DIRECTIONS for third posting

Third Posting due Thursday, March 20
Third comment due Tuesday, March 25

For this post, write a CCQC that identifies the TONE of the last third of the book.  The claim should include an adjective or two that you think describe the tone, then you need lots of examples/quotes from the book that prove your claim.  Sophs, if you need a refresher on TONE, I have put it up on the Edmodo site.

Then write a paragraph that does one of these things, your choice:
*describes a favorite part of the book
*is a review of the book
*uses some part of the book to comment on an issue that interests you


For the comment, find someone who has a different idea than you do about the tone, or about some other part of the book in their second paragraph.  Add to their evidence, or challenge their idea by countering it with evidence of your own.

Honor East vs. West

In the East, China, they have very strict beliefs about honor, or as they call it a matter of face, while the West, the United States, has a much more slack view on honor. Mark went to support the friend of his teacher Zheng, while he was going through a difficult time. While he was there, he leaned that the friend, Lin, really liked Michelangelo, so Mark promised Lin that he would have his family send a book filled with pictures of Michelangelo and his work. A little time goes by, and Mark discontinues his lessons with Zheng, one of his marshal arts teachers. He then goes to a friend who knows Zheng, asking if he could get the book to Zheng to get the book to Lin. The friend says no due to the fact that it's a matter of face. "Under these conditions, it would be impossible. Lin, as a matter of face, would not accept it, because you have insulted Zheng by discontinuing your lessons. You will ave to give it to someone else..."(pg.116) As it turns out Mark really can't give the book to Lin for these reasons. In the United States we really just wouldn't care that somebody would be 'loosing face' if we accepted the gift. I think that that we, the west, don't really acknowledge honor in the way the Chinese do they go to great lengths to protect not only their own honor but the honor of their friends and those around them. I think this is mostly because it kind of reflects back on to them. In the book Lin only has one picture of Michelangelo and yet he says that Michelangelo is his sculpture teacher. So a book filled with many pictures of Michelangelo and his work would have been priceless to Lin and yet he wouldn't have accepted the gift due to the fact that Mark insulted his best friend. In the United States I think that we don't care as much about honor. We wouldn't give up something that would be priceless to us due to the fact that it was from someone that insulted a friend. I think that in the United States we are a little more selfish than the Chinese we don't put the honor of our friends before our own hopes and desires at all times , and it seems to me that it can be a downfall in our society.

Music

     The East (Chinese) and the West (Americans) have significantly different ways of showing appreciation for music. While playing the cello for the fisherman's family, Mark is slightly offended when everyone starts talking and doesn't show that they appreciate his music in a way he is accustomed to, "I must admit that I felt disappointed that their first exposure to cello, and to Bach, was generating  so little interest. But then I remembered what a Chinese friend had told me one night at a performance of instrumental music where the audience talked, laughed, spat and walked around during the show. I mentioned to him that the audience seemed unbelievably rude, and he answered that, on the contrary, this showed they were enjoying it" (123). Unlike Americans, the Chinese show their enjoyment of music/musical performances through chatter and socializing. Americans see classical performances, such as Bach, as formal events where silence is an expectation, because not interrupting a performer and focusing our attention completely on the performer is our way of showing respect. If someone ever talks, laughs, spits, walks, or even whispers during a music event in the West, such as the symphony, they'll get chastised and scorned until they're ashamed enough to stop. This is much different in the East, where music is an encouragement to gather and bond, rather than relax in an uptight environment with an implied rule of silence. This point in the book pokes fun at the main difference between Western and Eastern music customs: oneself vs.ones' community. In the West we thrive off of individual needs, so of course we appreciate music by quietly and intently listening to music, gaining our own individual spiritual ore relaxation experience, which shows the performer we appreciate them because we aren't disrupting them and are giving them our undivided attention. In the East, a lack of attention to the performer shows appreciation of the art because its based off of a more community oriented experience, in which socializing and bonding are the focus, rather than an individual experience. The performer gains appreciation because they know that by causing joy and fun in the community they are appreciated.

New Ideas

Owen Hamilton

March 13, 2013

Brio

New ideas seem to be frowned upon in China, whereas they would be celebrated in America.  Hai Bin is a master calligrapher.  He knows exactly how to stroke the brush, and the history of the art.  When he sees that a Frenchman painted his calligraphy using a free-form, abstract manner, "Hai Bin's face twisted into a grimace.  'This is so-called freedom,' he said, and wanted to see no more" (pg. 95). Here in America, freedom is a good word.  People hate to be put in a box, and they love to challenge the rules.  This Frenchman tried something new, but Hai Bin disapproved.  If no one liked this Frenchman's style, his work would not be on show.  However, some people certainly have a hard time adjusting to what they have been taught, what they are used to, and what they love.  It is humorous that Hai Bin is disgusted by this new form of calligraphy, but it is implied that the main character does not feel the same way.  He does not express his feelings, but he just puts up with the beliefs of this stubborn man.  He grew up in America, so it is most likely that he is used to an atmosphere of new ideas.  The open-minded American dealing with the stubborn-minded Chinese is a funny and interesting part of the story.

P.S.  I hope I did not put too much stereotypes on Americans and Chinese.  I was just trying to analyze this situation, but not assume that every Chinese person does not like abstract calligraphy. If this seems racist, I will definitely change it.

Audience Participation

Aria Schwartz
Brio
3.13.14

Cultural Clash: Audience Participation

The manners that society considers to be essential for being a polite audience is very different in the East compared to the West. This can be seen when Mark goes to a party and is struck with curiosity and amusement when he plays his cello when the guests did the opposite of what is considered polite in his culture. They began to talk amongst themselves. When Mark stopped, because he thought they didn't like it, asked him to keep going. "Right away they resumed their conversations, the children laughed and played with the case, and Fu Manchu insisted an arm wrestle with the third brother" (123).  This scene is humorous because although, Mark thinks that the guests are seeming unbelievevly rude, in actuality, they are showing their enjoyment through their culture's display of appreciation. The reason being is that for the majority of Chinese who are peasants and laborers, music is enjoyed as a sort of background entertainment and is intended as an accompaniment, according to one of Mark's Chinese friends. "Renao is the Chinese word for good fun, the kind you might have at an amusement park in American and noise and movement are essential to it" (123). Still more interesting, the Chinese manners for listening to someone sing is different their manners for live instrumentals. When Mark is asked to sing, they become very focussed and listen intently. This variation of attentiveness seems to be universal yet the differences seem to allow for humor in a lot of places in this book. 

Difference Between America and China

The difference between American and Chinese people can be summed up in a few sentences from the mouth of Hai Bin, the Chinese man Mark trains with. "Yes," he said, "but these goals can be achieved so easily! All you have to do is be kind and work hard. But to eat and sleep well, that is a difficult wish because you cannot control these things yourself." This isn't really a funny culture clash but I like it because it brings to light the difference between America and China - in fact you might say it sums up the entire book in a couple sentences. This shows how even Mark, who is as far as Americans go, very healthy and hard working, can be distracted by things like whether or not people like him. But Hai Bin realizes that these things are under our control and that it is very simple to make these things happen. Instead he wishes for good food and uninterrupted sleep.

Michael Dunn

Zest

Word play in China is an important part of humor. Jesse Appell, an exchange student in Beijing from the US learned this first hand. He still remembers the first time he told a joke in chinese. 

"I got a nose bleed in class. The word liuxue means to flow blood but it's a perfect pun for the word exchange student," explained
Appell.

So when Jesse left class to take care of his nose bleed, he called out to the class in Chinese, 'Don't worry about me I'm just an exchange student.' His classmates erupted in laughter he says.

Word play is an essential element in the ancient Chinese art of comedy. Substituting words with different meanings are a common form of humor. Some humor is shared with the US. For example, jokes about north Korea are considered funny in both countries. 

Improvisation is also popular in China. 

http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-09-04/why-whats-funny-china-might-surprise-you