Jonathan Gringauz
Formative blog post 2
October 19 2014
Question Chosen:
How did historical events influence the ideas in
the novel? What cultural issues may have influenced, challenged, or
inspired the author?
This is actually a very hard question to answer
based on this book, because this book is a based on and actually was directly
based on events that took place in china! And so think that based on the fact
that the author has the same name (just inverted) as the main character from
the book and is also from china cannot be just a crazy one in a million chance.
Since I do not know how old the author of this book is I am going to assume
that she was also born around the same time frame as the main character. And so
as a result, I think that this book is merely just a way that she interpreted
as what was happening in her native country during her childhood and the major
beginning part of her life. I believe that she may have exaggerated some events
that happened in history for the sake of the book to make it more interesting
but I just think that she took things that she remembered and made them a bit
more interesting or just transformed them into something that she interpreted
the meaning of that certain event. I think that a major example of this in our
day-to-day lives, is when we are socializing and telling each other our
experiences that we have had. And I admit, that I can without a doubt,
exaggerate to a certain extent. For many reasons, to impress the people I’m
socializing with, keep them entertained longer, or sometimes, just do it to
make yourself look cool, and confident.
Grandpa Hong’s bookstall was on the corner at
the entrance of our alley. All the children in the neighborhood loved the stall
and Grandpa Hong, with his gray hair and wispy beard. He would look at us
through his old yellowed glasses and smile. He knew just which books each of us
liked best and that I would choose fairy tales, Ji-yong would get adventure
stories,
and Ji-yun would want animal stories. If you
Read the books at Grandpa Hong’s bookstall,
You could rent sixty picture books for thirty
Fen. Two books for a fen! What a deal! After
Helping us with our choices, Grandpa Hong
Always gave us each an extra book for free.”
The quote above is, to me, a typical memory I
would remember from my grandparents, and in my opinion, it has to do something
with the author’s real memories of china. Now, it could be loosely based on
reality. But it is highly likely that in some way, during some day, something
similar happened to her during her time living in China.
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