Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Project Mulberry
As I was reading Project Mulberry I was not for sure what was going to happen next or how the book was going to end. I was caught off guard at the point in the novel when we learn how Julia's mom might be racists. It was interesting to me how the author played that part out in the book and how she did not give a definite answer. Does anyone have any thoughts about how the author incorporated racism in the book? Also, I think this is the first book we read that the main character does not want to be apart of her culture. As the book starts off and as it continues Julia does not want to associate herself with anything Korean and at the end of the book to me, I feel that she has come to terms with her culture but for the most part still has the same feelings towards it as in the beginning of the book. Any thoughts??
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I actually wrote about this a bit in my response for the book. I thought that Park's choice of a Korean American character was very unique and I enjoyed reading a story about someone who was different from myself, especially from a culture which I have never experienced before in books. As Korean American, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to feel truly comfortable with your own identity. I mean, even I have a difficult time feeling comfortable in my own skin and I am a white, middle class girl... certainly not a minority. I realize that I am lucky to have outlets as far as books and movies where I can relate my own life to the lives of others who are in similar positions as myself. But this made me wonder how it would be for someone like Julia. For a Korean American, how easy would it be to find characters in books and movies who you can truly relate to... from my experience with media, this seems nearly impossible. I thought that it was refreshing to see that good books are out there for people who do not fit in the literary cannon. Especially, as an adolescent girl, I thought that this book would be an excellent read not only for Korean Americans, but for everyone, as it shows the everyday struggles of Julia and how she learns to deal with them. I also thought that Park did a great job developing Julia's character throughout the story. While in the beginning, Julia was a young girl who seemed embarrasssed of certain aspects of her life and culture... similar to many adolescent girls!!...and boys! I thought that it was nice how Julia developed throughout the story, allowing us to see her pride in her Asian culture while at the same time, her struggle with dealing with her own differences and how they were percieved by others. Overall, I thought that this was a great book and a great resource for learning about issues of diversity.
ReplyDeleteYour ideas are actually exactly what I focused my paper on. I thought it was interesting how Park chose to never give a definite answer regarding if Julia's mom was actually racist. It was all from Julia's point-of-view. I felt that Park used this to almost parallel Julia's own struggles with her own culture. Like you said, she almost denied her culture until the end of the book. I enjoyed that Park covered this issue in a tactful manner without having to actually dive into the topic. It is a universal theme that I think many readers can relate to.
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