Reading Questions for The New Bedford Samurai

Due 22 February 2016

Please your answers to the questions below AND five questions of your own (to ask in class after the guest lecture). Remember to tie your questions to SPECIFIC pages in the novel and be prepared to talk about this material in class on Monday.  

Creating Reading Questions:

• ·         GENRE:
• How does the genre shape the narrative? How does it compare to other genres we've read?

The genre shapes the narrative because nonfiction is a true story. The narrative is connected events in the story. This nonfiction story is connected by the map of the earth, and the cultures that inhabit the earth.

• Can a nonfiction novel have a hero?  

Yes I believe it can have a hero. I believe the story that is being told about this person’s life is displaying how they are a hero in their own unique way

• ·         CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:
• How is the character of Manjiro Nakahama developed? What imagery does the author use?  

• How does Manjiro’s experience of encountering the West allow the Western reader to see our world with new eyes?

We can see the West from a new perspective through Manjiro’s eyes. We see a foreigner that has never seen American soil before. We take all the opinions and expectations of what the West is supposed to look like, and we specify that into small details. We also get a view from someone that does not necessarily care or know the history of America, therefore, he looks at the present and does not consider the past. This is a different view from the way that we view things today. We put our own input in them and our own ideas to shape something into the way we want to see it.

• ·         NATURE:
• How does Nature become a part of the heroic narrative?  

Being a hero ties into being a part of nature because we must live here to be able to have heroes. Even people that are working every day to make this earth a better place for living. That is a true hero. Doing things that others are too lazy or too afraid to do.

• How does Manjiro Nakahama's map emphasize his global experiences?

This map emphasizes the challenging places that he had to endure. He must trust people that he had never even seen before. These people were nowhere close to what he had seen in Japan. I believe that Japan is last because he took all of the experiences that he had and combined them to form his ow outlook on life and other countries. His outlook was no longer shaped by the Japanese culture and he could think independently now that he experienced all these culures.

I feel inspired to join the Nature Conservancy because Dr. Vlasopolos shows us that what we do matters in this world. That is why this book was written. We see how this person changed our world, and we see the impact he made. We as citizens could do that by doing things to help improve our present earth.

• How does Manjiro’s map here resemble his journey in the novel?

This resembles Manjiro’s life because it shows the different cultures that he was made to face because of the unfortunate tragedy that happened. He was taught to adjust to these cultures when he had never seen people like this in his life. He later learned to appreciate and even adopt new practices throughout his experience.