Reaction Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Reaction Journal - Essay Example The arrest of Eugene V. Debs is reminiscent of authoritarian governments which Americans now criticize in other global regimes, such as China. However, this had a positive consequence: the formation of the American Civil Liberties Union. ‘The Roaring Twenties’ appears to be a misnomer! Economic prosperity was concentrated in big business, but did not extend to the agricultural sector or rural area. Public support for the Ku Klux Klan, the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, the National Origins Act of 1924, lynching, and the banning of interracial marriages indicated an upsurge in racism. Christian fundamentalism raised its head. Perhaps it assumed a connotation of general well-being, because it was sandwiched between the World War 1 and the Great Depression. Ironically, the New Deal failed to satisfy the privileged class (who resented the higher taxes imposed on them), critics in the Democratic Party (Huey P. Long declared that it failed to do enough for the poor), or the Republican opposition (Senator Taft condemned it for its socialist stance, deficit spending and its attack on private enterprise). The AAA’s destruction of ‘surplus’ agricultural production (during a period of acute food scarcity!) and discrimination against blacks, debase the New Deal.3 President Roosevelt’s ‘Four Freedoms’ – freedom of speech and worship, and freedom from want and fear, was accepted American ideology, but contradicted and undermined by racism. It is tragic to read Foner’s account of the government â€Å"bending over backward to accommodate German-Americans and Italian-Americans in the war effort† but â€Å"viewing every person of Japanese ethnicity as a potential spy†4. The meaning of ‘freedom’ was controversial during the 1950’s. The Cold War identified freedom with anti-communism: racially segregationist South Africa was part of the ‘Free World’ merely because

Building Brands in Emerging Markets Essay Example for Free

Building Brands in Emerging Markets Essay 1.Briefly State the Main Idea of the Article. The main idea of the article is to explain the entry barriers that new products need to handle in emerging markets that in developed markets. The existence of different kind of channels available to promote their product and expand the awareness. The main three factors discussed in the article are: Word of mouth, in store experience and initial brand consideration. But, there are other factors that also can play a major role in the growth of a product in any market as is the geographical location of the product. In developed countries where access to internet and TV it is not limited, the media marketing plays a big role in the awareness of the product because this might be the first approach to early adapters or new consumers of the product. While in countries where access to internet or a TV is limited, the product only can rely on the Word of Mouth. 2.List Three important Facts That the Author Uses to Support the Main Idea. Word of mouth: This channel it is the most important for a new product in a new market, because it depends of the feedback is given by friends, relatives to the consumer. The in store experience: this is when the consumer has the first interaction with the product and that influences the final decision of the consumer. The initial brand consideration: This factor does not play a big role compared with the other two but is a factor to be taken into consideration for future product in order to expand the awareness of their product. 3.What Information or Ideas Discussed in this Article are Also Discussed in your Textbook, Discussion or Other Readings that You Have Done. Understand the Global Marketing Environment taking into consideration the different stages of the market. The different stages of the market in this article can be described as the low, high, upper level income of the countries where the access to media communication can be a crucial factor in order to expand the awareness of any product. Also, the social and cultural environments play a big role in the marketing plan of a product in emergent and developed markets, understanding these two environments will benefit the product in order to understand how to target a specific group of customers adding value to their needs. 4.List Any Examples of Bias or Faculty Reasoning That You Found in the Article. In my personal opinion I believe that the article does not have any faulty reasoning, I believe they are giving their feedback through their point of view, but I will like to address that most of the times developed countries fail to develop marketing strategies in emerging countries, for example they focus in marketing their product through TV in countries where the abstention to buy new products promoted through TV or web is low, they need to bring new strategy ideas in order to market their product in other countries. 5.List Any New Terms/Concepts That Were Discussed in the Article and Write a Short Definition or Commentary. Word of Mouth: this concept it is not new for me I understand what it means but I think it is a crucial factor in order to buy something new for me. For example when I started with the mountain biking, I was the emergent consumer to the market but thanks to my friends I was able to decide which where the best bicycles for me considering my budget, as well the accessories required helmet, gloves, cleats etc. (this is an opposite example but I think it works to explain that word of mouth is a major player when marketing and expanding products)

China Overpopulation Solutions

China Overpopulation Solutions Over population is one of the serious issue that today’s world is facing. China is known as the country with the highest population (CIA). In order to prevent their massive population growth, China introduced the â€Å"One-Child Policy†. It is a policy implemented by the Chinese government with the purpose of controlling the enormous population in People’s Republic Of China. With the establishment of One-Child Policy, there are a lot of benefits and impacts to Chinese society and family. Regarding this topic, this essay will illustrate the positive and negative effects of this policy. After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, China’s population was approaching one billion-mark, which concerned the new Chinese government. Because of the overwhelmed population growth, Chinese citizens were encouraged to have only two children per family in late 1978. The policy helped to decline almost half of population growth in China during that time but it did not reach their expectation. Later in 1979, China’s leader Deng Xiaoping introduced the One-Child Policy, requiring a family to have only one child. The Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party formally instituted One-Child Policy on September 25th, 1980 (Pletcher, 2014). Along with this burdensome policy, it comes with two main positive effects, social and family. As for the boon social effect, the most obvious effect is that it limits the population growth efficiently. It is seen that the population was decreased by over a half. Since 1979, experts at the national Population and Family Planning Commission of China said, the policy has prevented more than four hundred million births in the country (Jaime FlorCruz, 2011). After the introduction of the One-Child Policy, the fertility rate in China fell down from over three births per woman in 1980 to approximately 1.54 in 2011 (Data from World Bank, 2014). Moreover, the reduction in the rapid growth has reduced some serious issues that cause by overpopulation like health, education, law enforcement, and other destructions. Another social consequence is the economic growth. When there is higher in the birth rate, the slower of the economic growth occurs, thus One-Child Policy could have contributed to the increase of economic growth. With the lower population, the bureau could provide their people with a high living standard. They might get a high level of schooling, perfect healthcare as well as other accessibility. Then people will lead to be the high quality, which are very crucial for innovations and creations, to develop their count ry for sustained economic growth. Obviously, China is one of the World’s largest economic in term of the population, but in fact, the GDP per capital still low in some area. According to Prof. Zhang’s research during 1978-1998, 28 Chinese provinces, found that the lower the birth rate, the faster the economic growth. The annual growth rate of the real per capital income in that period was as high as 8.1 percent. At the same time, the birth rate was very low—at only 2 percent (Louisa Wah Hansen, 2013). Simultaneously, the policy has positively effect the family as well. The first thing is the high responsibility in the family. This mean that the parents are able to focus on their only one child and allow them to live in a more safety and wealthy environment under their heedfulness, thus the child would receive much love and warmth from them. To add on, this policy leads to less expense in the family budget. With fewer members, family could settle better in the pr osperous life, and won’t get into hardship because of carrying so many children. Along with those benefits the essay has mentioned, One-Child policy also scatters a lot of negative effects to the Chinese society and family. Since One-child policy has been established, the population growth rate in China has been declined from 0.9 percent in 2000 to 0.48 percent in 2012, which is leaded to the lack of human resources (World Bank). Recently, the government is very concern about the lack of human resources, that’s why they ease one-child policy and allows couples to have two children if they were both born without siblings (BBC, 2013). Moreover China is the country, which has a high preference for son, rather than daughter that is the cause of sex imbalances. One-Child policy has made China become the country, which has male population, more than female. According to Business Insider, there were 51 million men more than women in China 2010. In every 100 newborns girls, there are 120 boys, which is the highest sex ratio in the world (Sam, 2013). In addition be cause of the One-Child policy, the birth population is decreasing while the aging is continuing on increasing from day to day that lead to age dependency. The age of group of people from 0-14 decreased 6.29 percent, from 15-59 increased 3.36 percent, group of 60 and over increased 2.93 percent and group of 65 and over increased to 1.91 percent (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2011). Age dependency will put more pressure to the son of the family to earn more money to support the family and also make the economics of country goes down since the decreasing of the workers. Moreover, female infanticide has happened in China for a long time; Chinese girls are twice as likely to die in their first year of life as boys (Infanticide in china,†). Despite the democratic nature of Chinese community, many parents consider that having a son is a crucial element of providing for their old age. Therefore in severe cases, a baby is killed if it is not of the preferred sex, because of t he pressure not to have more than one child (BBC). In addition, the absence of a sibling does not define the outcome of a child’s social growth. For the single-child, the nature and structure of his or her family organization can be the adaptation factor for his or her lack of sibling contact. Children with siblings often exchange amongst each other their respective academic and social backgrounds – an advantage that single-children don’t have. Single-children tend to be influenced more by self-absorbed instincts, commanding more attention in their personal homes. Because parents tend to treat their single-child the way standard parents treat their first-born (with more attention and care due to lack of experience), single-children will generally be more relying on their parents and less independent (Xuefeng). As a result of the one-child policy, a single person can be supporting both their parents and their four grandparents. This forces the parents and grandpa rents to depend more on retirement savings or pensions, which many people don’t have. If those fail, everything depends on the one child. If that child can’t support their family, or if the only one child dies, the parents and grandparents will have no one to help them, and no money to support them. So when they lose their only hope, they will full of depression and no one will be look after them when they get older (rhee71, 2009). As the essay has analyzed, we can see that this policy had contributed a lot of benefits to the society as well as the family in this past few decades. From my perspective, I think China should maintains this One-Child policy because it will helps China to become more advanced, not only in the economic nor social field, but also to promote the human rights. At the same time, there need to have some changes to this policy such as reformation or ease this policy and allow some family to have their second child regarding their family condition like what Two-Child Policy has adopted in late 2013, by letting the family having their second child if one of their parents is an only child. References: CIA. (n.d.). East Southeast Asia:: China Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html Pletcher, K. (n.d.). One-child policy, 2014 Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1710568/one-child-policy Louisa Wah Hansen. (n.d.). One Child Policy: Bane or Boon for Economic Development? Retrieved from http://www.bschool.cuhk.edu.hk/program/article.aspx?id=B07B55F3517C Jaime FlorCruz. (2011, October 29).China copes with promise and perils of one-child policy. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/28/world/asia/china-one-child/ Fertility rate. (2014, January 10). Retrieved from http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_met_y=sp_dyn_tfrt_inidim=country:CHNdl=enhl=enq=total fertility rate china World Bank. (n.d.). Population growth rate: China Retrieved from http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=24c=chl=en BBC. (2013, November 18). China media: One-child policy. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24983007 Sam, R. (2013, November 15). Heres the china demographics chart that actually scares us. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/country-rankings-of-sex-ratio-at-birth-2013-11 National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2011, April 28). Communiquà © of the national bureau of statistics of peoples republic of china on major figures of the 2010 population census[1] (no. 1). Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20131108022004/http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/newsandcomingevents/t20110428_402722244.htm Infanticide in china. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.allgirlsallowed.org/infanticide-china-statistics BBC. (n.d.). Female infanticide. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtml Xuefeng, C. (n.d.). The social impact of chinas one-child policy. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/lipoff/www/hapr/summer03_security/CHEN.pdf rhee71. (2009, March 25). Disadvantages of china’s one-child policy. Retrieved from http://rhee71.edublogs.org/2009/03/25/disadvantages-of-china’s-one-child-policy/

Stereotyping in Society :: essays research papers

Stereotyping in Society I think it is pretty hard to go through a week without experiencing at least two or three incidents where someone or a group of people is being sterotyped. Whether it comes from jokes, television, comics, or just hearing people talk about other people, stereotyping is around all the time. The first example of stereotyping that I witnessed comes from the television show "That 70s Show." At least every episode the "crew," or group of friends always hang out, and they have a foreign exchange student for a friend. They don't know what country he's from but they always make fun of foreigners on the show. They crack jokes about him floating over on a raft to the United States and always make references to him being from different countries that he's not from just because his skin is dark. The jokes are funny and they aren't supposed to hurt the character's feelings, but they are very stereotypical. I saw a commercial the other day that was an advertisement for using protection during sex to help the fight against the spread of AIDS. The commercial starts out talking about how African Americans represent the leaders of sports because they have the best basketball players, leaders in baseball, and have the fastest track runners. Then at the end of the commercial they say that they are also leading the population of the United States in being diagnosed with the AIDS virus. When I saw the commercial I didn't really know where it was going and it is good that it ended with a serious message, but I didn't really agree with the way they presented it. It is probably true that African Americans make up most of some sports, but they didn't have to make it sounds like African Americans are superior to white people when it comes to sports. The third example that I witnessed was from the show Seinfeld. It was the episode where the character Elaine met a new boyfriend and she didn't know what race he was. The guy was slightly dark complected and a different race than white was expected so Elaine kept on taking him to different restaurants trying to figure out what race he was.

Compare and contrast Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe with Golding’s Lord of the Flies Essay

This essay will compare the two novels, Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies, to see how each author reflected the point of view of society at the time that they lived in. The nature of civilisation will be viewed from their two different perspectives. Daniel Defoe published Robinson Crusoe in 1719; William Golding published Lord of the Flies in 1954. Both novels are the first fiction works of their respective authors and they deal with the issue of being deprived of the surroundings of the civilisation that they are used to. The former is about a man, shipwrecked repeatedly, and how he survives in the face of slavery and savagery. The latter concerns a group of schoolchildren whose plane crashes onto an island after a nuclear war breaks out and explains how they cope and change as time wears on with no sign of a rescue. Although the subject matter of these two books is similar on the surface, there is a contrast in the way the two authors represent civilisation. Daniel Defoe was a novelist, journalist, businessman and spy. He defended William of Orange and Mary’s rise to the throne. He attacked the Church of England in his book The Shortest Way with Dissenters and he was fined and imprisoned, but after his release he became a spy for the government. He did not begin writing until he was almost sixty. The Robinson Crusoe narrative was inspired by the actual experience of Alexander Selkirk on the island of Juan Fernandez from 1704 to 1709. Defoe wrote for the middle and lower classes and his realism and sentimentalism pleased them. At the time Britain was at the beginning of its Empire building phase and was entering a ‘Golden Age.’ After the union with Scotland in 1707, internal trade prospered in this, the largest customs-free area in Western Europe. The aristocracy and upper middle class that controlled Parliament also controlled the principal trading and banking companies, so that the growth of new enterprises was more rapid than anywhere else in Europe. The gradual control of the seas, the establishment of trading posts in exotic lands, and the policy of taking overseas territories as booty from successful wars enabled Britain to gain commercial benefits and to build the world’s largest empire. Inside Britain, the Industrial Revolution was under way. New countries were seen as lands of opportunity and resource; many people emigrated to make their fortune in tobacco growing or gold mining etc. There was a general air of optimism concerning mankind’s future and when Crusoe is shipwrecked – the only survivor on an unknown island – he fights for survival not only in the physical sense but also in the sense that he fights for his belief that civilisation would conquer all difficulties. The main character of Defoe’s book is Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe wanted to go to sea and explore rather than follow his father’s wishes and practise law; as it says on the first page: â€Å"My father†¦design’d me for the Law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to Sea.† Robinson Crusoe repeatedly went out to sea, even though after each expedition he always vowed to go home and stay on land. Eventually he was shipwrecked on an island and this is where the main narrative of the story begins. In this book he retains a strong sense of civilisation. This is shown after he rescues a savage from other savages who were about to eat him. He called him Friday after the day that he had met him, immediately taught him English and what his morals were: â€Å"†¦I likewise taught him to say Master, and then let him know, that was to be my name†¦I would give him Cloaths.† Crusoe also warned Friday off cannibalism and when he later rescues a Spaniard and Friday’s father from savages, he thought he had an example of society: â€Å"How like a King I looked†¦ The whole country was my own†¦property; so that I had undoubted Right of Dominion†¦My people were perfectly subjugated: I was absolute Lord and Law-giver.† Order is brought out of chaos by civilisation. The Lord of the Flies, on the other hand, was written when the Cold War was under way, nuclear tensions were high and people were nervous and fearful about the future of mankind. The story reflects Golding’s thoughts about civilisation – what in his view it was really like when the coating was stripped away. The story begins with the aeroplane crashing and the group of schoolchildren forming a semblance of a society with a democratically appointed leader. However as the narrative progresses, civilisation slowly falls apart; the main group of boys become savages and lives are taken. The book ends with all sense of civilisation being lost and the main character running for his life. Eventually civilisation is restored in the form of a Royal Navy cruiser, after spotting the signal that the boys initially lit, coming to rescue them. The main character in Lord of the Flies is named Ralph and this story starts with another boy and him discussing what happened to the plane that they were in. After finding more children and no adults he called a meeting where he said, â€Å"Seems to me that we ought to have a chief to decide things.† This shows he had some views on the need for planning. Jack, another boy, also had some sense of civilisation: â€Å"After all, we’re not savages. We’re English; and the English are best at everything.† This is ironic, as later on he is the one to break all the rules and become the chief of the savages. Eventually they came to a disagreement over a signal they had lit to try and attract rescue ships. Ralph wanted to keep it going, but the other children wanted to hunt animals. The group acted like a savage tribe and eventually chooses to abandon civilised living: one of Ralph’s friends, Piggy, offers the choice: â€Å"Which is better – to be a pack of painted niggers like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is? †¦ Which is better – to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill? †¦ Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?† The group then killed him and Ralph was running for his life. He represents a leader of a democratic society, which soon collapsed. â€Å"One chanced nothing! What could they do? Beat him? So what? Kill him? A stick sharpened at both ends.† At the end, when an officer from the rescue ship asks him who was in charge, he declared himself the leader again knowing that no one would dare challenge him in the face of civilisation protected by power. Ralph had no power in the story to protect his civilisation. Power lay with those who had the weapons. In Robinson Crusoe human freedom, based on reason, is seen to be a higher way of living in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Defoe notes the presence of religious differences and uses the situation to express his belief that freedom of belief should overrule religious bigotry: â€Å"We had but three Subjects, and they were of three different Religions. My man Friday was a Protestant, his Father was a Pagan and a Cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Papist: however, I allow’d Liberty of Conscience throughout my Dominions.† The opposite is true in Lord of the Flies as the group degenerates from civilised English schoolboys to primitive hunters only interested in the hunt and the kill. A pig’s head on a pole represents religion in this story, similar to a totem pole that the native Americans and other similar tribal people used. This represents a relapse to a less ‘reasonable’ form of existence. Lord of the Flies is similar to Animal Farm by George Orwell, in that the impression of civilisation disappears and chaos reigns as they overthrow the person in control and all the order that goes with it. By contrast, Robinson Crusoe is similar in outlook to The Swiss Family Robinson (Johann Wyss) in that both retain an optimistic outlook even after they have been shipwrecked on the island. In both of the above books they find and make living areas, they capture wild animals to make a farm and they both are religious. A further modern example of the ‘Castaway’ plot is in TV shows like ‘Big Brother’ or other situations where a group of people is stranded in an area and has to adapt to keep any semblance of control. The pressure seems to affect the group and behaviour is altered compared with what is normally seen in public society. The overall feel of Robinson Crusoe’s plot is optimistic – reflecting the times that Defoe lived in. Rene Descartes, a philosopher of the period, believed in the power of human spirit and reason over the force of nature. He said that ‘True knowledge must come from human reason alone. Defoe uses pirates and savages to symbolise a more primitive and uncontrolled force and uses Crusoe’s triumph over them to illustrate human spirit. Lord of the Flies, however, is pessimistic: all semblance of civilised society is stripped away. The two world wars undermined to ability of human beings to interact and use reason. Advances in society and technology had destroyed faith in rationalism and a belief grew that if left to our own devices, humans would in essence revert to animals. In the former novel the main character was on his own and it was only later did he have any company. There was no pressure on him to change into a savage and he could keep to the way he was wi thout anything to transform him. Lord of the Flies, however, portrays children like a pack of wolves, with the most influential ones being the leaders. When one of them started to backslide into savagery, he took the rest with him. William Golding essentially believes that all humans are evil inside, but it is just that civilisation puts pressure on you to keep in place and if it were not for the controls present in civilised society, we would all be like the savage group. â€Å"There was no Piggy to talk sense. There was no solemn assembly for debate nor dignity of the conch.† The Navy officer who arrived to take them back to the waiting ship said, â€Å"I should have thought that a pack of British boys would have been able to put up a better show than that.† Robinson Crusoe, on the other hand, arrived home with Friday (his servant) and immediately wanted to set sail again for South America. â€Å"My true friend the widow earnestly diswaded me from it, and so far prevail’d with me, that for almost seven years she prevented my running abroad.† This shows that he still had an adventurous spirit and was willing to go out again confident that he would be able to cope with any troubles. Both stories show that civilisation needs controls before it is effective; rules need to be enforced and reason alone may not be enough to ensure survival. Crusoe may not have survived without his gun and Ralph had nothing to protect himself with when the symbol of civilisation (the conch) was broken. In spite of this similarity, Defoe’s book presents a positive outlook for the future of humanity as civilisation spread across the globe, whereas Golding’s work suggested that the weapon would be used not to support civilisation, but to destroy it. Both reflect the world view of their times.

Earth Day Essay

The subject of Earth Day has been covered intensively by the world press over the past decade. Many an afternoon has been enjoyed by a family, bonding over the discussion of Earth Day. Until recently considered taboo amongst polite society, it is yet to receive proper recognition for laying the foundations of democracy. Often it is seen as both a help and a hinderence to global commercial enterprises, who are yet to grow accustomed to its disombobulating nature. Complex though it is I shall now attempt to provide an exaustive report on Earth Day and its numerous ‘industries’. Social Factors There is cultural and institutional interdependence between members of any community. When Thucictholous said ‘people only know one thing’ [1] he saw clearly into the human heart. Difference among people, race, culture and society is essential on the survival of our world, however Earth Day raises the question ‘why?’ Recent thought on Earth Day has been a real eye-opener for society from young to old. It grows stonger every day. Economic Factors There has been a great deal of discussion in the world of economics, centred on the value of Earth Day. We shall examine the Fish-Out-Of-Water model. Taking special care to highlight the role of Earth Day within the vast framework which this provides. Oil Prices Earth Day What a splendid graph. Obviously oil prices sings a very different tune. Perhaps to coin a phrase Earth Dayeconomics will be the buzz word of the  century Political Factors No man is an island, but what of politics? Comparing the general view of politics held by the poor of the west with those of the east can be like comparing. Consider this, spoken at the tender age of 14 by jazz singer Bonaventure H. Amster ‘Taking a walk across hot coals will inevitably hurt your feet.’ [2] This quotation leads me to suspect that he was not unaccustomed to Earth Day. It speaks volumes. History tells us that Earth Day will always be a vote winner, whether we like it, or not. Why did Earth Day cross the road? – To get to the other side! Just my little joke, but lets hope that Earth Day doesn’t inspire similar hilarity in the next elections. Conclusion To conclude, Earth Day parades along man’s streets and man waves back. It fills a hole, invades where necessary and always chips in.

The Joy Lack Club Review Essays - Chinatown, San Francisco

The Joy Lack Club Review Essays - Chinatown, San Francisco The Joy Lack Club Review Blow from the South. The wind leaves no trail. Throw sand from the East to distract him. Blow, blow, blow. He cannot see. He is blind now. Make him lean away from the wind so he is easier to knock down. (p.98) What kind of thoughts go through a reader's mind when they come across a paragraph that has gibberish for its structure? How about a whole book of Chinese proverbs and bits of fragmented wisdom? The Joy Luck Club is a book that fits this description. The book has the potential of becoming another in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Made up from a collection of stories from the pasts of the main characters, the book lacks many of the qualities that are found in better known contemporary compositions. I personally thought it was the story line and the style that were two of the biggest let downs of the book. However, if there was one good thing that I could say about the book, it would be the way that it illustrates the conflicts of mother-daughter relationships. The possibi lity for a sequel does exist. After reading this book I can honestly say that I have no desire to read any more of Amy Tan's work. Since the beginning of time, English teachers have preached the importance of the plot diagram; you know that stupid mountain-looking thing that starts with the exposition and ends after the climax with a resolution, this book doesn't follow that diagram. The lack of a strong plot was the most prominent let down of the book. The stories were well written, and it was interesting to see how they fit together to compose the characteristics of the characters, but the book left me unsatisfied by having no real suspense. Throughout the entire book I never once thought, What's going to happen next? This made the book seem excruciatingly long. The depression that every one of the characters adds to the story also makes this book torturously long. Amy Tan's style of writing is also something I do not care to read. The constant changes in perspective, the broken English, and the bits of Chinese wisdom, are all things that I have no desire to experience. True, the style of a composition is where the art of writing lies, but when the style aggravates a reader something has to be said. The style of this book also added to the length. Even though I disagree with Amy Tan's style, I wouldn't change it even if I had the chance. I would never attack the medium of an author/artist's work. The way that she expressed her ideas through the book is the sign of a good artist, and by changing her style it would destroy her work. A good sequel to this book would have to focus more on the present and less on the past. Many improvements could be made to the style and plot then. Maybe it could include the next generation of daughters, and show how the desire to fit in with American culture is phasing out the traditions of the past. This would turn the tables on the daughters in the present book and place the in their mother's shoes. With the American values that the daughters have, it would be interesting to see how they would raise their children different from the way that they were raised. The Joy Luck Club is a book that I never would have read on my own free time. I cannot relate to any of the stories in the book. The lack of a strong plot left me wanting for more than what was written. Amy Tan's style, while praised by critics, was not in the least bit interesting to me. However, the stories did show the hardships that these women had to go through during a war. Of course, if I had really wanted to know that I would have gotten a much shorter answer from a history book. I will probably never recommend this book to anyone, and it would be a rare circumstance if I did.