Response to Blu's Hanging

Blu’s Hanging by Lois-Ann Yamanaka is a very touching novel that got my adrenaline pumping and my eyes watering. After reading the first three chapters, I was very upset and offended with the descriptions of what the feline haters did with a number of cats. However, I was pleased to find that the main characters are cat as well as dog lovers. I found it interesting that the main characters believe that “black cats cure sadness” and “calico cats bring good luck” (44). As I read this novel, I realized how fortunate I am to have parents who love me, take care of me and have made sure that nothing traumatic ever happened to me during my childhood.

The whole story is essentially centered around Ivah’s attempts to replace her Mama who passed away due to taking too much sulfone to treat her leprosy. Although she was negative for leprosy, she insisted on taking the drugs, which ate up her kidneys (145). Ivah’s Poppy tells her of his childhood as well as her Mama’s childhood that was spent in prison as they were both infected with leprosy. This explained the scars on both their hands; however, I never felt much sorrow for Poppy since he is continually verbally as well as physically abusive to his three children: Ivah, Blu and Maisie. The fact that Poppy continually blames Ivah for everything negative that happens to their family is very upsetting to me. For instance, after Blu is molested by their neighbor, Uncle Paulo, Poppy blames Blu for it, but mainly blames Ivah for not preventing it from happening. I think this has much to do with the fact that Poppy buys drugs from this shady Paulo character. Thus, Poppy has less courage and endurance than his three children since he continually runs away from all of his problems by means of drugs.

I found Maisie’s character very intriguing. After her Mama passed away, she rarely speaks at all. For awhile, she only “said about five things: I scared; Sleep with me; More; There she is; and Mama.” (14). It is sad to find that she wets her bottoms everyday in school, simply because she has practically become a mute and is therefore incapable of asking to use the potty. However, after she joins Miss Ito’s special Ed class, she remarkably makes it into the first grade with a reading level above her classmates.

I think that black was symbolic in this story because a black cat as well as a black moth have mystical powers in this story. The black moth appears just as Aunty Betty demeans Eleanor’s (the kids’ mother’s) family. To the reader’s surprise, the characters believe that this moth is the spirit of the dead; therefore, they believe that it carries Eleanor’s spirit. At that moment, no one—not even Aunty Betty—says anything mean about Eleanor or her family.

I really thought it was cute and sweet when Blu bought Ivah feminine products for Christmas and her birthday and told her that he would buy them for her again if she liked. Prior to this scene, Ivah was using napkins because she was too ashamed and embarrassed to go to the store to purchase anything more substantial. Looking back, I think of the time that I used to have my mother buy my feminine products for me and now I realize how silly my embarrassment was. To think that an eight-year old boy like Blu has no problem with making such a taboo purchase is rather courageous to me.

At the end of the novel, I was happy to find that Ivah decides to go to a private school in Honolulu despite her Poppy’s discouragement. All I can say is that the three children sure are lucky to have such kind, loving and caring women in their lives: Miss Ito and their cousin Big Sis. Maybe their calico cat, Hoppy Creetat, has some mystical power that brings good luck after all? But then again, if she were so lucky, her first litter of kittens probably would not have been hanged.