Let's see if you are 'honest' and follow my directions:
Open SON OF ITALY on a page at random. RE-READ that chapter and the one before or after that (total of two chapters).
See if you discover something you had missed the first time. What is it? How does that relate to your own previous take on the book, or the conversation we had in class, or new thoughts and ideas?
In the COMMENT, specify what chapters you reread (don't use the number, give us a few clues) and the new stuff you discovered, and explain why it has new meaning for you.
REPLY to at least one comment posted after your own (yes, come back to read what other people had to say.)
Didn't find anything new when I reread the chapters, or look at it in a different perspective because the two chapters were pretty vivid, just like the rest of the book. We spoke about it in class, when Pascal roams New York and encounters the lady with the heavy make up and perfume. The first chapter I read was when Pascal and two of his friends took him out to New York to sight see but what I found out was that Pascal was also looking for work at the same time; they went walking the city and Pascal would use different examples saying the same thing when they'd get nasty looks but females who covered in make up would be normal due to the discrimination of foreigners. The next chapter they were in a idle moment in life, no work and news of war breaking out in Europe, Matteo meets a new friend who ends up being a thief that stole his money and almost gets them arrested.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting section to read. l really enjoyed getting Pascal's perspective on experiencing New York City for the first time. lt was a very fresh and innocent take and he was able to ironically recount a lot of things that he misinterpreted when he experienced it the first time.
DeleteSkimming over the novel for a second time, it is easy to see the connections and foreshadowing that Pascal alluded to. Knowing the end of a story will always make the little details more prominent. Pascal is first triggered by the gross injustice of laborers when he is forced to push the wheelbarrow of cement up the hill. He said: "...it split my thoughts like lightning." And as I read that line again, I realize that lightning is a reoccurring theme throughout his life. In Italy, the old man dies from a lightning strike. In America, Pascal not only survives this "lightning", the abuse by the foreman, he thrives from it. It is the moment that propels Pascal towards a life of literacy. It is as if a fire has been lit inside his soul. I did not realize the importance of this moment, it is just another in a long list of injustices, but this moment is special. Pascal is struck by inspiration. It is this moment that leads him to his destiny.
ReplyDeleteSomething that caught my eye as I reread the middle of Son of Italy was how hard he had to try to get his poems in the local papers. I read the chapter where he writes a letter stating that he just wants the award so he can put it on his resume and he does not even want the money. That is extremely powerful to a reader, it shows how dedicated he is to his work and craft not to the advancement of his financial situation. He even turns down a job later when the editor offers him a job as poetry editor for the newspaper. He only wants to write poems. This kind of determination is only found in immigrants and people who have something to lose and so much to gain from the country. This opened my eyes to how hard you have to work as a newcomer to the work force. This is completely new to me, rereading the chapter, growing up in the US, I don't see somethings as a victory but to Pascal every little bit was an extraordinary accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteln the chapters l read for this assignment, Pascal recounted his experiences with the witch and the decision to go to America. The thing l noticed in the re-read was that Pascal's town very often gets beggars. l didn't realize that it was more than just the witch and some occasional beggars. lt makes a lot of sense that the town often gets beggars because it seems like there is a precedent set for beggars. Most people give out food and alms to beggars but those beggars that abuse the system or bother people can sometimes be ignored and shooed away and snuffed. it's interesting because it seems like if the witch was a kind beggar she wouldn't have been snuffed and, theoretically, the child wouldn't be cursed. it's really a testament to paying forward kindness.
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ReplyDeleteIn the chapter I reread, Pascal is preparing to leave Italy and writes how those who went to work in America often stopped writing back to their families due to accidents, death, or a new-grown indifference. Having read about Pascal's experience and his own accidents and deaths, I am curious whether he grew indifferent to his home in Italy as well. Life in America for him was genuinely hard and cruel, and the only glimpse of passion we saw from him was for his writing. But he never returned home, and he did not write back to his mother either. This stands out to me now, and I wonder what his thoughts were regarding the old country, and what his life was like after having his poem published.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great point and made me think a lot about other questions I have about this moment in the novel.
DeleteI was wondering if he did write home to his mother, especially when writing becomes very important to him. He mentions at the end that he writes to them to tell of his success. Did he tell them anything else? Meaning, did he keep them updated on his journey? The father definitely knew what was going on, the hardships that is, because he was there and experienced it. But I wanted to hear more about his mother because we get to know her so intimately at the beginning. It must be heartbreaking to know your son is starving in an unknown and faraway land. But it must be even more devastating to not know anything at all.
DeleteDuring my first time reading Son Of Italy, I took very thorough notes, so I did not notice any new facts in particular when it came to re-reading these two specific chapters. But, when I arrived at the chapters where Pascal struggled to get his poem published, I did not realize at first how hard it was for him to get his writings in the magazines. This made me really sympathize all that he went through, more than I already had, and it showed me how hard he really did work. It showed me this when it came not only to his jobs with the physical labor, but his perseverance to get the poems published. Writing a letter to the editor who turned down his poems more than once really showed how determined he was to get his work published. All this hard work that he put into the poems and to getting them published could be the reason he is so well known today.
ReplyDeleteAfter re-reading Son of Italy again Pascal talks about his father leaving him to Italy. He tells how must have he been broken-hearted. When his father tells him to leave with him he refuses and believes that he could not remain in darkness all of the time. Pascal believes that he would get something from America and he did not want to give up on that. Even after he was left alone and struggled a lot he was able to out from his darkness and become a new person. He had reached the success which he believed earlier in his life. His hard work and belief paid off.
ReplyDeleteWhen I randomly opened the book, I landed on the first page of chapter IV, when Pascal and his brother first learn that his father decides to move to the United States. While re-reading the chapter, I did not discover anything different nor did it have a new meaning to me. I feel as if, it is pretty traumatizing chapter. Pascal is very young and learns his dad is fleeing his family to go to a new country. Each time I read this I felt sad for Pascal. However, this time while reading, I wonder if Pascal was older and this was to happen what would his thoughts or feelings have been? would they have changed?
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting, I never thought what would an older Pascal think of some of the ideas and decisions that was made. They definitely would change, but would he still be the poet we know him as?
DeleteWhen i re-read this chapters again i didnt really find anything new. But i got an answer to a question that i wanted to know. I wanted to know why Pascal stayed around at that job in New Jersey. The foreman was really rude, and mean. He treated them, especially Pascal like an animal. When the nail pierced Pascal hand, the foreman showed no sympathy at all. even after that Pascal went back to work with his injured hand. i wondered why he didnt just leave and find a new job, like he did the others. Then i re-read this chapter, and i saw that he used his last money on the fare to New Jersey. So to him it was like no giving up now. Suck it up, and just work and make the best out if it. I felt like he invested all his money in that, that to him he had to get something out of that job. He couldn't just give up , and just quit like that.
ReplyDeleteWhile rereading Son of Italy, I discovered the severity of Pascal's isolation in Italy and noticed some major foreshadowing. I read the chapters Pascal wrote on his physical journey to America and the jobs he first had with his gang in New York. I realized that Italy was very different from America when Pascal mistakenly thought that the "Ave" signs were religious and the father and son he saw had a disease. He thought they were sick because they were chewing with their mouths. I now realized they could have just been chewing gum, something Pascal probably hasn't encountered back in Italy. It's funny how people can make the same judgments Pascal makes simply because they don't know about it. Speaking of this, I know someone who belongs to a culture that doesn't tolerate any type of touching with other people in public. People could mistake her for being unfriendly. These types of teaching moments allow the person to gain more knowledge of the unknown. While rereading the next chapter, Pascal describes Andrea as a tall man who believed that the "world should be governed by individual strength"(63). Pascal foreshadows Andrea's death as a derrick crashes on to him while his "individual strength" doesn't matter in his case. I realized that the autobiography is much more than a plot. After rereading, the different types of elements found made me appreciate Son of Italy way more.
ReplyDeleteI didn't find anything too different from rereading chapter 10, it was the more technical and intellectual chapter versus the rest of the book. I remember reading it the first time about the whole "commissary system" and the "commissary man". There was one line that basically summed up the entire chapter for me: "In its most extreme workings it results in perpetual peonage of the unlucky laborers who get caught. Usually the lure is high wages and free transportation to some distant locality." In the previous chapter towards the end, this was what was basically happening to them. Pascal says they were traveling to their next new job. It seems to me like he described how easy it was to land yourself into this sort of position, and he was a victim of it. He was part of a gang that offered these wages, they were transported as a group from place to place daily and that's how easy it was to get people to work.
ReplyDeleteI didn't find anything too different from rereading chapter 10, it was the more technical and intellectual chapter versus the rest of the book. I remember reading it the first time about the whole "commissary system" and the "commissary man". There was one line that basically summed up the entire chapter for me: "In its most extreme workings it results in perpetual peonage of the unlucky laborers who get caught. Usually the lure is high wages and free transportation to some distant locality." In the previous chapter towards the end, this was what was basically happening to them. Pascal says they were traveling to their next new job. It seems to me like he described how easy it was to land yourself into this sort of position, and he was a victim of it. He was part of a gang that offered these wages, they were transported as a group from place to place daily and that's how easy it was to get people to work.
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned the lures that Pascal fell victim to. Sometimes people overlook dangerous situations and workplaces only because it benefits their pockets. This sucks and goes to show that even today, not everyone has the amount of fair opportunities as everyone else does.
DeleteWhat opened up to me the second time around, was how most people start losing touch with their loved ones in Italy. Seeing how the story ended, and the hardships they endured, got me comparing the unknown. Families in Italy have nothing to go of, it's all unknown to them. That could drive someone crazy. I would personally be in distress if I never heard from a loved one. My thoughts would have the best of me in a fearful and negative way.
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