Immigration Project Reflection

The immigration project consisted of reading literature circle books, blog posts, artistic expression, and interviewing an immigrant. This cycle of lit. circles was different from the others, because this time we did all of the meetings on our blogs. The book I read was Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat. The book starts off in Haiti, and talks about how Edwidge's uncle and father dealt with their chronic illnesses as Haiti crumbled before their eyes. I enjoyed reading the book, because of how heart-warming the unconditional love that circulated in Edwidge's family was. Since the book was an autobiography, the elements of the book seemed to jump out more than those of a novel. This book greatly reminded me of my own family, and I believe that is the main reason why I enjoyed it so much; my parents would sacrifice the same for me as Edwidge's parents did for her. This book taught me that no family is problem-free and picture perfect. Every family has issues, whether they are big or small, and in order to survive they must count on each other. I like the new blogging system for literature circles, but it is not always convenient because not everybody has a functioning computer. Also, with the hand-out sheets you can do the homework wherever; with the blogging system, you can only do it where a computer is accessible. Most of my group members appeared to do their blog posts on time, but I believe one or two of them misunderstood the book. In their quotes, they would either ask completely irrevelant questions, or questions that were clearly answered in the section we were supposed to read. It made it made harder for me to do my second job (replying to blogs).

We also had to artistically express the book. The way I chose to express the book was by painting a theme from it. It was basically a red heart with Edwidge's family as bathroom figures surrounded by a black background, with blue teardrops that contained words that described major elements in the book. I also added a yellow lightning strike to symbolize the evil and anarchy that was striking Haiti in Edwidge's childhood. I think the words in the teardrops were what helped my classmates understand the theme of the book. It was supposed to be a loving family of six that is surrounded by darkness, prejudice, and violence. I believe I did an adequate job of reaching that goal, because at the in-class gallery walk, all of my classmates that looked at my painting said they loved my idea. This was my favorite part of the project simply because I got to put my artistic abilities to work.

I chose to interview my mom's friend Jenny, who is a Chinese immigrant. She owns her own workout business and it has been thriving for the past six years. Since I already knew Jenny, it was a lot easier to interview her. I didn't have introduce or talk about myself, because we already knew each other! I think the in-person was the most awkward for me, because I had to look at the person while I was interviewing them. On the phone you can do other things, but in person you have to sit there and intently listen to the person you are interviewing. A unique thing I learned about Jenny in our third interview is that when she and her family still lived in China, her father was a doctor and her mother was a housewife. Since I interviewed Jenny at my house, I had to spend the afternoon helping my mom clean the house and my room. That is another hassle on its own, because not only did I have to clean my room, I had to swiffer the entire house including underneath the couches (on top of my normal everyday chores). But it went smoothly and Jenny brought her dog Reba, who is a Sharpay/Pit puppy. So afterwards, I went in the backyard and played with Reba and my dog Rambo. I had to think a lot before I called Jenny for the first inteview, because I wanted to know what I was going to say ahead of time to avoid stuttering. An important fact from the first interview is that she has three brothers, which I did not know before. The second interview was a lot easier, because I already had a good idea of how the interview would go. Another interesting fact about Jenny is that all of her family lives in America. Normally, immigrants still have family members in their homeland. I got to know Jenny a lot better because of these interviews, and I now have a better understanding of what it is like to be an immigrant. My current understanding is that it is hard to adjust to the new cultures, but not nearly as hard as it is to fit in with the country's occupants. If I were to go to China right now, it would be hard for me to get used to the culture; even if I am already used to Chinese culture, I still would not fit in with the average Chinese person, because they are familiar with their territory. After we had completed all of our interviews with our immigrant, we had to make a final product as a gift to them. I chose to do a painting. The format is in the American flag, only altered. The blue rectangle with the stars was changed to the Chinese flag, and I wrote Shanghai Province because that is where Jenny had lived in China. The red and white stripes were changed to black and white stripes, and in two of the white lines I wrote "Land of the free...home of the brave" to symbolize the US. So I mostly just combined the Chinese and American flag. Although I did not give Jenny the painting yet, I know she'll love it when I do. I greatly enjoyed this project, because I got to paint and that is one of my stronger points. I would love to do more projects like this one.

6th Lit. Circle Mtg. - Brother, I'm Dying

Quote #1
Quote by the Narrator
page 232

"Vomit shot out of his mouth, his nose, as well as the tracheotomy hole in his neck. The vomit was spread all over his face, from his forehead to his chin, down to the front of his Krome-issued overalls. There was also vomit on his thighs, where a large wet stain showed he had also urinated on himself."

Significance: This could affect how much longer Uncle Joseph has to stay in Krome because the medic seemed to think Uncle Joseph was faking. He was being unreasonable because nobody can force themself to vomit, and if they can they would not be able to vomit that much. The medics did not take Uncle Joseph seriously when he said that he needed his medication.
Personal Connection: In elementary school, when I got sick, I used to throw up at least once a year. I do not know why, it just happened every time I had a bad cold. Maybe it had something to do with having bad gagging reflexes, but that is the closest connection I can get to this quote.
Question: Have you ever heard anything similar to this happen?

Quote #2
Quote by Edwidge's father/Edwidge
page 236

"'No', my father told the doctor. 'I don't want to be kept alive by machines. There's already been enough suffering.'"

Significance: Edwidge's father is tired of feeling helpless and only wants the pain of suffering to stop. Not only for him, but for his brother and all of his relatives in Haiti. It seems as though the big reason he doesn't want a DNR is because he doesn't want to be around if his brother dies. Right now neither of them are in good health and both of them do not want to alive when the other dies. So at the moment, the title of the book can go many directions. (From Mira to Joseph, Joseph to Mira, Joseph to Franck, and Mira to Frank)
Character Judgement: Edwidge's father has a very strong personality. It is a big choice to decide whether or not you want to be put on life support. You may want to because of the condition your family members will be in if you don't, or you may not want to because of your physical, emotional, and mental state. But Edwidge's father firmly stated which he wanted without asking for his family's input, knowing they would all say to get the DNR.
Question: Do you think Edwidge would want her father to get the DNR, or do you think she would only want her father's suffering to ceise.

5th Lit. Circle Mtg. - Brother, I'm Dying

Quote #1
Quote by the Narrator
page 187

"Walking the slippery incline that separated his house from another small courtyard, he kept his face down, his chin as close as he could to his chest without blocking his tracheotomy hole. He did not dare look back toward the church as a new wave of looters brushed past him, heading there. He might have been tempted to follow them, to try to stop them, reason with them. He thought about all the wounded who might be lying somewhere dying. He thought of their mothers, fathers, standing over them unable to do anything but watch."

Significance: Even though all of these people in the mob are stealing from him, he still believes he can save them. That shows what a good person Edwidge's uncle really is, if he wants to help those who want him dead and are stealing from him. I am glad that he is getting away though, because that mob was going to tear him limb from limb if not for Anne.
Character Judgment: I like Uncle Joseph because of his uncanny kindness. Though in this quote I think he should be thinking the opposite and want to hurt everybody in the mob, I think it is good he remained calm because if he had not he might have been dead already. His kindness kept him alive when he was surrounded by a ravenous mob.
Question: If you were in Uncle Joseph's position, would you do the same thing?

Quote #2
Quote by the Narrator
page 206

"Worried about my uncle, he hadn't slept the night before. His voice was so hoarse from coughing that he could barely speak when I called. His excema and psoriasis had returned and he'd completely lost what little appetite he had."

Significance: The fact that his brother is in trouble has deeply troubled him. When that happens to a person, they tend to either lose sleep or break down. That seems to be what Edwidge's father is doing.
Character Judgement: Edwidge's dad is a good person because he worries a lot when a family member even has a common cold. He always keeps in touch with his family, to make sure they are happy and safe. Those are the types of qualities I would like to have, because it makes that person more likeable.
Question: Have you ever had a sibling that was sick or in danger? If so, did you feel the same way as Edwidge's dad?

4th Lit. Circle Mtg. - Brother I'm Dying

Quote #1
Quote by Uncle Joseph
page 154

"'She was my friend, my wife, the woman who stood by me both when I could speak and when I was silent,' he said."

Significance: It is a hard thing to go through to lose a close family member like that. Even a family friend's death would be hard to cope with. I think medical conditions like diabetes and strokes are the worst way for someone to die, because at first they're expecting to die but when it does not happen when they want, they want to die. Which is the worst feeling in the world; to be in such bad condition that you want to die. It must have been especially hard to Uncle Joseph because she had stood by his side when he was thinking over the decision of getting a laryngectomy and when he completely lost his voice. They were not the perfect happy couple; they went through too many hardships together.
Personal Connection: My mom's best friend, Todd, died when I was six. I do not remember what he died of, but I do remember sobbing so that the heavens could hear me. Todd had been a close friend to me too, because he was almost like a fun uncle. But the day before he died he came over to my house on a wheelchair, but my mom wouldn't let me see him. I believe it had something to do with the fact that he smoked. He never smoked around me, because my mom hates it when young children are closely exposed to cigarette smoke.
Question: Did you ever have a close relative or friend that died? How did you react to it?

Quote #2
Quote by Edwidge
page 161

"Sometimes, however, he would get a craving for take-out fried chicken and plantains, and either Bob or Karl would stop at a nearby restaurant and pick them up for him before coming over to the house to bathe him."

Significance: Edwidge's father cannot even drive himself to go get some food or bathe himself. That lets me know how sick Edwidge's father really is, and how frail he has become. Now I know that Edwidge's father likes fried-chicken and plantains.
Personal Connection: My nana had a surgery and my mom had to drive her home because she had reacted badly to the drugs and she was still only half-conscious. My nana always cooks her own dinner, but she was too groggy and tired to cook so my mom, sister, and I went to go pick up some pizza. After she ate she felt better, but it was kind of sad seeing her so gray and quiet, unlike her normal active self. My favorite dinner she makes is pork roast with red beans on rice and tostones. Tostones are a Puerto-Rican dish that are made out of plantains, which is what Edwidge's father was eating.
Question: Have you ever eaten tostones? If so, where did you eat them and who made them?