Research prompt

There are several reasons for your research project. First, it’s an opportunity to become familiar with the amazing resources of the Cerritos College Library. This is probably your first experience using the library’s databases, but you’ll use them more and more as your continue your education. Once, students and researchers were limited to the books and periodicals that were physically in a building. Now, information is organized and searchable.

You will practice and refine your search skills; specifically, with the exception of Google Scholar, you will not use Google or any of the mainstream search engines. You must learn to search using academic search engines; you’ll practice using various search terms; and you’ll develop skills that will be essential to your academic future.

You will also learn how and why to use MLA citation and format style, including in-text citations.

Your project will concentrate on the challenges facing Vietnamese immigrants to the U.S. during the 10 year period after the end of the Vietnam War. You will have the choice of two topics:
1. The resettlement policies of the U.S. government to Vietnamese immigrants who arrived in 1975 and then in 1978-80 (the so-called “boat people.”)
2. Explore the challenges facing the Vietnamese-America children whose parents arrived between 1975-80. Some of these stories were not published until later; but they should refer to those years when they first came in contact with American culture. You’ll find academic as well as first person material of the sort that Lac Su wrote (but you can’t use that book).

You must use at least five sources: one book (digital or hard copy), one scholarly journal, one newspaper or magazine, one website, and one video.

Your paper will be 2,000 words long. You will use Times New Roman, 12 point type, and MLA format and citation rules. The paper is due in-class at the final exam.

Example of literary essay

Student

Mr. Tompkins

English 100

November 12, 2016

Real Family Ties

            The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, is driven by tortured family relationships. Some are shaped by collisions of culture and class, others by the unfortunate differences that occur between family and friends. The book has many examples of traditions that worked in Afghanistan but don't in America, as well as problems between parents and kids that probably are universal. Amir's relationship with his father as well as Soraya with her father show the reader just how troubled they can get. Tradition, gender, honor, and pride are key factors to what twists up their relationship with their parents.

          As you read the book, you can’t help notice the similarities between Amir and Soraya. One major similarity is their parents. Both of their fathers worked in important jobs and held high social status in Kabul. Amir’s father was a businessman and Soraya’s father was a general. They were even well acquainted before moving the United States. Both wanted decent careers for their children. Baba insisted for Amir to pursue for a career in the medical or law field, General Taheri wished the same for his daughter. But despite their parent’s efforts, Amir and Soraya decided to take other career paths. Amir wanted to be a writer and Soraya a teacher. Each child has greatly disappointed their fathers. Amir when he had Hassan fight his battles for him and Soraya when she fled with her boyfriend and possibly causing her mother’s stroke. As a result of their past mistakes, both Amir and Soraya have lived with the guilt.

          Despite the similarities shared by Amir and Soraya, tradition is a major issue that separates the two.  For one, gender plays a big role in shaping a relationship. Soraya, being a woman, is not entitled to the same liberties as men are according to Afghan culture. One example of this is when Amir sees Soraya in the flea market and begins to talk with her. Soraya then brings up how she heard he was a storyteller. Amir was taken by surprise by this and questioned if her father had been the one who told her. But then put that thought to rest as he explained how Afghan men do not speak of single men in front of their daughters, whereas men could speak of single women.

            There didn’t seem to be a problem when Amir was talking about Soraya to his father. Baba explained how Soraya’s father is a Pashtun, which means he has too much pride and honor to talk about single men in the presence of wives or daughters. One could say he is a traditionalist where Amir’s father seems to be lenient when it comes to old fashion ways, like how he drinks and is not a strong believer in God.  Another difference between the genders is that women are looked down upon when having sex with men, while men seem to not be dishonored. This was the case at Soraya’s cousin’s wedding when Soraya overhears two women talking behind her back. They were saying how the groom picked a good and “pure” bride, not like her cousin. Soraya cries to Amir about the ludicrous fact that the men have slept with numerous women and yet they are not talked bad about.

          As the characters grow, so does their relationship with their parents. From the beginning of the book, when Amir is in his childhood, he feels distant from his father and his father feels the same way. He once said, “Had I not seen him come out of his mother’s whom with my own eyes, I would think he is not my son.” Baba compares him to his other son Hassan and says how he sees more potential in Hassan than Amir. Amir and Baba have quarreled over Amir’s stubbornness. When Amir asks his father if he would ever consider getting new servants, Baba snapped at him and had become ashamed of his son. Another time they butted heads was when they were fleeing from Kabul and had arrived at the checkpoint. There, Baba confronted a Russian soldier and stood his ground against him in defense of a woman. Amir worried his father would die and pleaded for him to sit back down. Baba then turns to Amir in frustration and asked him if he had taught him nothing.  

            Things seem to be this way until Baba and Amir settle in America. When Amir graduated from high school, Baba took Amir to a bar and bought him a Ford Gran Torino. It is here where we begin to see a shift in the father-son relationship. Amir feels a kind of respect from his father, and he also feels love. Their relationship shifts ever more when Baba is diagnosed with cancer. When Baba collapses in the flea market and Amir runs to his side saying, “Your son is right here.” After this incident, Amir and Baba grow in their relationship. Amir looked after Baba, taking care of his medical and personal needs. Baba even did the honorable act by knocking on the door of Soraya’s father to ask permission for Amir and Soraya to get married. We see that at first, Soraya’s father is hesitant to have Amir be with his daughter. In the flea market, when Amir presents Soraya with a roll filled with his stories, General Taheri showed up and threw the roll in the garbage. General Taheri seems to be very protective of his daughter, probably due to her past history. Ever since Soraya ran away with her boyfriend, acting against her parent’s beliefs, Soraya had been a bit of an outcast. Taheri also put a strict requirement for a suitor. But eventually General Taheri warms up to Amir and Soraya and allows them to marry.

          The relationship between Soraya and her father and the relationship between Amir and his father are dictated by many factors. Though there are a few similarities shared by the two families, tradition seems to be the key element that makes them dissimilar. And as the characters grow, we see that their connection with their parents softens.

The truth about folks who read

Why you should read (seriously)

Essay 2: Literary Analysis of City of Thieves

Write a four-to five-page literary analysis essay on the topic from the list below.  A literary analysis asserts an interpretation of a literary work and supports that interpretation with analysis of specific examples and details from the text of the literary work.

"[My grandfather] talked about his childhood, about the war, about coming to America. But mostly he talked about one week in 1942, the first week of the year, the week he met my grandmother, made his best friend, and killed two Germans." David Benioff, City of Thieves

Is it ironic that war - the insane, murderous collision of men and deadly machines that has marked society since the ancient Greeks began to record history - generates the other extreme of human behaviour? Does cruelty provoke its opposite, tenderness and a realization that salvation lies in our shared destiny? Most of us can't answer that from first-hand experience, but if experience was the only way to learn about the world we'd be in trouble. In City of Thieves, David Benioff brings us to Leningrad in 1942, and introduces us to Lev Beniov, 17 years old, born and raised in "Pita." In that one week, Lev learned about war, about courage, about friendship, and about love.

1. Your assignment is to examine that first week of 1942. Find the horrors - hunger-weakened doctors treating casualties nightly without anesthesia; starving citizens dying on their neighborhood sidewalks; young women raped nightly by German officers; Russian prisoners executed because they could read and many others. Then, examine the other side of this coin by examining the world of Lev and Kolya, which - despite the insanity around them - is bursting with curiousity, discovery and an appreciation of life. Theirs is an unlikely friendship, but it's forged in these incredible circumstances. Explain the relationship between the loss of humanity on one hand, and heroism and self-sacrifice on the other. How did all this produce the rich, lifelong friendship?

2. At the beginning of the novel, Lev is a scared teenager, too shy to tell Vera he likes her, but by the end of the book he shows he is capable of acts of both bravery and calculation. How does Kolya help Lev develop as a young man?

Facts of the Siege of Leningrad

Hidden horrors of Siege of Leningrad

The History.com summation of Seige of Leningrad

The Siege of Leningrad

Reading Presentation: fiction

Reading Presentation: Fiction

Reading Analysis Guide for fiction

On the day that you present in front of the class you must also write your response to the questions below and hand in your answers. You must hand in your answers on the day you signed up for.

Guidelines for Reading Analysis Presentation

Sign-up on the presentation on the board at the end of class or during a break. Make a note of the chapters and presentation date that you sign up for.

You will be presenting your analysis in class along with other classmates. The class will be counting on you to be on top of the article you are covering, so please be prepared!

You will be graded primarily on your written analysis (breakdown of scoring below), but outstanding presentations will be rewarded.

Read the chapters or section that you will be analyzing carefully. On your first reading, just try to identify the main idea(s) and get a feel for the writer’s approach and the flow of the chapter. On your second reading, go over the text more carefully; notice how the writer creates characters and tells the story.

To prepare your written analysis:

Identify the author’s name and the title of the chapter(s) you are covering

1.    What is the central theme of your chapters? Your answer should be a complete sentence in your own words (not a quote!). Be as specific as possible, but remember that the theme of a book refers to the overall concerns of the author. Don't confuse this with the plot, which is what happens chapter to chapter as the book moves ahead.

2.   There are several parts to question two. What are the concerns of the characters in the chapter(s) you have read? This book is a work of fiction, but do you think the events in the book could happen in real life? Do you think the way the characters act is believable? If so, does it make the book less effective?

3.    Is the central theme expressed explicitly or implicitly? The claim is explicit if the writer spells out what it is. The claim is implicit if the writer only implies the claim but does not state it outright.

4.    Did the events and actions in your chapter(s) surprise you or change your mind about the characters in the book?

5.    What is the tone - the feel - of the chapter(s) you read?

6.    What things in the story give the most insight into human nature?

7.     Does the writer leave the opinions and feelings to the readers? If so, why? Is this approach effective?

8.    Make up a question to ask the class about your chapter.

Text for example essay

Our Gas Guzzlers, Their Lives

Nicholas Kristof JUNE 28, 2007

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Photo

Water levels have dropped at Lake Tanganyika in Bujumbura, Burundi. Credit Will Okun

BUJUMBURA, Burundi

If we need any more proof that life is unfair, it is that subsistence villagers here in Africa will pay with their lives for our refusal to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

When we think of climate change, we tend to focus on Alaskan villages or New Orleans hurricanes. But the people who will suffer the worst will be those living in countries like this, even though they don’t contribute at all to global warming.

My win-a-trip journey with a student and a teacher has taken us to Burundi, which the World Bank’s latest report shows to be the poorest country in the world. People in Burundi have an annual average income of $100, nearly one child in five dies before the age of five, and life expectancy is 45.

Against that grim backdrop, changing weather patterns in recent years have already caused crop failures — and when the crops fail here, people starve. In short, our greenhouse gases are killing people here.

“If the harvest fails in the West, then you have stocks and can get by,” said Gerard Rusuku, an agriculture scientist here who has been studying the impact of global warming in Africa. “Here, we’re much more vulnerable. If climate change causes a crop failure here, there’s famine.”

Nicholas Kristof

Guillaume Foliot of the World Food Program notes that farmers here overwhelmingly agree that the weather has already become more erratic, leading to lost crops. And any visitor can see that something is amiss: Africa’s “great lakes” are shrinking.

Burundi is on Lake Tanganyika, which is still a vast expanse of water. But the shoreline has retreated 50 feet in the last four years, and ships can no longer reach the port.

“Even the hippos are unhappy,” said Alexander Mbarubukeye, a fisherman on the lake, referring to the hippos that occasionally waddled into town before the lake retreated.

The biggest of Africa’s great lakes, Lake Victoria, was dropping by a vertical half-inch a day for much of last year. And far to the north, once enormous Lake Chad has nearly vanished. The reasons for the dipping lake levels seem to include climate change.

Greenhouse gases actually have the greatest impact at high latitudes — the Arctic and Antarctica. But the impact there isn’t all bad (Canada will gain a northwest passage), and the countries there are rich enough to absorb the shocks.

In contrast, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned this year that the consequences for Africa will be particularly harsh because of the region’s poverty and vulnerability. It foresees water shortages and crop failures in much of Africa.

“Projected reductions in yield in some countries could be as much as 50 percent by 2020, and crop net revenues could fall as much as 90 percent,” the panel warned. It also cautioned that warming temperatures could lead malaria to spread to highland areas. Another concern is that scarcities of food and water will trigger wars. More than five million lives have already been lost since 1994 in wars in Rwanda, Burundi and Congo, and one factor was competition for scarce resources.

“It seems to me rather like pouring petrol onto a burning fire,” Jock Stirrup, the chief of the British defense staff, told a meeting in London this month. He noted that climate change could cause weak states to collapse.

Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s president, describes climate change as “the latest form of aggression” by rich countries against Africa. He has a point. Charles Ehrhart, a Care staff member in Kenya who works full time on climate-change issues, says that the negative impact of the West’s carbon emissions will overwhelm the positive effects of aid.

“It’s at the least disastrous and quite possibly catastrophic,” Mr. Ehrhart said of the climate effects on Africa. “Life was difficult, but with climate change it turns deadly.”

“That’s what hits the alarm bells for an organization like Care,” he added. “How can we ever achieve our mission in this situation?”

All this makes it utterly reckless that we fail to institute a carbon tax or at least a cap-and-trade system for emissions. The cost of our environmental irresponsibility will be measured in thousands of children dying of hunger, malaria and war.