Multiethnic Literatures in the U.S.

Aloft is the story of Jerry Battle’s escape from life’s mundane problems. Retired from his landscaping business at 59, he prefers to spend his time flying his airplane alone above his native Long Island. He longs to live above the fray, to escape the messy entanglements of love and family. Once when Battle is flying, he experiences an odd rush watching his Long Island home fade beneath him. “I’m disappearing,” he thinks. Then, he whispers an aside to the reader: “Let me reveal a secret,” Battle confesses, “I have been disappearing for years.” He is now aloft, emotionally and spiritually untethered, severing the ties that ought to bind.

    Just what has caused Jerry to, as he puts it, “disappear” from his own life, is not apparent for the first third of the novel. Lee has a habit of withholding information, of waiting before dropping a backstory like a bomb to alter the emotional terrain. In Aloft the backstory concerns Daisy, Jerry’s long-dead wife and the mother of his two children. Lee mentions her in passing throughout the opening chapters, but not until we are fully absorbed in the stream of Jerry’s present circumstances do we get something approaching a full account.

Except for an occasional line of postmodern critique from Theresa, the issue of race is not raised. Rather, it is part of the fabric of life, expressed through Jerry’s relationships with his father, children and Daisy. None of Jerry’s memories of his marriage reveal much about who Daisy really was, she remains more or less an image of sex and hysteria in broken English. The flashback, though, does show us Jerry in a different light, and we suspect that his inability to connect with or even perceive his wife’s humanity contributed to her alienation. Lee offers no counterpoint to Jerry’s version of Daisy, but allows us to feel its suffocating limitations, Jerry’s terrible and ordinary failure.

Implicit in Lee’s portrait of Battle is a critique of contemporary American life. We may not live in Battle’s world of mini-mansions, subzero freezers and private tennis courts, but we probably recognize at least some of Jerry’s problem in ourselves. In an age characterized by the pursuit of more, more possessions, more stability, many of us feel disconnected, aloft. Lee’s novel helps us to see that an unexpected feature of achieving our American dream is a vague dissatisfaction, a listless distraction from the things that matter most.  We see the depth of Battle’s problem that also may help us to recognize the ways we are lost when we withdraw from the ones we love.

Aloft, a novel by Chang-Rae Lee starts up with the main character, Jerry Battle, flying over the Long Island area. The first chapter sets up the book and just talks about Jerry Battle and focuses a little bit on how he started flying and how he acquired his airplane.
The first thing that I notice is that flying for Jerry Battle is an escape from reality. Even when in the first couple of pages he talks about what he sees. He describes a couple of things and it looks almost like chaos on the ground and a complete opposite in the air, peace, comfort, and order in a way. He needs something to get away from all of it, just like everyone else. We all tend to look for something peaceful, something that takes the world chaos and makes it peaceful, it is just what people like to do in their free time, many people do sports, listen to music, and a lot of other things. This separation from the real world makes life easier to go by, at least in my opinion. Jerry Battle in general doesn’t seem to be worried about anything anymore, and for some reason I think that everyone would want to live his life, not worrying about anything. He gets up in the morning and does whatever he wants throughout the day. However, it is almost like a dream, it is almost impossible for a regular person in the middle class society to retire in the late 40, maybe even late 50, and do whatever they want without carrying about the world around them. But Chang-Rae Lee shows that kind of life. However, on the other hand is that Jerry Battle does not seem to appreciate what he has. I think that if someone was striving for the kind of life he has, they would act in a different way.
Also Jerry Battle seems to be like any other person in real life. He might be considered to be in a higher social class because of where he lives, because he is already retired and is only in his late forties, and some other things. He seems to be like any other person in our world in the upper-middle class or maybe even in the upper class of society. He can buy a plane, he has put his kids through the Ivy League school, and he has also been taking care of his dad’s business. Jerry Battle’s wealth could be because of his dad’s successful business, which was passed on to Jerry. It seems that even nowadays a lot of people become rich due to their parent’s wealth which got passed on. There are very few people who actually become wealthy out of nowhere.
I think that Chang-Rae Lee tries to set up the book in the way that the main character is both like us and at the same time different from the ordinary man, however, ordinary might be different for everyone.

A “Plane” Personality

            The first half of the novel “Aloft”, by Chang-rae Lee, starts off fairly slow, and most of the text seems to extensively describe suburban family life observed through the eyes of a middle aged man named Jerry. Many of the details discussed towards the beginning of the novel seem to be extremely unnecessary, that is, until we realize that this extensively descriptive and superficial narration is a key insight into Jerry Battles personality (which I believe is the focal point throughout the novel). Although most of Jerry’s long-winded narration seems unnecessary, we begin to realize that Lee uses Jerry Battle’s narration to represent the superficial personality and the behavior of most American’s today. We also notice that Lee might portray Jerry this way to show the consequences of a culture that only relies on observing what is shown on the surface without addressing the underlying factors; some of these consequences that arise include racism, sexism, and other shallow narrow-mindedness throughout society. Any person who has the same superficial viewpoints as Jerry will find it extremely hard not to judge others by their skin color, or gender.

              The biggest symbol Lee uses to highlight Jerry’s superficial observations is his recently bought, and frequently used, airplane in which he always chooses to fly alone. To me, this symbol presents the idea that in Jerry’s personal life, he prefers to be in control, or in the “cockpit”. This symbol is also present to emphasize Jerry’s “Plane Personality” which shows just how much he loves to observe others by only what he sees on the surface; Jerry’s “plane personality” resembles how Jerry uses his plane to skim the surface of the earth, while always observing sights from afar. It is no question that Jerry is a simple man with simple pleasures, and obviously would rather base his descriptions—and viewpoints of others—on the first idea that comes to mind. Jerry proves this when he states “like most people in this country I’m hopelessly obsessed with race and difference and can’t help but privilege the normative and fetishize what is not.”  By stating this, Jerry illustrates that his superficiality comes naturally, and he finds it impossible to act differently.  

            Throughout the novel, Jerry seems completely consumed with other people’s race, gender, and physical features. We first notice this when Jerry goes to visit the man in which he plans to purchase the used plane. During this meeting he makes it clear that the man is black, and mentions this even though he says “I should probably not so parenthetically mention right now that Hal was black.” By stating this, Jerry obviously realizes that he cannot help but obsess in anything other than what his acquaintances show on the surface. Jerry also shows this part of his personality as he describes his children, as well as his female companions. In all of these descriptions, Jerry uses physical qualities in his narration.

            Jerry also shows his shallow personality when he finds out his daughter has cancer. When Paul reveals that the available treatment may hurt the baby, the first thing Jerry says is “she can have another baby”. Although this type of dreadful news can make anyone speak irrationally, this extreme circumstance still proves Jerry’s superficial thought process. When Jerry makes this statement, he fails to realize that this baby might mean the world to his daughter; even more so than her own life. Nevertheless, Jerry’s instinctive response illustrates his selfish opinion which doesn’t factor in the feelings of his daughter. This confrontation with Paul definitely supports Jerry’s shallow, and sometimes selfish, personality.  

A “Plane” Personality

            The first half of the novel “Aloft”, by Chang-rae Lee, starts off fairly slow, and most of the text seems to extensively describe suburban family life observed through the eyes of a middle aged man named Jerry. Many of the details discussed towards the beginning of the novel seem to be extremely unnecessary, that is, until we realize that this extensively descriptive and superficial narration is a key insight into Jerry Battles personality (which I believe is the focal point throughout the novel). Although most of Jerry’s long-winded narration seems unnecessary, we begin to realize that Lee uses Jerry Battle’s narration to represent the superficial personality and the behavior of most American’s today. We also notice that Lee might portray Jerry this way to show the consequences of a culture that only relies on observing what is shown on the surface without addressing the underlying factors; some of these consequences that arise include racism, sexism, and other shallow narrow-mindedness throughout society. Any person who has the same superficial viewpoints as Jerry will find it extremely hard not to judge others by their skin color, or gender.

                The biggest symbol Lee uses to highlight Jerry’s superficial observations is his recently bought, and frequently used, airplane in which he always chooses to fly alone. To me, this symbol presents the idea that in Jerry’s personal life, he prefers to be in control, or in the “cockpit”. This symbol is also present to emphasize Jerry’s “Plane Personality” which shows just how much he loves to observe others by only what he sees on the surface; Jerry’s “plane personality” resembles how Jerry uses his plane to skim the surface of the earth, while always observing sights from afar. It is no question that Jerry is a simple man with simple pleasures, and obviously would rather base his descriptions—and viewpoints of others—on the first idea that comes to mind. Jerry proves this when he states “like most people in this country I’m hopelessly obsessed with race and difference and can’t help but privilege the normative and fetishize what is not.”  By stating this, Jerry illustrates that his superficiality comes naturally, and he finds it impossible to act differently.  

            Throughout the novel, Jerry seems completely consumed with other people’s race, gender, and physical features. We first notice this when Jerry goes to visit the man in which he plans to purchase the used plane. During this meeting he makes it clear that the man is black, and mentions this even though he says “I should probably not so parenthetically mention right now that Hal was black.” By stating this, Jerry obviously realizes that he cannot help but obsess in anything other than what his acquaintances show on the surface. Jerry also shows this part of his personality as he describes his children, as well as his female companions. In all of these descriptions, Jerry uses physical qualities in his narration.

            Jerry also shows his shallow personality when he finds out his daughter has cancer. When Paul reveals that the available treatment may hurt the baby, the first thing Jerry says is “she can have another baby”. Although this type of dreadful news can make anyone speak irrationally, this extreme circumstance still proves Jerry’s superficial thought process. When Jerry makes this statement, he fails to realize that this baby might mean the world to his daughter; even more so than her own life. Nevertheless, Jerry’s instinctive response illustrates his selfish opinion which doesn’t factor in the feelings of his daughter. This confrontation with Paul definitely supports Jerry’s shallow, and sometimes selfish, personality.  

In The Heart of the Valley of Love by Cynthia Kadohata is another apocalyptic novel, revealing the differences and troublesome of the future. When compared to The Parable of the Sower and The Parable of the Talents, it is a different surrounding, although it’s around the same time period. While reading the Asian American apocalyptic book, I am able to sense the desire for comfort, stability, and a sense of longing.

Kadohata presents a sense of desire for comfort, specifically through Francie, Aunt Annie, and Jewel. This comfort may be to belong to a family, fall in love, or just have a home that one can feel safe in. Though this passage is at the end of the book, Francie reveals her heart for Los Angeles through these lines, “Los Angeles was the only home either of us had known, and maybe this would be the only love we would ever know. For those reasons, I knew I would never leave Los Angeles” (225). This shows the readers that even with all the hardships, inflation, and all the “chaos” that’s going on in her life, that Los Angeles is a place where she is comfortable in. If she would have to move to another city, it would take time for her to meet new people and it would be harder for her to adjust to her new surroundings. Francie mentions that she never had friends in Los Angeles after moving in from Chicago until she went to school. The friends in her life, specifically her lover, Mark, show stability in her life. The love and relationship that builds between Mark and Francie brings a lot more than just an everyday relationship, but it brings comfort and stability in Francie’s life.

In another character such as Aunt Annie, the readers are able to see the hurt and trauma Aunt Annie has to face when she loses Rohn. Aunt Annie’s joy, comfort, and her character are lost when Rohn disappears. She falls into a time of misery. She has no love in her life, and she also has to run the business on her own. When Rohn disappears, Aunt Annie’s character is stripped down into emptiness. This emptiness soon turns into a longing for her love again, when she starts to look for Rohn until the end.

Kadohota also presents the longing of comfort and stability through Jewel. Jewel’s background with men is tough, and yet Jewel is always longing for that man, Teddy.
Teddy abuses her, even though it’s not clearly stated in the book, and he has always abused her before he went to jail. With all these trouble at hand, Jewel still takes Teddy back when she bails him out of jail. It seems as if Jewel just longs for love even when it brings her physical pain. Teddy represents the comfort and stability in her life, even with the abuse, although she realizes the truth at the end of the book.

Cynthia Kadohata presents the simple idea of comfort and belonging in her book. Comfort and a sense of belonging are what the characters long for. A simple relationship is taken so dearly in the book In the Heart of the Valley of Love.

In the last section of the book, Cynthia Kadohata begins to summarize the message of her book. “Besides, I was no longer going to school from hope but from fear. I was not going because there were classes I was interested in or things that I wanted but because there were things I did not want”(p. 179). This summarizes how everyone usually goes about life. People go to work or school because of hope or fear. People work with the hope that they can make good money and provide for themselves and their families. On the other hand, we also go to work because we fear that we may end up without enough money and fall into the lower class. We go to school because it is a step towards getting a job. We also go because we fear that we will not get a good job and struggle throughout life. To put this in terms of the book, people go to work and school with the hope of being part of the upper class of Los Angeles in the 2050’s, or the fear that they may end up being blocked off the nice parts of the city.

These two themes are present in many parts of book. For example, Aunt Annie constantly writes letters to anyone that has information about Rohn. She has hope that he is still alive or that she can get him out of jail. Francie also has hope with Rohn. “I was so certain Rohn would return that my worry now was not whether he could come back, but what he would be like and how he had changed”(p. 219). Francie assumes that he is coming back and assumes that he is different. Even the small actions in the book are made because of hope or fear. Every time Francie and her friends leave their homes, they bring Mace or guns with them. Francie constantly grasps the Mace in her pocket with the fear that she may be attacked or robbed. She also keeps it in her pocket with the hope that it will protect her if those events ever occur. These two themes seem to compliment each other throughout the book.

Another theme that is also shown throughout the book is love. Aunt Annie obviously loves Rohn and shows it by staying with him throughout his troubles and searching for him when he was nowhere to be found. Jewel and Teddy were a more complicated couple. She stayed with him, bailed him out of jail, and defended him even though he beat her because she felt that she loved him. At the end of the book, she leaves to go east because there were no reasons to stay. She obviously did not love Teddy anymore. Then there is Francie and Mark. They go through good and bad times together and never seem to think about not having each other. They act as if to say if they are going to get through the rough times in that city, they are going to do it together.

With all the changes, destruction, and chaos in the book, three themes are held constant throughout the book. Even in the end of the book when Francie decides to stay in Los Angeles she does so because she is in love with Mark, she fears that she may lose that love if she goes somewhere else, and she hopes that things will get better. One of the messages Kadohata tries to send is that these three things can be present no matter how bad the world is. The only bad thing about this book is that it portrays no solution to the problems going on throughout the book. Kadohata warns the readers that this may be how life is like in the future if things don’t change now. There will be unbalanced social classes, riots, and chaos. Living with hope, love, and fear will not solve these problems.

            On page 190 Francie takes a moment to reflect on the present word situation.  Like in the Parable series the USA is being dominated by a dictatorship government that is more interested in itself then its citizens.  Political, social, and economical chaos is all the byproducts of the government in the Heart of the Valley of Love that Francie talk about in her passage.  Another thing that the government does is that it provokes fear in it citizens by arresting anyone for the pettiest to the most horrific crimes committed.  The government would even arrest a person if that thought that those people worked with the criminals. 

            Francie’s Auntie Annie is distort after Rohn is taken away by the police and does not return.  Annie writes daily to anyone that might have some information as to where Rohn is and if she could bail him out of jail.  Francie fears that all if her aunt’s letters will get her aunt in trouble with the police too. 

            The police and the rest of the government rule made everyone live in fear of doing anything wrong.  In the beginning of the passage Francie sees a helicopter searching for someone in the night.  When she sees this helicopter she is not sure how ot feel about it, which is interesting.  Normally people would be delighted that the police are keeping people safe.  Instead Francie wonders if she should side with the person the police are looking for because he might have done nothing wrong.  Francie, along with many others, are divided against trusting their government and thinking that the government is corrupt and evil.  Since people are not sure whether to trust the government or not many resort to living secret live to survive and live a moderately normal life.  A moderately normal life allows the citizens to get more water, food, and gas than the government gives them.  The government seems to spend most of its money on providing order to the citizens with law, rather then providing public good, which is something that the citizens really need. 

            Since the government tells its citizen how much of the resources they can have, resources are given in small rations and are expensive to buy from privately own companies.  The high prices and the small rations many people must resort to stealing in order to live.  All the stealing is making most of the people petty thieves.  The few that Francie says are not thieves are the rich.  This distinction makes a large gap between the rich and the poor.  However Franice say in the passage that she does not hate the rich for being rich.  They actually fought with the poor for change. 

            Francie also mentions that she believes that even though the world is corrupt and thinks that the corruption is coming to an end.  She states that she is not sure what would happen at the end of the corruption or when it will finally end, just that it will end someday.  She says “something was ending, which also meant that something was beginning.” Maybe Francie is waiting for an almost revolutionary change, a revolt against the government. At this point she just wants to be free from the fear. 

            Lastly Francie talks about the rioters.  In the beginning the rioters rioted because they wanted change.  Now they rioted just to destroy.  Why would the rioters want to destroy instead of making a point to the government?  It seems as though through the destruction of physical things they wish to destroy an era or fear. 

“You only get five minutes a day to feel sorry for yourself.” (pg. 135) Almost finish reading the book, but I felt like there is no surprise, no spotlights and no new ideas in this book. Each Chapter just told stories happened to the families, friends and lovers. Anyway, just like the first sentence I mentioned in this paragraph, we still could find something like that from the book that Cynthia Kadohata wanted to show us. 

The whole story was set in the future during the 2050s in Los Angels. Francie was a nineteen years old girl whose parents died very earlier when she was still a kid. She lived with her auntie Annie, and made some deliveries for her aunt. After having a very serious traffic accident, she moved out, and found a job for a living by herself. We could see Francie’s life was tough, and also, she was a tough girl. Her mother was a Japanese and her father was a Chinese. She was a special girl not because her parents but her attitude to her life. She never hesitated helping people. Because of her experience, she could always get in touch with feeling of her friends when they had problems. We could see how she treated her aunt, Annie, her friend, Jewel and her boy friend, Mark.  

During 2050s, the city was filled with violence, life was degenerate, and the people were hopeless and used to it. The color of the city was gray. I thought the author set up the whole novel with this color just like she mentioned the weather of Los Angel couple times. She might think that would be the tendency that the world would go to with so far. Not just violence, we also have seen that in this book, the relationship among the people was kind of weird. Some of them became numb and cold blood; on the other hand, in the hopeless world, the author tried to present the character of the novel, Francie, as the person who still tried to change her life, and lived with hope. “They held expectations of the world, whereas what we had was hope. That never changed for me.” She never lost hope. Even though her aunt’s boy friend, Rohn, had been arrested for a year she still thought Rohn would come back. It also showed she was rigid. As when she was ready for a tattoo, Carl told her “I am not going to lie and say it doesn’t hurt, but if you want a tattoo, it’s worth it!” I am pretty sure it was also what Francie thought. Not just the tattoo, but also ideal to her life. It was telling you if you think it’s worth it, then do not lose your hope, and do not give up. 

When some people are ready to go to sleep in the evening they will think the world is too hard for them, but the next morning when they get up they still need to do whatever they have to do. So people do not really have choices. If not, they only have two options: live or die. If you choose to live, be like Francie to be rigid and hopeful.

In the second half of In the Heart of the Valley of Love, there is a strong sense of time and a pang of wanting to be remembered. From the mentioning of typing has become a lost art, the star-spangled banner being played on the tv, days spent by the lake in the boathouse, Auntie Annie’s shopping spree memories, and to Nadine’s speech on never forgetting because it makes who you are, everything has become ephemeral but everyone is still seeking some type of permanence.

When mentioning Aunt Annie, it was all about how it used to be when going to the shopping mall was the norm. Now though, remembering and trying to reenact those times just brings about a strong sadness that those times are gone. Even Madeline, with all her beautiful beads, creates beautiful beaded necklaces for herself only to be never worn. And those beads are counted continuously only to be inventoried and later sold off.

For Francie and Mark, they decide to get tattoos with Francie choosing a vine around her wrist. The wine visually is just a circle, which also represents infinity, with no end and no beginning. And when you think of tattoos, you think of permanence, but even Carl the artist remarks on how the color will eventually fade in ten years. Not even the tattoos will last. This goes to show that nothing lasts, not even the structure society collapses. However, it is interesting to note that while it is 2052 in LA, these stories could easily, tragically, have been told within present-day Los Angeles. Jewel is trapped in an abusive affair, people behind walls argue and brawl, the people on the street carry guns, random violence is rampant.

In the book, “In the Heart of the Valley of Love,” two relationships can be compared to that of Jewel and Teddy: Lily’s parents and Nadine and Geoffrey. Jewel is Francie’s friend who also works at the campus newspaper as the managing editor and Teddy is her boyfriend. Lily was Francie’s friend growing up in Chicago, whose father used to beat her mother until she left him. Nadine is Francie’s cousin and her boyfriend was Geoffrey.
It is known to Francie as well as others that Teddy had beaten Jewel in the past yet she still bailed him out of jail because she felt that she owed him. As she said, “sometimes he’s lent me money when I really needed it, and whenever I’ve been desperately unhappy he’s put aside what he was doing to be with me” (68). Despite the fact that he beat her, she still felt that she loved him. When talking about the situation of Lily’s parents, Francie talked about how she and Lily used to try and please Lily’s father after he beat her mother. They would clean the kitchen, hoping for some acknowledgment from Lily’s abusive father. She compared that to Jewel bailing out Teddy. Jewel tried to please Teddy, hoping for some recognition.
Later, after getting her tattoo, Francie, Mark, and Carl had a talk with Jewel because she was upset. Jewel suspected that Teddy was cheating on her with another woman. Mark was appalled because he felt that she was wrongfully troubled because he was hurting someone else rather than her. As they have the talk, Francie again remembers Lily and her parents. In her head, Francie said “I didn’t know what kind of world this was, where a violent man’s infidelity might hurt a woman more than his beatings” (133). Her thought reigns true for the situation that Jewel was in. She was sad that he beat her but even more sad that he was with another woman.
The way Francie saw the relationship between her cousin Nadine and her boyfriend, Geoffrey, was similar to Jewel and Teddy’s relationship. Nadine lived with Francie in Chicago when Francie was 11 and Nadine was 17. She was going out with Geoffrey, a boy three years older. One night, they were arguing and Francie wondered. She said, “Maybe they were falling out of love but didn’t want to. Maybe they were falling more in love and couldn’t handle it” (155). That can be compared to Jewel and Teddy. They said that they were in love with each other, but they didn’t act like it. Jewel said she stayed with Teddy because he had a mansion in his head and he said he liked the fact that it was a challenge to control her. It cannot be fully known whether they truly do love each other.