Wednesday, 23 September 2020

E10/11 Sept 23 The Jade Peony Chapter lecture notes

 Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81036563588?pwd=YlpGWFRVNUdDZk9va0VraE5WYzlpUT09


Meeting ID: 810 3656 3588

Passcode: q0Zcf6


MY LECTURE

divided into three Parts- three narrators: 

Part One: Jook Liang, Only sister

Part Two: Jung Sum, Second Brother

Part Three: Sek-Lung, Third Brother



Establish setting, major characters, milieu – overall feeling in the text, emotional centre of the novel – drama, comedy, complex- lots of elements

complex – just like your life


Verisimilitude of Vancouver, city history

verisimilitude – setting, details of the setting, little details that make the story seem real


Introduce morays of Chinese culture – Cantonese speakers


Chinese population in Vancouver has changed in the past 20 years

20 years – no/very few Mandarin speakers, all Cantonese

China – hundreds of dialects and languages- main language -Mandarin, official language

South China – Canton Guangdong - Cantonese


I hope you read some background on this – the links I sent you


Chapter 1 Talking Notes

“Poh-Poh” – Cantonese for “grandmother” 

English – Grandma, Grandmother, Nanny,

Spanish – Abuela

Persian - Mamajoon

Philippines - Lola

Russian - Babushka

Mandarin: Lao Lao or Wai Poh



‘Poh-Poh’ has power, matriarch, eldest, decision-maker

matri – mother

cultural – veneration of the elderly, respect for the elderly

matriarch – the highest status woman in a family, the boss

matrimony – marriage (n) the father “gives her away” to the groom

dowry – money that is given along with the woman


“took pleasure in her status” “arbitrator of the old ways” (6)

her position in the family

paradox – internal contradiction -

patra – father


DISCUSSION QUESTION: “Do you keep your traditions from your home country alive in Canada?”


“false immigration stories to hide, secrets to be kept” p6

- lots of hidden things in this novel, concealing and revealing


Jook Liang – unreliable narrator, just a kid, lots that does not understand, including dialects


Poh-Poh “Too much bad memory” p7


“Old One” Poh-Poh – respect, aged, elderly, high status


“Go to Gold Mountain” p9 Gum San

Gold Rush – California, BC, Alaska


“law against begging for food… no law… against starving to death” p10


“pea pod China men” p11


Wong Bak “an elder…so every respect must be paid to him” p11


-childhood friend of Poh-Poh


“Grandmother must not lose face” p11


-Wong Bok has been injured/twisted severely through hard work


Wong Sin-saang’s face


“Is it a demon or spirit?” p15


funny- Popo waiting, forgotten in kitchen


“the Monkey King” p18, magical, powerful

Monkey King – very well-known children’s story from China

Journey to the West


“Monkey talk” p20

Monkey King as Cheetah, cultural elusion

tried to pull his face off “A for-real Monkey Man” p24

Jook Liang bonded with Wong Suk

“This child not afraid of me.” p25

- he is used to people being afraid of him because of his twisted face and body


Tomorrow- Continue with “Literary Terms”

 

I know it is challenging to read a chapter a day, but this is a reasonable expectation for English 11.

 

Quiz #2 – short paragraph (50-80w)

Email to me by 9:45am

Why was father worried about Wong Bak’s visit?


No comments:

Post a Comment