Download
1 / 7
E N D
Reading Assignment:1. What is the importance of chapter title or give the chapter a title if none appears and explain its importance?2. Find two significant quotes that relate the story as a whole. Explain their significance.3. Write two open-ended questions and possible responses a. That connects to theme b. That integrates a quote PICTURE BRIDE
Power Point requirements: • 5 slides • Provide one print out to turn in to teacher • Each part of reading assignment placed on a separate slide. • At least 2 pictures need to be inserted in slide show that are appropriate to context and meaning. You may also experiment with video or sound, but it is not required. • Minimize animation and color effects since your analysis and the information is more important than the special effects.
Chapter 1 LONGING As the reader is introduced to, assumedly, the main character, Hana Omiya, she stands by the ship’s railing unsure and hesitant of her future. What she seems to long for is her homeland and family. Through her longing, we learn of her family, her past, her feisty nature, and her reason for being on the ship headed to America.
Initially, her uncle does not think the arranged marriage is ideal for “Hana who was the youngest daughter of what once had been a fine family. Her father, until his death fifteen years ago, had been the largest landholder of the village and one of its last samurai” (6).Characterization is revealed here by Uchida as the reader learns that Hana comes from a once refined past full of honor, prosperity and tradition. She is used to nice comforts. Her sisters have married men that provided well for them. This also limits Hana’s prospects in Japan, as she is willing to travel far from home to find prosperity as promised through Taro Takeda, who operates a shop in San Francisco. Her life is full of uncertainty at this point.
It was common in the early 1900’s for Japanese men living in America to request brides from their homeland since “there were many Japanese emigrating to America these days, and Hana had heard of the picture brides who went with nothing more than an exchange of photographs to bind them to a strange man” (7). Early on the reader understands the title of the book as Uchida references ‘picture bride’. Japanese women moved to a foreign country to marry a man they had never met, only to be familiar by a single photo. Even though Hana feels compassion for the lonely man, Taro, there is also hope that America will provide well and bring success and promise of an easier life for Hana. Unnoticed is the loneliness Hana will feel once she is far away from everything familiar.
Why do you think Taro Takeda misled Hana with a photo of him as being much younger and stating that his age was 31 years old? The theme of deceit and secrets is introduced early on. This could be because Taro is desperate for a Japanese wife from his homeland. It could also underscore the idea that Taro is not really as successful as he has lead others to believe and feels as though he must exaggerate his traits to seem more suitable. Either way, the relationship seems to be built on deception by him here, and Hana seems to be let down by their first encounter.
As Hana is headed to Oakland for her new life with her future husband, why do you think “she sat down carefully beside Taro, so not part of their clothing touched”(13)? It has been established that Hana is a young demure woman and has refined manners, therefore she can be practicing her modesty and placing herself next to him without overstepping their strange new relationship that is formal and not intimate. She could also be sitting without touching him to indicate that she is really hesitant of this new life she initiated, after all, he is a strange man in a strange country. Another reminder is to notice her own isolation, as she is also a foreign woman in a foreign situation. This isolation will continue to haunt her.
