Gentleman of Rio en Medio. Literary Focus

9. This story is told from the point of view of a narrator who is a character in the story. How might this story differ if Don Anselmo were the narrator?

I think if this story's narrator is Don Anselmo, he would talk more about the kids in the village that he planted the trees when each kid was born in the village. He would telling the story in the first person. He would tell more about his feeling about the kids in the village and why he sold his house. Also more specific information about why he didn't take more money when the Americans bought his farm and why didn't he own the trees in addition.

Literary Focus

Number 7:

In my opinion, I think Terry made the right decision about questioning his father on his experiences in Vietnam because his father had Vietnam syndrome. The Vietnam syndrome made his father usually ignored what Terry said. Terry didn't like it, he wanted to know what happened to his father and his father did in Vietnam. Terry wanted to help his father to be normal. Terry didn't want his father to act like that and he wanted his father to care for him. Terry loved his father.

John's Life

John was a good student in American International School. In half semester, his GPA was 3.34. But his parents wanted him to be more of a “genius” like other “super” students in school. They got 3.95 and also the highest point, 4. When the day of Final Exam came, John didn’t study and the only one that he cared about was his girlfriend. He always wanted himself to look good and the clothes that he wore. His grade dropped down from 3.34 to 2.5. John’s parents were mad at him. They worked so hard to get money to pay for the school. John promised that the end of year, his name would be up on the Honor List, but he lied. His grade kept decreasing. Most often, he slept late so that he could chat and talked on the phone with his girl friend.
The girl that John always talked to was named Bella. She also studied in American International School. She is half Vietnamese and half American, but she was born in Vietnam. She could speak a little bit of Vietnamese and her English is extremely good. Bella has blonde hair that looks like warm sunlight shining on it. Bella is pretty tall. She joined the basketball team and also soccer team.
The school made the ceremony for the end of school year, John’s parents came and they didn’t hear any words that mention to John on the Honor List Rode. When they came home, they called John out and asked why that happened. They forced him to answer why his grade kept decreased but before he studied very well.
“Are you still dating with that girl?” John’s mother asked.
“….oh…yeah. But she didn’t make my grade went down like that.” John answered with nervous voice.
His father asked with the mad voice, “So why did your GPA go down so awfully?”
“I don’t know. But I promise my grade will increase in the next school year. Trust me this time, please.” John cried
“You promised many times already and you didn’t ever grant.” John’s father said.
“We will move you to America and you have to learn how to live alone without parents and friends. That will help you study better and have the new life with new society.” His mother said.
“No! No! I can’t go to America. How about Bella? I can’t leave her in Vietnam.” He surprised
John’s parents were so angry. They said “We don’t care about your Bella. The most things that we care now are we have to raise you to be a better person. We can’t care for you for all of your life. You have to go out and work to have your own money. If we’re keeping you here, we’re just killing you.”
In June, John went to Utica, NY, United States. He went to public school. New food, new cultures, and new friends caused him difficulty to adapt to the environment. When he lived in Vietnam, he didn’t need to speak English every day But in America, nobody could understand Vietnamese so that was hard for him and in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, sun sets at 6:00 PM but in Utica, NY, United States, the sun sets at 9:00 PM. The daylight time made it hard for him to sleep early after studying hard in school.
John couldn’t take the new life anymore. He wanted to go back to Vietnam to be with Bella. He missed her voice, her eyes and the way that Bella smiled to him. He called his parent to give him the money to buy the plane ticket to go back to Vietnam, but they refused to.
“No, you cannot go back to Vietnam. Do you know that we have to pay a lot of money for you to go to America?” his father said that.
“I can’t enjoy my life in this country. I want to go back to Vietnam or you will not expect what I will do!” John said with angry voice.
“Do whatever you want. We love you a lot but you just don’t know it. I will not give you any money until you graduate university.” John’s father said
John’s father hung up the phone with a sad face. He really wanted his son to be good and helpful. He wanted other people to look at his son and say something about him.
John did everything to have the money to go back to Vietnam. He worked in restaurants. One time, a black guy came in with the angry face. He asked John something too fast that John couldn’t comprehend and John just kept asking the black man to repeat the question again and again. The black man was so angry that he punched John on the face and he also told the manager to fire John because John’s English was not good.
After John got fired, he was sad and disappointed himself. He regretted not listening to his parents about studying hard and not to care about other major things, like girlfriends. He broke up with Bella and John started to study really hard, he got an A on every subjects. He graduated Business University in New York. After that John came back to Vietnam and started his business. He worked for Sunwah Company and got eight-thousand dollars per month.Through this story, John had learnt that no one care for him more than his parents. He felt regret and started his new life.

A Retrieved Reformation Vocabulary

1. Clemency- I got clemency from my teacher when I didn't turn in my homework on time.

2. Rehabilitate- Some people have to go to rehab to rehabilitate.

3. Elusive- The basketball are elusively that I cannot catch.

4. Anguish- After my dropped down, I felt very anguish and sad.