Wednesday, November 7, 2007
End of Quarter 1!!
I’m really happy with how I did in our English class this quarter. I started a little iffy, but I got the hang of things after about a week or so. I have already learned a ton—probably more in this first quarter than I learned all of last year in LA. The most important things that I learned were how to construct a good thesis, and how to site sources correctly. With those skills, I think I improved a lot in writing a five-paragraph essay. To “strengthen our learning community” I can contribute more to the class by sharing my ideas. My goals for quarter two are to continue improving my structured writing. I’m stronger at writing when there’s no format, so I need to work on writing solid papers that have structure. Another goal is to get outside reading out of the way because it’s a real pain to do it at the end of the quarter when there is already so much going on. Things went pretty well this quarter and to improve, I will stay on top of my homework load.
Friday, November 2, 2007
First of all, A Thousand Splendid Suns can be compared to Black Boy. Mariam is a lot like Richard. She finds no nurture or love in her home. All Nana did to Mariam was blame her. Nana yells at her for being stubborn in the womb, and says “and you Mariam jo, you were in no rush. Almost two days you made me lay on that cold, hard floor. I didn’t eat or sleep all I did was push and pray that you would come out” (10). Mariam is also like Antoine in the movie 400 Blows. Adults are always telling her what to do, and controlling her (partly because she’s a girl.) She runs away, too, just like Antoine does. Mariam decides to run to her father Jalil’s house because she’s fed up with dealing with Nana.
Another Character comparison is one between Fabia (Laila’s mother) and Thomas (the grandpa) in the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Both of these characters have lost love ones. Thomas lost the love of his life, and a future child. Fabia lost her two sons, Ahmad and Noor. Unlike Laila, her mom didn’t recover and move on after her sons’ deaths. She lay in her bed all day in mourning. Thomas, like Fabia, didn’t really make an attempt to recover. He let words slip away from him and let his child live a life without him, much like how Fabia ignored Laila for most of her life. At the end of the book, Laila reminds me of the character Terry from the film On The Waterfront. Terry decides to follow his heart and do what he believes is the right thing to do. He stands up to Johnny Friendly and his gang. Laila tells Tariq—who actually turns out to be alive afterall—that she wants to move back to Kabul. Laila tells Tariq, “I want to be a part of it all. I want to do something” (346). She wants to be a part of the transformation of her country, and wants to do what she can to help. This shows the qualities in Laila of bravery, devotion, and loyalty.
Another Character comparison is one between Fabia (Laila’s mother) and Thomas (the grandpa) in the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Both of these characters have lost love ones. Thomas lost the love of his life, and a future child. Fabia lost her two sons, Ahmad and Noor. Unlike Laila, her mom didn’t recover and move on after her sons’ deaths. She lay in her bed all day in mourning. Thomas, like Fabia, didn’t really make an attempt to recover. He let words slip away from him and let his child live a life without him, much like how Fabia ignored Laila for most of her life. At the end of the book, Laila reminds me of the character Terry from the film On The Waterfront. Terry decides to follow his heart and do what he believes is the right thing to do. He stands up to Johnny Friendly and his gang. Laila tells Tariq—who actually turns out to be alive afterall—that she wants to move back to Kabul. Laila tells Tariq, “I want to be a part of it all. I want to do something” (346). She wants to be a part of the transformation of her country, and wants to do what she can to help. This shows the qualities in Laila of bravery, devotion, and loyalty.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Someone New!
In part two of A Thousand Splendid Suns, the story shifts to the life of Laila, a girl who lives just down the street from Mariam and Rasheed. Laila’s dad is Afghani, but her mom isn’t. Laila’s blonde hair stands out in her neighborhood. A school bully once said to her, “You’re so very pretty, Yellow Hair. I want to marry you” (105). Laila is a very responsible girl. Her mother spends the majority of her time in bed, grieving for her two sons, Ahmad and Noor. Because of this, the cleaning, cooking, and washing responsibilities fall on the shoulders of Laila. Later on, Laila has an opportunity to leave her warring city of Kabul. Her decision however, is to stay with her father because she’s all he has. This shows that Laila is a loyal and sacrificing person.
Tariq is Laila’s best friend. He’s two years older than her, and about a foot taller. Tariq lost a leg due to a small bomb when he was very young. He has a fake leg, and he hits Laila’s bully in the head with it! Tariq is loyal too. He will beat anyone up who hurts or makes fun of his friend. Laila finds Tariq’s house as a kind of safe haven from the arguing and the sadness from her own home. Laila and Tariq seem to motivate each other. When Taiq goes away for a few weeks, Laila can hardly stand it. She describes what time is like without him: “like the accordion on which Tariq’s father sometimes played old Pashto songs, time stretched and contracted depending on Tariq’s absence or presence” (97). When Tariq gets a little older, he picks up habits like smoking, and wearing tight shirts to show off his muscles. From this, we know that he is a bit of a conformist—but despite that, Tariq’s love for Laila never changes.
In part two of A Thousand Splendid Suns, the story shifts to the life of Laila, a girl who lives just down the street from Mariam and Rasheed. Laila’s dad is Afghani, but her mom isn’t. Laila’s blonde hair stands out in her neighborhood. A school bully once said to her, “You’re so very pretty, Yellow Hair. I want to marry you” (105). Laila is a very responsible girl. Her mother spends the majority of her time in bed, grieving for her two sons, Ahmad and Noor. Because of this, the cleaning, cooking, and washing responsibilities fall on the shoulders of Laila. Later on, Laila has an opportunity to leave her warring city of Kabul. Her decision however, is to stay with her father because she’s all he has. This shows that Laila is a loyal and sacrificing person.
Tariq is Laila’s best friend. He’s two years older than her, and about a foot taller. Tariq lost a leg due to a small bomb when he was very young. He has a fake leg, and he hits Laila’s bully in the head with it! Tariq is loyal too. He will beat anyone up who hurts or makes fun of his friend. Laila finds Tariq’s house as a kind of safe haven from the arguing and the sadness from her own home. Laila and Tariq seem to motivate each other. When Taiq goes away for a few weeks, Laila can hardly stand it. She describes what time is like without him: “like the accordion on which Tariq’s father sometimes played old Pashto songs, time stretched and contracted depending on Tariq’s absence or presence” (97). When Tariq gets a little older, he picks up habits like smoking, and wearing tight shirts to show off his muscles. From this, we know that he is a bit of a conformist—but despite that, Tariq’s love for Laila never changes.
What happens next between these two characters is your classic tragic romance story. Tariq has to leave Kabul with his parents. He tells Laila that he loves her and wants to take her with him. She wants to go, but feels guilty about leaving her dad at home—it would break his heart. He begs her to come with, and she refuses. Both characters are denied true love, because they are devoted to their families. The day they said goodbye was the last day they ever saw eachother.
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