Impressions and Suggestions

In response to Hgraves essay draft, I find it particularly interesting to view the characters as all elements in Yumi's life. It would seem that much of the novel is centered around Yumi's life and life choices and therefore a relevant claim. I think it would be interesting to see the claim that Yumi was not a bad seed, due to not being bad growing up, clarified further. Specifically, delving into what classifies as a "good seed" in the environment that Yumi grows up in and how she fits that. Further, I think it would add to the arguement to exemplify how Yumi could be considered to be flourishing in the life she leads after leaving her family. In what environment she would be considered to be a growing healthily. Does she relate to Eli Clare in the way she finds herself in changing her environment? Are parts of ourselves shrouded by the restrictions of what our environments allow us to explore about ourselves? Simply ideas for further investigation to add to the social implications of the complex arguement that I believe you are making.

In response to weilla yuan, I would first make the point to differentiate the treatment of Cass and Yumi by their father's. Being hit by your father once and being thrashed by your father throughout your development are two very different things. I think that accounting the one scene of minor violence to the implied several instances in which Cass was hit by her father is not fair to Cass. Looking deeper into the text, I think that it can be seen that the biggest difference between the two would be their father's. The scene in which Yumi is in the cave or the pictures of when she was younger and being carried by her father exhibit an envirnoment of love. I believe that a stronger arguement could be made for the strong effect of parental relationships on how we become who we are as adults. Yumi comments on her relationship with her father a lot because I think it inherently has so much value to her. I believe that this would be an interesting venue to look into before further development of the essay.