One theme we noticed was individuality. Throughout the stories we read in “The Tales of Our Abuelitas” and “Chinese Fables” it was evident that many stories reflected on the differences we each have. No matter who you are, we are all different living together in the same world. We should celebrate our differences and understand that not everyone is a copy and paste form of one another. The theme of individuality is evident in “A small gift” You never know when things (small or big) can come in handy. Don’t underestimate others or yourself. (The country boy knew he had a loud voice, the students didn’t see value in this, however, the wise teacher knew the country boy had potential and would come in handy to teach a lesson to the other students.) Another example is from the story, “The Goat from The Hills and the Mountains” – In the story, there is a goat eating from a family’s field and none of the family members or the local soldiers can make the goat move because the goat keeps threatening to eat the family members. Then, an ant comes along and is able to scare the goat away. The ant exemplifies the theme of individuality because even though he’s a small ant that can’t do much, he is able to scare the goat away when no one else could. Additionally, our final example of individuality is expressed through, “What’s in a Name” Be original, everyone else is taken. There is a little brother who has a cat. He named him tiger cat and his big brother kept messing with him about it because it was not a tiger. Then the little brother decided to have friends over and they all gave him their opinions on what he should name the cat. The little brother was so overwhelmed about what everyone else thought he decided to name the cat “Cat” not for his friends or for his brother but for himself.
We want to do a culture recast of “Cooking the Duck”. We plan to do it from the current American controversial issue within the relation of the global pandemic, and the culture of Cincinnati. In America we have the freedom of speech according to our first amendment rights. Two brothers drive up to the only restaurant open late during this global pandemic (Skyline), however, they have a limited amount of time to eat before the restaurant closes. The restaurant, Skyline, requires a mask to be worn inside before being seated, for the safety of others. Each brother has their own personal opinion and reasons for wearing the masks or not to wear the masks into the restaurant. They continue to argue back and forth within their car, one argues that it is safe and wants to follow the rules, one argues that they are being controlled and has nothing to do with them getting a quick late night bite. Due to their constant bickering, they never made it inside of the restaurant. The lot lights of the restaurant turn off, leaving the brothers sitting in the dark. Never coming to a resolution. The restaurant is closed, and the two brothers are left in their starvation and anger at one another.
2-5 Themes:
-Ignorance
-Moral Reasoning
-Individuality
-Survival/Adaptability
Ignorance:
“Cooking the Duck”- There are two brothers in this story and their ignorance cost them a meal. They were too busy bickering over which way was better to cook a duck that when trying to catch the duck it flew away because they were too loud and not focused on catching their own food. They were already trying to decide which way to prepare the duck before they even had the duck and because of that they lost the duck.
“Juan ‘Bobo”- Juan is just a boy in this story. He is a boy who loves his mama and wants to help in any way he can but no matter how hard he tries he always finds a way to mess it up. Either by ruining mama’s pot or losing a pig or not using a bucket to get water. He tries so hard but he just was not able to do it without messing up. Until one day mama asked him to ride the burro to get firewood and he sat in the barn all day because the barn was filled with wood and mama finally found him something to do everyday because that was one thing he could not mess up.
Moral Reasoning:
“The Bird of One Thousand Colors”- A overly confident turkey believes that he deserves beautiful feathers in order to be king. A small, beautiful bird allows the turkey to borrow its feathers as long as they are back by Monday. The turkey becomes king but then refuses to give back the feathers to the original owner. This makes the small bird very upset and embarrassed. The other bird of the first learns that the small bird no longer has its beautiful feathers and so each bird gives the small bird one of their most beautiful feathers. The other bird thought that what the turkey did (even though they didn’t know it was the turkey) was awful and questioned “who could do such a thing”. This story questions the turkeys reasoning as to why he would be greedy and not give back what was graciously lent to him.
“Martina Martinez and Perez the Mouse”- In this story Martina has multiple different animals approach her and ask for her hand in marriage, she rejects them all other than Perez the mouse. One evening Martina is making a large pot of soup to have when the newlyweds have their friends over for dinner. Perez falls into the soup, and right away Marinta does not help him out of the soup, but instead freaks out and gains sympathy from other animals. The other animals do not think it’s right that she did not help her own husband out of the soup, this story questions Maritna Martinez’s moral reasoning.
“The joyful Bagpipes”- The Joyful Bagpipes is a story about a man named Santiago. He has three brothers and he lives with his family. During the first section of the story Santiago is sent away to the mountains to work for a shepherd because his family couldn’t care for him well. While in the mountains he harbored no anger or ill will for his family, and he lived a happy and peaceful life. One day a lady comes by and asks him if he desires anything. All he asks for is some bagpipes and the lady granted him this request. Throughout the rest of the story he lives a happy and prosperous life by being his honest and kind self. He may have been fired or not treated well by others but none of that kept him down and even offered to help others.
“The Happy Man’s Tunic”- The story is centered around a sick prince. The prince’s father is told by a doctor that only a happy man’s tunic can cure him. The king orders his soldiers to find a happy man and obtain his tunic at any cost. When they finally find a truly happy man, he does not own a tunic, but he plays a very beautiful song for the prince which reminds him of his childhood and cures him right away.
“Blancaflor”-This time the king is sick, and the prince is doing everything he can to help his father. A mysterious spirit offers to cure his father, but the prince must fulfill a promise in three years’ time. The prince accepts the offer and in three years he seeks out the spirit and performs three trials for him. But sadly, the spirit tricked him, but with the help of the spirits’ daughter blancaflor whom the prince had fallen in love with, they escaped on a horse named viento. Blancaflor’s father chased them on a horse that was old and wise and no matter what they did they couldn’t outrun it. Only when the prince expressed his devotion to his family and reasoning for wanting to go home and return to his family, were they able to escape.
“The Vigilant Sentry”- In this story Li Shih-min and his brothers are going to war with each other to gain leadership. He did not want to get his people caught up in the war so he took his army and left far away. During one of the nights at the camps li was stopped by one of his soldiers. His soldier had a bad dream about li being killed and wished to warn him. Li continued into battle but alleged his soldier of his position so he could stay behind. The emperor did not wish to bring his people harm and in turn his people did not want to bring their emperor any harm either.
“Kwan-yin, the goddess of Mercy” – In this story, a man is abusive and rude to his mother, and when he goes on a pilgrimage to the shrine of the goddess of mercy, he realizes that his mother is actually a representation of mercy and his way of thinking and reasoning is completely changed. He comes to accept people no matter their use and worth and changes from abusive, to kind.
Individuality:
“A small gift” – You never know when things (small or big) can come in handy. Don’t underestimate others or yourself. (The country boy knew he had a loud voice, the students didn’t see value in this, however, the wise teacher knew the country boy had potential and would come in handy to teach a lesson to the other students.)
“The Goat from The Hills and the Mountains” – In the story, there is a goat eating from a family’s field and none of the family members or the local soldiers can make the goat move because the goat keeps threatening to eat the family members. Then, an ant comes along and is able to scare the goat away. The ant exemplifies the theme of individuality because even though he’s a small ant that can’t do much, he is able to scare the goat away when no one else could.
“What’s in a Name”- Be original, everyone else is taken. There is a little brother who has a cat. He named him tiger cat and his big brother kept messing with him about it because it was not a tiger. Then the little brother decided to have friends over and they all gave him their opinions on what he should name the cat. The little brother was so overwhelmed about what everyone else thought he decided to name the cat “Cat” not for his friends or for his brother but for himself.
Survival/Adaptability:
“Deer Dear!” Said the Turtle”- Although the deer, Venado is clearly faster than Jicotea, the turtle, Jicotea is fast thinking. In order to win the race Jicotea adapts to her situation, and with the help of a few friends, the turtle outsmarts the deer and confuses the deer, thinking that he has passed the turtle multiple times. The deer thinks he has the race “in the bag”, but it did not take much other than the turtle to understand how to adapt to the situation to win the race.
“Catalina the Fox”- Catalina is being picked on by the Wolf. He is stealing all her food and Catalina has had enough with it. She decides to mess with the Wolf and he really was not happy about it. So he tried to get her back by trying to trick her, but the fox was smarter than the wolf here. She was able to outwit the wolf and trick him again. She is continuously adapting and surviving what the wolf throws at her.
“The King of Beasts” -You’re only as confident as everyone sees you. Don’t assume. (The animals in the forest ran away from the fox although the lion was right behind, walking as if the lion was the foxes servant.) The fox knows that the lion would have the ability and strength to kill the fox in one bite. The fox thinks quickly to save its life by teaching the lion a lesson to not judge a book by its cover and to be merciful to other animals.
ENGLISH HWK 