anymore. He ends up pretty much kidnapping two of the boys and they travel faraway. "the eye" takes care of them teaches them and loves them unconditionally that is. However they die of a disease and "the eye" is devastated. Overall "the eye" seems lost again, he has really no money no friends and lacks structure. I think India screwed up his head and now he is looking for help anyway he can, crying.

One More Year- Maia in Yonkers/Better Half

The short story Maia in Yonkers is a story full of meaning and imagery displaying a mother and sons relationship. The first half of the short story shows a little bit of the struggle the mother and some of the family members go through in Tbilisi. The son goes to the embassy to get his visa and needs to pass an interview. This reminds Maia of her own struggle to go through the interview, she ended up lying to the embassy in order to come to America. The mother also constantly thinks about her husband who passed away. "At these moments she doesn't feel that her life with him has ended, but that it's still playing underneath her present life" I think this quote is very important in that in those societies woman are almost helpless by themselves. I don't mean this in a bad way at all, it is just the way it is sometimes. In our society woman are becoming more and more independent and some married women are making more money then men these days. However in eastern Europe women still struggle to get by and need more structure and as in Maia's case she needs her husband. I think Maia moved to America to not only get away from the hardship, but America is so much more open to women leading the way and being able to do and work at whatever they would like. America opens the opportunity for many women. Once the son comes to visit the reader feels a distance between the mother and son. This is unfortunate due to the fact the son seems to be very ungrateful for the fact his mother pays thousands of dollars for him to go the a private school. "In New York City nothing impresses him, He drags his feet when they run to catch buses." Gogi seems to be disappointing in everything like nothing is good enough. Instead of being happy with his mother he almost doesn;t want to be anywhere around her. This pattern seems to shift when they go shopping and walking around in New York City, they seem to grow closer and want to learn more and more about each other. But once again he shows an attitude at the end of the story and it seems all the mother wants is for him to be happy just as any mother does, and once he leaves she is sad and she knows Tbilisi isn't the right place for her son but she feels like there is not much more she can do about it.

In the short story better half, the reader sees another women's struggle to be happy in the society she is faced with. anya seems to be locked up and cant escape the tight grip of her husband. The both of them constantly fight and it seems as if they lack happiness altogether. Part of this may be due to the fact that they are 22 and got married a bit too young or the both of them are just ignorant and immature. "Scheming! What would I be scheming about? You're always coming to the diner to spy on me." Here is a prime example of how the couple really lacks the basic fundamentals of any relationship whether married or not. Couples have to trust each other or else you would drive each other crazy. And defiantly before somebody gets married trust needs to be the number one thing you like about each other. This story seems to be an ongoing fight between the both of them, every night or everything they do, there is no happiness. Obviously they get a divorce which is the best for the both of them and finally Anya gets what she wants freedom to live her life the way she wants. She moves to New York city and begins taking classes and working. This allows her to build a new life and use America to its full advantage. Once again the author uses America as a way for the characters to escape the hardships of the motherland. There really seems to be no other way for the characters to escape and so they let go of what they have endured for so many years and move on with their lives. In doing so they seem to be at peace with what they have in front of them.

Bridgeroom-Ha Jin

The satire in this short story is not as easily understood as in the previous short story. Honestly I don't see much satire at all, I do see some humorous parts in the story. However the satire I do catch in this story goes back to how narrow sided the Chinese people are when it comes to things such as homosexuality. I'm not saying it is their own fault but more so the Chinese governement's fault. Basically the story is how a very handsome man marries a somewhat non-attractive women, and, and how the bride's adoptive father is constantly thinking about how their marriage will fail. There is some light of hope when the couple gets married after a short while, yet after about a year of marriage they still havent had sex and it seems the interest is being lost. The reason for this is because Baowen is gay. He has no desire really for women, and at first to me seems to be mainly just curious but then faces the fact he really does have feelings for other men. However, his homosexuality ends up putting him in jail, due to the fact that this is a crime punishable by jailtime in China. This story has much more meaning behind it than one may think, it really makes the reader think to themselves, how ignorant they may be about gays, or how ignorant they may be about being gay themselves. A prime example of ignorance over homosexuality in this story is, when Chief Miao says,"Homosexuality is “a social disease” and that it “originated in western Capitalism and bourgeois lifestyle." Here is a great example of how and what they think sexuality is, that it is western civilization that created this. However it is not only the people of China who are straight that are ignorant it seems to Baowen himself is almost just as ignorant. “Years ago I tried everything to cure myself. I took a lot of herbs and boluses, and even ate baked scorpions, lizards, and toads. Nothing helped me. Still I’m fond of men”, its just like why would he ever think that insects and toads would cure something, especially something as abstract as homosexuality, that is pretty funny.
This short story is a great example of how ignorance can really control they way a certain people think about one another. Chinese people are ignorant and dont want to believe that homosexuality is what it is a choice basically, however we have a lot of those types of people in America as well. One thing that is changing with newer generations is that more and more people are accepting people's homosexuality. This story does end up showing some signs of satire however not really the satire I was looking for, this story disappointed me overall but I still liked the previous short story from Ha Jin.

After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town

This short story is just the type of stories I like, full with imagery and satire. Satire is easily my favorite type of reading. Not only is it enjoyable put keeps me glued to the pages and wanting more, which is a very important quality in all types of writings.

We see a business owner move to China and opens up what?, a fried chicken restaurant. Overall, this just starts off as a perfect satire. What average American or whichever ethnicity would think that Chinese people like fried chicken. Fired chicken in China seems somewhat riduclous but in today's society this is quite believable. But the basic story is told from a workers perspective, and lots of the story has hidden meanings between socialism China vs. capitalism America. A lot of what Mr. Shapiro, the store owner, does is very confusing for the Chinese workers to comprehend. To me this could be a little bit of satire, but it really shows how much the Chinese governement hides from its people, they are so tightly locked up in only China's way of living they have no idea what really goes on beyond China. In way its sad that people are forced to live and think in a certain way. However, China has also opened up many of its ways today, but still limits many of the things citizens can learn or see whether on tv or internet. A quick example of how a Chinese person thinks differently comes from a quote from the story, "I was about to move to another table, I saw a hole on the seat burned by a cigarette, the size of a soybean. It must have been the work of that son of a dog. Instead of refunding his money, we should've detained him until he paid for the damage. " In China this person would go to jail, most likely in America most places would be oh its ok it was an accident type of attitude.
Another example of satire in this story is the whole buffet scene. Basically the store owner wanted to try a buffet and after the first night he lost lots of money which the workers already knew was going to happen, and instead of realizing this and facing the facts he kept the buffet and kept losing money, but finally the Mr. Shapiro decided to pull out of the buffet. This reminds me of somewhat of how America is run, just doing things because they "think" it will help either themselves or somebody in a way, without really looking at other people's mistakes. But this story keeps going into detail of how Mr.Shapiro changes things about the restaurant, for example he throws a wedding shower, and another funny thing happens after this shower. A man comes in showing a fly he had found in his food apparently, and eventually the workers prove that the fly did not come from the restaurant. However the man wants to sue the restaurant, which is pretty stupid a fly is harmless it isn't going to kill you it is nothing you would ever sue anyone over. But just as Americans do they sue over their own stupidity things like suing Mcdonalds, over spilling hot coffee on their lap and burning themselves because it did not say hot on the side of the cup? This is another prime example of how the writer incorporates satire into this story.
" I hated Mr. Shapiro's hypocrisy. He always appeared good-hearted and considerate to customers, but was cruel to us, his employees." I could see this relating to the big time CEO's of America and how a lot of them come across as nice but are two faced, paying low wages low benefits, just as Wal-Mart has had a problem with this in the past.

Overall this is a very funny story with some serious meaning behind it, and that is the beauty of satire. A person can literally write about almost anything serious in today's society and tweak it a bit, just have to be creative, takes time but is fun to do, just as this author has done.

Here are two videos that are from Dave Chappelle that I think are funny and relate to the satire in this short story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqBu-JBm0Q0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU28Pv26nNQ&feature=related

Movie Stones of Summer Part Three

In part three of the movie, we finally meet the author, and finally get the feeling the narrator is content. Overall this movie opened up my eyes not only to this book and the author, but books in general and how much they can mean to somebody. The narrator had his heart set on finding Dow, the author and it is really just a great story about how and what the narrator goes through to find Dow.

But in part three of the movie we still see the determination and strong mindset the narrator has. As he continues on his journey he meets the agent of Dow, and shows him his top ten list of books, and the last book he shows him is Stones of Summer, and at this point you can see the agent in awe. But once again the narrator asks the agent why would anybody write just one good book. The agent replies it just happens almost as if he has no idea. Throughout the movie this is a reoccurring question that the narrator asks. He just can't understand how Dow wrote only one great novel. But once the narrator has finally tracked Dow done, he almost didn't know how to act, its as if he didn't think he would ever find Dow. But once he visits his home, he becomes comfortable, they search for the contract from the novel and Mark, acts as if he is in his home, and commands Dow,"Hey lets go downstairs", and without hesitation begins to run downstairs. I just think its funny how he doesn't really even give Dow a chance to say anything.

My first impression of Dow, is really just a weird person in general. I can defiantly see why he ended up in a mental hospital. He shows signs of something weird in his mind that I just can't quite figure out. He slurs a lot of his words and rambles too much, and the narrator of the movie seems to notice this as well, but out of courtesy and how much he has worked to find Dow, it doesn't phase him to much. On a more positive side of Dow, he seems to be very well educated and very well rounded. He loves Shakespeare, and talks very highly of him. But once again I can see how Dow could be a very good author just from his persona. He seems to be very strong willed in what he thinks and very passionate about what he does as well, just as the narrator himself. Right before the movie ends I think both Dow and the narrator end up having a strong connection not with only the book but just with life in general.

I think this movie is a great eye opener and very well documented I am going to tell some people about it, and hopefully it opens their eyes as much as it did mine.

Movie Stones of Summer-Part Two

In part two of the movie we are watching in class, we see the narrator/main character of the movie continue his search for the infamous author of the book Stones of Summer. The narrator is still practically in love with this author and still is confused how such a great writer can only write one book. I also wonder why somebody who writes a great book basically falls off the side of the earth. But the narrator finds out more and more about this author, when he goes on his final search for him in Iowa. On his search he first goes to the Iowa University Library and searches for the authors old manuscripts, and old thesis he may have written during college. I think once the narrator does find the author's old things he is amazed at what he is looking at. He finds old rough drafts from the Stones of Summer, and the narrator cannot believe how much editing really went into the book. The narrator also finds older pictures of one of the authors professors, who he seeks out to find next for more clues. I think at this point of the movie, we as viewers see somewhat of a climax or an epiphany from the narrator. The narrator searched and searched online, traveling to different parts of the country for the first part of the movie, which I don't know how long the time span is of part one, but doesn't seem like he made these trips in one week. But the narrator had nothing at first, went to talk to editors, critics, authors, professor, all whom had never heard of the book nor the author. I'm sure the narrator had a blast talking to all these people, but they never lead him to where he wanted to go. This being said, part two shows an even more determined person and viewers really get a sense of how much this book means to him. For example, when he lands at the professors house who taught the author of the book, he asks him a couple of questions, and then asks the professor what was the most memorable person/novel he had taught and helped with. The professor then mentions he ended up making this guy go to a mental hospital from all the work he made him do for this novel. He mentions the name of both the author and the book, and when the narrator finally explains to the professor why he is there, I think they both are surprised but almost relieved. The emotions and feeling are expressed from both the professor and the narrator in how much this book means to them. But the next step in the movie is yet to be unveiled and I hope they find the author, I anticipate something quite special.

This movie is good, and is somewhat heart-warming for the fact that something has so much meaning to a person. This guy is doing everything out of his own pockets, his own determination, and when he finally gets leads he loves it and enjoys every minute of it, without getting down on the failure he had searching for this guy in the first place. Overall this movie is great and I can't wait to watch the rest of the movie.

Movie Stones of Summer-Part one

This movie is good and has a very strong meaning of commitment and desire to want something. The narrator and main character of the movie, has read a book and wants to find the author. This book seems to obviously have a lot of meaning to the narrator. The book was written in 1972, and at this time I personally believe the narrator went through a life changing experience or something. The narrator constantly searches for answers on the author of the Stones of Summer. The narrator seems very sincere in his words he uses while narrating, and seems to very well educated. He looks through book reviews back from 72 and can only find one. He writes emails online to people, blogs to see if anyone has ever read the book, yet fails to really find anyone who has actually read it. The narrator found one person who was sitting next to a person who carries the book around everywhere with her, but that was the end of the lead. Next he sends the book to an old friend from Iowa, who he hasn't seen in ten years. But his friend writes back with finding and leading to nothing once again. The author tells a little about his life back in 1972, when the book was first written, when he talks with his mother but nothing that really gives a purpose to why he really wants to meet this author. He says he had pneumonia for about 6 weeks, and during this period he read a lot. His mother also said he was a very likable, sociable person.
Then the narrator of the film goes back into the search of the author of Stones of Summer, and it really is almost inspiring how much desire he has put into finding this author. He is determined and comes up with a plan to find the author. The narrator also wants to find out why after writing such a great book, that the author didn't write another one. Yet many of the critics and people, the narrator interviews during the film say that many authors do this. Some authors have so much success that it makes them stop. The others have complete failure and commit suicide. I personally believe it takes much effort to write a book that other people will like not just something you the writer like. You have to take a look on how other people will or would perceive your book and that is very difficult for authors to do. However when books do become successful an author may become shocked and lead to basically just giving up. sometimes success is always what people want they want the message to get across. Gone with the Wind's author was the only book she wrote. That is amazing to me that how something so famous, could only have one book.
This film is very interesting and shows how determination is sometimes all you need to finally get something you want. We have only watched till the end of part one, but I feel the narrator will defiantly find the author. he has talked with the original critic and has some other leads and letters that come in the mail, to help on his quest. he has informed a lot of people about his quest and a lot of people seem interested but the book is his main drive and keeps him going on and on.