In the beginning of the novel, on page 21, the narrator tells us, "When it came to their families they could only draw half conclusions, make half inferences, for fear of the real things that lay there." Because we are told this so early in the novel it is easier for us to accept the fact that Tuyen and Carla never really share any details about their troubling brothers. Tuyen, who has two brothers, Binh and Quy, struggles with both; Binh because he wants to help the family by going to Vietnam to find Quy, their other missing brother. Tuyen does not understand what he is trying to do by finding Quy, because she believes if he wanted to come home and find their family he would. Binh ends up succeeding in finding their lost brother and bringing him back to Toronto with him. Carla, on the other hand, has a brother who refused to grow up the way she did. Jamal would rather live on the streets with the guys than go to school and deal with parents at home. Jamal, as we learn, is in trouble all the time and Carla is always the one that has to bail him out. This last time he is in big trouble and Carla has a hard time dealing with this. Neither Tuyen nor Carla share their troubling thoughts with each other in too much detail. They keep their family boundaries strong throughout the novel, until the second to last page of the novel. At this point Jamal is out of jail and Quy is awaiting to reacquaint himself with his parents. On page 317 we read that, "they circle him once, twice. And Jamal wants to take this one, so he gets out and gives his friend the wheel of the Audi." By "this one" he means the BMW that Quy is sitting in in front of their house at Richmond Hill. Jamal then beats Quy and steals the BMW from in front of Tuyen's house. At this point there is a major collision of boundaries. Leaving the novel with this ending makes you think of what will happen next. I can only imagine that Tuyen and Carla have a hard time keeping a friendship since both of their secret from each other have now overlapped. Poor Carla, all she wants to do is have her brother out of trouble and to deal with her own life, and she now he is hijacking Binh's car.

Chapter one of What We All Long For is definitely a re-read once you finish the book. It feels like that whole chapter is dedicated to setting the tone and the characters – even though you may not realize it. It introduces us to Carla, Tuyen and Oku – only we don’t know who they are yet. And the people who are on the subway with them don’t know them and they don’t really care that they don’t know them. However, the other passengers overhear the conversation the three are having about Oku being in love with Jackie. On page 3 we find “…that conversation has entered everyone’s heads, and will follow them to work; they’ll be trying to figure out the rest of the story all day.” How significant that is to know up front as well as the end – once you realize you don’t get any answers there either. People who don’t know them are looking for answers – a way to figure out and give meaning to their own lives via someone else’s experiences. These people feel that answers must be found in places other than themselves. And yet – we find in the end that no one else holds the answers for anyone else. On page 4 we see that “They think they’re safe, but they know they’re not.” It seems that so many people – so many different people are outwardly trying to figure out who they are while on the inside they struggle and wrestle with ever unanswered questions. On page 5 we see that “it’s impossible to tell one thread from another.” It seems that lives, fears, all the questions and concerns are all the same for everyone. Everyone in this whole city is trying to figure out “what we all long for.” And they’re all looking to the people around them for the answer.

Throughout reading this novel, I was thoroughly intrigued by the character Toronto plays, and how pertinent of a boundary it was to each of the characters. “Jackie’s father had the kind of sense that mattered – street sense. That’s the kind of intelligence that was worth something. Here in Toronto he’d come to a feeling that it wasn’t worth passing on. It was good enough for him and Jackie’s mother. He figured they were country, they were from down home, but Jackie was going to be from here” (Brand, p. 182).
Upon reading this, it is clear to see the boundary that exists around Toronto. To Jackie’s father, there exists a sense of intelligence and success past those boundaries. The line is a little more blurred for Jackie, but still there, because it has been made for her. To say that you are from Toronto, is to say that you are something special or extraordinary. Crossing that boundary requires and exquisiteness that lacks existence anywhere else.
I particularly enjoyed Sarah’s questions on what Carla and Tuyen’s relationship would look like if the book continued. She was right in identifying that their boundaries had crossed, and things no longer can be the same. Boundaries are set for a reason. In this case, the reason has seemed to be to keep unwanted perceptions, feelings, and judgments of others out. In this sense, Sarah’s probably right in assuming they would have a difficult time being friends. It seems as if practically all of the friendship was developed around protecting those boundaries. In having a friend like the other…they felt normal, one in the same. However, without the boundaries in place, it is likely their friendship will crumble.
Additionally, Kristie clearly acknowledged the circling boundaries between all of the characters. Perhaps it is the existence of boundaries between one another that keep each of the characters from discovering what they really “long for.” It is the boundaries that keep them from getting too close to one another. We discussed in class that there was a possibility of “purpose” being “what we all long for.” If all the boundaries between the characters melt, would they have a “purpose?” On the other hand, maybe it is the boundaries that maintain a sense of “longing.” If each of us longed for nothing…perhaps there would be no boundary between us.

"He wanted to play her Orenette Coleman's "Embraceable You." He wanted to play her Coltrane's "Venus," Monk's "I Surrender, Dear" and "Don’t Blame Me." So he did. He called her and left them all on her answering machine. One every other day. He said nothing in case he put his foot in his mouth again. She would know, he told himself. She would know if he played Dexter Gordon blowing "Laura," Charles Mingus's "Better Get It in Your Soul," and Charlie Touse's "When Sunny Gets Blue." (184)

This isn’t an obvious scene to pick when speaking about boundaries, but I do think that it directly ties into the discussion by being an example about the boundaries we set for ourselves- where we let ourselves go and where we protect ourselves by remaining contained. In this passage is it not only clear how much Oku wants Jackie to be connected to him in a deeper way, but also how much he wants her to know him- to connect to him through an understanding of something fundamental to his identity. He seeks to connect to her through something intimately personal to his understanding of himself and the music becomes a metaphor to the places where he will open up and the places he wishes he could but ultimately feel to threatening. This quote is just one of the many times that Brand explores the personal boundaries we place on ourselves even when ultimately we want to connect, pointing the continual process of opening oneself up in effort to find connection and the ways in which we allow for this and also the ways we get in our own way.
In both of the two prior posts the comments have been about personal boundaries and interconnectedness between individuals. In class as well we talked mostly about the boundaries of the individual before later on in the discussion noting the boundaries of culture and ethnicity. However if one were to write up a blurb about this novel, my guess is that the focus would be placed on four different cultures of the characters and their coming together and claiming identity. Why then did the most obvious or spelled out boundary that overarches in the book becomes secondary to the individual boundary lines- I think it comes down to personal identity. We long for connections with that we know, and if our most direct connection comes from finding common ground with Tuyen, Carla, Ouku and Jackie's within the context of being twenty something, that becomes the primary boundary explored for us in the novel. This then shows how much a book is shaped and plotted in our minds as much if not more by what we the readers bring into it, then by the words on the page.

I thought the question that we wrote about in our free write today was interesting, regarding the connection of literature to place. I think in this sense, our perception of Toronto in the beginning in comparison to the end is what eventually breaks down the borders of each character. I am finding it hard to even explain this to myself, so bear with me.

Take for example, I move to New York City after graduating from UVM. At first I think I would be peering around in amazement at the crazy taxi drivers, shocked and appalled at the hustling and bustling of people in a rush, and disgusted by the smell. I think I would be just like a tourist, “trying to figure out the rest of the story all day” (Brand 3). In other words, trying to look into stranger’s lives perpetually intrigued with their particular background. Then I think the longer I would become accustomed with the city I would not be phased so much with this type of thing, and I would become “common like so many pebbles, so many specks of dirt, so many atoms of materiality” (Brand 3). I would mold into the city so to speak. I’d become one of those people pushing through the crowds of people, wondering why others were so awestruck with the Empire State building and so on and so forth. I would be the one being stared at by others who are struggling to learn my life’s story.

When I started to feel comfortable while reading, almost like I had lived in Toronto for years, that’s when I felt like I became connected with the REAL Toronto. I suddenly lost my fascination with it, because it didn’t feel so far away and foreign. It came down to the simple conclusion that every subway isn’t filled with strangers that I have to try and figure out. Every city is filled with average Joe’s that are just like you and me, with similar problems or ones you can at least empathize with. In my opinion, the soul of the characters found after crossing their borders is the main soul of the city. We could go around and survey those we wonder about on the subway, but we would probably find what we knew all along. We knew from the beginning that we all have issues mostly due to the fact that we also all long for the same thing-love.

What Kristie said about re-reading chapter one is very true. We learn so much about three of the main characters by listening to their conversation on the subway. We question their conversation just like all the other people who are listening, but unlike them we acutally get to read what is going on. All those people go off to work, school, or anywhere else wondering what they may have been talking about. The boundary between the familiar and the strange is shown here in the first scenes of the book. The three friends are obviously familiar to each other and of each others lives. Unlike the strangers on the train who do not know anything about them, but yet can't help by try and listen anyway. Same with us, we were complete strangers to Carla, Tuyen, and Oku, but now we know them, maybe even better than they know themselves.

What Emily had to say about the passage listing of the songs from Oku to Jackie is interesting as well. Oku does want to connect with Jackie on a deeper level, and this is one way he is choosing to show her that he cares. In this same way, Jackie is showing Oku that she doesn't want just some black guy off the street. She is dating this white man for a reason, a reason that Oku eventually thinks he figures out. But, as far as boundaries go, Jackie is for some reason afraid to let Oku into hers. Oku has many different ideas, such as because he befriended her mother. But I think that their boundary is more than just a personal boundary. I think that it is psychological and also family influenced for Jackie. And Oku has to let Jackie stop playing games with him.

In questioning the idea of boundaries within "What We All Long For" I cannot help but think about the way the characters, to me, seem to set up borders between themselves and us, the readers. Unlike most books that I've read this novel made me frusterated because I was always thinking the characters were holding back or not giving as much as they should or could have been. It's hard for me to pin point exact lines in the text to prove this feeling because like I said, its more of a feeling that I got as a reader which could be due to my not being as interested in these characters as I have been to other characters. However I think that they way we never really fully understand what the character's long for hints at the idea that they have not given enough information to us as reader to fully answer that question. For instance in the end when Carla is seemingly now interested in Tuyen after 200 plus pages of her rejecting Tuyen to her face and as we see as readers her thoughts about Tuyen in her own head that Tuyen isn't able to hear. This kind of caught me off guard because I had thought that as a reader I was getting most of what Carla was thinking the entire time but now it appears she wasn't realeasing everything she could have. I think that Brand does this purposely...this being telling us some of the characters thoughts but not all of them so that we can be surprised if there are twists and turns that we shouldn't really have expected. It's almost like she doesn't want the reader to get too close to any one of the character's. Weaving them in and out as narrators or background characters so to keep the reader at a distance and therefore allow for uncertainty and differing perspectives. This is all just an observation of mine in terms of thinking about boundaries and could be entirely false but I do find it interesting to think about.
As a comment to my classmates posts I was glad to see Kristie's post about the first chapter of the novel. I, too, loved rereading the first chapter after the completion of the novel because it reiterates how scrambled all our lives are and how we can put up as many borders and we want and try to disconnect ourselves with other people or places or histories but really it is inevitable that we're all somehow tied to eachother and all interlocked. I really like the first paragraph on page 5 where Brand talks about everyone in the city and how "...all the ghosts they've carried, all the inversions they've made for protection, all the scars and marks and records for recognition--the whole heterogeneous baggage falls out with each step on the pavement. There's so much spillage." (Brand 5).
Lastly Emily's post of the boundaries seen through differing ethnicities and cultures is absolutely prevalent in this novel. Unfortunately as much as I agree with her statements I can't say I paid extensive detailed attention to the cultural boundaries of the individual characters while reading because they were at times hard to follow since there was so many. I rather acknowledged that everyone had differing backgrounds and acted as a result of them, understanding the broader idea of cultural influences yet failed to really understand the intricasies of it all...perhaps I'll reread and try to piece this aspect together more indepthly.

I had not appreciated the reasons why I was drawn to Jackie’s parents and their boundaries, until reading Emily’s idea that “finding common ground with Tuyen, Carla, Ouku and Jackie's within the context of being twenty something, becomes the primary boundary explored for us in the novel.” This is an excellent example of Barthes’ theory (from The Death of the Author) of the text being rewritten by the reader. I have to agree with Emily’s premise; it is exactly how I relate to Jackie’s parents. The music they enjoyed and the magic of places like the Paramount (without the fighting I hasten to add) form part of my memories of moving to a multicultural city in my early twenties.

Being white, boundaries were very clearly defined; one didn’t step on anyone’s toes, either on or off the dance floor, but the dancing was so good! In many ways it was easier for me than Jackie’s mother’s negotiation of her boundaries. “The Scotian girls, and she was one, had a reputation for fighting…[she] got caught up in the Paramount on account of Jackie’s father and a West Indian girl from Jamaica.’ (p95/96) “Jackie’s father had his own set of fights at the Paramount over Jackie’s mother” At the Elephant Walk “if you were like Jackie’s mother, fresh out of the Brown Derby on Gottigen Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, you were out of your depth. Jackie’s father only had the look, he didn’t have the play of those dudes he imitated…[h]e was reckless though, and recklessness got him into the Elephant Walk” (p100).

Kristie says that in the search for what they long for “they’re all looking to the people around them for the answer.”, but this is not the case for Jackie’s parents. They long for the past when they felt young and vital within the confines, or boundaries, of the Paramount Club.

I can relate to both Tracey and Kristie's comments that we as human beings look "to the people around them for the answer" (Kristie), as well as to ourselves and our past when we "felt young and vital within the confines, or boundaries" (Tracey). I think during these college years it is a mixture of both, as we still highly value our peers who ultimately still have a great influence on who we are and who we become. Still, in some weird way I can relate to Jackie's parents, in addition to Jackie, who reflect back on the past more so to explain the present without completely valuing their buddies’ opinions.

I think this comparison of the two ways that you can go about finding yourself is precisely why twenty something year olds found this book so intriguing. You see young adults like Tuyen resisting as much as possible their heritage to answer their life questions, and then her parents on the other hand pushing that exact notion. Kristie commented, “And yet-we find in the end that no one else holds the answers for anyone else.” Do either sides of the story, Tuyen or her parents find the answers from the sources they strongly believe hold the key? As both parties are plowing through their everyday conflicts to decipher this, I felt as the reader that I was juggling between the two and who was right and wrong. I think this feeling would unique to college aged readers because it is that in between murky stage.

“The restaurant became their life. They were being defined by the city. They had come thinking that they would be who they were, or at least who they had managed to remain. After the loss of Quy, it made a resigned sense to them that they would lose other parts of themselves” (Brand, 66).

I chose to reflect upon this passage because I found that within What We All Long For, the cultural borders seem to have the greatest impact on the characters. As Tuyen describes her parents, the borders have become what have shaped who they are. Moving away from Vietnam created new borders; they were no longer intelligent professionals but two Vietnamese who could make good Vietnamese food and therefore should open a restaurant. The city of Toronto generated new borders around her parents which confined them to be labeled as stereotypical Vietnamese. The last part of this passage also reflects the boundaries in which Tuyen’s parents were faced with when leaving Vietnam. Leaving Quy behind was unintentional but the consequences – both emotionally and psychologically – were very intense. By losing a child, they lost “parts of themselves” which put up new borders in their lives. Invisible to others, losing Quy was like a death and with death comes apprehension and skepticism regarding other everyday activities.

I agree with what Liz Bearese said regarding the amount of Toronto knowledge gained after reading this book. Liz stated that she, “became connected with the REAL Toronto” which I can also understand and appreciate. Brand does a great job of describing the city both through the surroundings and how the characters interact with the city. Seeing that television clip also helped to create an image of Toronto in my head.

Sarah Pickard’s response was also of much interest to me. As Sarah questioned what might happen if the book continued, I got to thinking about how the book itself has borders. There are chapters, a front cover, and a back cover which all work together to produce borders. For example, each chapter entitled “Quy” is about him and his experiences. The borders of the chapter confine the information Brand has decided to express to the reader.

"Carla had said it all, not just about her mother but about all of them. Trying to step across the borders of who they were. But they were not merely trying. There were, in fact, borderless." (page 213)

Carla is a very interesting character. I believe she is constantly breaking down borders and barriers throughout the entire novel. At this particular moment in the novel, Carla, Tuyen, and Oku are playing their "Word" game. Carlan makes a revelation about her mother. Tuyen and Oku fall silent and refelct on what Carla has pointed out. While they look out the bar window and see a stream of identities flowing past the window, all different and unique; not conforming to the standards of what they are supposed to wear, or say, or do. This moment in the novel is a realization that we are ALL borderless; we are not boxed in and restricted by limitations or stereotypes, unless we let ourselves. We can be subjected to biases, but we don't have to buy into them or even acknowledge them. If someone were tyring to make a definition of you, what would it entail? Each one of us is so complex, and so deep and intricate on so many levels, that we are all constantly stepping across the borders of "self." Especially these characters, who are constantly redefining how they feel, and what they stand for as they experience more and more in the progression of the book. They may think they want one thing, and it quickly turns out that they exceed that restrictive boundary and look to something new to fulfill them.

-I liked what Julie had to say about how the characters sort of put up a border between themselves, and us as the reader. I can definitely see how the characters kind of hold back, and don't reveal the true extent of what they might be thinking or feeling. It kind of leaves this amiguity up to the reader, drawing us in and leaving us wanting more.

-I want to response to Sarah's comment about cultural borders. I think Tuyen's parents definitely embody this idea of transcending cultural borders, both physically and metaphorically. These cultural borders have shaped Tuyen's family, which create MORE borders and boundaries for Tuyen herself, and where exactly she fits in.

"Ab und Zu advertised itself as selling post-bourgeois clothing. The store was just on the border where Toronto's trendy met Toronto's seedy. The rent was cheap, and Jackie had had the foresight to think that the trendy section would slowly creep toward Ab und Zu and sweep the store into money. Next door to Ab und Zu was a greasy spoon-Sam's-recently taken over by other hopeful trendies-a couple of women who were anarchists"(p.99).

I think this passage is a good example of the idea of borders and the lack thereof in this novel. Though we are told that Toronto is a city where one can find complete neighborhoods of people of the same nationality, which gives me the impression that there are clear borders in the city, we are equally made aware that these borders between people and places are constantly shifting and merging and running into one another. It seemed that every business that Tuyen had known had once been something else, and before that had been something else, which is another example of this constant changing of borders. In this passage we can see that although where the trendy meets the seedy is referred to as a border, this border does not really exist because Jackie is quite confident that it will soon shift and they will find themselves in a different part of town. I find the concept of borders and boundaries really interesting because I like the thought that each one of us is able to set our own boundaries for ourselves and through our actions maintain these boundaries. At the same time, it seems impossible that we would really have so much control over our lives when often things happen that are out of our control. We are also constantly in the process of changing the way we see the world and therefore changing our ideas about the boundaries we wish to set for ourselves. I relate to the characters in this book because I see them as also trying to figure out what sort of boundaries they want to set up in their lives, but their ideas about this are constantly changing.

I liked Kristie's comments about the first chapter of the book. I agree that it is one of the more interesting chapters. I love subways for this reason, I like seeing all of the different people and wondering what their lives are like. I think the chapter does an excellent job of capturing this feeling while tying the entire novel together.
I also really liked Emily's comments about how Oku is looking to Jackie to connect with deeper parts of himself. This is such a universal feeling, and I think that Oku really is confident that if Jackie and he are 'meant to be', then she will know that the music he is sending her is from him. If she didn't recognize this, then there would be no connection between them.

The world cup is this year, and today it is raining. Korea is playing Italy in Japan. Up on St. Clair Avenue, in the Italian neighborhood, they are biting their nails over espressos and San Romano beer. Any minute now they hope to launch out into the street waving the tricolour and screaming Franceso Tott’s name. They are prepared to wear black and go so far as to cut their wrists if the blues don’t win. In Korea town on Bloor Street, the same, except their hopes are more modest, given that Korea’s team has gone farther than any in history and the Italian are formidable. When Ahn Jung –Hwan scored the golden goal, from St. Clair to the old little Italy on College Street the Italians declared days of mourning. The Korea have erupted in a street party too sweet to mean anything less than world domination. The rain is incessant, yet it doesn’t stop some; the sidewalks are crammed and tears are flowing so much it’s impossible to make out what’s falling from the skies and what’s falling from faces (p 204).

Tuyen loved World Cup. She loved being in the middle of whirling people, people spinning on motion. Today, she heard the honking horns heading up to Bloor Street, and she collected her gear and raced up Bathurst to Korea town. As she left the apartment, she heard a television announcer say “I didn’t know we had a Korea town in the city” Asshole, she thought, you wouldn’t. You fuckers live as if we don’t live here. She was Korean, of course, but World Cup made her feel that way. No Vietnamese team had made it, so today she was Korean. However, the notion of borders is illustrated by the world cup that made Tuyen Korean. I guess she was going for something Asian.

I’d like to respond to Tracey’s reply to my comment. I stated that the characters in What We All Long For are looking to other people for the answers to questions they can’t answer. Tracey felt that this did not apply to Jackie’s parents and that they were looking for the past and specifically the Paramount Club to answer their longings. I disagree. I think that really it is the people that they interacted with at the Paramount Club that they long for and not the club itself. The people are the ones who give Jackie’s parents significance. I can see how Tracey could see it this way and in some ways I agree and I like that she disagrees with me. It really offers me a different approach that I hadn’t considered.
Also Emily points out that a novel is somewhat shaped by what a reader brings to it. We’ve talked about this in class, but I think it really is a profound notion. Each of us have different life experiences and when we bring those to our readings it helps each of us focus on something different that is significant to us – but maybe not to anyone else. I think that is something really interesting to keep in mind during discussions. It totally relates to the reader-response theory which I really do consider a more significant theory to reading anything at all.

“There are Italian neighbourhoods and Vietnamese neighbourhoods in this city; there are Chinese ones and Ukrainian ones and Pakistani ones and Korean ones and African ones. Name a region on the planet and there’s someone from there, here.” Not only does this quote capture the melting pot atmosphere that is Toronto, but it clearly defines the borders that we as humans impose on ourselves. I relate this quote to my own experience and think back to times in New York City, walking through Chinatown and Little Italy, and not only are there certain stereotypes that we associate with these areas, but there is an unseen border that surrounds them. As you pass from area of culture to another, as humans we begin to assume certain things just as the characters in “What We All Long For” do. This quote explains, firstly the magnitude of the diverse culture within Toronto, but also by declaring a neighborhood Italian, or any other type of culture, right there is a border being established. If someone Italian was in trouble, they wouldn’t run to Chinatown, they would head for little Italy, to be amongst cultural brothers and sisters, and this is one of the major points I think Brand is discussing in her novel. That while Chinese people may look different than African Americans, and where Jews may have different beliefs that Muslims, we are all still humans, and these borders we erect do not bring cultures closer together, instead they simply alienate groups from the rest of the population. These borders isolate groups, make them distrustful of other cultures, and in a lot of ways contribute to the problem of anti-Semitism. It seems what Brand is trying to accomplish is to preach that we are all part of the biggest group, humanity, and all cultures are worthwhile and can in fact live harmoniously.

Julie Bilodeau brings up a point about borders that until reading her comments, I hadn’t contemplated before. While I was examining the social borders set up by the characters and humans in general between race, culture, ethnicity, etc. Julie examines how the characters in “What We All Long For” seem to set up borders between themselves and us as readers. The characters do seem to hold something back, as it’s not like “Catcher in the Rye” where everyone of Holden’s thoughts is clearly written on the page and we as readers are basically given access to the main characters entire conscious and subconscious. Instead, as readers of “What We All Long For” we are forced to infer and assume certain things about the characters because we are not given the same unrestricted access. As Julie also points out, as a reader this can be extremely frustrating, she says It almost seems as if Brand is trying to keep us out and not allow us to get too close to any of her characters. I wonder if perhaps this was intentional, to augment her theme of borders and barriers, or if this is a large issue in Brand’s own life, and not only did she write a novel about borders, but is has also shaped her writing style to be distrustful and not allow anyone in. The example Julie uses of Carla’s rejection of Tuyen is a great example of what I’m discussing, in that for the entire novel, Carla has no interest in Tuyen, then seemingly all of a sudden, she does. One wonder’s whether or not Carla was withholding information throughout the first 85% of the novel.

While reading this novel, it is difficult not to notice the great many borders which both restrain and repel people. One particular passage which seems to express this is on page 66:
“The restaurant became their life. They were being defined by the city. They had come thinking that they would be who they were, or at least who they had managed to remain. After the loss of Quy, it made a resigned sense to them that they would lose other parts of themselves” (66).
Within this novel, as seen specifically in all of Toronto, cultural borders seem to come into play more than anything physical or tangible. Tuyen’s family being from Vietnam allowed them to excel in portraying their culture through a restaurant. This gives them a border to take refuge in. The restaurant is not a place to withhold other people but a place to hold onto their culture and allow others to pass their borders and also enjoy a culture that they couldn’t enjoy before.
I agree with Sarah Anawalt in her description of the same passage. She began to discuss stereotypes, which I feel plays a huge roll in borders. A city like Toronto where so many cultures and peoples are celebrated unfortunately allows for a great deal of racism and stereotyping. This is very important to note in a novel such as this.
I enjoyed how Julie described that “I cannot help but think about the way the characters, to me, seem to set up borders between themselves and us, the readers.” This resonates so well throughout this novel. The interactions that the characters have and the boundaries they place between themselves is amazing. Yet, the amazing part of the novel is the borders found between the characters and the readers. In a sense, it is hard to get attached to many characters for this reason.

I have a similar quote to Sarah Pickard's about their families and the boundaries that are set up between the friends. My quote is from page 19:

"They had an unspoken collaboration on distancing themselves as far as possible from the unreasonableness, the ingorance, the secrets, and the madness of their parents."

This is a great quote because it shows the seperation of the supposedly very close friends and how they keep one another in the shadows about a huge part of their lives. With each character, I believe they think that giving some information about one's parents will lead to being thought of as less of an individual. This group is a made of immature 20-somethings that think that they know everything in the world and that they know what's best for them. Tuyen is the biggest offender of them all with a backlash towards her family that completely disregards they're authority. Her disrespect is just for the sake of being disrespectful. She doesn't have any idea of what she is doing in life and she just thinks that she can do and act as she pleases without consequences. She borders herself from everyone because she can't take advice from anyone. Her selfish attitude is what makes her seem far away and distant. Just because she's collecting a whole lot of junk for her "sculpture" she somehow feels that justifies her existence and her being. But unfortunately all it does is make her look selfish and it is sad. The saddest part is that none of her friends can say that to her and they all just let her put up her walls and act ridiculous.

I think Sarah Pickard's comment is intriguing.I think the characters do hold back and don't give as much as they could because then they would be able to tell what they all long for. In their search of knowing what they want, they reveal themselves one step at a time. What intriques me though is their ability to establish borders despte their close friendships. From the beginning it seems that they broke through their borders of stereotypes to become friends. On page 47 they speak of their friendship and how it used to be early on. "None of them took each other home in those teenage years. The only place they went to once or twice was Jackie's because Jackie's moether an father were cool. Or so they all thought, except Jackie. In fact, they took nothing home, no joy and no trouble. Most days they smoked outside schoool together, planning and dreaming their own dreams of what they would be if only they could get out of school and leave home. No more stories of what might have been, no more diatribes on what would venver happen back home, down east, down the islands, over the South China Sea, not another sentence that began in the past that had never been their past." Essentially, these characters do not want to speak of their past or let any of the characters into their true lives. Jackie's friends all think that her parents are cool but in reality Jackie definitely does not feel that way. Not allowing each other into their lives is a physical border that then allows for emotional, and learning borders.

I think that for any novel set in a major metropolis, the city itself comes alive and sort of acts as its own character. There are just so many facets and intricacies of city life, and it has such a huge affect on anyone who lives there, that it is just inevitable. 'What We All Long For' is no exception, though it was refreshing to become introduced to a completely new city that I new nothing about. Its interesting to see the ways in which the different characters are affected by the city they live in.
There is one passage on pg. 32 that uses the city to demonstrate the difference in mindset between Carla and her brother. "She saw the city as a set of obstacles to be crossed and circled, avoided and let pass. He saw it as something to get tangled in". The city itself is the border between two characters here. Carla and her brother have such different attitudes, and will never really be on the same page, and this passage about the city epitomizes that disconnect.

I agree with Kristie that the first chapter was meant to be re-read after finishing the book. It's actually one of my favorite parts of the book. Brand's wording and her language are tops, and it's such an interesting way to introduce a city that most of her readers wouldn't be familiar with. I think I have this archetypal city in my head, a city of drizzly but warm nights with saturated car and street lights. But the snowstorm gave me such a different image, and such a different impression of not only the city, but its people as well. Then it cuts to the more familiar city scene to introduce the characters: the subway, where, like Kristie said, we start to see how everyone in the city is connected in one way or another.

I think Jenn Noonen had a great post, which concentrated on the way that these characters can be seen as borderless, rather than just looking at what seperates them. Your post reminded me of a Jean-Luc Godard interview, where the annoying film media kept asking him why he insisted on being so defiant and nonconformist. His response was something like "someone needs to show the people that there are no rules in art." He's right. We choose to conform to certain borders because we feel comfortable within their limitations, but there is nothing stopping anyone from breaking out.

It made me smile when Emily brought up Ornette Coleman. I've done a lot of research on Coleman during the last couple of years. Last December I spoke briefly with Jack Bruce, who played bass in Cream with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker. Jack is a classically trained pianist, a good blues harp player, and a virtuoso bassist. When I asked him about Cream's legacy-- he and poet Pete Brown were en route to BMI Records to have "White Room" certified as having been played 2 million times on the radio since its release on 1968-- and he told me he wanted Cream to be remembered as the "first great jazz band."

"Jazz? Cream had a bunch of pop hits in '66, recorded 3 rock and roll anthems, and enlisted the greatest blues guitarist of my generation to do so."

Jack laughed and told me, "Eric doesn't think he's a jazz player, but Ginger and I do. He was our Ornette Coleman."

I'd never heard the name before, and I didn't want to sound stupid in front of one of my heroes, so I did thing I could do: bullshit. "Oooooh, right! Fascinating!" before offering my congratulations on White Room

Not long after I went home and picked up Coleman's "The Shape of Jazz to Come." As I would learn later in my research, it was a really controversial album in its time. It was the first to be labeled as "free jazz." I'm not entirely sure what it means-- the term, and its history, and the amount of things covered by it is HUGE… and, from what I understand, it's currently a slur which roughly translates into "this doesn't have a point"-- but basically, Coleman, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins play the entire album without using an instrument that plays a chord-- no guitar, no piano.

Ask any player of either of those instruments, and they'll tell you that the chord is pretty darn important. As a blues player, I can tell you: give me three of 'em (I-IV-V), and I can play you 6 million songs.

But that's Coleman's impact on music. There's nary a chord on the whole album. Critics will tell you that Cherry and Coleman harmonize at times to IMPLY chords, my ear isn't good enough to verify the notion. What it sounds like to me, though, is Robert Johnson. Coleman plays a plastic saxophone, and it loses that metal "ping." Instead, the sound is more or less unfiltered from his natural intonation- the notes bend and cry with changes in his breath pattern and embouchure, and they're subject to natural vibrato-- the shuttering of the diaphragm. In that sense, the sax becomes more a harp than the modern sax you might hear from Dave Grippo or Dave Sanborn. It becomes an extension of his voice, a relatively natural filter of the sounds he was already capable of making. When Cherry meets him with the trumpet, it's not a pretty sound. It's a clash, at first, and when the naturally higher-toned trumpet plays the same note as the wailing saxophone, it mimics that edge, that high-pitched cry so often associated with Johnson.

Before this post gets any more "free jazz" on all y'all, I'll get to the point: Coleman innovates (abolishes the chord), but in so doing sounds an awful lot like a bluesman (Robert Johnson) who more or less established the I-IV-V chord structure in a genre so utterly dependant upon it.

I like to believe in fluidity and transience and complexity and we are large, we contain multitudes… but I wonder if a study in Coleman proves that no matter how far you go away from something, you can't leave the roots. The end of the novel-- the class's seeming consensus that it was 'inevitable' and 'predictable' would seem to reinforce the notion.

Although many of the characters, if not all, went through an identity crisis, Carla's on page 106, "She was not phenotypically black either. Only on careful consideration one could tell...So to disappear into this white world would have been possible....Her mother was white, her father was black. Her mother must have made her choice for a good reasonn: good or bad she had crossed a border." This passage really captures the idea of ethnic borders that not only take place in Toronto, but all around the world. The different districts and neighborhoods being depicted in "What We All Long For," symbolize the manner in which ethnic groups are bonded by their distrust for other ethnical groups.

My quote is directly correlated with Zach Friedman's blog, to his quote her responds, "Not only does this quote capture the melting pot atmosphere that is Toronto, but it clearly defines the borders that we as humans impose on ourselves." Society pushed Carla in to feeling like she had to pick either her mom's white heritage, or her father's black heritage.

Liz Bearese responded to the topic of parents creating a kids identity, however, she used Jackie's parents as an example in which she responded, "I think this comparison of the two ways that you can go about finding yourself is precisely why twenty something year olds found this book so intriguing." She's absolutely right. It's a novel about dropping all outside influences and seeing who you really are deep down.

"Breaking their doorways, they left the sleepwalk of their mothers and fathers and ran across the borders of the city, sliding across ice to arrive at their own birthplace-the city. They were born in the city from people born elsewhere" (20).
Borders are a hge theme in this novel, both the physical barriers of the city and the personal borders of the characters play key roles throughout the novel. One of the most interesting ideas to me in the novel was the way the characters separated themselves from their parents and their their family history. The borders between family and friends were rarely crossed and each of the main characters seemed completely content with that. I found this interesting because family histories were pivotal to each of the characters lives and their relationships with others. To put such a border in place with your friends was restrictive and as a result many of the characters, Carla in particular, came across as very distant and isolated. I think this border was important to the storyline because without it, all the information about family histories would lack significance.
One of the unique things Brand does in What We All Long For is she gives the city of Toronto a voice. As Deng and Zach have pointed out the borders of the city reflect the individual characters establishment of their own borders. I think we couls really see this as readers in the passage Deng pointed out about the World Cup. Tuyen, Vietnamese, "becomes" Korean during the World Cup after Korea's success. We see how Tuyen reshapes her personal borders within the confines of Toronto's borders.
A couple of people have made refrence to a quote on pg. 19 about the city defining Tuyen's family. I found this interesting because as readers we saw how the city turned Tuyen's successful Vietnamese parents in the owners of a Vietnamese restaurant. The city imposed their culture on her parents and they grew into the cycle of only being defined by where they came from.

On page 20 it talks about how everyone in there click and how everyone's family is from another country. "They were born in the city from people born elsewhere." The borders that are created between these friends, with regard to not speaking about their respective families. The boundries that they created eventually get knocked down. The identity of being from a city that is so diverse creates an identity thats becomes their own, that metropolitan aspect, the melting pot idea. The problem that they have, which is character of American society, that immigrants hold on to there home cultures often. That conflict creates opposing views and misunderstanding that occurs between the time.

“Well, as you say, it’s not him you have to please. It’s yourself. We can’t want things for you. You have to want them” (187).
The parents of the “gang” as I like to call them have such high hopes for their children. They have lived most of their lives in other countries, where they had to abide by certain rules. Each characters quest for identity is done by disregarding their parents. Their parents push them in directions that they think will be successful, yet many of the characters do not want the things their parents want for them. I understand the cultural differences and how it comes into play for each character to find their own identity. So when Claire Oku’s mother said this quote to her son, it was the first time, and parent, who came to terms with the actuality that her child needs to find his own future. She wants what’s best for her son, but she knows that he grew up in a different country then her and her husband, therefore he values other things. All of the parents want to see their children grow up to be successful and have a better life that what they have Its like they are trying to relive their lives through their children, but what they do not understand is that their children have grown up in a different country and their values lye in different directions. As they crossed the borders into Canada they need to realize that things are not going to be the same and that their children need to find their identities on their own.

In responce to John Rubin's comment, I agree that the author really makes an effort to make the city have a vibe, and to feel alive. The method of showing snippets into each characters life through their perspective proves to be very effective in both engaging the reader with emotion and enticing the reader with fliff hangers. I also agree with the comments. In responce to Sarah's comment on cultural borders, I also agree that they are are a prominent theme in the novel as several different cultures are represented.
Page 101 takes an ineresting look at the boundaries between Jackie, Reiner, and Oku. Jackie acts very removed and independent of Reiner, but with Oku she doesn't know how to respond so she treats him bad. This evident in her quote, "With Reiner, she knew who she was, separate and apart, in command of self. With Oku, she was on that train, liquid and jittery and out of control."

The character who is most aggressive in negotiating her boundaries in my opinion is Tuyen. The tension between Tuyen and her dad is truly exposed on page 56 when she returns home to get money from her mother. Immediately after her arrival, he starts nagging her about her decision to distance herself from her family. Their relationship seems to be treading water on this very dispute. On page 57 he says “Why do I spend money on a big-time education for you to go live without your family? How do you think a family works? Same house, same money, same life.” Emotional connection also plays a role in regards to Tuyen’s father’s attitude, in this case more specifically on her choice of neighborhood. He see’s this as a slap in his face because their family used to live there before they reached their own “American dream.”
Although she responds that she just has to do her own thing, which is an understandable argument, there is obviously a very deeply seeded desire for her to distance herself from her family’s culture. This is seen even at a very young age when she notices subtle things such as the food that her family eats compared to what the other kids eat. Although she does feels a disconnect from her family, I do not think this means that she doesn’t care for them deep down. For example, when she hurts her dad’s feelings by mistake, she feels very badly about it. This whole scene at home demonstrates Tuyen’s struggle to break from her family’s borders both physically and culturally.
I agree with Alex Link that the cultural borders of Toronto plays a very strong role in the life of its residents, at least in its representation from the book I get the feeling that Toronto is one big melting pot. Although, there is still a very strong sense of identity to peoples own cultures. The chapter that takes place during the world cup is a fine example of this. This makes Tuyen’s rejection of her own culture all the more interesting. Why then, does she root for the team closest to her own decent during the world cup?

I’d also like to respond to Julie Bilodeau about being frustrated about the characters holding back. I do not think that this is true through out the novel, but that the characters go through waves of effort. For example, Oku is very passive around Jackie much of the time. He says that he is not the same person around her, his confidence is shaken. He does give little effort towards her at first, just minor suggestions. However, he then goes over the top by leaving the songs on her answering machines, and ends up sleeping with her. Tuyen’s effort is the same towards Carla, she seems to have a strategy of subtle seduction then backing off as if she does not want to scare her. I liked how the characters interacted because I feel that it is very true to life. Most of the time people are all out in their efforts for their desires. Although, those efforts do come in waves.

The character who is most aggressive in negotiating her boundaries in my opinion is Tuyen. The tension between Tuyen and her dad is truly exposed on page 56 when she returns home to get money from her mother. Immediately after her arrival, he starts nagging her about her decision to distance herself from her family. Their relationship seems to be treading water on this very dispute. On page 57 he says “Why do I spend money on a big-time education for you to go live without your family? How do you think a family works? Same house, same money, same life.” Emotional connection also plays a role in regards to Tuyen’s father’s attitude, in this case more specifically on her choice of neighborhood. He see’s this as a slap in his face because their family used to live there before they reached their own “American dream.”
Although she responds that she just has to do her own thing, which is an understandable argument, there is obviously a very deeply seeded desire for her to distance herself from her family’s culture. This is seen even at a very young age when she notices subtle things such as the food that her family eats compared to what the other kids eat. Although she does feels a disconnect from her family, I do not think this means that she doesn’t care for them deep down. For example, when she hurts her dad’s feelings by mistake, she feels very badly about it. This whole scene at home demonstrates Tuyen’s struggle to break from her family’s borders both physically and culturally.
I agree with Alex Link that the cultural borders of Toronto plays a very strong role in the life of its residents, at least in its representation from the book I get the feeling that Toronto is one big melting pot. Although, there is still a very strong sense of identity to peoples own cultures. The chapter that takes place during the world cup is a fine example of this. This makes Tuyen’s rejection of her own culture all the more interesting. Why then, does she root for the team closest to her own decent during the world cup?

I’d also like to respond to Julie Bilodeau about being frustrated about the characters holding back. I do not think that this is true through out the novel, but that the characters go through waves of effort. For example, Oku is very passive around Jackie much of the time. He says that he is not the same person around her, his confidence is shaken. He does give little effort towards her at first, just minor suggestions. However, he then goes over the top by leaving the songs on her answering machines, and ends up sleeping with her. Tuyen’s effort is the same towards Carla, she seems to have a strategy of subtle seduction then backing off as if she does not want to scare her. I liked how the characters interacted because I feel that it is very true to life. Most of the time people are all out in their efforts for their desires. Although, those efforts do come in waves.

One evident point in the book when the idea of borders is literally placed right in front of you to see is when Carla, Tuyen and Oku are sitting in the bar playing drinking game and eventually while looking out the window at the groups of people.
"Carla had said it all, not just about her mother but about all of them. Trying to step across the borders of who they were. But they were not merely trying. They were, in fact, borderless." (page 213).
Although there are many parts of the book dealing with this idea of boarders this is the first time we see any of the charachters realizing all the potential borders that there are in the world. Although Carla descrbes people as borderless beings stepping over unidentified borders endlessly. This is a revoultionary concept but it seems more like a very optimistic attitude towards the idea. Especially it seems like charachters in the book, Oku especially, take liberties stepping on others borders not caring the damage the do by invading the lives of others. Also of note is that I feel that many people are very protective of their "self", their borders.

After reading Julie’s thoughts on the frustrations of a text that seemingly withholds information of interest, I found that it was an aspect that I enjoyed because of the flow it created with the given character. At first it was frustrating to figure out who was narrating at a given part of the story but eventually it seemed to tie me into the novel more so than most do.

The idea brought up in our class discussion was the concept and extent that boundaries/borders play in the novel. I was intrigued by the relationship that Carla had with her family and friends and how borders were erected by her, especially regarding her relationship with Tuyen and the borders that were continually questioned. There was their quasi-sexual rendezvous’ and the artistic identity that was tempting Carla from Tuyen’s apartment. Both of these made a point to test and tease the borders Carla imposed on her friend. Tuyen’s artwork seemed to depict the freedom that Carla longed for and I found that relationship interesting when its growth was always penetrating through the walls (physical border) connecting the two apartments. I think this speaks to Carla’ s desire to break down her borders, as she sees them, and experience the growth for herself the way that Tuyen’s work is free-forming.

One evident point in the book when the idea of borders is literally placed right in front of you to see is when Carla, Tuyen and Oku are sitting in the bar playing drinking game and eventually while looking out the window at the groups of people.
"Carla had said it all, not just about her mother but about all of them. Trying to step across the borders of who they were. But they were not merely trying. They were, in fact, borderless." (page 213).
Although there are many parts of the book dealing with this idea of boarders this is the first time we see any of the charachters realizing all the potential borders that there are in the world. Although Carla descrbes people as borderless beings stepping over unidentified borders endlessly. This is a revoultionary concept but it seems more like a very optimistic attitude towards the idea. Especially it seems like charachters in the book, Oku especially, take liberties stepping on others borders not caring the damage the do by invading the lives of others. Also of note is that I feel that many people are very protective of their "self", their borders.

On page 154, Tuyen is in the city, noticing people "just like her" doing all sorts of things. "It's like this with the city, you can stand on a simple corner and get taken away in all directions. ... No matter who you are, no matter how certain you are of it, you can't help but feel the thrill of being someone else." The whole concept of the city, of so many people being around and doing their little things, really interests me. From my own experience of being in a big city, you don't feel like yourself anymore, and the thousands of people that you look at are just more people, and you are just another person that thousands of people look at but don't really see. I can't decide if the city is full of borders or free of them. I think that there are so many borders, and on such a degree, that they sort of cancel themselves out. No one knows who you are in a city, as Brand points out, you can be someone else. When lots of people are in a city, they sort of assume one mass identity: "person-in-a-crowd." Personalities sort of get washed away, because when there are so many people, the wall you put around yourself gets a lot taller and thicker. You become nobody and everybody at the same time.

Eric's discussion of free jazz really interested me. Free jazz is probably the closest we've come as a species to direct, borderless musical expression. But, as Eric says, there is sort of an inescapable standardness to it, the legacy of musical norms of the past, which are so deeply ingrained in musicians (as the norms of a culture are on people) will always exert some influence on the sound. I think that jazz is a great metaphor for the atmosphere of the novel, specifically of the city. I would love to believe that free jazz escapes all borders and has broken free of all restraints and achieved true untethered human connection, and that if jazz can do it then so can we, but I suppose Eric is right about the impossibility of escaping the root. Bummer.

I also liked what Kristie was saying about people trying to figure themselves out by looking to other people. Tuyen is doing just that when she collects the longings of multitudinous strangers. I'm not sure if the answer is to be found by looking to other people, but I have a hunch that if it's not inside your self already, it eventually will be.

I really do agree that the concept of borders can be applied to most aspects of "What We All Long For." Borders can be defined politically, and in this novel, each of the characters has a different background. The book often discusses how the main characters are influenced by their families and their heritages. When they are around each other, they usually speak of these backgrounds with some degree of disdain. However, there are some instances where certain characters acknowledge their cultural links, or feel somewheat loyal to their histories.
Personal borders comprise another large portion of this novel. Each of the characters struggles to figure out who they should let in. They all have aspects of their lives that they keep to themselves. Jackie is a good example of this. On page 91, she reflects on her recent interaction with Oku. Before getting on the train car, they spoke on the corner of the street. She remembers "Standing close to Oku, his limber virility, his lips, his throat growling, "Hook a brother up." It was just a turn in that sentance that lost her to him in that moment. Little did he know that without the accent on "brother," without the hesitation between "u" and "p" in "up," she might have stayed with him at the traffic light." These thoughts that Jackie has are really surprising. At this point in the novel, the readers have no clue that she has feelings like these about Oku. He clearly is very interested in her, and makes it known. She does nothing to indicate that she returns his sentiments. She shuts this part of her thinking off so effectively that no one can guess that Oku intrigues her, even a little bit.
I think Kristen also makes a good point about ethnic borders, when she discusses Tuyen at the world cup. She is able to identify with Koreans during the world cup, though she is Vietnamese. It seems that there is some sort of shared experience that she feels she has in common with this group. I really apprecieted the idea of Tuyen "becoming" Korean.

I strongly agreed with what a lot of people posted about Toronto being a cultural center in Canada. In fact, paul Calabrese described it as a big melting pot. Indeed, it makes sense to me because the way book describes it, seems that it is a true melting pot.

I also think that kristen Riley made a good point about a city turned Tuyen parents into owners of restraunt..... such thing can admonstrated that Toronto is melting pot and multicultural center as well.

The ending was very sudden. I found it interesting when Brand writes what Carla longs for after the events unfold with Jamal and Quy, "Listen to music, drink some wine. Tomorrow she would miss work and have everybody over. She longed to hear Tuyen chipping and chiselling away next door."(318). This passage represents what all the characters long for; stability. A common theme seemed to be that these characters were haunted by their past. The story of Quy, Carla's mother and criminal brother, etc. all are reasons why each story has met at this point. The characters are all unhappy with their current states and just want to find some stability from their family and friends to make it through life. This actually ends up causing more disaster and chaos in their lives. In the pursuit of a better life they all seemed to screw it up more. Now the day to day annoyances that Carla wanted to get away from was something that see now longed for.

Sarah mentioned that Jamal would rather follow his current path rather than be with his parents. I would have to disagree with this statement because we never learn too much about Derek and his relationship. I believe that Jamal actually does long for a stable relationship with his parents and to follow society's norms, but he has never really known his parents. He was too young to remember Angie and Derek never really accepted that he was the father. It is very tough for Jamal to cope with this reality that he is not wanted and he contiues to fall into a crowd that may be a bad infulence but they at least provide him with some sort family.

In response to Julie's and other student's comments on the boundaries that the characters set up I believe that these boundaries were unintentional for the most part. In the beginning most of the characters were wanting independence from their past and in some cases their family. As the characters developed they start to put up boundaries between eachother; this goes especially for Carla's and Tuyen's relationship. In the beginning they all seemed to bond with eachother because they had similar lifestyles. They all have a drive to be totally independent of their parents but then they flip flop back towards a more family oriented drive. This is when the character's lose some of their more selfish views and begin thinking about their families. Instead of continuing on the path the had chosen they revert back to a their past and this is where they run into problems. For one reason or another they all wanted to get away from their families and they forget this. When they cross this boundary they are falling backwards and this only ends up in disaster. While the characters are looking foward they are more successful or at least stable. Past Promises also is a reocurring theme in this novel that become a tragic flaw for Tuyen's family as well as Carla.

This novel by Dionne Brand is filled with conflicting senses of identity within each of the characters. All of the characters have a hindering circumstance that prevents them to truly feel a sense of knowledge of self. With Oku, he is a tough black male upset with the system of race. Through his tough exterior he is driven by passion, the love of Jackie. His soft side is shown through poetry, music and his love for cooking. Carla has the burden of her brother Jamal constantly looming over her. The pressure of her father is also a constant threat to her self. Quy physically is bordered from his family, being left behind in the transition of immigration. These characters all face a border in some way that prevents them from filling their void of longing. The passage I want to look at describes Binh and Tuyen. Page 67 "Binh and Tuyen not Vietnamese but that desired ineffible nationality: Western." This is an important passage of borders because they are on the fence. They are children of first generation immigrants who are constantly struggling with their identities. They want to assimilate to western culture and completely negate their own ancestery. The two sacrifice their own heritage to be something different. Unfortunately, they will never fully get away from their Vietnamese heritage, because that is who they are. Every character is in search of "who they are" yet throughout the novel their identity is already scripted. The characters fail to accept themselves. Their longing is to be different. This drive to be different will always be a border in their lives, for if they can't accept what they have become, they will always be defeating themselves.
I would like to respond to Sarah Anwalts reference. Taun and Cam were defined by the city. So often we are defined by what we do. This is a border in itself, although we long to be something we are not, inevitibly how we spend out time defines us, whether we like it or not. This is true with the parents as well.
This concept brought up by Julie that "seem to set up borders between themselves and us as readers" is interesting. For me when I was reading there was a border. I as a white privledge, even sheltered male, never have to think about the struggles of ethnic and racial identity. Even though I can't connect to that in life, I emphatize with the characters. Yet, I relate to their experiences regarding friendship, romance and jealousy, as all humans have equal emotions regardless of external appearance.

“When the Paramount closed, Jackie’s mother and father were lost. Everyone in Alexandra Park was lost. Even some up on Bathurst Street and Vaughan Road and Eglington Avenue. As far out as Dawes Road and Pape Avenue.” (P.178)
“Jackie’s mother and father could take hard time, anyone in the park could. But the thought of hard time without even the relief of the Paramount was unbearable.” (P.179)

The Paramount serves as both a physical boundary as well as an emotional one. Throughout the novel The Paramount physically marks a neighborhood and its culture. With it’s departure, those accustomed to the Paramount’s presence are “lost.” Not only is a physical landmark erased, but so too a unifying and communal location. People escape to the Paramount; there they find rejuvenation in images of other lives, other people’s lives. The Paramount, as a boundary between reality and imagination, is one open to transcendence. Those who live in Alexandra Park and surrounding areas define not only their geographic existence, as one might say “I’m from the city,” or “I’m from the Suburbs,” but also their cultural identity. Culture is defined by location and location, in the case of What We All Long For, marked by the Paramount. History is tied into the paramount as well. Memories seep from every pore of the building. Some grew up in the clubs dancing, others in the seats of the Paramount. To lose such a space is to lose intangible security; without the paramount there is no escape, there is only “Alexandra Park” and the negative connotations most people place upon the area. Suddenly Identity, one previously rooted in a large culture, is constrained to their limited realm because no exit presents itself. Jackie’s mother and father lack definitive bounds and boundaries.
I had a difficult time clearly explaining my thoughts on this topic but I think my thoughts and where I’m coming from ties in with what Emily Porter discussed in her posting. So many boundaries are self-imposed, and one’s relation to the Paramount is no exception. Whether or not Jackie’s parents’ generation allows their identity to be formed around a location is their decision; It’s a choice, not an obligation. At the same time, however, I definitely identify with the notion of defining myself geographically, as Liz B discussed. So much of my childhood, teenage years, and young adulthood evoke specific memories all tied to place. I can completely sympathize with those who lost themselves in the realization that the Paramount was no more than a carcass. Losing a place tied intrinsically one’s own notions of their identity raises questions, which without such a loss, would never have been conceived of.

pg. 38 "They shared everything, but it was long understood that some things, for both of them were unknowable, unshareable, it was usually Tuyen who pushed and pulled at the borders of these things." This is a short quote, but I feel it is very significant between Tuyen and Carla's relationship. Tuyen has unrequited love for Carla and because of this, she pulls and pushed for Carla to open up to her. She tries and creates the right timing so that she can lie in bed with her when they were drunk. I think that it pulls and pushes that the boarders of their identities. Tuyen knows that she is gay, but Carla is still not sure she even can handle a relationship. She is still in a lot of pain from her mother dying. These two girls have a boarder that is in great need to be dealt with and becomes a complication in their relationship often.

I agree with Blake that all the characters want is to have stablity. Every single on of these characters are haunted by there past and present. Carla is haunted by her mother, Tuyen is bothered by her missing brother and present family and heritage, and another example is that Kuo is afraid of his father. They all want love and security. They all want what they have never had: a safe relationship without the fear of being hurt, they want trust.

I agree with Kristie that the first chapter is deff. a re-read when the reader is done with the book. We were able to meet the characters of this book and it was an amazing way for the author to introduce the readers to the characters. The bus is envious of these young people and try to ignore them while they are giggling and talking about love. I think Kristie is right that the people around them were looking for answers and they were looking for answers from the people around them. I think Kristie was very inciteful by writing her passage. It was a passage that has stuck in my mind from the beginning of when I picked up the book.

On page 21, the narrator says, “When it came to their families they could only draw half conclusions; make half inferences, for fear of the real things that lay there.” Tuyen and Carla do not really talk about their family lives together. This sets up an interesting border from the beginning because we know they talk to each other about everything except this. If they would talk to each other I think a new border would be in their lives that would enhance their relationship. To hold feelings in can only hurt the individual in the short and long term. Not being able to tell anyone about their problems eats away at the insides. Like Sarah Pickard said keeping these boundaries only hurts them in the end because there secrets overlap and we are left with an ending that could potentially leave an individual dead. Setting boundaries with individuals is fine, but telling no one ever helps the situation and I think I should have realized at the beginning this border they set up would eventually cause some sort of trouble in their lives.

After reading Sarah Anawalt post I thought about the borders created by Tuyen parents. I never really had considered them till this point to have established any main boundaries, and then I realized the biggest border of all was created by them. By moving to Canada they are reinventing themselves in order to give there children a better life, but what kind of borders would have been established has they stayed and continued their professional lives? How would Quy have turned out and how would the family chemistry be different? Continuing off of Sarah’s post what would have happened had Quy not been lost, would the original quote I talked about still hold true or would Quy have not been put in the situation he was at the end of the novel.

Ultimately every border created in this story causes some sort of major reaction. I began to wonder if one border had been changed, how drastically the book would have changed. It seems to me that we would have a totally different book, so bravo to Brand for using each of these borders to create an excellent book.

I think one of the biggest borders in the novel is the one between Tuyen and her parents. "For Tuan and Cam, the children were their interpreters, their annotators and paraphrasts, across the confusion of their new life." (67) Tuyen feels like a second class citizen and wants to break away from it and she desires the North American values. She does her own thing and doesn't listen to anyone. She is part of that mad at dad group. Even though she wants to try and break away from her non-English speaking parents, they need her more than she realizes. They do not speak the language so she has to speak for them. Communication is so important in the world today. Her parents must have someone with them to translate for them, especially for their restaurant business. Tuyen just wants to break away and she does really think or care about the consequences.

I have to agree with you Justin, and I think it would interesting if one of the borders would change how different the book would be. I don't even think that it has to be one of the characters' borders in order to change the novel. I think if the setting is not in Toronto the novel would be totally different. Toronto is what hold the novel together since it is so diverse. It would be hard to find another city like that.
Mary Grace that is a good comment about Tuyen. Maybe the book would be totally different if a border around Tuyen was broken down. Tuyen is one of the main characters and I think the novel would be different. I also think that the novel would not be complete without her. I wonder what the novel would be like without her or one of her borders.

I had many ideas on this novel and expected to gain a few more, but the amount of ideas that latched onto previous ones, the amount of ideas that grew and developed just on this one page, is mind-blowing! I really never expected that, and I think that's wicked.

Firstly, the continous talk of Toronto being a cultural centre is quite true, in my mind. Yet, it's being said rather contradictingly. For instance, many have refered to it as the "melting pot" but that would mean or atleast imply that Toronto is a place where all of these cultures are melted together and assimilated to form somethingelse. Normally, "melting pot" carries a negative connotation as a society in which all of the cultures are melded together so much, that one is unable to tell them apart because they have lost their identities and distinctions. Whereas,I think a word like "mosaic" or "tossed salad" is more well, ha, 'politically correct' and more representative.

I have more to add, but for today, haha, I think that's it.

That part where you talk about the character pulling back and then re-engaging is a psychological tactic called push/pull.

You create opportunity then take it away and make it more of a challenge. People appreciate what they have to work for more.

I think Jenn Noonen had a great post, which concentrated on the way that these characters can be seen as borderless, rather than just looking at what seperates them. Your post reminded me of a Jean-Luc Godard interview, where the annoying film media kept asking him why he insisted on being so defiant and nonconformist. His response was something like "someone needs to show the people that there are no rules in art." He's right. We choose to conform to certain borders because we feel comfortable within their limitations, but there is nothing stopping anyone from breaking out.