Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Week 5 Discussion Question

Hazel is worried about Sogoji being discovered and wants to come up with a plan. Sogoji tells Hazel, "If they find, they find. It is shikatoganai." He explains it to mean that, "Something must happen. Can't be helped." How is Sogoji so calm about his current situation when Hazel is not? Do you believe Sogoji's thinking to be true? Are there some things that can't be helped? How can you apply this to Jed 'missing in action?'

Please use a RAD response and check your conventions before you publish. Remember to explain your thinking and type it in your blogging doc first!

13 comments:

  1. Sogoji is so calm about the situation because he knows that either way, he is going to be with people who will accept him. I also think that he thinks that nature should take it’s course, and that humans should go along with it. I do not think Sogoji’s thinking is correct. I believe that humans should run the nature, not the other way around. There are things that cannot be helped, but we can help more than we might think. We can apply this to Jed’s “Missing Action” by thinking: Jed’s capture/murder was not to be stopped, but he knew the risks when he got drafted/signed up. He was a great person, and he is kind to most people.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ethan, I agree with you in response to applying the idea that "there are some things that can't be helped" to Jed missing in action. Part of the reason why everyone was so sad to see Jed go off to war was because of the reality that in war some soldiers never return. People die fighting for their country or get injured in wars - it is a terrible thing but it is what happens and Jed knew this when he signed up. Jed could be an amazing soldier, most-loved son, and kind friend but the Japanese fighters will only see him as the enemy. There is nothing that Hazel, Estelle or Jed's family can do to find him or bring him home or know for sure if he is dead or alive.

      Delete
    2. @Ethan
      I think that there are some things that can't be helped, but there are some things that can be helped. In this book there were a lot of things that could be helped, like in horror movies when the person is about to go into a room and you think to yourself,"No, stay away from the room!!!!" That could have happened a lot in the book.
      Great description but I think that Sogoji is thinking right, because he is part Jap and he is in America without the government knowing.

      Delete
  2. In these last few chapters, Sogoji and Hazel realize that Sogoji could be found, and that they should protect him a little bit more than they have been. When Sogoji tells Hazel that if he is found, there is nothing else they can do than let him be taken away. Hazel freaks out when she hears this because she is really scared that Sogoji will be taken away. Hazel also doesn't get why Sogoji is so calm about this. He knows he could be taken away from The Lanski’s and Hazel. Sogoji is probably trying to stay positive that he won’t be taken away. The more he thinks about him being taken away, the less time he has to enjoy his life with Hazel. I think that inside, Sogoji is probably really scared about leaving. He just has to turn the other cheek, and stay strong. I think that Sogoji’s thinking is true, because there isn't really anything they can do for keeping Sogoji with them. If he gets taken away, they can’t really protest about him staying. No Japs are supposed to be in America without the government knowing. Sogoji and Hazel are just hoping that Sogoji can stay. Nobody found out about Sogoji for a long time. They just have to keep on moving forward until there is nothing else to go forward to. For lots of things, they just can’t be helped. In this case, Sogoji and Hazel would have had to plan something really fast and do it really fast to save Sogoji from being taken away. But they didn't. They just hoped that nothing would happen. When Hazel, Hazel’s mom, and The Lanski’s found out that Jed was “missing in action”, they probably thought that he was done for. Again, they just hoped that somebody would find him and he would be safe. There really is nothing that logically they can do. I think Hazel and her family just kind of took it in. “ Jed is missing in action.” That’s all there really is to it. Jed is missing and there's nothing they can do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Caroline, I think you really summarized why Sogoji is so calm in such a difficult time. He has spent most of his life in hiding and he has had to fend for himself at such a young age. He has had to grow up very fast. Hazel, on the other hand, has had a very typical and sheltered American childhood.

      Delete
  3. Why I think Sogoji is so calm in this situation is because he knows that Jed may never come back. Sogoji has been with Jed for most of his life, he is life his brother or father, what if he never comes back? He would be with a person who doesn’t love him anymore and a normal farmer, I don’t think he wants to take the chances. So why wait? When Hazel brought over the apple pie he even said that he wasn’t appreciated by Mrs.Lanski anymore. I would want to leave if someone who loved me my whole life all of the sudden didn’t because something happened that didn’t even involve me. So, if I were him, I would be doing the same. Rolling with the punches, and knowing that in life everything happens for a reason.
    Hazel is not so calm because she hasn't lived a life that he has lived. He hasn’t had real parents for like five years, Hazel has two parents who love her more then anything. She has a sister and a brother. That is very fortunate. So, that is why Hazel is so sad this is happening. Sogoji wants to start a better chapter in his life, and Hazel doesn’t.
    I think that Sogoji is thinking true because there is always a chance that someone will find what you are hiding. Maybe he was expecting that this would happen because no Japs are allowed without the government knowing. I think he could have known this was coming, that he would be found.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sutton, you nailed it when you noticed how Mrs. Lanski's affection toward Sogoji changed the moment she heard that Jed was missing in action. That must have been so hard for him but I agree that it seems as though he just accepts it, like he knew it would happen all along.

      Delete
    2. @Mrs. M
      Thank you so much for the nice comment!

      Delete

  4. How Sogoji is calm in the situation when Hazel is not is because Sogoji knew that this would happen some day so he is calm. I know this because Sogoji has been hiding all his life knowing that he would be caught. Hazel never was hiding from people so she never had to be calm. Sogoji has to be calm because if he was freaking out he would be easily caught. Also, Sogoji has been through a lot of hard stuff in his life and has always been calm. I do not think that Sogoji's thinking is true. I think this because he is in a tough situation right now so all the things he says might not be true. All things he says might not be true because he just wants to get things over with so when he says when they find they find he just wants to leave and go somewhere else. There are some things that can be helped. I know this because Sogoji has never been helped so he thinks that some things can’t be helped. How this relates to Jed’s missing action is his capture was not stopped so they could not help Jed which relates to Sogoji.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jack, I agree that it would probably be hard for Sogoji to muster the strength and courage to fight being taken away at this point. He has had such a hard life losing both his parents and now Mrs. Lanski, who has been his ally up to this point, has now turned on him, too. I think he is tired, scared, and young. Thankfully there are examples of individuals who find the courage to fight unjust situations like this in history - who don't just accept the idea that there are things that can't be helped - like Rosa Parks or Anne Frank.

      Delete
  5. The first question is “How is Sogoji so calm about the situation when Hazel is not?” I think that Hazel is so worried about Sogoji and cares so much about him that if anything happened to him she would probably think it was her fault to begin with. Sogoji doesn’t really care because he thinks that he is strong and awesome like his father was. He is more calm with the situation because he is a jap and he is strong he can take care of himself and he doesn’t need anybody to watch over him when something is going to hurt him he knows what to do!!!!!



    The second question is “ Do you believe Sogoji’s thinking to be true.” Yes because he is a smart little boy and he can probably know a lot because he gets what is going on and sooner or later he will find out. He knows where to find and what to do in a situation that he needs to hide in. He knows a lot about almost anything and I think that his thinking is true.





    The third question is “Are there some things that can’t be helped?” I think so because Mrs. L after her son went missing in action she thought it was all of the japs fault so she just had to tell on Sogoji and out in jail. This makes sense because she was upset because the japs had lost her son and she knew that Sogoji was one of them and she had to make him go to jail. She felt bad but she couldn’t help it.





    The fourth question “How can you apply this to Jed ‘missing in action?’ This can apply to Jed missing in action because maybe Sogoji called his friends and asked them to take Jed somewhere so that Jed could get lost but Sogoji wanted to go to jail so he got in jail and he got what he wanted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ava, I completely agree that in the case of Mrs. L - she just couldn't help turning Sogoji in. It was like her grief over probably losing Jed took over her. She had just barely accepted that he had gone to war publically when she got the news that he was missing. It is hard to believe that she never really saw him as an individual, as a friend, but rather as an example of his nationality. Hazel, on the other hand, knows and loves Sogoji as a friend. She shows this when she helps him think of a plan to hide in the stream and when she goes to visit him in the jail.

      Delete
  6. Jack, I love how you explain like you are in Sogoji's shoes and you know how he feels being able to hide and run. He probably was freaking out at that moment. This is a good little summary about the chapters that we read. I totally agree and it is very strong!

    ReplyDelete