I have read the book Motherland by Fern Schumer Chapman. As a whole i felt that the book was not worth reading.
It starts out with a daughter in about her thirties expressing how she has never really felt close to her mother, mostly because she knows nothing of her past history because her mother refuses to talk about it. The most she does know that her mother is a Jewish survivor of World War 2.
After she explains that for about thirty or so pages Chapman goes on to explain her trip to Germany with her mother when she finally agrees to it. And that's about it.
I honestly found the book very predictable, mostly because almost everyone knows how terribly the Jewish people were treated during World War 2. I felt there was no element of surprise to it, so this wouldn't be a very suitable book for those who enjoy adventure and surprises. I think that those who may enjoy this book are probably people who have been through what Chapman's mother has been through because they can better relate to it.
What i think the theme of the book is or what it teaches is that your past is what makes you who you are. For all her life Chapman had felt empty. She always felt that a part of her was missing due to never knowing anything about her grandparents, the land where her mother grew up, or even what German dishes her mother used to eat. Even after she had gotten married and had two children she never felt truly complete until she and her mother went back to Germany to reclaim their past. I think that is an important thing the book teaches, because without your past you can never truly know who you are.
Another theme of the book is the importance of the bond between a mother and her daughter. Both Chapman and her mother Edith always felt incomplete, and part of that reason was because they never faced their past or knew much about it, but another part would have to be because they never felt close to each other. Chapman wanted desperately to know about her past but Edith did not want to relive the horrors of it. It wasn't until their trip to Germany together that they finally started to understand each other.
I myself have never felt that close to my mother by it never made me feel incomplete the way Chapman felt.
I would not recommend this book nor would i read it a second time.
I am reading the book Motherland by Fern Schumer Chapman. It wasn't necessarily the title that attracted me to the book but more its cover and the summary on the inside.
The cover had a very vintage feel to it so it was like going back in time. It has a table with a lace tablecloth on it and a vase with flowers. There is also a picture frame on top of the table but it has no picture in it, which gives the book a sense of mystery. Also the colors of the cover are very washed out so it's like looking at an old photograph.
The summary on the inside talks of a girl going off to America just as Germany had entered World War 2. The girl named Edith cuts off all her old memories of the past and tries to start a new life. But everywhere she goes she always feels out of place. After so many years of denying her past and trying to forget she and her daughter, who had never really known anything about her, decide to go back to their roots in Germany.
Now this gets me wondering to what secrets they might find in Germany. As I am about to start the book i see the epigram. "Like those pear-shaped Russian dolls that open at the middle to reveal another and another, down to the pea-sized, irreducible minim, may we carry our mothers forth in our bellies. May we, borne onward by our daughters, ride in the envelope of Almost-Infinity, that chain letter good for the next twenty-five thousand days of their lives." ---Maxine Kumin.
I think that has something to do with Edith and her daughter finding each other and becoming closer. I think it means that each of us of a piece of our mothers inside us and that we always will.
Of course when i start the book i was a bit disappointed. I expected flashbacks to the war, stories of cruel torture and love. But the most I got was a daughter going on and on about how she knows nothing about her mother. Hopefully though, the book will get better.
"Its like the caste system in India. If you have more than 2,000 you're like a Broman or something"
WASHINGTON --- At first we all thought facebook was just another social networking site, but a recent study shows that teenagers all over the country are becoming obsessed with this once innocent "facebook".
"I wouldn't say im addicted exactly. Its just become one of those necessities in life, like water, food, makeup, or a cellphone." States Mellisa Brooke a Rosetown high school sophmore in Augusta, Georgia. "I mean, how do you expect anyone to know about the important things in life, like who's dating who, and how many more friends Sara has then me, or what David had for dinner without a facebook?"
Reporter Gennene Roberts interviewed another student, Josh Littlebourn, a junior at West Minister high school in San Diego.
"Exactly how many friends do you have on facebook?" Asked Roberts.
"I have exact;y 1,821 friends currently. But i just sent out 42 new friend requests this morning!" Stated Littlebourn.
"Do you know all of these people in person?" Inquired Roberts.
"Well no...I've only had actual conversations with about 40 of them...but the rest were on my friend suggestions list! So I'm sure i know them in some way!"
Like Josh, thousands of other teens started to have only had actual conversations with less than half of their facebook friends.
"Having less than 500 facebook friends is looked down upon in facebook society." Says junior Laura Lambert. "Its like the caste system in India. If you have more than 2,000 you're like a Broman or something. But if you have less than 500 you're one of the untouchables, and no one wants to be untouched."
"You mean Brahman." Corrected Roberts.
"Whatever."
"All she ever does is poke!" Hysterically exclaims concerned mother Martha Stewart. "During school, after school, at dinner, even in the shower!"
"If i don't constantly poke back, Jeremy will win the poke war." Says Jessie Stewart.
"What exactly is the point of these poke wars?" Asks reporter Roberts.
"Umm...I'm not sure, I just know that i can't let Jeremy win!"
"How do you win a poke war?"
"Well...I'm not exactly sure about that either."
And just like Jessie's mother parents all over the country have shown quite a concern about their children's poking addictions.
"When was the last time you slept for more than 2 hours at a time?" Roberts asks Benton Nelson, a freshman at Lakewood high school in Massachusetts.
"I'd say about a little over a week ago."
"Whats been keeping you up?"
"FARMVILLE!" Exclaims Nelson.
Nelson states that he spends 6-12 hours a day playing farmville, a virtual game on facebook where players grow and sell their own crops and can buy items for their avatar.
As solution for the desperate cries of the parents all over the country, The Children's Aid Association decided to start therapy sessions for the children who have become obsessed with facebook; it is called the FA: Facebookaholics Anonomous.
During one of the sessions, they decided to help Jessi with her poking problem. They decided to introduce her to a regular person that she was supposed to make friends with. But she kept physically poking the person and when he didn't poke back she almost clawed him to death.
Facebook is the largest social network site with about 500 million users around the world. It was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. People argue on the effects of facebook. Some say its a great way to re-connect with old classmates and keep up with your friends. Others say its a complete waste up time and its taking over the lives of our teens today. Sarah Lacy says in an article that facebook helps her be more considerate towards her friends because she can now remember their birthdays. "My parents and in-laws know everything happening in my life so that when I call home, we have substantive conversations, not the awkward, “So…..whatcha been up to?" variety. " ( Sarah Lacy ) Someone else argues that facebook is bad for your relationships. "The social networking site Facebook puts its users abreast of the activities of their contacts, but also can be a poison for relationships and, as revealed in a recent study, is increasing jealousy and tensions between their supporters." (why Facebook is bad for relationships) He says in his article that facebook helps you see things that would other wise be unimportant such as a photo that your spouse has taken with someone else or a wall post he has left on an ex girlfriends page. Other people argue that facebook is taking over peoples lives. ""I'm an addict. I just get lost in Facebook," Newton said. "My daughter gets so PO'd at me, and really it is kind of pathetic. It's not something I'm particularly proud of. I just get so sucked in." (Elizabeth Cohen) Paula Pile a therapist said she had three cliets with "facebook problems."
January,
I can't believe this! The thought of my own sister marrying the man i love-- who in fact does not love her-- is just repulsing! I would take a thousand beatings from Mama Elena; I just can't have Pedro marry Rosaura! Oh what a wonderful man Pedro is: loving, charming handsome. Rosaura does on deserve him! She cant hold a conversation with a tree let alone cook! Oh how i will miss his touch...ever so gentle. This just can't happen! I will end it myself if i have to. Yes that is what i will do; I will end their marriage even if it takes me a lifetime. Pedro will hold me in his arms once more. We will once again be one.
In the story of Oedipus is was said that he would grow up to marry his mother. When he found this out he left home and a few years later when he came back he had met an attractive woman. He married that woman and later on found out it was actually his mother. A 26 year old man named Danny James Bass had married his 43 year old mother Anne Garton Bass and claimed that he did not find out she was actually his mother a months after their marriage. Both Danny and Oedipus felt attraction to their mothers and married them without knowing who it was.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/24/us/man-who-married-his-mother-is-indicted-on-incest-charges.html
It started with the fire,
In her eyes glowed an impetuous desire.
As magic has and magic will,
What promises might this mystery fulfill?
Trouble comes from all different peaks,
The girl with the charm is the one who seeks.
Innocent ardor may it have seemed,
But in her eyes showed a pestiferous gleam.
Ever cautious she lifted the dome,
Heart throbbing she let her excitement roam.
Panting in and out,
Watching hellish monstrosity go about.
Lips creeping up at each corner,
Her job had been done, the world now in horror.
You are The Key to Your Own Success
A Review of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
We can all agree that you, yourself, is the only one who can decide who and what you want to be in life. Both the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and the article “U.S. Student Became Mexican Drug Kingpin” By James C. McKinley Jr. and Elisabeth Malkin help support this idea. The Glass Castle my Jeanette Walls is an autobiography about how Walls grew up in poverty but still succeeded in life against the odds. The article “U.S. Student Became Mexican Drug Kingpin” By James C. McKinley Jr. and Elisabeth Malkin talks about a Mexican-American man who grew up in a decent household, had about everything he could in order to do something with his life, but instead decided to become a drug dealer. These two pieces of literature teaches readers that no matter where you come from, or how you grow up, or what impact society has on you, evidently your goals and what you want to do in life is all up to you.
My definition of success is being content with who you are and what you have in life. At this point my only goal in life is to be a good person. The obstacles I may have to face before reaching that goal is probably deciding the difference between whats right and whats wrong, but then again we all have different definitions of that. The Glass Castle taught me that if you want to get anywhere in life you have to work for it and do it yourself. I say this because when Walls was growing up her parents did not really raise her in a way that would benefit her. She never had a stable home and she never went to school for very long, but she managed to get into an Ivy League school and become an author. Despite the path her parents had carved for her she had taken her own route. The same goes
Edgar Valdez Villarreal from the “U.S. Student Became Mexican Drug Kingpin” article. His parents planned for him to go to college, start a family, etc. but instead he decided to take a different path in life. The most inspirational part of The Glass Castle was the ending, when the whole family finally got together after Walls' father died, after all these years of not really communicating each other. “ Also, most people in Welch had a pretty good idea how bad off the Walls family was, but the truth was, they all had their problems, too-- they were just better than we were at covering them up. I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even the people who seemed to have it all had their secrets”(Walls 270). It show's that they all got over their differences and decided to deal with each others individuality so that they could once again be a family. The reason this part of the book was so inspiring to me is because I hope that one day my family and I can be as close as theirs despite our differences.
The Glass Castle starts off with a scene of Walls watching her mom digging through a trashcan and her inside a car waiting to go to a party, but being to embarrassed to come out of the car, in case her mom might recognize her and start a scene.”I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster... To the people walking by, she probably looked like any of the thousands of homeless people in New York City”(Walls 3). The book then flashes back to her earliest memory from her childhood and continues on from there with memories until it explains how it gets to point where her parents are homeless while she has money to spare. I liked the way the book was written because it captures you in beginning and keeps you reading because it doesn’t give anything away till the right moment.
I definitely would recommend this book to others. The glass castle gives you a real insight into what its like to live in poverty, to not have anything, but shows that handwork can get you anywhere. Jeanette walls is an amazing raconteur and tells her story with lots of imagery and detail. Both the article and The Glass Castle show that you must carve your own path in life. What everyone else thinks and what everyone else wants you to be should have no impact on what you think and what you want to be and do with your life.
I am reading the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. As far as I can tell it is about a girl who's parents are homeless. She tried to help them but they tell her they don’t need help. They tell her they choose to live this way. So far I think the book its pretty alright, I really haven’t gotten that far into it yet. I think the theme right now is, to look at the world from different perspectives, because the girls mother claims that even though that she and her father are homeless, they are as happy as they've been. She wants the girl to understand that you don’t need money and things to be happy.
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