Reading for Pure Pleasure, Ror Beautiful Silence

“Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author’s words reverberating in your head.”  Reading is an important aspect of a person life. While in the Ethnic Writers class we read a lot of unique and bold stories. Each of the texts was about exploring the characters ethnic and cultural identity. Nevertheless, there are some things that I would change and keep about the materials.

One of the things that I would change about the reading materials is not to use Loving Che. I felt like Loving Che was very similar to Americanah and How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents. It is very similar in the use of female main characters trying to find their identity.

Furthermore, the similarities include that the main character was brought to America and has to discover truths but also debunk some lies.

In Loving Che, it was confusing for me because the protagonist did not have a name. I felt that if the character had a name I would know her as a person. She felt that she was just a character. The ending of the book was surprising for me. I thought that we would get answers to the question Is this women Teresa her mother? Yet, the author Ana Menéndez leaves the reader high and dry. That annoyed me because the author was taking us on a journey and at the end, the question of her mother was not answered.

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I understand that this was a deliberate plot device-the author took a gamble- but it did not work for me.

The format of the book is a little weird for me. I felt that the short pages took away from the main message that the author was trying to send. The message of the story is heritage is important but in order to find out a person’s heritage, we need to find out our families what makes our individuality. Even though this book was not a favorite it made me understand memory a lot more. Memory is an important aspect of the main characters life with trying to remember her mother. “As I passed into my adolescence I spent more and more time thinking about her, and in each imagining, she grew more beautiful, more exciting, more different from the woman I myself was becoming.” Loving Che was a very unique book, nevertheless, it is the book that I would eliminate from the syllabus.

The book that should definitely be kept is Maus. Maus is about the Holocaust and the author uses animals to portray the different types of people. I thought that was an interesting way to tell a story but also to show that there is a difference of what people want through. Furthermore, the use of animals would give a human the ability to hear the story but be detached from the character. The book itself is unique. Instead of writing his father’s story, the author Art Spiegelman decided to use graphics. I think that it is a perfect representation of all of the pictures that we have seen of real life. Also, the use of graphics makes the book more enjoyable because a person is not mainly focused on the words but on the pictures. This is because that they show the emotion of the character rather than trying to comprehend what emotion coming from the words on the page.

It was so well written that I was on edge wanting to know what happens. I felt that this book taught me to embrace my heritage and not be afraid of being who I am. Even something like the Holocaust happens again I know if people try to hurt me that I should stand up to for what I believe. Additionally, Maus taught me that all of us come from different cultures and as a future teacher I need to accept everyone that comes in to my classroom no matter how I feel. By reading this book I felt that I was able to see a personal side of what a person went through. I was able to feel like it was me going through what the father went through. Maus is a book that is a heartbreaking in several parts but the emotions make the book enriching.

When I took this class, I did not realize how much I would learn and experience. This class gave me something that I will never forget. It is the way that I compare the different cultures of different countries just from books and put them into my own experiences. For example, in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, they came from the Dominican Republic. Within the book it was written about the girls traditional upbringing and their life in America which were different. The book taught me that going to different countries is hard but to understand that things are going to change even if I am powerless to stop it. Some things include culture, people, and many more. Moreover, it is okay to embrace the changes that are happening. Secondly, this class I felt helped me with my writing.

By writing the response journals and the papers I was able to succeed like I was not able to before. I am able to fully realize what needs to be in a paper. What helped me write my paper was writing an outline and prompts which had the questions that I need to answer. This class has changed me in amazing ways whether it is my writing or understanding the diverse cultures in the reading materials and the world this class has made me more aware of the different aspects of ethnic identity. While this class focused on immigration and ethnic and cultural conflicts, I think that to some degree we are all in the position of needing to embrace the future. While honoring the past, of staying true to our care values, beliefs, and ideals even as our circumstances change. Accepting that our elders were molded by experiences we may not share or apprehend. Yet we must respect and accept. These works are all about the struggle to find balance-a struggle we all face.