On Lu's Reading

On Lu's, FromSilence to Words: Writing as Struggle"
As I began to read the selection, I was a bit hesitent as to what was being put forth. But a few paragraphs in, and I realize that in the time that she is growing up (WWII era), the world she knows around her is changing, and her parents do not want her to change with it. She learns the English Language at the same time her parents are learning it, as well as learning the new, "Working Class," or, "Standard Chinese," language she is to use when she is outside of home. Then from out of the blue, one of her teachers speaks to her in English, now she belives this is fine until her high school years when she is then shunned upon for it, also due to the part that her father is an "Imperialist Lacky." She then starts to learn that the way she was raised by her parents was "wrong," under the new government, and that she should try and reform herself into a "Working Class" citizen. But once again her parents step in and have her read books to help prevent the "communist poisoning" of her mind.

Also, I liked at many points, Lu referance to color as a source of tying different languages together. As said in this selection, " "Red" came to mean Revolution at school, "the Commies" at home, and adultery in The Scarlette Letter."

So for Lu to learn a certain language and use it primarily as her "official" language was almost impossible. Lu, having to struggle not only with the new languages she was also learning on how she had o relate each different language to every event in her life, be it a Chinese event, or an English Event. For the entire selection, I had a great feeling of honor for the writer for having accomplished this, but also a sense of remorse for her as well, for having to go through that entire experiance.