One Part Milk + One Part Cream = Half and Half!

Woods' English 2A: "Half and Half"

 3.

• So, Rose's mom still believes in God, but just doesn't want to admit it?
• Wow, Rose really knows her mom. She can perfectly imagine how the conversation is going to go, eh? 
• Chagrined! Wasn't that a word on the STAR exam or some other test?
  
• When Amy Tan started narrating the history behind Rose&Ted, it reminded me of how Dana and Kevin had that flashback to how they met.
• On page 117, there's a sentence that goes: "He is American," warned my mother, as if I had been too blind to notice. A waigoren." Um, did Amy Tan punctuate that wrong? Or is it just me? I think she's missing her second opening quotation marks.
•  I think Rose's marriage was kind of forced; therefore, it did not work out in the end. (As human beings, we tend to prove our nengkan, ability to do anything we put out minds to.) So, when Rose's mom disapproves of Ted, Rose persists even more to date Ted. Ditto with Ted's mom [She didn't directly reject Rose, but hinted at her disapproval in marriage.] and Ted's response. It wasn't love that led to their marriage, but the strength of their stubbornness. Opposites did attract, but I don't think this was the case.
• I'm somewhat like Rose. We're both very indecisive.
• Otay, seriously? You don't just go to a SECLUDED spot near a city named DEVIL'S SLIDE and not expect something bad to happen. In addition, we Asians tend to be supserstitious. So, why in the world did Rose's family not see this coming?
• The "little boy" in the book called The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates reminded me of Bing, the "little boy" of the family. Ooh, is this a connection?
  
• Why didn't Rose stop Bing?! I wanted to slap Rose in the face back into reality! Did she not realize that her brother was going to die if she didn't do something about it?
• I think that Amy Tan is showing an example of where two cultures can not intertwine with balance when Rose's mother tries to ask God (American culture) and the Coiling Dragon (Chinese culture) for forgiveness, both at the same time. Also, in the book of The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates, Rose's mom couldn't translate the Chinese lunar calendar into American dates; therefore, she had faith that she could prevent every single one of the dangers, but she couldn't, hence, the "Bing" incident.
  
• I liked the ending. It gave me a content feeling, but I couldn't interpret its meaning.
• Last minute addition: I think the Bible is supposed to symbolize the balance in their family. It is literally used to balance the dinner table, where all the festivities are at. Also, it is literally "underneath the table" which is faith that Rose's mom is not shown, but known.
  

4. Rose's mother is a very determined character. She believes in her nengkan so much that she does not give up. She even expects to find her son, Bing, despite the odds. This also proves she's very superstitious because of her beliefs in Chinese culture.

5. I think the main conflict is Rose's indecisiveness, an internal one, man vs. self. She can never decide on what to do, causing the "Bing" incident (because she kept thinking of the possibilities of what she should have done, but didn't react to what she could have done) and the fail to her marriage (she never decided on anything, so her husband got annoyed of this trait and decided on a divorce). I don't think this conflict is resolved yet, because she still is indecisive; however, she is finally beginning to realize the outcomes of this bad personality trait and analyze her life.

6. This chapter definitely connects to the allegory at the beginning of the section because it literally mentions the book called The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates, a book that explained that "children were predisposed to certain dangers on certain days, all depending on their Chinese birth-dates. I guess Bing was destined to be swallowed up by the ocean.  In the allegory, the mother told her daughter that she was going to fall but she didn't listen and fell anyway. Bing didn't listen to his sister and mother and went too close to the water and fell in. Not listening to your elders, no matter how know-it-all and cocky they sound, will result in bad consequences. This is a very common Chinese belief.

P.S. Did y'all notice Amy Tan's foreshadowing when she mentioned the little boy's feet in The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates "already in the air" and Bing's feet "already in the air"? I didn't notice that repetition the first time!