All I asking for is my body

 Kiyo is the oldest brother.  Toshio fights with their parents when they expect him to fulfill his "filial duty" to repay the family's debt and when they refuse to allow Tosh and Kiyo to enroll in high school. Their culture teaches them that the oldest sibling is the one that has to pay the debt and the bills the family (Grandparents and parents) has accumulated.  Tosh claims that the money his parents made was stolen by the grandfather and that therefore it is not up to him to repay it; moreover, he argues that filial duty must be earned and that the parents haven't earned it. Still, Tosh goes along, giving the parents a combination of his and his wife's earnings. Kiyo, observing these problems, realizes he must resist being subservient; he eventually joins the Army, both to get away from home and to help his family with their income. The story goes on about how paying your family debts is the oldest sons’ responsibility.   At the end, Kiyo wins enough money in a barracks' gambling match to help Tosh pay off all the debt. 

The meaning of the title is that Toshio is fighting against his heritage and has his own mind in what he wants to do.  He believes Grandpa stole all their money and that it’s not anyone’s responsibility to   pay back any debt that Grandpa has and that Grandpa should pay it himself.   That is why this books title is “All I asking for is my body”.  He wants to do what he wants to do!!!!

What a cute story.   I really enjoyed the book.  I enjoyed reading about how the Japanese did things.  It’s so different than the things we do here but that’s what made it so interesting to readJ

All I asking For is my Body, part II, Dialogue

Why does Kiyoshi believe Obaban is a substitute for his mom?
There are a couple of reasons why I believe Kiyoshi believes Obaban is a substitute for his mom.  As Kiyoshi is taking care of his dying mother she tells him she is dying because someone did something bad and she is taking the reprocutions for it.  This is where the substitute comes from in the book.

Kiyoshi is taking care of his sisters and very ill mother.  His father is off to sea fishing.  This is what he does for a living.  As, Kiyoshi's mother is dying she procedes to tell him that she has been chosen for somone else's punishment. She believes somewhere down the line, in the family, someone did something bad and she is suffering because of it.  Kiyoshi's father doesn't believe in superstition.

Obanan tells Kiyoshi if she can find a "substitute" to take her place she will be ok.  Sadly, at the end of the story Abanan ends up dying.  Seems as if, she was her "substitute" afterall.

All I asking for is my body

Who is Makot?  Do you feel sorry for him?  What are your thoughts about him and the way he copes with his parents?

Makoot is a boy who enjoys playing with younger kids.  He tends rule the pack of them by doing what older boys do his age.  He enjoys being the leader.  I really do feel sorry for him because he comes from a family with no values or morales.  When Kiyoshi tries to thank Makoto's mother for feeding him, she just laughs at him.  Makoto tells her to shut up and shoves her into the house.  Obviously, Makoto has no respect for his mother.  I think Kiyoshi's parents are right about not letting Kiyoshi hang out with Makoto.  Makoto's parents seem to be a little off.  There are scary people waiting outside of their house and Makoto's mom's reaction to saying "Thank you" is very bizaare.  I feel sorry for Makoto because he is probably very embarassed by his parents behavior.  My father was an alcoholic and I felt the same way about him.  I had no respect for him and was very embarassed by him.
The way Makoto deals with his parents by saying "shut up and get out of here" is very strange.  It's very disprespectful and it's almost as if he is acting as the parent.  As I stated before I have lived through this kind of life with an alcholic father.  I definitely acted as the parent but would be to terrified to tell him to shut up.  Makota was just a child himself and that was the only way he knew how to deal with his parents.

Writing Chapter 5 Summary

Good document design contributes to readability, but readability really depends on your purpose and audience and sometimes even on other elements in writing such as your subject, length restrictions or any other specific requirements.  Margarins help control the look of a page.  Most academic and business documents leave a margin of one to one and a half inches on all sides.  These margarins create a visual frame for the text and provide room for annotations.  If you have a choice, select a font that fits your writing situation in an easy-to-read.  Font styles such as boldface, italics and underlining can be helpful for calling attention to part of a document. 
Headings should be as brief and as informative as possible.  Certain styles of headings, the most common being -ing phrases, noun phrases, questions and imperative sentence-work better for some purposes, audiences and sujects more than others.  Using lists to guide readers is a great tool. Lists are easy to read or scan when they are displayed rather than run into your text.  Lists should usually be introduced with an independant clause followed by a colon. 
Using visuals to help your writing, not to substitute for it be to visualize it.  Always consider how a visual supports your purpose and how your audience might respond to it.    A visual may be placed in the text of a document, near a discussion to which it relates or it can be put in appendix, labeled, and referred to in the text.  If you download a photograph from the web or scan an image from a magazine or book, you must cite the information even thought the visual is your own.
Next time while I am writing a paper, I will make sure I have my margins set to 1 inch to 1 and a half inches. I knew it was something close to those measurements but I wasn't sure.  Also, I will make sure my headings are brief and not ramble on which I tend to do:-)  I will try and make it look clean and easy to read by placing lists after a semi colon.  This kind of paper seems to make it easier on the visual eye to read the document.  It also really makes those ideas stand out if that is your intention.

Smoke Signals Rough Draft

Forgiveness is a very powerful and relieving feeling.  When you feel you have been abused and abandoned you will carry around a lot of anger and hostility towards life.  Talking it out plays a huge role in healing.  Healing is the only way to achieve happiness.  A young child can only take the blame for his father leaving the home and not ever returning.  In turn, he carries around a lot of pain, hostility and anger.  His feelings are taken out on another child that lives on the Indian reservation. When the child can forgive his father, he then can become a better person and treat others around him with dignity and respect.  Another child taking abuse from the child that was abused continually forgives his friend that he truly admires.  No matter how bad he is treated, he will do anything to be his friend.

Victor’s father would hit him when he was drunk.  He was very abusive to him and his mother.  Both of his parents would argue all the time.  The movie “Smoke Signal” shows Victor’s father, Arnold hugging Victor and leaving, never to see his father again.  Victor may have felt as if it was his fault that his dad left.  Victor carried a lot of anger around with him.  A boy left without his father is very hard on a young child.  He then in turn took all his frustration, hatred and anger out on Thomas.  Thomas lost both of his parents due to a fire and looked at Victor for friendship no matter how horrible Victor treated him.

Victor allowed Thomas to go with him to get his father’s ashes.  When they showed up at his father’s house, a friend named Suzie approached them with Arnold’s ashes in hand.  At this point, Victor was able to talk about his hurt and frustration of his father’s actions.  He felt comfortable talking with her about how hurtful it was to have lived without his father.  Suzie reassured Victor that his father talked and thought about him every day.  This is when Victor felt a sense of relief and compassion for his father.  I believe this made Victor realize it wasn’t his fault and that his father loved him very much.  I can’t imagine the sense of relief he felt after all these years of holding all that in.

When Victor and Thomas are younger, Victor beats Thomas up for no reason.  Victor has a lot of built of anger from his dad beating him and leaving him and his mom.  I believe all the built up anger that Victor had, he took it out on Thomas.  Thomas always looked up to Victor and wanted so badly to be his friend.  I believe Victor separated himself from the world.  Thomas tried so hard to become Victor’s friend.  The movie shows how they are riding bikes and hanging out together as kids on the Indian Reservation.  Thomas says something that sets Victor off.  Victor starts beating up Thomas and if it hadn’t been broken up by an adult, it could have been very bad.  Thomas forgave Victor and decided to go on a road trip with Victor to obtain his father’s ashes.  Thomas put all those mean things Victor said behind him and insisted on traveling with him to get his father. Victor continually put Thomas down about how he didn’t dress like a real Indian.  Eventually, Thomas went and bought some clothes that were Indian suitable (up to Thomas’s) standards.  Thomas told all sorts of stories that people couldn’t understand usually and Victor would tell him nobody cares and nobody is listening.  Victor asks Thomas “why do you tell such stupid stories that nobody understands?” Victor acted mean throughout most of the movie to Thomas.  I believe he took all his anger he felt for his father out on Thomas. 

The power of forgiveness is a beautiful thing.  It’s a very strong sense of relief.  It can be a difficult thing to achieve but in life you must forgive to become a better and stronger person.  We all make mistakes in life but it’s also a learning experience.  This movie “Smoke Signals” had a lot of scenes where forgiveness was a key factor.  Carrying around all that anger makes you a miserable person and when you can accomplish forgiveness you are a much happier person and treat people a lot better than when you are angry and miserable.

Extra Credit: Optional Writing Topic Summary

When you analyze and write about a film, remember you aren’t writing a review.  Reviews are mostly subjective.  There are different papers you may be asked to write about in a film studies course.  A formal analysis of a film requires that the viewer breaks the film down into its component parts and discusses how those parts contribute to the whole.  All films are part of our cultures history.  They derive from and contribute to historical events.  They also influence events.  Even films that are made to entertain promote some kind of beliefs.  It is important to remember, when watching a film, that even films whose purpose it is to entertain may be promoting or even manipulating our feelings about certain values.  Films reflect the cultures and nations in which they were produced.  Auteur criticism understands a film as the product of a single person and his vision.  Most of the time, this is the director.  Film is collaborative medium.  It’s important to understand that no one person can control the product. 

Before you can write about a film you must view the film.  The best thing to remember is to be a careful and observant viewer.  Take the time to familiarize yourself with the film terms in the glossary.  Knowing the terms sometimes helps you to see them on the screen.  If you are entirely unfamiliar with the film, talk to your professor.  He/She will be able to help you.  When preparing to write a paper, you should take notes; labeling each shot in sequence.  When researching, don’t rely soling on the internet.  It generally doesn’t provide you with the thoughtful analysis that will be useful. When citing sources make sure you cite any sources that you use.  Film critics cite sources using the citation method of the MLA.

When writing my essay #3 about the movie “Smoke Signals” I will review the movie.  While watching the movie I will take notes and label them in sequence.  I will try and make sure not to summarize the film as it states the “not” to dos.  I tend to want to summarize, so this will be challenging for me.  I will be a careful and an observant viewer.

"This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizonza" Dialogue

Are you more impressed with the film or the story?  Why?

Personally, I felt the feelings of the characters in both the story and the T.V.  I felt the compassion that Victor really actually had in the story more.  It seemed as if the way the story was written gave you more feeling towards the characters such as Victor and Thomas rather than the movie.  When watching the movie I knew that Victor was an angry kid and Thomas was just a happy story telling kid but the story made me feel more compassion towards Victor and made Victor seem much nicer than actually seeing in on T.V.

When seeing it on T.V. you could see that Victor was not nice to Thomas. I felt the anger more on T.V. But, I felt more of the bonding time between Victor and Thomas reading the story.  When seeing how mean Victor was to Thomas on the T.V., they showed him actually beating Thomas up.  Actually, seeing that a nice kid get beat up is more touching than just reading about it.  There were more in depth details of how they got along on their trip in the story versus how they didn't get along.

I also felt Victor was much nicer to Thomas in the story versus the video.  In the story you read detail by detail of Thomas telling one of his stories and Victor just laughing, which tells me he was listening to the story and interacting with Thomas.   Finding out  that Thomas went on this trip all along for repaying Victors dad was much more detailed in the story.

All in all, I enjoyed the story more because it seemed to put Victor and Thomas having a better relationship than the movie.  I really enjoyed reading the story more than watching it on t.v.  I have a hard time staying awake while watching t.v.  So, the story made it much more interesting for me.:-)