Category Archives: paper

Pathetic.

Nao uses the word pathetic more times than I can count through the whole reading. She uses it to describe herself, the other awkward kids in school that she loathes and of course her father whom she feels the most strongly when calling him truly pathetic. Of course she loves her dad and wants to see him be healthy however it doesn’t take away any of the animosity Nao has for the sad state she and her father are in. I suppose the theme would be Identity.

Nao identifies herself in this low viewpoint, in addition to all the other losers in her life. She relates to them on that level of lowness but with that connection comes a hatred that reminds herself of what she is, at least in her mind.

Overall the reading sort of warmed up to me in terms of enjoyment and interest. I still feel like Ruth’s sections are extremely bland and don’t connect anything at all. Maybe a few random references but I honestly felt like I gained nothing of value from those sections and can avoid all the material and understand the beginning, middle and end of the story without hundreds of pages of filler. I’m probably being too critical here but it’s only my skewed opinion, I’m not going to relate to Nao, nor can I relate to Ruth. The only characters I have some interest in is Juko and Oliver but even still they don’t give more than a few “smart guy” moments.

Ozeki – Environment

Environment was such a major part of the novel. Ruth and Oliver were staying on a island, and they were surrounded by the ocean. The Pacific ocean plays such a huge role. The tsunami and flooding that occurs in Japan is the vessel that brings the lunchbox to the beach where Ruth and Oliver find it. The ocean also brings with it the storms that knocks out Ruth’s power, keeping her from her search for the truth. Nao spends time in the Japanese countryside with Jiko, where she is told to fight the waves.

The novel also touches on the real life events of the nuclear radiation, and global warming.

The animals present in the novel are the cat, the crow, whales, and barnacles, bugs are also mentioned. Pesto is the family cat. The crow is a native Japanese species that follows the current and debris across the ocean. The whales are mentioned to have been killed for their blubber, and also bombed. The barnacles clung to the plastic bag the Hello Kitty lunchbox was in, they died. Bugs were a hobby of Nao’s father.

Ozeki – Family

I think that family and familial relationships are huge. In Nao’s family, the mother is rarely seen, she’s very absent. Nao’s father, though still physically present, is mentally absent. He no longer lives within the family mindset and seeks various methods of suicide. Though we are shown, through Oliver, that he tried to be a good father to Nao and purchase her panties to prevent anyone else from deriving a sick pleasure from them. I think that Nao realized her father isn’t alright, but does nothing to help him, though she does push him to try not to fail suicide again. Nao, tries to appease her mother and be a good daughter, but whether this is sarcasm or genuine, the result seems mixed. Jiko’s mere presence is enough to elicit real and deep emotions from Nao’s father. Jiko becomes an important part of Nao’s life, inspiring her to find her supapowa.  Jiko becomes a nun because of her son’s death. His love of life for all, and her love for him, kept her from giving in a committing suicide.

Ruth’s mother, is no longer with her. Ruth’s father isn’t mentioned. Ruth’s husband Oliver is what brings her to the island, which she hates. Oliver becomes pushed aside and even a bit bullied by Ruth as she journeys through the diary.

Ozeki – Identity

I think that Nao’s diary is huge for Ruth to find herself, more-so than for Nao. Ruth, the struggling writer, is sent on this journey of the teen mindset. She learns about herself on the way, finding that there are some situations entirely out of her control. No matter how much she wants to save Nao, and help fix her family, when she realizes that the diary may have been written long before it was in her possession, she is flooded with hopelessness and looses the desire to read on.

Nao’s journal is a way for Nao to show others who she is. She’s a teenage girl thrown into a tumultuous situation, it’s a time of high emotions and stresses. Since none of her schoolmates like her, she can’t be real with them. None of her other acquaintances want to genuinely know her, only use her for their purposes. Her family is so uninterested in who she really is. There is a moment where she takes charge of her life and shaves her head and finds a bit of peace within herself.

-Ozeki Last

Reading

Truthfully, so far I just read by part IV. One reason why I choose this word is because I’m frustrated that I can’t read all of them by time limit. All books in this quarter were difficult to read for me, I don’t want to say the excuse but this is because there were many academic words. However, I did my best and I could learn many things from all books. Especially, this book is a Japanese American popular culture book, so I’ m really enjoying to read it and I am into Nao’s life. Today, not only Nao but also many people seek their identities between Japanese and America. I know one of my friends whose identity is in between Japan and America. She is half Japanese and half American. Most of her life is in Japan. However, because of her look, everyone think she is a foreigner and keep ask her “Why can you speak Japanese?” “Is your mother really Japanese?” and so on. These question made her identity cooperated. She is the opposite side of Nao.

Second reason why I choose this theme is because reading make us forget the time. I mean that many people regardless of generation read the same books. Like Ruth didn’t care how old Nao is before Oliver mentioned it. She is in the time with Nao with forgetting they are in different time. I’m really interested in this scene, because I also feel like that I am in the same time.

Ozeki Communication

For this reading I choose the theme Communication.

There are many forms of communication throughout the book.

-When the Tsunami happened in Japan, Ruth was using her computer searching all over the internet about what’s going on Japan.

-She was also watching the television, specifically the news to get updates and to see actual video of the destruction.

-She also used her cell phone to get in touch with other family members over in Japan to make sure that they are safe. On the topic of cell phones as communication, people in Japan used their cellular devices to record video, to take pictures, and the obvious to make phone calls.

-Nao had a blog [with that..a computer] to observe and record her time in Japan and to communicate that with herself and the world. However she soon realized that the blog would be a waste of time due to her living circumstances.

-Nao also used email as a form of communication. Nao and her online friend Kayla correspond back and forth… and as Nao would put it..”stupid school girl things”.

-Nao obviously uses communication through her diary, to eventually communicate with Ruth, who finds her diary.

we made our own computer out of macaroni pieces

Mississippi Masala

While I loved Meena and Demetrius’s story in this movie, I felt a sadder story in the existence of Meena’s father, Jay. While Meena’s story was one of struggle with race and family, she was able to overcome it and stay with the person she loved, even if it meant going against the wishes of her family. Even if it was a temporary moment for them, Meena and Demetrius were able to have a happy ending.

Meanwhile, Jay was forced from his home country by his own brother. That isn’t to say that Jay was anywhere near being the right – he had many flaws, and he was guilty of a number of things, including being apparently more well-off in his home country than many of the other people that were there. The sad part is how bitter it eventually made him. He spends years after this trying to be allowed to return, only to be ignored or turned down at every attempt, and because of this he is unable to accept the love his daughter has for a black man, because even though Jay himself was African (and black), he was never really able to reconcile that part of himself. I feel like he was the opposite of a few of the movies that we’ve seen so far. His ending in the film was a happy one as well to some extent, but it was also disheartening because I felt there wasn’t a great deal of growth for Jay’s character. I think in the future he might prove a big obstacle in the happiness of his own daughter.

we made our own computer out of macaroni pieces

Mississippi Masala

While I loved Meena and Demetrius’s story in this movie, I felt a sadder story in the existence of Meena’s father, Jay. While Meena’s story was one of struggle with race and family, she was able to overcome it and stay with the person she loved, even if it meant going against the wishes of her family. Even if it was a temporary moment for them, Meena and Demetrius were able to have a happy ending.

Meanwhile, Jay was forced from his home country by his own brother. That isn’t to say that Jay was anywhere near being the right – he had many flaws, and he was guilty of a number of things, including being apparently more well-off in his home country than many of the other people that were there. The sad part is how bitter it eventually made him. He spends years after this trying to be allowed to return, only to be ignored or turned down at every attempt, and because of this he is unable to accept the love his daughter has for a black man, because even though Jay himself was African (and black), he was never really able to reconcile that part of himself. I feel like he was the opposite of a few of the movies that we’ve seen so far. His ending in the film was a happy one as well to some extent, but it was also disheartening because I felt there wasn’t a great deal of growth for Jay’s character. I think in the future he might prove a big obstacle in the happiness of his own daughter.

A Tale For The Time Being

“There’s no way of knowing”

So many unanswered questions by the end of the book. Ruth has to remember that her time is now and Nao’s time was in the past. Ruth got so caught up in trying to find the unknown answers that it was making her mad. I think that we all get too caught up in finding the unknown that we look for it and worry about it too much. Ruth tries to find out what would have happened if…  Oliver tells her “if World War II wouldn’t have happened then you and I would never have meet.” I always believe that everything happens for a reason. She found that book for a reason, being able to tell Nao’s story to many other people and being able to connect to a teenager that had many horrible things happen to her. She was able to read Nao’s grandmothers stories. We as readers were able to learn more information but in a fictional stand point.

A Tale For the Time Being 204-304

Communication

Communication is a huge theme in this book. The communication between Nao to Ruth is the whole idea of A Tale For the Time Being. This book is able to communicate two characters of two didn’t times and bring them together by a diary and a Hello Kity lunch box. The author demonstrates how we don’t necessarily have to be in the same time being to communicate to another human and to care for them.

In small groups we were talking about the different communications that we have today like texting, emailing, Skype, Facebook, and Twitter. We are reminded by this book that a simple letter is able to tell you so much about a person. You are able smell their smell, and see how they write. Texting we aren’t able to so. We get mad when someone doesn’t text us back right away or doesn’t respond but when a letter you were able to wait for it and be patient. Communication has changed. Today all we want is quick and fast.