1. Identify and briefly define important words, terms, concepts, or characters.
The mother: is the one that that tells the daughter these family stories to scare her and make her aware of things that can happen but shouldn't.
The no name aunt: her "aunt" is the character in the first story she tells, the one not to be mentioned anymore because she was disowned for the reason that she brought disgrace and shame to the family and it's name
Family well: is a well that each household has that contains their water
Villagers: the ones that raided their home back in china when her "aunt" was pregnant
Family hall: it's a place sacred in the home where all the ancestorial posts are up and wit's where the family goes to pay respect to the ancestors or to pray when they want the past ancestors to do them a favor like watching over them or bringing luck when there are special events
Wings: headquarters are usually divided among each family (ex. parents in one wing, son and family in another, another son and his family in another, etc.)
Sojourners: people who visit temporarily, to live in one place for a short time
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include quotations that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
The No Name Woman is basically about her mother telling her about her father's sister that they don't mention anymore. She isn't considered part of the family because she brought disgrace to the family and it's name. Her mother tells her about the "sin" that her aunt had done which was get pregnant by a man which wasn't her husband. Her mother tells her this horrible story because "Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Don't humiliate us. You wouldn'y like to be forgotten as if you never have been born. The villagers are watchful." she is on the verge of puberty and the mother is warning her that things like this might happen and she has to be aware not to let that happen to her other wise she will also be a "no name woman" that no one in her family will claim her as one of their own.(5)
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
Do you think it was necessary for the whole village to raid their home just because her aunt was baring someone elses baby other than with her husband, to the extent that they destroyed everything that the family owned?
"Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on.(5) By this quote her mother told her plenty of stories so what was her purpose in telling us this story of her aunt instead of another story that she was told?
4 comments:
Hey Maggie,
I liked your blog and I actually liked reading that chapter of the book. You posted up an intelligent question and to answer it, I don’t think that it was necessary for the village to raid her aunt’s family’s home because everybody is human and everybody makes mistakes. It should not be peoples business in what goes on in other people’s homes.
I think the reason the mother is telling her daughter’s stories like these is because she is trying to prevent her daughters from making the same mistake her aunt made. She is trying to prevent the family from experiencing the shame and disgrace that their aunt went through.
Well done, keep it up
Yaffa
I don't think that it was necessary for the people to raid her aunt's home like that because if they had a problem with her they should trash the matter out in a proper way instead of destroying her home. In my opinion, I think that her mother told her that particular story because she doesn't want to see her daughter in the same situation as her aunt went through. And also to avoid the shame and disgrace the family would have if this had happened again.
Khemrajie D.
I think that the village was shamed because of what she did. It was against their values and morals and therefore they took it personal. Since these villages seemed to be very close knit they all felt embarressed and disappointed and that is why I think they reacted the way they did (although in my opinion they took it too far).
I don't think that it was necessary to raid her house and destroy everything possible. What this does show is how strongly they believe one should be loyal to the family and how severe the consequences are if you do not follow as you should. Also the reason that her aunt's story was told instead of any other story was that when a story has to do with someone we feel we know well or we feel is close to us we take it more seriously. If it was the story of any woman perhaps it wouldn't have been thought so much about and she wouldn't even have written a whole chapter about it. Once again this shows the importance of family, even though it is to point out the bad.
Post a Comment