Kevin Nguyen
ICS 24
Marshal/Marilyn
Midterm
Catfish-Me
Catfish and Mandela, written by Andrew X. Pham, is considered a master piece by Marshall; either that or he was exaggerating. The book definitely does have a unique form of hyphenation as it is used in every chapter title that the book has and it also is discreetly used as a link between chapters. The ways hyphenations are used in Catfish and Mandela are abstract meanings tied together by a thread such as Alley-World, Jade-Giant, Chi-Minh, and Blue-Peace. Their meanings could be anything to anyone person. Marshall told us that even though they may non sequitur, there will still be some kind of meaning derived from it, hence, abstract.
The first hyphenation from the chapters is Alley-World. Both of the words in the hyphenation are quite significant in that it describes a little part of Pham’s childhood. This was when he had to stay alone at home and all he had was an opening which he could talk through to the next door girl on the other side of the back street. They talked about mundane stuff because it was the entire world to them during that point. [P](96). If any one word from the hyphenation were to be missing, the meaning would change and the significance of Pham’s childhood would be null. For instance, the alley is one of the things that separate Pham from the girl next door and that the whole area—alley included---was his world until they have to move back home again.
Another use of hyphenation would be the chapter “Jade-Giant”. Andrew Pham used this to describe a gentle giant man who he had met while staying on an Indonesian compound. The man’s name was Wong, a jade cutter, which Mr. Ling described as “..had been there twelve years and every year he sent an appeal to whatever country he thought he belonged to. Every year he was rejected.” [Q](141). This “jade-giant” however, cracked one day and started a rampage, destroying objects using all of his monstrous strength, and finally committing suicide off the roof of the tower compound.[P](142). To Pham, Jade could possibly mean the jade statue figurines and the making of, and Giant could mean the giant of a man who made all those jade for a living. Again, the author’s hyphenation holds some significance.
The next hyphenation is of the chapter “Chi-Minh”. The words are complete opposites of each other as boy and girl; fire and ice. Chi is the name of Andrew’s long lost sister and Minh is the name of Chi, post gender operated. When Andrew used this hyphenation combo it’s as if there’s a conflicting factor of acceptance of who this sibling really is. “What is the proper etiquette for welcoming home a lost son-daughter?” [Q](296).The only answer is that to accept both truths however conflicting they are which can be referred back to the beginning with Andrew’s dedication quote: “To the memory of my sister, Chi, my brother, Minh, one and the same…if only I had learned to see without looking.” [Q](0)
Speaking of truths, the hyphenations themselves seems to show only half of the truth half of the time. Whoever invented hyphens must have known this; since it turns out to be really useful for classification purposes. For instance, “Vietnamese-American”, the phrase which Andrew has solely been trying to figure out, is nothing more than a half-truth. He is Vietnamese but he is also an American, but with that American side to him, he can no longer be considered a “full” Vietnamese; hence the derogatory “Viet-Kieu”. During his journey, Pham has been finding the differences between the viet-kieu and the Vietnamese to which Calvin truthfully explained:
The real damning thing is the fact that there are viet-kieu, our own brothers, skin of our skin, blood of our blood, who look better than us, more civilized, more educated, more wealthy, more genteel. Viet-kieu look kingly next to the average Vietnamese. Look at you, look at me. You’re wearing old jeans and I’m wearing a suit, but it’s obvious who…who is superior. Can’t you see? We look like monkeys because you make us look like monkeys just by your existence. [Q](330)
But also the contradiction to Calvin’s truth by Son is also true. You are who you choose to be.
Son and Calvin were both correct even though they have differing views. Now, if I were to choose a hyphenation for myself I would choose: Existentialist-Realist since it relates to Pham’s chameleon theory. I can be one thing at a moment and then another completely different thing at another time. I can also move in between categories and become a hybrid sort (which is actually a whole new thing) and yet I am my own. I am solely myself, I don’t think of race, culture, or sex orientation. All that matters now is the clashing of morality, religion, individualism, existentialism, and personality. I incorporate all my philosophies and try to relate and apply it to everyday life. Why are we here? Why is there karma? How can we better ourselves? What’s the moral here? Do we even think considerately at all? It doesn’t matter who we are if we are able to change.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
First Draft and half
Kevin Nguyen
ICS 24
Marshal/Marilyn
Midterm
Catfish and Mandela-Analysis
Catfish and Mandela, written by Andrew X. Pham, is considered a master piece by Marshall; either that or he was exaggerating. The book definitely does have a unique form of hyphenation as it is used in every chapter title that the book has and it also is discreetly used as a link between chapters. The ways hyphenations are used in Catfish and Mandela are abstract meanings tied together by a thread such as Alley-World, Jade-Giant, Chi-Minh, and Blue-Peace. Their meanings could be anything to anyone person. Marshall told us that even though they may non sequitur, there will still be some kind of meaning derived from it, hence, abstract.
The first hyphenation from the chapters is Alley-World. Both of the words in the hyphenation are quite significant in that it describes a little part of Pham’s childhood. This was when he had to stay alone at home and all he had was an opening which he could talk through to the next door girl on the other side of the back street. They talked about mundane stuff because it was the entire world to them during that point. [P](96). If any one word from the hyphenation were to be missing, the meaning would change and the significance of Pham’s childhood would be null. For instance, the alley is one of the things that separate Pham from the girl next door and that the whole area—alley included---was his world until they have to move back home again.
Another use of hyphenation would be the chapter “Jade-Giant”. Andrew Pham used this to describe a gentle giant man who he had met while staying on an Indonesian compound. The man’s name was Wong, a jade cutter, which Mr. Ling described as “..had been there twelve years and every year he sent an appeal to whatever country he thought he belonged to. Every year he was rejected.” [Q](141). This “jade-giant” however, cracked one day and started a rampage, destroying objects using all of his monstrous strength, and finally committing suicide off the roof of the tower compound.[P](142). To Pham, Jade could possibly mean the jade statue figurines and the making of, and Giant could mean the giant of a man who made all those jade for a living. Again, the author’s hyphenation holds some significance.
The next hyphenation is of the chapter “Chi-Minh”. The words are complete opposites of each other as boy and girl; fire and ice. Chi is the name of Andrew’s long lost sister and Minh is the name of Chi, post gender operated. When Andrew used this hyphenation combo it’s as if there’s a conflicting factor of acceptance of who this sibling really is. “What is the proper etiquette for welcoming home a lost son-daughter?” [Q](296).The only answer is that to accept both truths however conflicting they are which can be referred back to the beginning with Andrew’s dedication quote: “To the memory of my sister, Chi, my brother, Minh, one and the same…if only I had learned to see without looking.” [Q](0)
Speaking of truths, the hyphenations themselves seems to show only half of the truth half of the time. Whoever invented hyphens must have known this; since it turns out to be really useful for classification purposes. For instance, “Vietnamese-American”, the phrase which Andrew has solely been trying to figure out, is nothing more than a half-truth. He is Vietnamese but he is also an American, but with that American side to him, he can no longer be considered a “full” Vietnamese; hence the derogatory “Viet-Kieu”. During his journey, Pham has been finding the differences between the viet-kieu and the Vietnamese to which Calvin truthfully explained:
The real damning thing is the fact that there are viet-kieu, our own brothers, skin of our skin, blood of our blood, who look better than us, more civilized, more educated, more wealthy, more genteel. Viet-kieu look kingly next to the average Vietnamese. Look at you, look at me. You’re wearing old jeans and I’m wearing a suit, but it’s obvious who…who is superior. Can’t you see? We look like monkeys because you make us look like monkeys just by your existence. [Q](330)
But also the contradiction to Calvin’s truth by Son is also true. You are who you choose to be.
Son and Calvin were both correct even though they have differing views. Now, if I were to choose a hyphenation for myself I would choose: I-Myself. It represents me since I can relate to Pham’s chameleon theory. I can move in between and become another thing and yet I am my own. I am solely myself, I don’t think of race, culture, or skin (which also brings into the idea of existentialism and individualism) and all that matters is now, and preserving things which needs to be cherished.
ICS 24
Marshal/Marilyn
Midterm
Catfish and Mandela-Analysis
Catfish and Mandela, written by Andrew X. Pham, is considered a master piece by Marshall; either that or he was exaggerating. The book definitely does have a unique form of hyphenation as it is used in every chapter title that the book has and it also is discreetly used as a link between chapters. The ways hyphenations are used in Catfish and Mandela are abstract meanings tied together by a thread such as Alley-World, Jade-Giant, Chi-Minh, and Blue-Peace. Their meanings could be anything to anyone person. Marshall told us that even though they may non sequitur, there will still be some kind of meaning derived from it, hence, abstract.
The first hyphenation from the chapters is Alley-World. Both of the words in the hyphenation are quite significant in that it describes a little part of Pham’s childhood. This was when he had to stay alone at home and all he had was an opening which he could talk through to the next door girl on the other side of the back street. They talked about mundane stuff because it was the entire world to them during that point. [P](96). If any one word from the hyphenation were to be missing, the meaning would change and the significance of Pham’s childhood would be null. For instance, the alley is one of the things that separate Pham from the girl next door and that the whole area—alley included---was his world until they have to move back home again.
Another use of hyphenation would be the chapter “Jade-Giant”. Andrew Pham used this to describe a gentle giant man who he had met while staying on an Indonesian compound. The man’s name was Wong, a jade cutter, which Mr. Ling described as “..had been there twelve years and every year he sent an appeal to whatever country he thought he belonged to. Every year he was rejected.” [Q](141). This “jade-giant” however, cracked one day and started a rampage, destroying objects using all of his monstrous strength, and finally committing suicide off the roof of the tower compound.[P](142). To Pham, Jade could possibly mean the jade statue figurines and the making of, and Giant could mean the giant of a man who made all those jade for a living. Again, the author’s hyphenation holds some significance.
The next hyphenation is of the chapter “Chi-Minh”. The words are complete opposites of each other as boy and girl; fire and ice. Chi is the name of Andrew’s long lost sister and Minh is the name of Chi, post gender operated. When Andrew used this hyphenation combo it’s as if there’s a conflicting factor of acceptance of who this sibling really is. “What is the proper etiquette for welcoming home a lost son-daughter?” [Q](296).The only answer is that to accept both truths however conflicting they are which can be referred back to the beginning with Andrew’s dedication quote: “To the memory of my sister, Chi, my brother, Minh, one and the same…if only I had learned to see without looking.” [Q](0)
Speaking of truths, the hyphenations themselves seems to show only half of the truth half of the time. Whoever invented hyphens must have known this; since it turns out to be really useful for classification purposes. For instance, “Vietnamese-American”, the phrase which Andrew has solely been trying to figure out, is nothing more than a half-truth. He is Vietnamese but he is also an American, but with that American side to him, he can no longer be considered a “full” Vietnamese; hence the derogatory “Viet-Kieu”. During his journey, Pham has been finding the differences between the viet-kieu and the Vietnamese to which Calvin truthfully explained:
The real damning thing is the fact that there are viet-kieu, our own brothers, skin of our skin, blood of our blood, who look better than us, more civilized, more educated, more wealthy, more genteel. Viet-kieu look kingly next to the average Vietnamese. Look at you, look at me. You’re wearing old jeans and I’m wearing a suit, but it’s obvious who…who is superior. Can’t you see? We look like monkeys because you make us look like monkeys just by your existence. [Q](330)
But also the contradiction to Calvin’s truth by Son is also true. You are who you choose to be.
Son and Calvin were both correct even though they have differing views. Now, if I were to choose a hyphenation for myself I would choose: I-Myself. It represents me since I can relate to Pham’s chameleon theory. I can move in between and become another thing and yet I am my own. I am solely myself, I don’t think of race, culture, or skin (which also brings into the idea of existentialism and individualism) and all that matters is now, and preserving things which needs to be cherished.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Midterm First Draft
Kevin Nguyen
ICS 24
Marshal/Marilyn
Midterm
Catfish and Mandela-Analysis
Catfish and Mandela, written by Andrew X. Pham, is considered a master piece by Marshall; either that or he was exaggerating. The book definitely does have a unique form of hyphenation as it is used in every chapter title that the book has and it also is discreetly used as a link between chapters. The ways hyphenations are used in Catfish and Mandela are abstract meanings such as Alley-World, Jade-Giant, Chi-Minh, and Blue-Peace. Their meanings could be anything to anyone person. Marshall told us that even though they may non sequitur, there will still be some kind of meaning derived from it, hence, abstract.
The first hyphenation from the chapters is Alley-World. Both of the words in the hyphenation are quite significant in that it describes a little part of Pham’s childhood. This was when he had to stay alone at home and all he had was an opening which he could talk through to the next door girl on the other side of the back street. They talked about mundane stuff because it was the entire world to them during that point. [P](96). And so, if any one word from the hyphenation were to be missing, the meaning would change and the significance of Pham’s childhood would be null. For instance, the alley is one of the things that separate Pham from the girl next door and that the whole area—alley included---was his world until they have to move back home again.
Another use of hyphenation would be the chapter “Jade-Giant”. Andrew Pham used this to describe a gentle giant man who he had met while staying on an Indonesian compound. The man’s name was Wong, a jade cutter, which Mr. Ling described as “..had been there twelve years and every year he sent an appeal to whatever country he thought he belonged to. Every year he was rejected.” [Q](141). This “jade-giant” however, cracked one day and started a rampage, destroying objects using all of his monstrous strength, and committing suicide off the roof of the tower compound. To Pham, Jade could possibly mean the jade statue figurines and the making of, and Giant could mean the giant of a man who made all those jade for a living. Again, the author’s hyphenation holds some significance.
The next hyphenation is of the chapter “Chi-Minh”.
ICS 24
Marshal/Marilyn
Midterm
Catfish and Mandela-Analysis
Catfish and Mandela, written by Andrew X. Pham, is considered a master piece by Marshall; either that or he was exaggerating. The book definitely does have a unique form of hyphenation as it is used in every chapter title that the book has and it also is discreetly used as a link between chapters. The ways hyphenations are used in Catfish and Mandela are abstract meanings such as Alley-World, Jade-Giant, Chi-Minh, and Blue-Peace. Their meanings could be anything to anyone person. Marshall told us that even though they may non sequitur, there will still be some kind of meaning derived from it, hence, abstract.
The first hyphenation from the chapters is Alley-World. Both of the words in the hyphenation are quite significant in that it describes a little part of Pham’s childhood. This was when he had to stay alone at home and all he had was an opening which he could talk through to the next door girl on the other side of the back street. They talked about mundane stuff because it was the entire world to them during that point. [P](96). And so, if any one word from the hyphenation were to be missing, the meaning would change and the significance of Pham’s childhood would be null. For instance, the alley is one of the things that separate Pham from the girl next door and that the whole area—alley included---was his world until they have to move back home again.
Another use of hyphenation would be the chapter “Jade-Giant”. Andrew Pham used this to describe a gentle giant man who he had met while staying on an Indonesian compound. The man’s name was Wong, a jade cutter, which Mr. Ling described as “..had been there twelve years and every year he sent an appeal to whatever country he thought he belonged to. Every year he was rejected.” [Q](141). This “jade-giant” however, cracked one day and started a rampage, destroying objects using all of his monstrous strength, and committing suicide off the roof of the tower compound. To Pham, Jade could possibly mean the jade statue figurines and the making of, and Giant could mean the giant of a man who made all those jade for a living. Again, the author’s hyphenation holds some significance.
The next hyphenation is of the chapter “Chi-Minh”.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Catfish Midterm paragraph
Andrew Pham's Catfish and Mandala's meaning is in the form of a hyphenation as a book.
One hyphenation would be Fallen-Leaves. Fallen-Leaves could mean the past, or the point where innocence is at its peak or at its end.
One hyphenation would be Fallen-Leaves. Fallen-Leaves could mean the past, or the point where innocence is at its peak or at its end.
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