This is how you become successful in life; this is how you make us proud; this is how you live up to our expectations; this is how you disappoint us; always hold the door for other people; make sure to go to college; make sure to be successful, make sure to have a better life than we could ever dream of; make sure to never be a high school dropout; don’t go from paycheck to paycheck like we had to our entire lives; don’t run off with somebody unless you have the money to support yourself and her; get a good education; make good money; become a doctor or a lawyer; live your life; marry a Cambodian girl and keep the traditions alive; learn the language and pass it on to your kids; always be at the top of your class;never fall behind in school; never miss a day even if you’re sick; take advantage of every opportunity you get; never take anything for granted; only accept the best; never settled for anything less; don’t get married at a young age; don’t have a kid at a young age; always listen to what we have to say; what if I’m able to live on my own and support myself; you still have to listen to us because we’re your parents; never talk to strangers ;always prioritize school first got it; okay
Purpose: The purpose of the assignment was to try and create our own version of girl, (link to the story), the short story written by Jamaica Kincaid. We had to try and duplicate the style of Kincaid and basically write a short story about ourselves in the exact same format.
Reflection Questions:
- How did it feel to write out the expectations for you?
A: It felt really overwhelming because I don’t know if I’ll be able to meet my parents expectations.
- What challenges, if any, did you have with mimicking Jamaica Kincaid’s style?
A: I think that the biggest challenge I had was trying to make it as long as Jamaica Kincaid’s girl, also trying not get off topic was pretty hard.
- If this wasn’t already answered, what did it feel like to conform to the syntax of Jamaica Kincaid’s original piece
A: It felt really different because the writing style of Kincaid is something that I’m not use to.
4. Should Ms. Paraiso do this writing assignment again? Why or why not?
A: I feel like Ms. P should do this writing assignment again, but instead of what other people expect from us, we should write about what we expect from ourselves and compare what we expect versus what our parents expect.
Chanburak,
Thank you for sharing this assignment you had to do with us. I really enjoyed reading but also reading the story as well. it really shows from all of the things that are learned early and stuff that we keep learning in life. Growing up everything you state but also that is stated in the story. My parents had already taught me that in some type of form. It was really easy to connect with your post alongside the story. It was really interesting to read both of them but also connect with them as well. All of the references and points you made were great but all went along with the story as some of the were right along the lines of it.
Thank you,
Kayden Milburn