108A TE Fall 2011 discussion

Questions I have that I want answers to:
1) How did and why was Cecile arrested? What exactly happened to Cecile while she was in prison that changed her attitude about her children?

2) Why didn’t Cecile just call Fern “Afua” the whole time that the girls were in CA? What prompted her to start referring to Fern as “Afua” all of a sudden?

3) How did Cecile come up with the name “Afua” for Fern? Was Fern’s name really a part of the reason why she left the girls to move to CA??

Things that Surprised Me:
1) I was shell shocked when I read about Cecile offering to let Delphine help her in the kitchen! She might not have said it in a nice way, but just the fact that she said it was a total surprise. I felt sorry for Delphine when she tried her best at rolling the letters onto a new sheet and all Cecile did was criticize her.

2) I knew Delphine had a secret crush on Hirohito! I wonder if she also kept in touch with him as well when the girls went back to New York.

3) I’m so proud of Fern for keeping a secret about what she saw Crazy Kelvin do and took advantage of the Talent Show to tell everyone about it! Although she is the youngest of the three girls, I think she’s capable of doing a lot more things than other people think.

4) I wonder if Cecile would have ever told Delphine about her hardship as a child had Delphine not stand up for herself after Cecile scowled her for not informing the girls’ dad about Cecile’s imprisonment. I’m glad that Delphine spoke up and said her piece. I think she’s wanted to say it this whole time and that was a perfect moment to let it out.

5) Cecile’s childhood story took me by surprise and my view on her changed after that. I sympathized for her because she had such a difficult childhood, but that doesn’t excuse her from abandoning her children. I’m still not exactly sure why Cecile left….

6) Cecile finally said Fern’s name!! But why didn’t she just call Fern by her name from the get go? It’s sad that it took Cecile until the last day of the girls’ visit for her to finally say Fern’s name.

I'm a little disappointed about how the book ended. I was hoping that it would end on a better note than the girls running back to Cecile to give her a hug. I was expecting Cecile to may be keep the girls around a while longer or at least strike up a deal with their dad to keep them in CA for may be a year or so. It just felt like Cecile had a breakthrough with the girls, especially Delphine, but then she chose not to do anything about it. I just wished the ending to the book was more positive.

Fern is awesome!!!!!!!! She was so brave to speak out against Kelvin. I'm so glad that she got him back.

As for Cecile, she got arrested because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. During this time period you could get arrested for associating with Black Panthers. Cecile was actually helping the
Black Panthers and associating with a a known criminal because they said they were after the Black Panthers who got arrested anyways.

I think Cecile bonded with her children especially Fern who she never had a chance to get to know before this summer. I looked up Afua to see what it means and it means "born on Friday" it is not very original. I think she got attached. I hope that they have started a bond that they will continue on.

I find it interesting that when Cecile left she wanted to bring Delphine with her. It would have completely changed who Delphine is and how she grew up if she did.

Finding your voice seems to be a main theme that I have come to understand after having read One Crazy Summer.

Almost every main idea, event, conversation (especially involving Cecile/Nzila) had to do with having others hear what you have to say. Starting with Delphine sticking up for herself, and eventually allowing herself to scream on the go-kart was when I really made this connection. I also noticed that Cecile wanted to be free to write and get her voice/poems out there. Vonetta always wanted to be heard and seen but she really found her strong voice (as opposed to her show-off voice) when she integrated the word "black" into her mother's poem and the way she spoke with such conviction was inspirational for her sisters and me as the reader. Lastly, Fern blew me away. I was so sad that her name was not aknowledged by her mother throughout the story, but was so proud of her for speaking up about Crazy Kelvin. This was the turning point for the mother/daughters relationship because Cecile saw her daughters speak their own words despite her writing (most of) them.

I think it would be interesting if the girls were brought up by their mother versus the conservative Big Ma. It is amazing how the nurture aspect of childhood is so key. The time period and/or current culture plays a huge role in how children act also.

First of all, I ended up really enjoying this book! I liked it as an adult and I think I would have really liked reading when I was younger. I actually think it would have expanded my reading genres a bit, and maybe have gotten me more interested in history (the subject I disliked most). Also, I think it sends a great message for young women, no matter what time in history they are living in.

From the moment I started the book I fell in love with Fern's character, and she did not disappoint in the end! She was quite amazing. Children like her are the reason I want to teach Kindergarten :) And I am so glad that Cecile finally said her name. I don't know why it took her so long (if she was going to say it than she should have just said it from the beginning) but it was a huge step in the right direction for her. That's really interesting about what Afua means. I wonder if she had recently come up with that, or that's what she wanted to name her all along?

I'm also so happy that Delphine got the opportunity to have some fun before she left. They got to go on an adventure to San Francisco. It's no Disneyland...but at least they went somewhere different and can tell their friends and family that they had a "vacation". The scene where she is riding down the on the go kart made me smile. It was nice to see her "let her hair down" for a bit and be a kid.

I, like Thanh, was hoping for a bit more of an ending. I'm big on closure at the end of a book or movie. I like to be curious throughout, but once I'm finished I hate feeling like I still have unanswered questions. It makes me feel frustrated and uneasy. I did however appreciate the closing conversation between Delphine and her mother. It gave us a lot of answers and gave me a sense of closure for Delphine. That's not to say it also did raise some more questions, but at least I got an idea of what kind of life Cecile had and some reasons for why the way she is today. "The hug" wasn't necessarily jaw dropping, but it was a nice way to end things, and had they not done it I think I would have been disappointed.