The Bridegroom

The Bridegroom was an interesting short story. I feel bad for people who live in china. The way things are just seem like not a good life. When you live in china you are always being judged, you have to fall in to conformaty and are looked down upon if you want to be yourself. I'm not one to down with there little homosexual meetings, but i still think it should be a persons right to decide what they want to do and who they want to be. I think this story must have taken place a good many years ago since they try and cure Baowen of his "disease." Also that it was a good thing that he was "a middle school graduate---and he didn't smoke or drink or gamble." In this day and age only completing middle school is worthless, but that just might be how it is in our society. It was also weird when Old Cheng said that he didn't smoke or drink or gamble because just previously he mentioned what Baowen brought as gifts which were "two trussed-up capons, four cartons of Ginseng cigarettes, two bottles of Five Grains' Sap, and on tall tin of oolong tea." When Old Cheng got the call from the police about him being incarcerated, the last thing that I was kind of expecting was because he was homosexual. If people went to jail for being homosexual here, the prisons would be even worse then they are today. Because of overcrowding and that other thing that is known to happen in prisons which i don't need to mention. Up to five years for being homo, that would suck. When uncle cheng went to see him after the interrogations he noticed that he had been beat "his face was bloated, covered with bruises. A broad welt left by a baton, about four inches long, slanted across his forehead." didnt think it could get much worse than going to prison for being who you are, but theyll also beat you. China doesn't seem like a place that i'd want to live at, i don't like there system of doing things, also that i've heard that you can't have more than one child, i don't think i would be able to give some of my kids away to government, if i had any. I feel bad for Beina, all she wanted was a husband and she got one of the best ones, but he was gay. And she hasn't had any real love yet, its like their just friends that are married and don't share any compassion. And now at the end of the story she wants to stay with him, even though he is going to prison for a while for continuing his acts. I thought it was kind of funny also when Old Cheng said "I didn't touch the milk, unsure whether homosexuality was communicable." Its sad that in their society the Uncle and the daughter can lose there jobs just for having relations with Baowen. I guess its true in some cases in our American society that people can lose their jobs for some instances like that but still. It sad that Old Cheng decides not to relate with Beina anymore unless she decides to divorce Baowen just for job security and for social standards. Overall i think it was a somewhat entertaining story.

The Orbiting

Im not sure why this story is called the orbiting. Maybe because it circumferences many different cultures within its plot. I do like how it involves a variety of cultures, it kept me reading and interested. Bharati Mukherjee does a good job at making the american-italian family feel authentic. I was surprised at how many different cultures were involved with and mentioned in the plot. Rindy's family hails from Northern Italy and Sicily i believe, her sister Cindi has a husband named Brent who comes from an Amish family, Rindy has a friend from El Salvador named Jorge, a "pakistani, who runs a spice store in SoHo," and of course Ro who comes from Kabul which i guess is in Afghanistan? There a brief mention of swedish furniture as well, "Swedish knockdown dresser." I really like the realism that Mukherjee brings in the description of the interactions between Ro and Rindy's father, the awkwardness of Ro's headshakes of agreement and the skeptism that her father has of him. "Ro nods. Even his headshake is foreign" and the father somewhat unapproving with "dad joins mom on the sofa bed, shaking his head." I liked the part when Ro was talking to her on the phone and talked about how he needed to help his cousin Abdul, itd be scary to have that feeling that you have to sort of stay under the radar in order to not get deported....which in Abdul's case, could mean death. "Ro's afraid Abdul will be deported back to Afghanistan. If that happens, he'll be tortured." It was funny when Rindy said "When i think of Abdul, I think of a giant black man with goggles on, running down a court." it brought the funny image in my head of Kareem Abdul Jabbar's lankyness with his bug-eyed goggles on slammin over some fool. When they begin the dinner and Rindy has Ro cut the bird, she realizes that she loves that man. She basically explains, he has a worn and torn body which some may find disgusting, but it turns her on, basically. It shows that he is a true man, that those scares were from a hard life, from torture, not little scars from a game or a mistake from roughhousing like that of her father and Brent. That he wasn't proud of them, he didn't use them as something to build up his manlyness. They are things that he finds embarrassing and is not proud of. When she talks about her father and Brent stating: "They have their little scars, things they're proud of, football injuries and bowling elbows they brag about." Also making the reference "Ro is Clint Eastwood, a scarred hero and survivor. Dad and Brent are children." When her mom asks in the last line of the story: "Why are you grinning like that, Renata?" you can get the picture in your head of her just gazing at him in awe and knowing that she loves him and is proud to be with him.

A Wife's Story

I was surprised seeing the David Mamet reference right at the beginning of the story. I thought the whole story was going to be about just racism after reading the quote "Thursdays for Chinese, Wednesdays for Hispanics, today for Indian." "Let's get her today. See if she cries. See if she walks out." I didn't end being really about racism in America at all. It basically seemed like an "american dream" kind of story. Panna has come to New York to try and make something of herself and move up in the world. When her husband comes to visit from India he gets really into the typical tourist sort of deal. They seem to have an okay marriage, but something about the way they act together just seems weird. The probable reason is because they were matched up by their parents. "My parents, with the help of a marriage broker, who was my mother's cousin, picked out the groom. All i had to do was get to know his taste in food." I would hate it if this were in my religion or culture. I think Panna is going to school in the United States because she is trying to get out of that culture. It seems like her life in Indian sounds pretty nice for her though, "No parents, no servants, to keep us modest." i mean, i think it would be pretty awesome to have servants. but I think that for Panna, she would rather live in a dumpy apartment and be able to do what she wants and marry who she wants, then to live in a palace and live her whole life with someone whom she does not really love. I would be the same way. It is obvious that her husband has strong feelings for her "Come back, now. I have tickets. We have all the things we will ever need. I can't live without you." She seems to get somewhat embarrassed by him at some points, like not wanting to be caught by her friends going on those tours. Overall, after the two years of her studies to get her degree, i don't believe that she will return back to India. She has friends in the U.S., she seems to like the culture, and there are men here that are attracted to her. Also, i liked the reference to Indiana Jones with the "Maybe I'll write Steven Spielberg too; tell him that Indians don't eat monkey brains." i got a good laugh out of that.

Stone Reader 1st. Half

I think its pretty crazy that Mark is having so much trouble finding let alone getting in contact with Dow Mossman, the writer of The Stones Of Summer. Mark glorifies this book like no other, and its hard to believe that he can barely even find people who have heard of it let alone read it. But these things happen, there is a ridiculous amount of music that people have never heard of that are the best songs. I first wondered if the writer was possibly dead, but I think if he had died it would be a lot easier to find where he is through things such as obituaries and reports. It is really neat that someone can get into reading as much as Mark does, but i know that i could never get that much into it. It must be a good story because whoever actually does read it seems to sort of obsess with it. In the documentary they talk of a lady on an airplane who carries it around with her wherever she goes just so in case that she meets someone whose has read. It only being almost fourty years old, its hard to believe that it is barely known at all, but im sure that this documentary will advertise it a lot and get it out to the public more.

Maybe it is just one of those books that doesn't really get much attention until very long after it is written. I do recognize the book Catch 22, i never read it but i remember one of my sisters having to read for school. When he began talking about this in the documentary i kind of got lost in why he was talking about it. I think this was when it was showing the footage of the fair, maybe i just got caught up in looking at the rides and lost attention to what exactly he was talking about.