October 20, 2008
Period 1
A Year Without "Made In China"
I read the book A Year Without "Made In China" by Sara Bongiorni. The major theme that kept coming up is that America is really dependent on China. But it is not just Americans it is everyone. We depend on China too much and they are becoming manufacturing capital of the world. This theme just shows that America was once independent but as time goes on we have become more and more dependent. Sara Bongiorni basically showed us that it is hard to live normally and not buy stuff from China. It shows our level of dependence on China and how hard it would be if America stopped buying things from China.
America has become so dependent on China that if we were not able to buy things from China, it would be hard because so much of what we use is Made In China. One example from this book is when Kevin wants to make Wes a toy car he realizes that it is going to be harder than he had anticipated. He finds that the wheels are all made in China, he has to pay 5 dollars for a Brazilian made dowel when he could have paid 1 dollar for a Chinese made one. This is the first struggle. Another one is when Sara wants to buy a Barbie doll for her daughter. She finds that all of the dolls are made in China except for one, which is made in Indonesia. Most every little girl plays with Barbie dolls. Just think if China stopped making them. We would be left with nothing except for a few from Indonesia. Most things such as film and toothbrushes look identical but there is one difference. One is made in China and one is made in the USA. Sometimes no one realizes whether what they are buying is American or Chinese. This is because most of what is made looks that same and could probably just be manufactured in America but it is not. This theme is significant in the book because these people vowed to stop using made in China products and they realize just how much is really made in China.
This theme is history is very significant. When we signed the Declaration of Independence we signed it to gain independence from the British Empire. When we buy things from China we are kind of going back to before we signed the Declaration. We are depending on China to supply oiur goods to sell so that we can make money. But first we pay China to make things and then we put them on our shelves and ignore the fact that we didn't make it. We have reverted back to our old ways. We need to become dependent from China because what would happen if China stopped selling goods to us. We would experience a massive drop in sales.
The perspective of this book is a personal perspective. Sara Bongiorni tells her story of trying to avoid buying things from China. She had to change her lifestyle and basically how she adapted to buying things from America and other countries. This relates to the theme very well because she realized that her way of shopping and such changed. She realized how much the USA dependended on China. This perspective is significant because she is a normal person just like us and when we read this book told from a normal person experiencing what we would go through. This perspective is very important because of this.
In conclusion, the big theme in the book and in history is that America is dependent on China. We worked for independence when we signed the declaration and now we are back to being dependent on a country. The point that this story is told by a regular person really is good because we can connect to what she is saying. This theme is very important and should be kept in mind daily because of people that died for us to be free but we are not totally because of the goods that are shipped in from China.
