Who is the Narrator? Where does he live? What do his parents do for a living?
In “All I asking for is my body” the narrator is a fourth grade boy named Kiyoshi. He lives in Pepelau, Hawaii with his parents,older brother and younger sister.A part of Hawaii where you don’t own shoes and you go to the beach everyday tell sundown only coming home for lunch.There where other activites like movies for family’s who had money and something called the Buddhist Bon dances in the evening. His father is a fisherman and his mom is a sewed for a living.
He talks about always having fish and rice due to the fact they weren’t as fortunate as some of the other familys in the camp they lived in.How he grew tired of it and that’s why he went against his parents and ate at his friends home.I think they were ashamed that they didn’t have a lot of money .example his mom telling him he would get sick if he kept eating over there often. Another example would be his mom worrying the people in his camp would laugh at him and or worry about what people would say.
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteI think being poor makes the family very sensitive to what other people are saying about them. They worry what the neighbors will say since Kiyoshi is eating at Makoto's house, as if that will suggest the family doesn't have enough money to feed everyone. There's some truth to not having enough money.
Thanks for your insights.
Take care,
Lauren
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI would not say that his parents were ashamed for having the type of life style that they did but were thinking about having respect. They wanted him to show respect by thanking Makot's parents for their hospitality, and having him go there as often as he was would make others think that they are not able to provide to their own child and they are having him go around scrounging for food. What really surprised me was how his parents were acting about his friendship with him and how they were forbidding him from seeing him again becuase of how Makos' parents are. They would not say what exactly it was that made Makos parents seem 'bad' but it seems like everyone was talking about them without giving any details.
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteWow, I have to admit that I don't remember him having a sister! Better pay more attention next time, I shouldn't have missed that. As for Kiyoshi parents not wanting him to eat with Makot,I think it was more about what Makot parents did for a living then it was about them not being able to provide. I think that his mom may have been using that as an excuse trying to swede her son from going over there. If Kiyoshi parents were embarrassed about anything it was that people might see him hanging out with the wrong person if you know what i mean. I know my parents didn't want me hanging out with certain people as I grew up. They never gave me a reason they just said I don't want you to hang out with that person and that was it. Sorta like what happen when Kiyoshi dad said no!! He new not to push it even if he did not understand. I hope in that they get to be friends later on in the book. No child should have to pay for the sins of the parents. Thanks for sharing.
Stacy
I did not like the fact that Kiyoshi's parents forbid him from eating at Makot's house because they were worried what other people might think about it. I do not know why Makot's parents were "bad", but I would have to say that I definitely did not agree with Kiyoshi's parents' decision to ban him from seeing and playing with Makot. I would not forbid my children from seeing friends unless those friends were getting them to use drugs or get invloved with gangs or crimes. I would not forbid them because of what other people would think about me for my child playing with that person.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam,
ReplyDeleteI think that Kiyoshi's parents weren't ashamed of how they lived or how poor they were. I think it was more that they didn't want people to think that they were unable to take care of their own children. I kind of get were they are coming from, but I still don't think that they should care so much about what other people think of them. Eating at a friend's house seems fine to me, however in this case it may have really just been not ok because of Makot's parents. I really wish that they hadn't tried to hide things from Kiyoshi. I think it would have helped him understand more.
Hello, I agree with you, he does feel different than other families, he doesn't have what they have and he keeps wanting more. He was friends with Makot, who was nice to him but something seemed odd about him and his family. Everyone in town believes that he tricks younger boys, and gets away with it. I don't know much about Makot, but from what I read so far, I know he's hiding something. He is a boy that wasn't raised correctly, and he seems very spoiled and a stubborn boy. I feel like kiyoshi is being influence by him, talking back to his parents and not obeying them like he should be.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lesley
Alright I agree that becaues their family is poor even though they seem like their always having a good time hes always wanting to go to makots because hes sick of the food there and he wants something different thats understandable obviously, I feel like makot is kind of different, and theres something up with him or his family or parents and I think its actually a godo thing that they don't let him hang out with makot because of the influence hes having on kiyoshi. But i guess we'll see what happens later on in the book,
ReplyDelete