Language

Hands down... Dance Dance Revolution by Cathy Hong is one of the weirdest books I have ever read. I feel somewhat in the dark trying to decipher what the poems in the book say. They're not even in completely in English, or another one language, like what? Why make it harder for the reader to understand what's going on? Is there a specific purpose behind this than having it be a futuristic multi-lingual language? The fact that the book is written in the view of the historian's, it is somewhat confusing. The historian knows English, but he/she (Mr. Khactu says its a he but we don't know for sure yet) decides to keep certain things in the contemporary language. So there definitely is something important about the language here, but what? This language barrier that Hong creates with the reader, I feel helps make the story more for the reader to interpret in their own way. The weirdness of the language makes the story feel foreign. It gives off a feeling that something, either the characters or the plot, is very different and non-typical than what we normally understand in everyday life. This may connect to a lot of the themes we have covered in our English class, especially the meaning of what it's like to be Asian-American. There are many American aspects in the story, but yet something is still "different". As we continue reading the book, we hope to clarify these topics and understand the story better.

                                        

Seen as Something Different

After watching the movies Robot Stories and Everything Before Us, I was struck to see how both directors chose to portray Asian characters. In both movies, we see that the characters are seen as foreign and treated differently. In Robot Stories, we were asked: why the use of robots? What was their significance? I feel that by using robots in place of actual characters, it is seen that the Asians were meant to be associated with something emotionless and robotic. However, the director goes against this as seen especially in My Robot Baby and Machine Love where the robots are capable of love and emotion. Asians may be seen as foreign and treated differently but they are the same as everyone else. In Everything Before Us, it was weird that everything in life was pretty much based on an Emotional Intelligence (EI) Score, a score that measured love. Like wow this is such a stupid thing to do. Love should be more than just a score, right? Asian characters in this movie were portrayed in having a more difficult time because of this. Between Ben and Sarah, and Seth and Haley, their love and relationships put them at a disadvantage in society. On the other hand, Ben's friends who happened to be a white couple were very successful. In the end, Ben and Seth purposefully lowered their EI Scores because they knew that was what true love was. Does this make them heroes of the movie? Or just plain stupid of them to ruin their own lives even though their relationships ended? Either way, they set the path to make the world a better place.

                                             

Family

One thing I found very interesting in Chang Rae Lee's OSAFS was the concept of family. Family can be seen as a driving force for the plot of the novel. Throughout Fan's journey, everyone she encounters seems to want her as a part of their family. After leaving B-Mor, we see Quig growing quite fond of her and opening up to her, talking about his dark past. Further on, with the crazy blood-thirsty Circus family, they want her to join them and to forget about Quig and Loreen. Miss Catherine does not have any children of her own and wants Fan to join her and the other Seven Sisters. During this time, the sisters grow close to Fan and would do things a family would do for each other such as sacrifice their own health and well-being to help her be free and find Reg. Finally, her Brother Liwei (Oliver) and Betty desperately want her to stay and live with them in their "familial project". Family dynamics and the sacrifice that comes with it allows Fan to continue on in her journey across her own full sea.

Propaganda

OSAFS has gotten pretty intense these last few chapters. Things are starting to piece together and make more sense. Now I see the whole story as propaganda, a motivation for the collective people of B-Mor and perhaps other facilities. Fan's story connects to Asian culture through the ideas of hope and hard working to make a better life for oneself.Throughout the story, we see a progression of upward mobility.Through her plight, we see that she starts out in B-Mor, similar to any other B-Mor citizen. Yet she leaves and is able to survive in the Counties with Quig and Loreen. Although lucky, she is able to make it by with the transition to her lifestyle. After, she becomes one of these Charter "pets" when she stays with Mister Leo and Miss Catherine. Here she is trapped but still gets a better place of living. She then moves up to living with Vik, who willing gives her everything she needs. Finally, she moves on to be with her brother Oliver, who becomes CRAZY rich (so rich even in Charter standards) when he develops a treatment for C disease. However, when noticing this progression, Fan is really more of an object than human. We talked about in class how things just happen to her. She is traded by Quig to Miss Catherine and she is given to her brother Oliver by Vik as a housewarming gift (the tank was just for him to realize who Fan was). The story of Fan can be seen as propaganda because she started off like any other facility citizen. She started on the bottom and made it to the top without being anything special (she didn't ace those Charter exams). The narrator is so fascinated with her story and believes that other ordinary people can make their way up just like Fan did. They want to be free--free to do what they want. But something has to be done. The narrator is calling them to do just that.

New China, Old China... What's the Difference?

OSAFS by Chang-Rae Lee has danced around the idea of race. Throughout the story, race becomes a subtle yet important aspect of the events going on. There are many instances where the author purposefully (or not purposefully but probably purposefully) does not mention a specific race, but instead goes on to describe the character in other ways. Sometimes even referring them to abstract names that we have no idea the exact race of such as New China and Old China. On page 200, there is a quote saying "she didn't look like she was of New Chinese blood. There were some facilities that had experimented with bringing in groups from places like Vietnam and Indonesia and the Philippines but that didn't continue...". The author gives somewhat of a sense as to what New Chinese means, but does not explicitly state it. The reader is only left to assume things on their own. The ambiguity of race brings more weight on its significance and whether or not it may apply to the society in the world of the story. By associating a certain race with certain stereotypes and actions, one can easily assume things that the author may not imply. Thus, in making race abstract and unclear, Lee allows us to understand the book in a different lens. This can also tie to what we talk about in class with our definitions of what makes a piece Asian-American literature, specifically science fiction Asian-American literature.

B-Mor

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After initially reading "On Such a Full Sea" by Chang-Rae Lee, I saw that B-Mor holds many meanings. B-Mor is the beloved town the characters that we encounter so far live in. But it also holds another literal meaning--Be More. After talking with Peder over breakfast about this topic, we came to the conclusion that Be More is a fitting theme for this settlement in the abandoned city of Baltimore (page 20). They strive to Be More together through the work that they put in. They talk about time being the thing you could rely on the most (page 2). The narrator addresses the common misconception that other people outside of this settlement think they are drones and robots, but they will never be (page 3). They learn to go past their own individuality and instead focusing on themselves as a whole-- to Be More. There is an inexplicable sense that this society is working to provide for the Charters in the outside counties, but somehow they have made it so that it has become much more meaningful than that. They are not slaves. They are prideful workers. They yearn to make everything better not just for themselves but for each other. In doing so, they can truly work to Be More.

Mind vs. Body

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After reading the short long story, "The Waiting Stars", I was particularly drawn by how Aliette de Bodard separates the ideas of "mind" and "body". We see that the Dai Viet “Minds” race becomes integral to space ships and its controls. It’s as if technology gains consciousness and knows how to do everything on its own. However, the “Minds” face oppression from the “Outsiders” when they are captured and their consciousness is sent into different bodies on the planet Prime.

On Prime, we see a whole other perspective as to what is really happening to the Dai Viets. They are put into fake bodies, different from their own, and their memories are all erased. Then, at the institution, they are forced to learn “proper behavior” through the cruel treatment of the Matron. No matter how hard they try to escape, even to the point of killing themselves, the Minds are just redirected into a new body and the process starts over again. We see this predicament especially in the case of Catherine, when she gains her memory back as the effects of the memory wipe wear off towards the end of the story. She remembers her real name, Mi Chau. The name “Catherine” is fake and masks who she really is and Jason and the other Outsiders try to assimilate her into the culture. The Outsiders try to force the Dai Viets to be something they are not.

It turns out that Mi Chau is the Great Aunt of Lan Nhen, and her family tries to rescue her from her entrapment. Her mind just yearns to be free and back to where she belongs—the waiting stars. The separation of mind and body here shows how though we may try to change our appearance and the way we act, our minds and the way we think reflect who we are and there is no changing that.