Something I did well in the formative Socratic seminar was that I clarified and challenged ideas when it was appropriate in order to extend and deepen the seminar. Something I need to work on is that the language that I used was not formal, often using phrases such as “like” in my speech. My goal for next time is to add more literary analysis, such as explaining which literary technique creates what effect for the reader, into the seminar. A major step of achieving my goal is by annotating the text more clearly and thoroughly, trying to find the reason of the usage of literary techniques in the book, so it is easier for me to say an in-depth literary analysis.

I am reading the novel, The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling, by Wai Chin and so far I have read up to page 218. It is about a Chinese girl, Anna, struggling to balance her home life with her school life and social life. At the beginning of the book, the mom encounters a big black dog that seemed to be a bad omen. Perhaps the big black dog symbolizes the hardship that the protagonist has to go through every day. I’ve noticed that the chapter numbers have the Cantonese pronunciation of the number underneath. Throughout the book, many of the characters can also speak Cantonese using the Cantonese pronunciation. I noticed that the author only wrote the pronunciation of Cantonese shows that the protagonist herself can only understand spoken Chinese, not written Chinese. I also find it interesting how the protagonist hates the school subject, English, which further connects to the protagonist not understanding written language.

Out of the three books I have read from the start of school, “Egg and Spoon” by Gregory Maguire is the novel  I have strong connections with. The novel is set in Russia, during the relationship between the Bolsheviks and Tsar has gone awry. There were many fairytale references in the novel, mostly from Russian fairytales. The author may have used these fairytale references to lighten up the atmosphere of the novel’s setting or prove that one can not escape from their childhood.

There are two main characters, Ekaterina and Elena. Elena was born in a village where the men had gone to war, and the women had gone missing. Elena meets Ekaterina, Cat for short, from a wealthy family and is traveling to meet the Tsar. Due to complications, Elena and Cat switched their places.

What is human about both of the protagonists is the reaction when the switch up happens. Elena first feels guilty about the switch up, but sooner or later, she indulges in the pleasure of the riches that Cat had before. However, Cat had to survive on pure wit as she makes her way back to Moscow