Book Reflection

It was a gloomy Sunday evening. The rain had stopped, and I pondered over asking my parents whether they have any good book recommendations for me. I told them it was for my English independent reading project and that I had to interview them about the book after I read it. At first, my dad gave me a few suggestions that he thought would be a good read for me. They were The Old Man and The Sea, Great Expectations, and 1876. To be honest, after reading a brief summary of each book, I figured out that these were probably going to be very similar to some of the books I’ve read in my English class throughout high school, so I rejected them. Although I’ve enjoyed some of the English books read throughout high school, such as Lord of The Flies and Their Eyes Were Watching God, I wanted a book full of

Upon moving to the U.S., it was a major challenge for my mom. She had to learn English well, find a part-time job to support her family, and adjust to the American culture. These were all difficult tasks. Similar to Tomi in the book, after Pearl Harbor, he had to face many dilemmas: get his father’s sunken fishing boat out of the muddy ocean, take care of his sister, and not get discriminated by the Wilson’s, who were his neighbors and landlord. The Wilson’s hated the Japanese, because the husband of that household had served in the military and was an anti-Jap. Tomi’s used to be friends with Keet: Mr. Wilson’s son; but once the war had erupted, the Wilsons turned their backs on all Japanese Americans. Getting back to my point, though, one main philosophy that my mom believed she had in common with Tomi is that they are both very diligent and can persevere successfully even through the toughest obstacles in their life. Even though my mom and Tomi had to go through a rough childhood, in the end, they feel very accomplished because they kept fighting hard for what they desired