5|4|3|2|1 pages 164 - 192

5 Comments

• In this Chapter Mai describes what her grandfathers last day in Saigon was like " or what it was supposed to be like" she described it as a motionless night.
• Mai described the South China Sea on April 30 1975 as the exodus by sea , a lurching protuberance of South Vietnamese Navy Vessels, barges, tugboats, junks, sampans, fishing boats, and other makeshift vessels, all heading away from the Coast .
• Mai's grandfather who she described as a farmers whose bravery had been rewarded with citations of Honor from both the province chief and the American Commander?
• In this chapter Mai founds the letter her mother left for her on her dresser which said that Mai was under an Allusion of freedom.
• Mai's mother also said that " Mai can loose herself in that way of thinking , the school's way of thinking" when Mai's mother said that she could loose herself in that way of thinking she meant that she could looser her self in genetics which was something that interested her.

4 Questions

• Why was Mai try to imagine the progress of her grandfathers life if it had been chaotic or orderly?
• What is a province Chief?
• Why did Mai's mother belive she had an Allusion of freedom?
• Why does Mai's mother still see Mai as a child even though she was 17 years old.

3 Vocabulary

• corrugated -shaped into alternating parallel grooves and ridges
• irretrievably - in an irretrievable manner
• meticulously- in a meticulous manner

2 Literary terms

• Simile
• Irony

1 Overview Sentence

In this chapter Mai really take into consideration what her grandfathers life was like and if it could have been different.

5|4|3|2|1 pages 133 - 163

5 Comments

• In this chapter the past few months for her had been followed by many changes. She had spend four months in the Hospital , in which she spent a whole week in intensive care and three weeks in rehabilitation center and now a new home.
• Mai's mother would hold dinners in her home which Mai would called her little Saigon in which they would keep their culture while still trying to adapt to the american ways.
• Mai's mother was going through a neurological crisis which is when wires between the right and the left sides of her brain were not completly functional her mother could only manage hearing the sound of one hand clapping.
• Mai also recalled moments in which her mother was able to do many thing but that was years ago before she ever had the disorder.
• She also noticed that when her Mother was in Saigon she was able to do all of those things

4 Questions

• Did Mai feel as if her mothers problem was caused by her?
• Did Mai bealive that her mother coming to America led to that disorder.
• Did Mai think that would ever happened to her mother?
• Was that a disorder that was developing over time?

3 Vocabulary

• Agitation- a mental state of extreme emotional disturbance
• Arduous - characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
• Antithetical - sharply contrasted in character or purpose

2 Literary Terms

• Personification
• Alliteration

1 Overview Sentance

In this chapter Mai describes what type of disorder her mother has and how she has to help.

5|4|3|2|1 pages 118 - 132

5 Comments

• The ear that Mai turned twenty her sister and her began to recruit villagers to their fledgling army.
• In this chapter there was a tiger that had been killing villagers livestock, there were rumors that the tiger had special powers . The tiger was bewildered by the beast that Mai had created.
• The Mongol Nomads were hunters so Mai taught her hunters. She spent time trying to show them how to aim correctly. Then she later determined that they were prepared to fight
• A week before they made their first move their generals met in her tent and they chose their routes, grouped their decisions and mapped their openeing move.
• Their first target was a fortress occupied by the Chinese governer located in a valley surronded by mountains

4 Questions

• Was their army good?
• Did villagers want to participate in the war?
• Was Mai a large influence on the Villagers?
• How did her sister help?

3 Vocabulary

• Luminous -aglow
• Gaudy - tastelessly showy
• Cordial - Heartly

2 Literary Terms

• Imagery
• Irony

1 Overview Sentence

In this chapter Mai and her sister gather villigers for their army and their train them to try to beat the Mongol Nomads

5|4|3|2|1 pages 94-117

5 Comments

• The beggining of this chapter began with Uncle Michael tellling Mai that the Pam Am flight out of Tan Son Nhut Airport that would head first for Manila, then Guam, then Honolulu, on to Dalls, then finally Hartford then they would drive to their home he told her that she is lucky taking that flight.
• But a few Months later Mai discovered that the only way to be able to leave Vietnam was was the uncharted one by Sea.
• A couple months after Mai left Saigon she saw her future unfold on tevelicions from the family room in Farmington.
• Americans wanted the war in Saigon to end in the book Mai says " I had been watching all this, along with Uncle Michael and Aunt Mary, and like the rest of America, in the safety of our living room'
• Mai saw Saigon falling apart from the television in what now she called her new home and it was a hard thing for her to see where she came from fall apart

4 Questions

• Was Mai upset that she had to move away from Saigon?
• Was Mai's mother happy with moving away from Saigon?
• Did it trouble Mai to see Saigon falling apart from America?
• Do her uncle and aunt feel bad for her?

3 Vocabulary

• uncharted- not shown or located on a map; unexplored; unknown, as a place or region
• irremediably - not admitting of remedy
• preordained -to ordain beforehand

2 Literary Terms

• Metaphor
• Similie

1 Overview Sentance

In this chapter Mai and her mother had recalled to when they left Saigon.

5|4|3|2|1 pages 59-93

5 Comments

• In this chapter Mai mentions her grandfather Baba Quan who was not a big man and could look delicate and slender but when she was a child she could lie in his arms and they would hold her like a sturdy hammock on a windy day.
• When her grand father would come to visit when she was young he would tell her stories about the Confucian convenant that would forever keep them connected to their acestors. But her mother was catholic and she became Catholic in a French Boarding school.
• In this chapter Mai's mother compares Vietnams ways to the Americans and she said she should get used to the American way now. " In Vietnam , the saying used to be ' Parents point, children sit' . In this country , it's become ' Children point, Parents sit'. It's about time I get used to the American way, no?"
• Mai and her mother travel to her Uncle Michael and Aunt Marys home which looked like it was a white salt box set a proper distance from the road, with pines, hemlocks, and other ever greens to give the lawn cool shade.
• The only conversation during dinner during the first day Mai had been there was her Mothers well being and she let them know she was going to Rehab.

4 Question

• Was Mai happy about staying in her Uncle Michael and Aunt Mary's home?
• Why was Mai so upset at the table when they mentioned her mother well being?
• Why did Mai compare her father to her Uncle?
• Did Mai like the way of living of her Uncle Michael and Aunt Mary?

3 Vocabulary

• impeccable-incapable of sin
• ostentatious-characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress others
• confucian-of, pertaining to, or resembling the teachings of Confucius.

2 Literary terms

• Allusion
• Flashback

1 Overview Sentance

In this chapter Mai begins describing her grandfather and the thing he used to tell her when she was younger but later in the chapter she goes to Uncle Michaels and Aunt Mary's home.

5|4|3|2|1 pages 30 - 58

5 Comments

• Even though Mai had lived in Connecticut her mother insisted that it was not the safest place in the Country and they should move to Virginia because of its churches and because the state is really close to the capital and "In War the capital of any country is like the king in a game of Chess".
• At the beginning of the Chapter Mai mentions how different Supermarkets in American were compared to the ones in Saigon. The ones in America had packed meet that is sealed in plastic and the fruits were so polished the looked artificial. But the Markets in Saigon have barrels of live crabs, and yellow carps. It was also loud at the market and there was a strange smell.
• Mai reads a letter she stumbled upon in her mothers notebook and her mother had wrote that Mai didn't understand the magic she had in her ears she also didn't believe that her story is the same as her mothers.
• Mai's mother also wants to pass down the magic she has in her ears to her just like it happened with her mother and her.

4 Question

• Was Mai upset that she didn't get to stay Connecticut?
• Did Mai's mother adapt to the Americans ways?
• Does Mai feel bad while she is reading her mothers letter?
• Does Mai understand what magic her mother is talking about now?

3 Vocabulary

• beckoned- to signal, summon, or direct by a gesture of the head or hand.
• intuitively - perceiving by intuition, as a person or the mind.
• prestigious -having a high reputation; honored

2 Literary Terms

• Imagery
• Alliteration

1 Overview Sentance

In this chapter Mai discovers something that she didn't know about her mother which was her magic ear.

5|4|3|2|1 The Monkey Bridge pages 1-29

5 Comments

• In the beggining of the chapter what seems to be rembering when she was a volunteer in Saigon year 1968 but she was in Arlington Hospital 1978 ten years later.
• The Saigon Hospital brought back bad memories for her and she felt an hurried chill in joints , and a slowing moving red that smoalldered in a floating ether of dull, gray smoke.
• Tears were brought to her eyes as she rembered a scattering of gun shots that tore though the plaster walls.
• The American Flag, floqing sky high from a sturdy iron pole, that snapped in the wind and that is what let the character that know that they were in Arlington Hospital.
• The Characters mother had been in the Hospital, she has avoided looking at her mothers face because it was burned from a kitchen fire five years ago

4 Questions

• Why did the Saigon Hospital bring suchh horrible memories for her?
• WHat happened to her Grandfather?
• Does she or did she have any siblings?
• Is she happy she is now in America?

3 Vocabulary

• smoldered - To burn with little smoke and no flame.
• Converged- to tend to meet in a point or line; incline toward each other, as lines that are not parallel.
• Unfurling - To spread or open (something) out or become spread or opened out.

2 Literary Terms

• Metaphor
• Alliteration

1 Overview Sentance

In this chapter she was rembering things that happened to her in Vietnam before she left and her friend Bobbie kept thinking she left Vietnam when she was a baby but she truly left when she was a teenager.