Hailey Lopez

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

@MalloryAsis I think the two generations represent past and future. In Dictee the daughter asks her mother to hold her up to the window. It's interesting that, in both cases, one pair is drowning, and, in Dictee, the daughter and mother can't see the window. Both the past and future struggle

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

@MalloryAsis This reminded me of Achebe and how writing in English is not seen as a loss but as a shift or the creation of something new. With the children playing among "graves" it feels less like a loss but almost embracing the haunting aspect of it; culture lives on however it can.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

quote, formatted as a question, illustrated how Liew was trying to get readers to question who they sympathize for in a sense. Are there demographics in society that people sympathize with more?

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

"And what if the child were just slightly older, a young man, who in another life might keep watch, unmoving"(Strangers Drowning 34). This reminded me of how in Liew's graphic novel, Charlie stated he drew cartoon animals instead of humans because people care more. I thought this

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

the unknowingness of it.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

"we are being prepared for eventualities to hold down the rhythm of wanting"(Marginalia 62). The word "eventualities" reminded me of the "not yet" phase of a nation's road from decolonization to independence. I thought this illustrated the complexity of this period and

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

It also reminded me of "Into the Light" with the maternal character, specifically, representing culture as well.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

"...already willing to believe in nothing but the woman who stands on dry land...yelling your name, her voice a lost song, the prayer your mouth mouths..."(Strangers Drowning 31). I thought that this quote illustrated how our past articles mentioned women as representing culture.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

@Anna44332211 In the past section, things seemed to "fade into white"(96) or began "disappearing into whiteness"(113). In the quote you pointed out, the women have more autonomy over the color. Clothes can be changed whenever the individual chooses. The color seems to be less overwhelming.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

@Anna44332211 It is interesting that writing is specifically emphasized. I thought this purposely contrasts the impact of other mediums of art like photography. Even though images are passed on the "essence" of a person isn't necessarily translated. The autonomy in writing is significant.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

tell who is who within the narrative at times which is reflected in the quote in a sense.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

"It cannot be deciphered from the position and stillness whether she is waiting through the intermission from the previous scene or if she had just arrived"(149). This reminded me of one our last discussions in class. It was about the relationship between daughter and mother.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

With this context, the quote can illustrate that a woman's role in society is not stationary or definitive. This echoes other parts of the books where the narrator says that her mother is still a child. Or, when the narrator references her mother as a daughter. You can't really

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

theorists have argued that it is not beneficial to try and revive a "pure" culture or past ideas of a "pure" culture.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

"Simulated pasts resurrected in memoriam. She hears herself uttering again re-uttering to re-vive. The forgotten." I thought it was interesting how this quote emphasized the resurrection or reviving of a past instead of a type of rebirth. Especially because many postcolonial

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

I wonder is this was intentional. I thought it implied a type of generational trauma or the passing of it from one woman to another.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

"She remembered her words about stopping on her way and she started to run.... As she came nearer to the house she became aware of the weight of the bundles..."(170). This quote, in the last story of the book, made me think of how time has been referenced a lot. To expand, in the

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

quote, it seems like the little girl is figuratively and literally moving forward. Not only is she running forward quickly, but it seems that time moved forward quickly to the point where she feels the weight of the bundles that the older woman gave her. She aged in her journey.

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

@Anna44332211 I think this was a really intriguing part of the section as I was trying to understand the author's intention the entire time I was reading it. It may be to allow an entire page to visually be dedicated to one woman's story however small. For instance, p.98 only had three lines

[Hailey Lopez @HaileyL2024]

@zoekrank1 I was thinking the same thing. To me, in a sense, it also sounds more like a biblical sentiment. The husband needs to "teach" and guide his wife as women are somehow more susceptible to being deceived. It is interesting because Cha mentions the bible in other places.