a three-page (double-spaced) reflection paper on important ideas and themes in the course materials covered during your absence. The reflection paper, while not intended to excuse your absence, will serve as your participation in the missed class.Bento Box

o Throughout the family chapter the main character talks several times about home but is confused whether Japan or Indianna is home for her. This leads her to a state of double consciousness.

o It is notable that when she is in America people see her as Japanese but when she is in Japan, she is not totally Japanese because she speaks English.

• The Film

o The women in the film all share a common hardship back in China. The director combines all their individual stories into a collective narrative.

o They suffered under sexism, racism, and other traumatic experiences.

o None of the women were complacent in their suffering and developed plans to escape from these issues.

o The women escaped from old Chinese values that reinforce sexism but still inflict the values onto their children. An example of this is the way the lady forces chess onto her daughter. Another example of this is the lady being a mean mother-in-law.

o The Parable of the Swan (In the handouts on Canvas)

o This Parable is from the book Joy Luck Club and is in the first scene of the film.

o Hope is one of the key words in the parable and the movie.

o “Over there she will be too full to swallow any sorrow.”

o Them parable implies that in China a woman’s only purpose is to feed her husband. It says that in America things will not be like that if they are able to immigrate there.

o Four Mothers and four daughters. The film is splitinto four sections that show the story of each pair of mothers and daughters.

o There are 4 parables that correlate with each set of women.

o The game Chinese checkers is important in the film. Each player takes one of four sides. The number four is shown throughout the movie.

o The narrative structure is like the game. Each woman takes turn telling their story like how they take turns making their move in the game.

o The swan was bought in China then stretched its neck out to go to America.

o The same song that plays at the beginning of the movie plays at the end when June goes to China to tell her two sisters that their mom died. It is important to understand why the same song plays at the beginning and end.

o The daughters throughout the film do not understand their mothers’ good intentions and confuse them with hatred.

o When you hear the music from the first and last scene it represents June’s mother’s hope.

o The neckless that June wears to China also represents hope. The material of the neckless is jade which represents good luck and joy in China.