Individual as a Social Misfit

1. Individual as a Social Misfit Elizabeth Name Marcia Name Barbara Name Cathy Name

2. From Bodega Dreams By Ernesto Quiñonez

3. Ernesto Quiñonez • Bodega Dreams was first novel • Taught fourth grade in New York • Working on his second novel • Born in 1966

4. Main Points • Main Characters: Julio, Sapo, Mr. Blessington, Mr. Tapia • Blessington did not believe in the children, and Tapia did • “Mr. Blessington told me I was going to end up in jail” (Sapo) • Sapo ended up biting Blessington after Blessington put Sapo in a headlock

5. Bodega Dreams • Appeal: Emotional appeal • Strong emotional impact to audience • Evidence: Teachers not believing in students (Mr. Blessington did not believe in his students) • Negative impact • Sapo finally realizes that he isn’t afraid to hurt anyone who threatens his love for himself

6. Crazy Courage By Alma Luz Villanueva

7. Alma Luz Villanueva • Born in Santa Barbara in 1944 • Raised in San Francisco's Mission District by grandmother, a Yaqui Indian from Sonora, Mexico

8. Plot and Setting • Poem about a woman (the author) who admires courage of cross-dresser to be himself in spite of ridicule he faces • Author thinking of classes she took when student named Michael dressed as a male in one class and a female in the other

9. Claim • It takes great courage to be who you are when you do not fit in with society’s expectations. • People put up a front to fit into society. They are not what they appear to be because society demands conformity.

10. Evidence • Michael came to fiction class as a man • Michael came to poetry class as a woman • Children are whole before they’re punished for (including everything in their innocence)

11. Emotional Appeal • Pain and joy of courage • Pain • Discrimination, ridicule, misunderstanding, stereotyping • Joy • Freedom of expression, individuality, careless of society’s opinion

12. Imagery and Symbolism • Whole like the rose • Young, seen-it-all MTV crowd

13. Donald Duk and the White Monsters By Frank Chin

14. What’s It About? • Donald Duk: Chinese student at private school in California • Constantly made fun of because of his name • Father is trying to teach him to overcome problems he is facing • Persecuted for his culture by the gang kids, the “White Monsters” • To get away from “White Monsters” he laughs at his name with them (as his father has told him to) • Doesn’t like laughing at his name almost as much as he doesn’t like his name • Hopes one day that his name no longer is humorous to outside world

15. Claim • Donald Duk is considered a social misfit because of name and heritage

16. Claim of Fact • Stereotyping negatively affects students in American school

17. Individual as a Social Misfit • Due to culture • Due to name • Due to heritage

18. Miscellaneous • Written in 1991 • Story taken from Frank Chin’s first novel Donald Duk

19. Ranch Girl By Maile Meloy

20. Maile Meloy • 1972 — • Born in Helena, Montana; lives in Los Angeles • Received MFA in Fiction, University of California, Irvine, 2000 • Awards include Aga Khan Prize for Fiction for “Aqua Boulevard,” 2001; Rosenthal Award (from the American Academy of Arts and Letters) for Half in Love, 2002; PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction for Half in Love, 2002 • Work has also appeared in The New Yorker and Best New American Voices and has been nominated for a National Magazine Award

21. “Ranch Girl” • College-bound daughter of a foreman • Characters face violence, love, and loss of love, and the ease which life can change • Ranch girls in Montana are not like ranch girls in Texas • Knows that she can leave the “ranch life” and Montana but chooses not to

22. “Ranch Girl” • Claim: Once a ranch girl, always a ranch girl • Evidence: It’s hard to have worse luck than to be born a girl on a ranch • Appeal: pathos (emotion and empathy)

23. Conclusion