Literature Analysis #3

Topics/ Events
  The book I read is called Wild Swans by Jung Chang. The author shares her story starting with her grandmother, the first generation and ending with the author herself, third generation.  A brutal life story from the beginning.
  My belief, for the reason being this book was written is because, the passion for writing that Chang has. In addition, to let her story be told of a crucial life that she had to go through. It still happens today, and that is why it's known that china will not publish her books or any other that are connected to it.
  I choose this book believing it would be good to know some history and it was a random choice but it also was recommended by my cousin who fell in love with it. Therefore I took the chance and read it. The title is catchy and sounds fancy to me. Now I have a set of point of view to how it relates to the book, and why the title was chosen. After reading the first two pages, I had to go back and skim through it one more time to make sure I understood the text. It caught me with surprise and had me wondering a little more. From there I kept my interest in the book until the end. More an more information, facts, events in the book just took me by surprise and I had to keep digging for answers. The hard part for me was understanding vocabulary and the context, somehow I just got lost on some of it.
This book is realistic and to prove so, there are facts and research, and witnesses to the event's that took place. There is a connection to the author and some of the event's that happen in the book. They are deep and It has been the only book so far I emotionally connect with. It is unbelievable to me because I could not imagine such calamity in a country, and now I know!

People
  The author does create her own interpretation of some characters in the book and although their real character's and some names are give, it' not all there. The author even explains from the beginning that some characters are classified for particular reasons.
  If we would have personally met those characters year's ago, our perspectives would be completely different. If an identity has to confidential, I believe there is a good reason for it and of course the personality of that person is going to be different as well with everybody, cautiousness. The choices done by the author tell me about her character a little bit. For example, when pushed to marry someone who she did not love or even like, and the man's father being on his death bed, gave her courage to stand up and say no. She was not going to marry someone she did not love an lie to herself although she felt sad. But it was a situation where it would manipulate the marriage because of the dying father.
  The grandmother, Yu-Fang, was described as a concubine. She is the first wild swan. Her feet were inward from breaking them in at such a young age because it was the rule in order to find a wealthy husband to take any interest in her. Small, petite, bright, quiet, and obedient. Her fictional character would be indirect. Mysteriously interesting and giving some character to someone understated in such manner.
  De-Hong being the second wild swan in the book, is a rebellious, courageous, cautious, and bright girl. Not only did she have the determination and ambition to stand out one day but in which she accomplished successfully years after. Now her character would be direct because the personality already is brought to attention and even as like an animated or cartoon character that is fictional, having these personalities would be interesting.
  These two character's are so interesting to write about because of a connection I have with them. Also, they stand out and are the couple of main people in the book. They are brought up several times and each time giving new information about them or that involves them. The personalities have a reflection on me because I emotionally compare myself to these two character's. That is what makes them so interesting in my perspective.
  Direct Characterization:
"He was very bright and knowledgeable, and my mother respected him tremendously."
  Indirect Characterization:
"Being in intelligence gave "Loyalty" power, which brought him money. Gradually he began to change."
Giving both approaches just may be the authors perspective on how she saw certain characters. The way I see it is if used in direct tone, it may be factual but if character is described indirectly than that's her own perspective and not factually known to her best knowledge. In some results I can understand what the character means and can get a clear image of the character. But when it's indirect, I take it for my own view on how I would see the character with some pointer tips from the author.
  The author's phase does change when describing or talking about a character. It seems to come off as more emotion or just usage of vocab that gives me a hard time to understand the passage. The Protagonist stays the same through out the story. Always strong in their own way and make it through to be what they were the whole story. The protagonist is round and is tied to just about every event described in the book.

 Styles
 The author used a journalistic style of writing. For example, "On the night of the festival in 1944, my mother and grandmother were sitting under a trellis covered with winter melons and beans, gazing through the gaps in the shadowy leaves into the vast, cloudless sky." In this quote it gives the facts, and states what had happened that night described. Letting her memory stroll back to that night.
 Several structures are rolled into this book. Some people or places are lengthy description's and mostly the text is put into action. This type of work used makes me understand more of the book and gives me a better aspect of how to look on the main issue to the passages.
 The tools used by the author is directed by the phrase and subjects to words used in the passage. The phrases comes off as respectful and confident. Also the personality with the words and dialect used to create a mood for the reader. And sometimes it's just how the author feels and just puts it out there, therefore creating an effective mood coming from the author directly to the reader.
  The attitude I got from it was just informative and fragile. There is allot of events created in calamity in several different ways. Fragile to talk about and understand what the author had went through, the feeling is sometimes just unbearable because of the image described and it becomes visual when added detail is set forth in mind.
  It did not matter in my thinking of what the author's resources were because I was so into what she had to say in the book. At point I was curious to how the reader got her resources but then later in some parts it informs me that she had either got it from another witness or saw it somewhere and even talked to certain people (dialogue) described in the book.
  I will not take life for granted, it opened my eyes to more knowledge according to history about china and such. The point was to be heard, in my opinion for what the author had gone through. Her passion ended up being writing and that is beautiful to see in someone who went through some tough times in life, have the potential to not give up and find something they enjoy, not letting herself be discouraged by other's.

Bonus:
In my book, the key people learned allot towards the end and came out to be wise. Without experience and a few mistakes one grows wiser and not ignorant. It is told in the end of the book a brief explanation of how those character's are today. For example the third generation of the wild swans is now in London and has a Ph. D degree in linguistics and is content from what I understood.