Summary: The Girl In Translation

Imagine being kidnapped and forced to work night and day on purses, in addition hardly any food or rest. In Threads, a novel by Ami Polonsky, Yuming, a thirteen-year-old girl, is trapped inside of a pink factory along with twenty-two other children, who are rumored to have been there for almost ten years. After finding a small piece of scrap paper, Yuming writes a note desperately asking for help and sticks it inside one of the purses. Clara, a twelve-year-old girl, finds the note inside of a purse at the Bellman’s department store in Evanston, Illinois. The note Yuming wrote stated “The middle of May. To Whom It May Concern: Please, we need help! There is pale pink factory, few hours outside of Beijing, somewhere in Hebei Province. 22 children in

“Bilingualism en casa” by Ana Celia Zentella examines Puerto Rican families that reside in “el bloque,” and how the observed individuals communicate at home in comparison to how they interact with others outside. Depending on who they encounter and how often, the results of their familiarity with their first and second language varies greatly. The tenant’s first language is Spanish, however, Zentella discerns the assorted progression of their first language. She finds that after moving to an English speaking country, they either get consumed by the second language, are stuck with only learning a few words to get by comfortably, or are equally proficient in both. The author lives with these families to make observations on the children of migrant

Thus, as she walks down the darkened streets of her neighborhood, Nell notes that she particularly enjoys her costume because it enables her to be “unseen, unknown, potentially terrifying, though all the time retaining, underneath, [her] own harmless, mundane, and dutiful self” (27). Nell had even attempted to capture this same duality when she constructed the costume, hoping that her paper mâché creation would convey both the “grisly legend” and the “joke” of the original story (24, 25). Unfortunately, the reception by the adults of the community is not what she hopes for. Over and again, they ask her, “’And who are you supposed to be?’” (28). On the other hand, Nell’s high-strung little sister Lizzie knows exactly how to react to her disguise—she screams in terror, and her screams only intensify when Nell reveals that she is the one beneath the

The picture book being analysed is ‘My Two Blankets’ by Irena Kobald and Freya Blackwood. This book was awarded the ‘children’s book council of Australia’ Picture Book of the year for 2015.

When they arrive at their destination, the author gives up another clue toward the extent of the childen’s poverty. “Then we check out that we on fifth avenue and everybody dressed up in stockings. One lady in a fur coat hot as it is. White folks crazy.” (Bambara 471)

In “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez, he reveals the hardships he faced growing up as a young Hispanic boy with a bilingual tongue in an American Society. Rodriguez felt that being bilingual was more of a burden rather than an advantage, by cause of his parents not allowing him to speak English in their home, he felt that he was being yielded from learning English as well as impeding his social growth outside of his home. Rodriguez argues that because of his alienation from the community and lack of orientation in self-identity, he believes that bilingual education should not be something that should be integrated into a child’s life, but have children assimilate to the country they are in as well as the predominant

In the novel, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, a young confused girl has trouble finding herself as she grows up in the Latino section of Chicago. Esperanza and her family move to a small, crumbling red house in a poor urban neighborhood. Determined, she decides that someday she will leave and move somewhere else and totally forget everything about Mango Street. Throughout the novel, Esperanza significantly matures sexually and emotionally. The many stories of her neighbors gives a full image of what Mango Street is like and showing the many possible paths Esperanza may follow in the near future. However towards the end, she begins to write as a way of expressing herself and as a way to escape the

“Fine. I’ll take her, but only if you have Dad legally sign the company branch I work at over to me.”

Language is the skill created in order to communicate with others. In the essay “Translating Translation: Finding the Beginning” by Alberto Alvaro Rios, the author demonstrates his interpretation of language and translation. In “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass he explain his own hardships in trying to learn to communicate. Rios focuses more on translations of language, while Douglass expands on the struggle to learn the language. In both essays, the authors give their own experience with communication.

This is an example of Cisneros childhood and wanted the reader of this short story to understand that growing up with little wasn’t always the worst (Frever 126). While at the flea market the two young girls finally get what they wanted the most, they end up getting all the Barbies they ever could want. This occurs when a warehouse full of barbies burnt down and somewhere salvageable after. The two girls are incredibly excited about their “new dolls”. However, the dolls aren’t in the best condition. One the girls go on to say that they smelled like “smoke” and were “soaked” in water (Cite). The two girls are described by Cisneros in this situation as grateful for getting these “new” dolls (Cite) . Also she wanted the reader to understand and take in that society wants women to have a perfect body, clothes and hair, which is conveyed through the description of the dolls not being in the condition they were bought in. Cisneros wanted to demonstrate throughout “Barbie-Q” the ideal image of women in society. By exposing the fact of being materialistic and perfect like a Barbie doll isn’t how real young women are. Also by expressing the fact that everyone doesn’t grow up with lots of money and that women come in a

When a person wants to come to the United States, they think of the American Dream. The American Dream states an opportunity of life. When coming to the United States of America from your country, usually people have difficulties in surviving of education and work. Though in “A Girl in Translation,” by Jean Kwok talks about Kim and Kim’s mother get an opportunity to live in the United States of America. Along the way, Kim and her family have struggles through life awhile living in the United States of America. Kim is entering a different world where she encounters difficulties in her life but she gets through the experiences. Overcoming these experiences that she had to go through, she had family and friends to help her on the advice

When I cuddle up on the couch with my blanket, waves of emotion overflow me. As a baby, I adored the cartoon “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh,” which prompted my parents to buy me my blanket. The pictures decorating the cloth present two of the most popular characters from when it was made, Pooh Bear and Piglet, showing the two friends giving each other a hug seemed to create a higher aura of kindness and love that further improves bad emotions. Small patches of patterns surround the centerpiece, the multicolored squares, plain white clouds, and colorful minimalistic depictions of bees. The previously bright and

As my 4 year old self laid upon the Kazak carpet that coated my entire living room, I seamlessly attempted to assemble my Matryoshka doll back into its original state. While my fingers lightly stroked the wooden components of the doll, I realized how captivating the complexity of it was. While I was a child, I invariably portrayed the doll as merely a “toy” with an interesting concept behind it; however, as I emerged into my adolescent years, I understood that the Matryoshka symbolized my process of growth and adaptation as an American immigrant.

After Julia and her family got used to living in New York, getting accustomed to the type of buildings and their new environment in general became easier but being able to be seen through two different personas was much harder. Julia expressed this constant dilemma in knowing how to represent both her Dominican and now American side without losing “Julia”. The poem “Bilingual Sestina”, represents this challenge and how Julia found herself adopting english into her life with the chance of losing touch with spanish. That is what this poem deals with, the loss of a special feeling through the gradual loss of a language, “even spanish failed us back then when we saw how frail a word is when faced with the thing it names”(Julia Alvarez's "Bilingual

In Richard Rodriguez's essay , “ Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood ” he writes about how he struggled as a child who only spoke Spanish language but lives in a society where the “public” language is English . He believes that speaking proper English will somehow help him fit into society and find his “true” identity. Throughout the essay he contrast the Spanish language identity and English language identity. As a young boy, Rodriguez finds consolation and safety in his home where they only speak Spanish. He feels that he only has a true identity when he is at home surrounded by those who speak the same language as him . On the contrary , he becomes trapped and disoriented when not being able to speak / understand the English language . He feels as if he is not part of “their world” and has no identity in society. By comparing and contrasting Spanish language identity and English language identity . Rodriguez's essay is an example that speaking different languages should not make anyone choose an identity . In fact being able to speak and understand multiple languages in his case Spanish and English makes the language a part of his identity, but with two different sides .