Jasmine...

This week’s response, I wanted to shortly summarize Jyoti’s different role because I think it is very interesting for one to have several name representing several roles in one single “ life cycle”, which is what Buddhists believe. Please feel free to jump in and discuss further of what you think about each of her role.

Jyoti is always being represent as a very smart, good looking girl who born eighteen years after the partition Riots in a makeshift birthing hut in Hasnapur, Jullundhar District, Punjab, India. In her family, she is the fifth daughter but representing the seventh of all the nine children. She met an astrologer who tells her that in her whole life, she will face a fate of widowhood and alienation; unluckily, both predictions come true and she was suffered through these tragedies. As I mentioned, she was very smart, she attends school twice as long as most Indian girls, and impresses her teachers with her intelligence. Jyoti's name and identity keep changing during the whole story, which is one of the major criteria of the book. Her grandma names her Jyoti, meaning "light." Lillian Gordan calls her Jazzy, Taylor names her Jase, her Indian husband, Prakash, who was killed by a terrorist bomb, calls her Jasmine, and Bud Ripplemeyer gives her the moniker Jane.

Nonetheless, in the story, Jasmine originally shares Prakash's dream of an American life of prosperity. Unfortunately, after his murder, she decided to travel abroad to burn herself on his pyre, which seems to be the start of her real tragedy. Upon landing in America, Half-Face, the horrible captain of the boat that carried her over, rapes the innocent Jasmine. Out of the anger and all the sadness that she bared, she then kills him. Life seems to turn better when she met Lillian Gordan, who saves her, coaches her, and sends her to Flushing, New York. There, she lives peacefully and was able to spend five oppressive months with Professor ji, an Indian immigrant, and his family. From there, she goes to Manhattan to be Duff's au pair.

After all she suffered, she thinks that she needs to move forward and pursue another love life. Jasmine falls in love with her employer, Taylor, who eventually entices her to run away to California with him. How a sweet couple! This scene seems very lovely and romantic to me, Taylor doesn’t care about Jasmine’s past and still wanted to be with her, and he even wanted to sacrifice something just so they can live happily together.

In Iowa, she met Bud, who hires Jasmine to work in his bank, a family business started by his father, and soon after leaves his wife to be with her. Bud is the pillar of Baden, Iowa, a small farm town experiencing drought. He wields the power to loan farmers money. As a result, he creates some resentment, particularly from Harlan Kroener, who cripples him with two rifle shots in the back. Bud wants Jasmine to marry him, especially now that she carries their unborn child. He is twice Jasmine's age, and an avid Cardinals baseball fan.  Jasmine becomes pregnant through artificial insemination, then they gave birth to Du, their adopted teenaged child, also flees to California.

The Superstition...

 

Indeed, I have to say that this week’s reading is definitely different from most of our readings in the past. It is quite mysterious when reading this story. I thought this kind of superstitions only happens in China, in fact, it was also past to Japan and Korea. I wasn’t surprised to read the person acting like this because I had heard stories about this kind of superstitions before. What I felt surprised is that I actually read it from a Japanese descendant. 

In today’s reflection, I would like to clear up couple points, as well as, telling you the real story that I heard from my friend’s family.

This story really makes me think, it confuses me in some part, but I was able to get back to the track, digest and organize the story. When Beccah started to reminisced what her mother said to her, “I killed your father” (p. 192), I first thought that her mom is a murderer and this story might be something about Beccah’s father is a bad person. However, After reading the statements like “……secure the double locks…so my mother couldn’t get out of the house”, (p.193) “Instead of continuing straight to school, I’d wait with her until the number 8 came to take her to Reno’s Waikiki Bar-B-Q Hut……” (pp. 193-194), then I thought the story will be about Beccah’s crazy or incapable mother, who in some point became crazy and killed her husband and she felt guilty that she needs to tell Beccah, but then when the story reached the end, it proves that all my thinking and assumptions were all wrong. Beccah’s mother said “I wish him to death”(p.201), “Every day I think,…Die, die, sending him death-wish arrows, until one day my prayers were answered” I thought my assumptions in the beginning was right, but when Beccah said “so you didn’t actually, physically kill him. Like with a knife or something” (p.202), it really confuse me how can this possibly happened? However, after linking and organizing all thoughts from the whole story, especially, the ending part, then I realized what is really going on in the story.

Many of you would think that the spirit thing is a joke, right? I would think the same things if I have never seen one, but I have to acknowledge that this kind of power is actually exist. The story happened when my friend’s grandmother past away for “7 weeks”, and they went to one of the “Spirit medium” (p.200) just like “Akiko”, and they summoned his grandmother to the Spirit medium’s body, talked and asked her questions. The amazing part is, she where able to say who were there and what they did before, she also talked what she is doing now in the other world.  He told me the process of summoning the death people’s spirit and it actually looks very similar to what Beccah’s story describes, except, the “Spirit medium body” is not insane and people don’t have to wait day and night.

Now, do you think it is still unbelievable? Me too…. Even though I have heard lots of these, I still wanted to see it myself.

The so-called.... "The Camp".........What if I am the one.....???

First of all, I think those poems are very interesting, they are really different from the poems that I had read before. Not only that I think they are different, but also I can somehow see the connections between these poems and our previous readings. Today, I wanted to play around with some specific poems, either discusses further using my “Asian mind”, or plays a role incorporate with the poems. Moreover, I would also like to link some of the poems to our previous reading, so feel free to join me or criticize them.

I really like Mrs. Yamada’s “Camp notes”, as it vividly describes, explains and criticizes the life and feeling of real Japanese that lives in United States during the World War II. She started with the poem of describing the “evacuation” (Yamada, p.13) scenario. From here, I wanted to put myself in the situation too by supporting the protagonist in the poem. You said “I never packed two bags before” (Yamada, p.13), Me too! I never even expect I would have to package and leave in a rush, I didn’t even have chance to bring all my stuffs, the only picture of my grandmother. I don’t like these reporters, they don’t know exactly how we feel and see, and still asked us to “Smile” (Yamada, p.13), it sounds very sarcastic and I feel disgusted.

I also like “in the Outhouse” (Yamada, p.17) poem, she described a place which everyone would almost use it daily into a cruel place like hell, I really like the part that says “burns my eyes” (Yamada, p.17), we always think that only fire can burns us; however, after reading that part, I realized that a “bloody” place can also burns us, not physically, but at least mentally.

The “Desert Storm” (Yamada, p.20) also attracts me a lot. I can vividly feel the situation that time, just like some parts of “Homebase” which really brought me to that specific period of time. “This was not imprisonment. This was relocation.” (Yamada, p.20), I am part of this land, same as any American here, striving hard to survive, I obey to the law and why should I be treated this way. This is not a place to live, we could have gotten killed at any minute……in this room, under this unstable table, we hide ourselves, we embraced each other tightly and prayed when this severe storm stops, the war could also ends……Yes, we pray from the bottom of our heart and that is the only thing we can do at this time, and that is the only thing that keeps us alive…

One major part that attracts me in the poem of “Cincinnati” is these two lines “No one knew me” and “Everyone knew me” (Yamada, p.33). Personally I think it must be the major concept of this poem, especially, when the author mentioned it again in the last sentence. Here I wanted to create another thinking from the protagonist’ point of view. No one knew me, and this rude American came here and spilled right in front of my face, I was shocked and angry…… I want to curse him, hit him, or at least do something back to him…… but I didn’t…… my conscious stops me from doing such “revenge”…… Isn’t these revenges are the ones causing war? Enough, I am one of the victims of this war and I know how it feels. Enough, I need to stop the cycle from going around. One day, if the world started to unite as one…… I know that it was started from me, I sacrificed my dignity and respects, but I earn the long lasting story that I am worth tell to my future generations and people around the world that I started the peace between USA and Japan. Then I looked at this American again, I know he is not rude, he just full of anger, who else doesn’t, I forgive him and I smile back at him, clean the dirt on my face and left. It looks like I didn’t do anything….. Wrong, I just implied him a message that says there are still some Japanese who wants same thing like you all, we want to live in a peaceful world….

Lastly, I wanted to point out two very interesting poems from Lawson Fusao Inada. First, “The Legend of Bad Boy” (Lawson p.17), isn’t this poem very similar to “Rico”s story? If I am the buddy, then I would use this poem to describe “Rico” in the beginning of my story telling…… I know Rico is not a Bad boy, he was just learned and tried to survive in the environment that he grew up. Second, “The Legend of Good Girl”, I think it just describes “Grandmother’s role” in our previous reading. Most or all of the characteristics here perfectly fits grandmother’s role. Please criticize it if you have other opinions. Thank you!