Comparison and contrast of works of art.

Question 1: No-No Boy and Zoot Suit.

The similarity of the two works of art is the allusion of crime. The two works of art talk about crime and discrimination of people in the society. In Zoot Suit, people had dress codes to set them apart while in No-No Boy, they identified themselves with their origins. The kind of disparity in the society is a common theme in both works of art and still relates to date. Historically, both works of art are set at a period of time when political, social and industrial revolution was in motion. It is during this period that most cases of discrimination, violence and mass displacement of people from their homes was common due to the instability the society was experiencing. In both works of art, the law and society seem to have accepted the discrimination as there are no visible efforts to reverse the same. For instance, the mother to Ichiro in, “No-No Boy,” keeps hoping that she will go back to Japan one day, the sense of belonging clearly lacks in her while she is in America. She eventually commits suicide as the occurrences of the society overwhelm her. She makes her husband turn to alcohol as he cannot deal with her.  These events in the home are just another part of the society. The way the homes break and the children born in the home are left with no home. Ichiro and his brother most definitely end up living in a house that is not a home. The film, “Zoot Suit,” had no indication of sexuality but the strength of the women in the society was strong. The women especially the mothers have for a long time been supportive of the men, their husbands and sons as well. The women hold the society together all the time. The law is upheld and in some cases the law is what the society wants to believe is right. The society is given the mandate of setting the norms to be upheld. The film shows the presents of the courts of law during the times and the presence of gangs as well. This meant that the society had the law and the law breakers active in the same environment. The film and the novel both give insight into what life is like where the people are not home. The subject of sexuality is not very well established in these two pieces of art. The two works of art relate in history and the theme is the disparity of cultures. The characters that have been used execute their purposes effectively.

Question 2. : Leonard Peltier- Prison Writings and Eat a Bowl of Tea- Wayne Wang.

The two works of art are similar in many ways. First and forth, the people in the book are of mixed nationalities. “Eat a Bowl of Tea,” has Chinese-Americans while the “Prison Writings,” has American-Indians. The setting of the two works of art is historical. The immigrants who ended up in America as slaves did it in order to get jobs and support their families. The distinction is that the people from china could not bring their wives to America while those from Indian nothing is said about them and their women. In America, the people who are not natives are discriminated, from the history gathered in these works. In the, “Prison Writings,” Peltier writes about the imprisonment and the suffering experienced in his quest for justice for the FBI agents who were killed. This is a theme that is not present in, “Eat a Bowl of Tea.” The theme in “Eat a Bowl of Tea,” is different because it is centered on the purity of the Chinese men. The men in china had been celibate because of the issue of their women being restricted exit from china. When the first chance of people to bring women to America from China came, the test was failed. The first man to be allowed to bring a woman to China was under so much pressure that he could not make his wife pregnant. The result was the woman turning to infidelity. This tainted the image the people of China living in America had of their wives coming over to America. History was challenged in this incident because the people obviously opted to marry American wives for fear of having Chinese women engaging in infidelity. The theme of sexuality is thus well represented in the novel, “Eat a Bowl of Tea.” The suffering that Peltier goes through in prison signifies the impact the law has. The law does not protect the prisoners yet it puts them in prison for breaking the law. They are treated in ways that are not humane. The chains and the beatings by the warders to the prisoners is serious violation of the human rights. Given the time in which the story was written, human rights were not a common thing. They only applied to the high society and anybody who defied them ended up in the shoes of the prisoner or the two dead FBI agents. The two films, however, relate in showing the kind of place America was and still is for foreigners. The history and the law relate and the changes that have been realized since then are relative.

Works cited.

Wang, Wayne, Eat a Bowl of Tea, 1961.

Okada, John, No-No Boy, 1957.

Peltier, Leonard, Prison Writing, 2000.

Valdez, Luis, Zoot Suit, 1981.