Escaping the Box
So far in class we have discussed the different ways in which people choose to identify themselves, and what aspects go into creating one's "identity." You have made your personal collages and have listened and read about various experiences that people have had coming to terms with their identity.
One metaphor that we have discussed is the idea of the box---- the forces and obstacles that stand in the way of a person truly being able to be him or herself in some way. What are the forces that keep people inside of their boxes? What forces push them to escape?
Think over the readings and discussions that we have had in class so far ("Theme for English B", "High Yellow White Trash", "Black, White, and Jewish", "Sylvia's Story", "Alone and All Together", and "Two Kinds") and think about the similarities and differences between each person's experience.
In your post, write 3-4 sentences about a connection that you have found between at least TWO of the experiences that we have discussed/read/listened to in class. What boxes do some of these people find themselves in? Are the forces keeping them in the box external or internal? Do you think they will be successful in escaping their boxes? In addition, you can also throw out relevant questions to which other students can respond.
*** Remember to use your first name and last initial when you sign your post. Also, if you choose to respond to what another classmate wrote, please do so in a respectful manner.
posted by Charlotte Jacobs at
8:30 AM
38 Comments:
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Anonymous, at 6:04 AM
-gasp- I'm posting on your blog! ^^
I think that one of the connections between "Two Kinds", "Sylvia's Story" and "High Yello White Trash" is that the "boxes" that the main characters find themselves trapped inside of, are created by their parents, who want them to be a certain thing. In "Two Kinds", Jing-mei's mother wants her to be the best, in "High Yellow White Trash", Lisa's mother wants her to be "White", and in "Sylvia's Story", Sylvia's mother wants her to be a "Mexican girl". In all of these stories, how ever, the main character want to be exactly the opposite of what their parents want. In "Two Kinds", Jing-mei wants to fall below expectations, in "High Yellow White Trash", Lisa Page wants to be "Black" and in "Sylvia's Story", Sylvia wants to be an "American girl."
--Angira S.
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Anonymous, at 6:56 AM
Some connections that I've had with stories are Alone and All Together and Theme For English B. The connection that I had for Alone and All Together was that I think she was in some of the same situations. She had family not with her, my mom was in Greece. She also was showed what had happened, and was shocked. My dad let me see it, and I was just in shock. I had seen some of the headlindes, and I didn't know what so say, or think, especially since I was, what, 4 ft. 3 in. tall, and the Sears Tower looked like it was in the skies!!!
The other connection that I had was with Theme For English B. My connection was dealing with superiors. Even though I know she doesn't mean to, my sister can seem uber (very) superior to me, and I felt some of the same things that Langston Hughes felt. I felt that I was still a part of her, wether she liked it or not, and I also felt that she was also a little bit different, in that she had more privalleges.
~Katie R. :D
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Anonymous, at 6:58 AM
I am comparing the stories of Sylvia, and Two Kinds. These stories are the same in that both characters' mothers are pushing them to be something that they don't want to be. They are different in that Sylvia wants to "escape the box", by getting a job, adn not participate in the traditions of her ancestors. Amy was trying to "climb back into the box", by avoiding becoming famous, and trying to be an ordinary American kid. Amy's mom thinks that America is about becoming famous, but it's also about relaxing and being ordinary.
Ariana G.
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Anonymous, at 6:58 AM
I think that when you feel like your in a "box", it can external and internal. Yourself can be your worst enemy as well as other people. A connection between Black, White, and Jewish and HYWT is that the main character feels like she has two worlds to live in and divide her time in. In HYWT Lisa Page has a white mother and a black father. She feels like she has to spread her time equally with both parents. In Black, White, and Jewish Rebecca Walker has a white mother and a black father too. So she has to deide what to do about it. Both the same situations, but different choices are made.
Conrad H.
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Anonymous, at 7:01 AM
A thing that's very similar on the aspect of the box, is that it seems that the box is always the parents holding them in. (Sorry, I forgot to say this in my other post)
*gives an internet hi*
~katie r. :D
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Anonymous, at 7:02 AM
I think that High yellow white trash has a connection with black white and jewish, because both of there parents are divorced and they have to decide if they want to be black or white. The difference between Black white and Jewish and High yellow White Trash is that Rebeca Walker in black white and jewish she wants to resemble her white side and in High Yellow White Trash Lisa Page wants to resemble her black side.
By
Anonymous, at 7:07 AM
The connection I found between Sylvia's story and High yellow white trash was that they are both trying to escape the "box" and are both trying to be something else than their parents want them to be. I sylvias case she's trtying to be more american and less traditional mexican, in Lisa's case she's trying to be both black and white but is more accepted in Her so called "black world". Sylvia wants her parents to accpet her, and lisa wants for herself to fit in.
Adam G.
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Anonymous, at 7:11 AM
I think that in High Yellow White Trash is an example of being in a box. Lisa Page feels like she is in a box because she has to act different ways around different people. Depending on if the person is white or black they think that they she should talk different ways. She is kind of like Amy from Two Kinds because Amy's mother wants her to be her perfect daughter. She wants her to be a prodigy, her mom makes her take piano lessons. Even after her piano concert disaster her mom wants her to still be a prodigy. She can't be herself she has to be her mother's daughter.
-Jordan E.
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Anonymous, at 7:11 AM
The first connection i made was in two kinds because amy tans mother wanted her to be somthng she was not by making her play the piano and my mom made me play the piono and at first i did want to but then i got bored with it and my mom wouldent let me quit till the year before last.
the second connection i made was in black white and jewish were she made new friends that she dident know if she could trust because in 6th grade my bestfriend moved away and i made a lot of new friends that i dident know if i could trust and i learned that ijust had to learn to trust them and in turn they will trust me
Maya B
By
Anonymous, at 7:17 AM
(I forgot to post this; sorry!)
Another comparison for the stories of Sylvia and Amy Tan is that their mothers are both from foriegn countries, and they both want to embrace their culture on their children. The children, however, want to be "American".
Ariana G.
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Anonymous, at 7:22 AM
I think the similarities between "Sylvia's Story" and "Two Kinds" are that they both don't want to conform to their families ideas of... perfect, I suppose. In "Sylvia's Story", Sylvia has deal with her family, especially her mother, and their ideas of what she should be: a traditional "Mexican girl". In "Two Kinds", Jing-mei is forced to become what her mother would define as a genius, and ends up being forced to play the piano. A main difference between the stories are that Sylvia's family want's her to stick to what they are like and Jing-mei's mother wants her to become some sort of "American prodigy".
By
Anonymous, at 7:28 AM
I think that "HYWT" was similar to "Two kinds" because in both stories I find that the moms are trying to run their daughters lives for them. In "HYWT" Lisa's mom doesn't want her to use improper language, she wants her to take ballet, and she wants her to get subscriptions to different magazines. In "Two Kinds" Jing-mei's mom wants her to be an obedient genius child. In both stories, the girls just want to be themselves (even if they don't quite know what that is) and the fact that their mothers are pushing them makes them want to pull back even more.
Maggie S.
By
Anonymous, at 12:17 PM
I think that Sylvia'sStory and High yellow White Trash are very simialr becasue when they were both trying to escape the boxes that were formed by their parents who had different expectations for them. In Sylvia's case she wanted to be a American girl when her family wanted her to be a traditional mexican girl which means going to partys with your older cousins, getting married and possibly pregnat at the age of 16, and droping out of school very early. When in Lisa Page's case her mother wants Lisa to become white when Lisa would rather be black and try to talk slang, and not slouch. Her mother would rather her take ballet or do horseback riding.
--Sophia G.
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Anonymous, at 12:23 PM
commenting on Angira I think that Libby in Alone and altogether Libby struggles with being Arabic after 9/11 and her sister wants to be an american. Sylvia wants to be american while her mother wants her to be mexica
Duncan W.
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Anonymous, at 12:31 PM
I believe there is a connection between Alone and all together and Two kinds because in both stories some sort of devastation occured in each story. The mother in two kinds had lost her family and babies in china while in Alone and all together many people had died when the World trade center had fallen.
-Kyle C. Chow=)
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Anonymous, at 12:54 PM
I think that "Sylvia's Story" and "Two Kinds" are about the same thing. They are both about a girl who is trying to escape from a box that their parents have created for them. But Sylvia is trying to go to school and get a good education. She is trying to escape the box that her mother has set to be an ordinary Mexican woman, but she doesn't want to be that. She wants to be who she truly is. Where, on the other hand, Amy is trying to show her mom that she does not have to be perfect or a prodigy. Her mom is trying to make her something that she is not. I think that the reason why most people try to escape from the box they are in is because they are put in it in the first place by someone other than themselves. That is what I saw happen in both of those stories.
Nathaniel G.
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Anonymous, at 1:07 PM
I think the connections between "Two Kinds" and "Sylvia's story" is that they both want the exact oppisite of what their parents want. The boxes that they are trapped inside of are built by their parents. In Sylvia's story she wanted to climb out of the box and make something out of herself. Each time she took a wall down her parents always seemed to build another one replacing it. As for "Two Kinds" the mother wanted her to become a Great piano player but she struggled to stay inside the box. In the end Amy saves the piano and is sad but moves on.
By
Anonymous, at 1:29 PM
omg, I can't wait 4 class 2moro
the connections r comming to me
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~zing~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I got them, sylvia's story
hywt and two kinds, are all about the "boxes " in life, hywt is like she wants to get out
just like sylvia's story and 2kinds. all of the stories happen to be in america, different ethnicities and different types of familys.....
but all 3 of the girls r trapped in the" box" by their mothers, hywt has an Arabian family, 2kinds has a Chinese family and sylvia's story has a hispanic or mexican family. all three girls are trying to escape the boxes their families set them in.
I think if the parents would lighten up and let their children dicide their life, they would be happier.
marie s.
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Anonymous, at 1:46 PM
I think that there is a connection between Sylvia's box and Jing-mei's box. Both of their boxes are created by one of there parents. Jing-mei's box is created by her mom who wants her to be a prodigy and Jing-mei doesn't like the way her mom is pushing her and wants to escape the box her mom has created. Sylvia's box is also created by her mom who wants her to be a typical Mexican girl but Sylvia doesn't want to be she wants to be an American girl. ~Maxine N.
By
Anonymous, at 1:46 PM
All of the main characters in all the stories all face boxes one way or another. Most of them have boxes put on them by their parents, such as "Sylvia's Story" and "Two Kinds." In "Sylvia's Story" you have her mother who wants her to be a mexican girl and do mexican things, but of course, she doesn't want to be any of those things. She wants to be American. In "Two Kinds", Amy's mom want her to be a prodigy. SHe wants her to be perfect in everyway, and of course, she wants to be herself, and not what her mom wants her to be. All of the other stories have this problem in differents ways.
Kristin F.
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Anonymous, at 2:29 PM
I think the two stories, " High Yellow White trash" and "Sylvias story" are the same in the fact thet there mother and father are different races. they are both in the same box. They are trying to be white around white people and in one case regular or like black people.
Elena S-L
P.S. I like your blog
By
Anonymous, at 2:48 PM
I was thinking the exact same thing as Angira!
I have never experienced anything like any of the stories! The only time I felt like I was in a box was about a year ago. My cousin had come all the way from Denmark, and we went were on our way to the museum of science & industry and I was telling my dad about how they body slices and how nauseating it was. My cousin understood me and all of a sudden started crying! My dad told her not to worry and that we weren't going to see that part of the building! Then he turned to me and snapped at me.
Latter that day we went to see blue man group, My cousin asked if it was scary. I didn't want to lie and I didn't want to say yes, so I said I don't know it might be. My cousin once again, started to cry. Her father (my uncle) calmed her down. After my mom snapped at me. I tried to explain that I didn't mean to make her cry, I just didn't know the answer. I don't think my mom believed me even though I was telling the truth. I felt like I was in a box and know one liked me. It was like that with my parents for the rest of the night. They didn't understand how I was feeling, only my cousin. Maybe they have a good reason for the way they acted but if we switched places they would understand.
Jordy B.
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Anonymous, at 3:10 PM
IT'S MS. JACOB'S BLOG! WHOA! (^.^)
I think that a connection between "Two Kinds" and "Sylvia's Story" is that their mom wanted them to be something that they didn't want to be. Amy Tan's (Jing-Mei's) mother wants her to be a prodigy, but Amy (Jing-Mei) doesn't want to be one at all. In "Sylvia's Story", Sylvia's mom wants her to be a typical Mexican girl, but Sylvia dresses differently than a typical Mexican, and she doesn't want to be trapped by her mom.
*Hi Ms. Jacobs!*
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(O.o)
(")U U(")
(It's a bunny!!!!)
--Abby D.
By
Anonymous, at 3:46 PM
I found a connection between "Two Kinds" and "Sylvia's story". Both stories were about a child (or teenager) being put inside a box by a parent. The child is being pressured to be something they don't want to be, but their parents think otherwise. Also, the parents in both stories have immigrated from a different country for better oppurtunities in the US. In "Two Kinds" Amy's mother has come from China, where she lost everything. She wants Amy to be a piano prodigy, but Amy protests. Amy finally gets out of her box, but ends up hurting her mother emotionally in the process. In "Sylvia's Story' Sylvia's parents immigrated from Mexico. Sylvia wants to work with computer animation, have an eyebrow ring, and in general be an "American Girl", but her parents have other plans for her. They want Sylvia to NOT go to college, get married right away and have a family. Sylvia's parents always pressured her to be more "Mexican" like her cousins and do more things with them, but Sylvia hardly ever even spends time with her immediate family. I think when Sylvia turns 18, and doesn't have to obey her parents anymore, she will do everything that she's always wanted to, and break out of her box.
--Meryl C.
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Anonymous, at 3:59 PM
In High Yellow White Trash and Black, White and Jewish the main charactors are both in split worlds because they are both biracial and their parents get a divorce. In Sylvia's Story and Two Kinds the mother wants their daughter to be something they want, but that the daughter isn't, Sylvia wanting to be an american and Jing-mei or Amy not wanting to be a child prodigy. All four stories the parents are holding down their boxes.
-Katie R.
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Anonymous, at 3:59 PM
For me, being "in a box" and ecaping it can be enternal or external. An internal example is in HYWT, Lisa couldnt be herself around certan people, so she internallly acceppted that she was half white and half black no matter what. An example of breaking out of the box externally is in theme for englis B., when Lanston in in the box because there was all this tension with his classmates and the prof., so he wrote a poem to the professor basically saying, "i know you may not like me, but I have to treat you as any other professor, and you have to treat me as any other student."
Jack O.
By
Anonymous, at 4:02 PM
hello ^.^
I'm not exactly sure what you're asking for. The posts from other people are different and sometimes answer different things. So I'll answer two things:
1. I can't relate to any of the stories.
2. I think a connection between two stories include "Black, White and Jewish" and "High Yellow White Trash". In both of these stories, there is a black parent and a white parent involved (although in "HYWT" it's white mother/black father and in "BWJ" it's just the opposite. In both stories, the main character is a interracial girl whose parents are divorced. Here are some differences though: In "HYWT" the girl wants to be with her father because the black community accepts her more than her mother's white side. She wants to be referred to as black, not white. In "BWJ" the girl involved wants to lean toward her father's side just to be portrayed as white. But still, they're very similar :)
~Deborah K~
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Anonymous, at 4:16 PM
I think that there is a conection between "High Yellow White Trash" and "Alone and All Together" because they both are confused about who they are. In "High Yellow White Trash", Lisa is bi-racial and doesn't know if she is black or white. The event of her parents getting divorced made her want to choose. In "Alone and All Together", she wants to think of herself as American, even though she is Muslim. This issue happened when the world trade center was knocked down and there was discrimination against Muslims. In both of these stories, these girl face issues about their identity, after something bad, o r a change in their life happens
By
maxhornung, at 4:20 PM
I think High yellow white trash and White black and jewish were very similar. In both stories, the main character was bi-ratial. ALso, both of the characters wanted to be more black or more white. Also, both the characters could not let go of their other race, black or white.
Lucas B.J.
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Anonymous, at 4:27 PM
I found a connection that many other people found. *gasp!!* In "Two Kinds" and "Sylvia's Story" the mothers are taking over the lives of their daughters, forcing them to be something they aren't. Something they don't want to become. Also, I can kind of relate to them. one of my parents (leaving it anonymous) wanted me to play piano, and he/she had high expectations from me in other subjects.(*cough* Math)I didn't think that I had the "talent".
Okay, back on subject.
I also found a connection between "High Yellow White Trash" and "Black White and Jewish". Both people are black and white. Lisa Page (HYWT) wanted to be black, while Rebecca Walker wanted to be white. Both were hurting their mothers to do this.
~*Molly R.*~
By
Anonymous, at 4:50 PM
in Sylvia's story she feels like she is trapped in a box and she wants to get out of that box but she can't because of her parents. sometimes i feel like i am in a box because everyday it is the same thing, school sports homework sleep school, repeat. in the story two of a kind i had a moment where i was playing in the school orchestra and i messed up so many times i was probably beat red but i don't think that many people noticed(i hope.)
Graham L.
By
Anonymous, at 5:10 PM
In High Yellow White Trash the girl felt torn apart between her two different identities, not sure which one she was. In Alone and All Together, the girl was torn apart between her two identities as well. In Alone and All Together, the girl was sure who she wanted to be, Arab, just not thought of as a friend of the people who flew into the Twin Towers. In High Yellow White Trash the girl didn't mind being part white, she just didn't like how the people treated her, like she was some mutant. They both didn't like part of their heritage, because of how they treated people. But the girl in High Yellow White Trash was treated badly by her family, opposed to in Alone and All Together, the girls race treated people badly. Both of them were treated as something weird and different by some group of people. The girl in High Yellow White Trash was treated badly by the white side of her family, and the girl in Alone and All Together was treated badly by the people who thought all Arabs had to do with 9/11.
-Ellyn B
By
Anonymous, at 5:12 PM
I found a connection between Sylvia and Lisa in "High Yellow White Trash". With both girls, they want to be exactly the opposite of what their mother want them to be. Sylvia's mother wants her to be a perfect "Mexican girl", doing exactly what the men tell to do. Sylvia wants to be an independint "American girl". Lisa's mother wants her to be a quiet caucasian girl. Lisa does not want to act like caucasian people. She wants to be more like black people.
~ Annette C.
By
Anonymous, at 6:07 PM
In High Yellow White Trash and Black, White, and Jewish, they are both trying to find out who they are, white or black. They are different because in High Yellow White Trash, she wants to be black because she is more comfortable around her fathers community, the black side. In Black, White, and Jewish, she is black on the out side, on the inside she wants to be white and trys hard to be " a white girl." These are internal and external, they both are held back externally from things because the color of their skin. Mainly this is internal because on the outside anyone is just a person, that can be Interpreted by anyone. On the inside it is what you believe you are which is what both girls had trouble with, they didn't know what to believe they were. In the end they realized they are not white, not black and wasting your time to impress someone by your skin is not worth it. They did both come out a box an internal one. Scared if they acted themselves they would be criticized and not if they acted how other thought they should act, in the end they changed, they thought i am myself and that is who i am going to be.
YAY i LOVE BLOGS THEY ARE LIKE SO FUN!!!!! hi!!!
Taylor M. :-)
By
Anonymous, at 6:36 PM
In HYWT,the main character is kind of in a box, in order to be accepted, she must be either black at one time and white another. She, is in a box since she cannot truly be herself. In two kinds the main character is struggling to be herself since her mother is trying to make her into a prodigy, so, in that way, both of them are in a box.
-Rolland Long
By
Anonymous, at 7:46 PM
I think that "To kinds", "High Yellow White trash" and "Slylvia's Story" are very simular. All of the main charactors are having troble figuring out who they are. There parents are having trouble understanding that. They want them to be someone else. Now a days people are pretty understanding. At least to me they are.
By
Anonymous, at 4:51 AM
I thought that the two stories called Two Kinds and Sylvia's story relate to each other because in both stories their mom's want them to do a certain thing, and both of the main characters don't want to do it. They want to do something else. In the story Two Kinds her mom wants her to be the best in a lot of things and Jing-mei wants to do the opposite. In Sylvia's story her mom wants her to be like her cousins, follow the same heritage, and be a normal mexican girl. Sylvia wants to be American and she doesn't want to be like her cousins at all.
-Alejandra G.
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Anonymous, at 12:25 PM
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