RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
I enjoy doing meditation every night before I go to bed. Recently, I always have one question in my mind. “Does Atlanta mean the same to the Chinese people in Chinatown and the international students at Emory?” In the memoir, I presented a photo essay on my first visit to the Chinatown here in Atlanta. I took several pictures in a barber shop in Chinatown to show the lifestyles and living conditions of people in Chinatown. In addition, I used pictures of Chinese international students at Emory to make a comparison of their lifestyles with the Chinese people in Chinatown.
From definition, we know that a memoir is a reflection on a past experience that has a profound effect on the writer. The photo essay I compiled is considered a memoir because it has a significant meaning to me. It shows how I came to know the conditions of the Chinese people in Atlanta other than the international students at Emory. Because of that visit and experience in the Chinatown, I learned that not every Chinese person in America is from wealthy families and does not need to worry about the money. Some of them lead an uneasy and significantly less interesting life that the international students have. I realized how lucky I am to have the life I have right now and I should appreciate what I have. I should be as diligent as the people in Chinatown in order to achieve my dreams.
There are ten pictures about Chinatown in my photo essay. Due to my limited photography skills, I could not demonstrate my emotions adequately in just several photos. However, when I took them and actually experienced the Chinatown during my visit there, it was really impactful. In this photo essay, I tried my best to use the light and other effects to convey my feelings to the people who look at the pictures. In the first picture, I want to show Chinatown in Atlanta in general. It is the main gate to Chinatown. There are many different types of shops around the main gate. For this picture, I wanted to give everyone an overall impression of Chinatown. I used black and white effect on it, because I wanted to give a feeling of simpleness and solemnness. The second picture is to show how the Chinese barber in Chinatown looks. From his dressing styles and other small details I wanted to give an example of how most of the Chinese people here in Atlanta Chinatown appear. Most of their clothes are inexpensive and old. They brought most of them from China because they wanted to save money by not buying new clothing in America. The third picture consists of four small pictures. They are all taken here in Atlanta. Two of them were taken in the shopping market and restaurants in Chinatown. The other two were taken at Emory. Actually here I put the four pictures together in order to make comparison. The guy with shining shoes and a Porsche and the girls with fancy dresses in a banquet are to show the colorful and interesting life of the international students here at Emory. However, the other two pictures in the fortune readings shop and the fishing market give a feeling of simple but everyday life. For the fourth picture, I put two pictures together to make juxtaposition, which is a new technique I learned recently. I hope that in this way I can convey what I want to express more clearly. One is a simple and pre-owned car owned by the barber in the Chinatown. The other one is a nice looking brand new car of an international student. I also use juxtaposition in the last photo. One photo is a young Chinese student smoking casually outside a restaurant. Although it is noon already, he still looks very tired. The other one is a hair stylist. She begins to cut hair for others at 6:30 a.m. Although it was early, she still looks energetic and focused.
That visit to the Chinatown really had a great impact on me. Before the visit, all the Chinese people I met in Atlanta were international students at Emory. Almost all of them are from wealthy families in China. They came to America to explore and experience the world outside. They do not have to care about money and how they can make a living here in America because their parents have already paid the high tuition for their college education and gave them more than enough money for living expenses. They buy expensive and new style famous brand clothes and some of them even buy luxurious cars like Lamborghini and Maserati. In their concepts, they do not understand what saving money is. All they care about is just their GPA and having fun. Before I visited Chinatown, I was just one of the “Rich Second Generation Chinese." We typically have parties every weekend at a Chinese Karaoke and stayed in a five star luxury hotel when we had vacation during holidays. I thought that every Chinese person in America was the same as us. However when I visited Chinatown, what I saw and experienced totally changed my mind. I saw different lifestyles and how people made a living on their own and try their best to save money. That really touched me. I began to think that I should not waste my parents’ money. What is more, besides using money wisely, I should be more diligent and try to get a job in order to earn some money for daily expenses. This semester I reduced the pocket money from my dad by 30% and found a job in Woodruff Library. That visit to Chinatown really provided a chance for me to learn about the living conditions of other Chinese people, not the international students in America. Knowing their lives really changed my way of thinking.
After my visit, I think that I have the answer to my originally proposed question. What Atlanta means is not the same for all Chinese because of the different experiences they have here. For most of the international students in Atlanta, this city is just where they go to college. They come here just to get an education and explore a new world. To them Atlanta may be new and fun. Most of them will still leave the city right after graduation. After they leave, maybe Atlanta is nothing special but just a familiar city on the map. However, for the Chinese people that stay in Atlanta, the city means more to them. It is a place where they make a living. Compared to their hometown in China, it is their second home. They easily feel that they belong here. Their lives may be hard and not that fun, but they will still have more personal emotions attached to the city than the international students have. I think that this really solidifies the point that Yi-Fu Tuan holds that it is our personal experience or self-interaction with a place that makes a space a place and makes it special. He holds the belief that a place is somewhere in which we put a lot of our own personal emotions (Tuan 8). The reason Chinese students and local Chinese Americans hold different feelings towards the same city, or the same space, is because of their different experiences in it.
In conclusion, the photo essay should be considered a memoir because of the sentimental characteristics it has. The experience of the trip to Chinatown still has profound influences on my lifestyle and attitudes currently. That visit and the meditation on it can also be easily related to Tuan’s idea on space and place that we have learned so far in this semester.
Works Cited
Tuan, Yi-Fu. “The Perspective of Experience.” Space and Place. 3-18. Print.
From definition, we know that a memoir is a reflection on a past experience that has a profound effect on the writer. The photo essay I compiled is considered a memoir because it has a significant meaning to me. It shows how I came to know the conditions of the Chinese people in Atlanta other than the international students at Emory. Because of that visit and experience in the Chinatown, I learned that not every Chinese person in America is from wealthy families and does not need to worry about the money. Some of them lead an uneasy and significantly less interesting life that the international students have. I realized how lucky I am to have the life I have right now and I should appreciate what I have. I should be as diligent as the people in Chinatown in order to achieve my dreams.
There are ten pictures about Chinatown in my photo essay. Due to my limited photography skills, I could not demonstrate my emotions adequately in just several photos. However, when I took them and actually experienced the Chinatown during my visit there, it was really impactful. In this photo essay, I tried my best to use the light and other effects to convey my feelings to the people who look at the pictures. In the first picture, I want to show Chinatown in Atlanta in general. It is the main gate to Chinatown. There are many different types of shops around the main gate. For this picture, I wanted to give everyone an overall impression of Chinatown. I used black and white effect on it, because I wanted to give a feeling of simpleness and solemnness. The second picture is to show how the Chinese barber in Chinatown looks. From his dressing styles and other small details I wanted to give an example of how most of the Chinese people here in Atlanta Chinatown appear. Most of their clothes are inexpensive and old. They brought most of them from China because they wanted to save money by not buying new clothing in America. The third picture consists of four small pictures. They are all taken here in Atlanta. Two of them were taken in the shopping market and restaurants in Chinatown. The other two were taken at Emory. Actually here I put the four pictures together in order to make comparison. The guy with shining shoes and a Porsche and the girls with fancy dresses in a banquet are to show the colorful and interesting life of the international students here at Emory. However, the other two pictures in the fortune readings shop and the fishing market give a feeling of simple but everyday life. For the fourth picture, I put two pictures together to make juxtaposition, which is a new technique I learned recently. I hope that in this way I can convey what I want to express more clearly. One is a simple and pre-owned car owned by the barber in the Chinatown. The other one is a nice looking brand new car of an international student. I also use juxtaposition in the last photo. One photo is a young Chinese student smoking casually outside a restaurant. Although it is noon already, he still looks very tired. The other one is a hair stylist. She begins to cut hair for others at 6:30 a.m. Although it was early, she still looks energetic and focused.
That visit to the Chinatown really had a great impact on me. Before the visit, all the Chinese people I met in Atlanta were international students at Emory. Almost all of them are from wealthy families in China. They came to America to explore and experience the world outside. They do not have to care about money and how they can make a living here in America because their parents have already paid the high tuition for their college education and gave them more than enough money for living expenses. They buy expensive and new style famous brand clothes and some of them even buy luxurious cars like Lamborghini and Maserati. In their concepts, they do not understand what saving money is. All they care about is just their GPA and having fun. Before I visited Chinatown, I was just one of the “Rich Second Generation Chinese." We typically have parties every weekend at a Chinese Karaoke and stayed in a five star luxury hotel when we had vacation during holidays. I thought that every Chinese person in America was the same as us. However when I visited Chinatown, what I saw and experienced totally changed my mind. I saw different lifestyles and how people made a living on their own and try their best to save money. That really touched me. I began to think that I should not waste my parents’ money. What is more, besides using money wisely, I should be more diligent and try to get a job in order to earn some money for daily expenses. This semester I reduced the pocket money from my dad by 30% and found a job in Woodruff Library. That visit to Chinatown really provided a chance for me to learn about the living conditions of other Chinese people, not the international students in America. Knowing their lives really changed my way of thinking.
After my visit, I think that I have the answer to my originally proposed question. What Atlanta means is not the same for all Chinese because of the different experiences they have here. For most of the international students in Atlanta, this city is just where they go to college. They come here just to get an education and explore a new world. To them Atlanta may be new and fun. Most of them will still leave the city right after graduation. After they leave, maybe Atlanta is nothing special but just a familiar city on the map. However, for the Chinese people that stay in Atlanta, the city means more to them. It is a place where they make a living. Compared to their hometown in China, it is their second home. They easily feel that they belong here. Their lives may be hard and not that fun, but they will still have more personal emotions attached to the city than the international students have. I think that this really solidifies the point that Yi-Fu Tuan holds that it is our personal experience or self-interaction with a place that makes a space a place and makes it special. He holds the belief that a place is somewhere in which we put a lot of our own personal emotions (Tuan 8). The reason Chinese students and local Chinese Americans hold different feelings towards the same city, or the same space, is because of their different experiences in it.
In conclusion, the photo essay should be considered a memoir because of the sentimental characteristics it has. The experience of the trip to Chinatown still has profound influences on my lifestyle and attitudes currently. That visit and the meditation on it can also be easily related to Tuan’s idea on space and place that we have learned so far in this semester.
Works Cited
Tuan, Yi-Fu. “The Perspective of Experience.” Space and Place. 3-18. Print.