Final Week Blog

In Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah, a little girl, distant from the rest of her family grows into a woman. When I finished this book, I felt really sad. Adeline had gone through so much, and she did so without even breaking down, a feat that many could not achieve. She was abused by her brothers and her mother. She had to deal with early deaths of her family, dealing with financial problems once her father died. And much much more. I felt like Adeline was a very strong person. I personally would not have dealt with these kind of things as well as she did. This book was quite an eye opener, I finally realized how hard other people's lives could be and how important doing the right thing is. I highly recommend this book to others if they can take reading a boring first quarter of the book.

Week Five

Welcome to Week Five, and our last week week of blogging. This week's post should be on your overall thoughts about the book. It must be a ten sentence reflection. You do not need to comment on anyone else's blog, but your post should be up here by Sunday, March 29 You should have made up any missing work by then as well.

Week 4 Response

In Falling Leaves, the grandma talks about how she had binded her feet to make them look good. In China at the time, small feet on a woman was very attractive apparently. So she had hurt herself to enhance the way she looks. But when she is older she tells her daughter never to bind her feet. Basically, the grandma had hurt herself to be more accepted in society. Do people have to go through pains to be accepted in society? I think that a lot of people do have to go through pains to be accepted in society. Such as immigrants. They have to endure the racial stereotypes people spit at them and they have to deal with learning a new language and all that stuff. Also people who are below average people (as in social class), they are looked down upon and if they don't make more money, society will also look down upon them.

Week Four

Welcome to Week Four!

For this week's blog you will post a thought-provoking question that does not have only one answer. Remember that you must make 10 comments this week, not 5. Please do not leave this until the last minute, you have the whole week to get it done.

Week 3 Blog

In Falling Leaves the best used technique is most definately how Adeline Yen Mah shows insteads of tells, much like McCarthy. Her use of this technique is shown here. "Early photographs show a solemn girl with clenched fists, pressed lips and serious eyes, dressed in pretty western frocks decorated with ribbons and bows." (ch 5, pg 34). The ways she describes herself as a very uptight and grumpy child is very good. She doesn't just say like early photos show a serious grumpy child in western clothing. Instead Adeline describes everything. This inclluding her serious eyes, her clenched fists, and pressed lips. This is also showed in this quote. "I remembered her as a quick-witted and strong-willed chain smoker with bound feet, short hair and a razor-sharp tongue." (ch 1, pg 11). The way she says razor-sharp tongue and all of the other descriptions really helps you imagine what's going on. Adeline Yen Mah's way of writing really helps people imagine things in their heads, which I guess would also be imagery then as well. Her descriptive words are key to her style. That concludes week 3.

Week Three

Welcome to Week Three of the Discussion! This weeks discussion will run from Monday, March 9 to Sunday, March 15.

This week's discussion will be on figurative language and literary elements in your book. Please find an example of these in your book and POST a 10-sentence comment on it. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, please don't wait until the last minute.

Setting

This is Andre B blogging on the setting in Falling Leaves. The setting in Falling leaves is in China, close to WWII. The family of Adeline Yen Mah moves very often so it is hard to tell the exact place in China. But currently in Tianjin China. The time period is in the midst of the beginning of WWII where the Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor. The house that Adeline and her family are currently living in is a very big house. The family had recently connected the two parts of their home to make one very large house. They had to do this due to a flood. So Adeline and her family live in a very prosperous place. They also live with servants and bunches of rich items. Overall, they live in a quite easy lifestyle.