when a group of individuals share a similar goal, their story of how they achieved it (or failed) can be totally different. this is true about all of the family stories i read from my class. but at the same time, many of the stories share several notable similarities. One very popular characteristic that many stories share is the characters’ goals and the theme or situation.
One common type of situation that popped up in several of the stories was a life threatening situation. Many of the stories had that situation where it could me considered luck as why they still exist(ed). My story concluded that my grandma was lucky to survive the Russian attract/murder. Survival and hiding was not only in my story but also in many other stories.
In john’s story, his great grandparents had a friend name Jim who barely survived. Similar to my grandma's story where she hid for survival. My grandma hid in a barrel while Jim hid under floor boards.
he was accused of raping a white women. in the state of Texas at that time would mean that a black man would be lynched. so my grandmothers grandparents hid there friend jim under floor boards. if Jim was found in my grandmothers grandparents house all three of them would be lynched because they where apart of hiding this man." http://astijohnnyboy.blogspot.com/2011/03/family-essay.html
Jim here was lucky to survive and john’s grandparents were brave to help save his life. My grandma’s story as was similar because she too had to hid for survival.
Carly told a story about an uncle who experience a similar situation, though the ending was not such a happy one. Nevertheless, he lucky survived
The plan was not successful; many people lost their lives, others were injured severely. Even those who remained in the train did not survive; the train eventually crashed into the small boulder .My Uncle was among the severely injured. http://bloggerroggers.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-uncles-accident.html
Carrly’s uncle barely survived the situation. He was lucky to make it since he was one of the only survivors. This simialarly happened to my grandma in the story I told. She, however, was the only one survivor.
Another story that is similar to to my grandmother's was Amber's story. Her story also not only had a simular life threating case, but also took place at the same time and close by.
like my grandma's story, amber's grandfather's story came face to face with an enemy force during the second world war. Both of our stories also have the conclusion that we are lucky to be alive.
Cycles are in action 24/7. They are sets of events that occur over and over again. There are cycles in our world that have been going on for many long and short centuries. Though they can differ from generation to generation, they always share a few similarities. Some examples of cycles that involve inorganic things include cycles such as the water cycle, carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle which usually behave the same way each round. But some cycles differ a bit (though for the most part remain the same) in each generation. Some examples of such cycles include the cycle of tradition and culture. In the book The Joy Luck Club narrated by several Chinese women, they all have a cycle in the way they value their culture.
During their young childhood years, the mothers (of the authors) somewhat lacked an appetite to preserve their Chinese family culture but eventually they favored it. in the chapter Scar, An-Mei (one of the mothers) was thought to somewhat lack culture as she floated in her own world. Her culture absence was shown when Popo protested “Too late, too late” (pg 45).But this absence did not last forever. She eventually “came back” and that was proven when An-Mei gave a chop of her flesh for a stew. No one would freely go through such pain unless there was a reason such as value or importance.
This abandoning and returning to culture was not only done by the mothers but also by their daughters. Though the mothers did indeed try to hook their daughters to the Chinese culture, the American environment washed them away. This was proven when Lindo described her daughter as being Americanized “They [Chinese] already know you are an outsider.” (pg 253). The mother saw that she lost her Chinese character. At the start during her daughter’s young days she did not care. But once she heard this, she was disappointed. She regretted that this was the case. But during her visit to china, she realized something about herself. She realized that even though her American character would prevent her from blending into the Chinese environment, she still was Chinese. She still had the blood of a Chinese woman.
Stories have been said throughout the centuries. There are ones made up to explain why something is so (though many times they are not the actual cause or reason), told in court to explain what really happen and who is truly responsible for the cause, for entertainment/pleasure such as comedy , and to tell about our past and history. Your past does not only include your life but also the life of your ancestors. Stories and events of your family are very important things to listen and pay attention to. No matter how shameful or embarrassing it may turn out to be, it is crucial for us to know about our past. It makes it easier for us to be thankful and honorable for what we have and had. Knowing our history can be very useful too when it comes to making decisions.
The family story that I am about to tell is about how my grandma (my dad’s mom) managed to survive a scary and horrifying situation during world war two. Though it was a horrible seen indeed that would not be bad if forgotten, it was a time of my grandmother’s childhood that can not be forgotten. In a sense, this horrific scene actually played a major and positive role in shaping my grandmother’s character of who she is today.
During her early young teenage years my grandma lived by the north eastern border in a somewhat small city known as Wilno (though today Wilno is no longer part of Poland anymore ever since the new map introduced after World War two). Life was nice. But in 1939 things took a turn. The Germen Nazis invaded from the west and in only in a matter of weeks, the Russians from the east. Though resisted with great attempt, Poland was not ready for the war so they were not prepared to hold off the two fronts.
My grandma told me what it was like to survive under Russian control. Though not know to be as horrible as the Nazis, they did do some unbelievable cruelty that matches up with the germens. It was not safe for anyone to go out on the streets anymore. Piss a Russian soldier off and pow! Pow! A single shot in the head to an instant early grave. The Russian soldiers showed no mercy nor respect for the Poles. The Russians treated the poles as nasty useless objects. They behaved as if it was their goal or destiny to eliminate the Poles so that they can expand their nation. They treated them as if their lives did not really matter. They were now wild animal. They found it entertaining that Poles and their other enemies got murdered.
The Russians and Germens shot whoever they really wanted to. Unless told by a leader, they shot whoever they pleased to. Time to time the Russians would have rounded some Poles, made them get into single file lines and fire at them. My grandma was well aware that this was occurring. One day she decided to go to a daily mass at the big Roman Catholic Church, even though she went every Sunday. And while she was there she prayed for protection. With all the violence and chaos, she knew life no longer was as safe as it use to be. After the mass she had a warm feeling from God that some Russian troops were approaching so she hid herself into a damp wooden barrel that stood right next to the corner of the church. She thought it was embarrassing seen but instead it turned out to be a blessing miracle. And sure enough, a large vehicle with several Russian troopers came. They rounded up all who were near by (children, men, and women). Some tried to flee but had no luck at all. They were shot right in the back and collapsed dead. In Russian, the troopers made the crowd line up. Whoever disobeyed any order or broke the silence was shot. If one did not understand the Russian commands and if that person was caught, he or she would have been shot. A step or so behind the move/motion commands and click pow you are dead. She was horrified by the scene and was praying that no one would give her position away. As my grandmother watched through the hole of the barrel, slowly eventually all of the people were dead. Soon she began to smell smoke. The Russians were burning the dead bodies of the Poles. Blood was flowing everywhere from the bodies. My grandma hated the horrible smell from the smoke. It felt like hell in the barrel. But it was worth the cost because if she popped up, she would have been shot dead as the others were. Eventually a strong wind blew the fumes away. However, for safety reasons, she did not leave the barrel unit about long half hour or so went by. There was blood on the ground and the remains of the dead bodies laid everywhere. It felt as if she was the only one alive in the hell ghost town. After this, my grandmother became far more religious and took it more seriously. She prayed more frequently (every night before going to sleep) and to this day she is greatly thankful. It was thanks to her prayer and faith that saved her life.
Whenever I hear this story, it makes me ask a question. It makes me ask “so am I lucky to be alive?” .if my grandma did not receive that miraculous message, then I would most likely not be here. But if I consider myself lucky to be alive, then that would mean everyone is somewhat lucky. We all experience life threatening situations.
I believe stories are passed down the generations for many reasons, particularly for the great benefits they provide. Even though we today are capable of recording on files and paper, such stories should never be put aside or forgotten. The stories we hear today help prevent the future generations from forgetting what the family went through and what should be gone through. It is important to pass down such family stories because it allows us to establish a better and bigger idea of who we are and how we came to be. It is important to know about what your family went through. It is like learning about the history of a nation. If stories are not passed down, we (which also the future coming generations) will never know who or how we came to be. Not knowing our history can cause several negative effects. If we do not know who helped us or disrupted us, who are we to thank? Who are we to give credit? Who are we to blame? Listening to these stories can make a huge positive impact on our lives. They can cheer us up such as through jokes and comedy, help us with making wiser decisions and help avoid making the same mistakes of the past, and they can help shape our character. This is what drives us forward and causes progress and success to occur, helping identify our true identity.
I believe that the purpose of Amy Tan's piece was to inform the audience what the following parts were to be about which is that there are times when lying is the best thing to do, and times when honesty is the best.
In the intro, the mother lied to her daughter for safety reasons. The mother tried to sound persuasive by lying. Her daughter wanted to bike unsafely by the streets so she lied by telling her “it [the fact that she will fall and cry if she bikes by the corner when not to] is in a book, the Twenty-Six Malignant Gates.” (87). she most likely was lying when she said this because after some questions from the daughter, the mother was proven to of stated false evidence to back her statement up. And even though she said something false, her prediction of the fall was totally accurate. If the mother did not tell the lie, the daughter would have been injured sooner. If the daughter went with the lie, she would of not of been injured.
Lies sometimes are one of the best ways to support a person. In the part The Voice from the wall, Vena, the daughter many times lied to keep her father happier through her translations due to his poor Chinese. When her mother was giving birth, the son was not in good shape and dying. She was saying things in Chinese which the father asked for a translation. So she translated “She says we must all think very hard about having enough baby. She says she hopes this baby is very happy on the other side.” (112). This was not what she said. Rather, she was saying crazy things and stated negative things about herself, bragging about the great guilt she has for herself. Because of her father’s great sadness, she tried to prevent him from getting any worse by lying to make it sound not as terrible.
The purpose of the introduction was to inform the audience about what is ahead which was some usage lying. Because of the lies, vena’s father did not fell as sad if he heard the truth. Because of the lies mentioned in the introductory, the daughter at least got a warning that there was a consequewnce if she disobeyed. Though it is good to be an honest person, it is sometimes best to avoid it to prevent any harm since the truth can sometimes greatly hurt.
