Lone Star Question

1. What was the sheriff that racist and bigoted in the movie? In what way and why?

2. Is the Texas borderland one big melting pot?

Lone Star Questions

In what ways is the depiction of the Texas borderland as "multi-cultural and multi-racial" ironic, seeing as there is a patriarchal white savior narrative that dictates the plot?

Rio County is structured by the hierarchies of race and power and it’s most centralized vehicle of systemic power is the sheriff’s department; in what ways does hegemonic whiteness (and privilege) rear itself in Mexican/Tejano spaces and narratives within the movie?

The interactions between three distinct racialized groups account for the tension within the town: the “anglo’s,” the black people, and the Mexicans. How does the representation of the interactions between the Anglos and the Mexicans, the Anglos and Black people, and the nonexistent interactions between the Mexicans and Black people express the racial separatism present in this movie?

Brooklyn Questions 2.0

Is Jim an actual temptation for Eilis, or is he simply more convenient and comfortable, a simple way to stay home and solve a lot of problems all at once (such as who will take care of her mother, being somewhat friendless in Brooklyn, leaving her exhausting job behind, etc.)?

Eilis leaves Ireland very abruptly. Do you think this was out of shame or because she wanted to avoid the small-town gossip? Another reason?

In the beginning of the novel, Eilis is very much an Irish immigrant. She comments on food, the weather, crowds, mannerisms. It is clear she feels very far from her home. By the end, she is married, leaves behind her mother almost happily (that small smile on the journey back) and seems almost distressed by the small town she grew up in. At the end of the novel, is Eilis still an Irish immigrant, or an Irish-American? Another way to phrase this would be - Where does Eilis feel most at home now, Ireland or America?

Essay 2 assignment sheet

The Immigrant Experience (Eng 3165/AmSt 3304)

Fall 2016, Prof. Davis

Essay 2, due Tue Nov. 8

Option A

In an essay of 5 or more double-spaced pages, analyze the theme of remembering and forgetting in any two of the following: No-No Boy, Brooklyn, and Lone Star.  How is the tension between remembering and forgetting developed in the two works you’ve chosen, and how does it relate to immigration?

 

Option B

Rewrite the ending of Brooklyn or No-No Boy.  In 5 or more double-spaced pages, give the novel an alternate conclusion.  Make every effort to imitate the author’s narrative style and tone, even as you alter the content.  Indicate where in the original novel your revision begins.  Attach to your revised ending a brief account (1 page) of why you made the choices you did in rewriting the ending.  Your work will be evaluated on your fidelity to the style and tone of the original, and on the insight your discussion demonstrates into the issues raised by the novel.

 

 

 

Guidelines (Option A)

• Early in your essay, include an organizing statement – a sentence or two that expresses the main ideas you’ll discuss and offers a “road-map” of your essay.
• Quote from the texts in order to illustrate your ideas.  When you quote, place the page number from the original text in parentheses at the end of the sentence.
• This is not a research paper.  You need not consult or refer to any additional sources.  If you borrow ideas or language from others, be sure to attribute properly and include a list of works cited at the end of your essay.

 

Brooklyn Questions

"And tell me something: if you hadn’t married him, would you still be going back?” “I don’t know,” Eilis said. “But you are getting the train in the morning?” her mother said.  (p. 258)

As the reader, what do you believe Eilis would have decided to do if she had left America and arrived in Ireland without actually having married Tony?

What does it say about her mother that she went to her bedroom and refused to spend any time with Eilis the night before she left, or the next morning?

Eilis left without really knowing whether her mother knew about Tony before she arrived back in Ireland.  How do you think Rose handled the information in Eilis’s letters, and why? 

Brooklyn Part 1 Questions

1)    In what ways does Brooklyn differ from the previous texts we have read thus far about the immigrant experience?

2)    What does Georgina represent and how is her character important? How does she effect change or influence Eilis?

3)    How does Eilis’s environment influence her decision to go to America?

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, Part 1 Question

America is portrays itself and some of the time in literature as a place where you can work your way up, have higher pay and where there are a lot of opportunities. In Part I, Father Flood influences Eilis in coming to America. How does Father Flood's idea of coming to America influences Eilis' family of her coming to America rather than England?

No-No Boy Chapters 8-11 Discussion Questions

In chapter 8, we catch a glimpse of the past from Ichiro’s dad. He recalls the day that his relationship with his wife was on the descent. Does this memory explain why he is submissive to his wife? 

Generally, death is a terrible and traumatizing experience. However, John Okada uses death as a way to uplift Ichiro. Why do you think Okada does this? 

No-No Boy Questions: Ch 6-7

From the beginning of the novel, Okada writes in a close third perspective centered around Ichiro; on the other hand, chapter six  starts and continues in a close third that focuses on Kenji. How does the switch to Kenji’s family arc add to the conversation about the relationship between the issei and nissei that Ichiro presents?

What does Mr. Carrick represent in the novel? Is his function in the narrative problematic?

How does Ichiro and Kenji’s pasts affect their discussion on the concept of “the American,” race, and ethnically congregated communities?

“The Jews, the Italians, the Poles, the Armenians, they’ve all got their communities.” (147)

No-No Boy Questions

1. What similarities can be drawn between No-No Boy and Bread Givers in regards to the generational conflicts of immigrant families?


2. What do you think this novel is trying to say about patriotism and being American?


3. What do you think Kenji and his injuries represent and is he a "good" American?