Questioning the Text--Confessions of a Closet Catholic, by Sarah Darer Littman

During her search for identity, Justine, the protagonist in the book Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Darer Littman, makes a few generalizations about Catholic families versus her own Jewish family, which leads me to ask the question: does the dynamic between Mrs. McAllister (the Catholic mother of Justine's friend) and Mrs. Silver, Justine’s mom, solidify the stereotype that Jewish women of today are spoiled and love to show off their wealth?

First, let's take a look at the indications of how Mrs. Silver shows off her wealth. She constantly redecorates and designs her house in accordance with two decorators, Armando and Marcel. Her house is filled with designer furniture and up to date on the latest décor, from what Justine describes. Mrs. Silver also takes great joy in showing off her house, for example when she presents her walk-in closet to Mrs. Weinstein. Why else would Mrs. Silver show off her closet other than to fish for an awestruck comment from another person? She obviously loves to show off what she has which holds status in society and is considered a luxury that not many people have. In this case, it is a walk-in closet.

Littman also portrays Mrs. Silver as being spoiled. When she doesn’t get anything her way, she throws a tantrum and anybody who is involved gets an undeserved earful. For example, when she screams into the phone at the pest-removal service for not answering her phone calls "anytime, anywhere" then promptly slams down the phone. Justine refers to this as “the Wrath of Mom.” Also, Justine claims that her mom got mad at her dad, not for spilling coffee all over himself, but for getting some on the new upholstered chair. What is ironic is that Mrs. Silver is given the money to buy things, such as reupholstering chairs and the hiring decorators, from Mr. Silver's salary.

Mrs. Silver also follows the stereotype by being very superficial. She obviously cares very much about the look of her house much more than the things that happen in it. Justine becomes extremely preoccupied with keeping the house clean in order to please her mother. She even complains that “I’m mad at Mom for caring more about the carpets than about her children.” The ultimate show of Mrs. Silver’s superficiality is when instead of being furious that Justine has been practicing Communion behind her back, she is raging about Justine attracting mice into her house.

The reason why I am asking this question is because I feel that this book involves maintaining the stereotypes we have while possibly generating others by making assumptions based on the way Mrs. Silver acts in comparison to Mrs. McAllister. It really becomes apparent that we need to discuss stereotypes in relation to this book. Hopefully Littman’s book can help break stereotypes instead of formulating them.

Linda Sue Park and Korean Culture

As I was reading Linda Sue Park’s book, Project Mulberry, several aspects of the writing caught my attention. I was brought back to a time when I read A Single Shard, another book written by Linda Sue Park and the similarities between the two became easily recognizable. In both books, there is a strong emphasis on the traditional characteristics of the Korean culture. It became evident that Linda Sue Park knows very much about what she writes. As it turns out, she is Korean herself and, although she was born in Illinois, she is the daughter of Korean immigrants and an insider. In an interview, she mentions that her parents, strong believers or racial equality, brought her up using many traditional Korean ways. One tradition predominantly present in both books is the aspect of food. She uses many examples of historical Korean foods and eating traditions in her books. Do you think because she came from a Korean family, she also associates food with continuing the traditions of Korean culture in the US?