Introduction by Alice
Pung
1. What were
Asian-Australians referred to as when the author was growing up? Power Points
2. How does she
interpret this title? As if she is growing up in Australian as she is Asian
this shows the single race that she is referring to.
3. What did this
title actually refer to? Did the author find this demeaning? Why/why not? It refers that the title is focusing on the
one type of culture the Author finds this bad as it shows the high amount of
discrimination on one race
4. ‘All that untapped
potential! All that electrifying brain power!’ What techniques are being
employed by the author? How do they highlight he misunderstanding? Repetition
and irony as she thinks it is a complimented when it is actually a massive put
down
5. What did the teen
author take away from teen fiction? What did she feel that she needed to do?
Why? What does this say is essential to fitting in to a culture? That all
Asian need lots of plastic surgery to look like everyone else.
6. Who are the
authors that she turns to? Why? She turns to Tom Cho, Hoa Pham and many
other
7. In the third
paragraph how does the author use repetition. How does it highlight the focus
of this book? She uses from constantly and it she uses as it shows that
this entire book is going to be about these people growing up under constant
strain and having to live pass it all
8. What metaphor does the author use to
highlight the writers and the writing style in the third paragraph?
9. Why does the
author use a quote in the 4th paragraph? What does it say about her reaction to
the stories in the book? She puts
the names in quation marks this shows that these books helped get thru her
child hood and are very close to her heart
10. On page 2 the
author talks about the themes that she loosely choose for the collection. What
are they and why is it ironic that they show up in this book? As it will help to bring to the
forefront questions of identity , place, and perspective.
11. At the bottom of
pg 3 on to page 4 the author says that sociologists have described Asians as
the ‘model minority’. What is meant by this? What difficulties arise out of
this label for young Asian-Australians?
They are very smart quite people that are the perfect students but they
are a very small in number with many staying in home.
12. What are the
editor’s hopes for the collection of stories? That people can see that
Asian people have forefront
questions of identity , place,
and perspective.
Pigs from Home by Hop
Dac
1. How does the
author start this story which is in direct contrast to the title of the story?
What effect does this have on the reader and their expectations of the story? She starts talking about her life at home and
how the customs of the Chinese were very different to the ones of Australians.
2. What core Vietnamese value is instilled in the author? to have a
self sustaining household.
3. What is humorous
about the mother’s ‘flair for natural medicine’ in regards to her personality?
It shows that she was very into the natural side of life this is also reflexes
how she likes to have the self-sustaining household.
4. How does the
description of the killing of pigeons continue the style utilised in the
introduction of the story? It is a very cold hearted unhuman thing to do
this shows that they were most worried about number one being themselves and
that everyone and thing else was secondary.
5. What is the
author’s opinion of pigs? Give two quotes to support your conclusion. She thinks
they are foul untrustworthy things. “and she took a massive bit from the
chickens buttock” “they barged in there thinking they were the top people
6. In the paragraph
on pgs 53-54, give two examples of alliteration employed by the author. bellies of babies and THE PIG
7. On pg 54 what
simile is used to describe pigs? How does this simile work for the situation it
is used? The pig is like the ocean it works as the duck had turned it back
and got bitten
8. What simile does
the author use to describe her mother sunning herself? How does this relate to
the core focus of the story? Tanning like a rotisserie as it shows that the
Chinese are into cooking
9. What does the
author describe as ‘the divide between the old world and the new’? What do you
think is meant by this statement? It
means that the new world and the old world is divided as the old world would
not think twice in killing an animal but the new world does not like it.
10. What is the
author’s reaction to the slaughter of the pig at night? What statement does the
author make about the neighbours which displays the way he feels about the
whole experience? What is important about including this statement? She is
against this as the neighbours must be thinking that that family is crazy it is
important as it makes her seem out of the story
11. Why don’t the
parents have pigs anymore? How does this relate to the description of the burial
of the last pig they owned? A they have a friend that gives them all the
pork that they can eat. As the last pig was unloved and died.
12. How would you
characterise the description of the mother’s treatment of the pig’s blood? Is
it appetising? No it sounds disgusting
13. What is ironic
about the way the author has a popular Vietnamese dish? What is it about the
way the author describes the experience of having pigs that makes it ironic? She hates the pig but they mean a lot to her
as it reminds her of their family so she likes to remember the pigs.
14. How does this
story relate to the title Pigs from Home? As she in her childhood she had a
pig that defined her life.
15. Why do you think
this story is in the Battlers section of the book? As the pig is a battler.
No comments:
Post a Comment