Outside Reading - Week 2 Post A

Vocab:

Agitation (51) - persistent urging of a political or social cause or theory before the public.

Imperturbability (37) - incapable of being upset or agitated.

Appeals:

1. "She looked at me closely. 'I am Chinese. My home is in China. It is you who must come to China!'" (34) This is a logical appeal. Aunt Lucy finally stops dropping hints to Evelina about wanting her to come to China, and just comes out and says it. 
2. "Suddenly my mother with hand still dripping soapsuds, reached over and switched on the radio next to the sink so that music exploded into the kitchen, drowning out my voice." (46) This is an emotional appeal. Evelina tries over and over to talk to her mother about her problems and conflicts with going to China, but her mother always refuses to listen. Readers begin to feel sorry for Evelina as she is misunderstood by her mother and father. 
3. "When [the food] arrived, we began eating silently. Almost immediately he grimaced." (51) This is a logical appeal. Evelina continues to give examples of how stubborn and hard-headed her traditional father is. 

Quote:

"It wasn't until late in the afternoon that I got up the energy to go into Aunt Lucy's room to

change the sheets on her bed. As soon as I entered the room, I saw the brown bag. It was on her 

bed, neatly folded. Inside was the piece of red-and-green taffeta plaid." (39) Throughout 

Aunt Lucy's stay in America, Evelina tries to buy her something. She wants her aunt to leave 

with something to remember her and the U.S. by. However, Chinese feel that it is a sign of 

weakness if someone buys something for you. Evelina eventually talks her aunt into letting her 

buy her a yard of fabric. It isn't till after she's left that Evelina finds that she left the gift 

behind. This quote further shows the difference in traditions and customs between America 

and China.

Theme:

The theme of cultural differences is still strongly apparent. Another theme of acceptance of family

may also be emerging.

Outside Reading Week 1 - Post B

Dear Evelina Chao,

I am currently reading your novel, Yeh Yeh’s House, and although I’m only a few chapters into it, I’m already hooked! You write in such a way that I feel like I’ve known you forever.

Throughout the first chapter, you recall that as a child you can remember noticing that you looked different from other girls around you. “They tried to help me draw a line on my upper eyelids so I would look like I could see, as Renee put it. Except we discovered that I didn’t have a fold on my upper lid. No matter how far we drew, clear up to my eyebrows, my eyes still looked like little slits.” (15) During teenage years, girls just want to fit in and be like everyone else. Did the fact that you were different ever affect you emotionally?

In the next chapter you talk about being able to play significant pieces of music on your violin by the time you were thirteen. Wow! I’ve been playing the clarinet for over four years now and I don’t even come close to the skill that you were able to develop in only three. Did you still have the same passion for your instrument now that you did when you were little? Or have you found a new passion for writing?

I’m excited to continue reading! I want to hear about your trip to China, as well as how your shaky relationship with your mother turns out.

Sincerely,
Paige

Outside Reading - Week 1 Post A

Yeh Yeh's House by Evelina Chao

Vocab:

Adagio (17) - Music. in a leisurely manner; slowly. 

Subterfuge (25) - an artifice  or expedient used to evade a rule, escape a consequence, hide something, etc.

Appeals:

1. "This time, at the end of the summer, when I looked for a blue aerogram from him, I was not surprised there was none." (21) This is a logical appeal. Evelina states that her grandfather, Yeh Yeh, did not reply to her letter, as she had suspected he wouldn't. 
2. "I don't know which was more chilling;  the foregone conclusion that we were working so hard to master our skills only to abandon them or that we were perceived as a monolithic cultural type rather than individuals." (20) This is an emotional appeal. Evelina puts the reader in her own shoes to them how hard it is to be different in a world where people judge you depending on your looks. 
3. "I watched her spring away on platform shoes, wishing more then anything that I could be like her." (20) This is also an emotional appeal.  Evelina  yearns to be confident and beautiful like her fellow student. She informs the reader that more then anything she wants to be like everyone else.  

Quote:

"Yeh Yeh is dead." (23). This quote is important because it's when Evelina first learns of her grandfather's passing. He had been asking her to come see him in China, but something had always come up to put-off her plans. Now only a month before her trip to finally see her Yeh Yeh, he passes away in the night. Evelina begins to feel extremely guilty for not going to see him earlier. 

Theme:

A theme that may be emerging in the novel is cultural differences. Evelina talks a lot about how different her family and their traditions are from everyone else's.