ENG 317 TaylorLittlejohn

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Project 3 - Collective Identity Frame

In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, collective identity is essential. In your last project for the semester, I would like you to capture a photograph related to collective identity. Explain the photograph and how it relates to this concept, how is collective identity important to you, and finally explain the role it plays in The Reluctant Fundamentalist and why it is so important for the protagonist Changez. 

Due: Tuesday, December 8 @11:59

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

Identifying Your Collective Identity 

Discovering someone’s collective identity is a key thing to finding out who the person is and where they belong. Collective Identity is a sense of belonging to a group. In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Changez struggles to find his collective identity because he doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. Before the 9-11 attacks, his job at Underwood Samson seemed to be his sense of belonging because his boss and him could both relate to low economic status while attending Princeton. After the attacks, he struggled to find his collective identity because he got himself fired. It is important for Changez to find his sense of belonging so he can get himself back on track and continue to move forward with his life. 

For my collective identity, I took a picture of the Memorial Union on the Tempe campus. I find myself walking through it or hanging out here almost every day, even when I am not in class. I enjoy the crowds of people during peak times, but I also enjoy coming in here on a Sunday when no one is around. For being a student, I enjoy the environment to study in or to grab a cup of coffee with a friend. Sometimes on my hard days I sit down at a table and watch all the students talking with each other, which makes me feel like I belong to the student body of ASU. 

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

Project 2- Heuristic

3. Throughout the novel, Delaney maintains that he is a naturalist and an environmentalist, a man at peace in the wild. Yet, he lives in a sub-division, which is encroaching on the wild with disastrous results. Considering the coyote, fire, flood, increased human population, and invasive species present in the novel what statement is being made about man in nature. Is it possible in the 21st century for man to be the protector of natural spaces, or is man the destroyer? How can people strike a balance or find a pure connection in nature without destroying or harming what we seek to protect? Is it possible? 

 Thesis: Although Delaney is a nature lover, he is a destroyer of nature because he chose to live next to a wild habitat, his subdivision invades the desert they live by, and overpopulates the area.

Thesis Point one: Moves into natural habitats

·      Coyote

·      has domesticated pets of his own

·      subdivision has golf course and tennis courts

Thesis Point 2: Causes Destruction

·      Fire

·      Flood

Thesis Point 3: invading space

·      Increased population in wild

·      Building of walls

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Post #4 - Five Star Digital

“She would become like so many other people in cyberspace, hiding behind an image of something other than themselves.”

How do characters in the text use the Internet, and what do their online habits reveal about them? Likewise how do you use the internet and what do you think it reveals about you? 

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

In Five Star Billionaire, the characters use the Internet to create a new life for themselves and to entertain the people seeing them through the screen. Phoebe uses the internet to create attention for herself. She enjoys hearing people talk about her.  As for the entertainment, Gary uses the internet  for porn which allows him to relax and take  control of that part of his life. I use the internet to pass time and to connect with friends. Most of the time I am using the internet for social media. I like to see funny pictures my friends post and also to connect with my friends and family who live out of state. 

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Post #5 - Tortilla Curtain

In an interview on his personal webpage, T.C. Boyle says, 

The title comes from a common phrase for the Mexican border, The Tortilla Curtain, and I envision it in this way. We have the Iron Curtain, which as an image is impenetrable. You picture this wall across Eastern Europe. Then we have the Bamboo Curtain with regard to China. As I see it, that isn’t quite as impenetrable as an iron curtain. It shatters easily and has gaps in it. It’s not uniform. And now we have The Tortilla Curtain, which is the opposite of impregnable. It’s three strips of barbed wire with some limp tortillas hanging on it. The central question of this, and of the images of walls that appear throughout the book—the walls, the gates, walling people out, what do you wall in, all of that—has to do with us as a species and who owns what. Do you really own your own property? Do you have a right to fence people out? Do we have an obligation to assist people who come over that border, that wall, that gate? How is it that Americans are allowed to have this incredible standard of living while others do not? All of these questions, I think, are wrapped up in my view of our debate over immigration.

What do you think of the questions that Boyle poses in the above quote? As you start to read the text, identify a few ways that walls, gates, and ownership is represented. 

(2-3 paragraphs)

Due: Tuesday, October 20 @11:59

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

When people put up walls, they do this to either protect themselves from the outside or to create privacy. I think putting up walls is not effective. If someone wants to intrude, they are most likely prepared for any obstacle that stands in their way. Also putting up a wall for privacy is not very effective either, because people then start to question what you are doing behind your wall. In the Tortilla Curtain, Delaney’s community wants to put up a wall to fence out the bad activity that has been occurring and to keep out unwanted visitors. This to me is not right because they are just trying to fence out the bad when in reality, they are fencing out the good and the bad people. 

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Post #6 - Four Chambers 1

Identify a representation of cross-cultural contact and how/why it is significant in one of the essays or poems we have read thus far? Do you identify with the narrative/poem? Why? What are some stylistic elements that stood out to you in the writing? Why? 

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

Trails West by Nora Frazin is cross cultural because it talks about the landscape and environment that is only present in the desert areas of the world. After reading this I thought of the Tortilla Curtain because this was the exact landscape described in the book. I also picture my home in Arizona because I remember when I moved here, I was fascinated by the little lizards running around. The writing in this essay uses a lot of imagery. When I read the first couple lines I automatically set myself in the old west. I think this a great style of writing to have. 

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Post #7 - Heads or Tails?

The text is structured in such a way that it alternates back and forth between the Rincón’s and the Mossbacher’s. How does this affect you as a reader? What do you think Boyle is trying to do by using this technique? Can you give some examples of how this is powerful by drawing on the text?

Due: Thursday, October 22@11:59pm

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

Going back and forth between two characters was an effective technique in the Tortilla Curtain. I looked at it as seeing both sides of a problem. When Boyle would talk about how Delaney was living his life and dealing with his problems, it was also interesting to see how Candido was dealing with his life in the same chapter. I especially enjoyed to read about how bad Delaney felt about hitting Candido with his car, and then the next chapter of the book would be how Candido was surviving after he was hit. I think Boyle wrote this way because the characters were two completely different people living different lifestyles in close proximity to each other. 

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Post #8 - Muddy Feet Beneath Him

Boyle doesn’t offer a solution to the problems surrounding illegal immigration, for which he was praised by several reviewers after the book was published. Do you think he should have provided a more concrete solution? What might that solution be? Research some of the current history of immigration here and use the book to outline a possible solution. 

Due: Tuesday, October 27 @11:59

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

I think Boyle made a great decision to not offer a solution to the problems with illegal immigration. The book shows both sides of the argument. Delaney represents how most Americans feel about illegal immigration and Candido represents the life illegal immigrants have to live when they cross over the border. If he were to give a solution, many people may not read his book. I enjoyed seeing both sides to the situation. When Jack wants a wall built around the community to keep the bad out, this relates to the current problem of building a wall along the U.S. border. Not all illegal immigrants are bad, so building a wall to keep them out when they are trying to build a better life is not always the best solution. Instead of building a wall, we should come together as a country and make a decision the majority of us think is a better way to boost our economy back up. In the book, they held meetings to discuss the building of the wall, so I do not see why this couldn’t work for our nation. 

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Post 9 - Americanah

In Americanah, Ifemelu’s blog is a venue for expressing her experience as an African immigrant and for provoking a conversation about race and migration. She says, “I discovered race in America and it fascinated me” (406). She asks, “How many other people had become black in America?” (298). Why do you think her blog so successful? Are blogs and blogging outdated? If they are, what has replaced it a a vehicle for self-expression in American culture? Are there any real-life examples that you know of similar to this?

Due: November 5th

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

I think Ifemelu’s blogs are successful because of the topics she discusses. She mainly talks about the differences between what an African-American is and how they are different from someone who considers themselves African- American, but were born and raised in the United States. I do not think blogs are outdated, but I do think the style of blogs are changing and where people view them. Most of the time when I see a blog I read it through my Facebook page. They are mainly informational or funny. Personal blogs do not seem to be as common anymore. 

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Post 10 - Reluctant Fundamendalist Observation Assignment

PURPOSE

The purpose of this activity is to think about the idea of “bearing” that we talked about in our last class. Like Changez, you will be collecting data through observation.

PLACE Any public setting: a restaurant, a well populated street corner, the public library, a grocery store, the mall, lightrail, etc.

ACTIVITY Go to this social setting. See how much you can hear, see, and learn by observing one person. Take detailed notes of your observations and include pertinent quotes overheard. What do you notice about them? Create a description of their bearing and what you imagine their life is like.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

The Setting: Look around and describe the physical space. Sketch a rough floor plan including the arrangement of people. Focus on the details of the person. The People: Look around you and describe the people in this setting. Focus on the individual and what they doing in that social space? The Action: What are the relationships between people or groups? What do you imagine their life to be like? What’s important to them?

TIME Devote 15-20 minutes of your time to this activity and post to your Tumblr.

Due: Thursday, December 3 @11:59pm

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

I was riding the light rail through tempe on a day when it was over crowded with people.There was no space to move which caused pushing and shoving when it came to each stop.  As I look around I start of focus on this older couple standing next to me all dressed up in their ASU spirit. I watched how they reacted to people exiting and entering the train because after about 3 stops had passed, the amount of people on the light rail was still overwhelming. Since it was after the game, they discussed the excitement of ASU winning the game. They seemed like they were simple people that did not ride the light rail very often. I held a brief conversation with them while riding, judging by how they spoke, they were very proper, but this was not their first time dealing with the crazy crowds on the light rail. I enjoyed seeing how relaxed they were on the light rail since most of the older people I have met are not very relaxed when in a crowded area. It seemed as if they had been married awhile since they looked at each other in the eyes while they spoke, instead of looking around at all the people. They did not shout they just talked a normal volume. 

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Post 9 - Americanah

In Americanah, Ifemelu’s blog is a venue for expressing her experience as an African immigrant and for provoking a conversation about race and migration. She says, “I discovered race in America and it fascinated me” (406). She asks, “How many other people had become black in America?” (298). Why do you think her blog so successful? Are blogs and blogging outdated? If they are, what has replaced it a a vehicle for self-expression in American culture? Are there any real-life examples that you know of similar to this?

Due: November 5th

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

Ifemelu’s blog is successful because she talks about her experiences in America. Anyone who can relate to this topic or may even disagree with what she is writing about can get some information from her blogs. Any blog that is written from personal experience can be successful. I do not think blogs are outdated, but I do think personal blogs are becoming less common due to the increase in social media. More people are creating Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter pages to express themselves. I still see a lot of informational blogs that are shared through social media.

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

Humans, Destroyers of Nature

In today’s culture, the humans are trying to protect the nature that surrounds them. They try to do the best they can to protect the animals and plants, but a human does not realize they are becoming a destroyer of a natural habitat with the little things they do to help themselves survive. In T.C Boyle’s “The Tortilla Curtain,” Delaney Mossbacher is a destroyer of natural spaces because his subdivision invades the desert, the neighbors cause destruction to the habitat, and it begins to overpopulate the area.

Arroyo Blanco Estates is where the Mossbacher family, along with other families, live. The community consists of a tennis court, a golf course, and a country club for every in the subdivision to use. Delaney lives in this subdivision because it is close to nature so he can write his column, “Pilgrim of Topanga Creek,” which is featured in the nature magazine Wide Open Spaces. Delaney tries to prevent his neighbors from harming the wildlife because he thinks they are leaving food on their driveways for the coyotes and other wildlife in the area. In reality, having humans living in the area will bring wildlife to the neighborhoods because they smell the food that is being cooked and they also are attracted to the garbage the humans throw out. The morning Delaney hit Candido with his car, a coyote ran away with Osbert, Delaney’s dog. The coyote hoped over the six-foot fence and left the dog’s leg behind. This same incidents occurs again with the other dog. If the subdivision was not close to the desert, the coyote would not have interfered with the dogs. America, Candido’s wife, also had a run in with a coyote due to the invasion of the natural space. She was face to face with the coyote, until it ran away.

When any human being moves into a natural space, destruction to the natural environment is caused. The building of the subdivision causes some of this destruction, but most of the it is from the people living in the natural environment. The appliances humans use to the cars they drive harm the environment around them. Delaney admires all the nature around him while he hikes his nature trails. Since the subdivision is newly built, much of the natural environment is still present. Delaney tries to keep the natural areas free from litter, but his neighbors do not help him. Most of the time he is cleaning up after them. Delaney and his wife are putting up a new fence in their yard to help prevent the wildlife to enter. The fence is considered to be snake-proof. In chapter 11, the discussion of building a wall around Arroyo Blanco is brought up. Delaney and his naturalist opinions, do not want a wall to be built. If they wall is built, it will cause more destruction to the natural desert that surrounds the subdivision. The wall is built later on in the book. In chapter 18, a fire is created causing major destruction in the natural space. Any fire can wipe out small areas to even large areas of land, killing everything that was in its path.

Finally, when humans move into a natural space they tend to overpopulate the area. The Mossbacher’s bring their three pets along with their human selves to the area. If the natural space has already adjusted to the wildlife that lives in the area, this will bring them to see who else is sharing land with them. The area will be overpopulated with different types of animals, which may cause some hunting until the humans can prevent the wildlife to stay away from the subdivision. This brings reintroduces why the coyote took Delaney’s dog with it. The coyote saw him as food so he took what he could get. The wildlife does not know what a pet is, they just see the animal as either food or a threat. In chapter 13, Delaney writes how the coyotes are studying the behaviors of humans by hunting their pets in his nature column. The coyotes are stealing water from irrigation pipes as well.

Any human who devotes their life to protecting the environment will end up harming it in some way. Delaney tried his hardest to keep up with saving the natural space. Living in a modern world, it is hard to save and protect the environment every second you are alive. If the subdivision was more aware of how to live by a natural habitat, they could have protected more of the land and animals that were part of the desert.  In T.C Boyle’s “The Tortilla Curtain,” Delaney Mossbacher is a destroyer of natural spaces because his subdivision invades the desert, the neighbors cause destruction to the habitat, and it begins to overpopulate the area.

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Post #2 - Photograph

Choose one photograph that comments in some way on a significant moment in your family life. Post it in your Tumblr and describe what you remember about the moment captured. How does the image frame you as a person? (500-800 words)

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

This picture was taken about a year ago when I was able to visit my nephew back in Illinois. My nephew was born in Arizona and had lived down the street from me until my sister moved away last year. While he lived in Arizona, I was never interested in spending time with him. He was a little baby at the time and I was in high school more focused on my friends. I never realized I was so attached to him until I grew up little bit and realized my nephew did not live down the street from me anymore. I picked this moment because this was when I went back to Illinois and spent all the time I could with him. I am now old enough to realize that family is more important than anything. My nephew is finally at an age to where he is becoming a little boy and looking for someone to look up to. My mom has always told me how he asks about me and I used to just brush it off as if it did not mean anything to me. I now know that I need to be the best aunt I can be to him so I can inspire him and he can inspire me as he grows up. I have other nephews as well, but my nephew in this picture will always be closer to me since I watched him grow up and was a part of his everyday life for 4 years. 

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Post #1 - Culture

I’m working on updating all of the material for our course so everything is in our course Tumblr. 

The First thing I would like you to post on is:

What is your culture? What culture do you identify with and why. Keep in mind that culture is potentially MORE than ethnicity. There are many different cultures that we might identify with. What is dominant and how has/does it shape you. Your post should be at least 500 words and include an image. 

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

I grew up in a small town in Illinois. The town itself was majority Caucasian while I was growing up there. My town had about 12,000 people, but it was the hub of the other small farm towns surrounding the area. The majority of the town was middle to lower class families, but there was one section of the town that was where the upper middle class families lived. I happened to live in that small section, so I had a different view on life than most of the town did. My family was very proper and took care of what they owned. I was always taught to have good manners and always be on my best behavior when at another person’s house. This shaped who I was because Midwest families seem to focus on mannerisms and family connections. When I was entering into high school, my family moved to Arizona. This is when I realized I associated more with Caucasian culture because I entered into a high school that was dominantly Hispanic based culture. The students that were Caucasian at my high school, acted differently than I did, so that was hard to adjust to. Now I have adjusted to the Hispanic culture, but I do not identify with this culture specifically. I also identify with the Irish culture because my family heritage is majority Irish. We celebrate the major holidays and carry some of the food traditions that go along with the holiday culture. 

[taylorlittlejohn22-blog]

Essay #1  Taylor Littlejohn  Eng 317

As an immigrant to any county, finding your new identity is hard. In the book, Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok, Kimberly struggles to find her true identity as an Asian Immigrant. Kimberly lives in China Town in New York City, where she goes to school, works and spends time with her aunt that lives in New York, along with the friends that she meets through school. Although Kimberly is transitioning her life to live like an Asian American, she struggles to discover her true identity because her lifestyle is changing when she is at school, working at the factory with her mom, and when she is spending time with her friends.

 Fitting in at school is hard as a female immigrant because a girl usually wants to fit in with the current clothing trends of the country she is moving to. In Chapter 6, Kimberly is accepted into Harrison Prep, but she doesn't think she will fit in. During her meeting with Dr. Weston, she described how all the students look different because of the uniforms they are wearing. When trying to fit into a new culture, a girl wants to fit in with the top clothing rather than being an outcast. Kimberly is worried the students at Harrison Prep will pick on her because her family cannot afford expensive clothes. She knows she is smart enough to get the grades, but she also wants to look nice for her classmates. Also at the beginning of Chapter 7, Kimberly describes how uncomfortable it was to have to change in front of the other girls during gym class. I remember when I had to change during my gym class for the first time. I can relate to Kimberly because the experience is awkward for everyone. I did not focus on what other girls were wearing, I just changed as quick as I could and got out. This is another way Kimberly is trying to fit in. She is afraid the girls will judge her on what kind of undergarments she wears, but in reality, they probably are not even looking at her.  She would compare what they had compared to her, which is what other girls typically do. This made her feel uncomfortable because her mom had made all of her undergarments. While her mom is being supportive, Kimberly is embarrassed because her mom is not an expert at sewing.

 Having a parent who is still stuck in their old cultural ways is always hard on the child. When Kimberly is at the factory working with her mom, she is relating to her old culture because her mom is still stuck in the Chinese culture still. Throughout the whole book, her mom struggles with English. When Kimberly and her mom go to talk to Dr. Weston in chapter 7, Kimberly has to do some translating for her mom. This is an exciting moment for Kimberly because she is getting into a school that her friends are going to. Her mom does not really understand what is being said in the interview. Therefore, Kimberly is forced to explain what is going on. It is always hard to move forward in your new culture when your parent is slowing you down. I have friends who come from different cultures and whenever they call their parents, they are forced to speak in their native language. Most of my friends forget certain words from their native language because by now, English is more comfortable for them to speak. When Kimberly graduates, she is given an award. Her Aunt Paula was thrilled, but Ma did not understand what was being said so Kimberly was not as satisfied with her award. This also relates to the language barrier Kimberly and her mom have. It would be hard for me to receive an award for school and to look back to my mom looking confused. It would be hard for someone to find their identity when they are not on the same level of new cultural surrounding as their parents.

 As an immigrant to a new country, I think the most important thing is to find a good friend that shares some common interests as you. That way you can find someone who can introduce you to the new ways of life in the country.  Annette is one of Kimberly's best friends throughout the book. She struggles at times because she doesn't want Annette to know all the details of her life. When I moved to Arizona at the start of high school, all I wanted to do was to find a friend I could hang out with and show me what it is like to live in Arizona. I was confused when Kimberly did not tell Annette certain facts about her. Kimberly has shut down Annette a few times in the book when she is trying to support Kimberly. Annette was trying to help Kimberly when she sensed she was being distant. In chapter 6, Annette was trying to show support for Kimberly after her test to get into Harrison Prep. Kimberly did not want her to know that she was accepted into Harrison, but may not attend because she could not afford it. If Kimberly had told Annette that she could not afford Harrison Prep, she would not have judged her. When I met my first friend in Arizona, I did not tell her everything, but I did invite her over to my house to hang out. Kimberly did not want Annette to see where she lived because she was embarrassed. Annette also wrote to Kimberly a lot over the summer. She told Annette that her summer was very relaxing, but in reality she was struggling with the dust and heat conditions in the factory. I think it is cool Annette wrote to Kimberly over the summer, but I did not understand why Kimberly would lie to her about the factory job. She hides her full identity from Annette to make herself fit in more, but Annette would be supportive of Kimberly's true self. In reality, Kimberly is trying to create a false identity for her friends. In this situation, it would be hard for me to figure out my true identity in a new culture.

 Kimberly struggles to find her true identity throughout this book. As an immigrant to a new country, I think it would be hard to figure out who I really am as a person. Kimberly is trying to get rid of her old identity and try to make a new one. If Kimberly had been more open with her feelings and her life, she would have discovered her true identity sooner. Although Kimberly is transitioning her life to live like an Asian American, she struggles to discover her true identity because her lifestyle is changing when she is at school, working at the factory with her mom, and when she is spending time with her friends.