"Moon Lady"
posted by Mrs. Woods | Monday, December 10, 2007
Woods' English 2A
This blog is intended to be used as a discussion forum for Mrs. Woods' 2A students from Piedmont Hills High School. The blog will allow each student to offer responses and reactions to the novels read outside of class. This blog will also allow you to read the reactions of others.
154 Comments:
"So the Moon Lady Isn't Real; What About Santa Claus?"
1)Reaction to "The Moon Lady"
I guess this chapter was okay, however it was pretty weird, and it felt as if I was reading to a resolution that was leading to no where. Personally, I think that Ying-Ying was a little psycho to begin with, and this event simply amplified her problem. After all, what kind of child prefers to spend time standing right next to a lady shucking fish, and even worse, she thought that she would be unseen if she painted her clothes crimson red, when she says, “And this is what I truly thought: that I could cover these spots by painting all my clothes crimson red, and that if I stood perfectly still no one would notice this change.(Tan 76)" Also, I think she was pretty traumatized from seeing one of her idols turn into a man. It would be like me seeing me dad under the Santa suit putting presents under the Christmas tree. I think she is basically losing her innocence as a child and learning to accept the real world. Also, I think she is pretty rich and spoiled. I didn't quite understand why the celebrate the Moon Lady for; I think it was just a way for the rich people to spend their money, all they did was spend time on a fishing boat and getting wishes from the Moon Lady. As if they needed anything else in the world.
2) Relationships in "The Moon Lady"
I think the relationship between Ying-Ying and Amah is kind of like a nana is to a rich child. A lot of times, you presume that rich parents are not very close to their children, like Sol was with his parents in Leo Buscaglia's short, "Mama's Soup Pot." When Ying-Ying says, “I climbed out of the rickshaw with my mother in it , which displeased my Amah, because this was presumptuous behavior on my part and also because Amah loved me better than her own,(Tan 72)" you think that Ying-Ying is in a way is trying to make her Amah jealous because she knows that Amah would do anything for her. So, perhaps that was a way to get her to soften up for something. You also find that her Amah is taking care of Ying-Ying a lot more than her own mother is, like fixing her dress after she was running to catch the dragonfly and trying to hold her in the rickshaw. Also, when Amah says, "Your mother, now she will be glad to wash her hands of you,(Tan 76)" you presume that the mother treats Ying-Ying like property, and not a real daughter, further emphasizing the fact that Amah cared for her more.
3)Essential questions in "The Moon Lady"
In this chapter, the main conflict is internal side Ying-Ying. She is having a conflict with herself because in the beginning of the chapter, she explains how she is very spoiled and immature, showing child-like innocence, but, when she falls into the lake, she realizes something, that you never get everything what you want in life, because she sees that she can't get her mom to come and rescue her. Also, she further loses her innocence with the conflicting in herself when she sees the moon lady turn into a man. This shows that a lot of the childhood fantasies she had when she was a child are being crushed. Overall, Ying-Ying explains how she fought a conflict within herself about her innocence when she says, "I never believed my family found the same girl.(Tan 83)"
Johnny Chu
Period 7
1. The unforgotten night
2. The Moon Lady
3. Ying Ying’s Amah spoiled her because she never really taught her to care about other people. Everyone in her family seemed to not care about her. Especially during the scene where they go to the boat on Tai Lake. When the family had their afternoon nap she woke up early. Later on she went to the back of the boat and watched the fishermen and cooks work. After sundown she was left alone and was on the back of the boat. Soon after she fell in the water because of the fireworks that frightened her. She drowned and got rescued by fishermen. They returned her to the boat, but the family partied so much that they did not know that Ying Ying was missing. Thus, the fishermen returned her to the shore instead. This showed how the family never really cared much for her.
4. The relationship between Ying Ying and Amah is very close. Amah was a nurse and a person that took care of Ying Ying and her mother when she was born. Amah was almost like a mother since her real mother did not care for her. Relationship between Ying Ying and her mother is not too close. But when they were going to Tai Lake she wanted to ride with her mother, which shows that she really wanted the love of her mother.
5. In this chapter Amy Tan uses symbolism. The pavilion or the ship is the family. She was separated from her family, thus, the literally meaning is that the family doesn’t really care about her. They get concentrated on other things and forget about her. The lake probably symbolizes as a place where she is left behind. The fishermen that save her symbolize the people that care about her.
6c. China had maids, nurses, or servants take care of mothers’ kids. This was only if you were in a rich family. Your real mother did not care as much since they had to take care of family affairs. So the children of these families would usually have a nurse tha acted as a mother.
Costume
“The Moon Lady”
1. In this vignette, Ying-Ying St. Clair was a carefree young girl in her own wonderland. As I progressed throughout the chapter, she started to see how different the rich is from the poverty stricken. The ending of the vignette was odd but I understood it. Amy Tan used it as a means of destroy Ying-Ying’s innocence. After she found out that the Moon Lady she believed in so passionately was a man in costume, she probably has lost her courage to hope for someone to save her.
2. The relationship that Ying-Ying has with Amah seems like a loving mother-daughter relationship. I thought Amah was Ying-Ying’s real mother at first and thought that “Amah” was just another way to say mom. I didn’t find out that she was just the nanny until halfway through the story. Amah treats Ying-Ying as if she was her own daughter.
3. Amy Tan uses the Moon Lady to symbolize Ying-Ying’s innocence and hope. When she first heard of the Moon Lady, Ying-Ying was delighted. After she found out the Moon Lady that she wished to was fake, it symbolizes a loss of hope. Now that she told her wish, she thinks of it as a selfish desire because of what Amah has told her.
4. This section shows the local colors of the rich instead of the poor. It shows that their celebrations are elaborate and grand. It also showed how a young lady born into a rich household must hold her tongue if she wants to ask for something. It also shows that young girls in a rich family don’t have that much freedom. They can’t play around for their clothes would get dirty and they shouldn’t go out in the sun because they would lose their pale skin and look like a peasant.
The Secret Wish
The Moon Lady
1. I thought it was kind of odd that Ting called her half sisters number two and number three. I wonder if it is because they are the daughters of the father’s concubines and considered not as good as Ying- Ying. I also wonder if Ying-Ying’s mom is nice to the two other girls because they are not her own children. I also thought it was very clever the way the boys on the boat caught fish by using a pelican. Although it was really mean, I guess it was very easy and convenient for them. Also, it was kind of funny, but sad how Ying- Ying found out that the Moon Lady was actually a man. She must have been very sad finding out that the magical moon lady was just being acted out by a man. It’s like a child finding out that Santa isn’t real.
2. Ying- Ying and her nanny have a very intimate relationship. Although her Amah is her nanny, she does not treat her with distant respect as many maids do, but instead, Amah acts like a mother to Ying-Ying. When Ying-Ying chose to sit with her mother rather than Amah, Amah was a little hurt because she “loved [Ying-Ying] better than her own… she had given up her own child, a baby son” (72). This shows that Amah loved Ying-Ying like her own daughter, and Ying-Ying, because her mother was very rich and hired a nanny to raise her daughter, loved Amah kind of like a mother.
3. I liked Amy Tan’s use of word choice especially in the beginning of the chapter. She uses words like “closed,” “quiet,” “hidden,” and “unheard” to create a cold, lonely feeling. Compared to the rest of the chapter that is filled with excitement and laughter, the somber words in the beginning really gives the reader a sense of how much the mother has changed.
4. This chapter showed a lot of local color such as the moon cake festival and Chinese families. The mooncake festival is a huge holiday where families get together and have a great feast and in this case, the wealthy families went out to the lake and had a boat party. I also learned that one of the dishes they liked to eat was live shrimp dipped in sauce.
-Laurie Jeng
What a Fake…
1)(The Moon Lady) I thought that the Moon Festival was a really interesting festival because I have never heard of this before and so I was really into the chapter. But at the same time I thought this chapter was pretty weird. Also how those two boys caught fishes was amazing, I want to try doing this. They used a bird to catch their fishes. The Moon Lady was a guy. That was shocking. Does the Moon Lady really have to be a guy why was she a guy? This does not make any sense to me. I thought of it kind of funny because the fishermen in the boat that picked her up just dropped her on an island. This was messed up, but funny. Her family did not even notice her and claim her and I thought this was sad because she was rejected.
2) I think that Amy Tan showed a lot of local color in this chapter. She explains the festival really well and shows us that the Chinese culture has a lot of holidays. She shows us what spoiled children can be like and what the Chinese people call each other such as Sister one and Sister two. She spiced up this chapter really well by adding this. She did well explained the events of the Moon festival and took us through what would happen at one.
3) I learned that the Chinese culture have many holidays that they celebrate and I think this is nice because then you have many things to look forward to besides just the regular holidays.
One two, bippity-boppity boo... as if it were ever that easy.
“The Moon Lady”
1. My first reaction to this chapter began with its first sentence, like the last chapter. “For all these years I kept my mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out”(64). My first thought was that Ying-ying must be really stupid. I would never be quiet so that people won't be able to hear what I want, so that they can have whatever they want because I seem like I don't want anything. The way I see it, that's too generous. People were born to be different, so why not speak up? Everyone has something different to say, and should be able to have the freedom of speech to say it. The more brains there are, the more creative things can get. Then it struck me that my mom was kind of like that. I hardly ever hear her say what she wants to buy, what she wants to eat, etc. She's always asking me what I want, and getting it for me. I remember that I used to sometimes question her how come she never bought anything for herself after a trip to the mall. She always told me that we're poor and if she bought the things she wanted too, we wouldn't have enough money to do all the things we can do right now (live in a house, pay our bills, etc). I think it's wrong to stay quiet just so someone else can be happy. But I think my mom enjoys making me happy, or something like that, because she never seems to do anything for herself.
I think I saw this line in a different way than what it actually means: “And because I forgot what I wished for, that memory remained hidden from me all these many years”(65). It kind of reminded me of the way I think sometimes. I don't think my expectations are very high for the world, but people rarely ever seem to meet them completely. I guess I can say that I have expectations for friends... like I expect them to be as there for me as I am there for them. I have a very if-I-scratch-your-back-then-you-scratch-mine way of thinking. They never seem to be good enough, y'know? And then it seems like on a day of the past, or maybe it spread out slowly, I just gave up on the world. I gave up on trying to get close to my friends, and trying to always be there for them and giving them my all. It's like Ying-ying's wish; it's still there, it just remains hidden.
I disagree with Clair's (I'll call Ying-ying that) Amah. I don't think that “a girl can never ask, only listen”(68). I highly disagree with that to the core. In my opinion, girls should be the one asking and guys should be the one listening. Maybe it's just because I'm born in this generation, but I think guys should always be gentlemen, but not too much of a gentlemen so that they are nice 24/7. Guys are fun when they're mean, but not so much that they hurt girls. And when they're mean, I think girls should be allowed to talk back and be mean too.
I can't believe Clair calls her half-sisters Number Two and Number Three. I could never refer to beings of the same species as numbers. That's really disrespectful and mean.
People probably didn't get a very good education back then. I think Clair was stupid when she covered her clothes in animal blood and thought that if she stood still, people wouldn't notice that her clothes are dirty or see her.
The part when Clair told the Moon Lady her wish was both hilarious and tragic. “And as the secreet wish fell from my lips, the Moon Lady looked at me and became a man”(83). Wow, I can't believe they chose a male to play the role of the Moon Lady. That's so sad. It's also sad that Clair was so hopeful.
2. I think Clair and her Amah have a very close relationship. The way I see it, Amah is practically her mother. Amah takes care of her more than her mother does. She puts on Clair's clothes for her. She teaches Clair manners and more. I doubt that Clair's mother provides Clair any comfort, but Clair said so herself that she “thought of Amah as someone for [her] comfort, the way you might think of a fan in the summer or a heater in the winter, a blessing you appreciate and love only when it is no longer there”(72). That's kind of like a relationship between a daughter and a mother. When your mom is there, sometimes you get irritated when she pries too much into your life, or when she prohibits you to do something you want to do. It's annoying. But I'm sure every person would miss their mom if she was gone no matter how bad it doesn't seem like it when she's there.
3. I noticed that Amy Tan uses quite a few similes in this chapter. I liked how she described the way Amah pulled Clair's hair. “And then she yanked the full length of my hair like the reins of a horse...”(67). It was also pretty how she said the “boat looked like a floating teahouse”(72). The similes made the story a lot more interesting. They also give the readers a better picture of the images that Tan created.
4. In this chapter, I learned about China's story of the Moon Lady. I've never heard of that until now. I also learned that females are wrong and males are right. “For woman is yin... the darkness within, where untempered passions lie. And man is yang, bright truth lighting our minds”(82). My goodness, the things that they taught to people in back then in China! I learned that mothers sometimes left their children in the care of nurses called amahs.
Rikki Dionisio, Period 6
“I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want!”
Feathers from a Thousand Li Away: “The Moon Lady”
1. This chapter reminded me of this time of the year – the holidays, Santa. The Moon Lady is sort of like the female Chinese version of Santa! You have to tell her your desires and hope that they come true. The same goes for Santa, you write him a letter and hope that he’ll bring you want you want.
2. The relationship between Ying-ying and her nurse Amah is very protective, authoritative, and teacher like. But at the same time it is very loving and motherly. In many instances and other cultures the nanny is very respectful and knows certain invisible boundaries but with Amah and Ying-ying, Amah seems to have no boundaries and treats Ying-ying as if she was her own daughter, and at first I thought Ying-ying was her daughter.
3. I liked Tan’s use of both word choice and imagery in this chapter. Tan used words like “crimson” to describe the bright color of blood that Ying-ying rubbed all over her yellow dress. I visualized a young Chinese girl rubbing bright, shiny blood all over herself, the blood dripping between her fingers; all this done as innocently as can be. That is a kind of gross thing to visualize, I agree, but it happened.
4. What did you learn about Chinese culture?
I learned a lot about the Moon festival held in China. I’ve heard of it before but I thought it was just a time where everyone roamed the streets eating moon cakes and doing cultural things, but I was slightly mistaken. After reading the chapter and searching on Google the more complex details of the Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, they plan trees and wear pomelo rinds on their heads!
Eileen Ly from 7th period! ~
Lost Desires in Forgotten Memories
“The Moon Lady”
My first impression of this story is how it reminds me of the film Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki. In Spirited Away, 10 year-old Chichiro ends up lost in a world of witches, gods, and monsters, her parents turned to pigs. The festival setting is probably what reminded me of this film. Also, the Moon Lady’s gender was pretty wacky, too. I wonder if Ying-Ying feels traumatized. Probably. One thing that I can say for sure is that Ying-Ying is mischievous and curious just like Chichiro in the film. However, unlike Chichiro, Ying-Ying gets lost within herself, her mind. She doesn’t set off on an epic journey to set her parents free from the pig spell, but “[keeps her] mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out” (64). I feel sad for Ying-Ying. Her greatest fear is to be disowned, to not be looked for, to be “turned into a beggar girl, lost without [her] family” (79). It’s probably what everyone feels like once in a while and to me, it’s a horrible fear. It can drive a person insane and paranoid, leaving him or her lost. Poor Ying-Ying, who has remembered her wish only many years later, has been lost in her own fear.
I would describe the relationship between Ying-Ying and the Moon Lady as born out of wonder, desire, and betrayal. First of all, Ying-Ying eagerly searches for the Moon Lady. She thinks that the Moon Lady will grant her wish. After getting lost and such, she stumbles upon the play of the Moon Lady and has a burning desire to tell the Moon Lady. (Honestly, it looks as if the crowd isn’t at all interested in making a wish. Next, when she actually gets closer to the Moon Lady, it turns out that the Moon Lady is actually the “Moon Man”. She feels both betrayed by her family and the Moon Lady, who in the end, didn’t really meet up to her expectations. Her family was supposed to save her from the water but they didn’t; a fishing boat did. The Moon Lady was supposed to be a beautiful woman but she was a man; her wish was granted but not in the way it was supposed to be. Perhaps by being so greedy for her desires, she is traumatized by the fate of the chain of events that so happened to take place in her life. That’s why she has “kept [her true nature hidden, running along like a shadow so nobody can catch [her]” (64). Not even her daughter.
Tan uses a bunch of imagery to describe the clothes that Ying-Ying wears. (This is also an example of indirect characterization, since the reader can tell that her family is rich and successful.) The festival is gaily described too with Tai Lake, “crowded with boats: rowboats, pedal boats, sailboats, fishing boats, and floating pavilions” (73). It improves the story by adding cultural color, giving the text some life to it. There also a lot of metaphors like Ying-Ying’s emotional washing of pain being compared to the “way carvings on stone are worn down by water” (64). It improves the story by adding in extra details to create Tan’s overall mood, which kind of feels detached or tragic to me. The whole story is one huge flashback, with only the opening and ending as happening in the present. Tan uses this to get the reader to “feel” Ying-Ying’s memory, as if he or she was there with her.
I learned a lot about Chinese culture while I was in this chapter, thanks to the festival setting. I learned about how the Chinese use bamboo curtains, rabbit moon cakes, picnic food like sticky rice, rickshaws, events at the Moon Festival, the Five Evils, the story of the Moon Lady and her husband on the sun, and how men played the role of women. I’m not sure about the last part but it’s pretty disturbing.
[-_______-‘’’]
Kimmy Tran
1. Head stuck in the clouds, in perfect view of the moon
2. “Moon Lady”
3.I thought this chapter was okay. I really liked Ying Ying’s innocence at the time and how at the ending, her innocence gets shattered by her realization of the fakeness of the Moon Lady. She reminded me of when I was little and my mother yelled at me for crinkling or dirty-ing up my fancy clothes. I also liked chasing after dragonflies, like Ying Ying, and I often got bored when my mom and aunts were talking and tried to sigh out loudly to get my mother’s attention.
I didn’t like Ying Ying’s treatment from the people she encountered when she was saved. They left her on the shore, not even that sure if her family is going to come rescue her. I thought those people were incredibly inhumane to do that to only a lost poor little girl, no matter if they thought she was a “beggar girl” or not.
Although I could relate to Ying Ying, I didn’t like her character. She seemed spoiled and foolish. When she covered her clothes in blood to cover up some red splashes on her clothes, I thought that it was very stupid thing of her to do. She also made faces a lot to her elders, where as in Chinese culture, you are to respect them.
At first I was confused about Amah and Ying Ying’s mother. I thought that Amah was what Ying Ying called her mother and that Amah spoke in third person sometimes but later I figured out that they were two different people.
4. I would describe the relationship between Ying Ying and her nurse, Amah as a mother-daughter type relationship. As I read this story, I couldn’t really feel the mother’s character. She just seemed like a distant flat character. Since this story is from Ying Ying’s point of view, this shows that her mother wasn’t around very often and that’s why Amah seemed more like her mother. The reader sees Amah talk to and scold Ying Ying like a mother and takes care of her more like a mother than a nanny. They are very close and the reader can see it clearly in this story. An example of this is when Ying Ying arrives on the other boat and she “strained to see the faces of Amah, Baba, Mama” (79). She first thought of Amah rather than her mother, showing Amah’s stronger position in Ying Ying’s life.
5. I think Amy Tan uses a lot of similes in this chapter. She uses them to describe rickshaw pullers’ mouths which were “open and panting like horses” (72). She also describes a woman scraping of fish scales. “I saw her scrape off the fish scales, which flew in to the air like shards of glass” (75). I like her use of similes because then I could really imagine them by comparing them with actions or objects that I am already familiar with.
6. (c. What are you learning about Chinese culture?)
I learned a lot of things about the Chinese moon lady. I know that she is a mythical creature in Chinese culture and she is kind of like the tooth fairy or Santa Claus because kids believe and look up to her. I also know more about the pastries of China like a rabbit mooncake and inside the mooncake, there was usually egg yolk or sweet filling. I also learned more about he clothing usually worn in festivals. Its usually silk and bright.
1) First Unselfish Wish
2) Feathers from a Thousand Li Away “Ying-Ying St. Clair: The Moon Lady”
3) While I read this chapter, the first thing that came to mind was that Ying-Ying always had life a lot easier than the past characters such as: Suyuan Woo, An-Mei Hsu and Lindo Jong. All of the other characters either lost someone in the family/ never got to know them or suffered an event that would change their life (such as Lindo’s arranged marriage). Ying-Ying, however, had a wealthy family. They were rich enough to rent a floating pavilion. Even the lady on the boat said “Look at her skin, too pale. And her feet, the bottoms are soft,” (79). Clearly, Ying-Ying had an easy life.
I would say that Ying-Ying has a very inquisitive character. She had a lot of questions, always wanted to know more. Some would say that she is annoying, but really, she was only four years old. Of course she would have questions. Still, she said “for all these years I kept my mouth shut so selfish desires would not fall out,” (64). The changes in character foreshadows that a future event would cause Ying-Ying to keep her mouth shut.
I pitied Ying-Ying when she fell into the lake and had stranger pull her up out of the water. Who knew whether those people were bandits? Rapists? Burglars? Serial killers? Oh my goodness, the possibilities are endless… I would’ve been so scared if I was in her place. It also made me mad that no one noticed her disappearance. Amah just abandoned her at the back of the ship and she wasn’t attending the party for God knows how long and yet, Amah didn’t even check back on her. Neither did her mother and father.
And about the moon lady in the costume… in Chinese operas/skits/plays (from way back then), all roles were played by men, whether the role be that of a woman, a child, etc. a man played the role. So I guess, they just had to choose a more slender, feminine-looking person for the role to make it look real. To say the truth, the actors had a lot of make-up so it was hard to tell (and most of the time, they were really pretty, too). I learned this from old Chinese dramas. She may or may not still believe in the Moon Lady… but the Moon Lady she believes in definitely doesn’t live on Earth.
4) I would describe the relationship between Ying-Ying and Amah as a close family relationship. It could be that Amah and Ying-Ying aren’t related by blood, yet “Amah loved [Ying-Ying] better than her own,” and really, Amah is just a “nursemaid” (72). Amah is the person from whom Ying-Ying is to learn all of her manners and responsibilities. They learn from each other and they treat each other as if they were really mother and daughter. In other ways, Amah is also like a grandmother because she spoiled Ying-Ying. Even so, their relationship is nothing like the maids/babysitters of today’s time, especially in America. Here, the real mothers still care for their own children, teaching the kids their manners, while the maids run chores and must show respect to the children because they are working for the parents and such.
5) In this particular chapter, Tan uses the technique of flashback. She didn’t use a lot of flashbacks that show up in little clips like in “The Joy Luck Club,” but instead, in this chapter, she used one big, long one that described one event, complete with its set of details, as if she was retelling a story. This improved the story because not only do we (as in the readers) know about the past events; we also know why it is important to be discussed. We know its purpose. In this case, the story Ying-Ying retold explained why she “kept [her] mouth closed,” and why she “kept [her] true nature hidden,” (64).
6) (d. How is this chapter connected to the allegory at the start of the section?)
I think that this chapter has an indirect relation to the allegory at the start of the section in someway. Although Ying-Ying doesn’t describe her voyage itself, she brings up the topic of the “special something” that she wanted to tell her daughter. Her flashback story basically focuses on the secret wish she made to be found. In the beginning of the chapter, she wanted to tell her daughter that “we are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others,” (64). Her secret wish story was what she wanted to pass down to give her daughter a better understanding about certain things in life. She wanted to teach her daughter -- you have to find yourself before others will be able to see and hear you.
1. The Price of a Wish
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. I thought that much of this chapter is really disturbing. How Ying-ying is able to see chickens and turtles getting their heads chopped off certainly shows the difference between Chinese culture and the American culture. Most people here, including children, would probably look and away and think that that was gross. Also, I thought that Ying-ying’s amah took the scene of Ying-ying covered in turtle blood really well. If I was the amah, I probably would’ve thought that Ying-ying is crazy and try to get rid of her as soon as possible. One of the few things I don’t understand is Ying-ying’s narration after that scene. Ying-ying expected her mother “to come soon” and scold her “in her gentle way”, but she didn’t come at all (76). Did this mark some sort of change in their relationship?
4. Ying-ying and her amah share a master-servant bond. Rather than doing anything for herself, Ying-ying has her amah do everything for her. In the mornings, her amah would already be there by the time Ying-ying was awake and dress her. When there were a few wrinkles in Ying-ying’s jacket, her amah would come a smooth it out. Soon after Ying-ying feel into the water, Ying-ying thought that her amah would immediately come and pull her out. Ying-ying always expects her amah to be there and without her, she would be in disarray.
5. One of the writing techniques that Amy Tan uses in “The Moon Lady” is similes. For example, in order to keep Ying-ying under control, her amah “yanked the full length of [her] hair like the reins of a horse” (67). In another scene, Ying-ying describes fish scales “like shards of glass” (75). Similes add to the imagery and help the reader picture scenes in the minds.
6. Unlike other chapters, this chapter shows everyday lives of the richer portion of the Chinese population. I learned some of the foods they eat on special occasions and a few hairstyles that they have. I also learned about the silk clothes they wear. For example, concubines and their daughters wear the same color and sons wear silk that are decorated with the shape of Buddha scepters to signify long life.
1. “Lost and Found”
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. I was shocked when I heard Ying-Ying call her half-sisters Number Two and Number Three. Ying-Ying is not required to show respect in the name area towards her half-sisters because she is their elder, but calling them by numbers is really rude. I felt like she wasn’t treating them as human beings. I wonder if this habit was caused by her naivety or because the two girls are the daughters of her father’s concubines. It was also pretty selfish of her to give her half sisters the ears of her mooncake while she kept the part with filling for herself. I was also angry when Ying-Ying’s mother told her a boy could run around while a girl should stand still. When Ying-Ying’s clothes got dirty with blood and feathers, I thought it was pretty stupid of her to think covering herself in even more blood would make things better. The naive Ying-Ying is really proving to be my most disliked character. After Ying-Ying fell off the boat and tried to call out to her family from the other person’s boat, I wondered why no one recognized her and why a little girl tried to act as her. I thought it was really funny how Ying-Ying tried to tell the Moon Lady her wish, but instead found out the Moon Lady was actually a man!
4. I think the relationship between Ying-Ying and her father is very formal. They don’t bond, or even talk to each other often for that matter. Since her father has two concubines, I assume the marriage between him and Ying-Ying’s mother was for social or political reasons, not for love.
5. In this chapter, Tan uses a lot of descriptive imagery. This helps the reader imagine the turtle’s head being chopped off, or the bird that the boys are using to catch the fish. It really improves the story because it puts the reader into that scene, which makes the reading more enjoyable.
6. There is a lot of culture that was injected into places throughout this chapter. I was able to learn about the Chinese moon festival and the traditional moon cakes that the people eat. There was also the Chinese folklore about the Moon Lady that I learned about. The bit about using a bird with a ring around its neck to catch fish with was also very interesting.
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. “When You Wish Upon The Moon Lady”
2. The Moon Lady
3. Everyone else thought that this chapter was okay, but “The Moon Lady,” was probably my favorite out of the “Feathers from a Thousand Li Away” section. The initial childish characteristics of a four-year old Ying-Ying St. Clair made reading the chapter more enjoyable for me. Although some felt that Ying-Ying was annoying, I thought that her adolescent personality and her vivaciousness were refreshing to read about. Compared to the other main characters in the previous chapters, Ying-Ying lived the easy and luxurious life. It was like she was in a fairy tale play. She had a wealthy family, a nanny that deeply cared for her, and a carefree lifestyle. I also found the process of preparing for the Moon Festival to be pretty interesting. I’ve heard about the celebration, but I never learned about the procedures that went behind it. I also thought that it was weird when Ying-Ying addressed her younger half-sisters as Number Two and Number Three. I guess Tan didn’t find those characters important enough to give them real names. Later in the ceremony, Ying-Ying got her new clothes dirty with splotches of turtle blood smeared all over her sleeves, pants, and jacket. I found it adorable when Ying-Ying thought, “I could cover these spots by painting all my clothes crimson red, and that if I stood perfectly still no one would notice this change” (76). If someone as old as I was believed that one could camouflage that way, I would just think that they were foolish and silly. I thought it was cute of Ying-Ying to think that way though because, well, she was only four at the time. It’s only natural for her to believe she can hide by simply coloring herself the same dull hue of an animal’s blood. I found it amusing how, after the Moon Lady’s performance, the young man tried to scam the audience out of their money by asking for “a small monetary donation” (Tan 82). When Ying-Ying found out that her idol, the Moon Lady, was just an old man dressed to act like the Moon Lady, her dreams and innocence were crushed, stomped, and tossed into a stampede of raging animals. I felt a pang in my heart as I read about this happening. It just wasn’t fair for a child as young as Ying-Ying to learn about life’s lies this way.
4. The relationship that stood out to me the most was Ying-Ying and Amah’s mother-daughter bond. Even though Ying-Ying had a real, biological mother, she didn’t show up much in the chapter. She didn’t display any signs of affection to her daughter either. She was just…there, like a flat character. Amah also takes care of Ying-Ying a lot more than her own mother is, such as dressing her in new clothes, fixing her tangled hair, and fussing over her wrinkled dress. For those who aren’t familiar with Chinese family terms, they would assume “amah” as just a different way to address someone as mom. They wouldn’t learn that Ying-Ying’s amah was just her caretaker until they read halfway through the chapter, where it directly states, “she had come to our house to be my nursemaid” (Tan 72). When the whole family went out to Tai Lake, Ying-Ying decided to take a seat near her mother instead of Amah. Amah felt a little upset because she “loved [Ying-Ying] better than her own [children].” In order to be Ying-Ying’s nursemaid, “she had given up her own child, a baby son” (72). This demonstrates that Amah came to love Ying-Ying as if she was her own daughter.
5. In this chapter, it is very obvious that there is a lot of imagery strategically thrown into the chapter. There’s use of olfactory imagery, which represents a sense of smell, when Ying-Ying wakes up one morning to find a smell outside, like “something burning, a pungent fragrance that was half sweet and half bitter” (65). There are also many uses of visual affects, such as the scenes where an aged woman was slicing the organs of fish and turtles, which, by the way, were absolutely gross to read about.
6. There are a lot of cultural details rooted into this chapter. I learned about some of the variety of foods that the Chinese eat during special occasions. For example, during the Chinese Moon Festival, the locals, especially children, enjoy eating sweet bread pastries called moon cakes. This dessert sparked some of my interests so I tried to research more about it. I found more information about moon cakes, learning that they can be filled with other sweet-flavored things such as custard, or red beans. I also learned that they passed down many myths and stories, such as the one about the Moon Lady and her husband, through dance and song.
-Terri Tan
Period 6
b^__^d
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jane Wong
6th period
1. The Unforgettable Evening
2. The Moon Lady
3. In this chapter, Jing Jing starts off with a flashback of the Moon Festival back when she was four years old . The chapter goes on into detail of what happened on that exact day from the beginning to the end. This chapter gave the reader a different message. It wasn't like the previous chapter of the Red Candle where the mother sacrificed to become a concubine. Instead, this chapter consisted of how Jing Jing was lost in the presence of her own heritage. When I first read about the Moon Festival, I thought it was going to be quite an interesting event because it mentioned how there were going to be lots of people, food, and the Moon Lady herself. The Moon Lady sounded really mysterious when Amah mentioned it to Jing Jing. When Jing Jing asked Amah , "Why can't [she] ask," I was curoius myself (68). Who was the Moon Lady anyway? Later, I found out that she was the whole reason why the chapter was named after her. The part that everybody's clothing was described was the most interesting part to me. Though I knew that people had to wear new clothes back in the days, I didn't know it was for more than just the New Years Celebration. I was also very drawn into the part to where she falls overboard of the boat. I asked myself who was going to save her. Even if no one noticed, would Amah come out of nowhere to save her? But in the end, I found out that she made a wish to the Moon Lady to wish that she could go back to where she was from. I only have one question. Though Jing Jing may not recall everything, she claims that she remembers that same exact day. If so, then why else would she say that she didn't remember how she got back?
4. The character relationship is between Jing Jing and Amah. I believe that they have the close relationship of being like a mother and daughter looking out for each other. Jing Jing really does care about Amah throughout the whole chapter. When they were about to leave for Tai Lake, "[Jing Jing] climbed into the rickshaw with [her] mother in it, which displeased Amah" (72). Then she goes on about how Amah had always loved her and how Amah would do almost anything for her because she wasn't just a nursemaid, but something more. This only shows that she does have a close relationship with Amah. When she fell into the water, Jing Jing "expected Amah to come immediately and [to] pick [her] up" (77). The first person she thought of was Amah because she probably thought that the first person that would help her would be Amah.
5. Again , Amy Tan continues to use more flashbacks throughout the book. In the chapter The Moon Lady gives a flashback of a woman's childhood memory at the Moon Festival. She goes back in details from the start of getting ready for the ceremony to the end of where she finally meets the Moon Lady. I liked how Amy Tan formatted the chapter though. She started off with how Jing Jing was in the present thinking about her past. Then she gives details about how it eventually brings her back to the memories to this day still. Once the story goes on and on, it ends with how Jing Jing doesn't stop thinking about her memories. All of this somehow ties into the message of losing herself into Jing Jing's own heritage. Flashbacks really improve the story because it actually helps the reader visualize what exactly happened and what it eventually turned out to be later. It was like foreshadowing, but stated directly.
6. In this chapter, I learned that back then, Chinese people had like housemaids or "nursemaids." This was becuase the mothers would barely have time to take care of their own children, so they would need people to help them take care of them insetad. Also, Chinese Cultures included festivals and ceremonies like The Moon Festival, which consisted of making a wish to the Moon Lady, who would later grant it.
1. My memory of the Moon Festival
2. Moon Lady
3. The imagery that Tan uses in this chapter when she describes the day of the Moon Festival is incredible. In the scene of the preperation of the Moon Festival, I thought the occasion of the Moon Festival must have been very important because they dressed Ying-Ying in thick silk clothing when it was already boiling outside. Amah also spent a lot fo time and effort on Ying-Ying's hair to make it pretty. The day seemed very significant if Ying-Ying had to go through so much just to get ready for it. It was really sad to know that Ying-Ying only thought of her amah as equal to a fan in the summer, or a heater in the winter. I thought that if someone is going to treat her so well and spend so much time and effort just to prepare her and dress her for the Moon Festival, then she should love her and appreciate her a lot more than what she shows. I thought the way the boys caught fish was sad for the bird because it was being used as a tool and had the fish yanked out of its' mouth when it thought it was going to eat it. Although it was sad for the bird, that was a very smart idea for the boys. It seemed a lot less time consuming than fishing with a pole and waiting for them to bite. I didn't understand why Ying-Ying's amah was scolding about when Ying-Ying came to her after she covered her clothes in blood. I thought it might be because her amah thought that she killed something or someone and that's why she was covered. Not only did the reason why amah was scolding confused me, but the story of the Moon lady confused me as well. All I could understand was that the lady was sad because she would be forever seperated from her husband.
4. The relationship that Ying-Ying had with her amah is like one that a babysitter or a grandmother would have. Ying-Ying is spoiled by the way her amah treats her. Her amah gives her everything she wants and never taught Ying-Ying how to respect her. Ying-Ying only appreciates when she's not around when she's needed. The only time she wants her amah is when she was drowning in the water and no one was around to help her. Amah loves Ying-Ying, because she worked so hard to make her hair pretty for the Moon Festival. Amah spoiled Ying-Ying to the point where she won't ever see any love or respect from her until Ying-Ying grows up and matures.
5. A writing technique Tan uses well in this chapter is imagery. I could feel and understand what Ying-Ying was going through. The hot day was described in amazing detail and all the family members were described as well. It helped me really feel the story because it made me feel like I was there with Ying-Ying instead of being told the story. I think that imagery could be one of Tan's strengths because in each of these chapters, everything was described amazingly and all the details seemed the fit the story perfectly.
6. Something I learned about Chinese culture was that the Chinese liked to dress extravagently when there was a big celebration. The poor Chinese worked very hard, even on festival days. The Chinese also believed in spirits like the Moon Lady and the Master Archer. Silk was also considered very important and high-class in Chinese culture. A coiled braid was considered pretty and was worn on festival days. They also believed that rubbing vigorously will stop a foot from being sore. Rabbit moon-cakes were filled with either sweetfilling or egg yolk and were delicious. Boys were allowed to run around and chase things, but the girls were expected to stay still and behave themselves. A long list of foods were also mentioned in the chapter. During Moon Festivals the Chinese ate sticky rice with lotus leaves, roasted ham, sweet lotus seeds, tea, apples, pomegrantes, pears, meats, and boxes of mooncakes
1. “They Were Just Lies”
2. The Moon Lady
3. As this chapter begins, I felt I could really relate to Ying-Ying St. Clair’s daughter. In a way, I’m the ignorant teenager that values materialistic things and doesn’t realized what I truly have or the person I truly can be. In Ying-Ying’s case, she also lost herself, but it happened over time as she grew up. Her story of the Moon Festival in 1918 really surprised me in the beginning. She used to be a rich spoiled little girl who took life for granted. She was pampered by her personal Amah who gave her everything she needed—clothes, care, love. On the boat party, being the playful child she was, she forgot how hard Amah worked to make her look appropriate for the night. When she saw the workers making the food, her curiosity took over and Ying-Ying ruins the beautiful dress her mom made for her. When Amah scolds her, strips her of all her clothing, and abandons her, I felt sorry for her. Although she deserved a punishment, abaondoning her was a bit harsh. Then afterwards, Ying-Ying almost died when she fell off the boat! Luckily, she didn’t and was saved so she was given a chance to rethink the way she was living her life, and who she really was. At this time, she was only four years old and still very naïve. She believed in stories like burning the Five Evils and the Moon Lady. When she was lost, she was able to come upon “the Moon Lady” whom she adored. Sadly, the person she looked up to, to grant her secret wish, turned out to be a fake. She wasn’t a Moon Lady, she wasn’t even a woman! It isn’t mentioned in the story, but I think this is the point where Ying-Ying looked at life completely different, and grew out of her innocence. Now she’s grown, and appreciates her life, she forgives the times she messed up and was left alone, and lost. She takes these as lessons, and looks at the brighter side of life.
Some questions that came up were what were her parents occupation? Why was her family so rich? I’m also guessing her father had concubines, and that’s where her half sisters came from. In the scene where Ying-Ying is saved on a fishing boat, who was the girl that the party boat mistook her for? Why wouldn’t they bother to look for Ying-Ying?
4. The relationship between Ying-Ying and Amah can be described as an unrequited symbiosis. Ying-Ying depended on Amah to live. Amah had taken care Ying-Ying since birth, and given her everything she needed. Ying-Ying doesn’t appreciate that she had Amah for all her necessities and takes her for granted. When she’s finally abandoned by Amah, she realizes that she needs her, and regrets her unruly attitude towards her. It seems like Amah doesn’t care and leaves Ying-Ying to her loneliness. Amah doesn’t need Ying-Ying to survive, but to her she is like her own daughter, a replacement for the son she had to give up. So in a way, Ying-Ying needs Amah, but Amah doesn’t need Ying-Ying.
5. In this chapter, Amy Tan uses a lot of local color. She incorporates the intricate flowery designs that wear carefully put on the fine silk clothing that the Chinese wore, and the amount of time it took to prepare for an event. She also described a couple legends of the Five Evils, and the Moon Lady, as well as describing the Moon festival that took place on the 15th/ day of the full moon. Tan also puts in words like “dajya”, and portrays the variety of boats that drifted on the river, very much like China in the old days.
6. Some things I’m learning from the Chinese culture is that the rich Chinese went all out for extravagant outings, and brought along foods like rabbit moon cakes and sticky rice. I also enjoyed learning about he two tales of the Five Evils and the Moon Lady. Also, for special occasions like the Moon Festival, they wore their silk dresses with designs that symbolized certain things like long life, or prosperity.
1) Moon LADY???
2) “The Moon Lady”
3) Honestly, I wasn’t as impressed with this chapter as I was the others. It just did not seem as powerful. I thought that it came off as a little dreamy rather than conveying the message, but that might be Ying-Ying’s character and the way that she looks at things. The way that girls are treated seems really unfair. It is really sad how girls were taught not to desire anything, that wanting anything for themselves was selfish. Amah tells Ying-Ying that “a girl can never ask—only listen.” So boys are allowed to want things, and girls are not? And no one even thinks to question this? I wonder how this came about.
4) I would describe the relationship between Ying-Ying and Amah is nurturing and affectionate. Amah gave up her own child to raise Ying-Ying, and she is much closer to her than Ying-Ying’s own mother. Amah spoils Ying-Ying immensely, and Ying-Ying says that it was not until she did not have Amah anymore that she truly appreciated the comfort and affection that she received from her nurse.
5) Amy Tan uses symbolism in this chapter to deepen our understanding of the story. The Moon Lady represents Chinese women and their “selfish desires.” The story is meant to teach women that they should not think of themselves but of their husbands. But the Moon Lady also has another purpose, one that instills hope. People are supposed to be able to tell her their secret wishes and desires, and she grants them.
6) This chapter shows the theme of loss of innocence. We are led to believe that Ying-Ying’s family is very wealthy. She has a nurse, an extravagant home, and her family rents a huge boat for the Moon Festival. From this, we can also assume that Ying-Ying has been pampered her whole life. Her life seems sheltered. When she falls off of the boat, she plunges headfirst into the real world. When she encounters the Moon Lady and finds out that “she” is really a man, it takes away the charm and fantasy and shows Ying-Ying what life is really like. It is the same shock a child in our society might feel when they find out that Santa Claus is not real.
Once Lost, Never Found
The Moon Lady
1. When Ying-ying danced up and down shouting “The Moon Lady! The Moon Lady!” in delight, then asked who she was, I laughed. She was a really innocent girl. Also, her half-sisters were called Number Two and Number Three. This probably showed that Ying-ying was the most important in the family. Ying-ying was probably spoiled and took advantage of that fact that she was older than her two sisters, giving them only the ears of the rabbit moon cake and sitting in the shade, while they sat in the sun. Ying-ying was a cute innocent little girl, who’s wishes and hopes were crushed when the Moon Lady that she so looked up to turned out to be a man in a costume. This was very depressing, but a little bit sad. It was as if a little child who believed in Santa suddenly realized that Santa not real.
2. Ying-ying’s relationship with her mother is that of adoration. Ying-ying adores her mother, and looks up to her, however, she is a lot closer to Amah than to her mother. Her mother is her example of a lady, while Amah cares for her. When Ying-ying was lost, she first asked where was Amah, then asked for her mother. This showed Amah’s position was more important in her life than her mother was.
3. Amy Tan uses many similes in this chapter. She also uses imagery. She explains the designs on Ying-ying’s clothes very well, showing through words how hot it is. Ying-ying had “watched like a hungry cat waiting its turn, as fish after fish appeared in the bird's beak” and the lady who scraped off the fish scales that “flew into the air like shards of glass.” Her use of similes helps readers to imagine things that readers are already familiar with, letting readers understand the writing better.
4. This chapter relates to the allegory at the beginning of the section because in the allegory, the old mother wishes to tell her daughter of everything that was left behind in China in order for her to have a better life here in America, but cannot. Ying-ying wishes to tell her daughter many things, that they are both lost, both unseen and not seeing, both unheard and not hearing, and unknown by others. But her daughter hears only her Sony Walkman, her cordless phone, and her husband.
“I wished to be found.”
The Moon Lady
Throughout reading this chapter, I felt a connection with Ying Ying and I sympathized with her. I think a lot of people, especially teenagers, can relate with “wanting to be found.” Everyone’s felt lost at least once in their life and all they want is someone to be there, to comfort them, to find them. As a child, Ying Ying was spoiled by her caretaker or nanny, Amah, because Amah gave up her only child when she became widowed. Amah would tell her stories about the Five Evils who could kill a child with their dangerous bite and the ceremonious Moon Festival where you could have one wished fulfilled by the Moon Lady. Amah reminded me of my mom and aunties who would always tell me stories about ancient myths and legends and when I inquired about them, they’d make something up to try and stop the never-ending questions. My family also ate this cake called “Moon Cake” during the New Years. I could never get why it was so special or why they liked eating it so much because to me, it tasted bitterly sweet and the fact that egg or egg yolk was part of the ingredients didn’t interest me either. I remember there’d be a picture of a graceful woman with long, flowing raven hair standing in front of a white orbed moon on the tin box cover. And when Ying Ying talked about her two younger half-sisters, Number Two and Number Three I couldn’t help but chuckled silently because in my family, I recently noticed after some years that I have been calling my aunts by numbers. Such as Aunt 1, Aunt 2, Aunt 3, etc. I think Asian families do this when there are too many siblings, so they refer to them by numbers in order of the oldest to youngest. On another note, it’s absolutely cruel that Ying Ying was denied the joyful freedom that boys had such as catching dragonflies and playing in the water with birds. Amah tells her that “A boy can run and chase dragonflies, because that is his nature. But a girl should stand still” (70). And when Ying Ying want to run, Amah tells her “slowly, go slowly” (71). I feel like Ying Ying’s “restless nature” is being suppressed by Amah, by her heritage. She wanted to meet the Moon Lady to make a wish and that turned out to be an awful journey because the Moon Lady turned out to be a Moon Man in reality. My eyes nearly popped out of my face when I read that part and I thought of Shakespeare for some reason, maybe because during that time they only had men working in theatre. The Moon Lady performance reminded me of a classical Japanese dance-drama called Kabuki Theatre. I can imagine Ying Ying’s face when she saw that the Moon Lady was a man; her face must’ve gone from shock to horror. It’s like Dorothy meeting the “all mighty and powerful” Wizard of Oz. She came with a wishful favor, and with friends who wished for something in their lives, but they were only met with disappointment and regret. Ying Ying wanted to find herself but she only got lost even more. It’s like she’s in a maze and she can’t find the special thing in the middle. Without her mom, Amah, and family, she is confused, terrified, and alone. Her ending passage resonated with me a lot and it moved me. She said that she “remember everything that happened that day because it has happened many times in [her] life. The same innocence, trust, and restlessness; the wonder, fear, and loneliness. How [she] lost [her] self” (83). I think Ying Ying wanted to be with her family again, to be found. And as she grew up, her daughter, like her, are “unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others” (64).
Ying Ying’s relationship with Amah is one of mutual benefit. Ying Ying tells us that Amah is a comfort to her that she only misses when it’s gone and Ying Ying is like the daughter Amah never had. As a result, Ying Ying is spoiled by Amah who cares for her, dressing her up for the festival, and even scolding her when she got her tiger clothes dirty.
In this chapter I saw a lot of imagery, with lots of sensory details. From the smell of “wet grass simmering in the heat” (65) in the room Ying Ying stayed in to the “tiny embroidered peonies growing from curlicues of gold thread” (67) lining the sleeves of her cotton jacket. I thought her descriptions of what people wore at the Moon Festival was so well done that I could imagine the gorgeous traditional clothes in my mind. Her attention to detail was like fireworks that lit up the story beautifully.
I learned about the story behind the Moon Lady and the Moon Festival in her honor. Ying Ying wore tiger silk clothes that had tiny embroidered peonies when she went to the festival because she was born the year of the tiger. I think if I had gone, I’d probably wear monkey clothes. I think it’d be fun to have colorful silk strands braided in my hair for the festival like Ying Ying did. I learned that they took carried of meats, vegetables, and fruits with them. One of them was zong zi, which was “sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves, [and] some [were] filled with roasted ham, some with sweet lotus seeds” (71). Although, I don’t think I’d enjoy sleeping on mats for my afternoon nap.
1. "Gone, Going, Gone"
2. "The Moon Lady"
3. This chapter is very unique in that Ying-ying is lost in her heritage as with her daughter Lena. Although Ying-ying continues to be dedicated to her ancestral customs, I have come to find that her culture loses her instead of leads her. Though it is made clear to readers that Ying-ying led a very carefree life filled with riches and resources, I never thought she was quite happy. Her genetic mother wasn't a mother to her, her daughter Lena never minds her, and the person she is closest to is her nursemaid. After all, doesn't "true happiness bring more richness than all the money in the world?" I enjoyed reading of Ying-ying's adventuring to the Moon Lady. Even though she fell out of the boat, no one realized she was gone, and she was picked up by a stranger, Ying-ying still made the best of her time because she traveled to a person she thought could make all her wishes come true – real or imaginary.
4. Ying-ying and her nurse, Amah, have a relationship that is very similar to that of a mother and a daughter. Because her biological mother did not cater to Ying-ying like she should have, Amah acting as a substitute mother was somewhat required. Amah's affection toward Ying-ying holds true because she “loved [Ying-Ying] better than her own [children]” (72); so much that she was forced to "[give] up her own child, a baby son, when her husband had died" (72). The chapter on this page show how much of a bond Amah really shared with Ying-ying.
5. In the text of this chapter, I notice the author using a bit of foreshadowing. When she states “for all these years I kept my mouth shut so selfish desires would not fall out" (64), it shows the drastic change within her personality. This foreshadows some sort of event late on in the chapter that causes Ying-ying to live this way.
6. (b. What is the main conflict in the chapter? Is it internal or external, human vs. self, vs. society, vs. nature, vs. human and how do you know?)
The main conflict in this chapter deals with Ying-ying losing herself because of her heritage. Her situation is both internal and external. The external causes include her mother handing Ying-ying over to her Amah to care for her. Knowing that her own mother is no longer her source for love, Ying-ying loses her identity and doesn't know where to turn to – especially when no body realizes that Ying-ying has fallen off the boat and been picked up by a stranger.
Do You Believe in Magic?
“Moon Lady”
1.Reading this chapter, I felt that there was some sort of a lesson for Ying-ying to learn from. She is a rich, spoiled little girl at the start but towards the end of the vignette her innocence vanishes when she discovers the real identity of the Moon Lady, an ordinary man dressed in a costume. She then feels this sense of false hope and will never think that she's going to be saved from anyone. Her views about the world were altered in some ways and she is left to face the harsh reality from now on.
2.The relationship between Ying-ying and Amah comes across as loving and caring. Amah treats Ying-ying as if she was one of her own daughters and this surprised me because most nannys/maids are strict and mean towards children. Amah adores Ying-ying in such a way that a mother would with her daughter. I also think that Ying-ying harbors the same feelings towards Amah too and loves her like she was her real mother.
3.This chapter was filled with tons of wonderful similes that would let the reader compare the two familiar things and give them a sense of what it was like. An example of her using this technique would be when she was describing the rickshaw pullers' mouth and she wrote that they were “open and panting like horses” (72). I really liked this line because reading this, paints a really good picture of how the rickshaw pullers' mouth looked like.
4.The chapter “Moon Lady” really gave more insight about Chinese culture, especially the mythical and enchanting stories that were told. I learned that the Moon Lady is a mythical creature who could grant only one wish to each person on this one particular day, which is the Moon festival. Pastries that were seen in the Chinese culture are rabbit moon cakes which contained egg yolk or some sort of sweet filling. Also, people traditionally wore bright silk clothing on special occasions like festivals.
Secret Wish
Focusing on: The Moon Lady
My initial reaction to most of this chapter was adoration. I was entertained by the way Ying-Ying St. Clair behaved and found her innocence and immaturity cute. She reminded me of my little sister and thus made me feel as if I was her amah, who was both irritated and entertained by her clumsy yet adorable actions. Apart from adoration, I was also slightly disgusted. When Amy Tan describes the scene in which Ying-Ying runs back stage to seek the Moon Lady, she describes the Moon Lady's womanly characteristics and truly convinces readers that she is indeed a female. But when it is revealed that the Moon Lady is actually a man, I felt slightly nauseated and felt sorry for Ying-Ying who had to be exposed to this, it was as if my little sister had just discovered that Santa Claus wasn't real.
One phrase to describe the relationship between amah and Ying-Ying is "mother-daughter." Though Ying-Ying may have a biological mother and amah may have a biological son, they both are set apart,distant from their blood relations and are instead close to each other. As Ying-Ying puts it, "amah loved me better than her own child."Amah cares for Ying-Ying like a mother and Ying-Ying plays the role as her daughter perfectly. She describes herself to have become, "spoiled because of her," and also describes amah as to have,"never taught me to think about her feelings." As in the case of many mother daughter relationships, Ying-Ying thought of amah "only as someone for my comfort...a blessing you appreciate and love only when it is no longer there." Despite Ying-Ying's disobedience, amah loves her endlessly and cares for her dearly. She does more for Ying-Ying than anyone else can do for her, Amah in a sense becomes her mother and thus Ying-Ying becomes her daughter.
One technique that Tan uses in this chapter is simile. Her use of similes help express the extent or amount of reaction that she wants the reader to feel as they read about a certain action that a character carries out. For example, instead of just saying, "she yanked the full length of my hair," Tan chose to write" she yanked the full length of my hair like the reins of a horse," describing the force of amah's strong pull realistically.
The main conflict of this chapter is Ying-Ying's inability to find her family after she falls into the lake. In the beginning of the story, despite the hot weather, Ying-Ying is in pure bliss when she is safe and sound with her earthly comforts. However, once she falls into "the cool comfort of the water" she is separated from her family, her amah, and her peace. Once her peace is shattered, her true troubles begin. Through this conflict Ying-Ying realizes the importance of being found, and belonging. This conflict is more internal than external and is a human vs. self conflict, in that Ying-Ying comes to a realization, after losing her loved ones, of the importance of the people in her life.
Trung Tran
Found
“The Moon Lady”
1)I was quite disappointed when I finish reading this chapter because it was not as thrilling to read as the other stories. I got the message of the story except it seemed like the story was stretched, getting no where. When Ying Ying talked about herself when she was young, I was annoyed at how she was. Spoiled and unappreciative – Ying Ying did not care for her Amah’s feelings. However, I guess it was understandable since Ying Ying was only four. When Amah punished Ying Ying, it made me laugh. Even though it was harsh and Ying was young, she deserved it.
2)The relationship between Ying and her Amah is like a relationship between a child and their mother. They unappreciated what their guardian do for them until their guardian is gone. Like a child and his mother, they wake up everyday with food in front of their face and clean clothes to wear. Ying does not realize what her Amah does for her until she grows up. There relationship is touching and Amah shows that she cares a lot of Ying when Ying wakes up everything to find Amah by her side.
3)Amy Tang choice of words sets the tone of the story. She use words to describe sounds like “hissing” and “clanking” which intensifies the scene. When Ying was drowning, Amy Tang used words like “dark” waters and “choking” air which created a sullen mood.
4)The theme of the story is to appreciate what you have. Like Ying, she was so use to Amah always being there for her, and when she isn’t, she is lost. She realized how important Amah was to her.
The Secret Wish
Mon Lady
1. I thought this chapter was weird. It started out with a little girl and fancy clothes and I was thinking, okay…what’s with the girl and her uncomfortable clothes? Does it mean something? And then as I read, the story got weirder, more disturbing. I think the worst part was when Ying-ying was watching the lady shuck fish. And then she tried to cover up the blood spots by covering all her clothes in it. My family loves Halloween and the gory stuff, but that was just too creepy. So after Amah takes Ying-ying’s clothes away, she’s left standing there, in her underwear. Who would do that? This poor girl is just left standing there, ashamed because of what she did and how she was left. And then she falls overboard. You would really think her parents would have been watching her more closely or at least come to check on her. You don’t know if they were even looking for her until the end of the chapter, after she is traumatized by finding that the Moon Lady wasn’t a lady, but that she was a man in costume. Yet another disappointment to a little girl on a fun holiday. It’s like a five year old finding out that Santa isn’t real on Christmas Eve.
2. Ying-ying and Amah’s relationship is more like mother and daughter even though Amah is Ying-ying’s grandma. Amy tan describes how Amah takes care of Ying-ying, brushing her hair into neat braids and keeping watch over her when they’re on the boat. Ying-ying isn’t very appreciative of Amah though, she says “I thought of Amah only as someone for my comfort, they way you think of a fan in the summer or a heater in the winter, a blessing you appreciate and love only when it is no longer there” (73). She was spoiled and didn’t really care about how she acted towards her grandma.
3. Amy Tan used a lot of similes in this chapter. The first one is when she remembers about the moon lady and her secret wish, “I can recall the details of that entire day, as clearly as I see my daughter and the foolishness of her life” (65). There are other similes in the memory, comparing the boat to a tea house, or how Amah pulled her hair like reins on a horse. The similes helped me see what was happening, helped better describe the scenes in the memories.
4. I think the main conflict in this chapter is internal. Ying-ying is innocent at the beginning of the chapter, she can’t wait for the holiday and all the good times with her family later that night, but as her memories progress, she loses her innocence. It’s kind of man vs. society, because the world around her makes Ying-ying lose her innocence. She finds out about things in the world, like the fish shucking, the beggars on the other boats, and how the Moon Lady was a man in a costume.
Raymond Yeh
Period 6
1. Lost and Found
2. The Moon Lady
3. This chapter was actually a bit more exciting than the previous ones. Ying Ying St. Clair accidentally falls off a boat and is miraculously caught by some fishermen who mistake her for a beggar. There is even a surprising conclusion in which the elegant Moon Lady was actually a man in a costume. This shows the chapter’s main theme of deceptive appearances. One part that kind of bothered me was the depiction of the family eating live shrimp. In traditional Chinese culture, it almost forbidden to eat anything raw for it is very unhygienic. That is why you always see stir fried vegetables and never fresh salad on a Chinese menu.
4. St. Clair and her daughter do not seem to have a close relationship. She seems to be lost and wants to be noticed by her daughter. When she was a child, St. Clair wanted to be found when she fell off her boat. This time, she wants to be found be her own daughter who “sits by her fancy swimming pool and hears only hear Sony Walkman” (64). She feels that her daughter has been totally assimilated by American culture and does not value any Chinese traditions such as respecting ones parents.
5. Amy Tan uses some foreshadowing in this chapter. When she was a child, she was told that the Moon Lady would grant her one wish during the Moon Festival. St. Clair became hopelessly lost and asked to be found. This foreshadows that later in the book; her “lost” relationship with her own daughter might be repaired.
6. The overall theme of this chapter is that things may not seem the way they are. When St. Clair first falls off the boat and is found by some poor fishermen, they think she is a poor girl trying to act wealthy. Also, when St. Clair sees a play about the Moon Lady, she thinks the actor is the real Moon Lady. She is mesmerized at the beauty, elegance, and wisdom of her. St. Clair then goes back stage only to find out that the Moon Lady was actually a man.
CH. The Moon Lady
“The Wish”
3. The pure innocence and simple logic of Ying-Ying made me laugh in this chapter. When her newly made outfit was dirtied and torn by her adventures around the boat, she actually though that by rubbing turtle blood all over her shirt, it would cover up the evidences. This shows how simple-minded and childlike she is, everything is just a matter of common sense in her mind. Another scene was when Ying-Ying got lost and found the Moon Lady’s performance. I felt sorry for her when she was looking for the Moon Lady to tell her the wish, but instead, “the Moon Lady looked at [her] and became a man” (83). It was as if her innocence and happiness had been shoved aside by the dark reality of life.
4. I would describe the relationship between Ying-Ying and her mom as loving but shallow. Although Ying-Ying loves her mom more than Amah, Amy Tan gives us a feeling that she doesn’t return the same type of love to Ying-Ying. When they were riding in the rickshaws, Ying-Ying escaped out of Amah’s grasp and instead, went into her mother’s rickshaw. However, on the boat when Ying-Ying got her clothes dirty, Amah had fearfully said, “‘your mother, now she will be glad to wash her hands of you…She will banish us both to Kunming’” (76). It shows that Ying-Ying’s mother probably thought of her as a pest that she would be glad to stop taking care of.
5. One of the techniques that Amy Tan uses in this chapter is imagery. During the festival on the lake, she uses that writing skill to describe many foods, activities, and settings. Imagery improves the story because it literally draws us in and makes us feel as if we are really there, seeing and hearing everything.
6. A life lesson that is revealed in this chapter is that you can not always get what you want in life. Every time Ying-Ying wanted something or needed help, she would always turn to Amah and become spoiled. When she fell into the water, she “expected Amah to come immediately and pick [her] up” (77); however, right when she started to sink and drown, she knew that Amah would not come and learned her lesson.
Jack-In-The-Box
“The Moon Lady”
1. I loved this chapter. It was a dark depressing story hidden by the innocent and childlike characters and settings. Ying-Ying St. Clair is a spoiled young child that learns the horrors of the real world the hard way. Her innocence is shown when she believed everything amah told her. She believed the story about the Five Evils and the Moon Lady. When she watched the two boys and their fish-catching bird, she doesn’t realize that this was an inhumane way of getting fish. She thought that they were playing a game and she envied “their carefree ways” (75). In reality these two boys may be be out catching their own food for the day. She also lost her innocence when she finally discovered the Moon Lady. When she goes up to eagerly tell the Moon Lady her wish, she is shocked to find that the Moon Lady is a man. Her hopes, her wishes, and her dreams– these were all useless in the face of reality that she had to uncover herself.
When I was reading the chapter I was surprised to compare the story and Ying-Ying’s experience to my own experience a jack-in-the-box toy (the real ones that you have to crank a handle…. Not the fast food toys). Just as Ying-Ying childhood was carefree and, well, childish, the same can be said about the Jack-in-the-Box. When I first got the toy (without knowing what it did), I was delighted to see the colorful box, the cute prints on the outside. When I started cranking I was giddy and, well, happy to hear the box’s music. I mean, what kind of kid doesn’t like a box that made music? My happiness was shattered by the sudden stop in the music and having a clown pop out of the box… At this age, I was afraid of clowns. The loss of music to be replaced by an object that I was afraid of destroyed my happy nature. The same thing can be said about Ying-Ying. Her childhood and her innocence was destroyed by her own trust of everything she hears. She believed in the Moon Lady and she loved hearing about her. When she discovered what it actually was, she was changed forever.
2. I think the relationship between Ying-Ying and Amah is a one-sided love. Amah loves Ying-Ying with a mother’s love and it is said that “amah loved [her] better than her own” (72). Amah gave up her own real family to help and raise Ying-Ying. Unfortunately, Ying-Ying doesn’t view Amah in the same way. When they boarded the rickshaws, Ying-Ying escaped Amah’s side and climbed into her own mother’s. She only “thought of Amah only as someone for [her] own comfort, the way you might think of a fan in the summer or a heater in the winter” (72). Ying-Ying loves Amah as an object that helps her in life.
3. In this chapter, Amy Tan uses a lot of metaphors and similes. Her literary devices helped me imagine the places she described. I liked her description of the boat and that it “looked like a floating teahouse” (72). Another simile that I liked was how Tan described the way Amah braided Ying-Ying’s hair. It seemed painful to read how Amah “yanked the full length of [her] hair like the reins of a horse” (67). The image of a man and how hard he must pull to control a horse popped into my head. Ouch.
4. The theme of this chapter is that things aren’t always as they seem and you can’t get everything in life. The first message is directed to the beautiful, mystical Moon Lady and how she turned out to be a tired, grungy man in a costume. Also, Ying-Ying always had an innocent air to her until she witnessed the woman shucking the fish and beheading the fowl and the turtle. The second theme is when Ying-Ying fell off of the boat. She expected her mother or Amah to help her. She grew angry when Amah didn’t come find her immediately and she finally grew sad…and dejected when they never found her completely.
1.The False Inspires and the Real Grants
2.The Moon Lady
3.When I read this section, I felt like there’s finally a happy story to one of the women who came from China. Besides having a daughter and son in law that doesn’t care much about her Chinese heritage, Ying-Ying St. Clair seemed to have a good life. It can be seen in the beginning that her daughter was considered Americanized when she hears her “Sony walkman, her cordless phone, and her big important husband”(64). She didn’t like the life she has now, but she did enjoy a better life than the other 3 ladies. She didn’t have a Japanese attack force her to leave all her property and her children along a sidewalk to be left for dead like Suyuan Woo. She didn’t lose her parents like An-Mei Hsu did, whose father died and as a result her mother left the family to become a concubine to another richer man. She also didn’t have a flood ruin her home and had a forced marriage that she had to upkeep for the sake of her family like Lindo Jong had. As I read along, I thought she was pretty well off with a good caring family and had enough money to have a comfortable life. As I read about her two step sisters, I found it peculiar that they were referred to as number two and number three. Then I reached the large boat the family had rented just for the occasion. I mused at the use of a crane to catch fish for food, thinking it was something I would never have thought of to do myself. When I reached the point where Ying-Ying fell into the water and was rescued by a fisherman, I thought that her life would be changed forever and that she would be adopted into the fisherman’s family, which would ruin my hope for one of the four women to have had a happy story in China. Fortunately, she was brought to shore, where she saw the Moon Lady Performance. I wondered at what objects the Master Archer was shooting at that burst into blood and resembled a sun. Then I was horrified along with the young Ying-Ying to discover that the Moon Lady in the performance was a man, and I also felt that the hope that Ying-Ying made would be gone also, but in the end her hope of being found by her family was granted and I was glad that it ended on such a happy note.
4.Ying-Ying and Amah had a one-way relationship. Ying-Ying only thought of Amah as someone who would care for her and do what she wanted, but did not love her. Amah, on the other hand, loved Ying-Ying as if she were her own child. It can be proven when Ying-Ying expressed her feelings for Amah by saying that “I thought of Amah only as someone for my comfort, the way you might think of a fan in the summer or a heater in the winter, a blessing you appreciate and love only when it is no longer there”(72).
5.Amy Tan used very precise and descriptive imagery here, like describing the gutting and cleaning of the fish and the decapitation of the turtle. It gave me an eerie feeling that I was watching those acts there myself, with the scales and blood flying everywhere as it was being done. Also, the whole story of her life in China was told through a flashback because the present Ying-Ying is in America with her daughter and son in law.
6.I learned that in China people enjoy eating a wide range of food, including and not limited to shrimp that is still moving, turtles, and eels. I was surprised because I would never eat turtles and eels but I would eat shrimp but probably not raw. It was very interesting and surprising to have learned that.
1. She’s A Man!
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. This chapter, I thought, was kind of odd with the moon lady actually being a man and Ying-Ying being lost and all of a sudden being found. At the start of the chapter, I had no idea who amah was of even what it was! But, as I read on, it became more evident that amah was like a caretaker of a child. Ying-Ying’s amah dressed her, fed her and watched her as a mother would do for her own. I also think that Ying-Ying was a bit spoiled with her mother making her new yellow clothes just for the Moon Festival. I wonder if she was spoiled because she was “Number One,” the first child of her mother and father. I also think that towards the end of the chapter, Ying-Ying is different than she was in the beginning. At the start, she is an innocent young girl living in her own perfect world and towards the end, she learns the moon lady is actually a man, leaving her to realize that one doesn’t always get what they want in the world. I also wonder how Ying-Ying was found.
4. The relationship between Ying-Ying and her amah would be described as that of a nanny to a young child. Amah takes care of Ying-Ying as if she is her own child, dressing her, feeding her, and watching her. Throughout the chapter, it is in Ying-Ying’s point of view, showing the reader that her mother wasn’t really there for her and that’s why her Amah was there. The two are very close and her Amah has a stronger place in Ying-Ying’s life than her own mother.
5. A technique Amy Tan uses in “The Moon Lady” is imagery. Tan successfully describes what happens during this chapter by writing detailed scenes for the reader to visualize.
6. Throughout “The Moon Lady,” Amy Tan weaves in an abundance of Chinese culture. She includes how children had amahs to take care of them in place for when their mother is not around, silk tiger clothes made for special occasions and some Chinese words such as: “dajya,” which means family, and “zong zi,” which is sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves filled with roasted ham or sweet lotus seeds. Another piece of Chinese culture Tan includes is the Moon Festival that occurs on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon where all is granted one wish by the Moon Lady.
1. Moon Lady
2. The Night That Changed Me
3. When I read this chapter, I didn’t realize it would end up being sad. Seeing how the Moon lady, I thought it was going to mainly focus on some conflict with her but finding out it was a man disguised as a girl, made me laugh and but Ying-Ying was must’ve very disappointed and sad. I also thought that Ying-Ying’s father was a rich man that had many wives and I thought that was interesting because you normally would not have concubines. This chapter was interesting but I wonder how the wives feel about the other wives since they are married to the same man.
4. The relationship between Ying-Ying and her Amah seemed very close because Amah was a servant but treated Ying-Ying as if she was her real daughter. Her Amah treated her with more affection than her biological mother who did not show much in the whole chapter. Ying-Ying did not appreciate her Amah until she was deserted for the night and realized that she needed her and took her for granted.
5. One of the writing techniques she incorporates is local color. As Ying-Ying goes through her day, she describes the people around her working and sort of the daily life of the workers. She also tells us about the culture of Lunar New Years and the process of celebrating it.
6. It was interesting to learn about Lunar New Years and how they have other holidays to celebrate with all the family members and the process you go through may be long but once you get to actually enjoy it, it is lots of fun. I think it is one of the most important and fun holiday to look forward to.
1. Dude looks like a Lady
2. The Moon Lady
3. Ying-Ying reminds me of well, me, at her age of course. At a young age I was a very curious and inquisitive child. I would always ask questions and keep asking questions until I was silenced by my parents. I really enjoyed reading this chapter because it contained a character I was able to relate to, without the concubines and the half siblings. Her feeling lost is something a lot of us are able to relate to. I for once felt lost when my mother was hospitalized. For a period of time, I didn’t know what to do. Ying-Ying seemed to have the easiest life compared to the four other women. Being born into a seemingly wealthy family and living carefree gave off a different vibe then the other chapters in this section did.
4. The relationship between Amah and Ying-Ying must have been frustrating. Although Ying-Ying lived carefree, Amah had to deal with Ying-Ying. Her curiosity must have made her Amah go crazy. Like when Ying-Ying ruined her outfit in one instance after Amah spent a lot of her time just to make Ying-Ying look perfect.
5. Lots of beautiful and descriptive imagery was used in this chapter especially during the beginning of her trip when Ying-Ying discovers the pavilion. Also a very descriptive scene in this chapter was when Ying-Ying witnessed the preparation of the fish. These scenes really painted a picture in my head, and when I closed my eyes I could see the pavilion clearly.
6. The Chinese most likely had males play all the female roles. It seemed obvious that the moon lady on stage was a fake, but to Ying-Ying, she was as real as she could be, or well “he” could be. To them the moon lady is like a Santa Claus to us.
“I Have a Wish”
2. YING-YING ST. CLAIR: “The Moon Lady”
3. When reading this chapter, I honestly have to say that I was completely confused. I wasn’t confused about the literal meaning of this chapter – I understood that Ying-Ying St. Clair wanted to be found because she was lost from her family, but I did not understand the deeper side to this – how did St. Clair lose herself in this chapter, through these events? How could being lost from her family in these few moments make her lose herself even as she grows up as an adult? I tried to take what I considered Amy Tan’s “hint”, the line that said, “I did not lose myself all at once,” and so reread the chapter, scouring for more clues and events that flow together, but I’m still incapable of finding any connections I can fully understand. But until I figure that out, I will continue staring at this quote: “The same innocence, trust, and restlessness; the wonder, fear, and loneliness. How I lost myself” (83).
Besides my lack of understanding, I thought it was sad how St. Clair’s younger sisters were called Number Two and Number Three, while she followed her and fought for her affection. Even though their mothers were concubines, I don’t feel that it’s fair they should be treated that way, just because their mothers actions. Either way, St. Clair’s half sisters are still her sisters and they should be treated that way.
Another event that stood out to me was when St. Clair was lost from her family and Amah. I was, at first, annoyed by her incapability to walk out and find them and by her lack of obedience, I ended up feeling sorry for her, mostly when she fell into the water, screaming for her Amah (though I was also annoyed by her reliance on Amah).
Later on when St. Clair watched the Moon Lady, I was shocked that she actually believed in the Moon Lady, as she watched the actors in awe as though they were really the Moon Lady. Although she was just a child, I still found it amazing that she believed all of that, because I never thought the Santa Claus at the malls were real, or that Santa Claus was ever real.
A scene I thought was hilarious but mean was when St. Clair went up to what she thought was the “Moon Lady” and confessed her secret. I loved the way Amy Tan described how St. Clair saw the actor of the Moon Lady. “Shrunken cheeks, a broad oily nose, large glaring teeth, and red-stained eyes. A face so tired that she wearily pulled off her hair, her long gown fell from her shoulders. And as the secret wish fell from my lips, the Moon Lady looked at me and became a man” (83). Even though it was sad for St. Clair, I couldn’t help but giggle as I read the chapter. This scene also gave me another chance to pity St. Clair yet again, because as she saw the Moon Lady as a man, it may have hurt her and made her feel as though she’d lost hope of being found, since the Moon Lady wasn’t the real one, much less a lady. And even though St. Clair was eventually found by her family, she would never be able to regain the hope that she had lost (this might be part of how she lost herself!), which made me feel sorrier for St. Clair.
4. The adjective I would use in order to describe the relationship between Ying-Ying St. Clair and her mother is distant. Even though they’re mother and daughter and should have a close, understanding relationship, they do not. This is shown as St. Clair is obviously closer to Amah, which is displayed when St. Clair, while being dressed by Amah, consistently asks her questions and is affectionate to Amah, but when St. Clair’s own mother talks to her, she just listens and obeys. Although obedience is good, people I think St. Clair only disobeys Amah because she knows Amah will continue loving her, while she obeys her mother because she does not know if her mother will continue loving her or just banish her someplace. Also, when St. Clair is drowning in the water, she does not call for her mother, but rather, she screams, “Amah” (77).
5. In this chapter, I noticed Amy Tan using similes. Examples of similes Amy Tan used is, “It wrapped around me and squeezed my body like a sponge,” and “I could see the full moon, a moon so warm and big it looked like the sun” (77). Other than these two, Tan used MANY similes throughout this chapter. These similes improve the book because they allow Tan to describe the setting, emotions, feelings, etc. without having to say things like, “The snake wrapped around me and squeezed me” because then we wouldn’t be able to have a visual comparison in our heads to know the answers to questions like, how much did it squeeze her? and Tan would most likely have to describe it in boring, uninteresting sentences such as, “It squeezed me very hard”. Thus, it greatly improves the language of the story along with it fully answering any questions readers may have.
6. What are you learning about Chinese culture?
This chapter showcases a major part of Chinese culture, the Moon Festival, and the story of the Moon Lady. From this, I learned further details about the Moon Lady and her story, and I also learned that males could play the Moon Lady… In addition to that, I learned things about the garments they wore, such as white cotton undergarments and tiger slippers. Clothing also kept people apart from others; Ying-Ying St. Clair wore yellow garments, while her half-sisters wore rose-colored tunics, which matched their mothers, the concubines. I also learned a few things that may distinguish a rich person from a beggar: pale skin and soft-bottomed feet.
1. The Secret Wish
2. The Moon Lady
3. I thought this chapter was really strange; Ying-Ying St. Clair was probably hurt when she found out the Moon Lady was not real but that shouldn’t have an effect on her throughout her whole life causing her to feel “lost” with her daughter. I also thought it was odd when she called her half-sisters number one and two. I think that it might have something to do them being less important because they came from her father’s concubines. I thought it was sad but still funny when Ying-Ying St. Clair found out that the Moon Lady was a man. Also, I thought it was also odd how the adults are really into the Moon Lady because it seems like something only kids would enjoy.
4. The relationship between Ying-Ying St. Clair and Amah is close, like a mother-daughter relationship. Amah “loved [Ying-Ying] better than her own…she had given up her own child” (72). So when she runs to sit with her mother leaving Amah, Amah must’ve felt disappointed because she helps Ying-Ying with everything but will always be looked at as just a nanny. Amah has given up a lot so I think it’s sad because Ying-Ying doesn’t appreciate her as much as she should. Amah sees Ying-Ying as a daughter while Ying-Ying sees her as just a nanny that is there to work for her.
5. The word choice Amy Tan uses in this vignette creates a dark mood for the whole chapter. Words like restlessness, fear, loneliness, and lost show how broken Ying-Ying St. Clair is. She has a hard time opening up so when she finally does to the Moon Lady, the person she admired, she feels betrayed. This probably made her feel like she can’t trust people with her feelings, not even her family. Those memories still haunt her and she cannot let them go.
6. Many years later, Ying-Ying St. Clair still remembers the day she met the Moon Lady. That was also the day she lost her innocence and started looking into reality. I think that day had a huge impact on her because even at the age of four, she loses trust in people. She opened up and was crushed so she believes that she can never open up with her daughter. Her daughter doesn’t know much about her mother or her culture. They are not close at all and are not open to each other at all.
1. “I’ll paint my clothes with blood!”
2. FEATHERS FROM A THOUSAND LI AWAY: “YING-YING ST. CLAIR: The Moon Lady”
3. In this chapter, I felt I could relate to Ying-Ying’s constant questioning. She asks many questions when Amah before the Moon Festival. I also ask numerous questions and sometimes my parents would scold me and get annoyed for asking them too many questions. The environment she was in when she woke up was similar to my childhood surroundings. When I was a child, I would remember waking up all sweaty and sticky at seven in the morning. The Philippines is very humid and sticky and hot. The names of her half sisters remind me of my two stuffed toys, well, bananas. They were tv characters in a children show and my aunt gave me the stuffed toys as a present. They are two bananas who are brothers. One is named B1 and the other, B2.
4. The relationship between Ying-Ying and Amah can be described as caring. At first I thought that Amah was Ying-Ying’s mother, but as I read, I learned that she is Ying-Ying’s nursemaid. It seems that Ying-Ying has learned much about the world around her through Amah. Amah is the one Ying-Ying turns to if she has questions to ask. This shows at the beginning of the chapter when Amah is getting Ying-Ying ready for the moon festival.
5. Amy Tan uses a lot of local color in this chapter. We learn of the Five Evils and the Moon Lady. The Five Evils conist of a swimming snake, a jumping scorpion, a flying centipede, a dropping-down spider, and a springing lizard. The Moon Festival is the only day a person can see the Moon Lady. Ying-Ying described common clothes people wear during the Moon Festival and provisions they pack. We also learn where certain people reside in the floating pavilion. The rich people are in the front and all over except the back while the poor people are in the back. Local color improves the story very much. By incorporating local color, we learn traditions and customs Chinese citizens take part in.
6. I am learning more about the Chinese culture in this chapter. The Moon Festival occurs on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon. Moon cakes can be shaped into many things such as a rabbit. It is common for a man to have concubines and not hide it from his wife. Many people celebrate the Moon Festival in boats because the Tai Lake was crowded. People catch live seafood to eat such as shrimp and fish on the boat they are in.
1. “Hidden Nature”
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. I can relate to how Ying-Ying didn’t want to reveal her desires out of selfishness. I also dislike acting selfish, and do my best to disguise when I want things. I was confused when Ying-Ying smeared the blood on her clothing, and didn’t understand why she did it. I wondered if she did it to purposely make Amah or her mother angry, since her mother spent so long making the outfit. How long did it take Ying-Ying’s mother to make the outfit? How did she make it? Did they have sewing machines or did they do it by hand? I felt Ying-Ying’s panic when she fell off the boat, and thought that her family would save her. When they didn’t, I worried for her. It reminded me of the time I was lost in a store, with too many strangers around, and not knowing where to go or who to ask for help.
4. Amah treats Ying-Ying with compassion, yet is strict with her. After yelling at Ying-Ying for soiling her mother’s precious home-made clothing, “Amah left [her] crying in the back of the boat, standing in [her] white cotton undergarments and tiger slippers” (76). When scolding, Amah was severe with Ying-Ying. However, she cared for Ying-Ying “better than her own [and] had given up her own child…[to] come to [their] house to be [her] nursemaid” (72).
5. Amy Tan used flashbacks in this chapter. She began with Ying-Ying looking at her daughter who wished for everything and had plenty of money, and barely noticed her mother at all. Then she began to say how she never voiced her desires, and went into a flashback of why she never did, and how she was taught to never voice them.
6. d. This chapter connects to the allegory in the beginning of the section in that both daughters had desire for physical objects. The mother in the allegory was unable to give her daughter the swan feather because her daughter would not be able to grasp the meaning of it, because it was of no physical value. Ying-Ying in this chapter had a daughter who was wealthy, married a big husband, and was always looking at a list of things to buy. She, too, would have not been able to present her daughter with the swan feather.
Lost and Found
Moon Lady
1. My reaction to this chapter was that it was boring and pretty straight forward. Her wish was that she wanted to be found, because she was lost. I thought that it was typical, because she loves her family and she hates being lost. Throughout the whole chapter she was different from a typical Chinese girl; she had more traits that a guy would have. She liked to chase dragonflies and was venturous. She was an outgoing person rather then sitting there quietly.
2. I would compare the relationship between Amah, and Ying-Ying to be motherly like. It appears that Amah is more of a mom to her, than her mother is. She takes care of Ying-Ying and talks to her more then Ying-Ying’s mother does. She scolds her when she does something wrong, and punishes her just like a mother would. The scene where Ying-Ying is being scold at by Amah for chasing dragonflies shows that she is motherly towards Ying-Ying. She scolds at her just as a mother would for not being lady-like.
3. I like the way Amy Tan used her choices of words in this chapter, to describe what Ying-Ying did to her clothes. The way she “painted” her clothes with the “crimson” color of the turtle’s blood, gave a creepy image of a little girl smearing the blood all over her clothes. She was able to describe this scene very clearly and give off a disgusting connotation.
4. I learned a lot of things about Chinese culture through this chapter, especially about their goddess the Moon Lady. The chapter told her story, and how she was trapped on the moon because of her selfish desires. She also gave a bit of background on the festival about how the people would go out on boats with their family and party in the middle of the lake. It also told use some of the traditions about Ying-Ying’s mother making her new clothes for the festival, it show’s how important the festival was.
Tiffany Vuong
6th period
1. The Lost Spirit
2. The Moon Lady
3. In the beginning Ying-Ying and her Amah seem like the typical mother and daughter (even though her Amah isn’t her mom, it kind of seems like it), Ying-Ying doesn’t want to do something but Amah makes her so Ying-Ying listens but follows in a forced manner. The first thing that came to my mind when Amah explained to her who the Moon Lady was, was Santa Claus: she lives far ways, there’s only one day you could see her, and she can fulfill any one wish that could seem selfish is you asked. I think Amah reminds me of my mother in a way. When I was younger my mother used to dress me up and do my hair and was always so joyful when we saw family. I, similar to Ying-Ying, would always ask too many questions and my mom would always complain about it. The three sisters are also alike with me and my two sisters. My older sister would always be fought over by me and my older sister. As Ying-Ying was lost and couldn’t find her floating pavilion, I read on feeling simply useless. Later, finding out she was found, she was only found physically, but not mentally. Mentally she was lost and wished to be found.
4. The relationship between Ying-Ying and Amah could be described as typical. Usually when a mother hires a nanny to take care of her children it practically means they are too busy to care for their kids. Generally when a Nanny has been working in a household for quite some time, the result is the nanny and the kid(s) have a closer relationship than the mother and the child, and that is exactly what had happen with Ying-Ying and Amah. When Amah was fixing Ying-Ying’s hair and dressing her up for the ceremony Amah was a strong motherly figure to Ying-Ying.
5. Amy Tan’s word choices in this chapter which, personally, was really helpful. When Ying-Ying was expressing the emotions she was feeling it was difficult to understand what she was going through because I’ve never been through them. Until she explained her emotions through the specific word choices I actually understood it because it put the situation to where I could relate to. “The way you might think of a fan in the summer or a heater in the winter (72), made me feel the comfort Ying-Ying was explaining.
6. In this chapter there was one main thing I found out about the Chinese culture, the Moon Lady. Many people gathered around to see the moon lady because she only comes out on one night which is similar to Christmas. The children get to wish for one very special, selfish wish, exactly like Santa Claus.
Brian Tat
Period 7
The Fifteenth Day of the Eighth Moon
The Moon Lady
I felt sorry reading that Ying-Ying is not heard or seen by her own daughter. I wondered why the daughter would neglect her mother so easily. I think Ying-Ying truly loses herself and her personality, by keeping her desires kept in. I believe that Amah’s words about being “wrong to think of your own needs” (68), and that Ying-Ying merely misinterprets Amah’s meaning. Ying-Ying follows this advice her whole life by keeping her mouth fully shut of all her desires and needs. I felt disappointed that Amah tells Ying-Ying that “[girls] can never ask, only listen” (68), because this line would discourage Ying-Ying from having her own desires and only listen for others. When I went through the short story twice, I wondered why doesn’t Ying-Ying’s mother spend more time with her daughter more? It seemed like Amah was only there to become like a slave and servant to Ying-Ying. I felt that Ying-Ying has been traumatized over the fact that Amah and her mother did not seem to notice Ying-Ying’s disappearance when she drops from the boat into the river. Reading the last line of the short story, I pondered about people lost out in the world. Like children in an orphanage or a puppy in the pet shop, wouldn’t they wish to be found?
I see Ying-Ying and her mother’s relationship as a ghost or more of a faded relationship. In the short story, I hardly recognize any interaction between two characters; however, I do see that her mother will often reappear and disappear at times. Ying-Ying holds pain from the way her mother leaves Ying-Ying constantly to be taken care by Amah. She feels disappointed in seeing how her mother does not come for her when she is left on the back of the boat.
A great deal of similes is used by Amy Tan to give readers a more vivid imagination into the objects she wants shown. For example, Tan describes the setting with similes of the boat with a floating teahouse, allowing the reader to imagine the house the way Tan sees. Tan also compares fish scales looking like shards of glass in the air as they flew. Tan also includes a great deal of local color, including information about the Moon festival and the clothes people wear. It makes me feel like I’m actually in the Chinese culture experiencing through the Moon festival and its customs.
I learned the story of the Moon lady and her husband about the peace of everlasting life. There was great description of local color telling how the rich would dine with many types of food such as zong zi, fruits, and preserved meats and vegetables, and moon cakes. They would gather as a family, and celebrate the Moon festival. Even the mothers of the rich families would have substitutes, as they took care of family matters. The rich Chinese had rickshaws for transportation and would go on a boat on festivals.
1)Which is more valuable: Wisdom or Innocence
2)Moon Lady
3)In the process of reading the chapter, I became exasperated, not seeing a theme or message, as I had in the other chapters, I felt no reactions, no connections to the characters, or the plot, as I had to other chapters, and I felt absolutely nothing. Usually, Amy Tan’s writing style would encroach and enwrap me, pulling me into the story, allowing me to read in between the lines and becoming one with the plot and characters. This chapter, however, left my stranded, cold, reading and observing, like a scientist would record an experiment, instead of a reader who connects with his story. I only reacted to some parts of the story with a spark where I could only see the potential for a round character. I found some of these “spark” when “[Ying-ying] shrieked with delight at [her] shadow’s own cleverness,” (71). Another of these life like sparks that I felt made Ying-ying feel more round was when “[she] was jumping up and down with great light,” (68), shouting “The Moon Lady! The Moon Lady . . . Who is The Moon Lady?” (67-68).
4) As I had stated earlier, in this chapter, is severely lacking in area of realness of characters, plot, and relationship. One certain relationship that I believe is unique, yet common in some ways is the relationship between Ying-ying and the Moon Lady. A wise man once said that in times of great distress, one either embraces religion and faith fully, or completely shuns it from their life. I believe that this proverb applies to Ying-ying’s situation when she is great distress after falling off of her pavilion and being stranded unto the shore. As Ying-ying is stranded on land, she is separated from all of her family, she desperately begs to the Moon Lady to be found. She fully embraces the Moon Lady, and throws herself at the Lady’s feet, hoping for her wish to fulfill. Even though not directly mentioned, I believe that Ying-ying still believes in the Moon Lady, for she has not vocalized one of her wishes, which would turn them into a selfish desire. I believe this makes the relationship unqiue, because Ying-ying had seen the Moon Lady turn into a man as a child, which would have dispelled the faith into such a spiritual figure in most children. This proves the strength of the piety Ying-ying has for the Moon Lady.
5)In this chapter, Tan uses a large amount of description and imagery in this chapter. This descriptive language helps give the chapter a more realistic sense, which it lacks, in my opinion, as stated above. She applies these descriptions to the physical appearances of the objects in the story, instead of the personality of the people, which greatly depreciates one’s ability to connect with the characters.
6)I believe the conflict of this chapter was man vs. nature, for in the beginning life was easy for Ying-ying, yet as the chapter progressed, more and more accidents happened. I think this was nature’s purpose, for as she overcame these obstacles, she grew and learned, losing her innocence, yet gaining knowledge and wisdom.
“Things Aren’t Always What They Seem”
The Moon Lady
1. The first line of “The Moon Lady” surprised me. Why would you not give voice to your selfish desires? I understand that it is not good to be too selfish, but it is not healthy to keep your desires bottled up inside yourself either. I think that it is stupid that she was taught that girls should not voice their selfish desires and that they “can never ask, only listen” (68). I also thought that it was kind of impersonal to call your sisters Number Two and Number Three. Why not just call them Thing One and Thing Two? Ying-Ying seemed pretty selfish to me. She never appreciated her Amah. Her Amah was practically a substitute mother for her and all Ying-Ying did was demand more and more from her. She never stopped to consider the pain it might cause Amah to raise a daughter that was not hers. But I can’t really blame her since her real mother obviously doesn’t have the time to teach her how to be considerate of other’s feelings. I thought it was so sad that no one seemed to care for Ying-Ying. Even her Amah left her when she dirtied her clothes. Neither she nor Ying-Ying’s mother noticed that Ying-Ying fell into the water. I thought that Ying-Ying was foolish when she thought that turtle’s blood could cover up the stains of the fish blood and scales. Didn’t she see that it would only make matter’s worse? And Amah, instead of helping clean up the mess, just took off the clothes, leaving the poor girl in her undergarments. I mean hello? Isn’t Ying-Ying only four years old? Don’t four year olds always ruin their clothes? If Amah had any foresight, she would have brought a change of clothes. I also thought it was extremely cruel to leave the little girl alone and unable to join the festivities. On the other hand, the fishermen who rescued her were exceptionally kind in assisting Ying-Ying. They did their best to help her find her family. I was angry with the story of the Moon Lady. The moral of the story evidently was that women are sinners and men are their shining ray of hope to correct them and to bring them onto the right path. It is no wonder Ying-Ying thinks so little of her desires with society molding her to think that women are worthless in comparison to men.
2. The relationship between Ying-Ying and the Moon Lady was one of false expectations. Ying-Ying idolizes the Moon Lady. She believes that the Moon Lady is a mysterious and benevolent woman who grants the secret desires of others. She is instead disappointed to find that the Moon Lady is not a lady after all, but a man. This is similar to the shattering in a child’s belief in Santa Claus. Children adore Santa and think that he goes around every Christmas delivering presents to the good little boys and girls. When this belief is crushed it leaves the child disoriented and unsure of whom to trust. Similarly, Ying-Ying is never the same after learning of the Moon Lady’s true identity. She “never believed [her] family found the same girl” (83). By unmasking the true identity of the Moon Lady, Ying-Ying is forced to grow up and leave childish beliefs behind her.
3. In “The Moon Lady,” Amy Tan uses a lot of imagery. She describes the hot sticky summer so well that one could feel as if it was summer, instead of the middle of winter. She depicts the clothing of Ying-Ying’s family as they set out for the Moon festival so well that one can see them in his mind’s eye. The festival is portrayed so well that one feels as if they are actually there. This improves the story because it draws the reader into the tale. It allows the reader to feel as if they are actually with Ying-Ying, going to the same place together, and seeing the world through her eyes.
4. I think that the theme of “The Moon Lady” is that one should not keep their selfish desires bottled up inside them. They should be let out in order to insure that one does not loose a part of themselves. Ying-Ying does not voice her desires for so long that she is “lost…unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others” (64). If she had expressed her wishes a little more, she would have retained more of her personality. What the reader must take away from this chapter is that it is healthy to give in to one’s desires once in a while and that surprising them will do more harm than good.
This comment has been removed by the author.
1) “Lost and Forgotten”
2) “The Moon Lady”
3) This chapter had almost no point for me. It made me sad, very sad for Ying-ying, but it was an odd tale altogether. She breaks off the worst part of her bunny mooncake to give to her two younger siblings, which I think shows how selfish she is even as a child. I’m a little disturbed that she finds nothing wrong with watching a woman slit fish and cut off turtle heads among other things. That’s just sickening and would make me lose my lunch even now, but Ying-Ying is 4 years old? It’s also very disturbing to know that when she got speckles of blood on her clothing, she “truly thought that [she] could cover these spots by painting all [her] clothes crimson red, and that if [she] stood perfectly still no one would notice [the blood]” (76). I almost wonder if she had been exposed to blood before this incident. The part where the “moon lady” had turned into just a man acting as the mystical woman surprised me a little but must have shocked Ying-Ying. I also wonder why Ying-Ying’s family didn’t come for her after stripping her and leaving her to wait all day.
4) The relationship between Ying-Ying and her amah can be described as “tightly-knit”. They are very close, much closer than Ying-Ying and her mother are because her amah nurtures Ying-Ying and has to take care of her all time. Amah scolds Ying-Ying for dirtying her clothes and for asking too many questions just like a mother would do to her own daughter. The only relationship that Ying-Ying and her mother seem to have is the bond sewn by Ying-Ying’s fancy clothes. Other than that, Ying-Ying’s amah is practically her stand-in mother.
5) Amy Tan uses symbolism in this chapter. The moon lady represents all the innocence that Ying-Ying carries within her. When Ying-Ying is cold and lonely out by the lake, she brightens up when she sees the moon lady come on stage. The idea of getting a free wish from the moon lady shields Ying-Ying from the cruel reality that things like this do not really happen. When she finds out that the “moon lady” is just an actor and a male actor too, she is crushed and all her dreams come crashing down. Her innocence is shattered and the walls of reality cave in on her world.
6) This chapter relates to the allegory because in their own ways, both the mother in the allegory and Ying-Ying cannot tell their daughters all the wisdom they keep within them. Both daughters in the chapter and the allegory are much Americanized and never suspect their mothers’ true intentions of trying to tell them about their culture and lives.
1. Lost in the Darkness of the Moon
2. The Moon Lady
3. As I began reading the text, I noticed that Ying-ying was speaking to her daughter, in thought. She began saying that they both are lost and that she is unseen by her daughter. This was a very deep statement that made a negative type of vibe. Later on in the text, I read that she thought her daughter was foolish, and from that I was surprised and knew that she was not speaking directly to her daughter. In the text, Ying-ying states that she watched people burning a flame. The flame was actually a mosquito repellent, but she was told it was the burning of the Five Evils, which were made up of five different hazardous animals. When I read this, I understood that the Five Evils was probably a Chinese proverb told to children to stay away from harmful animals. When Ying-ying asked Amah about why they go to the festival, she responded that they go so the gods won’t punish them. When I read this, I was confused because I thought they went out of reverence, but I realize that out of fear would also be a good reason to go. I was surprised later on when Amah told Ying-ying that she shouldn’t ask for what she wanted otherwise it was considered “selfish desire.” She also stated that girls should only listen; this showed a sign of paternalism. Shock hit me when I read that Ying-ying’s sisters were named Number 2 and Number 3. I thought this was quite strange because it just seemed so uncommon, but I realized later that they were the daughters of concubines and thus the two girls, along with their names, wouldn’t be as important. The concept of having concubines also stunned me because I see this act as highly immoral and quite rude to one’s wife. When I found out Amah wasn’t Ying-ying’s mother, but instead her nursemaid, I felt confused. I felt this way because Ying-ying’s own mother didn’t seem to have much of a relationship with her daughter, and Amah seemed to be extremely close with a girl that wasn’t even her own. I was particularly astonished when I read that Amah gave up her own child, the last thing her dead husband left her, to become Ying-ying’s nursemaid. I thought this was very wrong to give up one’s own child. As I read through the text, I realized that Ying-ying’s family was considerably wealthy because they had servants and they rented a large boat. I was quite surprised when I read that the family ate live “jumping” shrimp when they were on the boat; I found this quite unappetizing and disturbing. I also felt shocked when I later read that Ying-ying covered herself in blood to hide a smudge on her clothes. I found that quite disgusting and absurd. When Ying-ying was drowning, I felt extremely terrified for her. I wondered if she would drown to her death, but luckily she was saved by some folks. I also felt frightened for Ying-ying when she was lost on shore and couldn’t find her family, but I was happy to find that she was found by her family after all in the end. When Ying-ying described the whole Moon Lady play, I found this to be quite interesting and I wondered about the other Chinese folklore too. In the text, the Moon Lady stated that women are yin, the darkness within, and that man is yang, the bright truth. I found this statement to be incredibly false and quite brought on by the Chinese paternalism. The ending of the chapter was quite deep and very touching for me. Ying-ying states that her wish to the Moon Lady was to be found, because she had been lost. After reading this statement, I felt quite sad because I felt her pain. I was left wishing that she could be found and that her daughter could understand her mother and her past.
4. The relationship between the characters of Ying-ying and Amah can be described as a kind, loving mother-daughter relationship. As ironic as it seems, Amah was probably more of a mother to Ying-ying than her own mother was. This statement was confirmed when Ying-ying stated that Amah gave up her own child to be her nursemaid, thus all of Amah’s maternal instincts and love was set upon young Ying-ying. An example of Amah’s motherly relationship with the child can be seen in the chapter beginning when Amah is dressing little Ying-ying and combing her hair. Another scene is shown when Amah gets angry at Ying-ying for leaving her to be with her real mother in a different richshaw. This shows Amah’s concern to be the “mother” of Ying-ying along with her jealousy of Ying-ying’s real mother. A last scene that shows Amah’s motherly care is when Ying-ying becomes covered in blood and Amah begins to changer her clothes and scolds her. This shows how she is, in a way, being a “parental” figure in Ying-ying’s life by giving her corrections. Overall, Ying-ying and Amah’s relationship can be summed up as loving.
5. In this chapter, Amy Tan used the writing technique of imagery to improve the story. In the beginning the imagery was used very well to describe the damp, hot day in August and how the bamboo bed mat was sticky from the heat. She also described how the hot bricks had to be covered in bamboo mats. Tan also described the comfort of shade that Ying-ying enjoyed when playing with her sisters, along with fun of playing with a shadow. The lake was described as extremely large and very crowded with many boats. She was also very detailed in stating that there were no breezes in the air. Tan described the water also, that it turned “a deep golden color, and then red, purple, and finally black”(77). This was very good because it described many things, the water’s color from the reflection of the sun, the sunset, and the progressing time.
6. c. From this chapter, I am learning much about Chinese culture. One thing I learned was the use of silk, as shown with Ying-ying’s clothing. This fabric was very important because it was only a local product of China, which was highly valued and traded throughout the world because of its uniqueness. Another thing I learned was that Chinese people used to write poems on stone, as shown in this chapter. This custom probably dates back to many millennia ago, before the invention of paper. I also learned that the concept of making healing balms out of herbs and insects was still practiced into the early twentieth century. The use of concubines was also a very common practice in Chinese culture as well. The religion shown in this chapter showed Buddhism, as shown on Ying-ying’s brother’s clothing. Buddha outlines were sewn on his clothing; this shows reverence to their god. Buddhism was one of the many Chinese religious/philosophical ideas, including Daoism, Confucianism, and Legalism. Most people however, would mix certain religious ideas that were pleasing in the process of syncretism and thus most people worshipped differently in a polytheistic way. Polytheism was highly practiced, as seen with the Moon Festival for reverence of the moon god. The Daoist idea of Yin and Yang, an idea of harmony, was also shown in the chapter. A food concept I learned in this chapter from Chinese culture was from when they were eating the live shrimp. Apparently it is a type of Chinese dish to eat shrimp that are live and still moving. Another thing I found interesting was that they ate snapping turtle, which is a very uncommon dish. The way of catching fish was also strange, using a bird with a metal ring on its neck; I found this quite interesting and exciting. Overall, it was quite fascinating to learn so much about Chinese culture from this chapter.
This comment has been removed by the author.
1.Before You Wish, Make Sure Your Moon Lady Is A Lady
2.“Moon Lady”
3.In the beginning of the flashback to Ying-ying’s childhood, I thought this chapter was going to be nice and sweet. I became shocked and a bit appalled at how casual Ying-ying seemed when she talked about her father’s two concubines and the two half-sisters she gained from them. I had thought that I was already “over” the fact that concubines were taken so lightly back then, but I found my shock resurfacing as I read this. As I read on, it started to come to me that Ying-ying was a little…off. She was intrigued by watching a woman kill and chop fish, and when she was in a panic, she rushed to smear turtle blood all over her dress. I would say she is a little morbid, from the lack of a real mother, and her discovery of the identity of the “moon lady” that she saw on stage.
4.I think that Ying-ying and Amah’s relationship is a little one-sided, because Ying-ying is too young to fully appreciate the things Amah does for her. Among the everyday things that Amah does for Ying-ying, she had also “given up her own child…when her husband had died” (72). Although Amah came to the household to be Ying-ying’s nursemaid, she can practically be seen as Ying-ying’s mother by the way she cares for her, worrying about both their reputations and the family’s when Ying-ying does an unladylike thing such as chasing a dragonfly or her own shadow. However, Ying-ying only thought of Amah “as someone for…comfort…a blessing [she] [appreciated] and [loved] only when it [was] no longer there” (72), thus putting their relationship on an imbalance.
5.I thought that the word choice of this chapter was very vivid, especially during the scene where Ying-ying watches the food being prepared. In my opinion, the flashback was very important because it was Ying-ying finally remembering the long lost memory. Thus, the better the words, the more realistic the flashback would become. As she described the food preparation, the slicing of the fish bellies, the pulling out of the red slippery insides, and then the “two chickens that no longer gurgled after their heads were chopped off” (75), the gruesome details make the memory live and breathe again, like the “thin freshwater eels...[that] [swam] furiously in [the] pot” (75).
6.I always thought families of all financial classes celebrated the same way for the annual Moon Festival. After reading this chapter, this is obviously not true. Although I do know what the Moon Festival is, I had never even heard of making wishes to the “Moon Lady.” This was quite a surprise, since I usually am somewhat familiar with the festivals. As the reader, I could tell that Ying-ying was not from a poor family because when she was rescued on a fisherman’s boat, the lady there examined her skin and feet, and found them too pale and soft to belong to a beggar girl. So, assuming from this chapter, rich families were able to rent boats and ships to dine and feast on for the festival. They were also able to take a nap on the boat.
1. Oh no he didn’t!
2. The Moon Lady
3. As I was reading the chapter, I found myself relating to the plot very much. Like Ying Ying St. Clair, I too did not appreciate my “Amah”. Though her Amah took care of her and loved her as her own, Ying Ying took her love and affection for granted. Another thing that pointed out to me was that Ying Ying’s family was insanely rich. Amy Tan’s description of their feasts, living grounds, clothing, etc was considered to be very wealthy back then. Even the dad had concubines, and only did the royalty or emperors had such things. Ying Ying grew up as a spoiled girl in her rich family; however, she completely changed ever since that night. Ying Ying fell off the boat and was soon rescued by a nearby fishing boat. In that boat, she was faced with comments and gestures that she never heard before or even thought of being called. She never felt so helpless and lonely before. Aside from that, she also lost her innocence that night. Her happiness and anxiety to meet the Moon Lady was destroyed and shattered as she found out the Moon Lady was a man. Her only secret wish she told to the “Moon Lady” was no longer a wish because first of all, that wasn’t even the Moon Lady herself, and secondly, her Amah told her to keep the secrets to herself or else they would turn into a selfish desire. Another thing that caught my attention was the Five Evils. When Ying Ying was in the water, she felt it “squeezed [her] body like a sponge.” (77) Earlier in the chapter, the Five Evils were said to eat children. After the incident, Ying Ying lost her inner childhood, her innocence.
4. The relationship between Ying Ying and Amah is very typical. Amah is not her birth-mother, but loves her just as equally, sometimes even more. Amah helps, nourishes, and cares for Ying Ying, yet no appreciation is shown for Amah whatsoever. Only when Ying Ying truly needs Amah and her absence in presence does Ying Ying truly values Amah and her hard work. Amah, like many other caretakers, will never receive their appreciation and gratitude until they past away; which is when it’s too late.
5. In this chapter, Amy Tan uses a lot of local color. She describes the very details of the floating pavilion. Events and holidays such as the Autumn Festival were widely mentioned in the chapter. Folklores and tall tales like the Moon Lady and the Five Evils. Typical foods like moon cake and sticky rice and other items such as floating lanterns played a huge role in helping out with the local color.
6. As the story progresses, my knowledge and fascination towards Chinese culture broadens and stretches. From what foods are eaten to the celebrations and traditional ceremonies that are held, I am learning more and more of Chinese customs and culture.
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. I wished upon the Moon Lady and….
2. The Moon Lady
3. Although, this chapter was a little different from the other stories, it was also very entertaining! I was amused by Ying-ying’s innocence. When Ying-ying’s newly made outfit is dirty, she tries to cover up the stains by smearing turtle blood onto her shirt, thinking that it would blend in. This scene made me laugh because it showed that Ying-ying was really gullible. It also revealed Ying-ying’s immaturity and innocence, how everything was so reasonable in her mind. I felt really sad for Ying-ying when she went to the Moon Lady to tell her a wish and “the Moon Lady looked at [Ying-ying] and became a man” (83). This scene was a little disappointing because Ying-ying really looked forward to meeting the Moon Lady, but unfortunately she found the harsh reality. It was as if Ying-ying lost her hope, faith, and childish innocence.
4. The relationship between Ying-ying and Amah can be described as affectionate. Amah is practically a mother to Ying-ying because she takes care of her more than her real mother. Even though Amah is Ying-ying’s nanny, they have a very close relationship; a mother-daughter bondage. Ying-ying’s mother doesn’t give her daughter the affection she needs. However, Amah adores Ying-ying as her own daughter. Ying-ying “thought of Amah as someone for [her] comfort, the way you might think of a fan in the summer or a heater in the winter, a blessing you appreciate and love only when it is no longer there”(72). Amah provides Ying-ying with much love, care, and consolation that Ying-ying sees Amah as her real mother.
5. One of the many writing techniques that Amy Tan uses in this chapter is similes. It helps the reader compare two familiar things so they can imagine the scene, giving the reader a better understanding. An example of this technique is when Tan describes the force of Amah’s pull and writes “she yanked the full length of my hair like the reins of a horse…” (67). Also, it was amazing how Tan described the rickshaw puller’s mouth when she wrote that they were “open and panting like horses” (72). Tan wrote that scene very realistically and I loved the way she painted the picture of the rickshaw puller’s mouth into my mind.
6. There was a lot of Chinese culture sprinkled throughout the chapter. I learned about the events at the Chinese Moon Festival, the Five Evils, and the story about the Moon Lady. I also learned about the traditional Chinese pastries like the rabbit mooncake, which usually contained egg yolk or a sweet filling. In addition, I learned that the clothing worn on festivals is usually bright silk dresses.
Dan Truong
Period 06
Lost and Found: Identity
(On “The Moon Lady”)
3) The Moon Lady in this chapter reminded me of Santa Clause. Both may be simply imaginary people who have only lived because of lies that have been passed down from generation to generation. I believed in Santa Clause, but stopped because I never got a gift from him (although it might just be because I was naughty all those years!). I’m glad I didn’t have to find out that he wasn’t real like Ying-Ying St. Claire did in “The Moon Lady”. Making a fake Santa Clause or Moon Lady is simply making a big lie even bigger.
4) The relationship between Amah and Ying-Ying can be described as close and loving, but an unrequited love. Amah spends all her time caring for Ying-Ying and is there for most of Ying-Ying’s life, spoiling her with love and knowledge. This causes Ying-Ying to expect it all the time, especially when she gets herself into trouble.
5) I noticed that a lot of local color was used in this chapter, along with imagery. Amy Tan shows us about different types of foods that the Chinese ate during the Moon Festival. We see that along with the arrival of summer comes a searing heat in China and that to counter this, the windows were covered with bamboo curtains; the beds were covered with woven mats; the floors were crisscrossed with bamboo.
6c) I think this chapter contained a lot about Chinese culture. The Moon Festival occurs on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon. I learned that people in China went out to the lakes on the Moon Festival on their boats for an outing. Moon cakes can be shaped into many things such as a rabbit. I learned that a man could have multiple wives called concubines and that it was known to the other wives. I learned that the daughters of these later wives were named numerically. I learned that people caught and ate raw fish and shrimp.
-------------------
Happy new year!
1. Dark Side of the Moon
2. The Moon Lady
3. The Moon Lady was a very upsetting tale, yet again. Each story I’m hoping for a more uplifting plot, but the trend of the Joy Luck Club seems to be the harsher the plot, the more gratifying moral. What really struck me the most with this story was not her mother, but Amah. She led me to believe she was the only mother figure in her life, but she was just like every other self-absorbed person. I was really counting on her to pull through and be the heroine of the story, but she was merely a catalyst of Amy Tan’s moral.
4. The relationship between Ying-Ying and her younger siblings is manipulative and mindful. Ying-Ying acknowledges her younger half-siblings, but does not care for them as exemplified when she receives the moon cake and reserves the center for herself, and the small bits to her younger sisters. She undermines them to her advantage, but is not completely selfish. Her siblings act unsuspicious and devoting towards Ying-Ying because of their youthful ignorance.
5. The writing technique that Amy Tan applies in Moon Lady is flashbacks. From the very beginning, it starts in the present tense, looking back into the future. The flashback acts to improve the story’s clarity and expectations of the plot. In the beginning, when she reveals how her daughter does not even know her. How she is lost already. This is also foreshadowing, but it flashes back to elaborate and intensify this statement. She vividly details how she realizes her lost soul through her own accounts, then connects back to the present tense to establish the overall moral.
6. The main conflict of Moon Lady is Ying-Ying’s overcoming ignorance and selfishness that ultimately led her to trust her family. This internal conflict slowly eats away at her when Amah and her mother carefully cater to her attention. She falls into the pit of their seemingly caring arms, but is easily forgotten with her sudden absence. This conflict is human vs. self in which Ying-Ying struggles to see the egotism that slowly ate her and lost her soul in consequence.
A Wish to be Found
“The Moon Lady”
1. My first reaction after finishing “The Moon Lady” was that I completely understood how Ying-Ying St. Clair felt. Perhaps it is because I know my own mother looks at me with the very same thoughts going through her head that I can really relate. I laughed for a minute straight when I discovered that Ying-Ying’s sisters were named “Number Two and Number Three” (71). When Ying-Ying fell off the boat, I was scared for her, and when she was saved by the fishermen, I felt relief. Among these feelings, I also felt pity for Ying-Ying. She was mistaken as a beggar girl when she had really come from a rich family. For Ying-Ying, going from a spoiled, rich little girl to a beggar girl must have destroyed her self-confidence. The last line of the Moon Lady’s story also shocked me. I don’t agree that “woman is yin… the darkness within, where untempered passions lie” and “man is yang, bright truth lighting our minds” (81). I believe that men can also be yin and women can also be yang, and vice versa. When Ying-Ying had her hopes crushed after discovering that the beloved Moon Lady was actually a man, I felt sadness. I understand how it feels to be lied to, and to have your hopes suddenly crushed.
2. Amah and Ying-Ying’s relationship can be explained as a loving relationship. Amah and Ying-Ying seem to be closer to each other than Ying-Ying is with her mother. Although hiring a nanny was common in the early 1900s, Amah seems to be more than just a nanny to Ying-Ying. Amah is the person who scolds Ying-Ying when she does something wrong. She is the person that Ying-Ying goes to when there are questions left unanswered. Ying-Ying inherits ancient superstitions, such as the story of the Moon Lady, not from her mother, but from Amah. In fact, Amah treats Ying-Ying as her own daughter. She had even “given up her own child, a baby son” and “come to [Ying-Ying’s] house to be [her] nursemaid” (73). Amah “loved [Ying-Ying] more than her own” (73).
3. Amy Tan’s descriptive word choice and fantastic use of imagery helps her readers see and feel exactly what Ying-Ying is feeling. Using specific word choice, Amy Tan is able to give her characters some unique qualities and create the mood she wants. For example, the Moon Lady’s “shrunken cheeks, a broad oily nose, large glaring teeth, and red-stained eyes” (82) create a sense of shock, disbelief, and fear. The description of the water as “a deep golden color, and then red, purple, and finally black” (77) seem to darken the mood bit by bit, more and more every color. For me, the imagery and descriptive language was what gave this chapter some color in the midst of black and white.
4. From this chapter, my knowledge of the Chinese culture continues to expand. The first I learned is about the dress style of China. Silk and cotton were the fabrics that the Chinese used to make their clothes, and flowers and the color of gold were often part of the main design. Now, in the present time, moon cake only comes in two shapes, as a square-like design, or as a circular design. I had never known that moon cakes could exist as shapes such as animals, like rabbits. I also learned that the Chinese people are fond of telling stories such as the one of the Moon Lady. Acting out these stories were such traditions on holidays. The Chinese people also base their holidays on the lunar calendar. When Lindo says “on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon” (83), I realized that according to the lunar calendar, that is the day of the Chinese Moon Festival.
“How I Lost Myself”
The Moon Lady
1. I thought it was pretty ironic how the in the previous chapter, Lindo Jong found herself and in this chapter, Ying-Ying St. Clair lost herself. Looking back at Ying-Ying’s childhood, it reminded me of myself when I was little. People would always tell me not to do this or that because it was not polite and just like Amah in the vignette, my grandma would consistently tell me to slow down.
2. Ying-Ying and Amah’s relationship can be described as loving. Amah always cared for Ying-Ying better than her own children. She left her son just to be a nanny to Ying-Ying. Someone would have to love another person very much to be able to leave his or her own child.
3. I’ve noticed that throughout this vignette, Amy Tan uses excellent word choice to enhance her writing. The Moon Festival seemed to be so festive and when Ying-Ying was lost and left all alone, there was a sense of sadness and abandonment.
4. Through reading this vignette, I have learned from the Chinese culture that families go on boats during the Moon Festival to enjoy a feast.
Seen but not heard.
The Moon Lady
1) First of all, I have to say that this is the weirdest chapter of all. Seriously, the only way I can get this chapter is at the end, she called out to the wrong boat. But, if it isn’t that, this chapter makes no overall sense. Seriously, what kind of mother forsakes her own child? And what is so special about the moon lady being a man? I don’t know if they had all actors as men in those days, but why put that in if it is true? I’m very sure she won’t put anything in that is not supposed to be there. The wish to be found is pretty common, most people want to be, to have a home and to be loved. Though, I still don’t know if she has been found, she is still invisible, to her daughter and everyone else. It was kind of neat though, hearing about how the boys caught the fish using the bird with the ring around its neck. Also the differences between Ying-Ying’s life and the poorer people’s lives were interesting, with her fancy dress and the way she is supposed to act even though she is four. The part with the shadow was also strange, I guess it is supposed to stand for her true self, the part that’s under the fancy clothes and the way she is supposed to act.
2) Ying-Ying and Amah. This relationship is definitely a parental relationship. Seriously, Amah is more of a mother to Ying-Ying then her real mother. She is the one who gets her ready for the festive, puts on her clothes, watches her and tells her want to do. She even sleeps in the same room. Her mother is more distant, sort of like a person you want to please but never see. None of the other mothers in the other three stories are like that. Though, I guess Ying-Ying’s family is really wealthy. But, I think Amah is a mother figure to Ying-Ying.
3) In this chapter, Amy Tam uses word choice to great effect. She uses words like drowsy and waned and bristling to give the reading a clear picture on what is going on. When I read the story and these words, I could pretty clearly imagine what the people are doing and what it sounds like and what they look like.
4) I think this story relates to the allegory at the start in how Ying-Ying wants to be found. I think she wants to be found in the sense of being loved and taken care of and understood. She probably came to America in hopes of that but she still hasn’t been found. Not by her daughter, not by her husband, she is still invisible and not understood.
Yes, I know I am really late on this so I don’t want to hear it from anybody, especially people like Sean.
1. “The Moon Man”
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. I found that this chapter had many things that I could relate to. For example, when I read that Ying-Ying called her two half-sisters Number Two and Number Three, it reminded me of Thing One and Thing Two from Doctor Seuss. But I thought that the fact she didn’t call them by their names was pretty sad. I also found it familiar when Amah told Ying-Ying she asked “too many questions!” (66), because my little cousins always did the same to my aunt. The scene where she discovered her shadow especially made me smile and remember me as a child. I remember always trying to catch my shadow and “watching my shadow chase me” (71). I thought what the rough-looking boys Ying-Ying was watching did was quite clever, using a bird to catch the fish for you. But what I found stupid and a little bit disturbing was how she thought she could “cover [the mess she got on her clothes] by painting all [her] clothes [with the blood]” (76). Lastly, I felt bad for Ying-Ying when she found out that the Moon Lady was really the Moon Man. I would be crushed if I were her, knowing what I believed in was all a lie.
4. Ying-Ying and Amah have a very loving relationship. At first I thought Amah was her grandmother or something, but as I continued to read, I found out that she was like her nanny. Because Ying-Ying’s mother was not always taking care of her and left that job to Amah, Ying-Ying learned to love Amah like family. When Ying-Ying chose to sit with her mother in the boat instead of with Amah, she said it “displeased Amah” because she “loved [her] better than her own” (72) which showed that Amah loved her as if she were her own daughter. And when Ying-Ying fell into the water, the name she called out was “Amah!” (77), not her mother, which showed that Amah was who she really confided in.
5. In this chapter, I felt that Amy Tan uses a good amount of word choice. At the beginning, she uses words such as “closed,” “hidden,” “charcoal,” and “shadow” (64), to create the feeling of being invisible and lost in the world. It really improved the story because it gave us, the readers, the mood of sorrow and loneliness, how Ying-Ying felt.
6. I learned a few things about Chinese culture in this chapter. I learned that in China, they had nurse/nannies to take care of the children. The mother didn’t really take part in the child’s care and the child spent most of their time with the nanny. Tan also threw in the traditional outfits they wore for the mid-autumn festival and the moon cakes that they ate.
1.kersosine lamps
2.the moon lady
3.i thought it was cool how the peasants on the boat could recognize that she was actually a rich girl. They looked at her lifestyle and the impact it had on her. Because she doesn’t work in the fields her skin is pale and the soles of her feet are soft. That is very insightful because looking at her poor, wrinkly outfit, I would have though” poor” first thing.
4. amah and Ying Ying have a mother and daughter bond. Even though Amah is not really her mother, she does all the things that a mother should do. Take care of her needs, feed her, and scold her when she misbehaves. She is actually closer than Ying Ying’s biological parent because of all the time she spends. Its like the nanny in One Tree Hill…
5. I think the use of symbolism is used well in this chapter. The moon lady is Ying Ying’s thoughts about how life really is, glamorous. But in reality it is ugly and unfair. She realizes that she might not get everything she wants in life. What if her family doesn’t pick her up and she becomes a begger like the boat family thought?
6.the amount of Chinese culture we learn about in this chapter is very enriching. During the festival we pick up tidbits such as the kind of food, what they wore , and how a play look likes. On new years, they eat sweet bean filled dough rabbits. On the the pavilion they dined on eel, shrimp, turtle, and fish. The dress that Ying Ying wore is embroidered with flowers and vines. These give us a picture of what a new years looks like
1. To Be “Found”
2. Moon Lady
3. Wow, first chapter without a single thing that I could complain of…okay except the part where Amah told Ying Ying “Syin yifu! Yidafadwo!” – Your new clothes! Everything, all over the place! I couldn’t really read her Chinese, which disturbs my reading just a tiny insignificant bit. But it was a good chapter, from the clothes, to the myths, to the boats, to the mouthwatering foods, to the singing of opera of Moon Lady, and even to the fact that it was men who sang back then, women weren’t allowed. Looooved it! I also liked the emotional feel of this chapter. One day changed a girl’s life. What does it feel like to be lost, not just literally but to feel “the wonder, fear, and loneliness” of being lost wishing to be found. Even though that night she was found along the waterway, she still had not found herself. Even now she hasn’t and must feel guilty of passing that loneliness onto her daughter, though her daughter does not know. In general, I like Ying-ying.
4. Amah is good person. She gave up her son to become Ying-ying’s nurse and actually cared about Ying-ying, who doesn’t seem to know how much she is loved. Like most children she doesn’t understand. Why would some woman who isn’t even my mother love me, though I bet that thought doesn’t even run close to her head. This shows through almost everything they do and Ying-ying even repeatedly tells her daughter this. She tries to thank her Amah.
5. Amy Tan used a literary device called the “phenomenon of the doppelganger.” According to psychologists, it is fairly common. After she had been saved from the waters, Ying-ying looked like she could have been anyone. For a moment she thinks that she might be a little girl on another boat that she saw, pushing her way through her mother’s legs and saying, “That’s not me!...I’m here. I didn’t fall into the water.” The people on the boat laugh at Ying-ying’s attempt to understand what has happened. People feel as though they have seen their “double”, a life-size mirror image of themselves. It usually happens late at night or at dawn and maybe during periods of stress and fatigue. Ying-ying feels that she should be the little girl’s “double” – united with her family again, on dry land.
6. There are a lot of symbols in this chapter. “A girl should stand still,” Ying-ying’s mother admonishes her: “If you are still for a long time, a dragonfly will no longer see you. Then if will come to you and hide in the comfort of your shadow.” Ying-ying later on actually discovers her shadow, “the dark side of me that had my same restless nature.” The shadow here is symbolizes how Ying-ying is being pulled between obedience and independence. The image of a shadow also echoes the phenomenon of a doppelganger.
There is another symbol, the bird with the ring around its neck. In some ways Ying-ying is like that too. Ying-ying is unable to communicate with her daughter, who blocks out her mother’s voice by using a mechanical device. She blocks her ears from Ying-ying’s voice with her Sony walkman and phone. Ying-ying says that “We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others.” Like the bird, Ying-ying’s throat is constricted.
Jennifer Vance, Period 6
Make a wish. Its Magic.
Moon Lady
1.This chapter was rather interesting. The descriptions about Ying-ying seeing the turtle and chicken’s heads get chopped off really put in perspective the difference between my culture and that of the traditional Chinese culture. Despite the difference it created I also thought of the Moon Lady and how you can ask her for what you want, and hope she gives it. Kind of like Santa Claus in our culture.
2.The relationship between Ying-ying and Amah, her nurse is one like a mother daughter love. Amah is very protective over Ying-ying, and lets her know what she does right and wrong. Similar to how a mother would raise her child. I don’t think Ying-ying has full appreciation for Amah, as the woman had taken her in from her birth and cared for her.
3.I really love how Tan used imagery in this chapter. Her choice of words really lets me picture what she saw when she was writing. Despite it being cold and winter here in California Tan describes the summer in her story. She does this in such a way that I feel like him sweating on a hot summer day, rather freezing during winter. She includes such detail that I can really get the feel of the culture. Such as the moon festival, I could almost think to myself that I actually attended one.
4.In this chapter I learned so much about Chinese culture! The differences in the way food is prepared, to the holidays with similar figures. The moon lady is someone people look up to and ask for anything. Just as children ask Santa for gifts. It was interesting to know about the moon festival and the cultural detail behind it and what it actually meant to the people of China.
-Jennifer Vance
1. Lost & Found
2. The Moon Lady
3. The chapter begins with Ying-Ying St. Clair talking about her and her daughter, then moves into the past when Ying-Ying was still a child. It was during the time of the Moon Festival. Ying-Ying was four and it was her fist time going to the ceremony. Everyone dressed up and went on a boat on the river. I liked the desriptions of the clothing. Ying-Ying explored the boat and watched some people catch and prepare the food. The description of her clothes after they had been dirtied by blood kind of freaked me out and it was really gross. Later on, she falls into the water because she was frightened by the fireworks. I was afraid she would drown even though I know she survived. She was saved by people who were fishing, and they put her on shore. Ying-Ying then sees the play. She watches the Moon Lady and approaches her after the show to wish for something, but the Moon Lady turned out to be a man. That surprised me, but it was believable. Ying-Ying somehow gets reunited with her family but she doesn't remember how and she forgot what she wanted to wish for until years later.
4. Ying-Ying was very unappreciative of her amah. Amah gave up her own son to be Ying-Ying's nursemaid; she loved her a lot and always cared for her. However, when it was time to go on the rickshaws, Ying-Ying jumped out of Amah's arms and climbed in with her mother instead. I think that hurt Amah a lot, her love was never returned.
5. Amy Tan uses flashback in this chapter. The chapter starts with Ying-Ying being older then goes back in time to when she was a child. This improves the story because it gives more background on the character and also shows the reader an important event in the character's life.
6. (c) The Moon Festival is an important event for the Chinese. The often celebrate very grandly. They believe in higher beings such as the Moon Lady. The Moon Lady was believed to be able to grant wishes. During the time of the Moon Festival, people had plays the tell the story of the Moon Lady. In China, men played the roles of women (not unlike Europe).
“The Man on the Moon”
The Moon Lady
1.Right off the bat, I thought this was a weird chapter. It had a different mood and focus to it then the other chapters. It reminded me of the some of the folk tales I heard in the Philippines. I felt that the chapter was quite eerie because of the premise, the Moon Lady, and Ying Ying herself. I thought it was sort of disturbing that she was actually mesmerized by the chef as he chopped and gutted the fish. If I were her, I would have been horrified seeing a once living thing having its insides ripped from its body. The whole premise of the Moon Lady tale kind of confusing. I don’t know. It was all hazy to me. Though the Moon Lady’s gender was definitely clear to me. When the Moon Lady was revealed to actually be a Moon Man, I found it both funny and disturbing.
2.Ying Ying’s amah’s love for Ying Ying can be compared to a love given to a child by a loving nanny. Her amah is constantly spoiling her because Ying Ying replaces her son’s place. And although her amah treats her with respect she never taught Ying Ying how to respect. I also think that Ying Ying takes amah for granted. I could get a feeling that she felt smothered her amah’s love in the beginning but began to miss it by the end of the chapter.
3.Amy Tan uses a lot of imagery in the ‘Moon Lady.’ From the decapitation of the fish to Ying Ying’s discovery of the pavilion, everything in the chapter was told in great detail. The use of imagery in my opinion enhanced Ying Ying’s character. Because the chapter was told through her perspective, the reader can get a sense of her wild and vivid imagination.
4.In this chapter, I learned that eating live shrimp was a delicacy in China. I found out about the Moon Cake Festival and its variety of traditional moon cakes which includes the rabbit moon cake. I also learned that in China, housemaids would take act as a surrogate mother and nanny to children whose mothers are less than willing to raise them. I thought that that only happened in the Philippines among rich people but apparently not. When I looked at the different blog posts, I learned that “amah” was used to address someone as a mother.
1. “Being Found”
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. Reaction to “The Moon Lady”
In this chapter of The Joy Luck Club I did not understand why the family of Ying – Ying ate for so long and delayed their trip on Tai Lake. They rented “a famous chef” (pg. 70) which must have cost a lot of money; plus I was told that people over in China get paid “peanuts”, so why would they spend all that money and not get the trip on the lake with the chef and his, probably amazing food, started sooner. Also, I think that it was awful how Ying – Ying was not allowed to ask questions to her amah and perhaps everyone else as well. The characters that came to mind were the people on the fishing boat who had reeled in Ying – Ying and took so long to figure out that she was a girl and not a fish. Furthermore, I was beginning to get worried when Ying – Ying couldn’t find her family on the lake and when she said that there were many boats around. At that moment, her age also came to mind. Being four and not being able to find family that doesn’t even know you’re gone seems ghastly.
4. A character that stuck out in this chapter, “The Moon Lady”, besides Ying – Ying, was her amah. I figured that amah means grandma and something that she did in this chapter that caught my attention was when Ying – Ying starts to ask many questions to her amah and her amah replies by saying, “Too many questions!” (pg. 69). When she says this, by now I have heard her tell her granddaughter, Ying – Ying, to keep quiet over and over again. Amah either doesn’t like to hear Ying – Ying ask questions or she thinks it is disrespectful to ask questions. I believe that Ying – Ying’s amah believes both; that if a girl ask too many questions it is disrespectful and that the amah of Ying – Ying gets annoyed easily.
5. I believe that the main conflict in this chapter, “The Moon Lady”, is when Ying – Ying falls off the boat that her family had rented and fell in the water, only to drift away and get caught in a fisherman’s net which he and his buddies were using to catch fish. Only instead they caught Ying – Ying and after deciphering that she was not a fish, they took her out of the net and set her down on their boat so that she could look over the vast and crowded lake to find her family’s boat as well as them, even though they were only a speck in the mounds of other floating boats. The other part of the conflict is that Ying – Ying wanted to find the Moon Lady whom she could tell her secret wish to and it could come true. The conflict in this chapter is human vs. society because first off, Ying – Ying wanted to start the boat trip on the lake, but her family took so very long to eat and talk. Also, when Ying – Ying asked the man who tried to rip people’s money off by telling them that if they gave him money a wish for themselves would come true due to the Moon Lady if he would help her by him listening to her wish, but he only ignored her and walked away.
6.a. The essential question I chose for this chapter asked what the theme of, “The Moon Lady” was. I believe that the theme for this chapter is to always learn about your heritage and or past from your family line before a tragedy happens and the chance to learn about your family slips away. The other theme I thought this chapter contained was to always keep an eye on your children and make sure that, no matter how old they look, sound, or think they are, they need to always have an eye on them until their teen years, but not too protective.
"Ying-Ying St. Clair: Victim of Childhood Trauma?"
Moon Lady
blog by Nancy Le
1. This was a very, very strange chapter. It had a great deal of local color, however, which made me happy because I like reading about different customs like that of making wishes to the Moon Lady. My own culture also follows the lunar calendar, but the Moon Lady is a new idea to me. I was initially shocked at some of the things going on (the beheading of turtles and other animals, Ying-ying's smearing blood on herself, the Moon Lady's transformation), but as the shock wore off the story began to absorb me more. Amy Tan probably intended the imagery to be vivid, in some cases to the point of being disturbing, in order to emphasize the peculiar nature of her narrator Ying-Ying, especially the scenes where she is confused and believes she is a girl on another boat and where she smears blood across her clothing to hide the splatters already there. It shows, like June says in the first chapter, that Ying-ying is "a little crazy," and always has been.
In this chapter, Ying-ying and her rich family prepare to visit the Moon Lady and make their wishes, much like American families visit Santa Claus and wish for presents. Along the way, she gets messy, scolded, and falls off the boat. After she is rescued, she cannot find her way back to her family. This, the main conflict, is a partial example of man vs. nature, as the water sweeps her away, and partially man vs. self, because she is a scared, spoiled brat who only relies on others to come save her when she falls into the water rather than trying to swim to the surface.
Some possible symbols are scattered throughout this chapter. For example, the rabbit mooncake, divided unevenly for her half-sisters, represents selfishness combined with a desire to not look selfish or mean. The bird with the ring around its neck may also symbolize reliance on others, as the boys are using it to catch fish that would be possible to catch on their own. Lastly, the Moon Lady herself represents the innocent wishes of childhood, ruined as she is revealed to be a he. This last event is shown to have strongly affected Ying-Ying's already unstable mind, as she remains convinced that it changed her and that her parents did not find the same girl afterwards.
Lost and Found
“The Moon Lady”
3. As I started reading this chapter, I thought Ying-Ying was a considerate girl who always considered what others thought and wanted. I soon learned that she never revealed her selfish desires because she was warned not to by her ahma throughout her childhood. I think her family has high standards of her for being a “proper” girl. Being watched and judged by old ladies is too much for me, although I usually put up a quiet front around my family or family friends. I also thought Ying-Ying’s chapter was like Lindo’s chapter in that they both were lost at one point and didn’t feel free. I was very afraid for Ying-Ying when the man saved her on a boat. I thought she was really going to get sold as a slave or get raped, but was relieved when I realized there really are nice people who would save a random kid drowning in the waters. I liked this chapter because it kept me curious but it was also confusing. For example, I never understood if Ying-Ying was staring at the boat or the dock, and if the Moon Festival was even that big of a deal to her family, since her ahma dressed her up nicely and fussed over her, whilst the rest of her family never spoke a word of it.
4. Ying-Ying seems like a unique and different girl. Like many girls in movies I usually watch, she is not the type follow the Chinese ways of being a girl and prefers to chase dragonflies instead of standing still. She also gives me an image of mischief, curiosity, and innocence. Tan successfully illustrated Ying-Ying’s energetic personality when she switched rickshaws at the last minute. She also seems like someone who never gets out, as she was overly amused by her shadow. She treated her shadow as something she has never discovered before and something magical. Her curios self showed when she explored the entire boat and even watched as boys collected fish, and a woman started chopping heads off and shucking fish scales, pulling guts out. It is a pretty gross scene, yet she was able to stand there amazed and excited.
5. I think the main conflict in this story is an internal conflict. Ying-Ying never knew who she was and so she keeps quiet about what she wants. Her ahma has taught her to keep “selfish desires” to herself, so she never learned to speak up. Her confusion about who she is was revealed by her wish to the Moon Lady: “I wished to be found” (83). Her family always showered her with tips and rules of what a girl should be like—standing still and not chasing dragonflies, only ask and not listen, etc—until Ying-Ying had forgotten who she was. As a result, she also feels lonely because it’s as if nobody wanted to accept who she was. Her only friend was her shadow, who never pressured her to be someone she wasn’t. Also, it must have been tough growing up with a father with concubines—she may have not received enough attention. Thus, she grew close with her ahma, even though she’s just a backup for her. When she fell in the water and was yelling for her ahma but received no reply, she officially felt given up on and lost, as if nobody cared about her anymore. Nevertheless, she is more afraid than ever to lose her family, and we can see this when she was too afraid to cry after being rescued on some strangers’ fisherman boat. She felt lost forever when the one boat she pointed to wasn’t her family’s boat. This conflict stays with her throughout her whole life: the fear of not being found, of being abandoned, of being unloved.
6. Theme: growing up means losing your innocence. Ying-Ying remembered more about the night as she grew up, as she lost herself, and “the same innocence, trust, and restlessness, the wonder, fear, and loneliness” (83). That night was the night she grew up, the night she discovered the truth about the Moon Lady (it was a disguised man), and so when her family found her, she “never believed [her] family found the same girl” (82).
-Fiona Cheung. (Darn, Ialmostgotcutoff)
Seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing
“The Moon Lady”
3. Reaction to “The Moon Lady”:
The beginning of this chapter felt lonely and lost because Ying-Ying sounded like she is really disconnected from her adult daughter and they don’t have much of a relationship. As I read a little further I figured out there was going to be a flashback to a time in 1918 when she was only four. I thought it was dumb that her mom and relatives wouldn’t let Ying-Ying be a kid by letting her run around and play a little. There is no real harm in it. One question I have is why they left Ying-Ying in her undergarments at the rear of the boat for so long? She probably sat there for hours. Another question I have is how long did it take Amah to realize that Ying-Ying was missing?
4. The character I’d like to focus on is Ying-Ying. One very strange action that she does is covering herself in turtle blood. Her new clothes were covered with fish scales, mud, feathers and little spots of blood and so she thought “that [she] could cover all these spots by painting all [her] clothes crimson red, and that if [she] stood perfectly still no one would notice this change”(pg 76). What an odd child! I’m guessing that she really didn’t want to get in trouble and was probably told several times to be careful with her new clothes. This shows that she is a little bit of a tom-boy because most girls probably wouldn’t be on that side of the boat watching turtles and fish getting chopped up in the first place.
5. The main conflict of the story is being lost. Ying-Ying was separated from her family when she fell in the lake and couldn’t figure out where they were or where she was. I think the conflict is both internal and external, the external part being that she almost drowned in the lake also making it human vs. nature. The internal part is the loneliness she felt and how she lost herself within. It gets resolved in one way because the fishermen on the other boat saved her from drowning and it also gets resolved be she found who she was.
6. a. I believe the theme of “The Moon Lady” is that everyone will lose their innocence at some point of their lives. For Ying-Ying it was finding that a man was portraying the moon lady and it was all faked. She “lost” part of herself and “[she] never believed [her] family found the same gir (82).
Walking on the moon with a pretty lady.
1) This chapter was ok, it had its confusing parts but after re-reading it again, it made some sense to me. When i read the first line, "For all these years I kept my mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out,(Tan 67)" I first thought to myself "Wow, this lady is pretty unselfish." Though, as I continued to read the chapter her statement became clearer. The Moon festival itself was pretty interesting, there was a lot of use of local color in this chapter. I was shocked when I read that the Moon Lady was a man. It made the story trippy a little but it was also a good way to show how Ling lost her innocence. Overall, I would give this chapter a 4 out of 5 star.
2) The chapter is mostly about how Ying-Ying loses her innocence. One of the first signs of her beginning to lose it, is probably when she stated, " I was the biggest, so i sat in the shady part, where the stone slab was cool,(Tan 71)" suggesting that she knew she had to right to get the better things because she was the elder one. She loses all of her innocence when she realizes that the Moon Lady is not real.
3)A symbol in this chapter is the Moon Lady. The Moon Lady represents Ying Ying's innocence because she was first naive and believed that the lady was real but as the story progressed she loses her innocence when she finds out that she isn't real.
4d) Amy Tan uses a variety of techniques in this chapter, for example, she uses onomatopoeia to describe the sounds. She also uses many local color to teach us about the Chinese culture as well. Metaphors, similes, and imagery were constantly used in this chapter as well and it helped the chapter be more "flavorful".
This comment has been removed by the author.
(Dennis Trinh)
Title Choice 1) A Fish Out of Water
Title Choice 2) Whoa! Man! It’s not a Moon Lady. It’s a Moon Man!
“The Moon Lady”
At first when I read “The Moon Lady”, I thought I wouldn’t get overwhelmed with confusion. Apparently I was wrong. Although this chapter was confusing, I’m quite interested in Ying-Ying. Overall, the chapter was quite suspenseful. Ying-Ying, although she was only four years old when this occurred, intrigued me with her innocent characteristic. As the chapter progresses, that characteristic of Ying-Ying is tampered with and it really ticked me off. I liked Ying-Ying as an innocent girl because it is what made her amusing. On the other hand, Ying-Ying is quite spoiled and at the moment she fell into the water, got caught in the net, and felt like she was all alone in the world. She became slightly paranoid when she thought her family disowned her and she became quite selfish at the end to ask her question. Also, the reality that the Moon Lady is really a Moon Man frightened me and confused me heavily. Why exactly is he a man?
Ying-Ying seemed to be a unique, but at times extremely childish girl. In the beginning of the chapter, Ying-Ying gave Amah [her nanny/nurse] an onslaught of questions which shows that she’s quite curious. When the chicken blood and fish scales spilled all over her, she did not scream nor did she pass out like most would. Her reaction to the chicken blood was unique, but in some instances others would call her crazy. The scene where Ying-Ying fell into the water and got caught in the net also showed me that she did have some love for Amah even though she tended to disrespect her.
In this chapter, I can see two types of conflicts: Human vs. Nature and Human vs. Self. First of all, her external conflict (Human vs. Nature) was when she dropped into the lake and fought with the fishing net for air. Second, was her fight with herself where she though she was disowned and how she “wished to be found” (83). When she fell in the lake, she felt as if she had been separated from her family and she had a selfish wish to be “found” again.
Throughout this chapter, and most likely this entire book, symbols are dispersed everywhere. The boat that she was on could have represented her family and at the moment she fell off the boat she had that sense of disownment and hopelessness. She fell into a lake filled with water which symbolizes life; however, at the bottom she got stuck in a net. The net could symbolize her growing up or reality itself and she was getting tangled up in reality in the lake of “life”. In other words, she loses her innocence.
1. (中秋节 Mid Autumn Festival)
2. Moon Lady
3.I thought the story was a bit long. It was long, yet detailed with a lot of description. I thought the story was a bit rebellious because Ying-ying does what a girl is not supposed to do. I wondered why and how did Ying-ying get into the water in the first place. I also wondered why the bird had an iron ring around its neck until the book explained it later.
4. Ying-ying is a very active girl who has a lot of energy. Ying-ying is also a very rebellious girl because even if Amah scolds her, she still does it.
5. The main conflict of the chapter is when Ying-ying finds out that she can loose everything in one moment. She almost looses her family after her rebelling gets overboard and she falls into the water. The conflict is resolved when Ying-ying finds her family. This conflict is internal because of Ying-ying’s rebellious actions she almost lost her family. This conflict can also be external because Ying-ying gets physically lost but finds her family later. This conflict can be human vs. society because Ying-ying is a girl and she is suppose to act a certain way, but instead the way she acts is looked down upon for girls.
6.The life lessons that can be learned are, being obedient and do what you are supposed to do or you shall suffer the consequences. This is easily seen over many rebellious actions done by Ying-ying result in her almost loosing her family during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
By: Albert Li
1. Finding the Real Moon
2. Moon Lady
3. At the start of this chapter, my initial reaction to the whole storyline was, “Great, here we have another stereotypical goody-good Chinese girl who is going to admonish her daughter’s behavior by referring to her own childhood.” Little did I know that the chapter would incorporate elements of Chinese mysticisms and traditional practices while also giving insight into the childhood troubles of Ying-Ying. When the narrator describes the “floating pavilion,” the description makes the boat seem historically and architecturally accurate since I have seen pictures of floating palaces used by the Sui rulers in Chinese history textbooks and dramas. When Ying-Ying’s family leaves her unattended, I felt infuriated because she was only a young child and needed supervision, since small children can easily get into trouble such as falling over the side of a boat. Even though Ying-Ying was a girl, and possibly of “less value” to her family than a male heir would be, I thought that the carelessness of her family was unjust and just plain prejudiced. At times, I thought that the plot line was confusing since the narrator shifts from scene to scene very abruptly, but this is probably due to that fact that Ying-Ying could not clearly recollect the events of that fateful day because she was still very young.
4. Ying-Ying expresses her frustration at the patriarchal social controls brought upon her, such as having to conduct her behavior in a strict, proper manner. When Ying-Ying questions her obligation to follow tradition, her amah, or nanny, curtly tells her “that [she does not] need to understand” and that she only needs to behave and “follow [her] mother’s example” (69) Apparently, Ying-Ying secretly flaunts these restrictions, since she continues to behave as she pleases, as shown when she chases after dragonflies with her half-sisters, who in turn follow her example. Even after her amah disapproves of this “boyish” frolicking, Ying-Ying continues to find amusement in other objects such as her shadow, which she describes as “the dark side of [her]” (72). This shows that while Ying-Ying seemingly heeds to the demands of her family and society, she continues to be a strong-willed person deep inside of herself.
5. The main conflict of this chapter is Ying-Ying’s quest for self-identity and her struggle against the demands of her family and society. This would characterize the conflict as internal as well as external, human vs. society. Throughout the chapter, Ying-Ying describes how she was expected to conduct herself in an acceptable way. Also, Ying-Ying laments in her old age how she lost her “innocence, trust, and restlessness” that night, indicating a watershed mark in her search for identity (83).
6. Some objects in this chapter include Ying-Ying’s new vest and the Moon Lady. When Ying-Ying receives her new vest, all clean and beautiful, the vest represents her childhood innocence. As the story progresses, the vest becomes dirtier, especially when Ying-Ying smears her body with the turtle blood. The Moon Lady represents the false promises brought by naivety. Ying-Ying becomes shocked when she realizes that the Moon Lady is nothing but a man dressed in female clothes and makeup. For Ying-Ying, this discovery will eventually lead to her doubts about society and the world, an almost inevitable consequence of growing up.
The Secret Wish: To Be Found
Ying-ying St. Clair - “The Moon Lady”
“The Moon Lady” was an interesting vignette as Ying-ying recalls the details of the day she told the Moon Lady her secret wish. I had never though of a secret wish as something “you want but cannot ask” and to ask “it is no longer a wish but a selfish desire” (70). What is with the Chinese culture oppressing women? The past vignettes of the “The Joy Luck Club” are about women suffering and sacrificing themselves because it is expected of them in the Chinese culture. Another question that I had in mind was why was Ying-yang’s little half-sisters called “Number Two” and “Number Three?” Why wasn’t Ying-ying called “Number One?” I think that the Chinese culture is interesting and I would like to learn more!
In this chapter, Ying-ying was portrayed as a very cute little girl because to her four years old self, “it is easy to forget about a boat when you have a rabbit mooncake in your hand” (71). She chased dragonflies and was very amused when she discovered her shadow and “shrieked with delight at [her] shadow’s own cleverness” (72). She was a very playful and restless little girl. To me, I thought Ying-ying was simply adorable in this vignette!
The main conflict in the chapter was being lost - literally and figuratively. Not only was Ying-ying lost when she fell off the boat (an external human vs. nature conflict), Ying-ying also loses herself (an internal human vs. self conflict) - her innocence, trust, and restlessness. The external conflict was resolved by the end when she was found by her family. However, I don’t think Ying-yang’s internal conflict has been resolved because she wants to tell her daughter that they are lost.
I noticed that Amy Tan uses the writing technique of flashbacks in this chapter. Ying-ying is recalling a time in her earliest recollection when she was restless. The story goes from the present to four years old Ying-ying. This improved the story because as a reader, I learned to understand how Ying-ying came to be “quiet.” I also learned about the Chinese culture from a child’s perspective (which is an interesting way to).
1. "I wish to be found."
2. "Moon Lady"
3. Well.. I thought this chapter was okay. I wasn't that confused about the chapter, only the part when about Ying-ying's amah, because I thought that meant her mom, but more like her nursemaid. The way Amy Tan put local colors was really good, and her good description had me imagine what she was writing about. In the beginnning of the chapter, when Ying-ying says, "For all these years I kept my mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out" (67), I thought she was a considerate girl who thought of others before herself. Though, as I continued reading, "Yet today I can remember a time when I ran and shouted, when I could not stand still" (67), that pretty much told me she was like those energetic kids desiring things. As Ying-ying tells her story of the day she met the Moon Lady, why are Ying-ying's halfsisters called Number Two and Number Three, I mean they could have been given names right? I thought the man who fished Ying-ying out of the water was going to do something bad to her, because of the way he was talking. That was a nice rising action because it did make me wonder if the climax was coming soon.
4. Ying-ying doesn't seem to be like those girls who follow her mother's ways of being a proper girl, only having a mind of her own doing things. When she runs off chasing a dragonfly, she shows that she is still young exploring the world out of her curiosity. Also her curious personality is shown when she went to explore the boat to find the boys in the back collecting fish, and the woman chopping the head off of the fish and taking their guts out, also chopping of the heads of the two chickens, and a turtle. I was pretty amazed to know Ying-ying was the type of girl who wasn't completely grossed out by that, and she even took the turtle's blood and smothered it all over her clothes! Besides that, when she breaks off the rabbit moon cake unevenly between her and her two halfsisters, she totally revealed she was being selfish right there. Giving an ear to each of them, while she kept the best part? I'm sure she could have been more generous thinking of a different way to break it off, but by the looks of it she does not.
5. The main conflict of this chapter would be Ying-ying trying to find herself. Ying-ying's conflict was more of an internal conflict since she was fighting with herself (human vs. self), trying to find the answer. In the beginning of the chapter, her amah told her to keep her "selfish desires" to herself. Knowing that, she keeps things to herself not being open with others. Her family, tells her how she should be a proper lady. Yet, she still doesn't follow, for example, when she chases off after a dragonfly amah tells her, "'A boy can run and chase dragonflies, because that is his nature'" (72). Also, when Ying-ying drowned in the river after falling off the boat, she had finally lost hope having no guidance, for amah could not hear Ying-ying's cries of help for her. Once she told the Moon Lady her wish, that was when she realized what she was looking for within her.
6a. Theme: Only through the stage of maturity is when the innocence you once had is lost. I believe that is the theme since in the beginning of the chapter, Ying-ying was selfish and didn't know much around her and was still childish. Until she was lost from her family and learned the truth that the Moon Lady was a man, she had much realization come to her. "And so even though I was found--later that night after Amah, Baba, Uncle, and the others shouted for me along the waterway--I never believed my family found the same girl" (82). That moment was also the moment of her life, for she could "remember everything that happened that day because it has happened many times in [her] life. The same innocence, trust, and restlessness, the wonder, fear, and loneliness. How [she] lost herself" (83).
-Kathy Nguyen Per4
-Julian Roy
1)The "Moon" Lady is a "Man" Lady
2)"The Moon Lady"
3)When I first read, "For all these years I kept my mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out." I was thinking that Ying-Ying was just naturally unselfish but I later came to realize that she was actually raised to become a quiet and supressed woman by her society. I think that this chapter was actually showing Ying-Ying's loss of innocence as well. After she finds out that the Moon Lady was a guy, we come to see that Ying-Ying loses a part of herself when we read that, "I never believed my family found the same girl."
4)Ying-Ying is revealed to be an innocent child through most of the story by her actions. A good example could be shen, "[She] saw a dragonfly with a large crimson body and transparent wings [And] I leapt off the bench [To] run and chase it. This act reveals Ying-Ying's childishness because even though she is supposed to behave because she is attending an important ceremony, she can't control herself and decides to chase the dragonfly
5)The main conflicts in this story could be Man vs. Nature when Ying Ying falls in the water and struggles to keep herself afloat and Man vs. Self when Ying Ying tries to understand why her family had not come looking for her.
6)One theme of this story could be that "Everything you know and love could be lost in a single moment" Because in the moment that Ying Ying fell over the boat, she almost lost her life.
Alvin Lee Period 4
Manly Moon Lady
Moon Lady
1. Reaction: Why was the “Five Evils” mentioned? What was the purpose of making the Moon Lady a man? I think the story starts and ends the same because in the beginning as well as the end of this chapter, I find out that Ying-ying feels lost. I do, however, find out that Ying-ying wishes to be found by the end of this chapter. The only point I see in having this Moon Lady is that, it’s a way for the people to get easy money by offering wishes. Also, why introduce the half-sisters if they don’t play a part in the main message of the chapter, and without a name? Why would Ying-ying be scared of a place only known through stories and not of turtle blood? In the quote, “the water had turned a deep golden color, and then red, purple, and finally black,” did the reflection of light against the water change? Through all her troubles, I believe that Ying-ying lost her innocence at a very young age which traumatized her and stayed with her until she was old because, at the end of the chapter, she remembers her wish.
2. Character: Amah is very strict and harsh towards Ying-ying. Amah is deeply concerned about making Ying-ying a proper girl for the Moon Festival and scolds her if Ying-ying attempts otherwise. Amah yells, in fear, at Ying-ying after finding her dress covered in blood instead of caring about Ying-ying’s safety first. When Ying-ying falls off the boat, Amah does not notice and does not end up saving her. But Amah show’s her caring side when she and the rest of the family shouts and screams, looking for Ying-ying, beside the waterway. In my opinion, Amah strictly forces Ying-ying to be obedient but still cares for her wellbeing.
3. d. Amy Tan uses a flashback to tell us about Ying-ying’s childhood. I think it improves the story because it gives us a personal background of her and what she went through. Also, by pulling out of the flashback, we get to see a different point of view from how she is now and how she reflects upon her childhood, the differences and similarities. The flashback shows why she felt lost and why she wishes to be found, in addition to the loss of innocence in her childhood.
1) “Fly Me to the Moon”
2) “The Moon Lady”
3) This chapter was pretty weird. I thought the girl was an imbecile for not listening to her parents and her nanny. She was pretty stupid for even wanting to go into a butchering area. Then again, it’s kind of her parent’s fault for making her sleep when she is such a restless child. I don’t like it how her own father is a player. Sounds pretty typical in those times though, for a man to have concubines. I don’t know why anyone would have a family fishing and butchering fish on a cruise ship. Sounds pretty odd.
4) The character I’m focusing on is the main character Ying-Ying. She so far in this book seems pretty restless and loves to explore. When she is still at her house before the festival, she tries to catch butterflies. She even stays still in the heat to try and catch the butterfly (pretty determined to do something with nature). She later explores her own shadow. On the ship, she goes to the back of the ship to see what the family did. All these give pretty strong evidence to how restless and curious she is as a child.
5) I think the conflict in this chapter is mostly external and human vs. society. Ying-Ying has to obey her aunts when they tell her to be still when she is trying to catch a butterfly. Ying-Ying also can’t go to the back of the boat. Her parents don’t want to get her dirty. Mostly, I think the conflict is this: Ying-Ying is expected to act like a lady, a lady from a rich family; however, she doesn’t want to be. She wants to be someone else. By the end of the chapter, her conflict is not resolved. She still doesn’t know what to be, and we see her problems from a symbolic point of view too.
6) The symbol in this story, I believe, is her dress. Her dress symbolizes her Chinese heritage. The blood on her shirt symbolizes her soon to be American part/husband/daughter, or maybe the something/someone she wants to be. I noticed that when she gets blood on her dress, she gets scared and dyes herself with blood. Maybe that symbolizes her trying to be someone she isn’t and is scared that society will see her identity crisis. We also see the way her “Amah” reacts to the blood. She doesn’t like it, and so she grabs away her dress, maybe symbolizing how much Ying-Ying’s Amah doesn’t like what Ying-Ying is becoming.
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. I wished upon a moon lady, and all I got was a moon man!
2. “Moon Lady”
3. This chapter was the most confusing for me. I didn’t understand why Ying-Ying’s Amah made a big deal about dressing her up in proper clothes to make her look presentable for the Moon Festival when it didn’t seem like the rest of her family cared about it. Also, I could never tell whether Ying-Ying was looking at the boat or the dock. And why were Ying-Ying’s half sisters called Number Two and Number Three? I felt a little disturbed over the fact that Ying-Ying found nothing wrong with watching a woman chop off a turtle’s head, two chicken heads, and scrape out fish bellies. That would’ve made me want to throw up even at this age, but Ying-Ying was only four years old! I also thought it was troubling to know that when she got speckles of blood on her clothing, she “truly thought that [she] could cover these spots by painting all [her] clothes crimson red, and that if [she] stood perfectly still no one would notice [the blood]” (76). When Ying-Ying found out the “Moon Lady” was really a man, it shocked me.
4. When sharing her rabbit-shaped mooncake, Ying-Ying breaks off the worst part, which had no sweet filling or egg yolk, to share with her two half sisters. I think this shows Ying-Ying’s selfishness at a very young age.
5. I think the main conflict of this vignette can be classified as internal, external and human vs. society because Ying-Ying is searching to find herself. She has to deal with the pressure of her family and society looking to her to be a proper, respectful, considerate, Chinese girl. I don’t think this conflict was resolved at the end of the chapter because she tells us how she lost her “innocence, trust, and restlessness (83)” that night showing the audience that she has yet to find her identity.
6. a. As you grow up and mature, you lose your innocence. This is revealed when Ying-Ying takes a dive off the boat, is separated from her family, and learns the moon lady is actually a man. It is also shown when Ying-Ying says, “And so even though I was found-later that night after Amah, Baba, Uncle, and the others shouted for me along the waterway- I never believed my family found the same girl.”
b. One symbol in this chapter is Ying-Ying’s new silk jacket. This symbolizes her purity and innocence as a child.
-Melani Cabanayan; Period 3
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. She’s The Man, Novel Style.
2. The Moon Lady.
3. As much as I liked the fluidity of this chapter, it’s safe to say I was lost as some parts. The chapter starts off by introducing Ying-Ying St. Clair, a rebellious child who seeks adventure. Amy Tan uses various scenes to portray the child’s disobedience, such as when she “wriggles out of Amah’s grasp and jumps out of the rickshaw” (73). In addition, we also learn about Ying-Ying St. Clair’s personality when she describes her amah as someone for her comfort, a blessing she only appreciates when she is no longer there. By this point, the reader gets a perception of Ying-Ying St. Clair until Tan throws in a list of unexpected events. Ying-Ying St. Clair falls off the boat due to the firecracker’s explosion, gets picked up by random sailors, dropped off at the deck, and meets the Moon Lady, who is apparently a man…. Wow! At least I somewhat had a mini movie playing in my head while reading, which means Tan was very descriptive. A question I would like to ask would be: why are the five evils mentioned, yet vaguely described? I was waiting for the chapter’s end to tie up to the five evils, but it never happened.
4. Ying-Ying St. Clair is the main character in this chapter, and yes, she’s four. At first, I thought Ying-Ying St. Clair was an adorable, innocent child. She wakes up, describing the intolerable heat and bombards her amah with questions. However, later in the chapter, her true personality is revealed. She doesn’t necessarily have a bad personality; she is just an exploratory child who doesn’t let anyone come in her way. For instance, falling off the boat wasn’t her fault, but when she is dropped ashore, she doesn’t look for her family. No, she looks at the Moon Lady and goes straight to her. What a dare devil.
5. The conflict in this chapter is Ying-Ying St. Clair trying to find her inner self (internal human vs. self). However, more importantly, she faces (internal human vs. society) conflict, struggling between being herself and the demands of her amah and mother. In the chapter, it is not hard to distinguish Ying-Ying St. Clair’s level of curiosity, but by falling off the boat and being separated from the ones who loved her, she has gone too far. This is when it finally clicks to her that her defiance had reached its peak. Concluding, at the end of the chapter, she explains she lost her innocence, trust and restlessness, the wonder, fear, and the loneliness.
6. A. I think the theme of this chapter is to never let your actions get the better of yourself. Ying-Ying St. Clair didn’t care that she disobeyed her amah’s orders. She took advantage of her amah’s kindness and love for her, which caused her to end up in a lonely and scary state. She was separated from her family, and it was then when she finally realized her carelessness had exceeded its limit.
Linh Vuong
3rd Period
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. Moon Cake Bunnies are Yummy :3 Mmmmmm
2. The Moon Lady
3. I found this chapter pretty sad. I mean it's about a spoiled child who spreads blood on herself and becomes paranoid, thinking her family is going to disown her. Sad, yet slightly interesting. Perhaps, her misery amuses me. Well, that's pretty much all I got out of this chapter. I mean, it was pretty confusing, at least it was to me. I didn't get the whole part about the Moon Lady being a man. Is she really a man? Is it just metophorical? I don't know.
4. Personally, I think that Ying-Ying is prettyy messed up. She's a spoiled brat who pretty much has everything done for her by her Amah (I'm amazed at how patient Amah is with Ying Ying. Personally, I'd be really annoyed.). Yet, she still has the same sense and feel of a typical child. She curious, and as her Amah says, asks "too many questions" [69], but didn't we all do that when we were young? Ying-ying's selfish childness is also proved when she is given the moon cake, and greedily claims the center filled with bean paste all for herself, utilizing the ignorance of her younger sisters. In this chapter, Ying-ying truly is a child. She has silly, thoughtless, childish ideas. I mean, only a four-year old child would find it even somewhat logicalto "cover [the] spots [of blood] by painting all [his] clothes crimson red," and think that if he "stood perfectly still no one would notice [the] change]" (76).
5. I believe that the conflict is man vs. himself because Ying-ying is mentally challenged by her own thoughts. Her paranoia causes her to become emotionally weak. When she is young, she believes that her parents, uncle, and her Amah does not care for her, and that her family wants to disown her. These fears cause and internal conflict among Ying-ying's thoughts. Even as an aging adult, she still feels the insecurities of not belonging. Her very own daughter barely acknowledges her existence. Ying-ying still "[wishes] to be found]" (83). Like any other child, Ying-ying fears loneliness. There is also man vs. nature when Ying-ying almost drowns in the lake. :]
6. The allegory mentioned at start of the book mentions an old lady who wants to give a swan feather to her daughter. She wants to pass what she can to the next generation, to the future. The old lady wants her existence to be known, to have worth. This allegory is connected to "The Moon Lady" because at the beginning of the chapter, Ying-ying mentions that she wants to tell her daughter that "[They] are lost, [her daughter and she], unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others." (67) Before it is too late, Ying-ying wants her existence to be meaningful to her daughter; she does not want to be forgotten; she does not want to be abandoned. For Ying-ying, it is time for her to open her mouth, and let some of those selfish desires fall out. All she wants is for ther daughter to see her.
1. Lost Forgetful Memories
2. Joy Luck Club: “The Moon Lady”
3. I thought this chapter was easier to understand than the other chapters. Amy Tan’s inspiring descriptions opens up the distant memories of Ying-Ying St. Clair’s childhood. What I enjoy about this chapter was the flashbacks I think it helps the reader understand the background of the character. The imagery and local color ties the chapter with facts about the setting creating a visual in my head. For instance, on the neighbor’s boat one can experience the mood boiling up in Ying-Ying and how she feels abandon from her family. The idea of a person’s family pretending that you don’t even exist is harsh especially if you were Ying-Ying’s age, it was heartbreaking. Even though the vignette was easier to understand I still ponder over the ending. I am still puzzling why Ying-Ying’s family did not claim her when a stranger found her. What was the Moon Lady supposed to represent and why did she ended up as a guy? What does the Ying-Ying’s shadow symbolizes?
4. In the “Moon Lady” the protagonist of this chapter was Ying-Ying St. Clair. The story began with Ying-Ying describing how her daughter does not her own mother’s true identity. How Ying-Ying went through experiences as a child no other person would want to go through. After the introduction Ying-Ying takes her readers through a flashback when she was four years old. This part of the vignette reveals the selfish acts she commits as a child when she ruins the embroider flowers of the new outfit her mother made. Later on the story Ying-Ying tumbles off the ship when a stranger finds her in fishing net. Ying-Ying experiences abandonment, forgotten, and pushed aside. Watching her family enjoy themselves as she suffers the complication of being unwanted that her family would not take her back. Then she compares herself to the Moon Lady of how they both share the same qualities: “For woman yin . . . the darkness within, where untempered passions lie” (page 81). Ying-Ying understands for a split second that she shares the same grief as the Moon Lady that they both lost the world and how they could never make up for the lost.
5. The main conflict was when Ying-Ying took knowledge of the fact her mother abandoned her when she was four years old. Even though the abandonment was supposed to be a lesson or punishment (???) Ying-Ying endured a brutal part of her life. This first started when Ying-Ying ruined her mother’s creation of a yellow jacket with embroider flowers. As she sat alone stripped from the jacket she stared out at the moon. Suddenly firecrackers startled poor Ying-Ying sending her into the lake where a woman finds her. When the stranger tried to take Ying-Ying home her family neglects that they are missing anyone. Ying-Ying is left alone thinking about the selfish acts and how she could never make-up for what she perform as well as the disgrace and shame she feels toward her family.
6. There is several symbols mention in this vignette: the bird with the ring about its neck, Ying-Ying’s shadow, the Moon Lady, and the embroider flowers on Ying-Ying’s sleeve. The bird with the ring could represent how Ying-Ying feels prison by her past memories and the Moon Lady is a reflection of Ying-Ying’s troubles. In the beginning during the day Ying-Ying’s shadow symbolizes completeness and happiness, but then later on in the story her shadow portrays betrayal and sorrow. However the embroider flowers could represent the same as Ying-Ying shadows because the garment with the flowers go through a change too. The beautiful jacket made by Ying-Ying’s mother is clean, but when ruin it is cover in turtle’s blood.
-Kelsea Wong
"Everybody has a secret world inside of them..."
"The Moon Lady"
Although this chapter was named after the Moon Lady and alludes to it many times throughout the chapter, I don't really understand why he turned out to be a man. I guess that (after reading the other blogs) it symbolizes the loss of innocence; but I kind of wish that Amy Tan would describe him in more detail. I want to know what kind of person he was, it just seems so...mysterious. This whole chapter seemed really mysterious to me, from her half sisters being called "Thing Two" and "Thing Three" to how she can never recall how she was found.
Throughout this chapter, one line really stood out to me. It was when Amah says, "Now that you have mentioned this to me, it is not a secret wish anymore." (70) This goes to show that everybody has a secret world inside of them; the part that they choose to keep to themselves. Before Ying-Ying met the Moon Lady, her thoughts were running everywhere, as she was discovering new things about the world. She was protected by her Amah and did whatever she pleased – eating mooncakes and chasing dragonflies. Once she discovers the Moon Lady, she kind of "loses herself" - and her innocence - to her secret world. In the end of the chapter, Ying-ying states that “[She] wished to be found.” This ‘secret desire’ has haunted her ever since the Moon Festival when she still “ran and shouted, when I could not stand still. It [was] my earliest recollection.” This hints that she had lost the part of herself that was carefree, the part that never even had secret desires in the first place.
That being said, the main conflict, in my opinion, would be Ying-Ying losing herself. (Man vs. self.) After the Autumn Festival, she doesn't have the innocence that she had started out with. She was so young, and so eager to meet the Moon Lady that it crushed her hopes when she found out he was a man. In a way it sort of traumatized her, opening up her eyes to a world where not everything is as good as you see it. "...I walked closer yet, until I could see the face of the Moon Lady: shrunken cheeks, a broad oily nose, large glaring teeth, and red-stained eyes." What she had previously perceived as a beautiful goddess turned out to be just another tired face.
I think that Ying-Ying was lonely, and she never expressed this to anyone besides the Moon Lady, not even to her daughters or to her family. She then looks at life from the inside out, observing things but not really connecting with them. "And because I moved so secretly now my daughter does not see me. She sees a list of things to buy, her checkbook out of balance, her ashtray sitting crooked on a straight table." (67) She wants to tell her that “We are lost, she and I…unknown by others.” This connects to the last statement of the chapter, in which she recalls, “I wished to be found.”
"If the Moon Lady's a man, shouldn't he be called Moon Man then?"
1) Reaction: To "The Moon Lady"
I believed that Ying -Ying was much too spoiled young girl that did not appreciate the wealth of her family and the love they gave. She was ignorant of Amah's love for her as "[Amah] had given up her own child, a baby son, when her husband had died and she had come to our house to be my nursemaid" (Tan 73)and became spoiled by the amount of love that she received. I did not get what her wish was to the Moon Lady, was the wish to reunite Ying-ying with her family? I think Ying-ying was traumatized not only by suddenly falling into the water and getting lost, but also related how she felt with the Moon Lady play on stage. "In one small moment, we had both lost the world, and there was no way to get it back" (Tan 81) in which, I think, Ying-ying compared her despair to the Moon Lady's loss of her husband. I believe it was after the play that Ying-ying realized the well-being of her social status and her loving family. I still did not quite get what the Moon Lady transforming into a man symbolized.
2)Amah and Ying-ying. Amah cares for Ying-ying even more so than her own child. Basically, Amah treats her like the daughter she never had. She's like a second mother to Ying-ying, even though she's only a caretaker. However, I think Amah is even more motherly than Ying-ying's real mother. She takes care of Ying-ying's clothing, bathing, eating, etc. Her real mother did no such thing as the wealthy always hired servants or maids to take care of their children back then. When Amah found Ying-ying covered in blood she was horrified and took immediate action to search for wounds of any kind. She then scolded Ying-ying and then threatened her that her mother will banish them to Kunming. This is a sure sign of love and affection from Amah as she truly cared about the well-being of Ying-ying.
3)I believe that this chapter's conflict was human versus self. Ying-ying produced a conflict within herself when she first described herself as a selfish, ignorant child. As she fell into the water she felt the sudden panic that she would lose everything and everyone, even herself. Feeling lost and lonely, she has an internal struggle not to lose herself to the panic eating away inside her.
6a) "But now that I am old, moving every year close to the end of my life, I also feel closer to the beginning. And I remember everything that happened that day because it has happened many times in my life. The same innocence, trust, and restlessness, the wonder, fear, and loneliness. How I lost myself." (Tan 83) I believe the theme of this vignette can be found in this paragraph. Ying-ying is trying to express the fact that you should treasure the love that your family gives you, and that you shouldn't lose yourself amidst the plentiful love they pour out. You must constantly remind yourself to appreciate their love and not take it for granted. I think the encounter with the Moon Lady, watching the play and the falling into the lake's experience dragged her into the real world. She witnesses the world without the loving protection of her Amah and family. It shattered her illusion of a make-believe world in which everything was perfect and shoved her into the harsh reality.
wow... never saw that coming
"Moon Lady" (not really)
I thought the chapter was extremely weird first of all. I don't know whether or not it was because of how the author painted the image in my head of it was intended to be strange but it definitely stood out. I think the part that shocked me most was that the moon lady was not so, it was really a moon guy. A little bit more on the weird issue was hos ying-ying dealt with having blood on her clothes. I mean, she painted them crimson red trying to hide all the blood right?
I didn't like the fact that she only shared the bits of the ends of her moon cake to her siblings and how she kept the best parts for herself. I think this reveals a lot about her character; selfish, and greedy to even her own siblings.
There were a lot of conflicts in this chapter but i'll choose one that i can relate to myself. When i was first introduced to the moon lady, it was like a magical feeling of hope and happiness. I think the conflict starts when the identity of the moon lady is revealed to be fake, fraud if i do say so myself. It was like finding out all your holiday idols were fake and non existent. The conflict was a loss of an idol- the moon lady.
The culture of china that was placed through out the entire chapter really put a new light on china. I learned a lot about the moon festival, who i have celebrated myself but found it so different from what i do to what they used to do. For starters, i do not catch and eat raw fish and shrimp to celebrate. I never even knew there was such a thing as a moon lady let alone to pray to her. However they had grand elaborate parties and i think that expresses the holiday in a way i can understand.
1. IT’S A MAN!
2. Moon Lady
3. I really liked the way Amy Tan put in local color, and the descriptions made me feel like I was there. I think Ying-Ying is smart, but selfish because she gives her half sisters the part of her moon cake that has no sweet filling. I also laughed at the fact that her half sisters didn’t even have names! I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like going through life being called a number. I was surprised about finding out that the moon lady is actually a man. Ying-Ying is traumatized by the events that take place in this chapter, and that’s why she remembers her wish when she grows up. I wasn’t really confused at all, and I really liked this chapter.
4. Amah wants Ying-Ying to be a proper girl, so she raises her very strictly and scolds her a lot. When Amah sees Ying-Ying’s outfit covered in blood, she screams at her before worrying about her. Although Amah didn’t notice Ying-Ying fall off the boat, she is still a very caring grandmother because she shouts later on as she and the family are looking for Ying-Ying. I can’t blame Amah for not noticing Ying-Ying fall off the boat because she is old, and I don’t think she could watch Ying-Ying every second of the day.
5. I think the conflict in this chapter is internal and human vs. society. I think it’s internal because Ying-Ying is trying to find herself, but doesn’t know how to act. She realizes that she can lose everything in an instant when she falls into the water, and tries to hold onto herself and her family. The biggest conflict is human vs. society because her family suppresses her freedom, and tries to force her to act proper. Amah scolds her when she does anything that isn’t what they’re trying to teach her, and Ying-Ying can’t think for herself.
6b. I think there are several symbols in this chapter such as the bird, Ying-Ying’s shadow, and Ying-Ying’s jacket. The bird represents Ying-Ying because her family wants her to swallow their teachings, but she can’t. Ying-Ying’s shadow would represent her happiness and how her life is complete. At the end of the chapter he shadow is shorter which means part of her is missing, and that she has changed. Ying-Ying’s jacket represents her because in the beginning it is clean, and at the end it is stained. Ying-Ying is stained because she is full of sorrow.
"Lady huh?"
Well first, at the beginning of the chapter I thought it would just be about Ying-Ying's family's customs, how they celebrate the coming of the Moon "Lady". Later in the story, I began to think about the situation Ying-Ying was in, with her parents, and how they are neglectful of Ying-Ying. When Ying-Ying tries to wash her clothes with turtle blood (I think it was) to try to cover up the splatters that were already there from being near the butcher as he guts a fish, I think that slightly shows her innocence. She tried to cover up a mistake by doing this, and then she thought that if she stood still, that no one would notice the change. As for a conflict, I must say the one that caught my attention was the shock of finding out the Moon Lady was man, so, that would be Human vs Self. It isn't resolved at the end, in fact, it starts at the end. I believe its HvS because she had high hopes for that night and to be THAT disappointed and shocked probably caused a mental "explosion", I guess. I noticed Amy Tan used imagery and a good amount of word choice throughout the chapter. Like, instead of saying "red", she used words like "crimson". Doing that, lets readers conjure a better image of the situation, because red sounds boring and is too general, but crimson, is more specific. Like any other of the chapter names, the connection between "The Moon Lady" and the chapter is pretty basic. I think it's connected to...the moon lady (man)...and the celebration of the Moon Festival.
Alex Roberts - Period 3
This is actually Brandon Lam
1.Man
2."Moon Lady"
3.I was kinda confused by the chapter, but I think that it was something about a man-she-thing. Anyway, I thought that Ying-ying was an unselfish girl, but it was soon revealed that she was a normal girl that had ambitions of her own, but just never got the chance to pursue them.
4. Ying-ying is revealed to be an innocent child. When she chases the crimson dragonfly was a perfect example.
5.I thought that the chapter was about Man vs. Nature and Man vs. Self. M vs N was when Ying-ying was drowning in the water, and M vs. Self was when she tries to understand why her parents didn't go looking for her.
6. A. I think that the theme is growing-up costs your innocence. When she discovers that the moon lady was actually a man was probably one of the moments of loss.
1. Reminisce
2. The Moon Lady
3. In this chapter, the “Five Evils” caught my attention. I’m Chinese and I’ve never even heard about the five evils that could supposedly kill children in one bite. Aside from the five evils that I’ve never heard of, I was also surprised that Ying-ying would be naive enough try to cover herself with blood rather than just trying to wash blood off. It also surprised me that she would dip her hands in turtle blood, because that’s plain disgusting. When Ying-ying fell in the river, I did not expect the five evils to make their appearance once again. I was also surprised the swimming snake did not kill her, because the description of the five evils made the creatures sound so fearful. The chapter made me wonder why her family didn’t seem to care for her at all.
4. Amah seemed like a jerk in the chapter. Although she did show some affection to Ying-Ying to see whether she was injured due to the blood that Ying-Ying’s covered in, but in the end, Amah just left Ying-Ying there without any clothes and alone crying. Amah’s actions made her like a cruel person.
5. I believe one of the conflicts in this chapter is Man Vs Nature because Ying-Ying fell into the water and had her body wrapped around by a swimming snake. Also Man Vs Self because Ying-Ying falls in the water and hopes that Amah could come save her, rather than find her own way to get back on the surface.
6a. I believe the theme is you can’t always rely on people to help you every time you’re in a crisis. Ying-Ying just wished for her Amah’s assistance and was angry at Amah for abandoning her, but her Amah can’t always be there for her.
James Yu
3rd Period
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. “Be a man, we must be swift as the coursing river… mysterious as the dark side of the moon!”
-That one captain from Mulan
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. Well, the Moon Lady was a pretty bizarre chapter, with the rubbing of blood and he-shes and what not. It deals with Ying-ying and her restlessness with her family and her desperate need to find them when she is separated from them. Compared to the chapters prior to this one, I thought this one was probably the best. It left me with that weird feeling that the others didn’t really provide, and this one was not AS traditional as the others. That thing gets kind of old. I understand that this chapter had concubines, women inferiority, boat pavilion thingies, burning of evil creatures, and kabuki style plays. All of them tied in real nicely. Why does Ying-ying not mention her sisters names but calls them Number One and Number Two? Does she not remember or does she not want to remember their names?
4. Ying-ying is a strange character. She is restless and careless like most children. Even though she is not poor, her family forbids her from running free. For example, when she is chasing a dragonfly, Ying-ying’s amah tells her that it is in boy’s nature to run wild, while it is a girls nature to stand still and let the dragonfly come to you. There is also a scene where she says she envies the carefree lifestyle of the two fisher boys on the boat. She is restricted by society and her family because though she wants to be rough and boy-like, she cannot because both her family and society permit it. Ying-ying has all of this energy that is bottled up inside.
5. Ying-ying has no real physical opposing force other than possibly the lake she nearly drowned in. She is constantly defying her amah by acting out like a boy. She is very childish and restless. In the beginning of the vignette, her almost secret wish was to not have to wear uncomfortable clothes, clearly a child’s wish, not thinking of things outside of themselves. After she falls into the river, she desperately wants to find her family when before she thought they were a hindrance. It is only when they are gone does she miss them. It was sort of like a right of passage, seeing the world without her family for the first time and how cold it really is. Ying-ying also discovers that the beautiful wish granting moon lady is actually a man, further contributing to her shock of the real world. I think that the conflict is human vs. self because she does not really have any physical enemies but is instead forced to cope with herself and how she changes as she is put in difficult situations.
6a. I think that her shadow is a symbol in this vignette. It represents Ying-ying’s playful nature and wild self. After her traumatic event of nearly drowning, she changes and is now afraid. She describes it as “shrunken and wild-looking” (pg. 80). It is no longer the picture of Ying-ying’s playful self, but is an almost old looking like she had aged so much in a course few hours.
Bryan Bui
1.) Ask the Moon Lady for Your Heart’s Desire
2.) “The Moon Lady”
3.) I really enjoyed reading “The Moon Lady” because it is the best vignette in “Feathers From A Thousand Li Away.” This is the first vignette that I really loved because I read it in one sitting and I was really into the book and so I was really disappointed how the chapter ended because it left me hanging. I think the end just came to an abrupt end. I love the way Amy Tan naturally puts in local color so you get a feel of the Chinese culture and her description came to life and in my mind, the settings are so vivid. Her descriptions of the festival and boat come to life and Ying-ying is a character that I really felt sorry for because it seems like she never had a true childhood when her parents expect her to act properly. However, why are Ying-ying’s half sisters named “Number Two” and “Number Three”? The only part that I was confused on was when Ying-ying called a woman amah because I thought it was her mom because it sounded like “mama” but to my surprise, it is her nursemaid.
4.) The main protagonist, Ying-ying, I think is portrayed as a little girl who has difficultly behaving like a woman because “a boy can run and chase dragonflies, because it is his nature...but a girl should stand still” (72). Although those were the rules because she is wealthy, she wants out; she wants freedom because she is naturally curious. When she watches the two boys using the bird to catch fish, she is in awe and she believed that “it would have been good enough to see this one adventure" (76). I think that Ying-ying’s curiosity gets the better of her and causes her family to think that she is “unlady like”.
5.) The main conflict in this chapter is Ying-ying’s struggle to meet her family’s high expectations and so she lost herself trying to meet those standards. Her conflict is internal (man vs. self) because it is difficult to behave like a woman and she was taught to never have desires so when she grows up, she looses that one part of her that expresses who she is. Another conflict is external (man vs. nature) because she unknowingly falls into the water and almost drowns.
6a.) I think that the theme is losing your innocence is inevitable when you are growing up. In the beginning of the vignette, Ying-ying is chasing fireflies, waiting impatiently for the boat trip, splitting a rabbit moon cake, and simply racing to the bench. She is very innocent at the beginning and then reality hit her when she drowned. She realized that her family won’t always be there for her, ensuring her safety. Another loss of innocence is when the fishermen saves her and she also realizes that there are bad people out there in the world that could have hurt her like those men. She also grows up when she learns that the Moon Lady isn’t a woman, but is in fact, a man in a costume.
Michelle Méndez
4th period
This comment has been removed by the author.
[Emily Huynh, 4th period]
"Congratulations! IT'S A ... MAN?"
(a.k.a. The Moon Lady)
3. At the very beginning of the chapter, when Amy Tan talks about how Ying-Ying misplaced her heritage; I began to wonder where the "Moon Lady" of the chapter title would appear. I loved how she started off the chapter all mysterious-like. It kept me reading and learning about the strict Chinese culture. I was somewhat bored when she talked about the adults reading poems and gossiping. I connected with Ying-Ying when her mother scolded her about what girls can't do, but boys can. Ugh, I despise that about the culture. I realized that her shadow was a symbol, but I couldn't figure what of. Why does she keep talking about the shadow and its reactions? There were parts where there was nothing going on, except descriptions of local color and I got really bored then. Honestly, those parts are supposed to be "important" but I just skim through them because of my lack of interest. What was that part with the imprisoned bird catching the fish all about? Oh my dear; when Ying-Ying spread turtle blood all over her clothes, I wanted to slap her silly. Are you serious, Ying-Ying? That makes everything more noticeable and on a special day, you're not supposed to slather yourself with blood! That's unlucky! Then, I felt more sympathetic when everybody laughed at her in her undergarments. I really can't believe nobody cared about Ying-Ying enough to notice that she wasn't even on the boat until a long time after! That's so sad! The man was nice for fishing her out of the water and saving her life, but he was a bit scary. I honestly thought he was going to do something bad to her, but he didn't. I believe the Moon Lady appeared very randomly out of nowhere in the chapter and I was VERY surprised to find out that she was a he, in reality. Did Ying-Ying really think that man was beautiful and radiant with a voice of an angel? That's kind of creepy. Why was he a man anyway? Were there no pretty women who could sing as well as he did? I'd like to see the man, just out of curiosity. Last, but not least, I loved the ending. It was short, yet very powerful: "I wished to be found."
4. Ying-Ying: she gives her half-sisters part of her special pastry, but not the parts with the filling, only the parts with the dough. This proves she is selfish. Also, when they race to the stone bench to sit down and eat, she uses her advantage as the bigger sister and sits in the shady and cool spot, leaving the sunny and hot areas for her younger sisters. VERY SELFISH, indeed, but then again, she was only a child and children are known to be selfish.
5. I believe the main conflict is the internal one, human vs. self. At the very beginning of the story, the author introduces the conflict: Ying-Ying struggles to remember her true self, to remember who she really is inside by remembering her wish to the Moon Lady. She then narrates a flashback, where the conflict started. At the end of the chapter, the conflict is resolved. She finally remembers how she lost herself, through innocence, trust, restlessness, wonder, fear, and loneliness. She remembers that she wished to be found.
6. d. Wow, Amy Tan uses so many writing techniques that I get lost in her words. First and foremost, the chapter consists mainly of a flashback, years ago when she was just a wee little child. It helps me understand how the conflict came to be and gave me many more details of her childhood to help me understand Ying-Ying better. I'm pretty sure the author foreshadowed many times, but I forgot where. Her word choice is absolutely amazing. It forms so many images in my head, of the boat on the water, of Ying-Ying in her bloody clothes, of the Moon Lady performance, etc. In addition, somehow, even though she used very extravagant words, her story flowed with many similes and metaphors. There weren't any awkward breaks or anything of that sort! It simply weaved into a beautiful piece, just like a puzzle.
This comment has been removed by the author.
"The Moon Lady is a man!"
"The moon lady"
1. I thought that this chapter was actually pretty good. It took a while for it to get going though. Maybe about one third into the story it got interesting. What made it interesting were the characters and their behavior. Although, unlike some people, I didn’t think that Ying- Ying was all that weird but I felt that she was different in a way. I think that Ying- Ying was troubled although, it didn’t start off that way. In the beginning, Ying- Ying came off a normal child to me, who had fun playing and growing up, but for example, when she got splatters of turtle blood on her, her solution to make it unnoticeable was baffling. I mean, I was expecting her to go run off and vigorously wash her clothes before anyone found out but instead, she decided to completely cover her dress in blood, thinking that no one would notice. Who wouldn’t notice a blood soaked dress? I also felt sorry for Ying- Ying when she thought that none of her family members were looking for her after she fell off the boat. Abandonment must be a terrible feeling. Also, when Ying- Ying found out that the moon lady wasn’t real, she must have been disturbed. During her bad times, Ying- Ying looked to the moon lady for comfort. When Ying- Ying found out that the figure that she looked to for comfort was not real, she must have been traumatized. It’s kind of like a child finding out that the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, or Santa clause aren’t real after believing in them for so long.
2. I think that the biggest conflict in the story is Ying- Ying’s relationship with her family. Her mom is not mentioned as much in the story and when we hear about her, it’s when Ying- Ying’s amah tells her that her mother will banish both if them. Ying Ying’s father is also mentioned very little. You can also tell that Ying- Ying doesn’t have a strong bond with her sisters because she doesn’t call them by their first name, but by “number two” and “number three.” Ying Ying’s bond with her grandmother is fairly good, but as mentioned in the story, her relationship with her amah is in a way that she doesn’t realize that she needs her until she’s gone. Because Ying- Ying has to resort to the moon lady, and not a family member, for comfort, you know that Ying- Ying isn’t as close to her family as she could be.
3. I think that Ying Ying’s shadow is a symbol of her growing up. When Ying- Ying is happy and playing like the child that she is, her shadow copies her movements, as she makes happy gestures such as flapping her arms and lifting up her leg. Once Ying- Ying faces the feeling of abandonment, her shadow is described as wild looking and shrunken. After Ying- Ying went through a change, so did her shadow.
1. Lost Inside.
2. "Moon Lady."
3. To be honest, I really didn't understand this chapter. I was confused throughout the whole chapter and it was probably yet the most confusing chapter in the book so far. I was lost when Amy Tan had stated, "And because I remained quiet for so long now my daughter does not hear me" (67). I wasn't sure why Amy Tan had put that in the story. I was also confused when Amah had made such a big deal out of Yin-Ying wearing proper clothes to the Moon Festival. I didn't know some of the local color. I was also confused on her two half sisters. Why were they called Number Two and Number Three?
4. In the "Moon Lady," Ying-Ying St.Claire is the main character. At first, I thought she was a innocent and sweet little four year old girl. She turned out to be a little selfish and odd girl. For example, Ying-ying was mesmerized by watching chicken getting their heads chopped off and fish getting cut open. That to me is a little odd if you enjoy watching that!
5. The main conflict in this chapter is internal. Ying-ying is having an internal conflict which is human vs. self because she is constantly trying to find her inner self. However, it is also human vs. society because she is always getting pressure from her Amah telling her she has to be proper and respectful to the Chinese culture and etc. I think it was resolved at the end because she said she has lost her innocence, trust and restlessness.
6. a. I think the theme of this chapter is losing your innocence. At the beginning of the chapter, Ying-Ying was chasing fireflies and eating a rabbit moon cake. She is innocent, but when she dives off the boat and is seperated from her family, she loses her innocence.
This comment has been removed by the author.
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. “Man Lady”
2. The Moon Lady
3. Amy Tan’s beginning paragraphs in every chapter always appear confusing at first, especially the line that Ying-Ying wants to tell her daughter. “We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others”(67)” My first impression of this chapter was the comparisons Amy Tan uses; how she compares contemporary objects and beliefs to the old, traditional thoughts. The amount of description Amy Tan uses in her writing is overwhelming; I almost felt like I was placed at the scene, watching the little girl fall ever so slowly into the deep water, then being miraculously saved by one of the myriad of boats in the lake during this Moon Festival. Another thing that caught my attention was the how much of a difference there was between the rich and the poor. The rich and the poor was contrasted greatly when Ying Ying sees the poor people at the back, with their ramshackle pieces of clothing, while she’s dressed in such extravagant clothing. Something I found extremely confusing was the rapid shifts between different scenes, as her recollections were probably not complete. It had been many years since this fateful occasion, and probably couldn’t recall it as well as before. One question I had after reading the ending was: How did she just remember now what she asked the Moon Lady so long ago, and what instigated this reminiscence all of a sudden?
4. When Amah gives Ying Ying a rabbit mooncake, Ying Ying is instructed to share some of it with her half-sisters. However, she takes advantage of the little sisters who don’t know any better and gives them each a rabbit ear. The rabbit ears don’t contain any of the sweet filling or egg yolk, which gives the mooncake its delicious aroma and wonderful taste. It portrays how selfish she is at such a young age, taking advantage of little sisters to keep all the enjoyable parts of the mooncake.
5. The main conflict in this chapter can be considered Man vs. Self. The struggle within Ying Ying to find herself is rampant in this chapter, inherent in almost every scene. At such a young age, the largely patriarchal society China contained situated limitations around her growth, and she often had to keep quiet and “lady-like”. However, she obviously didn’t want to be reticent, as she would grasp any opportunity to run free with her sisters, exploring everything without much fear. Throughout the whole chapter, she constantly tries to find her identity, trying to find who she is and not lose herself, while keeping to the pressures exerted on her by her highly patriarchal family.
6. I really notice her imagery and description, as it sets the reader right at the scene, basically allowing them to see everything that happens. The way she describes the surroundings is also done extremely well. It makes the story a lot more interesting and vivid for the reader.
~ScottLeePeriod3!
1. She Turned Around, and You’re Surprised
2. Joy Luck Club: “The Moon Lady”
3. In this chapter, I thought I was extremely curious to find out what she was going to wish for. Also, I was procrastinating to read it, because I thought it was going to be complex and difficult to understand, but it ended up panning out as a simple story. The character Amah was not really identified fully until the middle of the chapter, and I thought that she was the grandma. Overall this chapter was really captivating and kept me interested for most of the reading. I did get tired of her details at some points because I felt like Tan wrote the description to lengthen her story rather than give an image. Otherwise, I think this chapter was one of the least confusing to read.
4. In this chapter, the protagonist, Ying-Ying, flashes back to when she was a young girl. Ying-Ying shows that she is extremely impatient because in anticipation for the ceremony, she felt like the elders were stretching time on purpose and that the ceremony would never come. By doing so, it shows that Ying-Ying was really excited to see the “Moon Lady,” and that her character was not patient as a young girl.
5. The main conflict in this chapter is internal, because Ying-Ying is flashing back to a memory that she forgot. The memory as she says helped her remember “the same innocence, trust, and restlessness, the wonder, and fear, and loneliness,” (83) that has happened many times. The conflict is Ying-Ying struggling to find herself. It gets resolved when Ying-Ying remembers what happened to her that night and the wish that she made. It could also be symbolically solved when she was “found” by her family members that night during that story. Since it is a struggle against herself, the conflict is man vs. self.
6. In this chapter, I think that Amy Tan uses the entire story as a symbol of her finding herself. At the beginning of the chapter, before the flashback, she says that she felt lost with her daughter, and once the flashback begins the readers are introduced to a lost young little girl. Later she is literally lost from her family members and then found. Also she says that she wished to be found. Ying-Ying was presented lost and then later found, during the present story time she was losing herself and in the flashback lost literally and then found and she makes the wish to be found. Amy Tan makes the wish that Ying-Ying makes to the Moon Lady more impactful, by using it as the “resolution weapon” for both her internal and external conflict.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Arun Jandaur
Period 3
Blog #1: Moon Lady
1. Moon Man’s Mean!
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. At first, I had trouble understanding this chapter. I re-read it and I get it now. I can tell that this chapter has a lot of symbols, but I don’t think I could identify all of them. The general layout of the chapter was clear though: It’s the Moon Festival and it’s Ying-Ying’s first year celebrating it. However, this chapter didn’t have many emotions, which made it a little bit dull. As a matter of fact, there were no emotions at all. It’s a good thing that the chapter was short, or else it would have been really hard to finish reading. However, it was interesting when The Moon Lady turned out to be a man. I think that’s symbolic for Ying-Ying being deceived into thinking that everything is nice and fantastic and then she is brought to reality, where no one cares that she fell off the boat. Although there was a lack of emotion in the text, I still felt some emotions while reading. I felt kind of worried when she fell off the boat and I also felt a little sad when she was left on shore and found the Moon Lady to be a fake. All in all, I’m going to conclude that this chapter could use a little spice, but it’s still interesting enough to grab my attention. A question I did have, though, while reading was: Why did Amah leave Ying-Ying at the back of the boat?
4. By her actions, it is clear that Amah is a loving person, especially towards Ying-Ying. She loves Ying-Ying more than anything else. The way Amah is always fussing over Ying-Ying shows Amah’s true affection. This is shown when “Amah rushed over and bent down to smooth [Ying-Ying’s] yellow jacket” (Tan 72). This reminds me of Romeo and Juliet where Juliet’s nurse is always there for her whereas Juliet’s mother barely cares. Also, Juliet’s nurse also loves Juliet more than anything. The scenario is very similar. Amah may not be appreciated very much, but Ying-Ying knows that if there’s someone who cares for her, it’s Amah.
5. After reading this chapter, it seems to me that there is an internal human vs. self conflict. Ying-Ying wants to be ‘found’, meaning that she wants her family to pay more attention to her. Instead, its almost as if they don’t care. They are just minding their own business and partying and no one even thinks about where Ying-Ying might be. Ying-Ying doesn’t openly express it, but she wants the love of her real mother. This shows when she said that she “had truly expected [her] mother to come soon” (Tan 77) when Ying-Ying was at the back of the boat. Also, when the Moon Lady turns out to be a man, it creates another conflict in Ying-Ying’s life.
6. Amy Tan does a paragon job of imagery and flashbacks. The entire chapter is a flashback (except for the very beginning) and it is portrayed very descriptively and accurately as if it were happening at that moment. I was really impressed with the imagery; it really plunged me into the scenes and made me feel I was in it. Her descriptions of her surroundings, events, and even the rabbit moon cake (it made me want to eat one) were precise and well described. It’s nice to read a book and feel that you are there in it because it shows that the author takes the reader’s perspective into consideration.
1. THe moon lady is a MAN!?
2. Moon Lady
3. I thought this chapter was not bad. Boring, but packed with weird actions. Ying-ting is super weird thinking that she could cover herself and hide the fish gut stains by "painting all [her] clothes crimson red" (page 76) with turtle guts. I thought it was pointless as to why they visit the Moon Lady even though it wasn't even a lady, it was a man. It's the same as when someone tells you about something mysterious but yet it's just someone dressing up and tricking you.
4. Ying-ying is the main character in this chapter. She's four years old and yet is very outgoing. Seeing her smearing guts all over herself is just very strucking. I would never do such a thing. Also, when she falls off the boat and gets pulled up by a fisherman, she doesn't go everywhere to try to find her family, but instead goes to the Moon Lady. This is why I think she's outgoing and maybe a little crazy.
I will be back later. I have a concert to go to right now!! BTW, this is Rebecca from 3rd period! GO GO GO!
This comment has been removed by the author.
"Closer to the Beginning"
"Moon Lady"
1. This chapter wasn’t my favorite, but I didn’t hate it either. Compared to the other two vignettes that we’ve read so far, Ying-ying seems to have been much better off than the other members of the Joy Luck Club. However, each character in this novel, without a doubt, has her own secrets. This relatively tame chapter makes me wonder what skeletons Ying-ying hides in her closet. She was a rich, spoiled, well-off child in China. It seems illogical that one would leave behind such a satisfactory life without good reason. I wonder what incident prompted her to leave her life in China for America?
I also thought that it was really bizarre for Ying-ying to come up with the brilliant idea of plunging her hands “in the bowl of turtle’s blood and smearing this on [her] sleeves and on the front of [her] pants and jacket.” It’s ridiculous that she thought that “painting all her clothes with crimson red.” would prevent her from getting into trouble (76). What kind of twisted logic is that?! The fact that Ying-ying is only four is no excuse for her disturbing behavior. I’m pretty sure that as children, 99% of us did not impulsively attempt to cover ourselves with blood, no matter what the situation. Rather, we were taught to shy away from it. I think her actions show how ignorant of a child she is, and how faulty her upbringing was.
Last but not least, I really don’t like that Moon “Lady”. Besides the obvious fact that the Moon Lady is a man, the entire story that he told was completely unjust. It basically put down women and made men sound like saints. In the story, the woman was always depicted as being at fault. She was blamed for everything and the fact that the husband didn’t pay any attention to her and kept secrets from his wife didn’t even matter. Talk about being biased. At the end of the story, the man was described with reverence and as a hero for shooting his wife with an arrow. Really, now? -__-
2. I felt sorry for Amah. She “had given up her own child, a baby son, when her husband had died” in order to become Ying-ying’s “nursemaid” (73). It’s bad enough to lose one member of your family, but to lose everything – husband and child – all in one go? That’s pretty extreme. I also think it is doleful for Amah to have to look after Ying-ying, of all people, for years after. Ying-ying is spoiled rotten, though for that, Amah may be to blame. Amah dotes on Ying-ying so, and I think the overbearing attention she pays to Ying-ying is out of guilt of losing her own son. Amah adopts Ying-ying as a surrogate daughter of sorts and spoils her in ways that she will never be able to do for her own child. Although I think Amah lives a pitiful life, she is to blame for the way that Ying-ying turned out: selfish, oblivious, and lost.
3.The main conflict in this chapter is man vs. self, specifically Ying-ying and her quest to find herself. There is also a similar conflict of man vs. society or man vs. man as Ying-ying struggles to find her family again after falling off of the boat. However, although Ying-ying is physically found at the end of the chapter, emotionally, internally, she is still lost. After realizing that the Moon “Lady” was actually a man, part of her innocent was shattered. With the Moon Lady not who she (or he!) appeared to be, it was impossible for Ying-ying to believe that anything else was what it appeared to be either. Not even herself. Ying-ying never found herself again and she said that after the festival, she “never believed [her] family found the same girl.” By the chapter’s end, she changes, but rather than helping her, this change makes her even more confused about who she is.
This comment has been removed by the author.
4. Just like the woman in the allegory, Ying-ying cannot communicate effectively with her daughter. Though both of the women have wisdom that they need to leave upon their American-born daughters, they are unable to do so. Both women have loud opinions that they keep to themselves. They remain quiet, unseen, and unheard. As these women age, both feel lost as they stare at daughters that they don’t recognize. And their daughters stare back, never realizing all the things that their mothers have to say.
Oh snap, I can't believe I have to use two posts... So long winded... Oh, and this is Michelle Chan =]
Moon cakes, men, and ladies.
“Moon Lady”
As I read the first few paragraphs, I got hooked; after reading those last chapters of lost heritage, leaving things behind in China, and scars, I looked forward to what momentous event would happen next. Ying-Ying saying how she had hid all those feelings all those years, keeping “her mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out”, built up a sort of suspense as to what she could have kept bottled in all those years. But as I read on, this vignette was just about some four-year old kid going to the Moon Festival. Suffice to say, I was disappointed. Not much really happened. So she gets lost and her family doesn't care. Whoop-dee-doo. I'm not saying “Moon Lady” isn't good, it's just that compared to the last chapters like “The Red Candle” and “Scar”, “Moon Lady” is just, boring. Well moving on: that chained crane was definitely a form of animal abuse, but besides from that, possibly a symbol, though of what I do not know. Amy Tan also showed the differences between the social classes of China in “Moon Lady”, with the fisherman in their rafts, looking for fish (what else?)to supply their income, while the well-off are partying like its '89.
4 Reading previous posts about that event where Ying-Ying keeps the tasty part of the rabbit moon cake for herself and gives the ears to her half-sisters, saying how she's so selfish, I kind of disagree. I mean give her a break, Ying-Ying's only 4 at that time! I think she was just trying to be smart; tricking them gave her a kind of satisfaction about. (Reminds me of how I would rip-off other kids trading Pokemon cards) Oh there was also that part about Ying-Ying smearing blood on herself to cover her clothes from the mess. That made me smile; something only the really young would have a mentality to do.
5 Conflict was of two things: man vs man and man vs himself. Against other people it would probably be her family, seeing as during that time her family didn't even TRY to look for her, and the only person that cared was her Amah. (Her dad had concubines. Dysfunctional family much? Yes, I know that might've been the norm back in the day, but still...) So neglect and indifference would probably factor into that. Man vs himself-wise, Ying-Ying was troubled about finding her identity after all those years; at the end of the chapter she said she wanted to be found.
6c How is this chapter connected to the allegory at the start of the section?
Hmm so the allegory, “Feathers From a Thousand Li Away” has to do with a woman bringing a swan to America from China; immigration officials take the swan away and she's left with a feather. That feather is the one she wants to give to her daughter. In “Moon Lady” Ying-Ying grows up with her identity hidden. Then flashback: as a girl is spoiled and wealthy; however in her family only her Amah really cares. Then in the Moon Festival she gets lost and fishermen pick her up, but her family isn't even looking for her. And she finally remembers her wish at the end of the chapter: to be found. I'm thinking the connection would be the feather/wish is her identity/lost heritage, which she hopes to reclaim and/or give eventually.
~El Schelonai AKA Nicholas Lee, Period the 4th
1) Searching My Soul
2)Moon Lady
3)While reading this chapter I found it very sad that a girl so young was wishing to be found. While reading the text I realized that Ying-Ying was never really treated with love but, instead she was always demanded to do things. I found it strange that when the whole family gathered at the house before going to their rented boat, that none of the adults really cared where the children were. I feel that if it's a family function then the kids should also be included because they are considered family. The women and men of the family are all too into each other while they let the children do whatever they like which is one reason why Ying-Ying ended up on the shore of the coast instead of still on the boat with her family. Another event that happened in this story that i didn't understand was why the Moon Lady ended up being a man. I felt this chapter was very interesting but in a sad way.
4)I'm deciding to focus on the main character in this chapter which is Ying-Ying because I feel she is the most interesting. At such a young age this little girl obeys orders and is extremely scared to do otherwise. Ying-Ying doesn't seem like she is growing up with any fun in her life. Instead of playing dress up and having team parties Ying-Ying is being ordered around by her Amah. Also the quote "I wished to be found,"(83) was what Ying-Ying wanted to tell the Moon Lady and no little girl should even be thinking of finding herself.
5)The main conflict being portrayed in this chapter is Ying-Ying trying to remember the wish that she had asked the Moon Lady so many years ago. The conflict is resolved but only after seeing that her and her own daughter have no connection to each other and that she has completely lost herself. She wishes she could find herself and then have a relationship to her daughter. At the end of the chapter Ying-Ying finally remember her wish. This coflict is internal but could also be external because it's dealing with the relationship between mother and daughter. Human vs. self and human vs. human.
6a) The theme of this chapter I think is that a person could spend their whole life trying to forget their past but sooner or later it comes back into their mind. Ying-Ying was saying that she didn't remember her wish but once she flashed back to the day of the Moon Lady her wish came floating back into her head. "...I also remember what I asked the Moon Lady so long ago. I wished to be found." (83) This quote strongly shows the theme and message that this chapter is getting across to any set of eyes that decides to read it.
Jessica Lee
Period 4
1. If men are the "bright truth", then why did the Moon Lady/Man lie?
2. Feathers From A Thousand Li Away- Moon Lady
3. Well, during the part where Ying-ying is lost,I first thought that Amah was just tricking Ying-ying, and decide to leave her there for a bit to scare Ying-ying. When nightfall came, I felt sad and worried for Ying-Ying. And wondered if her parents knew she was lost. Or if Amah told Ying-ying's parents what she did and her parents felt so ashamed that they left Ying-Ying. When Ying-Ying had fell into the water and started to choke I thought Amah was going to pop out and save Ying-ying. And when the snake came I actually thought Ying-ying was a goner for sure, but of course there had to be more to the story. Also I'm really confused by Amah's actions, in the beginning she's shown as this sweet little old nanny and spoils Ying-ying rotten. But Amah switches up and abandons Ying-ying, leaves her without clothes and frightened! That's so cruel! I mean really, Ying-ying just a kid. On page 78 Ying-ying remembers that "Amah and [her] passed people like [the fishermen] in the streets, [Amah] would put her hands over [Ying-ying's] eyes and ears" and yet she cursed at Ying-ying. I'm wondering if Amah's sweetness was bought by Ying-ying's parents. Did Amah simply put on the sugary act because she was paid to be Ying-ying's nanny? I wonder if Amah lashed out at Ying-ying because Amah was tired of being a push-over nanny, spoiling all the time? Or if Amah was worried that she'd be fired, because Ying-ying's parents look at Ying-ying's behavior to prove whether or not Amah was a good nanny? Did Amah really care for Ying-ying and felt ashamed at Ying-ying's behavior? I feel like I can sort of connect this chapter to Romeo and Juliet. Juliet's father, Lord Capulet, was reluctant at first to let Paris marry Juliet, even though during that time period Juliet was at the right age to marry. Lord Capulet kept saying things like Juliet was too young and he seemed as though he wanted to keep Juliet as his "little daughter" and wasn’t ready for her to grow up. From that, Lord Capulet seemed like a loving father (like the way Amah seemed like a caring nanny), but when Juliet refuses to marry Paris, he forces her to choose either marriage or be disowned by her family. Also, at first I thought “Amah” meant Ying-ying’s paternal grandmother because in Cantonese your paternal grandmother is “Mah” it’s has a different tone from the “Ma” that means mother. And it is confusing why Ying-ying refers to her sisters as “Number Two and Number Three”, I think it’s because she was taught to do so. Perhaps, in their society the children of concubines weren’t as important to those of wives, so they weren't refered to by their names.
4. In the beginning Ying-ying is shown to be a young little child, hyperactive and a tomboy. She’s grown up shielded and guarded by her Amah and family. I think this chapter focuses on her losing that innocence and coming into to reality. Ying-ying doesn’t just turn from child to adult in one instant; I think reality hits her with two punches and then a kick. First, her Amah curses at her and abandons her. After that she expects her family to come get her but they never show up, even when she was drowning in the water. The third event was the kick, when she finally gets to meet the Moon Lady. When Ying-ying finds that the Moon Lady is really a man, she learns that lies have been protecting her. I think Ying-ying learns that in reality there’s nobody to keep you out of harms way. Her first wish was for comfy clothes, but in the end her wish was to be found. That shows a definite increase in maturity in Ying-ying.(#s 5&6 in second post)
Jessica Lee
Period 4
Moon Lady Continued
5. I think the main conflict was human vs. self because Ying-ying was told not to speak for what she wanted; she was taught that it’d be selfish of her to do so. Ying-ying was trying to find herself and her voice. Even the Moon Lady’s play depicted women to be inferior to men. Ying-ying wasn’t allowed to chase dragonflies because it was only expected from boys and girls were below boys, so acting like a boy was prohibited.
The society expected women to be proper by know where they stand, which was second-rate to men. Ying-ying wasn’t expected to speak and so the Moon Lady, being a man, didn’t hear her.
6. I think the theme was to find yourself, similar to the theme in The Red Candle. The theme shows up on page 83, the last paragraph. Writing techniques I noticed were that Amy Tan has really in-detail detail descriptions, which makes the setting so realistic that it feels like I’m actually there.
1. “Moon Lady”
2. This chapter to me was confusing at times. I like how she acts very innocent and then towards the end she loses her innocence and is lost. She can’t find her way back to her family and she “just wants to be home.” When Ying Yang falls off the boat, no one notices and she feels alone and scared. She cries out for her Amah but still no one hears her. I think it was like her family did not care about her and they did not notice she was gone, which is why she feels lost.
3. Amah acts as Ying Yang’s mother. Amah was there for Ying Yang at her birth and Ying Yang does not have a very strong connection with her mother. Amah tends to her every need and spoils her, because Ying Yang was never taught the ways of life. Amah is the motherly figure in Ying Yang’s life, replacing her mother.
4. The main conflict in this chapter is that Ying Yang is lost from her family and she wants to be found both literally and symbolically. It is human vs. self as well as human vs. human because Ying Yang is has feelings of anger towards Amah for not coming to get her when she falls of the boat. And it is human vs. self because Ying Yang does not feel she belongs anywhere.
5. There are several uses of symbols in this chapter. One of them I believe would be the shadow that Ying Yang mentions several times. I think the shadow represents her innocence, or apart of her that she is leaving behind. The shadow follows her around and in once scene she describes the shadow as “hiding.” Ying Yang learns of facts of life during this chapter, which change her while she undergoes the journey of losing her innocence.
1. Lady Moon Man!
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. The Moon Festival reminded me a lot of “Tet Trung Thu,” a Vietnamese holiday in which parents take time off work to spend time with their children in order to show their love and appreciation. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Other than that, I thought this chapter was pretty boring and useless. The ending confused me and left us with a cliffhanger. What happens to the Moon Lady/Man? Also, throughout the chapter, Ying-Ying proves to be a very stubborn and naïve girl. Her actions portray her stupidity. Why would you cover up your bloody dress by smothering it in more blood?! Gross…
4. Ying-Ying’s nanny, Amah, seems to have a bigger role in her life rather than her own mother. You can tell that Amah really loves Ying-Ying through her words and actions. Ying-Ying admits that “[she] is very spoiled because of her. (73)” In this chapter, we see Amah as a mother figure to Ying-Ying. Amah wakes Ying-Ying up every morning, dresses her, and scolds her like a real mother. Amah is genuinely a good person because she still loves and cares for Ying-Ying even through all her flaws and mistakes. I don’t think I would love somebody who doesn’t appreciate me!
5. The main conflict in this chapter is human vs. self. Ying-Ying is lost, both, physically and emotionally. After falling off the boat, Ying-Ying’s family does not notice she is gone and probably didn’t even care! After being dropped off on shore, Ying-Ying finally realizes that her only wish was to be found. Not only did she want to find the rest of her family, but, after seeing the Moon “Lady” turn into a man, Ying-Ying realized that she, as well, needed to find her own identity.
6. Amy Tan starts off the chapter with Ying-Ying’s own thoughts and then transitions into a flashback. The sentence, “We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others, (67)” foreshadows and gives us hints about the chapter’s conflict. Tan’s descriptive writing really made me feel like I was watching a movie. Plus, the blood scene really grossed me out, so, that shows us that Tan really captures her readers and lets them see what she sees when writing the book.
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. The Moon Lady and not Moon Man?!
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. The chapter moon lady was pretty interesting. I like how Amy Tan’s setting was so vivid that I could visualize it in my head really clearly. She also blend the local color naturally so with the environment. When Ms. Woods told us about the man, I was confused. I thought that Ying-Ying was a boy, but then I later learned that it was the moon lady who was a man. It was weird how she called her step sister “Number Two” and “Number Three.” I think this chapter was the chapter I could related to the most since my parents used to tell me that a girl could not behave that way, and so on. I was shocked when she called her grandma amah, since most Chinese people use nai-nai, and I thought I was the only one who used it because I didn’t know it was a Chinese word. I failed. It was bizarre when Ying-Ying covered herself in turtle blood. I wonder if I thought like that when I was small.
4. Even though amah seemed to care about Ying-Ying, she seemed very cruel. After amah’s husband died, she left her son, which showed that she was cruel. What kind of mother has the heart to leave her son behind? When amah found Ying-Ying, she kept on calling Ying-Ying names. Ying-Ying was only a child and her curiosity got the best of her. Amah was mean for calling her names.
5. I think the conflict was an internal conflict. In the beginning she couldn’t remember what her wish was and it remained hidden. This showed that she didn’t want to remember what she did that day. At the end when she wished to be found, it showed that she didn’t know who she truly was. Her family didn’t allow her to express herself and be who she truly was. Her society didn’t allow her to act as a child, but instead she had to act mature. This exemplifies man vs. society. I think she was never able to show who she really was because in the beginning of the story she said that she remained quiet.
6. B. I think her shadow represented who she really was. Her true nature. “The dark side,” the one that was not allowed to be seen. I think that the swimming snake was also a symbol. When the swimming snake wrapped around her, choking her, I think that it symbolized how society tied her to a certain behavior her and limit her action.
-Jessica Hartono, Period 4
1) Man on the moon
2) "The Moon Lady"
3) I thought that this chapter was very interesting. However, it was confusing at some parts. I liked how Ying-ying was so young and curious, but at the end, she ends up losing her innocence. I understood that even though she had Amah, she craved for her mother's attention. I thought that it was really sad when she fell off the boat. She was saved by a man who thought she was a fish. She was scared, and if that were me, i would be scared too. I thought it was irresponsible for Amah not to notice that she went missing.
4) In the beginning of the chapter, Ying-ying was just an innocent, young child. Although she had "Selfish desires," she kept them to herself. Like any other child, Ying-ying had the desire to be adventurous. She craved alot of attention and was very curious. At the end of the chapter, she gets a taste of reality when she finds out the moon lady is a man. After that incident, she felt lost and confused. She "wished to be found"(pg.83)
5) I think the main conflict is Ying-ying trying to find herself. She could not remember what she wanted that night from the moon lady. She believed " [her] family never found the same girl, (82)" when she fell off the boat. She felt as if she lost her self, and she is still trying to be found. This conflict is internal and it happens within Ying-ying.
6) I thought Amy Tan used a numerous amounts of similes in this chapter. I thought she cleverly used them within sentences to create a variety. "I watched like a hungry cat waiting it's turn" (76). The similes she adds gives more description within the chapter and they help you imagine the situation. For example, Ying-ying was waiting and she was described as a hungry cat.
1. "Facing Reality"
2. "The Moon Lady"
3. I thought that this chapter was very interesting. When I first started it, I thought that something weird or magical would happen that would relate to the whole Moon Lady thing. The chapter was about the moon festival, which is commonly celebrated by Asian people, not just Chinese. Therefore, most of the stuff from this chapter was pretty familiar to me. Even the story of the Moon Lady was something I had heard from my family when I was young. I thought that the chapter had some pretty good descriptions and imagery, especially when Ying-ying falls into the water, and how it was like a snake that “wrapped around [her] and squeezed [her] body like a sponge” (78). I thought that it was disgusting when they were on the boat thing and they talked about eating turtles. That part was really weird to me and made me wonder what other things people are willing to eat. I also felt like the ending was too short. I somewhat wanted to know how she was found. What happened after she found out the Moon Lady was a man? How did her family know where she was?
4. I think that Ying-ying is a very curious child. She asks a lot of questions, which annoys people, such as Amah when she says, “too many questions!” (69). She also chases a dragonfly, which her family deemed as “unladylike.” She is also amazed when the two men were catching fish, and she watched them through the whole process. I think that she is a normal child, although her family disapproves of this because they want her to be more well-mannered.
5. One of the conflicts is human vs. nature because Ying-ying falls into the water, and also struggles to find her family. It’s also human vs. society because her family members think she is unladylike. Lastly, it’s human vs. self because she has to accept the fact that the Moon Lady isn’t real.
6. I think that the theme of this lesson is that everyone must grow up and accept reality. Ying-ying was an innocent child who believed in tales of magical beings such as the Moon Lady. She finds out the truth about the Moon Lady when she realizes that it’s just a man in a costume, and she has to accept that.
1.Moon Lady Cross-dresser Man!
2.Moon Lady
3.I thought this chapter was weird. First, Ying-Ying refers to her half-sisters as Number Two and Number Three, which is kind of odd. Maybe it is because their mothers were concubines and not the first wife, so then Ying-Ying doesn't need to show respect to them. I also think Ying-Ying is crazy because at the ship, she saw her new clothes become blood-stained and tried to cover it by adding more blood to it. Next, I thought the method of using a pelican to catch fish was genius. I have never heard or seen this before so it intrigues me. Lastly, I was surprised to find out the Moon Lady is a man in a costume. It is basically the same concept as Santa. Kids telling them wishes and hopefully their wishes might come true.
4.Ying-Ying is different from other girls of her age. She is superstitious and doesn't trust her own feelings that much. She is also very curious, as she wanders around the while ship and watched a woman butchering fish, and yet she is not grossed out or scared.
5.I think the conflicts of this story is human vs. self and human vs nature. She feels that she is alone and she "wished to be found"(83). The human vs nature conflict occurs when Ying-Ying falls off the boat and gets carried away until a fisherman fishes her out. He and his buddies were going to sell her until they realized that she wasn't a fish.
6.I think the theme of this story is that innocence will be lost when you're growing up. When she falls off the boat, her innocence falls with it. She also says she lost herself as she remembers her childhood.
Wai Chan
3rd period
1.) mooooooooooon whoa man
2.) "The Moon Lady"
3.) This chapter was pretty interesting, I learned quite a bit of Chinese lore, or so I would assume. I never knew that Chinese mythology had a tale of a moon "lady" who would grant the wishes of children who told her them and it amazed me that there was such a contrasting penalty if one told their wishes to a stranger and not the moon lady. It's references to modern day kids really intrigued me as well, I thought there'd be more reference or some sort about modern day utilities, but it was only mentioned briefly at the beginning. In short this chapter was quite interesting but also brief at the same time, taught me a lot of local Chinese color as well as traditions.
4.) Ying-ying really caught my attention in this chapter as she did some rather bizarre things. First off, she stood intrigued by a man gutting and scaling a fish and this really baffled me. A four year old girl that's interested in any sort of bloodshed simply cannot be healthy. After that, she notices that her beautiful yellow kimono's been stained with fish blood, therefore she gets the idea that "painting all [her] clothes crimson red" (76) with turtle blood would be a great idea. Ying-ying was a once curious and eager little girl, but being pummeled by all the Chinese traditions caused her to become more subtle and silent, a tragic change in attitude. Seeing Ying-ying change throughout the chapter really felt like she was a real character, one easily related to and that's what made me see and be interested in her character.
5.) I'd have to say that the conflict in this chapter was either Human vs Self or Human vs Society. Reason being, in the chapter, Ying-ying tells how she was foolish for keeping "[her] true nature hidden" (67), and not being more social with her daughter. This results in her daughter being washed by American ways, knowing not about what her real heritage is. This to me, translates into an issue of human vs self due to her insecurity, even though she didn't really want to keep quiet she didn't have enough will power to leave what was wrong in her old culture, yet keep the good as well. As for the society, clearly her heritage and traditions heavily effected how she raised her offspring.
6.) Amy Tan uses a few good techniques in this chapter, mostly imagery and flash backs. The beginning starts in present time and then flashes back into her past, and that seemed pretty unique in a story, I haven't seen it used too often. As for the imagery, the part with blood and guts really helped me see the vile slaughter of animals.
~ Khanh
1. The Woman in the Moon
2. Moon Lady
3. I did not enjoy this chapter very much, certainly not as much as the other ones. It’s probably because in my opinion, none of these characters are worth sympathizing with, and it reveals some of the darker aspects of Chinese culture specifically with the constant decapitation of animals aboard the boat and the chaining of the bird. Ying-Ying appears to be mentally deficient, although I suppose credit must be given seeing as she is four, but even still what kind of person covers herself in blood in an attempt to hide herself? Then, almost immediately after, she falls off the boat and nearly drowns herself. The amount of local color in the chapter helped give me a good idea what life was like, especially how men were treated far better or with more respect in women with the Moon Lady’s dialogue, male actors, and multiple concubines. Ying-Ying obviously comes from a at least moderately wealthy family since they use rickshaws to travel everywhere and have elaborate clothing and participate in celebrations, but the family appears to be somewhat separate or aloof from each other. Signs of this - Multiple concubines and her sisters are named #2 and #3 by her (Kids Next Door :D). One of the interesting things I also noticed in this chapter was how Amy Tan mentioned the awful heat or temperature at least fifteen times, maybe just for imagery.
4. Ying-Ying, at the beginning of the chapter, comes off as a rather selfish and reckless child, shown by how she constantly runs around and fidgets and by her unequal sharing of the rice cake with her half-sisters. Also, Ying-Ying proves to be somewhat inconsiderate of other’s feelings as demonstrated when she rides in the rickshaw with her mother rather than Amah. Then, when Ying-Ying falls off of the boat and nearly drowns, she emerges scared and shocked from her traumatic experience, and her astonishment turned into permanent mental scars when her innocence is shattered by the revelation of how the Moon Lady was actually a man.
5. The conflicts are man vs. nature, man vs. man, and man vs. self. Man vs. nature because Ying-Ying almost drowned (though arguably because of her own ineptness with swimming). It gets resolved when the people save her. The conflict of man vs. man would probably be Ying-Ying and her family or more specifically Amah and how she’s constantly nursing and pampering Ying-Ying yet at the same time reprimanding her or punishing her. Man vs. self because Ying-Ying “loses” herself when she’s drowned and comes back and when she is “found” again by her family, she never really “finds” herself again except maybe at the end now that she’s remembered it.
6c. There are various objects that serve as symbols in this chapter, mainly the shadow, the rice cake, and the Moon Lady. The shadow serves as the “dark side” of Ying-Ying, but maybe not only that because later the “dark side” is mentioned again when the Moon Lady describes women in comparison to men. The rice cake symbolizes Ying-Ying’s selfishness when she breaks it unequally with #2 and #3, saving the best part for herself as well as a majority of the cake. The Moon Lady reflects children’s innocence by supposedly granting all wishes and the world’s deceitfulness when Ying-Ying finds out that a man plays the part of the Moon Lady. Also, it could demonstrate the unfairness of gender’s in China’s patriarchal society since the Moon Lady condemns women in her act.
Raymond Glassey
Period 3
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nguyen Pham
Period 4
1)Moon lady, or man?
2)"Moon Lady"
3)When I read this chapter, I was honestly not as interested in this vignette as I had been with the previous ones. Why? Is might be because of how I could not find much depth and complexity in this vignette since it was merely a series of events that revolved around Ying Ying and her troubles with her Amah. Other than that, I found this chapter to be quite peculiar as well, since I do not know if it was to be part of the local color or not, but the who in their right mind would smear their dress with turtle blood to cover up their dress? Also, seeing that Ying-Ying was left alone in the capter on the floating pavillion, I felt extremely sad for her, for she must have felt lost and abandoned at the time of her separation. A question that I have for this chapter is: Why would Ying-Ying choose to have the fisheman row over to a floating pavillion-when she does not even recognize a single face on the pavillion? It does not make sense to me that she would choose a random place to go to, when she was hoping to be found! What makes it worse, it that she even continued to board the paviliion, despite not knowing any one there.
One last thing...What is up with the Moon Lady-man?! The moon lady was obviously a man, so why is the chapter called "Moon Lady"? Despite the fact that the Ancient Chinese tale was indeed called "Moon Lady"
4. I have chosen to focus on Ying-Ying for this chapter because of how I believe that she is the protagonist in this vignette. The act of smearing turtle blood on her dress to cover up the fish scales and guts really showed me that Ying-Ying is probably very scared of Amah and always seeks her approval, since she probably did not want Amah, her caretaker, to find out that her dress had been stained with the fish scales. I felt really bad for her, because I believe that all she wanted to do was to seek the approval of Amah, but she in turn, recieved punishment after being caught with the turlte blood. Ying-Ying's desperation to be loved and "found" was also portayed by her absolute desire to find the Moon Lad so that she can hear out her wish. Sadly, Amah was not very supportive as she reminded Ying-Ying that a girl always has to listen and never ask for anything. When Ying-Ying asked to be "found", I think that it carried a double meaning, for she wants to be found by her family after being lost, but she also wants to be found in a way that will cause her Amah or ANYONE to appreciate and love her more. For a little girl, love and affection would mean the world, and I believe that Amah does not sufficiently love Ying-Ying. THis is why Ying-Ying so desperately wants to find the Moon Lady. Even after she is stranded from the ship, she STILL wants to go find the Moon Lady in order for her wishes to be heard.
1) Lost But Not Found
2) "The Moon Lady"
3) I think that this chapter is pretty confusing because at the beginning, the author doesn't show whats going on or whats going to happen. I thought Ying-ying was a troublemaker because she kept getting herself into trouble. I think she kinda resembles me because she's a curious little girl that asks many questions that the elder's get angry after a while.
4) Ying-ying is a curious girl that still doesn't know much of the world and believes in myths and superstitions. She prefers to act like a boy and play all day instead of standing still like a lady would which I think it shows that she's lively, but her actions on the boat in this quote "It was not until then, too late, that [she] saw ,[her] new clothes--and the spots of blood" (76) shows that she is a clumsy and carefree girl.
5) I think the main conflict in this chapter is Ying-ying is trying to find her inner self, but her Amah is trying to change her into a woman. She attempts to try and find herself but soon gets lost and finds herself away from her family forever. This is an internal conflict of Ying-ying trying to find herself because she doesn't know whether she wants to be ladylike or be herself.
6) B) I think that Ying-ying's shadow is a symbol. When she plays with her shadow, I think that's her inner self because when she plays with the shadow, it shows how she really wants to act.
-Not Jerry. :D
5. I believe that the conflict in this vignette is internal, because of how Ying-Ying has always had pressure coming from Amah and her family about how to be a proper person. This truly messed her up, because with so much input about how to be a true person, I believe that Ying-Ying consequently lost the ablity to be true to herself. She was always told to never had selfish desires as a girl and to never act improper as well. But, I believe that her parents and Amah are forgetting that she is still young and needs to find out who she is for herself. She even has her priorities mixed up! Even after getting lost from the boat, she does not want to return home right away. Instead, Ying-Ying decides to go to a floating Pavillion to possibly seek out the Moon Lady. The expectations of her parents and Amah are screwing her up, as Ying-Ying thinks that that must always be perfect for her parents and Amah. One example is how she smeared her dress with Turtle Blood. Because of how she never wants to seem improper in front of Amah, Ying-Ying was extremely scared when she found out that there were fish scales that made her dress dirty. Wanting to not anger Amah, Ying-Ying ignoratly smeared her dress with the turtle blood in order to blend in the imperfections of her dress. Oh boy, was this a bad mistake. She had to pay the horrible consequence of being in an isolated area with just her underwear and slippers. This was extremely wrong of Amah, since all Ying-Ying wanted to do was to NOT anger Amah. Amah should have been able to see it.
6A: The theme of this lesson could be to "dont let anyone overshadow you and your persepective." In the story, we see that Ying-Ying is a little girl who is sheltered by both her parents and Amah. All she knows of the world are the the tales that Amah tell her about the moon lady, and the extravagent parties and boats that her family throws. She also still believed that the Moon Lady was a lady, up until the point where she finally broke through the confinements of her parents and Amah and realizes that the Moon Lady was indeed a man. This is the point where she enters the real world by slowly uncovering the "deceit" that her parents and Amah were surrounding her with.
1. “Unearthing the Truth”
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. Personally speaking, I thought this chapter had more action as opposed to the previous chapters. There were several events that were suspenseful such as when Ying-Ying falls over the boat and is attacked by a swimming snake, one of the Five Evils. I also thought Tan was able to weave in local color nicely, which gives the reader a good description of what the setting is like and the traditions and customs that are practiced in Chinese culture. A scene that I found that was strange in particular is when Ying-Ying stains her clothes. One of the chefs on the boat butchers a fish, and the guts splatter all over Ying-Ying’s new garment. Ying-Ying panics and places her hand in a bowl of blood and spreads it all over her clothes. Her logic didn’t make sense in the least bit.
4. In my opinion, Ying-Ying is an abnormal child. It was rather unsettling to find that she was not disturbed by watching a lady on the boat decapitate a turtle’s head. This shows “what a strange mind [she] had!” (p.76) Aside from this, Ying-Ying is also restricted from being who she really is. When Ying-Ying chases a dragonfly with her sisters, Amah tells her it’s like not tolerable since it isn’t girlish conduct. Ying-Ying is constantly restrained from the expectations her family has for her, and as a result, she becomes different from a typical toddler. Ying-Ying is shown to have a selfish side too, which is revealed when she takes the portion of the rabbit moon-cake with egg and filling. She gives her sisters only dough because she thinks “they were too little to know any better” (p.71) On top of this, Ying-Ying very curious for her age. When Amah mentions the Moon Lady, Ying-Ying is immediately intrigued and eager to learn more.
5. One conflict in this chapter is man vs. nature. When Ying-Ying falls off the boat, she is confronted with nature because she is attacked by a snake and is drowning. Another conflict is internal, man vs. self. Ying-Ying struggles to find her identity as a child. The way Ying-Ying is raised by her family conflicts with her identity. Only when Ying-Ying grows up is she able to discover who she really is.
6. A theme in this chapter is the loss of innocence along with the acceptance of reality. Ying-Ying is told wondrous tales about the Moon Lady by Amah. Ying-Ying eventually unearths the truth, that the Moon Lady is actually a man. This event showed that as people mature, they discover their perception of the world is far from the truth, leading to the inevitable loss of innocence.
Brian Yang
Period 4
1) "Because putting turtle blood on your dress is cool!"
2) "The Moon Lady"
3) When I finished reading the chapter, I was in shock and awe when I read this chapter. I felt cheated. I couldn't believe I read about 16 pages just to have no idea what the chapter meant. It was as if Amy Tan got a bunch of words and splashed them onto the pages. You can call me names saying I'm dumb or I didn't read the chapter throughly, but I can't believe how random this chapter was. Okay, enough ranting. The questions I have for this chapter are: 1. Who is Amah O.o 2. Why Amy Tan, do you disturb me with these gruesome descriptions such as," I quickly dipped my hands in the bowl of turtle's blood and smeared this on my sleeves, and on the front of my pants and jacket" (pg.76). 3. Why is the Moon Lady a man?
4) Time to complain more about the turtle blood! I think that Ying-ying is a very strange and disturbed child. I don't know what she was thinking when she thought it was a good idea to cover her whole dress in blood to make it look normal. Ying-ying also chased a dragonfly getting her dress dirty, and because of this her Amah got angry saying girls aren't supposed to be doing that.Because of this, I think Ying-ying is kind of tomboyish. Ying-ying also asks a lot of questions. Which means she is a very curious person and is not afraid to ask questions.
5) Hah! This conflict in this story is misleading. At first it made it look as though her being lost was the main conflict, but I think the MAIN conflict of the story is how Ying-ying doesn't really know who she is and how she is pressured by her family to keep up to their expectations. I think that it is an Internal Conflict that is a Human vs. Society conflict as well as a Human vs. Self conflict.
6) I think the theme of this chapter is how people have to accept what is going on around them. This Ying-ying character is living in a dream world. She believed in so much of this Moon Lady stuff, anticipating to make a wish. Sadly for her, she found out the Moon Lady was actually a man. Hah.
-Andrew Dao Period 4
1)Sup, MAN.
2)“The Moon Lady”
3)To be honest, this chapter is pretty confusing. Like it makes sense overall, but I don’t get the whole “I lost myself that night” idea. Maybe because she was completely traumatized from her experience that night and it scarred her for life? I don’t know. And I don’t understand the beginning either, when Ying-Ying says that her daughter “does not see [her].” I have to give props to the nice description, though. I could actually feel like I was there at some parts. And Amy Tan definitely made it stick in your brain that it was HOT that night. Oh, and I also thought it was pretty nasty when the people were eating the freshly caught shrimp. The shrimps were still alive and people were just dipping them in sauce and eating them! Gross!
4)I’m not gonna lie; when I began to read the chapter, I thought Amah was Ying-Ying’s mother. She acts like it, that’s for sure. It seems as if Ying-Ying spends all her time with Amah and barely any with her real mother, as her mom was only mentioned a few times while Amah was mentioned dozens of times. It made me realize that this must have been the way it was back in the early 1900’s in China. The well-off people simply hired maids and caretakers for their children and spent little time with them. It’s sort of sad, actually. Ying-Ying actually seemed pretty crushed that her mother didn’t come to scold her for smothering her jacket in blood. Ying-Ying “thought she would come to the back of the boat and scold [her] in her gentle way.”
5)I would say the main conflict in this chapter is when Ying-Ying falls into the water and begins drowning. It was so random! She was just sitting there dangling her feet in the water thinking about the Moon Lady peacefully when out of the blue she falls into the lake.. Definitely a smack-in-the-face on the readers’ parts. This conflict does in fact get resolved, because the fishermen get her out of the water just in time and put her on the shore, safe and sound on land.
6)Amy Tan used tons of imagery in this chapter. That was probably the main writing technique. One strong example is “the straw mat covering my bed was already sticky. Everything in the room smelled of wet grass simmering in the heat,” (68). This really emphasized how hot it was. Another is “I ate the rabbit’s body, rolling my tongue over my lips to lick off the sticky bean paste,” (71). Who knew you could be descriptive while describing somebody eat a piece of cake.
CONTINUED...
5. I think the main conflict in the chapter is an internal conflict. Her ahma has always told her to keep “selfish desires” to herself, so she never really learned to express her true feelings. Her confusion about who she is was revealed by her wish to the Moon Lady: “I wished to be found” (83). Although she was always taught by her family to not be like this, be more like this, don't do that, etc, she still wished that she was with them but she lost her own self.I think the only "buddy" she ever really had was her shadow. This was because a shadow couldn't tell you what to be like and order you around. Nevertheless, she is more afraid than ever to lose her family, and we can see this when she was too afraid to cry after being rescued on some strangers’ fisherman boat. She felt lost forever when the one boat she pointed to wasn’t her family’s boat. This conflict stays with her throughout her whole life. She was always fearful of being abandoned and forgotten.
6. Theme: Sometimes you will lose your innocence if you want to grow up and mature. Ying-Ying remembered more about the night as she grew older. I believe she grew up on that night when she found out the Moon Lady was just a disguised man, and so when she was finally found, she “never believed [her] family found the same girl” (page 82).
MMMMMMMMM~ P: MANGO SLUSHIE W/ PEARLS IS SO REFRESHING AFTER A HOT CONCERT!! ^^Y
1. Moon of illusion (or lies)
2. “Moon Lady”
3.This chapter confused me of sorts. What happened at the river/water part? It was either I was reading to fast or I skipped a page, why was she in the water? I reacted to the Moon lady as, what kind of dressing room do you have? Cheap, no walls, kids can come in. Also I don’t get the story the moon lady gave. Not only had those reactions, this chapter kind of given a realish feel, with all of the imagery in it and the descriptive-ness.
4.Ying-ying she is an innocent girl as she states (83) she is also innocent in some sort of sense by giving all hope to the moon lady for a wish, but the moon lady turn out to be a lie.
5.Human VS. Self (gasp?) Ying-ying wanted to find her self, as it shows at the end of the chapter and it was her wish to the moon lady.
6d. Imagery, It was that important. It showed a lot of Ying-ying’s actions, which can be important to show her innocence in this chapter, and it also shows the true “Moon Lady” The imagery also showed a lot about the river place thingy.
This is the one named Steven from the time: Period of 4 (maybe please verify)
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. Lost!
2. "The Moon Lady"
3. I enjoyed reading the chapter, although a lot of it didn't make sense. I didn't understand how so many people could let a small girl fall into the water. Shouldn't Ying-Ying's parents and ahma be concerned about her and keep an eye on her. Instead she falls into the water and almost drowns. Although I didn't enjoy that scene, I found it funny that everyone left when the man asks for money to get a wish from the Moon Lady. Everyone knew it was just a trick and they ended up not making any money at all.
4. Ying-Ying was my favorite character in this chapter. When Ying-Ying smears blood on her shirt so that the dirt spots wouldn't stand out, it shows that she is simple minded and still immature. It also shows that she doesn't think before she acts. When she falls off this boat, it shows that she is extremely clumsy and unaware.
5. I think that the main conflict in this chapter is human vs. society. Ying-Ying has a difficult time adapting to he culture and often asks questions about it. She also doesn't understand why her ahma was angry with her when she covers her clothes with red blood.
6. I believe the theme of this chapter is that you should always value your family. This theme is shown throughout the chapter when she is scolded by her ahma, then later seperated when falling off the boat. She panics and becomes fearful that she won't ever see them again, but is later reunited with them.
JZ (Jonas Zhang)
1) Lost and found
2) Moon Lady
3) I thought this was a confusing and sad chapter, especially towards the end. When I found out that the Moon lady was actually a MAN, that totally blew my mind because 'she' was described as singing in a "ssweet, wailing voice"(80) and had "hair so long it swept the floor, wiping up her tears"(81). I don't understand why Amy Tan made the Moon Lady a man, and this must have been very traumatic for Ying-Ying. Another thing that confused me in the beginning was the name Amah; I thought she was Ying-yings mother instead of her nanny because amah sounds like mama in chinese. Something else that I learned was about the Moon Festival; I didn't know it was that big of a deal in China and I have never even heard of the Five Evils or the story of the Moon Lady before...
4)This chapter reveals a lot about Ying-Ying's character though indirect characterization, such as by her actions. When she stands next to the butcher and gets her new dress all grimy, and then tries to cover the mess with turtle blood, it shows how carefree and impulsive she is. However, this could also simply show the whims and ignorance of a four year old.
5)The main conflict is internal, because she is battling her own self doubts and all her inner turmoil including "innocence, trust, restlessness, wonder, fear, and loneliness"(83). It can also be human vs. society, in this case her family, because she seems like an outsider to them. For example, she is neglected by amah for hours after getting her clothes dirty.
6)I think the chapter is connected to the allegory in the beginning because they are both about being lost inside. In the beginning, it talks about Ying-Ying's 'americanized' daughter and the separation between them; they are lost to one another. This is ironic because Ying-Ying's wish as a child was to be found and to find a connection to her culture or family, but when she grows up, her own daughter is lost in a similar way. Yet, unlike Ying-Ying's introspective personality, her daughter either doesn't realize it or doesn't care.
1. Dream in Disguise
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. Reactions to the Moon Lady:
I honestly thought this chapter was a little weird. It talks about her experience at the Moon Festival when she was four. It states in the book that a wish is not a wish if it is spoken, “‘…because if you ask it… it is no longer a wish but a selfish desire” (Tan 70) and also says that a girl can never ask, but only listen. At a young age after just getting onto the boat, she immediately breaks free from her Amah’s hold and runs aboard the boat with the two younger sisters. If I was her parent or guardian I would have not let her freely go about by herself, especially since its dangerous and if she fell off the boat, she could have died. After getting a small amount of spots of blood on her new clothes she tries to hide the fact that she got it dirty by literally drowning the remaining parts of her outfit in a bucket of turtle’s blood. I thought it was a stupid idea, because now her accident is now plainly visible, and it just causes her to get scolded by her Amah. I didn’t really understand the part where she out of nowhere just falls off the boat then gets pulled in by net. It was confusing because the plot kind of jumps to her playing aboard the ship, then playing in the water, then suddenly gets rescued in a way where it sounds like she was going to get kidnapped. And at the end of the chapter where she finds out that the Moon Lady was really a man was kind of weird.
4. Character: Ying-ying
Ying-ying is four at this time, when she retells her story. She does some pretty stupid things, but you can tell that any other four year old could possibly make the same mistakes. For example, she breaks free from her Amah’s guidance and in the end gets lost, cries, and hopes to find her way back. She also comes up with idea that smearing her new clothes in a bucket of blood will lessen the visible appearance of getting her clothes dirty, when it was better if it was just left. This makes her sound like a careless four year old, but she learns her lesson in the end, when she gets lost, and parted from her family.
5. Main Conflict:
The main conflict in this chapter is external, and it is human vs. nature. The main conflict is when she falls off of the boat. For a four year old to suddenly fall off board a ship, without anyone knowing, I thought it was a big deal. She gets rescued by another boat, but she still has trouble trying to find her family.
6a Essential Question: What is the theme of this chapter?
The theme for this chapter is things sometimes aren’t what they seem to be. She pictured the Moon Lady to be a powerful woman, nice to fulfill everyone’s wishes. In the end after seeing the face of the Moon Lady for the first time, she discovers that she is a man. She begins to question what she really believes is real and is not. Ying-ying states in the end, “I lost myself” (Tan 83), and explains how she began to feel loneliness and loss of trust.
By: Chen Hong
1. Falling into the Dark Waters of Reality
2.“The Moon Lady”
3. The chapter was slightly confusing to me because of the constant setting change and the amount of action packed into it. I had to read it over slowly a few times to really grasp what was going on in this chapter. Ying-ying seems like a spoiled brat because she never shows much respect. Her family is probably rich due to the fact they can afford to go on this large fancy boat. At the end of the story her wish is “to be found” , I ‘m not exactly sure what she means by this. She wants to be found by her family but I think it has a deeper meaning also because it’s the last line of the chapter. I wonder if her family even looked for her or noticed she was gone when she had fallen off the boat. And what happened when they finally found her?
4. Ying-Ying is very spoiled, she even admits it. She doesn’t care about Amah’s feelings and won’t appreciate her until she is gone. It shows she is very selfish, and if she knows she can get away with something then she will. Ying-ying calls her half sisters number one and number two. I don’t think she cares for her sisters very much at all. She won’t even call them by their names so she must not have a very good bond with them. When her mother is dressing her up all she can do is complain she doesn’t want to wear the outfit. I find that very disrespectful of her. They don’t seem to be very strict with her at times and she gets away with bad behavior. I laughed when I read that when she ruined the clothes with blood she decided to put blood on the whole thing so no one could tell. She is still very childish and naive.
5.I believe the conflict is internal and human vs. self in this chapter. Ying-ying is very childish, disrespectful and naïve. She believes in the moon lady but everything come crashing down when she sees the moon lady is a man. Realizing reality, her innocence of her childhood is gone. Watching the moon lady when she was a woman represented the innocence and the candy coated state of mind children think in. When she sees him as a man everything her life probably seems less perfect and innocent. She must face the cold hard truth.
6b. One of the symbols in the chapter is her traditional outfit. It’s so beautiful, pure, and perfect, then blood is splashed all over it. It’s almost as if it’s tainting her innocence. Her shadow that she “loves” represents the dark side of her. Everything is happy and great on the boat until she falls off. It’s almost as if the boat is her protection. Nothing was protecting her anymore and she fell into the dark water. She had seen the reflection of the moon in the water. The moon she saw in the water was just fake, it wasn’t actually in the water but an image reflected. Thinking about this, I believe it’s almost as if she falls for this fake moon, the fake beliefs of her childhood, and then into the cold dark waters. The water symbolizing reality.
1. “Moon Lady or Moon Man?”
2. The Moon Lady.
3. I didn’t like this chapter that much, it was kind of pointless and boring to me. I was also slightly confused as I was reading it, and sometimes found myself uninterested and thinking about my plans for tomorrow while reading the same line over and over again. This chapter did not grab my attention, but it did have some good imagery. For example, when the young girl got fish scales and blood all over her fancy new clothes-it was gross but very descriptive!
4. The guy who pulled out Ying Ying from the water, when she fell off the boat, creeped me out! It was gross how his hands smelled like fish and how he has grabbing her harshly was really weird, I was so scared for the little girl at that moment!
5. I think there is a human vs. self conflict at the beginning of the chapter, because the little girl wants to chase around the dragonflies, but she cannot because she is a girl and only boys do such things. She is constantly ruining her outfit or hair throughout the chapter, and wishing she could just roam and play around wherever, however, and whenever she wishes.
6. One symbol in this chapter is the little embroided sleeves of the fancy jackets worn on great occasions. It represents the elegance of the upcoming event, and also respect because one wants to look nicer than they do normally.
-Jahana Kaliangara(:
1. Masquerading as the Moon Lady
2. The chapter that I am focusing on is called "The Moon Lady".
3. Personally, I thought that the chapter was pretty straightforward. To me, there were no confusing or hard to understand sections of text. Because of this, it also meant the chapter was sort of tedious. The only exciting parts with any action or suspense was the part when Ying-ying fell into the water off the "floating pavilion" that she was on. It's also easy to think that Ying-ying is weird, because, instead of sleeping, she watches a bird being forced to catch fish for its masters which were two boys. If it were me, I never would have sacrificed precious time watching two boys fish. But, that's probably also because I never get enough sleep. What I also found odd in this chapter was the fact that Ying-ying's siblings are called Number Two and Number Three, as if they were the children of concubines or something. Why does Ying-ying deserve a name while the other two apparently do not? Also worth mentioning is the fact that Ying-ying believes covering yourself in enough blood will apparently hide yourself. First off, I want to say that, for a young girl like Ying-ying, this is an extremely disturbing thought pattern. I know that, when I was smaller, I never thought about soaking myself in blood to hide myself. Nextly, I want to say that this belief is extremely stupid. It's like what ostriches do to hide from predators. They stick their heads in sand. Out of sight, out of mind. Ying-ying is scared of reprimand from her mom, so she makes her clothes dirtier to avoid getting in trouble? What? Another thing I would like to point out is that Ying-ying fell into the water after hearing some firecrackes. Firecrackers aren't the loudest explosives around and, apparently, as soon as she fell into the water, she expected Amah to "come immediately and pick [her] up". What is Amah, her lady-in-waiting? It really illustrates how spoiled this little girl was. Lastly, unlike other people, it didn't surprise me that the Moon Lady turned out to be a man. In olden times, women had much more restrictions on their privileges than men did. Consequently, in theater, it might have been easier to get a man to pose as a woman rather than getting a woman to pose as a man or even a woman to pose as a woman.
4. Ying-ying is a character with many different traits. Even though she is a little girl, she has already seen sights that many adults, even in our modern world, have not. For example, she saw a turtle get its head loped off after trying to bite a stick. This highlights her as being a pretty strange character, especially since, after seeing this spectacle, she didn't react in disgust. In fact, the reader sorts of gets a sense that Ying-ying thought chopping off turtles' heads is interesting and captivating. Even Ying-ying herself admits that she has a weird way of thinking saying, "What a strange mind I have!" Obviously, Ying-ying is either mentally scarred or one in a million. Not helping this belief is the fact that she randomly falls out of the boat and into the water. Even after having ridden on boats at least five times, I have never even come close to falling off. Yet, on her first time, Ying-ying falls off the boat.
5. The main conflict in the story is between Ying-ying and herself. This would make the conflict internal, or human vs. self. She has trouble understanding her own thoughts and, at times, appears to be completely and utterly clueless. Also, she is fascinated by the most bizarre things. Further evidence that proves this point is her wish to the Moon Lady, who was really a male pretending to be a woman. Apparently, her wish to this cross-dresser was "to be found". The wish, while loosely worded, illustrates her struggle and subsequent confusion in finding her inner self and who she really is.
This comment has been removed by the author.
(Continued from my previous comment)
After witnessing that the Moon Lady was a man, she even confessed herself that she believed her family "never found the same girl".
6. I think that the main theme of this vignette was "Growing up comes at the price of innocence". This is revealed by the line,"Both of these things seemed an illusion to me, a wish granted that could not be trusted." After seeing the Moon Lady suddenly morph into a man, Ying-ying changed and lost her innocence that she had had only a few short hours ago. One cannot grow up or mature without coming to the realization that the world is gritty and unrelenting, that the world is not a friendly place. It happens to everyone and is inevitable.
-Calvin Ho
Period 4
Cody Dang
Period 3
1. Soap on a Rope
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. Well, I thought the chapter was very interesting. Amy Tan’s writing is very descriptive. Throughout the chapter, I found myself becoming angry at Ying-Ying’s Amah. I couldn’t understand her unreasonable attitude. After all, Ying Ying’s just a child. It’s regular for children to do things like that. It’s so irrational of her Amah to think that Ying-Ying would have the common sense of a mature woman when she isn’t one. Sometimes, the angry grandmother and the mad parent figures in these stories make me angry. I just can’t stand the difficult nature of some of these adults.
I thought that the moon festival was really interesting. I’ve definitely heard about it before and I have attended it on multiple occasions, but I have never heard of any such “Moon Lady.” It was very interesting to learn about this. All in all, I liked the chapter for its brilliant descriptions, but I thought it didn’t prove anything. It was just depressing. I’m sure it probably had some message that was hidden within the text, but even reading the chapter twice didn’t exactly help me understand what the author was trying to say.
4. I’m going to focus on Ying-Ying’s amah. I really don’t understand why she acts the way she does. She treats a little, innocent girl as if she were a sixteen-year old. Maybe her Amah, being poorer than Ying-Ying, expects Ying-Ying to act like it. However, no matter how rich a little girl is, she is just a little girl. I think that Ying-Ying’s amah fails to understand that small children can sometimes only gain common sense the hard way. It’s not fair to not give Ying-Ying a second chance. I just cannot stress how unfair it is to punish a young girl for being a young girl. I guess her amah wants her to be a nice little lady even when she’s just an infant. The Amah really makes me angry.
5. I think that the main conflict of the story is the internal conflict within Ying-Ying. I guess it could also be how Ying-Ying has a somewhat conflicted relationship with her impossible-to-please amah, because of her cruel, unforgiving personality. I suppose that to a certain extent, it could be man versus society, because Ying-Ying finds herself lost, with nobody to help her. The Fishermen don’t seem to try very hard to help Ying-Ying find her parents. It just seemed like they wanted to get rid of her. Even when Ying-Ying shouted for a wish, nobody paid any attention to her. The people on the other boat simply laughed at her when she was in need of help. Almost everyone in the story was cruel to her.
6. I honestly want to know what the author is trying to say. My best interpretation is that if you’re young, people won’t take you seriously, but by your nanny you are taken way too seriously. All I see in the chapter is an innocent young girl who gets shunned by her nanny, tossed off of a boat, dumped onto the shore, only to never find her parents again and to find out that her icon of hope is the opposite of what it should be, literally revealed when the moon lady is shown to be a “Man.” I really wish I could understand more about the meaning of the chapter.
Jodie Chan
Period 3
1. AHHH!!! She’s a HE!
2. “Moon Lady”
3. Amy Tan writes really well. I like her use of language because the images she creates are so vivid and clear. The way she slips in local color and uses indirect characterization to develop the character and show his or her personality is spectacular.
-I think Ying-Ying is a spoiled, selfish, rich brat who does not know how lucky she is to have such a loving grandmother. Ying-Ying takes the bigger half of a moon cake for herself and sits in the shade of the tree, not bothering to share with her half-sisters. She is rude to her Amah when Ying-Ying slips out of her Amah’s grasp in the rickshaw to be with her mother in another rickshaw. After all her Amah did for her—telling her stories, taking care of her, giving up her own son to take care of her—the least Ying-Ying can do is respect her Amah. At the end, when Ying-Ying falls out of the boat and got lost, she finds out how insignificant she is in life. She realizes that the world does not revolve around her when no one went to find her.
-I think that Ying-Ying deserved to learn the lesson of not being selfish in life, but she learned it a little too well. Becoming a shadow, letting herself go unnoticed in life is a little overboard. She “remained quiet for so long” that even her own “daughter does not hear [her]” (pg. 67).
-Living in this time period and culture is so sexist. It is not fair that men were thought to be “yang” and women were “yin.” Why are guys so good and honest and women full of evil intent?
-Ying-Ying idolized the Moon Lady, but when she found out that the Moon Lady was a regular, tired man, Ying-Ying loses her sense of wonder and curiosity
4. Ying-Ying splits up her moon cake unevenly with her half-sisters, getting the bigger part for herself, showing how selfish she is. Being the bigger sister and using her half sisters’ ignorance of the best part of a moon cake to her advantage is appalling.
5. I think it is an external conflict, Human vs. society, because everyone wants her to be an obedient little girl who does not ask questions and stands still. It is also an external conflict because she gets lost and cannot find her family.
6a) The theme of this story is that people are encouraged to and tend to hide their true nature. Throughout this whole story, Ying-Ying is told by her family to keep still, quiet, and obedient everything that she is not. She is a lively, adventurous, curious girl that became repressed. By becoming repressed, she is no longer herself, thus losing her true nature and who she is. In the beginning of the story, it is revealed that Ying-Ying keeps her “true nature hidden” and that she is lost, “unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others” (67). At the end of the story, she says that she “lost herself” (83) after the boat incident where she lost her innocence, trust, restlessness, and sense of wonder, and felt loneliness and fear for the first time in her life.
b) -Dragonfly can symbolize freedom.
-Moon Lady can symbolize selfish desires.
-The bird can symbolize playing the role that society gives.
d) Amy Tan really uses imagery, word choice, similes, and foreshadowing. She conjures up
specific images, keeps you in suspense, and just makes the story much better and detailed.
Misleading wish
Ying-Ying St. Clair: "The Moon Lady"
Reactions: I think that Ying-Ying is a really spoiled girl because of the way Amy Tan described her actions and thoughts. She calls her half-sisters Number One and Number two, she doesn't really seem to care that much for her family, and kept the best part of the cake for herself. Maybe the reason her family didnt seem to care that much for being lost and underwater is that Ying-Ying doesn't show her appreciation for them or care for them. The story was a bit confusing because the scene and sitting kept changing and the transition wasn't done very well. Even if the Moon Lady, was not a lady and it was misleading, she still granted Ying-Ying her wish so she might not be a complete fake.
Character: The moon lady was brought up continuously through the story. However, she didn't appear until the end. She was praised and honored throughout the story until the end, after her show. She revealed that she was a male. This was the turning point of Ying-Ying's innocence and she grew from this experience. This action of The Moon Lady actually being a man, shows that not everything is what it seems. Therefore, don't judge a book by it's cover.
Conflict: I think the main conflict of this chapter is an external conflict between Ying-Ying and her family . This is because her family have spoiled her and brain-washed her to believe in things that maybe not be true. They influenced her to believe in something that wasn't real. When she found out the truth, it caused her to change and grow. She wouldn't be like this if she wasn't so spoiled and appreciated things. Since she was so spoiled, her family just allowed her to do as she pleased and was never taught the truth.
Theme: I think a theme in this story would that not everything is what it seems on the outside. The scene that showed this was when the Moon Lady revealed herself and she was a man who looked worned out from working. Everyone made "her" seem like a god and she had the almighty power but really she was just another person and wasn't even a woman.
-Christina Nguyen
jacke chen period 3
1) Moon Man
2) “Moon Lady”
3) I thought this chapter was interesting and strange at the same time. It included a lot of local color including dialogue, foods, clothing, and events. It also included a lot of description and imagery. I was surprised when the Moon Lady turned out to be a man. However, I didn’t understand the point of it. What was Amy Tan trying to show when she made the moon lady a man?
4) Ying-Ying seems to be a spoiled little girl. She doesn’t listen to her Amah and runs off all the time. During the scene on the boat when she falls off, she was confused as to why her Amah didn’t immediately come to her rescue. It shows how spoiled she is and how she takes her Amah for granted and only considers her when she needs help.
5) I think the main conflict of this chapter is an internal conflict, within Ying-Ying. She is trying to figure herself out but her Amah has taught her to keep things to herself and be a proper young lady. When she made her wish to the moon lady, “I wished to be found”, I think she meant it both physically and psychologically. Physically, she wanted to be found by her family and be taken home. Psychologically, she wanted find out who she really was.
6) One symbol in the story is Ying-Ying’s brand new jacket in the beginning of the story. It symbolizes her purity. However, in the end, her brand new jacket was soaked and covered in blood, representing her loss of purity, or innocence.
1. “If I Tell You My Wish, It Won’t Come True… or It’ll Into a Selfish Desire (Unless You’re the Moon Man)”
2. “The Moon Lady”
3. This chapter wasn’t as gruesome as cutting their flesh or cunning as escaping from an arranged marriage, but it was still interesting. What first caught my attention was the depressing tone of Ying-ying’s introduction. What caused her to lose herself? As a young child, she had many ridiculous expectations for her behavior because she was a girl – she should be graceful and always well put together. How sexist?! In addition, she was confined in her early years with limited questions she could ask and no freedom to run around. She somewhat reminds me of myself because I used to be pretty curious and ask “Why?” for just about anything. I think she should’ve been able to have more liberty to learn and grow. I was also stunned when she fell into the water and the others just laughed at her. Shouldn’t they care about a little girl that almost died? The culture seems pretty sexist in general as well, with men being superior over women. I can’t stand the thought of women just catering to their men without any voice or opinions. And of course… how can the “Moon Lady” be a man, especially with a “sweet, wailing voice” (80)?
4. Ying-ying
She seemed very carefree and energetic child. For example, she “saw a dragonfly… leapt of the bench and ran to chase it,” which was not an appropriate thing for a girl to do (72). Ying-ying also ran off the moment her family got to the pavilion. She also seemed like an ignorant child, which isn’t surprising at all for her age. She asked her amah many questions to the point where she was exasperated. In addition she “dipped [her] hands in the bowl of turtle’s blood and smeared it on [her] sleeves, and on the front of [her] pants and jacket” because she thought that she could “cover these spots by painting all [her] clothes crimson red, and that if [she] stood still no one would notice this change” (76). That is one of the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard someone do, not to mention disgusting. It’s amazing that she’d touch the blood and even smear it all over her clothes, but it’s another thing to believe it could camouflage her dirty spots.
5. The main conflict is internal and human vs. self since Ying-ying wishes to find herself of be found because she feels emotionally lost. After her loss of innocence at the Moon Festival when she discovered that the Moon Lady was really a man, she was changed. Her problem is never resolved for she still hides her true self as she continues to keep “[her] mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out” (67). Always keeping to herself, she is never heard and never found. Not yet… at least.
6d. Similarly to the other vignettes, Amy Tan uses flashback to tell the stories. It improves the story because you get a little introduction to how the character is currently and the events that lead up to why they are how they are. You get to know their past and a little of their present. She also uses a lot of imagery that allows us to feel and picture the experiences (and possibly get grossed out).
Stephanie Pathammavong Period 4
1. Whoa, She's a Man?
"The Moon Lady"
3. When i first read this chapter, i thought that the first couple of pages were interesting. It talked about how her and her daughter were "lost". It seemed like her daughter took many things for granted because she was unaware of her mother. Maybe her mother was afraid. Her first ceremony experience was a bad one at that. So maybe she was trying to hide that from her daughter, but resulted in her ignorant daughter's behavior. What i didnt get was why she would cover herself in blood. You could always try to wash it off or wipe it. Instead, she takes like a pound of blood and puts it all over her body and silk gown. I thought that was pointless, especially how it was a tradition and it was ver special. I was also confused about the scene with the two boys. I didn't get how they went through the work then just be left .
4. Ying Ying- Throughout the chapter, she is a fun and outgoing character. She is a trouble maker also. She truly shows her childlike behaviors when she chooses to disobey her Amah. At home, she would be playfully running around, carelessly. And despite the fact that she has to behave during the ceremony, she still doesnt control the urge to play. At the lake, she persistantly runs after a dragonfly, despite the fact that she has a beautiful silk gown on. This shows how careless but energetic she is, just like a little playful girl.
5. I think that the conflict is Ying Ying and her urges to just have fun, but she has to behave in front of the family and respect the customs and ceremonies. She is a kid that just wants to have fun but she is brought down by her Amah when she tells Ying Ying to settle down and that she cant play this year. Her Amah tells her that she is old enough to go to the ceremony and that she has to behave. Her mother also doesnt approve of her "boyish" acts, as shown in the scene when Ying Ying is chasing butterflies. Her mother thinks that those are only for boys because it is their nature and girls can only watch and wait. Ying Ying is faced with the conflict of not only obeying to these strict rules, but she has to act like a lady when all she wants to do is have fun.
6. I think the theme is that you can't always believe everything that you hear because it may not turn out to be what you expect. Ying-Ying expected flowers and wonders from the Moon Lady but instead, she finds herself believing too much in the Moon Lady and ending up with her clothes covered in blood, shivering cold from the lake, and finding out the the Moon Lady was actually a man. Unfortunately, she found out the hard why as she was scarred from the reality of the truth.
This comment has been removed by the author.
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Moon Man?!
“The Moon Lady”
I thought this chapter was really interesting and reminds me of every normal person’s childhood. Ying-Ying is an innocent girl that is curious about what goes on around her. This is like when we were little and our parents tell us to do something, then we ask questions like “What’re we doing? Where are we going? But why?” This is kind of how Ying-Ying acted when she was told to put on the fancy clothes to the Moon festival party. Everything seemed about like what our childhoods were like until she began seeing turtle and chicken heads being chopped off and fish being cleaned out. I thought it was weird how Ying-Ying covered up the splashes of blood with even more blood. Even though Amah is only the house nurse for Ying-Ying, she treats her like her own daughter and cares more about Ying-Ying than her own mother.
Amah is seen as a very loving and caring mother figure for Ying-Ying. Even though Ying-Ying has a mother, she often shows no attention to her. Amah is always the one that cares about Ying-Ying’s safety and tells her what’s wrong and what’s right. Even though Amah pours out all her love to Ying-Ying, when they were all in the rickshaws, Ying-Ying climbs out of Amah’s lap just to be with her own mother. After this chapter, you can see Amah overall as a good person and a good mother.
One of the conflicts in this chapter is human vs. self because Ying-Ying is struggling with herself being “lost” to her family and to herself. As she is getting older, she thinks about “the same innocence, trust, and restlessness, the wonder, fear, and loneliness.” Now that she looks back at her childhood, she realized “how [she] lost [herself]”(83). Another conflict is when she fell in the lake and she is panicking, while looking for her mother or Amah to help her. This conflict is a human vs. nature. I think it is also human vs. society because when the fishermen pull her up in the net thinking she is a fish, they don’t really care about her. Even though the woman on the boat was trying to help by calling out to the other boat and trying to help Ying-Ying find her family, she finally had to agree with the other fishermen and leave her on the shore. This is human vs. society because Ying-Ying is trying to find her family, but she is having a hard time because the people around her won’t try hard enough to help.
I think one symbol in this chapter is the Five Evils. It is mentioned a few times in the chapter. It could possibly represent the evils of every kid’s childhood. For example, when people tell stories of how this happened when they were little, how they got this scar, how this or that happened, etc. Another symbol is the Moon festival. The Moon festival represents the unity and happiness of a family. The Moon Lady can represent the wishes that people make and the promise to make the wish come true, but only to find that promise to be a fake, just like how The Moon Lady was a fake because she was really a man.
-Eric Tam
Period 3
This comment has been removed by the author.
1. She’s a MAN!
2. The Moon Lady
3. Ying-ying was a spoiled little girl who loved to draw attention to herself. She didn’t care about her Amah’s feelings, and did not appreciate her family’s welfare. She was so spoiled that I barely felt sorry for her when she fell into the water and no one cared to claim her. Also, Ying-ying was described to not be able to stand still for a long time until she discovers her shadow, which I think is a symbol of one’s secret desires because Ying-ying says, “this dark side of me that had my same restless nature” (72). Her shadow is silent but does whatever she does. Well, this symbolism was just a sudden thought and I don’t know what else could be added to fully develop it. What I thought was so weird was: why were the two stepsisters called Number Two and Number Three? I guess it might be because they were still very little, but even then, they should’ve had names. I was also confused about the activity of everybody going out in boats and what that was supposed to mean in the holiday.
4. As stated before, Ying-ying was a rich, spoiled little girl. When she got her new fancy clothes dirty, she smeared turtle’s blood all over them and believed that if she “stood perfectly still no one would notice this change” (76). I think that is partly why Ying-ying is always running around and being more “active” than what society would like to see from a girl… in other words, she wanted people to notice her. She took everything she had for granted until she fell into the lake and thought she was lost forever. Ying-ying then realized how much she wanted her family’s comfort and protection. This change in Ying-ying made me think that she is also, in a way, mature enough to realize her dilemma and how her family is so important.
5. The main conflict in the chapter is an internal conflict within Ying-ying. She couldn’t find herself partly because of the Chinese cultural belief that females should be quiet and unnoticed, while she is a curious and hyper girl. She struggles on deciding the way she should act and whether she will act according to the society and not shame her family. I think it kind of gets resolved in the end because after Ying-ying’s family found her, she stated that she “never believed [her] family found the same girl” (82). She had changed somehow during her time alone and lost, and probably matured to a more full understanding of her actions and the importance of her family.
6b. First of all, the shadow seems like a really important symbol. I think it symbolizes one’s secret desires. Ying-ying’s shadow is described as a “dark side of [her] that had [her] same restless nature” (72). Her shadow still looks like her and acts like her but is quiet and doesn’t speak out what Ying-ying really wants: to be free and not how the society wants a girl to act like. Another symbol was the Moon Lady. HE symbolizes reality or society. Ying-ying sought to state her wish to the Moon Lady and to have it fulfilled, but instead, the Moon Lady turned out to be fake as he pulled off his wig and gown, and a man. It symbolizes society as harsher or not being what one would think it is like.
Alice La Period 4
1. "Discovering reality; the Moon man!?"
2. "The Moon Lady"
3. In the chapter, "Moon Lady," it conveys a lot of symbolic meanings of female characterization displayed from Ying-Ying. This chapter was a bit confusing because it had so much symbolic reference that it puzzled my mind, making me read it over and over again to understand its true meaning. In "The Moon Lady" of "Joy luck club", Ying-Ying begins off with this paragraph and ends with "[She] did not lose [herself] all at once" (67). She became lost both symbolically and literally... She also says her parents never "found the same girl." With this in mind, how did the moon festival change her perspective? And I don't get how she "Allowed herself to become lost symbolically"... I know she changed the way she perceives herself, and the way her culture perceives her in society... but thinking about this makes me confused.
4. Character: Ying-Ying
Ying-Ying is a lively, impetuous child who chafes under the restrictions placed upon women in her society. In this chapter, Ying-Ying does a lot of things that a typical four year old would do. Ying-Ying is very excited at all the activity during the festival. She watches people scaling fish and killing sea animals without feeling remorse but rather adrenaline. When she stands gets her dress all dirty, and then tries to cover the mess by smearing blood all over the dress, it shows her immatureness and conveys that she’s only a 4 year old girl. She’s also unfazed by violence when she was not disturbed by watching a lady on the boat decapitate a turtle’s head, which makes Ying-Ying a strange girl, unfazed by disturbing events that can implant traumatic memories into a person’s mind.
5. The main conflict in this chapter has to do with Ying-Ying finding her inner self, but the society around her wants her to be more feminine and lady like. She feels as though she has not only lost her family, but that she has also lost her "self." As an old lady many years later, Ying-Ying poignantly tells how she "lost herself." She says that she surrendered her identity as she felt herself being transformed into a shadow, insubstantial and fleeting. This chapter has to do with Ying-Ying fighting with her inner self as well as the people around her (amah).
6A. The theme or life lesson in this chapter is how Ying-Ying losses her innocence. When she smears blood over her clothes, it demonstrates how she has little or no worries/guilt about her childhood. She also takes everything not seriously, living a carefree life while faced with reality and the stories that her parents and her amah tells her, she’s able to realize at this point that they weren’t true and loses her innocence when she encounters the “Moon Lady” as a guy.
1. Lost in Space
2. "The Moon Lady"
3. At first, I found that the story, in conjunction with the sentence structure, for some odd reason in which I cannot name in particular, was a bit confusing. And I still do, with questions such as to what exactly this ceremony is. With that in mind, this is probably my favorite chapter so far because of how bizarre it is. A lot of things are just thrown out at the reader and, to Tan’s merit, none of it is ever explicitly explained. Many other authors tend to over explain things and spoon feed the reader with information without letting them think for themselves, which I find quite insulting. What ever symbols that are in this chapter aren’t shoved into the reader’s face. I just really liked the subtlety and the sort of surreal atmosphere that this chapter has. I may not fully understand this chapter, but I like how it gives the reader a chance to interpret the meanings themselves.
4. Ying-Ying begins the story as a carefree young girl. Though Amah constantly tells her how, as a girl, she must be obedient and that women are full of selfishness, she was still full of life and youthful. When she goes about chasing the dragonfly in disregard to orders, it shows her carefree and innocence. She’s also naïve and curious as she asks Amah many questions.
5. The main conflict is an internal one in that Ying-Ying had “lost” herself. She begins the story cheerful and uncaring, but as she gets literally lost, she soon loses her own personality and becomes as Amah and her society had wanted her to become. At least, that’s what was implied. In the end, the conflict has not resolved as Ying-Ying had become very quiet and reserved and ahs yet to find her old self again.
6. C. This chapter connects to the allegory since both have to do with tradition. In the allegory, the woman wanted to teach her daughter about her heritage. In this chapter, Ying-Ying’s guardian wants to teach her about their tradition of women being obedient.
-Nolan "THANK THE LORD YES I MADE IT" Tran
1. Man Under the Mask
2.The Moon Lady
3. This chapter was really strange. It seems like Ying-Ying is really upset that her daughter is too lost in American culture and blames herself, though Ying-Ying herself didnt fit well in her culture. Also I understand that back in Asia, parents were very strict and demanded nothing short of perfect, but the way that her mom and nanny treated Ying-Ying, it made me think that they could even care more for the clothes than the girl. I can't believe that at the age of four, Ying-Ying had experience so much. She had witnessed the beheading of a poor turtle, fell off a boat and had to survive on her own.
4.Ying-Ying was a very typical innocent girl. She played with her shadow, chased butterflies and loved to run around, even in nice clothes, indicating she was young,without a care and free spirited.
5.The main conflict is human vs self and human vs society. In the beginning she feels that she isnt a good person. She believes she is spoiled and selfish. I also found that she is constantly being pressured by the chinese society to be the impossible perfect person.
6. Ying-Ying's shadow was specifically mentioned in the beginning of the story and at the end. At first it was said to be free and joyful like the way Ying-Ying was, but after she had followed the Moon Lady backstage, she had found her shadow "shrunken" and completely different. The shadow symbolizes her true character.
"The Moon lady is actually a man!?"
"Moon Lady"
1. Reaction.
This story was one of the strangest stories so far out of the book. She gets blood, and fish gills on her dress, and Amah takes all of her clothes and never comes back. Amah thinks lowly of her mother because she says that now her mother will be glad to wash her hands just when Ying-Ying is at her worst. I don't understand why she jumped off the boat, or why Amah never came back.When the fishermen who picked her up asked a boat if they're missing a girl, they reply that everyone is here. I'm not sure, but I think that symbolizes that if she's missing no one would notice. Ying-Ying wanted to make a wish to the moon lady, and believed the words of her mother. When she witnesses the play, and tries to tell the moon lady actor, she finds out that the moon lady is actually a man. It was normal back then for men to play all the parts in a play since women were not allowed to. Her wish was crushed.
2. Character
Amah the caretaker for Ying-Ying since she was little, lost her husband. She loves Ying-Ying dearly, but is jealous because she's not her real mother, and despises Ying-Ying's mom. For example when she says," Your mother, now she will be glad to wash her hands of you." (77) This shows that she thinks lowly of the mother, and how Amah is sad now that Ying-Ying doesn't have as much honor. I think she also fears the mother because Amah doesn't tell Ying-Ying's mother that she got the dress extremely dirty.
3.Conflict
I think the conflict in the book is Human VS Self, and society. She has trouble deicing what she truly wants from the Moon Lady. Troubled with herself after her clothes were removed, she waits for someone to come get her, but no one comes. She sees the reflection of the moon, and jumps off the boat hoping someone would come save her, but no one comes. When she is back onshore, she watches the play of the Moon Lady, and finds her true wish, but just when she runs up to her, Ying-Ying finds out that the Moon Lady is a man.
4. I think the theme to this short story is that you won't get everything you want in life. Ying-Ying hoped that her mom would come running around the corner for her to somehow fix her clothes up. She hopes Amah would come save her from drowning even though in a way she betrayed her. However, none came to find her until their boat ride was over, and she was unable to make her wish come true. The world will not be easy even to a child.
-Diana Li
Period 3
Post a Comment
<< Home