Post #5 Form A

Vocab (all definitions found at http://www.dictionary.com/)
Hara-kiri (76): also called seppuku (せっぷく). ceremonial suicide by ripping open the abdomen with a dagger or knife: formerly practiced in Japan by members of the warrior class when disgraced or sentenced to death.
dilettante (82): a person who takes up an are, activity, or subject merely for amusement.
Appeals
"To try to reassert his superiority, he added: 'Now, have you read Madame Bovary? That's my all-time favorite. I consider it the greatest of Maupassant's works.'
My mother had read Madame Bovary-and she knew it was by Flaubert, not Maupassant. This vain sally put her off Liu in a big way, but she refrained form confronting hm there and then-to do so would have been considered 'shrewish'." (82)
This is an emotional appeal. It appeals to me emotionally because it is humorous and I always love books that have a good dose of humor to them. Though it contains humor it also goes back to the point that there is a proper way to behave, especially for women, during the last part of the quote.
On page 102 Jung writes about a incident when her mother was arrested. Her mother was blindfolded and propped up against a wall next to another prisoner. That prisoner was shot. This was supposed to frighten Jung's mother into writing a confession to being communist but it only fueled her passionate rage against the Kuomintang. This is an emotional appeal because it gives you the feeling of respect for Jung's mother.
"Inflation had risen to the unimaginable figure of just over 100,000 percent by the end of 1947-and it was to go to 2,870,000 percent by the end of 1948 in the Kuomintang areas. The price of sorghum, the main grain available, increased seventyfold overnight in Jinzhou." (107)
This is a logical appeal because it gives hard facts in order to reach and stir emotions in the reader instead of heart bending experiences.
Quote
"All over Jinzhou Japanese were committing suicide or being lynched. Japanese houses were looted and my mother noticed that one of her poor neighbors suddenly had quite a lot of valuable items for sale." (76)
When the Japanese lost control of Manchuria they either killed themselves or were the object of revenge by the people of Manchuria. This was a time of quite a bit of chaos in Manchukuo.
Theme
Again the theme of this book goes back to women's rights or lack there of and suppression. But it also is starting to form the themes of doing what you believe is right no and to protect those close to you no matter what the cost.