October 24, 2014 - 16:21
The key points in the essay are listed below.
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Inner drive formed by environment: Yumi was a popular kid in her primary school as the“princess”. She had a theme song “yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy…”Her father owned the whole potato land. All those fames can form Yumi’s foundation of being confidant and prodigal towards everything. On the other hand, her father was traditional and stereotypical which made this never “unsatisfied” daughter had a tendencyto break this limitation unconsciously. As Yumi said to Cass when she asked her reason to leave: “It wasn’t only that he hit me. It started way before. It was like I had this wildness inside that was driving me, and I was looking for an excuse. If it hadn’t been Elliot, it would have been someone else.” Thus, besides the charm from Elliot as a teacher that attracted Yumi, the tendency of seeking more life stimulus may also be one of the reasons for this 14-year-old girl to break the moral line. This is like how her early childhood environment provided Yumi the confidence to try whatever she wanted with her family background that made her formed an innate drive to break out the restriction. On the contrary, Cass can be regarded as an opposite example with Yumi because she said she could never understand why Yumi left even though her father did worse to her. Going back to their childhood, as Yumi’s best friend, Cass was the one who always watching and listening with no privilege. She thought being “Cass” was the way she supposed to act and Idaho was also the place she would stay all over her life. For Cass and most other kids at that time, they were satisfied with their lives under the current way, while for Yumi, were not enough.•
Old environment and attachment: Yumi may thought she had a life she wanted since she went to UCB and studied what she wanted to major in –English and Asian study; she became an English teacher which was the job she enjoyed; she had three children from three different husbands because she wanted a family every time she married. However, Yumi did not live as freely as she thought. Although she thought she already had no relationship with Idaho, she still continually wrote to her family and friend even though Lloyd never wrote back. She still “remember exactly where the switches were located. In an unconscious sequence of automatic gestures, my hand reached toward the wall just as my foot crossed the threshold”. Yumi lived in Hawaii for 25 years, but she “feels like to be fourteen and thrilling at the edge of sex when it is still brand new” when she dated with Elliot again. It is like Yumi became 14 again after came back to Idaho, in front of Lloyd, Momoco, Cass, and Elliot—those who were crucial parts of her childhood, and they evoked Yumi’s most inner part of her identity. Yumi has an attachment of family since she had a child with each of her husbands. Although she gave her first son“Phoenix” (risen from ashes) as a symbol of having a new life, she still kept the deepest part that filled with her old memory of potatoes or families or everything in Idaho that were waited to be evoked by anyone.•
Seed: “That’s what it felt like when I was growing up, like I was a random fruit in a field of genetically identical potatoes…centuries of cross-pollination, human migration, plant mutation, and a little bit of backyard luck had resulted in the pride of Idaho.” If every one in Idaho is a seed, then Lloyd and Momoco’s marriage can be “cross-pollination”, the seed of resistance can be “human migration”, and Yumi is the “plant mutation”, as she said, the seed “went rotten.” For the rest such as Cass, is the seed that grows normally.Maybe Yumi is one of the potato seeds Momoco planted, as the seed grows into a tree, new seeds produced (Yumi’s three children). Even though the seed that represents Yumi has a mutation, it is still the seed planted by Momoco and initially grows from the same soil and same water with other seeds. The shape may be different but the form of root never changes.
Paragraph selected:
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That’s what it felt like when I was growing up, like I was a random fruit in a field of genetically identical potatoes. Burbanks—that’s what people planted. Centuries of cross-pollination, human migration, plant mutation, and a little bit of backyard luck had resulted in the pride of Idaho, the world’s best baker, the Russet Burbank. (page4)•
I remembered exactly where the switches were located. In an unconscious sequence of automatic gestures, my hand reached toward the wall just as my foot crossed the threshold, resulting in a flood of illumination that startled me—the spatial relationships were familiar, but the details of the room confused me with their sudden clarity. For a moment I wondered where I was. (page66)•
“It wasn’t only that he hit me. It started way before. It was like I had this wildness inside that was driving me, and I was looking for an excuse. If it hadn’t been Elliot, it would have been someone else. (page241)
Comments
response
Submitted by winterprincess on October 27, 2014 - 17:29 Permalink
1) The seed reference was very interesting and makes a good point. However, I did not understand the connection between the seed and the environment. You could look into the definition or etymology of environment or identity and connect them.
2) The angle of how she was always looking for a life stimulus and even it Eliot wasn’t there- there could have been another is interesting. It give dimensions.
3) I found it very interesting how you have linked the son’s name, her past and also famous quote all together.
4) The thesis statement and the claim is unclear.
5) Claim- It could be our childhood (or the environment we live in) has a huge impact on our identity.