CHAPTER 1

FAMILY AND MEMORY

Setting Up the Unit: Using Personal Writing to Enrich Exposition

In this first chapter of The Blair Reader, Eighth Edition, students can read about writers from diverse backgrounds who have interpreted their experiences in ways quite similar to those of your students. Readers should see that some of the writers’ attitudes and reactions are comparable to their own, despite the wide variation in the demographics of the authors in this chapter. At the same time, however, they should understand that differing backgrounds and points of view do alter the ways in which the same experience might be lived, remembered, and described by different people or at different stages within the same person’s life.

As we state in the introduction to this chapter, the writings that follow are attempts to understand, to recapture, and to recreate pieces of memories that can contribute to the writer’s sense of self. Through their memories of family interactions, these authors write about their attempts to construct a coherent identity for themselves out of the fragments of their own understanding and their perceptions of others. The different writers approach the subject of identity formation in a number of ways, but with at least one common element: All stress the ways in which our self-identity is constructed socially, through the interactions of home, work, school, extended family, friends, religion, socioeconomic class, gender, race, and so on. These writers do not identify themselves as fitting into one category and one category only. Rather, many

selections here trace a writer’s developing awareness of his or her identity through a variety of family and social interactions. In all of the selections, home and family are important components in the shaping and discovering of a sense of self; however, almost every piece defines these concepts of home and family in very personal and distinct ways.

Because of this emphasis on family and self-awareness, many of the readings in this chapter are autobiographical, leading students to write their own interpretations of their own experiences. Many instructors like to begin the semester with personal writing, assuming students can start the semester comfortably with subjects they know well—themselves, their families, and their homes. These subjects are accessible, yet rich with possibility. Students thus begin the course from a position of strength.

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Because students may not know themselves as well as they like to think they do, autobiographical writing can also provide an opportunity to gain new insight into subjects that may seem commonplace. Personal writing should encourage students to learn something new about themselves through the process of thinking and writing. Their knowledge may be based on their lived experience, but they can (and should) use writing assignments as a chance to generate and articulate some new understanding about themselves, their families, their impact on others, and their roles in communities.

Regardless of the instructor’s motivation, personal writing is widely taught in composition courses, and it not only provides a good departure point, but also illustrates stylistic techniques students can use in other types of writing to invigorate their prose. A simple anecdote can provide the framework for a coherent and compelling paper on something seemingly unrelated; a childhood memory can spark an image that unifies an argument; a reference to an event can illustrate a point in a paper that might otherwise lack a personal connection. Furthermore, with the advent of postmodern approaches in both teaching and scholarship, autobiographical writing is breaking down the barriers of more formal writing styles, accepting techniques that have previously been considered inappropriate. This chapter provides the opportunity to introduce students to some of these strategies.

Chapter Opening Images The images introducing this chapter show two of the chapter’s writers with members of their families.

What about each image defines each group as a family? Compare the two images—including the people, their facial

expressions, their body language, their clothing,

and their surroundings. Do the visual cues in each picture reveal

certain insights about each family depicted?

To what extent do family photographs preserve memories? Are

certain memories incapable of being preserved in photographs?

Confronting the Issues

Option 1: Constructing Contexts Before you assign any of the reading selections in this chapter, ask your students to make a chronological list of what they consider the major milestones of their lives—the “bests,” “worsts,” “firsts,” “lasts,” and “onlys.” Then, ask students to conduct an interview (in person, by telephone, or by online chat) with one of

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their parents. In this interview, parents should be asked to do just what the students have previously done: They should trace their children’s lives from birth to the present, identifying significant milestones.

After the interview, each student should compare the two lists and write a paragraph or two accounting for any discrepancies between them. In class, encourage students to generalize about the differences between the way they see their own lives and the way their parents see them. For example, are their parents more or less likely than the students to remember negative milestones? Which years do parents (and students) recall most vividly? Most favorably? Are there any events that students see as positive and parents as negative, or vice versa?

Finally, introduce to your class the idea that many of this chapter’s selections depend on memory and on subjective views of parents or other family members. Students will most likely realize by now that such readings cannot present a “true” or “complete” picture of a family member’s life or of relationships within families because there is no single, complete “truth.” As they read the selections in this chapter, then, they should be concerned not just with facts but with subtleties: motivations, emotional reactions, and differing or changing points of view.

Option 2: Community Involvement Some of the writers in this chapter describe childhood traumas or aspects of their dysfunctional families. Sometimes their first year of college is the first time students become aware that their own families’ shortcomings are not unique, so these readings may be quite surprising and cathartic for some of them. Conversely, other students may be surprised and irritated that so many readings deal, to varying degrees, with family problems. You can use these

tensions as an opportunity to have students research a bit about the outreach services available in the community surrounding your institution, and they can complete the assignment by writing a handbook for incoming students outlining social services available in the college community.

First, students can generate an initial list of family-centered problems incoming students might have; this list may grow as they read the pieces in this chapter. Next, you can bring in a local telephone book, a list of services provided by your institution, any pamphlets from nearby public health services, and any other reference sources you can identify. Students should also try to locate such services on their own. Working in groups, students can find out more information about the various resources available to students: hours, fees (if any), hotline telephone numbers and Web sites, places and times for support groups, types of aid offered, and so on. Finally, they can put it all together in a

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form that can be distributed to other incoming students (or to members of the community) as a public service.

Option 3: Cultural Critique If you like to incorporate cultural critique into your class, this is a perfect chapter for examining the myths surrounding the “American family.” As a class, have students generate clichés and phrases that typically describe the American family: “Home is where the heart is,” “There’s no place like home,” “Blood is thicker than water,” “Spare the rod and spoil the child,” and “The family that prays together stays together.” In groups, then, students can offer a positive translation of what each saying is supposed to connote.

Next, students can offer the other side of the story to many of these clichés and images without any help from the instructor. Sometimes the contradictions are readily apparent. Others, however, will be more difficult, and you may want to try some other strategies. For instance, ask students to identify the assumptions implicit in the following: socioeconomic class, race, level of education, religious affiliation, gender roles, sexual orientation, and so on. Illustrate the type of family each of these terms describes; then, illustrate the types of “families” that are excluded. Many of those families are described in the readings throughout this chapter.

Option 4: Feature Film Several films deal with many of the issues raised in the readings of this chapter: rebellion, coming of age, alcoholism, competition, fragmentation, and death. For a composition class, A River Runs Through It is a particularly effective film, because the narrator is a writer, and writing plays a central role in several scenes. If time permits, begin the unit with a screening of the movie, and use it to compare and contrast with the readings you select from the chapter. Other possible films include Persepolis, The Savages, Big Fish, Napoleon Dynamite, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Family Man, Steel Magnolias, Ordinary People, The Great Santini, Housekeeping, and Running on Empty.

Using Specific Readings

“HERITAGE,” LINDA HOGAN

For Openers Ask students to think and write about their various inheritances. What emotions are evoked by each? Which inheritance is most important?

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Teaching Strategy Have students comment on how the speaker uses various sensory details to vividly portray her heritage. How does the speaker describe memories of sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste?

Collaborative Activity Hogan’s poem explores contrasting images and emotions in relation to the speaker’s heritage. In groups, have students select one of the poem’s contrasts and discuss its significance to the speaker’s past.

Writer’s Option Write a definition of heritage that encompasses other areas of life beyond one’s family. What creates heritage? How is heritage passed on to others?

Multimedia Resource To learn more about Chickasaw Native Americans, have students visit the official Web site of the Chickasaw Nation at http://www.chickasaw. net.index.htm.

Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. The speaker devotes one stanza each to the gifts various family members gave

her, with the exception of her grandmother, whose influence is depicted in

two stanzas. The speaker’s parents, grandparents, and tribe all have made a

mark on her, but the complexity and significance of the speaker’s inheritance

from her grandmother are described in greatest detail.

2. The speaker alludes to her sense of displacement (and the “shame” that this

engenders) as a Native American (lines 28-30 and 40-44). The speaker’s

dislocation is shared with her family members and symbolized by the

different gifts they gave her.

3. The poem’s various symbols represent the range of the speaker’s emotions.

The poem’s language reveals that they are at once burdensome and uplifting.

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Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing Answers will vary. The descriptive paragraphs should include various sensory details to create a vivid impression of the family members.

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. In lines 14-18, the speaker describes her family’s oral history. How have songs

and silence shaped the speaker’s identity? 2. In lines 28-30, the speaker contrasts the colors brown and white. What is the

significance of this contrast? What connotations does each color have?

“THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS,” ROBERT HAYDEN

For Openers Have students find the few words in the poem that evoke sensation or

emotion: “ached,” “warm,” “cold,” “indifferently.” Based on this diction,

what is the poem about? Ask students to discuss the meaning of line 13: “What did I know, what did I

know?” What does the poet know now that he did not know as a child?

Teaching Strategy Consider asking your students to comment on how adjectives and adverbs— such as “blueblack,”“cracked,” “chronic,” “indifferently,”“austere,” and“lonely”—set the emotional tone of the poem. Look at other aspects of diction. For example, why are the fires “banked”? Why does Hayden use the word “offices” to describe fatherhood?

Collaborative Activity Ask your students to read E. B. White’s essay “Once More to the Lake,” which appears later in this chapter. Then ask students, working in groups, to identify similarities and differences in the two speakers’ attitudes toward their fathers.

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Writer’s Options 1. Rewrite “Those Winter Sundays” in the form of a eulogy to be

delivered by the son at his father’s funeral. You may use language from the poem, but you should also blend in invented details that will characterize the father and present his struggle in specific terms.

2. From a retrospective point of view, write a one-page account of a

childhood memory of breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 3. Write a present-tense, chronological account of the childhood memory

described in the preceding activity. Compare the two approaches and

explain why one is a more appropriate presentation than the other.

Multimedia Resource To learn more about Hayden, have students visit the Academy of American Poets Web site, http://www.poets.org/.

Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. Obviously, the father’s love and the heat he brings into the house are

connected metaphorically. As chronic events are marked by long duration or frequent recurrence, we can assume that the narrator’s family is struggling economically and emotionally, and those stresses led to tempers flaring.

2. The narrator is older now and considering his past. Perhaps he and his father

are not emotionally demonstrative people. Perhaps the narrator is himself a

father now and understands how his children take his love for granted, just as

he took his own father’s love for granted. 3. The language of the poem is quite commonplace and narrative, just like a

conversation: “No one ever thanked him. I’d wake and hear…” (lines 5-6).

Words like “chronic” and “austere” bring the diction up to a more poetic

level. Repetition is a common poetic device—see line 13.

Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing Part of maturing includes reevaluating one’s upbringing. As human beings, we

often take things—be they love or running water—for granted. In retrospection, what unremarkable events in a child’s life—such as the ones in the poem—might be demonstrative of a parent’s love?

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. What other poetic devices appear in the poem? For example,

alliteration occurs in lines 4-5: “weekday weather made banked fires blaze.” Why is the poem structured into three stanzas?

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2. If this poem were an essay, what would the thesis sentence be? Where

does it appear in the poem and why?

“ONCE MORE TO THE LAKE,” E. B. WHITE

For Openers Remind students that White is looking back over many years. Given this distance, and given his obvious affection for his father, do students question the accuracy of White’s memoir? Do they perhaps see his view of his childhood (and of his relationship with his father) as unrealistically, even impossibly, idyllic? Judging from their own experiences, what kind of details or incidents do they suspect White may be omitting?

Teaching Strategy Part of the vividness of White’s essay derives from the clarity with which he evokes particular details. Have your students make note of especially strong images, and ask them to talk about what makes these images so evocative.

Collaborative Activity Ask students to work in groups to identify the specific images White uses to describe the lake. Assign one group to list sounds associated with the spot, two or three groups to identify visual images, and one group to compile a list of tactile or other images.

Writer’s Option Write about an experience you had that seemed to erase (or reinforce) the differences between generations.

Multimedia Resources Bring in some fine-art prints or slides of nature scenes and have students compare their effects with the feelings that White evokes. American Renaissance painters would work, as would members of the Hudson River School.

Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. White claims that, in all significant respects, the lake has not changed. The

essay focuses on his return to the lake as an adult and on the way that the

passage of time seems to have been a mirage.

2. While the essay is heavily based on the description of a particular place, the

essay is about the mysterious nature of time and the relationship between

fathers and sons.

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3. Although one might need to be a parent to share White’s particular reexperiencing of himself in his son, many of us recall the youthful sense that things will never change. As we mature, we realize that summer is not “without end” and that there have indeed been (and will continue to be) profound changes in our lives (paragraph 8). Other answers will vary.

Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing The main point of this prompt is that the paragraphs should be remarkably different—in diction, detail, and purpose. A child and an adult will see and think differently, and they will concentrate on different details, or different interpretations of the same details. As an added activity, students may be asked to write a third paragraph that compares the first two.

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. In what ways can we call this an essay about the links between

generations? In what ways is it also about the gaps between

generations? 2. What aspects of the lake seem disappointing when White revisits

them? 3. White’s essay takes us backward and forward in time. What stylistic

techniques does he use to signal shifts in time to readers? How else

might the essay be structured?

“NO NAME WOMAN,” MAXINE HONG KINGSTON

For Openers Students may be repulsed by the brutality and cruelty described in the essay and may even object to having had to read it. You might want to open with a discussion of whether any of the unpleasant details could have been omitted. Ask students what effect such omissions would have on the essay. Would they, for example, make the essay less forceful?

Teaching Strategies Discuss the following with your students:

1. Kingston’s story weaves the “real” and the supernatural together just

as it intertwines the Chinese past and Kingston’s memories of

her American girlhood. How does Kingston accomplish this

interweaving of “fact” and fantasy? What transitional devices does she use to

link them? What tone and mood are established through this effect? Kingston, as the narrator, tries to fill in the gaps in the stories

about

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her aunt in order to make a complete image. Locate and discuss the different interpretations of aunt throughout this piece, and show how that definition shifts as the narrative goes on.

2. There are certain values that Kingston does not share with members

of her parents’ generation. How would you characterize those values?

Are there times in your life when you know that you differ from your

family or community? Do you think those disagreements are because

of a generation gap, or is it something else?

Collaborative Activity Assign students, working in groups, to brainstorm about who was most guilty of causing pain to Kingston’s aunt and who, if anyone, could have saved her reputation (or her life).

Writer’s Options 1. Write a fictionalized account of a person who is a skeleton in your

family’s closet. This person need not be somebody close to you. Invent aspects of his or her life story that led to the person’s questionable status in your family. Does the process of writing additional (even made-up) information about this person alter your perceptions of him or her? How?

2. Kingston claims to be surrounded by an “invisible world” (paragraph

10). Are you conscious of having an invisible world of ancestors?

Write an essay in which you describe your invisible world or the

reasons why you might not have one. How does this invisible world

inform you about your own identity? 3. Write a case study of Kingston’s aunt from the point of view of a

Western observer. Present her situation, and offer recommendations about how her problems could have been alleviated. Try to use an objective, “scientific” tone.

Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. Kingston’s “facts” are adequate for the story that she chooses to

tell. The story is constructed out of Kingston’s knowledge of her people, her

suppositions based on this knowledge, and her intuitive sense of her aunt’s

experiences. 2. The author’s relationship to the unknown aunt has profoundly affected her

growing up. The story has made Kingston believe that “sex was unspeakable,” that words were powerful, and that fathers were

fragile (paragraph 47). The mystery surrounding the aunt has haunted

Kingston and seems to be connected to her own conflicts with maturity and with

defining

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her Chinese-American identity. Because so little is known of this aunt, she may have served as an emotional projection of Kingston’s own inner conflicts.

3. Student answers will vary. Kingston identifies with the conflicts of her race

and sex, as represented by the life and death of her aunt. Kingston may worry that she will be pulled down by some of the same forces that took the life of her aunt.

Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing Answers will vary. The biographical sketch of or obituary for a family member should move beyond simple physical descriptions and address some of the aspects of that person’s character, history, and achievement.

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. Kingston’s mother used the aunt’s story as a warning to her

daughters. Does the lesson appear to have had the desired effect? Does Kingston imply that it was a valuable lesson? Is Kingston’s interpretation of the story different from her mother’s? Explain.

2. In what ways is this essay about not speaking? What does this silence

suggest about the power that is invested in words? 3. Does Kingston appear to judge harshly any of the parties involved in

the aunt’s story?

“BEAUTY: WHEN THE OTHER DANCER IS THE SELF,” ALICE WALKER

For Openers Walker’s accident transformed her life in many ways. How might her fear of blindness have affected her development as a writer? (You might mention to your students that some great writers, ranging from Homer and John Milton to Jim Harrison, found, paradoxically, that blindness led them to new insights.)

Teaching Strategy Walker frequently understates emotional reactions. Ask your students to identify instances in which they believe she is understating such reactions. Why

do they believe she uses this flat, relatively unemotional tone to recount particularly painful experiences?

Collaborative Activity Ask students, working in groups, to experiment with recasting Walker’s narrative into a screenplay. Assign a different section of the essay to each group,

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and have students create appropriate dialogue, descriptions of costumes and scenery, and so forth.

Writer’s Options 1. Walker uses repetition to unify and underscore her insights: “now

that I’ve…, now that I’ve…, now that I’ve…” in paragraph 32; “you did not change” in the first two-thirds of the text; and “I remember” in the final third of the text. Try this technique yourself; pick a starting point for your own recollections and repeat the phrase to introduce each new idea.

2. Walker’s accident affected her development in unforeseen ways.

Write about an experience whose full consequences you did not

comprehend until some time later. 3. Try rewriting a paragraph of Walker’s essay in the past tense.

Compare the two versions, and then explain, in another paragraph or two, why Walker chose the verb tense she did.

Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. Present tense conveys the action and tension of the story more immediately to

the reader. It also creates sympathy in the reader more effectively.

2. Walker repeats the phrase several times to emphasize the gravity of this

incident and the irony of the fact that she did change. Her repetition makes clear the degree to which her family was unaware of her childhood trauma.

3. The adult writer seems not to blame anyone for her childhood problems,

though she may blame the situation that allowed them to happen. Clearly,

race and gender were significant factors in the outcome of the accident: She

would have reached the doctor sooner had her father not been black, her

siblings would not have had BB guns had they not been male, and she might

not have felt there was such a premium on beauty had she not been female.

Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing

Answers will vary. Students may closely model their paragraphs to Walker’s example, or they may diverge into their own story structures. However, students should use the present tense throughout their responses. You may also ask students to rewrite a portion of their present-tense responses in past tense, and compare the two versions.

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. What is the effect of Walker’s recounting her memories in the present

tense? What does this form of narration suggest about her ability to

resolve her childhood pain? 24

2. Notice those words around which Walker has placed quotation

marks. What is suggested by the following: “beautiful,” “on the

ranch,” not “real” guns, “cute,” and “accident”? 3. What strategies does Walker use to break her essay into sections? Why

does she do so? How might the essay’s impact be different if the structure were altered?

“SIXTY-NINE CENTS,” GARY SHTEYNGART

For Openers In the very first line of the essay, Shteyngart mentions how his Russian accent disappeared when he was a teenager. You might open with a discussion about the extent to which one’s accent defines one’s identity.

Teaching Strategy Have students find examples in the essay where Shteyngart’s adult voice reflects on his teenage experiences. What do students make of the essay’s “double-voice”?

Collaborative Activity Ask students, working in groups, to rewrite the essay from the perspective of Shteyngart’s mother. Which details would be different, and which might remain the same?

Writer’s Option Write about an experience you had growing up in which you were embarrassed by your cultural heritage or by the behavior of your family. How did you respond to this event? How do you view the event now?

Multimedia Resources 1. Direct students to Granta magazine’s Web site, where Shteyngart

describes the photograph of his father and himself featured in the chapter opening images: http://www.granta.com/online-only/portrait-of-my-father-gary-shytengart. Then, have students post a comment on the site in response to the photograph and

Shteyngart’s description of it.

2. Have students watch the film Super Size Me (2004), which explores the

grotesque and harmful underside of the favorite American fast-food

establishment so revered by the teenage Shteyngart in this essay.

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Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. Shteyngart describes the “full Russian lunch” in contrast to the “all-

American” McDonald’s meal he fantasizes about as a teenager.

2. Answers will vary. Shteyngart contrasts the food, the style of dress, the

cultural assumptions, and the behaviors of those living in the two worlds.

3. Shteyngart describes his urge to escape the survivalist worldview of his

parents, who believed “that disaster was close at hand,” and yet these “bad tidings…would never come” (paragraph 10). To Shteyngart’s parents, the trip was a success because crisis was averted, whereas the teenage Shteyngart experienced the crisis of embarrassment at every turn.

Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing Answers will vary. Students might consider the types of clothes, electronics, or even social causes (and their accompanying products) that they see as typically American.

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. In paragraph 6, Shteyngart writes that “the Old World we had left

behind [was] so far and yet deceptively near.” What do you think he means by this? What other details does the essay provide that point to the everlasting presence of Shteyngart’s Russian heritage?

2. At the end of the essay, Shteyngart announces, “I was my parents’

son” (paragraph 10). Do you see this as a fitting conclusion to the

essay? Why or why not?

“REFLECTIONS: GROWING-UP GROWN,” DAVID JACOBSEN

For Openers Have students discuss how they, or their parents or grandparents, are funding their college educations. What are your students or their parents giving up in order to make sure this part of “the American dream” is realized? Is the sacrifice

worthwhile?

Teaching Strategy Ask students if they’ve ever had to serve as a translator for their parents or grandparents, or had to help with filling out forms and navigating the legal or medical systems. What were those experiences like?

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Collaborative Activity Have students break into small groups and brainstorm strategies to make a college education more affordable. Then have each group present its suggestions to the class.

Writer’s Options 1. The writer is very matter-of-fact in telling the incident about his

mother being charged with prostitution (paragraph 3). How do you think he responded at the time? How would he have felt and reacted, and how might his mother have reacted upon learning what the charge was? How would you have felt and reacted in his situation?

2. The writer says, “It is difficult to see where the line is between using

my mother’s experience as yet another way to exploit the experience

of Latina women, and as an honest gesture of my love for her and

respect for her life” (paragraph 8). In your opinion, does this essay

honor or embarrass Jacobsen’s mother? Explain your choice.

Multimedia Resource The 2008 Bloomberg.com article “Auction Failures Force Students to Lose College Funds” explains the diminishing aid options for New Hampshire college students, using David Jacobsen as an example: http://www.bloomberg.com/ apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=akSswb8yONKs.

Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. The writer’s most vivid memories are of his mother in a New Jersey

courtroom, unaware that she’s been charged with prostitution (paragraph 3), and of the joy on her face the day he graduated (paragraph 11) .

2. Jacobsen’s mother is out of step culturally because she did not learn English,

she didn’t understand the American legal system or educational system, and

she wanted to avoid living with other Latinos. She is financially out

of step because she struggled to find work, fell into debt, and was unable to

assist her son in applying for financial aid.

3. Jacobsen clearly feels somewhat guilty about surpassing his mother educationally. He says in paragraph 8 that he didn’t make an attempt to teach his mother English. Students answers may vary, but some will say that Jacobsen’s mother isn’t “left with nothing” (paragraph 9) because she has achieved her goal of making sure her son got an education, and that he shouldn’t feel guilty because he also worked hard to get where he is,

including taking on some tasks normally left to a parent (paragraph 1).

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Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing Answers will vary. Although the comments about education funding perhaps could have been better integrated into the essay, they are still relevant. In paragraph 7, Jacobsen is saying that neither he nor his mother was able to get him through college, and that his grandmother’s financial assistance made it possible for him to attend. He suggests that the New Hampshire financial aid situation has gotten worse instead of better, and he is concerned that other Latinos may be shut out of an American university education.

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. Would Jacobsen’s struggle to finish college have been any different if

his mother spoke English or was American-born? How differently

would typical American parents have approached the challenge of

educating him? 2. The writer does not mention his father in this essay. If his father was

still living, should he have been obligated to contribute to Jacobsen’s

education in some way? What else should be expected of him?

“THE STORYTELLER,” SANDRA CISNEROS

For Openers Ask students about the title of the essay and what it means to tell stories about one’s own life. Do fact and fiction blur in this essay? Must autobiographical accounts always be “true”?

Teaching Strategy In paragraphs 14-15, Cisneros offers a definition of beauty and the role of literature in the lives of working-class adults. Have students discuss the points Cisneros raises in these paragraphs in relation to their own ideas about what purpose literature serves.

Collaborative Activity Cisneros describes a job she held teaching students who made her realize that “Her life has been comfortable and privileged compared with theirs” (paragraph

19). Break students into groups and have them discuss an encounter they had with others less fortunate than themselves and how that experience helped to shape their worldview.

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Writer’s Options 1. In paragraph 17, Cisneros explains that she works with other writers

“because the world we live in is a house on fire and the people we

love are burning.” Write about a time when you felt the urgency to

work with others for a particular cause. 2. Write a “story” about a particular time in your life when you

experienced personal change. Experiment with third person and present tense to describe past events in your life, as Cisneros does in this essay.

Multimedia Resources Have students visit Cisneros’s Web site, which provides various resources pertaining to the writer, including interviews and articles about her work: http://www. sandracisneros.com/index.php.

Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. Cisneros uses third person and present tense to create a literary narrative

about her own life, becoming the “storyteller” she strives to be as a young

woman. Occasionally, Cisneros shifts back into first person and past tense to

remind readers that we are reading an autobiographical account.

2. Cisneros describes her tense relationship with her father in paragraphs 6-8

and 21. Cisneros’s father wants her to be more present with her family and to start a family of her own. Cisneros has conflicting drives, stating, “I feel like a bad daughter ignoring my father, but I feel worse when I don’t write. Either way, I never feel completely happy” (paragraph 21).

3. Answers will vary. Students should consider how Cisneros’s identity is

defined by her roles as a writer, daughter, and woman.

Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing Answers will vary. Students might focus on the significance of their chosen places in relation to a particular stage of their own development.

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. In paragraphs 2 and 13, Cisneros mentions several

American and Mexican writers. What is the purpose of these literary

allusions? 2. Cisneros uses Spanish words in paragraphs 8 and 10 when describing

her interactions with her father. What effect do these Spanish words

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have within the context of an English essay? Why might she have chosen to use them?

Focus: Are “Chinese Mothers” Superior?

PHOTO OF AMY CHUA AND HER DAUGHTERS

Suggested Answers for Responding to the Image Questions 1. Answers will vary, but the large, light-filled room with carved wood paneling

and a marble coffee table, as well as the way Chua and her daughters are

dressed, suggest that the family is middle-class or upper-middle class. The

girls are playing, or at least posing with, a violin and a piano, which might

mean that the family is well educated and has been able to pay for music

lessons. The way Chua is standing and looking at the camera suggests that

she is very self-confident. 2. Students may say that since the article focuses on mothering, it makes sense

that the father is not depicted. Other students may surmise that he has been

left out because he does not agree with his wife’s opinions or because he

doesn’t fit with the image that the family or the photographer wants to

present. The three essays in this section explore the question of which of two parenting styles—the stricter style called “Chinese” and a more permissive one called “Western”—is more effective in raising successful, happy children.

“WHY CHINESE MOTHERS ARE SUPERIOR,” AMY CHUA

For Openers Do students accept Chua’s assertion that “nothing is fun until you’re good at it”(paragraph 5)? Do your students enjoy doing something that they’re not good at? And which do they believe usually comes first, enjoyment of an activity or mastery of it?

Teaching Strategy In paragraph 5, Chua says that her father once “angrily called me

‘garbage’” and that “It worked really well.” What effect do students think this would have on a child? What effect do they think it has had on Chua?

Collaborative Activity Break students into pairs and have them analyze Chua’s bulleted list of forbidden activities at the end of paragraph 1. Which activities are part of a normal, happy childhood, and which might interfere with either success or

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happiness? Have each pair report back on which points they’ve agreed and disagreed about.

Writer’s Option Make a list of children’s activities that you think are either worthless or harmful to kids. Explain why each one should be eliminated from the routine of a happy, successful child.

Multimedia Resources In a Wall Street Journal video, reporter Christina Tsuei discusses child-raising stereotypes with two young Chinese-American mothers: http://vimeo.com/ 18681222.

Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. Chua is probably defending herself against stereotyping when she points out

that “Chinese” and “Western” are only loose categories and that she is

referring to a style or philosophy more than to an ethnic group. However,

when she begins paragraph 3 by saying “All the same,” she is reverting to the

broad statements that she originally made in paragraph 2.

2. Chinese parents have higher standards for their children, are stricter about

responsibilities such as homework and music lessons, and don’t hesitate to

lecture the child or even call her names if the child fails to meet the standards.

Chua believes Chinese mothers are superior because their high expectations

cause the child to perform better (paragraph 14). Chua could benefit her case

by providing statistics such as high school grade point averages and college

acceptance rates for children raised with this style of parenting.

3. Student reactions will vary. Brooks might suggest that all these attitudes are

shared by upper-middle-class parents intent on their children’s success

(Brooks, paragraph 5). Chua-Rubenfeld seems inclined to agree with, and

defend, her mother.

Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing

Answers will vary. Some of your students will have been brought up in strict homes, some in permissive homes, and some with parents who were rarely at home.

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. Chua’s book triggered a controversy, and she was called upon to

defend her statements. Watch her January 25, 2011, appearance on The Colbert Report. Does Chua come across as a Tiger Mother, or as the child of a Tiger Mother? Which of her original points does she reaffirm, and which does she modify or retract? See the video at

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http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/372156/january-25-2011/amy-chua.

2. How warmly do you think Chua’s views would be received in China?

Do you believe her depiction of Chinese mothering would be considered accurate there, or is the phenomenon she describes exclusive to Chinese parents trying to succeed in the United

States?

“AMY CHUA IS A WIMP,” DAVID BROOKS

For Openers Ask students: According to Brooks, what kinds of experiences will Chua’s daughters be unprepared for? Having read both pieces, can you add other situations in which Chua’s daughters might not excel?

Teaching Strategy Have students look again at each of Brooks’s main points. Which points seem to be backed up by facts and statistics, and which are his own opinions?

Collaborative Activity Have students form pairs and engage in a brief, private debate, with one person taking Chua’s side and the other Brooks’s. Afterward, ask some pairs to repeat their debate in front of the class.

Writer’s Options 1. Which sets of skills and activities have you found more difficult in

your life: the solitary ones Chua values, such as memorizing material, excelling at exams, and learning to play an instrument, or, as Brooks describes, working successfully in a group?

2. What is Brooks’s tone through most of this piece? Is he being serious

and genuine or playful and sarcastic? In your assessment, include

these two lines: “Practicing a piece of music for four hours requires

focused attention but it is nowhere near as cognitively demanding as

a sleepover with 14-year-old girls” (paragraph 8), and “Managing

status rivalries, navigating the distinction between self and group—

these and other social tests impose cognitive demands that blow away

any intense tutoring session or a class at Yale” (paragraph 8).

Multimedia Resources David Brooks failed to recognize that introverts are successful leaders in Chinese culture, writer Susan Cain says. Read her blog post “The Real Reason Chinese

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Mothers Are Superior” at http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/2011/ 01/22/the-real-reason-chinese-mothers-are-superior/. Watch her TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talk on introversion here: http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html.

Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. Brooks asserts that Amy Chua is a wimp because she’s shielding her children

from any activity that involves group interaction (paragraph 7). Some

students will say that the title is offensive because even if Brooks is right, then

Chua is protecting her children, not herself, and protecting her children is not

cowardly.

2. Brooks highlights the harshest aspects of Chua’s philosophy and behavior,

such as rejecting a birthday card and threatening to burn her daughter’s

stuffed animals (paragraph 2). He doesn’t mention her more balanced and

reasonable statements, such as that Chinese parents “assume strength, not

fragility, and as a result they behave very differently” (Chua, paragraph 11)

and “when Chinese kids do excel, there is plenty of ego-inflating parental

praise lavished in the privacy of the home” (Chua, paragraph 14).

3. Critics told Brooks that Chua’s article feeds into “America’s fear of national

decline” and that Chua is taking the same approach as other “prevailing

elites” in American culture (paragraph 5) as well as making her children

unhappy and uncreative and perhaps driving them to suicide (paragraph 6).

Brooks’s main objection is that Chua is failing to arm her children with an

understanding of others and of group dynamics (paragraphs 8-13). Chua

might argue that those skills are not as important as Brooks believes or that

her children will learn those skills naturally as a part of growing up.

Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing Answers will vary. Students should not only state whether academic success or

social skills are more important, and whether one person can excel at both, but also provide reasons to support their choice. Students may also give examples from their own lives or the lives of people they deem successful.

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. You may know something now about Amy Chua’s upbringing, but

what about David Brooks’s? Judging from this essay, what sort of

childhood would you assume he had? If you wish, search for relevant

biographical information on the Internet. 2. Brooks says “Participating in a well-functioning group is really hard”

(paragraph 11). Do you agree? In your experience with school, jobs,

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sports, and other activities, what have you found easy and hard about working in groups?

“WHY I LOVE MY STRICT CHINESE MOM,” SOPHIA CHUA-RUBENFELD

For Openers Ask students what they think is the intended purpose of this letter. What does the title announce about its purpose?

Teaching Strategy Like her mother’s article in the Wall Street Journal, Chua-Rubenfeld’s article attracted a great deal of attention when it was published. Show students the more than 50 reader comments on nypost.com (find the article, then click “Comments”) and have students either summarize the reactions or quantify the numbers of readers who agree or disagree with the piece.

Collaborative Activity Have students form pairs and take turns role-playing a dialogue in which one student represents the other’s parent. Each student should tell the “parent” what he or she is thankful for (or not thankful for). This activity can form the basis for the letter to parents in “Responding to Writing.”

Writer’s Options 1. Chua-Rubenfeld says that her father “taught me not to care what

people think and to make my own choices” (paragraph 4). Does the writer seem independent-minded to you? Does she truly not care what people think of her? Find evidence in this letter to support your answer.

2. Do you believe, as Chua-Rubenfeld does, that at your age you’ve

“pushed yourself, body and mind, to the limits of your potential”?

Explain.

Multimedia Resources Chua-Rubenfeld’s blog is called “New Tiger in Town” (“I’m Sophia ChuaRubenfeld. Daughter of the Tiger Mother”). It includes journal entries, family photos, and her impressions of a trip to a school in China.

Suggested Answers for Responding to Reading Questions 1. Chua-Rubenfeld supports the statement by saying “your strict

parenting forced me to be more independent” (paragraph 4); “If I actually tried my best

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at something, you’d never throw it back in my face” (paragraph 5); “you and Daddy taught me to pursue knowledge for its own sake” (paragraph 9); and that perhaps achievement and self-gratification are intertwined (paragraph 10). The letter is not entirely convincing because it contradicts Amy Chua’s original article in some places and therefore gives the impression of backpedaling. Chua is quoted as saying “Soso, you worked as hard as you could. It doesn’t matter how you do” (paragraph 6). Chua-Rosenfeld also points out, “yes, you let me take lots of classes besides math and physics” (paragraph 9). The writer also mentions “sprinting” in paragraph 10, although her mother dismisses sports as a Western interest (Chua, paragraph 4). Statements like these seem to have been shaped to rehabilitate Chua’s image in the public eye.

2. Answers will vary, but it seems unlikely that, given the high public stakes

involved in publishing a piece about her mother in a widely read newspaper in the midst of a damaging controversy, Chua did not give her mother a chance to approve the letter.

3. Answers will vary. Chua-Rosenfeld seems to be saying not that she had the

most fun possible in life but that she fulfilled her potential and therefore will

not have to look back with regret.

Suggested Answer for Responding in Writing Answers will vary. Look for specific examples of rules and guidelines and how the rules have affected the student’s life so far. Consider assigning the Collaborative Activity above as a prewriting step.

Additional Questions for Responding to Reading 1. What would you do if your parent presented a controversial opinion

in a large public forum and became the focus of great media attention? Would you or would you not defend your parent, and

what would your strategy be?

2. The Tiger Mother controversy exploded in 2011. Do you think Sophia

Chua-Rosenfeld’s unconditional approval of her mother will

change as Chua-Rosenfeld finishes college, begins a career, and lives

on her own? Explain your answer.

WIDENING THE FOCUS

For Focused Research To get full information on Kumon, students should click on “Own a Franchise” rather than limit themselves to the consumer section of the Web site. Students

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might also look at the towns and cities that have Kumon learning centers and determine the demographic profile of families that use this service.

Beyond the Classroom Online tools such as Survey Monkey might be a good alternative to e-mail in gathering data for this survey. Also, point out that students have a number of options for structuring their findings, for instance, presenting the data for each bullet point separately before summarizing what they’ve learned.