- a story about Native American society in Eastern Washington
- isolated in a reservation
- illusion and dream of regaining back their original culture
- the story's main themes: 1) alcoholism: families crumbled, 2) basketball: a game to determine the best player, the hero, 3) storytelling: not stories from the past but from present, stereotyped Native American culture
Jennifer Government by Max Barry
- a story of extreme capitalism where the government no longer holds control of the society, instead, individual corporations try to win one another
- the story rotates around two main character; Jennifer Government as the protagonist and John Nike as the antagonist. Had past relationship
- main themes: materialism, consumerism, capitalism, funding enemies, profits over people (asking for money to execute the killers of the daughter; excerpt), freedom by force (power)
- corporations use military tactics to attack their opponents; they do not hesitate to kill those who are in their way
- people are on their own
The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle
- immigrants struggled in achieving the American Dream
- "tortilla," in regards to The Iron Curtain, authentically symbolizes the border between the U.S and Mexico
- cover analysis: 1) cactus: live through difficulties, 2) dark at the bottom, bright at the top: the immigrants live on the bottom of the canyon while the rich white Americans live in luxury, 3) gate around the community: to fence out the colored
- main theme: the idea of American Dream gets twisted because of the situation, exploitation (low wage), powerlessness (uncontrollable natural disaster)
- major difference in the American Dream with The Glass Castle: the A.D can be achieved through hard work and opportunity, but in The Tortilla Curtain, the story is a fiction that tells tragedy, and in the story, working as hard as one could alone is not enough
No comments:
Post a Comment