OK, the new round of blogs are here! Sorry for the delay; school is hectic for me, too. I want you all to pick one of these posts and really dig deep for some thoughtful and insightful answers. These are the kinds of questions I am really curious to investigate; these are the kinds of questions that really push your learning. So, please, think hard and respond with an answer that gets at the heart of the matter. As usual, I've tried to provide you with several angles into the conversation. If you still can't think of something 'good' to say, sleep on it. Or read through the other posts and respond to each other.
Keep an eye out on the blog; in the coming days, I will post the new schedule for reading and different activities that will take us through the remainder of the school year. We are almost there! But we also have a lot to cover. And perhaps, the most important stuff left to cover. Save the best for last, right? I think everyone will be able to really get involved and share their voices over the last month of school. I'm excited! OK, first blog option for this week:
OK, I want each of you to go back to your original posts about Aunt Ida. Remember those? The ones where we speculated on what kind of person Ida might be based on information presented to us from Ray and Christine? So take a minute, go back two weeks and look at the things you wrote. While you are there, feel free to look at what other students wrote as well.
How have things changed? Obviously we know that Christine isn’t Aunt Ida’s biological daughter. But what else did we learn about Aunt Ida? Re-read the very fist page of Aunt Ida’s section, the part where she talks about wearing resentment for forty years, the part where she regrets not saying the word ‘No’ to different people throughout her life. There’s a lot to say about Ida, for sure. I think her section is my favorite in the book and the most powerful, as well. So go ahead, weigh on with some final impressions of Aunt Ida. Or, maybe your perceptions of her children have changed. I know I don’t feel the same about Lee having read Ida’s thread of the story. This post is pretty open, so respond how you see fit. But be thoughtful; use the text to inform your opinions. What are some things that ‘struck’ you? What questions do you have left unanswered or unaddressed?
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Alright soo ida's section was nuts!! There was alot of new and very suprising parts that were issued! My thoughts on ida have changed alot! Being that she is maybe a hard person to get along with as an adult! She took on very hard desions in her life and now she has two kids one being hers and on being her FATHERS!!! Ida was out into a rough position and i feel she is an amazing person for taking on christin and help rasing her. I alos now see why she was soo mad at christine for lee's death that was her only son yet her only child. So i did change very much on how i felt about ida i now understand why the way she acts or what she does. And i do feel that if christine knew what she had done for her she would have never talked to her they way she did! (Or atleast i would hope)
ReplyDeleteAt first I felt like Aunt Ida really wanted nothing to do with this whole mess but somehow ended up in it. She acted like it was a curse put on her and it would never be released. But as you keep reading you see Aunt Ida grows alot emotion for Christine and starts to love her as her own. Ida even burns herself in the face because she was so worried about Christine being with Clara. Then Clara even tells Ida that she found a wealthy family for Christine to live with but, Ida choose to keep Christine which shows me that Ida really deep down loves christine and just couldnt see herself giving away this child she has raised. Maybe if Clara would have said she was taken her back then Ida would have let her go but, saying Clara was going to give Christine to another family just broke Idas rules of life and family and wouldnt want what happen to her with her parents, happen to christine.
ReplyDeleteaunt ida is actually christines aunty, not her mom but christine was given to ida at the age of 17 by clara and i think that was really not a good idea because first, ida was young and i wonder how much she will suffer taking care of a child which is not yours for all these years and i also think what clara did too was not a good thing also the blame too is on ida because ida decided to take care of christine too.
ReplyDeleteIf you think about it Christine is Ida's half sister. that would freak me out a little bit. having to raise my half sister as my own. that's nuts! And going deeper into that, Lee isn't Christine's brother, she is his aunt. that's so weird. On another note, I agree with judy. it isn't a good thing that christine was given to ida. she was too young and clara should have stepped up and handled the consequencies.
ReplyDeleteWow m opinion on Aunt Ida has changed a lot now knowing the story of what happened. I agree with sambo18 having to raise your half sister as your own child would be really freaky and the fact that Christine is Lee's aunt. Ida shouldn't have had to take the responsibilty of raising Christine as her own child. It was Clara's fault for getting pregnant by Lecon and she should've admitted her mistake and raised christine herself, Ida was way to young to have to take on that kind of responsibilty. I respect Ida a lot more than i had in the beginning. At the start of this i just thought that Ida was being a bitter woman because of not having a husband or something of that sort i never pictured the fact that Christine is really her half sister. Ida is a strong woman for taking on the responsibilty at such a young age and Clara should be ashamed at herself.
ReplyDeletei feel that knowing the truth really does change the way i view aunt ida.. and the whole story really makes sense now that i know the truth. i understand why aunt ida isn't called mom and it makes sense about show she acted toward christine. At first we all thought that she was a horrible mother but come to find out its not really her mother at all. i feel that does justify some of the things that she did like not bering called mom etc.. but i feel that the whole respect thing shouldn't have changed just because christine isnt officially hers
ReplyDeleteAunt Idas part of the story really did explain a lot. It showed me why aunt ida was so nice to her son then Christine. She really is Christian's aunt and half sister, which explains why Ida made christine call her Aunt Ida. It seems to me that she blamed it more on her father then clara, being the reason she wanted christine to call her aunt ida rather than just plain ida???? like a sister would have.
ReplyDeleteI think that it probably took alot of courage to say no to Clara and not give up christine and it makes me feel like Ida is alot better of a mother than it let on in the beginning of the book.. and i understand why she was so mad at christine for Lee's death, but then again i really dont. I mean he was her only real child, her biological son, but i dont place all fault on Christine for Lee's death. I think it was more of the times that made him go and Christine was just the push. And since Lee died, wouldnt that want to make Ida get closer to Christine? Because i feel, for all intents and purposes, that she is still Ida's daughter. I would've done that.
ReplyDeleteIn my first post, Aunt Ida was not someone that I understood. I assumed that her refusal to go by "mom" was simply a control mechanism for her while working with her children who did not have a father figure. As you stated, I was incorrect in my assumption, as were most of the others that read this book. Discovering that Aunt Ida was not Christine's mother at all changes everything. The perspective that Ida's section of the book provides shines new light on everything that Christine and even Ray said in the earlier portions. Her ability to interact with her "child" was obviously stifled by the uncomfortable situation in which Ida's aunt and father put her, thus causing several of the issues that Christine mentions from her childhood.
ReplyDeletemy views on aunt idea has really changed. i first i thought she was just a bitter old lady, that had nothing to do. now i know about her hard past, and all the bull she went through. i thought she just felt dissapointed with ida and only loved lee. now that everything is reviled i now fell sorry for her
ReplyDeleteMy views of Ida have definately changed because at first i really wondered why a mother would make her own daughter call her "Aunt", but now it is clear that ida wasn't planning on keeping christine until she found out that clara was going to give/sell her to a rich family. That shows alot about Ida's true character, and how she would rather bear the burden of raising a child than let it go to some infamilar family wher Christine would loose her true identitiy/heritage as an Indian.
ReplyDeletemy views had change a lot beucase of what she did . At the begining of the book i did understand who she was but now i don't.
ReplyDeleteafter reading idas section it caughtt my attention and made me actually want to read instead of skim. i think way differently of ida now knowing she took on chrisitine as her own when she was really her fathers child. ida did alot for her, and in the very begenning when we read rays section i thought ida was the "villan" of the story. It turns out she could almost be the hero.
ReplyDeletewhen i read aunt ida's section i realized that she helped christine out alot, even though she wasn't her mother she took her in and took care of her. So it showed me a different prospective of the book.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the part of the book that is Aunt Ida's I was student. Ida really did take a big one for Clara. It also explains why Christine is to call Ida, Anut Ida not mom. I thought that this was some stuff for Jerry Springer or somthing.
ReplyDeletewe know now why ida is not the loving mother to christine. she's not her real mother. but still that does not give you the right to treat the child like dirt. she didn't ruin your life it was your dad and clara. i agree ida's section was the best and i actually enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteLike most people, i did not like or understand Aunt Ida when i was first introduced to her in the beginning of the book. I was really irked by the fact that she wouldnt let her own kids call her "Mom". i was so surprised to learn the complications of the situation. It really helped me to realize that she was dealing with some issues of her own, and it was hard for her to care for the kids, especially Christine. I know she loves Christine, but sometimes it didnt seem like she was as motherly as i felt like she could have been... when a child is naturally born to a mother there is a motherly instinct and connection. Ida didnt have the connection, and she even resented Christine to a point... I think she still did the best she could have done considering the situation.
ReplyDeleteMy view of Aunt Ida changed from the beginning of the book untill now. In the beginning aunt ida was really confusing and i could never understand why she did the things she did. although i do give her a lot of credit for helping christine in all the ways that she could. throughout the book i could better understand her and it made sense to me why she acted the was she did in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteMy view of aunt ida has changed. B/c early on in the book i wasnt to happy with the way she was treating Christine. I thought that because Ida was treating Christine was effecting her relationship with Ray. But now that i knows her side of the story i understand that she wasnt ready for a child at the age she took christine in.
ReplyDelete