Essay 4 Workshop

Tyler Rosales

12/8/10

English 100

Essay Workshop 4

In the book “All I asking for is my body”, by Milton Murayama, I tend to notice that tradition has a lot to do with the story and the way the main characters life is shaped. This is also a very negative thing. By negative I mean the tradition of carrying on the family debt by constantly working for your family. Toshio and Kiyoshi should only be responsible for their lives, and the hard work they have to do is getting in the way of everything . If this continues the family would carry a long line of constant working and suffering. We can see already see by reading the book that the family debt has stopped Toshio's dreams of boxing. Even after a hard life of his father working, his Grandfather still took the money and left to another country. These examples show that this would be horrible if they carried on this tradition.

In Toshio's family it is necessary for the children to hold responsible for the families debt by working for them constantly. “'Every child must repay their parents''How much? How Long?' 'Your father helped grandfather for twelve years without one complaint'” pg 30. This explains how long this tradition has been carried. What the mother doesn't explain, however is why they have to do this. If the son is expected to hold and work for the parents debt, he should at least be aloud more of an explanation. Her mother even expects that the more kids that she has the better of a chance that the debt will go away. All she is creating more life, and putting them straight to work right after. I feel that some traditions family can do without. If we look in the past of Kiyoshi's family, and their struggle with debt we can see that continuing the traditions have never gone over well. The father would spend his whole life working for their grandfather only to have his grandfather take the money to Japan, leaving the father in poverty. This shows that leaving your children in charge of your debt will only put future generations in debt. Even if you get enough money for the parents that doesn't mean you have worked enough for yourself. There is no opportunity working in the cane fields and no rich future. “All we doing is surviving.” (pg 65) The more the kids work for the parents the more they fuel the debt for their future families. The more they fuel debt the more they have to carry on the traditions of having to have their kids work for them. The only way to stop this ongoing pattern is to give more freedom to the children to make money for themselves, and work their way up to the top. If the parents keep taking the money like the grandfather did then the next generation will constantly owe money to the generation above.

Putting the debt onto the children also gets in the way of more important things like education and personal dreams. “We quit going to language school for the duration of the strike.” 32. This was Kiyoshi explaining how work got in the way of school. We tend to see this example happen to a lot of people in the real world who experience poverty. The only way to handle debt is to either quit school to work enough to stay alive, or to focus on school and really hope you make it to a higher position. Back in Kiyoshi's time, it seemed more reasonable to focus on work rather on trying hard in school. If Kiyoshi wasn't faced with his parents debt he would have more of a reason to focus on trying harder and school and achieving different goals. “Tosh worked forty-eight hours a week like everybody else and he worked all day even on the Saturday’s he was to fight”. (Pg 54) Working for his family really got in the way of Toshio's passion for boxing. He loved boxing so much that even through working, he still managed to make it up to the top of his town. Once he fought in the finals, he had to face peoplet think who's only responsibility is to practice on boxing. Handling his parents debt really stopped him from achieving what he really wanted to as a boxer. The debt even got in the way of the idea of starting a family. “ you shouldn't think of marrying for a long time,” Mother kept telling me. “Our family is in trouble. Maybe when all the debt is paid, you can go to high school and college.” (pg 61) If this responsibility wasn't on the kids, not only would an attempt at education be easier, but an attempt at really starting a future on your own could be achieved. Focusing on your own families problems and have to overcome that obstacle before you think about your own future seems like too hard an obstacle to pass. If the parents just encouraged them to live their own lives, they would have a better shot at being a successful boxer, who's married and starting a family of their own who isn't in debt.

We can relate this topic to real life by observing real families that struggle with debt. They usually have very limited possibilities and if they do choose to thrive for themselves and not their parents, they have a chance to work up to the top, even if it is a hard struggle. We can see this in many famous people who have came from a line of poor families. J.K Rowling, now an incredibly rich and successful writer lived in poverty for a long time. Instead of carrying on the debt of her parents and constantly working she gave herself an opportunity to write. The widely know book Harry Potter came out and as a result, Rowling became one of the most famous writers of our generation.

I think that giving Tosh and Kiyoshi the responsibility of taking care of their parents debt is in poor taste because it cuts off their opportunities, creates a tradition of misery and unprofitable debt, and because it can only make the debt bigger for future generations. Freeing Tosh and kiyoshi of the dread of carrying a second debt while worrying about themselves can give them so much control over their lives. Sometimes cutting family traditions are good things and in a way can create more positive, successful traditions.

All I Asking For Is My Body, Part III, Dialogue

c.      Choose a quote from the book and share your critical thinking in response.

"'It's gonna be hard. Damn these Honolulu guys, they train like pros. They no work, just train.' Tosh worked for 48 hours a week like everybody else and he worked all day even on the Saturdays he was to fight." pg 54


Its very hard to compete with someone who has enough time to make their sport, the main thing they do in their life. Unfortunately, like Tosh, having a job is incredibly necessary if you want to be successful in life. What makes this even hard is the traditions with working that Tosh has to deal with in his family. This gives him so much work to do before he can practice. The only way Tosh can make boxing his full time job is if he became professional. Unfortunately his work schedule doesn't allow him to practice enough to become professional

All this does seem unfair but that really is just the way life works. You work for a living and live for working unless you get lucky or get a big break. It would be nice to become professional with a hobby you really enjoy but life makes it a lot harder to achieve that.

All I Asking For Is My Body, Part II, Dialogue

b.     Why does Kiyoshi believe Obaban is a substitute for his mom?
The idea of substitution in this book comes from Kiyoshi's Mother's belief in superstition. She feels that if someone has gotten away with a bad deed someone has to pay for it. This doesn't necessarily mean the person who committed the bad deed, this could be anyone replacing them. Tha t is where the term "Substitute comes from. Kiyoshi's mom become very ill and was in the hospital. When the son felt like she was nearing death, she explained to him her substitute theory, and how she felt like she was receiving the punishment for someone's bad deeds in her family. Kiyoshi starts to believe her ideas. He asks question about it to other people. 
WHen she comes her closes to death, Kiyoshi receives bad news. Worried about it being his mother, he finds out later that it is Obaban who dies of a stroke. This is very fortunate to Kiyoshi. We can later see that his mother shows up to Obaban's house, where she seems a lot better. I can see how Kiyoshi can sum up what happened by saying Obaban took his mother's place in dieing as a substitute for someone else's sins.

Writing Topic: Chapter TBD by you

         I chose the grammar chapter in the book, Rules for Writers. Although the chapter sounds like it just shows something we all would already know about, I picked it because I still make small grammar mistakes without even noticing. Mistakes that I didn't even realize I was making until I read this chapter. I think grammar is the most important thing to maintain when writing an essay, because It only takes a couple mistakes to make the whole essay sound unproffesional.
      This chapter started out talking about sentence fragments. These are the little unfinished sentence that are either missing a verb or a subject. To fix these you can tag them onto another sentence, or finish the sentence with a subject or a verb. This isn't a common mistake for me, because I tend to add a lot of commas and jam sentences together. The next subject is my real problem. Run on sentences can be hard to notice and seeing as though i put a lot of my sentences together I have this problem. Run on sentences are sentences that are jammed together making two independent clauses connect. This can be avoided by separating the sentences or adding a word down the middle that brings them together.
     The next subject brought up is about connecting the right verbs with nouns. It is important to get in the habit of connecting nouns past, present, or future with the right verbs. "He says" makes a lot more sense than "He Say". I have a good habit of this, and probably most people who have grown up with the English language.

All I Asking For Is My Body, Part I, Dialogue

b.     Who is Makot?  Do you feel sorry for him?  What are your thoughts about him and the way he copes with his parents?  

In the book, All I asking for is My Body, Makot is one of the narrator's best friend. He hangs out with him almost everyday and eats lunch with him before coming home to his family. Makot happens to be the oldest one within all of his friends, and hangs out with the younger kids because he doesn't get along too well with the other ones that are his age. On the lighter note Makot is part of a wealthy family, and because of this he is able to support his friends with tickets to movies, and ice cream. he comes up with a lot of ideas when it comes to activities to do with his friends, including hanging out near 'breakers' and buying a shotgun. Unfortunetly, Kiyo's parents have a problem with him hanging out with Makot. They think he is trouble, and his mom is ashamed of her son eating at Makot's house more than at his own house.


I do feel bad for Makot. This is because of the incident at the end of part I, where Kiyo announces that his parents will no longer let him hang out with Makot. I think the sadness hits a real climax when it says Makot was about to cry. From reading about his character, it seems like it would take a lot to make him feel sad enough to the point where he is about to cry. I do not think he deserved what came to him. Although he seems a bit pushy he still means well and treats his friends very nicely. It seems like he has to put up with a little bit from his parents, seeing her rudeness towards the main character. He copes with his parents well though by being a little demanding when they act rude.

Extra Credit: Optional Writing Topic Summary : Writing about film

The article, titled "Writing about film", digs into the real challenges of writing about movies, and films in general. It talks about how hard it can be to describe the elements of filmmaking and the techniques people use in movies. This is because we are too easily entertained. So entertained, infact, that we are distracted from the techniques that filmakers use, such as the way they move cameras, the tone of the the scene, and the composition. Besides talking about the challenges we face, the article continues with types of writings that are about film. This can be a film analysis, a writing about the history, or a summary of the idea the film is trying to portray.
 There are good tips to use when writing about a film. One I took from this is to not write so simple. Try not to just write the basic summary of the film and dig deeper into the meaning. Do even more than just discussing your opinion on the protagonist and the antagonist, discuss how the character gets developed.
I really liked this article for one reason, because I am a big movie buff. I love analyzing movies and trying to find a deep meaning. Every great movie isn't as simple as it looks. There is always something more to it. Writing about a film is a good technique to find that meaning and it can make a good movie great.

Essay 3 Workshop

Essay 3 Workshop

People tend to subconsciously criticize themselves about everything. They compare themselves to classmates, to celebrities, and even fictional people they see on TV. In the story, Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers, Schooling and the Media have had a bad influence on Lovey because it makes her feel less perfect about the way she looks and acts. We can see this through her complaints about her physical traits, the way she speaks in class, and her perception of who she should be on television.
                The first chapter starts of with one of her favorite TV shows, "Shirley Temple". "I use to wish I was just like her, with perfect blonde ringlets and pink cheeks and pout lips, bright eyes and a happy ending every Sunday" pg 3. It seems to me like she has this vision of who is the perfect girl, and she definitely doesn't think it’s her. She thinks she’s not "deserving" of the kind of treatment she sees Shirley temple has on television. Lovey also notes how perfect the children look on the show, "The Checkers and Pogo Show". "The Spotlight finds the Merry UnBirthday child. Of course, it's the cutest one in the studio" pg 5. She also notes that it would be impossible for her to be on the show, and that only the rich kids get to be on the show. It’s this kind of discouraging feelings that put negative thoughts on Lovey about herself.
                 Through Schooling, Lovey has found ways to look at herself in a negative light. Her Pidgin English is unacceptable in English class, and Lovey notes that she is extremely ashamed of it. She points out her differences than other people in school. The food she eats, the car she drives and even the clothes she wears is something she hates. Her Asian traditions do not sit well with her at all, and like her thoughts of Shirley Temple, she views the traditionally white Americans as the people with better lives. "Sometimes I secretly wish to be haole. That my name could be Betty Smith, or Annie Anderson. pg 11" What ruins her self esteem even more, is the fact that kids at school pick on her because she is different.
                      She also uses the media as a source to come up with better ways to describe her. An Oompa Loompa is what her family calls her, based on the small orange creatures on the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. To her this word is even worse than ugly. This tells me that she would rather be ugly, than be an oompa loompa, and unfortunately, she feels more like an oompa loompa. The Oompa loompa is a symbol for something she is trying to avoid becoming, and the "haole" is a symbol for something she is trying to become.
                       Both the media and schooling has given Lovey a false look on what she should be, and I think that it is a bad influence in this story. It seems to me that the students at her school have done a lot of damage to her self esteem, and media has alerted her perception on what it means to be perfect. Shirley Temple is something she constantly strives to be, and an oompa loompa is a symbol for something she is trying to escape. Through all of this her own traditions, physical features, and the way she speaks is something she hates.