A Step From Heaven Theme

A Pace from Heaven

past An Na

publisher and date: Forepart Street, 2002
genre: realistic fiction
age/grade: immature developed

Synopsis (from www.bn.com)
2001 National Book Award Nominee
When she is five, Young Ju Park and her family move from Korea to California. During the flight, they climb so far into the heaven she concludes they are on their way to Sky, that Heaven must be in America. Heaven is as well where her grandfather is. When she learns the distinction, she is so disappointed she wants to go abode to her grandmother. Trying to console his niece, Uncle Tim suggests that peradventure America tin exist "a stride from Heaven." Life in America, however, presents issues for Immature Ju's family. Her father becomes depressed, angry, and violent. Jobs are scarce and money is even scarcer. When her blood brother is born, Young Ju experiences firsthand her father's sexism as he confers favored status upon the male child who volition continue to carry the Park name. In a wrenching climactic scene, her male parent beats her mother and so severely that Young Ju calls the police. Soon afterwards, her male parent goes away and the family begins to heal.

Writer's Perspective: An Na has an insider's perspective. She was born in Korea, just like Young Ju in the volume, and so grew up in San Diego. She now lives role fourth dimension in Warren, Vermont.

In An Na'southward words from the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Plan Website:

A Pace from Sky grew from a need to express some of the longings and frustrations that I felt every bit an immigrant growing upwardly in America. Many people ask me if this novel is autobiographical and I always answer by maxim yes and no. As with all writing, the novel draws on by emotions, only the story is not my life. What the protagonist and I do share are some of the feelings of yearning, joy, and shame that come with trying to negotiate a foreign culture.

Literary Elements:

Character – The characters were compelling. We follow Young Ju from a five year old to a young adult. We run across her grapple with diverse bug and also grow and get strong and independent by the end of the story.

Theme – There are 2 overlapping themes in this story. One theme is that of a family struggling to hold onto a culture while too becoming part of a new culture. The other theme is that of domestic abuse.

Tone and Style– When Young Ju arrives in America, we really hear and experience it just as she does. The language is drawn out into almost unrecognizable syllables, equally if nosotros were hearing it with Young Ju's ears.

Curriculum Connections:

Make a time line – This story follows Young Ju over many years and of import events. Readers could brand a fourth dimension line documenting these events.

Research Getting Inside the Author's Caput – (From TeacherVision) A Step from Sky is semi-autobiographical. Ask students to research the author's life and find parallels between An Na and Young Ju. They should then report where they found similarities and where they constitute differences. Discuss why the author might have chosen to include or modify sure aspects of her life

Immigration Unit of measurement – Use as part of an immigration unit. Compare Young Ju'south feel with that of a graphic symbol in another volume.

Word Guide

Spider web Resources:

Interview with An Na
Information about Korea
Appreciating America'southward Heritage – Immigration Resource Guide for K-12 Educators (2007)

Reviews:

Publishers Weekly (from www.bn.com)

In her mesmerizing showtime novel, Na traces the life of Korean-born Young Ju from the age of iv through her teenage years, wrapping up her story but a few weeks before she leaves for college. The journey Na chronicles, in Young'south graceful and resonant voice, is an acculturation process that is at times wrenching, at times triumphant and consistently arresting. Told almost like a memoir, the narrative unfolds through jewel-like moments carefully strung together. As the volume opens, Young's parents are preparing to move from Korea to "Mi Gook," America, where the residents all "live in large houses." Soaring through the sky on her start airplane ride, the child believes she is on her fashion to heaven, where she hopes to meet up with her deceased granddaddy and eventually be reunited with her honey grandmother, who has stayed behind. Subsequently the family'south arrival, Young's American uncle dispels the notion that the United states is heaven, yet adds, "Let us say information technology is a step from heaven." It doesn't have the girl or her parents very long to realize how steep this pace is. From her first sip of Coca-Cola, which "bites the inside of my oral fissure and pharynx similar swallowing tiny fish bones," Young's new life catches her in a tug-of-war between two distinct cultures. When her brother is born, her male parent announces "Someday my son volition make me proud," then disdainfully dismisses Immature's assertion that she might grow upward to exist president ("You lot are a girl"). Although she learns English language in school, Young must speak only Korean at home and is discouraged from spending time with the classmate who is her sole friend. Her male parent, a disillusioned, cleaved man, becomes increasingly physically and emotionally calumniating to his children and wife as he descends further into alcoholism. In fluid, lyrical language, Na convincingly conveys the growing maturity of her perceptive narrator who initially (and seamlessly) laces her tale with Korean words, their meaning evident from the context. And past its conclusion, readers can see a strong, beauteous young woman with a futurity total of promise. As vivid are the prospects of this author; readers will eagerly look her next stride. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Schoolhouse Library Journal (from world wide web.amazon.com)

Grade 8 Up-An Na'due south 2002 Printz winning novel (Forepart St., 2001) is brought to total result in this reading by Jina Oh. Immature Ju emigrates from Korea with her parents when she is iv. A few months later, they live in a shabby apartment in Southern California, their family unit expanded to include a newborn baby boy. The parents work long hours at multiple jobs, and Immature Ju struggles first to understand what is going on in school so to be permitted to participate in typically American schoolgirl activities. The pressures of immigration, language difficulties, and oppositional cultural expectations lead Young Ju'southward father to become a bitter and often drunk homo, physically abusive of his wife and, somewhen, his daughter. The stresses of the disintegrating family work on each of its members, sending Immature Ju'south mother into a religious foray and her brother into middle school truancy. By the time Young Ju is ready to leave for higher, her father has returned to Korea and her mother has been able to establish the family in their own American domicile. Each of the chapters in this emotionally succinct novel might be read as a short story, although the plot-the acclimation of 1 young girl to a new culture and to her own family-is steady and at times suspenseful. Young Ju'southward narrative vocalization matures as she does: in early childhood, she is unclear about identity and identify, afterwards she becomes impatient with the limitations placed on her past both culture and her ain understanding of what is needed, and at last she matures to a young adult female who tin appreciate the fact that individuals must admit to their strengths and weaknesses in lodge to savor life'southward possibilities. The language is rich, studded with Korean words made intelligible both by context and the reader'southward easy pronunciation. Tunes are sung gently and well, and there is dramatic differentiation fabricated among the cast of characters, making this audio version an enrichment of an already superb text.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA

A Step From Heaven Theme,

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