Category: Journal 6 (Page 2 of 2)

Humaiya Sawda
Journal #6
English 1121 (Prof Scanlan)
April 24, 2020

Journal #6

In class, we have been going over different types of short stories. However, I feel “New York Day Women” by Edwidge Danticat would have to be my favorite. It is my favorite because “New York Day Women” is a sweet and short story that changes us from Haiti to America. Its extraordinary structure permits the reader to see depictions from the lives of Haitian ladies in their new environment. To Suzette’s eyes, while her mom’s body may have arrived at America, her essence never made the excursion. Suzette has looked as her mom battles to grapple with certain “American” practices, such as “eating out” and providing for Goodwill. Even though these perceptions are hilarious inside the setting of the story, they are instances of the  genuine battles foreigners have while showing up in the United States. For such a great deal of, culture stun and the trouble of digestion are incapacitating and make progressing to America an about incomprehensible undertaking. That is the reason “New York Day Women” is such a refreshing story to read. In the wake of seeing firsthand her mom’s challenges with American culture, envision Suzette’s stun when she sees that equivalent lady enduring and flourishing in Manhattan. Suzette’s mom strolls the road certainly “with a cheerful step,” as though she has lived in New York her whole life. She collaborates effectively with merchants and has no issue being with the kid she looks after children his mom. At a certain point of the story, Suzette goes to step in and “spare” her mother from an excessively energetic bike courier, only to find that her mom needn’t bother with sparing. It’s subtleties like these that make “New York Day Women” a comedic story, yet additionally an account of triumph. A lot of “New York Day Women’s” humor is gotten from the “call and response” esque format of the story among Suzette and her mom. For instance, when Suzette ponders the activity bicycle she needs to purchase, she reviews her mom saying, “You are pretty enough to be a stewardess. Only dogs like bones”. By comparing Suzette’s feelings about a subject with cites from her mom about a similar point, Danticat enlightens the generational holes that can exist between a mother and her girl. She likewise shows the quality of the mother-girl bond. In spite of their contradictions, plainly love penetrates Suzette’s relationship with her mom. This affection is uncovered in nonlinear manners. Suzette utilizing her whole mid-day break to chase after her mom Manhattan, ensuring that her mom needn’t bother with her assistance, is one case of this adoration. Suzette’s mom declining to go to Parent-Teacher Association gatherings since she wouldn’t like to humiliate Suzette with her “strangeness” is another case of this adoration.

Marchella Prado
English 1121 (Prof. Scanlan)
Journal 6
April 25, 2020
“A Good Fall”
In the short story, “A Good Fall” the characters that are mentioned are Ganchin, Master Zong, Cindy, Fanku, Ganping, Amy, and Jon. Each character had their own importance in the story. Ganchin, who is the main character of the short story, does change towards the end. He was an ill man who was working for Master Zong that laid him off and he eventually attempted suicide. When his suicide attempt didn’t go as planned, he ended up at the hospital and was talked into his options to what he can do for his life. Ganchin was a chinese immigrant and in the story it shows how that impacted his life. Coming to New York only to live better but only feeling exiled. This takes place in NYC and this shows already that it’s not easy, Ganchin was not making the money he was promised and couldn’t afford to live. We all know how expensive living in the city is. The short story starts off with Master Zong laying Ganchin off. Master Zong had kept Ganchin’s passport so he wouldn’t think about fleeing but of course only on Master Zong’s terms. Ganchin has no place to stay and eventually moves in with Fanku, who is someone he met at a Spring Festival one time. Fanku ends up backstabbing Ganchin by telling Master Zong his whereabouts. They snatch him and end up taking him to the airport to send him back home. Ganchin waits for an opportunity to escape in which he does. Ends up finding a stranger who he called “Uncle” that fed him and gave him some advice. He told him to think of all good things in life. Later, Ganchin found a building to jump off of, and when he did, his martial arts came into effect and he landed on his feet. The narration of this short story is third person. The theme in this short story is good and evil and another theme portrayed is the will to survive.

Ibrahim Mfosah

Journal #6

English 1121(Prof. Scalan)

April 27th, 2020

New York Day Women

I chose Edwidge Dandicat’s “New York Day Women” as my favorite story. The story is about a woman named Suzette who spots her mother in the middle of the city. She is surprised at her mother for leaving the house, as she thought she never leaves the house. As she follows her around as a detective, she finds out that she has a life outside their home. The story is a sort of critique from the narrator about her mother. Suzette finds out that it was probably a daily routine for her mother, who seems to have even made friends from outings. 

On second look, it looks as if both Suzette, and her mother constantly criticize each other. At the end of the third paragraph, Suzette points out that her mother accuses her of random things, saying, “My mother, who accuses me of random offenses as I dash out of the house.” Anytime Suzette criticizes her mother she starts the sentence with “My mother” followed by a comma. She seems to not like anything about her mother. She refuses to use the gifts her mother gets her, and ends up giving them away. 

I would describe the relationship between them as bitter-sweet. They love each other, because they are family, but they do not like each other on many grounds. She used her lunch hour to follow her around the city, but refused to let her see her.  She loves her mother so much to do that, but not let her know that she has seen her. Also evident is after Suzette decided to go back to work. She was filled with guilt, and emotions as she rode the taxi back to work thinking, “Would Ma have said hello had she been the one to see me first?” 

I think this is more the relationship that people have with their parents as they grow up. Mostly people of other descents(people of the diaspora). It could be due cultural assimilation, or just people trying to fit in, and not necessarily assimilate. 

(358 Words)

Yinghe Zhao

ENG 1121 

Prof. Scanlan

4/26/20

Journal 6

“A Good Fall” by Ha Jin

The characters that appear in this short story are Ganchin (main character), Master Zong, Cindy, Fanku, uncle, and the two lawyers (Amy Lok and Jon Mah). Character: The main character changed his mind (think he is useless since his illness is becoming worse and worse, master fires him and pay him nothing, he wants to suicide after that.) and his lifes. “I can’t let you have your papers if you stay on illegally. From now on you’re on your own, and you must move out tomorrow. I don’t care where you go.” And “We don’t owe you anything.” Master Zong said in the short story. Setting: The description of the place where fanku lived symbolizes the living environment of individual immigrants. Plot structure: The beginning of the story: Ganchin teaches Kung Fu class in Gaolin temple, but he couldn’t teach Kung Fu class as well as before because he was sick for a few weeks. Middle: Master Zong fires him and pays him nothing. “From now on you’re on your own, and you must move out tomorrow. I don’t care where you go.” And “We’ve provided lodging and board for you. This is New York, where everything is expensive. As a matter of fact, we paid you a lot more  than fifteen hundred a month.” Master said in the short story. End: Suing the temple. Now because of his fame, Ganchin will avoid deportation, be granted asylum, and perhaps marry a citizen. He will be rich. Point of view (narrator): The short story uses third person narration, for example: Ganchin. Themes and symbols and metaphors: The theme of this short story is good vs. evil. Good – Ganchin; Evil – Master Zong. Ganchin is working hard in the Gaolin temple to try to have better lives. Master Zong and Ganchin’s contract said that Master Zong will pay him fifteen hundred dollars a month, but he hasn’t paid him a cent and fired him, asking him to move out of Gaolin temple.

（word count: 346)

Stepfan Hospedales

Journal 6

English 1121(Prof. Scanlan)

April 25, 2020

Diving into New York Day Women by Edwidge Danticat

The short story known as “New York Day Women” by Edwidge Danticat is a great story detailing a particular day in the life of the narrator’s mother. The main characters involved were the narrator Suzette and her interesting mother. As the narrator follows her mother throughout the city of Manhattan, the mother shows that her experiences in Haiti granted her wisdom, and made her humble, a trait that narrator seems to adore a lot about her mother. There was also growth in the narrator, before she started tailing her mother; she wasn’t inclined to give up her seat on the train to any old or pregnant lady. For her, it depended on the situation. However, as the narrator followed her mother, and reminisces on some statements she would say, the narrator decides she will give up her seat on the train to any pregnant lady or a woman her mother age. This was a growth in her character, she had changed her state of mind, and decides to exert kindness the way her mother did. The mother also grew, in terms that according to the narrator, her mother was adjusting to her new life in America and finally began to be a part of the city fully, as shown from her experiences in the city. In this short story, time and place was essential to the growth in the narrator. The narrator spotted her mother at the corner of Madison and Fifty-Seventh Street in Manhattan, and it was during her lunchtime. The mother is not really known to shop anywhere outside Brooklyn, so her being here warrant curiosity and an urge to find out why is she here? Since the narrator was on lunch, she had the time to tail her, hence why time and place was so important in this story. Any other time would have not given the narrator the change that she had gotten from watching her mother. When the narrator starts to secretly follow her, the story truly begins. By watching her mother, the narrator seems to remember lessons from her mother which she had possibly forgotten at one point. Each memory she had corresponded to her mother’s actions. The story hits the middle when the mother reaches the park to do a babysitting job. The narrator observes that this was something she had done before, because of the familiarity that the kid had with her. With each activity that the mother did with the kid, the narrator would recall some experiences her mother had in Haiti, like learning to read at a young age on her own, or mustering the strength to return to her sisters’ funerals. This flashback was ultimately brought on by the comic-book. In comic-books, the protagonist has to muster up strength to fight evil, and comic books are light reading. These certain traits brought out this flashback. The end comes to this short story after the narrator departs to head back to work, with her state of mind changed (turning point). The remaining flashbacks more deal with some things about her mother that the narrator remembers from her childhood, instead of the experiences her mother had in Haiti before that was shown throughout the story. The last flashback entails a contradictory quote to what was said before, which lead readers to ponder why the change in quotes? The narrator of this story Suzette, born of Haitian background, told this story in first person but perhaps it was third-person limited, because of flashbacks of her mother’s life she describes. It gives the story more meaning with the thoughts of the narrator paving the story. The story also showed the love between mother and child is such a spectacle to experience, and a strong feeling. From Suzette literally following her mother in Manhattan the whole day to this one example of this bond between the two, with that being Suzette’s mother not attending PTA meetings, because she didn’t want to embarrass her as she is a foreigner, a “day woman”. The narrator exerted the values mostly of her self-effacing, wise mother, who not knowingly display that her experiences in Haiti defined who she is. This is the theme of this short story; someone’s past or roots defines who they are in the present and future.

Just testing things out…