Group 2 Activity
Venn Diagram: The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang
The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to America. Driven to tell her family's story after her grandmother's death, "The Latehomecomer" is Kao Kalia Yang's tribute to the remarkable woman whose spirit held them all together. It is also an eloquent, firsthand account of a people who have worked hard to make their voices heard.
Venn diagram
Venn diagrams assist in comparing and contrasting story elements (such as characters) in a book or characters in two books. Venn diagrams provide graphic representations of common and contrasting features. The circles represent the different elements or different books. In this case they will represent the two characters found in The Latehomecomer, Kao Kalia Yang and her grandmother. Where the circles overlap, this section is dedicated to common or content shared by the two books, in this case by the two characters. In the non overlapping portions of the circles these areas are dedicated to the unique elements of the book, once again in this case Kalia and her grandmother one on either side.
This activity assists students in comparing characters and their personalities by the use of a visual object/writing to enhance their learning and understanding of the book. Students may place the concepts in either circle or in the overlapping area, allowing them to organize their information logically. Students may view and edit their draft diagrams, then print the finished diagrams for reference. This is a handy tool for classroom use that guides students through the process of organizing information in Venn diagram form.
A person's experiences in life are countless. In The Latehomecomer, Kao Kalia Yang and her grandmother go through numerous life experiences, some are positive others are negative. Some experiences help build their characters and who they are or will be, whereas others shatter their dreams and hopes.
Identify three character traits or personalities that are unique to each of them and three personalities or traits that are similar (just three for both). Explain briefly why you think so then use examples/evidence from the book to support your views.
Instead of using a venn diagram you will number your points as follows:
Kao Kalia Yang
1. Shy/Timid
Kao Kalia is a shy girl and hardly talks in class. Her teachers and parents try to help her overcome her shyness, by encouraging her to talk. Her new home/environment is very strange and not familiar therefore she opts to ‘hide’ her true self. “Because I had been a talkative child, my parents didn’t understand my silence…They asked me what was wrong… I told them that I had no voice in English. I said sometimes when I wanted to talk, I couldn’t find my voice, and then when I did-the person, a kid or teacher-would already be gone.”
2.
3.
Grandmother
1. Bold/Strong/Brave/Outgoing
Kalia’s grandmother is a bold and strong (physically and mentally) woman. She leads the women to surrender after their husbands retreat back into the forest for safety. “My father’s mother led the women and children down the hill. Her wide feet clung to the ground, her girth making her appear bigger than she really was…From somewhere Grandma had a scrap of white cloth. They all knew that white was the color of surrender. She tied it to a twig. The women surrendered, their children at their center, like mother elephants.” (Pg 22)
2.
3.
Kao kalia Yang and grandmother (similar personalities)
1. Nurturing/caring.
Kalia and her grandmother both take care of their siblings. Kalia watches over her siblings when her parents go to work and her grandmother takes care of her siblings when both parents die. “It was enough to know that she had become the oldest member of her family, that she was made an orphan and had to take care of her toddler boy and a baby sister who was still breast-feeding. My grandma was only thirteen years old when she left childhood behind, not for her teenage years, but for her entire life.” (pg220) “They said. “We will work at night so that we can take care of Xue and Sheelue during the day when you two are in school. When you come home, you will take care of the babies and we will go to work…we did our best to help.” (pg 176)
2.
3.
Kao Kalia Yang
ReplyDelete1. Quiet/hesitant: I wouldn't necessarily want to call Kao shy, because I'm not sure that she was shy in her life before America. I will say that she is quiet and hesitant because she is not sure how to find her voice in America. WHen she is young it seems that she lives in constant fear of what others will think of her. One example being the beautifully written essay that she wrote about Romeo and Juliet. She had done a wonderful job, but still was uncertain of her strengths.
2. Fearful: As a young child Kao fears the spirit of an old woman and fears the dark very early in life. This is something that she learns to overcome as an adult in America.
3.Loyal: Kao spends most of her teenage years sacrificing for her siblings. She did not have the childhood that many of us had. She goes to school and then heads home to take care of children. She never complains. She actually enjoys doing it.
1. Stubborn: Even though her sons have warned her that the refugee camps in Thailand would be closed, Grandma still hesitated to go to America where the whole family would be safe...how could she know this.
2. Spiritual: Grandma remained very in tune to the spiritual world throughout the entire memoir. She prayed to her deceased husband for help when the family crossed the Mekong river, and told many magical tails to her grandaughter.
3. Superficial: Grandam referred to herself as ugly, and referred to one of her daughters as "the most beautiful." She told Kao that she would be beautiful is she allowed her hair to grow. I don't look at her superficiality as I would a superficial American. I think it is part of her culture to value beauty differently than Americans might. It does not carry the same connotation.
Kao & Grandma
1. Maternal: Kao takes care of the children that are her siblings and not her own and enjoys doing so. Grandma is the mother to seven sons and cares very deeply for each one of them. Also, during wartime, she became like a mother to her sons wives.
2. Eloquent: both women have the gift of being able to tell beautiful stories - Grandma with her voice and Kao with her writing.
3. Family oriented: both Kao and Grandma loved family dearly. Kao says that her and Grandma were the only ones that shared fond memories of being in the refugee camps because it was an ideal situation for them - they were surrounded by family that they loved and who loved them. Both of them seemed to believe that nothing could go wrong in the presence of family.
I'm thinking now that I am reading the comments that I have my characters confused and I had to return my book so I will do it with my understanding!
ReplyDeleteMai's Mother: Committed
She was very committed to her family and she did everything she could to get her family to the safety of America.
Trusting: She was very trusting when she surrendered with the children. She had to trust that her husband and the others would come to their rescue.
Brave: To go into the forest and live for years and hide from the government takes a lot of bravery. It was also very brave of her to go through everything she did to get to America.
Mai: Hopeful: She was very hopeful as she grew up in the different camps. She began to wonder, but it didn't stop her from wanting and hoping to make it to America.
Dedicated: I got the impression that she worked hard to get what she wanted and to learn a new language, but she took a little more time than her sister.
I think they are both brave, committed to family and making it through life. I think their journey to America proves this through and through. It was a very long and hard journey to get to America and it wasn't any easier when they got here.
Hilda, Your spin on the Venn Diagram works here to involve blog buddies in bringing out the depth of character development in this poignant memoir. You explained it well and gave excellent examples to respond to and use as models.
ReplyDeleteKao Kalia Yang
ReplyDelete1. Imaginitive: Kalia’s culture has taught her to be imaginative, especially with its folk stories and legends. She draws inspiration from these folk stories and legends to create her own stories. “I started writing short stories in second grade….The story is about a watermelon seed and a little girl…The watermelon seed knew she would be eaten” (p. 148).
2. Patient: When Kalia is younger and living in the refugee camp in Thailand, she knows to be patient for what she wants. She was also very smart, because she knew that if her older sister asked for something she would get it too. “Whenever we passed the small noodle shop on the red dirt road …She would ask for food. I never asked, because I knew that if my parents bought Dawb noodles, they would buy me a bowl, too” (p. 60).
3. Poet: Kalia’s writing is very lyrical. She has such a way with the written English language that her story seems to sing to you from the page. She probably inherited this way of story-telling from her grandmother. “Her [Kalia’s Grandmother] stories were like music, like the words of a timeless classic, a love ballad played again and again” (p. 217).
Grandmother
1. Wise: Kalia’s grandmother is clearly a wise woman, even by the time Kalia is born. She is the family’s matriarch and the glue that holds them together. She’s also a shaman and knows about herbs, healing and spirits. “My grandma worried over me. She tried calling my spirit home…She tried her healing herbs” (p. 206).
2. Superstitious: Kalia’s grandmother believes her sister was killed by a witch who was jealous that she was so beautiful. She also believes that an evil spirit took her baby daughter from her. “She had fallen prey to the envious greed of a witch in a nearby village, back in Laos…She saw the old woman, saw the gesture, and in fear, her spirit took flight” (p. 217).
3. Brave: Kalia’s grandmother raised all of her children on her own after their father passed away. She is brave because she has spent years fighting for her and her children’s survival in the forests of Laos, in the refugee camps in Thailand, and in America. She was also very brave when she lead the women to surrender to the army. “My father’s mother led the women and children down the hill…From somewhere Grandma had found a scrap of white cloth…She tied it to a twig” (p. 22).
Both
1. Introspective: Both Kalia and her grandmother are very introspective. They watch the world and observe what is going on around them. They often sit together and just let the world pass on by. “Together, Grandma and I watched the dust flittering to life. Outside it was terribly cold. Outside it was terribly hot. Inside, I was home with my grandma” (p. 215).
2. Hardworking: Kalia’s family has always had to work very hard to get by. Her grandma had to do this when caring for her orphaned siblings, and continued to work hard up until she died. Kalia worked hard by helping to look after her siblings while the parents worked the night shift. “My father said that Grandma had never been a lazy woman and didn’t know how to keep her hands still. We all watched as she made work for herself” (p. 216).
3. Loyal: Both of these woman are fiercely loyal. This is probably a bi-product of their culture, where the good of the many outweighs the good of the one. All cousins, aunts, uncles, parents and children work together for the well-being of the family, and both of these women have sacrificed to help their family. I don’t have a specific quote for this trait since it is evident on every page and between every space and every period. This is the point of the story, that they all worked together to get where they are.
Kao Kalia Yang:
ReplyDelete1. Shy: Kalia is shy, especially when she begins school in Minnesota. She leans English but does not show this to her teachers or her family. Although her family knows she is learning because of her translating and interpreting skills, her teachers do not. Kalia cannot explain why she is quiet at school, and is frustrated with herself in addition to everyone else being frustrated as well.
2. Curious/Questioning: Kalia always asks her grandmother to tell her more details about the stories from Hmong culture as well as her family. Even before Kalia decides to write down all of her grandmother’s stories, the young girl always wanted to know more. Kalia also mentions that her father thinks she is very smart because a sign of intelligence is asking questions.
3. Creative: Kalia enjoyed writing from a young age, even if she was not writing actual words. She made up stories in her head and scribbled cursive-like loops on paper, longing to have her ideas written down. Kalia even wrote a few creative stories before her Romeo and Juliet paper about whether the two were in love or in lust, which her teacher thought was wonderful. In addition to what the book says, the book itself is proof of Kalia’s creativity.
Grandmother:
ReplyDelete1. Strong: Grandmother went through such immense challenges in her life. Beginning with the death of her older sister, then her parents, she was orphaned from a young age. Her oldest daughter died when she was an infant. Her husband died at an old age and yet she was still very young. The Vietnam War displaced her and her family, eventually separating her sons from her. She was held in two internment camps, then traveled to California. Her life view changed and was challenged so much, but she was able not only to hold herself together, but her family.
2. Spiritual: Grandmother was a shaman, but even before that she was spiritual. She believed in the Hmong traditions when it came to such things as how life was created, what happened to the soul after death, etc. She healed Kalia when she had a bladder infection going from house to house, for example, and always carried her shaman tools with her. She believed deeply in the traditions that protected the Hmong people and their families, and passed this belief down through generations.
3. Traditional: Grandmother knew, especially when she came to California and then Minnesota, that there were certain things she was not going to be able to do. She knew she would not be able to learn English, so when she went places like the airports, she had note cards around her neck with English words for the Americans and pictures for herself. She often tried many things, which Kalia deeply admired her for, but grandmother did not adjust very well to the new life.
Both:
ReplyDelete1. Nurturing: Both Kalia and her grandmother always seemed to be taking care of people. Grandmother looked after her younger brother and sister when they were orphans, and made sure she kept her sons together as long as she could. When Kalia fell asleep in the internment camp school, grandmother watched her and told her stories. Kalia was always aware of Dawb’s limp and was mindful to make her feel as comfortable and welcome as possible. When both her parents worked night shifts in America, Kalia and Dawb took care of their younger brothers and sisters. Kalia also took very good care of grandmother, especially in her final years, clipping her toenails and rubbing her feet.
2. Hesitant: Both of these instances have been mentioned before, but Kalia and grandmother had trouble trying new things. Kalia did not take to English as well as her sister did, and even when she was learning she couldn’t prove it to her teachers. Grandmother seemed to try new things, but never fully knew how to adjust to life in the United States.
3. Family-Oriented: Grandmother did not know how to live without her children, without her family. She stressed and worried about this more than anything else in the book. Whether she wanted her sons to marry well and have many sons themselves, or not separate themselves when making the journey to America, grandmother always had her family in mind. Kalia was the same way, and made sure she focused on family. Family lived close by, and even though the meetings they had were more for the adults, it was a time for Kalia and her siblings and cousins to spend a lot of time together. Kalia and her sister Dawb were always close, and being the first two children, and the children who lived in Laos and Thailand, they had a very special connection to their parents.
Good blog discussion. As a group you've brought out committment to family as a quality Kalia and Grandmother share. You've differentiated what it meant for Kalie to be "shy"-Micele out an understanding spin on this word. Teachers can do a lot to help a quiet, hesitant young person take more risks to speak. Including lots of opportunity to speak to respond to questions by talking to one other person and to work in small groups helps build confidence and provide practice speaking in a more comfortable environment that the larger group. Strength is underscored for Kalia,her mother and grandmother, but, like all characteristics, it has its shadow side-stubbornness.
ReplyDelete