Literary Term: "Too much fire and you had a bad temper (31)." This is an analogy which compares fire to a person's bad temper. Tan's use of an analogy is effective because she makes two seemingly unlike things come together in comparison in a very interesting way.
Quote from the novel: "...People rise to other people's expectations. And when you criticize, it just means you're expecting failure (31)."
In chapter 1, Jing-mei Woo (June) feels her mother criticizes her too much. Even though Jing-mei assumes it is partly her mother's Chinese superstitions, she still confronts her about it. June tells her, " '...People rise to other people's expecations. And when you criticize, it just means you're expecting failure.' " June doesn't think that one should be surrounded with criticism because it is unhealthy for a person. According to June, encouragement should be given instead. This part of the book brought to mind a quote from Mike Huckabee. He said, " 'It's when ordinary people rise above the expectations and seize the opportunity that milestones truly are reached.' " If people are expected to do something, and take this role as an opportunity to exceed what is asked, then it is remarkable. This is the way I think June feels about expectations and criticism.
I agree with Bailey as to how June feels in regard to criticism. When I first read this statement made by June, I stopped and considered the way people react to both encouragement and criticism. While I agree that encouragement is much healthier than criticism, I also feel that if someone was constantly criticizing me, I would work harder than ever to prove to them that I could succeed. Despite this, different people react to criticism in different ways, and I agree with both Bailey and June that offering encouragement to someone will make him more likely to succeed.
ReplyDelete