Whos your favorit character and why? Here is mine. I hopw sove of you guys respond.
This may seem strange to a lot of people but my favorite character in Donald Duk was the American Cong.
Of all the characters he seemed the most complex and the most real to me. He was also the most mysteries because they gave us clues about what had happened to him in the past the apparently left his mind and perspective slightly skewed. But the author never reviled anything in definite. So I am going to give my take on his life based on some of the clues the book gave us.
He said he was born and raised in Iowa. So we can venture that he like Donald is the descendent of migrant workers from China who came to work on the railroad and settled in Iowa after the job was done. Like many a young man back during the Vietnam way he was drafted and sent to Vietnam to fight. Because he is of Chinese decent and would have looked like the Vietnamese and Chinese troops the American troops were fighting her probably faced a lot of discrimination from other solders. This kind of thing is far from unheard of. In World War II there were units of Japanese American troops fighting Europe that faced simmer doubts and mistreatment from their commanders. Only to later be recognized for their bravery and become one of the most decorated unites of the war.
He kept saying he was orange and that meant something was grabbing and seizing his heart. Unless I am mistaken orange was the color of the gas used to destroy the jungles in Vietnam.
That along with the fact that he said he fought the Chinese, that they were big, mean and would hurt ya over and over again leads me to believe that he may have been a pilot or a member of a flight crew aboard an aircraft that flew the gas over the jungles. And that’s how he met the Chinese fighters in ether aerial combat or in ground to air combat. This is how he was exposed to the gas, ether during his missions or after being shot down by the Chinese. After his plane went down he was captured and held as a POW by the Chinese, and likely as many other POWs was interrogated and tortured.
But he managed to escape and after climbing and hiding in the jungle for a few day (This may also have been when he was exposed to the gas) he eventually made it to the corn fields where the mountain people who were helping the Americans were and was rescued.
At least that’s what I think.
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7 comments:
Wow!!! I never would have thought of the American Cong that way, you make him sound so much more interesting.
My favorite character is Donald Duk. I love coming-of-age stories so I was already drawn to him because he goes through the most transformations. I am not that into mysticism so his dreams were not my favorite. I like that he finally matured and defended his culture and came to appreciate it.
I like the American Cong character too. And overall the characters in this book fit for their roles. However, I thought there was an out-of-character instance with Daisy Duk in bottom of page 47 where she whispers "cocksucker" to her young daughter's ear. It's still early in the book, but I believe that she had established her character as noble and traditional oriented one by then. Although she was embarrassed right after she had said it but I'm not sure why. Was it because of the word or because she had said it? It was a little shocking or rather disappointing to her action.
I will lean on Donald considering where he started and how he ended. Being able to find and eventually recognize who he belongs to and appreciate it with maturity makes him a hero. Although, he struggled with his identity but he was able to finally identify with the pros and cons of his culture.
I really like Donald's friend, Arnold. To me he was the one that helped move the story along. Even Donald's mom said he was a mystique. To me, in a sense Arnold seemed like the side kick, the unfailing. At the end, e backed Donald up when he was explaining to Mr. Meanwright.
I'm going to have to go with Donald!
Chin was so good at letting us into the mind of a young child realizing that one's culture and history is so important. I'm happy that so far we've read Sui Sin Far's stories mostly based on marriage, Ng's take on women, and now this. I enjoyed his frustrations and coming of age, I could identify (minus the rejection of his culture!).
Moreover, his mother and sisters were so ridiculously annoying to me. I understand they were there for comical relief, but half the time, I wasn't sure what they were talking about. Chin perfected the sisters, in particular, to the point where I found myself annoyed as if they were my own sisters with their side comments.
PS- I never knew there was so much to the American Cong! Kudos.
I have to say Donald was my favorite. In the beginning, I was kind of annoyed by the dreams he kept having and how he was so unappreciative of his culture. Looking back though, I like how we were able to read about his journey of accepting his culture and being mature. It made me feel connected to Donald as if i knew him all my life.
I also like American Cong. He is not an easy to figure out, and he is very realistic. We are not told anything directly, but his character is the most realistic as there are examples in history of people who have been affected by war much like the American Cong.
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