Presentation – Wed 1/30JulieAvery

NO CLASS FRIDAYQuizzes back at end of class

Announcements

{“war is a bird”

The Gangster We Are All Looking For, Chs 2-4

How has the narrator changed from ch 1 to ch 2?

Elemental symbols palm vs water (54)

Why is Ma so upset? What could the water symbolize? The

palm? Multiplicity of symbolism palm tree

vs palm of the hand (64) perspective and language redux (71) Adolescence is inextricable from the

realization of loss “I stood in that small room and wept

into the desert of my palms” (77)

palm

“Ma says war is a bird with a broken wing flying over the countryside, trailing blood and burying crops in sorrow… War has no beginning and no end. It crosses oceans like a splintered boat filled with people singing a sad song”

p. 87

Who is the gangster we are all looking for?

How do you characterize the relationship between Ma and Ba?

What does Ba represent to Ma when she first meets him? (80) the gangster, the rebel, the

dreamer When and why does the

narrator say that she wants to be the gangster they are all looking for? (93)The Gangster We Are All Looking

For

What kind of father is the narrator’s dad? What is their relationship like?

Why does the narrator believe that she sees her future in her father? (116)

When language fails… “He apologized for what his

hands had done… [and] for all that his hands had not been able to do” (118)

“Are you hungry?” (119) “Do you understand?” (122)

Why is the father linked to the image of the bones of birds? (124)

The Bones of Birds