Vanessa, Pedro and Marco! yeahhh...

A pattern that I have seen between two other stories similar to mine was Pedro's story and Marco's story. I have noticed that we all write about the same thing: our families hometowns.

In Pedro's story, he writes and tells us of how his family is from Mexico and the history behind how his grandfather establishing a small town in Mexico.  I remember this one story she told me about how my grandparents started a village that is now well known.  

 "I remember this one story she told me about how my grandparents started a village that is now well known."

Pedro's family story tells of how his family came to be in his hometown and his families hometown of Mexico. Later in the story, he talks about mini-stories that his cousins used to tell him about La Llorona  and the Devil. I can relate to those same small stories my family once told me.

In Marco's family story, he talks about how his grandfather was really from El Salvador and how he moved to Honduras when he was really young. The thing that I related to with Marco's story was that his grandfather died when he was only three years old and he never really got the chance to meet him.

"I did not even know my grandfather was from El Salvador, and I found out years after of his death. I never got to spend much time with him. I have only one memory of him with me. I was too young to remember more about him. He died when I was three years old." 

I can relate to Marco's story because for a while when I was younger, I never really knew who I was in terms of race.  Finally, at some point in my childhood, I learned the difference between my family's ethnicity and my father's ethnicity. I learned that my father was Salvadorian and I later learned that I have a Spanish background. At the same time, I never got to meet my dad's father. I never got the chance to meet him and spend time with him like other kids do.

Our cultures each interact. We are all Latinos and we have similar backgrounds.  If I were to actually sit down with both Pedro and Marco, then we would each find that we have many simmiilar things in common.  I like the feeling of being able to relate to two other people based on our cultural background.

Cyclical Stories in the Joy Luck Club

In the Joy Luck Club, there are many cycles that repeat themselves beginning from the mothers and ending with the daughters. The children of the four mothers do not appreciate having their mothers until they do not have them there for them. There is also that factor of bad marriages. I believe that the purpose for the cyclical stories is to express the reality that daughters eventually turn out to be just like their mothers no matter what. It is unavoidable for the daughters to have a life similar to their mothers. 


Inappreciativeness for the mothers leads to them not being there any longer. In The Joy Luck Club, the chapter Rules of the Game discusses how a mother, Lindo Jong, pushes her daughter, Waverly Jong to play chess and the daughter finally gets tired of it. As a result, she tells her how she feels, "I wish you wouldn't do that,telling everybody I'm your daughter" (99). When Waverly gets the chance, she ends up running away and doesn't come back until later at night. She comes home from her family ignoring her and her mother saying, "We are not concerning this girl. This girl not have concerning for us," (100). Waverly pushed her mother away and it ended up with her not having her mother's support anymore when it came to even acknowledging her as a daughter.


In Two Kinds, Jing-Mei Woo disappoints her mother, Suyuan Woo, when she fails at a piano recital and decides that she does not want to play from that point on. When the mother fails to force her daughter to keep playing, the daughter tells her something unbearable to hear. From then on, Jing-Mei never got better at anything

 "In the years that followed, I failed her s many times, each time asserting my own will, my right to fall short of expectations... And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench, All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal, that was now unspeakable,"(142).

Jing-Mei's mother eventually died and she never got to appreciate how much her mother had done for her and how much hope she had for her.

Another cycle in this book is that of marriages ending up wrong either from the start or towards the end. In Red Candle, Lindo Jong is forced to be married with a man who she does not feel any sort of attraction towards whatsoever. Instead, he was a big kid who grew up to be a bad husband to Lindo, "I knew what kind of husband he would be, because he made special efforts to make me cry," (53). Lindo Jong was forced into a bad marriage and stuck with her for some time. The same cycle repeated with Lena St. Clair in Rice Husband where she didn't marry for love in the end. From her childhood, her mother had already warned her that she would marry a bad and it ended up happening. All in all, bad marriages are a cycle throughout the Joy Luck Club.

Although women everywhere try not to be exactly like their mothers, it is inevitable that it will happen. The cycle of a mother's life can lead in to be the cycle of her daughter. It is obvious that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Family Story- A Look Inside My Familia!

My family, both from the Patron side (my mom) and from the Berrios/Melendez side (my dad), are HUGE! They are all crazy Mexicans and Salvadorians, but I love each and every one of them. Family always comes first. I have many stories to tell from either side, but I feel as if it’s more important to me to explore how I came to be in this world due to my family.

            Lorena Patron Berrios and Carlos Alberto Berrios had their first born daughter Vanessa Berrios on September 19, 1995 in Lynwood, CA. She has grown up to be an independent young lady. But the real story begins here…

                                                                                                                             My mom and dad:

            First, my dad, Carlos Alberto Berrios was born on October 29, 1973 in La Union, El Salvador. There, he was raised with his mother, her older half-brother, my Tio Ramon and his younger sister, my Tia Claudia. My dad lived in El Salvador for about 20 years of his life until he came to the United States. Here, he established himself for 2 years until he met my mother and had me.

           

My mom, Lorena Patron was born in Mexicali, Mexico on February 19, 1976. At the age of three, my moms’ family, my grandma, grandpa and an uncle and aunt decided to move to The United States as well. My mom grew up in Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from high school and eventually met my dad. Then I came along.

My younger sister, Emily (Vivi) Berrios was born on November 29, 1999. That was the day I was not the only child anymore, but I was fine with it. My sister and I have many stories to tell from ourselves. Although she’s irritating once in a while, she’s fun to be around. (I can’t believe I just said that).

This is me holding my baby sister Vivi when she was first born. I was 4 years old:

           

My mother once told me all about the amazing trip that the family took to El Salvador to meet my dad’s side of the family. I was five years old and my little sister, Vivi had just turned one. The plane ride there took about 5 hours to get there. It was a long ride that was worth it though. When we arrived, the first person I met was my grandma, Fidelina Robles. Then I met my dad’s sister, her husband, and their two daughters. My cousins, Ana Lizet and Catherine Vanessa were about the same age as I was. The whole two weeks that I spent there, I mostly hung out with them as we played on the beach and played around their house. Salvador is a really small country so there isn’t a lot to do out there. To keep us entertained and to keep our minds off of the hot weather, the whole family would go down to the beach and stay there until sundown. My grandma would always make pupusas, a very familiar food in El Salvador. The couple final of days that we spent in El Salvador, the entire family went down to Agua Park: a Salvadorian version to Waterworld here in the US. After going through a whole bunch of albums that I had not opened for years, I seen all the pictures that we took on our trip. There was one really memorable photo that stood out to me the most and I wish I could remember that specific day. Myself and my two other cousins were standing in a line side by side all wearing red. We are standing on a hill overlooking the ocean smiling. I don’t know why, but it sort of hit me that I have not seen these two cousins for over 10 years.

           

When I was 9 years old, I spent that summer with my dad. That was right after my parent’s divorce. I thought that I was going to stay in L.A the entire month, but my dad surprised my sister and I when he said that my mom and the entire Patron family was coming to pick us up at midnight. We were going to go to Mexicali for a week. This time, we had to go by car, but since we left at midnight, all me and my cousins did was sleep. I remember the ride there because I got carsick a couple times. The last time I had been to Mexicali was 6 years before on my third birthday.

I have a picture of my 3^rd birthday in Mexicali hanging up on my wall:

 It is so hard for me to remember all of those trips, but I just let my mom tell me the stories. It was exciting to see all of my cousins and aunts and uncles that I had long forgotten about. The most important person that I wanted to see was my great grandmother, Socorro. The entire week spent there was so much fun and I can still remember the meals! Yum! My mom’s side of the family is Mexican, so when someone says there’s going to be a party, they are always going to be there. That’s exactly what my great-grandmother did. She threw us a party when we first arrived. Since I was just 9 years old, me and all my other cousins went around the block. My grandma lived right next door to a dulceria, a candy store. Me and all of the younger kids went up to our moms and asked for pesos to buy some candy. I loved the tamarindo. It was hard to say goodbye to the rest of my family when the week was over, but it was a good time spent.

           

When I was a little girl, I can still remember when I used to visit my grandma down in Oakland during some summers. She would always tell me stories of when she was my age living in Mexico. Although my grandpa was not alive to tell me his stories himself, my grandma helped the best way she could.

           

My grandpa, German Patron was born in Sinaloa, Mexico. My grandma, Maria Christina Quiroz was born in Sonora, Mexico. At some point in time, my grandparents met and my grandpa made my grandma fall in love with him. They then moved to Mexicali, Mexico where my aunt, uncle and my mom were born.

This is my grandparents and I:

 

           

Like any other Mexican grandparent, my grandma told me the story of La Llorona. That story kept me scared all throughout my childhood. My grandma told me that after the legend was established, the people of Mexico actually believed it and they were always scared to go out at night just as the story said not to do so. That legend is still alive now. My grandma first told me that the story was about this woman named Maria who had two kids and a husband. Maria found out one day that her husband was leaving her, so Maria wanted to be vengeful. She decided that she was going to kill her kids. As a result, she took both of them to the river and drowned them. After feeling bad about doing so, she ran down the river stream and began to scream for them, but it was too late, the stream carried them away, dead. After she tripped from running, she fell and hit her head on a rock. She died instantly. The legend lives on that every night, she haunts the children of Mexico at night still in search of her two kids. They gave her the name La Llorona because her spirit cries at night, “Ay, mis hijos” which in Spanish means, “My children!” Children of Mexico were taught not to go outside late or else La Llorona would come and take them away forever.

My grandma told me the story in which she began to fear of all La Llorona legends. One night, a friend had slept over my grandma’s house. After they fell asleep, or so my grandma thought, her friend woke her up around 2 in the morning and told her that she needed to go use the bathroom, but that she didn’t want to go alone. For some reason, my grandma told me that the bathroom was outside back in the days. After that, they both went outside and when the friend was done, they began to walk back to the house. Close by to my grandma’s house, there was a well. My grandma and her friend started to hear noises coming from the well. As they listened closely, but did not approach the well, they heard, “Ay, mis hijos!” they were scared that the legend was true. They immediately ran back to the house and they learned to never leave the house at night again no matter what.

A funny story that my mom tells me to poke fun at me was the story form when I was a little girl around 2-4 years old. My mom said that back then, I would come around to the living room and I would sit in front of the television and watch only the commercials. Whenever the actual show started again, I would grab my bottle off of the floor and walk away.

            A piece of history that was left out from me was my true ethnicity. I thought that I was only half Mexican and half Salvadorian due to my mom and dad, but I learned so much more. In reality, my dad is half Salvadorian and half Spanish which would explain his light features. As for my mom, my grandma’s grandfather also happened to be Spanish which would also explain the complexion of my moms’ side of the family. J

            My Interpretation: I believe that these small stories that were told to me to keep the tradition alive. In the Joy Luck Club, the mothers want their daughters to live the ‘American way’, but in my family, my mom, dad and grandparents have always taught me that our culture is beautiful no matter what and we shouldn’t be ashamed to learn about it. Each story that has been told to me had something to do with my family history and many of those stories were regarding trips that we took to visit our homeland. It is important to keep these stories within our family so we never forget about whom we really are and where we really originate form. All these stories shape my life and how I came to be the person that I am today, and I am very proud of all of that.

The Joy Luck Club vs. The Crazy Mother!

Between Amy Tan's, 'The Joy Luck Club', and Amy Chua's, 'Why Chinese Mothers are superior, there are many similarities as well as there are differences. Chua states that the Chinese parents constantly insist on their children to work hard at something and that their purpose for that is so that their children will excel in many ways.

"What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences. This often requires fortitude on the part of the parents because the child will resist; things are always hardest at the beginning, which is where Western parents tend to give up. But if done properly, the Chinese strategy produces a virtuous circle. Tenacious practice, practice, practice is crucial for excellence; rote repetition is underrated in America. Once a child starts to excel at something—whether it's math, piano, pitching or ballet—he or she gets praise, admiration and satisfaction."

A similarity between The Joy Luck Club and Chua's article is that they both want the best for their daughters and that was their reason for pressuring them to do so well. In the section, The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates, in the Joy Luck Club, we have an insight view of the mother-daughter relationship between June Woo and her mother Suyuan Woo. The mothers' main goal that she wants her daughter to achieve is to become a prodigy. The daughter begins to play the piano and eventually fails. Even so, the mother still insists that she continues to practice to get better, "Only two kinds of daughters...Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind. Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter," (142).  This relates to Chua;'s beliefs that Chinese parents have to be persistent with their children. Suyuan would not let her daughter quit playing the piano although she failed miserably.

The difference between these two mothers is that Suyuan Woo did not insult her daughter when she failed at the piano; she didn't say anything to her at all. On the other hand, later in Chua's article, she tells of how she would insult her daughter and put her down when she did not get things right. She explains that this was her method along with many other Chinese parents who say things out of spite towards their children as their tactic to make them do better overall.

Amy Tan does not endorse the same ideas that Chua is making an argument about. Chua's article is completely biased and her points are not so strong. Amy Tan's novel suggests that the mother-daughter relationship is built to support the children whenever they are needed, while Chua suggests that Chinese parents are only strict to get what they want out of their children.

 

Joy Luck Club- The Meaning to the Introduction

The purpose for Amy Tan's introduction to The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates in the book, The Joy Luck Club,  is to foreshadow what mainly will happen in the next two chapters, Rules of the Game and The Voice from the Wall.

The introduction speaks of a mother telling her child not to ride her bike around the corner because she will be out of her sight and fall. The daughter questions this assumption made by her mother and the mother responds with, "It is in a book, The Twenty- Six Malignant Gates, all the bad things that can happen to you outside the protection of this house," (87). The purpose of the introduction is to show that the next section of the Joy Luck Club will be based on mothers protecting their children from the bad things that can happen to them and how they are trying to steer them away form that danger that lies ahead for each one of them.

In, The Rules of the Game, the main character in that chapter, Waverly Jong's mother wants to protect her from the dangers that can happen. After Waverly had won chess competitions, she was favored by her mother and she was always right above her, "My mother had a habit of standing over me while I plotted out my games.  I think she thought of herself as my protective ally," (98). A mother does not want to see her child fail in life, so in order to keep that from happening, Waverly's mother stands over her for protection from harm.

The second chapter to this section of the book, The Voice from the Wall, Lena St Clair's mother would make up lies to protect her daughter from the harm of the truth, "And I knew that was not true. I knew my mother made up anything to warn me, to help me avoid some unknown danger. My mother saw danger in everything," (105). Although Lena's mother still lied to her, it was her way of protecting her daughter from knowing the truth about certain things. Later on, we find out in the story of how Lena's mother had lost a baby that she kept a secret from Lena. It was an untold truth that protected Lena from going down the same path.

This section of The Joy Luck Club talks about the protection that a mother has over her child.