Ambiguity of belonging - CL und GT PDF

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RELIGION CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER

GRAN TORINO

-Ina Ott is highly religious

-Dorothy wants Walt to go to confession

l she prays every night for Larry that he will find a “special friend”

-Walts rejection of the hypocrisy of the church

-Larry wants to continue to go to his mothers church l connection to his mother, loyalty -the church is the place where Wallace sees Larry for the first time -churches are mostly segregated in Silass and Larrys youth

-the Hmong shaman is the first one who senses Walts troubled soul -first Walt has no emotional connection to Christianity, but he develops a close relationship to Father Janovich -Father Janovich develops from a rather shallow, meaningless sermon to a man who learns about life and death through Walt s example -Walts Christlike self-sacrifice

GENDER CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER -Larry is seen as girlish, soft, weak, not many enough by his father and his peers

GRAN TORINO -Walts stereotypical masculinity

l Larry cannot live up to his fathers standards/ expectations of manliness

l drinks beer, language, former soldier, solves conflicts with violence, guns, cars, handyman, does not want to show any weaknesses, hides his illness

-Larrys “girlishness” and his lack of interest in sports make him an outsider

-Thaos masculinity is questioned by his family and peers l he is seen as feminine, weak, submissive

l he rather reads books than playing baseball

-Walt becomes a male role model for Thao

l Larrys date with Cindy makes him interesting to the other boys for the first time -sexual crime against women (Cindy Walker, Tina Rutherford), Wallace Stringfellows misogynist attitude towards women

-Walts aim: “manning up Thao” l acquire basic handyman skills, get a job, learn how to talk and act like a real man, ask a girl out -traditional gender roles in Hmong culture l patriarchy, men as leaders who should be strong and in control l women whose primary roles are childbearing and household chores, who should be submissive and obedient towards their husbands/ fathers/ brothers -difficult for Hmong boys to find their place in society l Thaos insecurity, gang violence

ETHNICITY CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER

GRAN TORINO

-setting: Mississippi in the late 1970s (Sout h)

-Walt feels alienated from his neighborhood

-Larry and Silas go to a racially integrated school

l he used to be surrounded by white people who shared his values, but now he lives in a Hmong dominated neighborhood

-racism is still part of everyday life -African American Alice as maid of the white Ott family

-Walts prejudices, racism and intolerance

-Alice as a single mother l poverty

l fed by his past as a soldier in the Korean War

-Silass feeling of being disadvantaged/ inferior

l he had to learn to have a low opinion of Asians in order to justify the atrocities

-Larrs racism as means to belong to a group of white boys and as reaction to humi liation and bullying l “Monkey Lips” incident -mixed-race relationship between Silas and Cindy still undesirable -Larry and Silas have to keep their friendship secret -Larry calls Silas a “nigger” which ends the friendship between them l connection with inferiority, humiliation, getting the upper hand

l calls his neighbors “gooks”, “swap rats”, “zipperheads” -Thao is a Hmong American who is torn between the traditional Hmong culture and the modern American way of life -Sue knows Hmong customs well and is proud of her heritage, but she is also perfectly at home in American society an d well-integrated -gangs seem to provide orientation for alienated male teenagers (Hispanics, African American, Hmong)

FAMILY CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER

GRAN TORINO

-Alice works hard to provide Silas with better chances in life

-generation conflict in the Hmong family: different degrees of integration/ assimilation

-Silas is dissatisfied with his poor and fatherless upbringing and his mothers seeming servility to white people

-generation conflict in Wals family: conservatism and traditional values against materialism and “spoilt youth”

-Silas also feels guilty for not being a good son and “lacking something” in his mothers eyes

-Walt and his sons never had a close relationship

-Silas is Carl Ott s illegitimate child

l feelings like greed, disappointment, lack of understanding and intere st

-Silas suffers from the absence of a father figure

-family does not need to be defined by blood ties

-Larrys character is shaped by the presence of a dominating and cruel father

l Walt realizes that he has more in common with the Hmongs than with his own family, they become his substitute family

l Carl openly shows his contempt for Larry, he is disappointed in him and wants him to be different -Larrys lifelong loyalty to his parents l he becomes a mechanic like his fat her, he lo oks after his parents house and his mothers chickens, he regularly visits his mother in care home

l he becomes close friends with Sue and Thao

PEER GROUP CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER -as a child, Larry is excluded as an outsider/ misfit l not accepted by other boys, victim of school bullying l his desperate attempts to fit in, fail -friendship with Silas on unequal footing l Silas is socially “inferior” due to his ethnicity, but he is more self-confident and popular in scho ol

GRAN TORINO -Thao does not have friends among the other Hmong teenagers l due to his more female appearance, behavior (polite, respectful) and interests (reading, gardening) he is different than the other male Hmongs -wrong image of loyalty as propagated by the gangs

-unusual interracial friendship

CLASS CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER -Larry is born into a well-of middle-class family l possession of land, house/ farm, the family is respected in the community, Carl as an own garage -as a child, Silas lives in poverty l single mother Alice has two jobs, they live on the fringes of society in an old cabin on the Otts land

GRAN TORINO -setting: impoverished neighborhood in Detroit whose automobile industry was one flourishing -Walts well-kept house stands out in comparison to the houses of the Hmong neighbors which are out of shape -Walts blue-collar mentality

l he is jealous of everything Larry has

l he worked in the car industry for almost 30 years, he is proud of his Gran Torino and his handyman skills, patriotic

-as an adult, Larry is a social outcast who is ostracized by the townspeople

-Walt is contemptuous of his son Mitch and his middle-class existence (he sells foreign cars/ Toyotas)

l high school dropout, only few customers, he has to sell land

-Thao doesnt have an idea what to do with his future

-Silas is aware of this inequality

-Silas turns into a well-respected member of the community l his success in baseball offered him the chance to go to college, he becomes a member of Chabots police force -“White Trash avenue”: Wallace Stringfellow, Irina are typical representatives of a white “underclass” -Walker family: lower class, dysfunctional family l Cindy wants to escape from Chabot together with Silas l Silas prioritizes his baseball career and tries to forget about Cindys disappearance

l Walt tutors him and helps him get a job in construction -gang violence as a result of disorientation, hopelessness and lack of future prospects

HOME CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER

GRAN TORINO

-Larrys and Silass local area/ home: Chabot, Amos, Fulsom

-Walt still lives in his neighborhood although he feels alienated there

-Silas moves from Chicago to Chabot at the age of 13

l his former white neighbors moved away or died, now he is surrounded by Asian immigrants

l first, he feels uprooted and lonely, but soon he becomes a popular student

-Mitch and Karen urge Walt to move into a nursing home

l the baseball team becomes his new home

-Walt wants to stay in his house

-Silas returns to Chabot after college

l connection to Dorothy/ to seemingly well-ordered past, he is trying to remain in control

-Larry comes back to Chabot after working in the army despite being an outsider and having no customers -they both have a deep-rooted connection to their home

-Walt and Thao grow closer l they help each other and renovate houses in the neighborhood

l family loyalty, unfinished business

VIOLENCE CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER -Larrys experiences with crime: victim of school bullying, abusive father, accused of violent sexually motivated crime against Cindy Walker, almost killed by Wallace Stringfellow -Carl Otts rifle marks the beginning and end of Larrys and Silas friendship -Carl Otts rifle gives Larry a feeling of selfconfidence, strength and masculinity -gun ownership is connected to masculinity, power, having a father figure

GRAN TORINO -Walt is a war veteran l he killed at least 13 people in the Korean War -escalation of violence: insults, threats, physical violence l Smokie burning Thao with a cigarette, Walt beating up Smokie, gun attack/ drive-by shooting and Sues rape, Walt provoking the gang into shooting him dead -Walt probably suffers from PTSD

l attractive to the young Larry and Silas

l distanced relationship with fellow men, emotional numbness, bitterness, recurring feelings of guilt

-in their adult life, both men are rather suspicious of guns

-Walt is used to solve problems with violence l he uses his guns for self-defense and defending Sue/ Thao l he takes the action into his own hands instead of calling the police -ending of the conflict: Walts redemption and selfsacrifice l he is unarmed

GUILT AND REDEMTION CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER -Larry calling Silas a “nigger” as the reason for the end of their friendship l pretext for Silas not to tell the truth -apparently obvious guilt: Larry and his alleged crime -hidden guilt: Silas cowardice

GRAN TORINO -Walts bitterness l he feels guilt for not having a close relationship to his sons and for killing people in the Korean War -he is haunted by his guilt and burdened by the past

-Wallace is guilty: he tries to kill Larry

-Walt also blames himself for the escalation of violence in his neighborhood

l Larry realizes that Wallace has done something wrong, but he still wants to help him

-Walt feels “soiled”

-Silass attempts at making up for past mistakes

l he does not want Thao to suffer from this vicious cycle of violence, too

l feeding the chickens, visiting Ms Ott, finally telling the truth

-Walts act of self-sacrifice

l he wants to atone for letting Larry suffer all the years, reconciliation -open question: is forgiveness possible after years of lies?

l he redeems his former sins and saves Sue and Thao from further violence...