This week I noticed a fem more cultural differences between the United States and Afghanistan, Laila's home. Also, in A Thousand Splendid Suns, Part 2 of the book is from a new point of view. Laila becomes the main character instead of Mariam and the story revolves around her life and her family, rather than Mariam's life with Rasheed. So, my posts will focus on Laila for now!
Anyway, one of the cultural differences I noticed this week has to do with marriage again. I already discussed arranged marriages as a cultural difference. This time, it's marriages to family members. For example, Laila's parents were originally cousins: "Both Mammy and Babi, who were first cousins, had been born and raised in Panjshir..." (98). In the United States, it would be a huge scandal if two first cousins got married. That just doesn't happen here, it's not socially acceptable. In Afghanistan, the social standard is clearly different--marriage between cousins is accepted and seen as normal.
A second cultural difference I discovered in this week's reading was in schooling. Laila's teacher, Shanzai--or Khala Rangmaal, Auntie Painter, as the students call her--uses discipline methods with her students that are very different from Edina High School: "...behind her back, the students called her Khala Rangmaal, Auntie Painter, referring to the motion she favored when she slapped students--palm, then back of hand, back and forth, like a painter working a brush" (101). Slapping students is considered totally reasonable punishment in Laila's school. If a teacher did that in Edina, or anywhere in the U.S., there would be severe consequences!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Quarter 4: Week 4, Post B
This week, I chose to analyze a quote. It's from earlier in the book, but it stuck out to me and I wanted to go back and acknowledge it, even if it's a little late.
"She [Mariam] remembered Nana saying once that each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. That all the sighs drifted up the sky, gathered into clouds, then broke into tiny pieces that fell silently on the people below. As a reminder of how women like us suffer, she'd said. How quietly we endure all that falls upon us" (82).
For some reason, these lines immediately struck a chord with me when I read them. First of all, I thought they perfectly showed Nana's grief and unhappiness in life. She was constantly reminding Mariam of how much she had suffered--she pitied herself immensely. She wasted her life away with regrets and resentment. Instead of instilling hope and optimism in her daughter, she was constantly pessimistic. And this is only one example of this. Another reason this quote caught my eye is because of its significance in Mariam's life. When she remembers this moment with her mother she has just lost a child due to miscarriage. Rasheed is furious and upset with himself, the doctors, and Mariam. He is selfish about his grief though, and he doesn't see how Mariam is equally, if not more, grief-stricken by the loss. She does not speak up though. Just as her mother stated about the snowflakes, Mariam endures the loss quietly and alone. She doesn't burden Rasheed with her pain. I think this quote also holds some foreshadowing. Having read further ahead in the book now, I know that Mariam is just beginning to suffer. She is forced to endure much more pain in the future--this is only the beginning. And through all of it, she continues to turn inward and face her pain alone. This quote foreshadows the pain and difficulty Mariam will face in the future.
"She [Mariam] remembered Nana saying once that each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. That all the sighs drifted up the sky, gathered into clouds, then broke into tiny pieces that fell silently on the people below. As a reminder of how women like us suffer, she'd said. How quietly we endure all that falls upon us" (82).
For some reason, these lines immediately struck a chord with me when I read them. First of all, I thought they perfectly showed Nana's grief and unhappiness in life. She was constantly reminding Mariam of how much she had suffered--she pitied herself immensely. She wasted her life away with regrets and resentment. Instead of instilling hope and optimism in her daughter, she was constantly pessimistic. And this is only one example of this. Another reason this quote caught my eye is because of its significance in Mariam's life. When she remembers this moment with her mother she has just lost a child due to miscarriage. Rasheed is furious and upset with himself, the doctors, and Mariam. He is selfish about his grief though, and he doesn't see how Mariam is equally, if not more, grief-stricken by the loss. She does not speak up though. Just as her mother stated about the snowflakes, Mariam endures the loss quietly and alone. She doesn't burden Rasheed with her pain. I think this quote also holds some foreshadowing. Having read further ahead in the book now, I know that Mariam is just beginning to suffer. She is forced to endure much more pain in the future--this is only the beginning. And through all of it, she continues to turn inward and face her pain alone. This quote foreshadows the pain and difficulty Mariam will face in the future.
Quarter 4: Week 4, Post A
I'm continuing to love A Thousand Splendid Suns, and as I read I notice more and more cultural differences in Mariam and Laila's world. One example of this is the food people eat in Afghanistan. Rice seems to be a staple item, eaten at most meals, if not all. Some of the other dishes that have been mentioned by Mariam include sabzi, borani, aushak, lamb, daal, and okra qurma. All of these dishes are completely unfamiliar to me, with the exceptions of rice and lamb of course. Still, these strange dishes show how important food is to our culture and how much we notice the different types of food around the world.
Another cultural difference I noticed this week was the sense of religious community in Kabul. During Ramadan, a Muslim holiday, the entire city nearly shuts down. As Mariam observes, "...a drowsy hush overtook Kabul. Traffic became languid, scant, even quiet. Shops emptied. Restaurants turned off their lights, closed their doors" (71). Then, at the end of Ramadan, or Eid, the opposite occurs. Just as the city became quiet and empty during the Ramadan fasting time, the entire city comes together to feast and be joyful. The sense of community is just as strong, instead it's focused on celebration instead of prayer and reflection. Mariam notes the differences: "Rasheed and she took to the streets. Mariam had never walked amid such livliness...kids romped about and compared Eid gifts. Maraim saw festive lanterns hanging from shop windows, heard music blaring from loudspeakers" (73).
Here in the United States, it would be rare to find an occurrence similar to this one in Afghanistan. There is such diversity of religion here that it would be extremely unlikely for an entire city, especially one as large and important here as Kabul is in Afghanistan, to all partake in the same religious rituals. Although cities do have celebrations and parades, they aren't centered around religion. The fact that the lives of Mariam and her fellow Kabul residents are so focused on religion is very different from most people in the U.S. It would be impossible to shut down an entire city for days at a time, all because of one single religious holiday. People here work on all holidays-Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Easter, Passover...there is never a time when everyone gets to take off and celebrate together as a community.
Another cultural difference I noticed this week was the sense of religious community in Kabul. During Ramadan, a Muslim holiday, the entire city nearly shuts down. As Mariam observes, "...a drowsy hush overtook Kabul. Traffic became languid, scant, even quiet. Shops emptied. Restaurants turned off their lights, closed their doors" (71). Then, at the end of Ramadan, or Eid, the opposite occurs. Just as the city became quiet and empty during the Ramadan fasting time, the entire city comes together to feast and be joyful. The sense of community is just as strong, instead it's focused on celebration instead of prayer and reflection. Mariam notes the differences: "Rasheed and she took to the streets. Mariam had never walked amid such livliness...kids romped about and compared Eid gifts. Maraim saw festive lanterns hanging from shop windows, heard music blaring from loudspeakers" (73).
Here in the United States, it would be rare to find an occurrence similar to this one in Afghanistan. There is such diversity of religion here that it would be extremely unlikely for an entire city, especially one as large and important here as Kabul is in Afghanistan, to all partake in the same religious rituals. Although cities do have celebrations and parades, they aren't centered around religion. The fact that the lives of Mariam and her fellow Kabul residents are so focused on religion is very different from most people in the U.S. It would be impossible to shut down an entire city for days at a time, all because of one single religious holiday. People here work on all holidays-Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Easter, Passover...there is never a time when everyone gets to take off and celebrate together as a community.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Quarter 4: Week 3, Post B
Dear Mariam,
Wow. As I continue to read A Thousand Splendid Sons and learn more about you and your life, I become more and more appalled! Your situation seems awful. First, you're forced to marry a complete stranger so your father can save face. Then, this man turns out to be a total control freak--he makes you wear a burqa, he doesn't allow you to talk to certain people, and he gets angry at YOU when you have miscarriages. It's not your fault! You shouldn't have to take the blame for something that you feel terrible enough about as it is.
He has no right to treat you the way he does. He talks down to you, if at all, and he complains about everything. You work so hard to keep the house to his liking and to cook meals that he'll find satisfactory, but he always finds something wrong with what you've made. It's just not fair! The real kicker was when he forced you to eat pebbles-that is just inhumane! Pebbles are obviously not meant to be chewed with human teeth, but he made you do just that! You lost two molars and all because he thought your rice wasn't soft enough?! If I was you, I would have left his sorry butt months ago!
But the sad thing is, you can't. You have nowhere else to go. The fact that living with this abusive man is your best option does not say a lot. I feel so sorry for you! I really hope you can stay optimistic even though it must be so tough to deal with your situation right now. Try to remember that you're so much stronger than him-he is weak.
In hopes that things improve soon,
A-Rod
Wow. As I continue to read A Thousand Splendid Sons and learn more about you and your life, I become more and more appalled! Your situation seems awful. First, you're forced to marry a complete stranger so your father can save face. Then, this man turns out to be a total control freak--he makes you wear a burqa, he doesn't allow you to talk to certain people, and he gets angry at YOU when you have miscarriages. It's not your fault! You shouldn't have to take the blame for something that you feel terrible enough about as it is.
He has no right to treat you the way he does. He talks down to you, if at all, and he complains about everything. You work so hard to keep the house to his liking and to cook meals that he'll find satisfactory, but he always finds something wrong with what you've made. It's just not fair! The real kicker was when he forced you to eat pebbles-that is just inhumane! Pebbles are obviously not meant to be chewed with human teeth, but he made you do just that! You lost two molars and all because he thought your rice wasn't soft enough?! If I was you, I would have left his sorry butt months ago!
But the sad thing is, you can't. You have nowhere else to go. The fact that living with this abusive man is your best option does not say a lot. I feel so sorry for you! I really hope you can stay optimistic even though it must be so tough to deal with your situation right now. Try to remember that you're so much stronger than him-he is weak.
In hopes that things improve soon,
A-Rod
Quarter 4: Week 3, Post A
My reading this week of A Thousand Splendid Suns revealed many cultural differences. First of all, the fact that Mariam and Rasheed sleep in separate rooms was strange to me. I'm sure there are similar cases in the U.S. in some places, but for me this is really weird! I've always known marriage to be between two people who love each other enough to spend the rest of their lives together, which usually means spending a lot of time together. I do not know of any married couples who sleep in different rooms, it seems to defeat the whole purpose of marriage-togetherness. But in Kabul, Afghanistan, this is a very common practice. In fact, Mariam is relieved that she gets to sleep alone and the arrangement seems to please Rasheed as well. Strange as it seems to me, this is the norm for couples with arranged marriages in Afghanistan.
Another cultural difference I've noticed is the life of Mariam as a housewife. She is held to very high expectations by Rasheed. For example, she is expected to have dinner hot and ready to eat every day when Rasheed comes home from work so he can eat. She also is expected to keep the house clean and tidy all the time. Furthermore, when Rasheed wants to host friends, Mariam is expected to clean, cook, and set up the house for them but then spend the night in her room, out of sight. And the most surprising part about this is that Mariam actually enjoys this! She likes the fact that Rasheed wants to hide her from his friends-to her, it shows that he's proud of her. If that were me, I would be seriously angry! To do all that work and then be forced to hide out in my room and miss out on all the fun? No way! It just goes to show how extremely different Afghan society is from ours.
Another cultural difference I've noticed is the life of Mariam as a housewife. She is held to very high expectations by Rasheed. For example, she is expected to have dinner hot and ready to eat every day when Rasheed comes home from work so he can eat. She also is expected to keep the house clean and tidy all the time. Furthermore, when Rasheed wants to host friends, Mariam is expected to clean, cook, and set up the house for them but then spend the night in her room, out of sight. And the most surprising part about this is that Mariam actually enjoys this! She likes the fact that Rasheed wants to hide her from his friends-to her, it shows that he's proud of her. If that were me, I would be seriously angry! To do all that work and then be forced to hide out in my room and miss out on all the fun? No way! It just goes to show how extremely different Afghan society is from ours.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
World Issues
For our world issues outline/annotated bibliography assignment, I've decided to focus on the terrible situation in Darfur in Africa. (And I'm not just copying the model, I actually really do want to learn more about this issue-it's something that really interests me.) Here are some sources that seem helpful so far:
"Dying in Darfur: Can the Ethnic Cleansing in Sudan Be Stopped?" from New Yorker, accessed on SIRS
http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307-0-2161&artno=0000193365&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=darfur&title=Dying%20in%20Darfur&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y
"Darfur and the Genocide Debate" from Foreign Affairs, accessed on SIRS
http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-6022&artno=0000209215&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=darfur%20conflict&title=Darfur%20and%20the%20Genocide%20Debate&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y
"UN Says Darfur Conflict Worsening, with perhaps 300,000 Dead" from The New York Times online
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-UN-Sudan-Darfur.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=darfur&st=nyt&oref=slogin
"Dying in Darfur: Can the Ethnic Cleansing in Sudan Be Stopped?" from New Yorker, accessed on SIRS
http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307-0-2161&artno=0000193365&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=darfur&title=Dying%20in%20Darfur&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y
"Darfur and the Genocide Debate" from Foreign Affairs, accessed on SIRS
http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-6022&artno=0000209215&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=darfur%20conflict&title=Darfur%20and%20the%20Genocide%20Debate&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y
"UN Says Darfur Conflict Worsening, with perhaps 300,000 Dead" from The New York Times online
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-UN-Sudan-Darfur.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=darfur&st=nyt&oref=slogin
Quarter 4: Week 2, Post B
So far I am really, really enjoying A Thousand Splendid Suns-much more than I thought I would. I mean, I've heard how amazing The Kite Runner is, and this is by the same author, but I definitely didn't expect to like it as much as I do. Mariam is easy to relate to in some ways because she's around the same age as me, she doesn't always get along with her mom, and she and her dad have a special bond-at least at first. However, in most ways our lives are very different. Mariam's parents are not married, she doesn't know any of her siblings (or half-siblings, technically) and her mother kills herself when Mariam is just fifteen years old. Also, she is forced into an arranged marriage and she is an outcast in her father's home. In these ways, her life is so vastly different from mine, it's hard to believe. She has so much struggle at such a young age, and many of these struggles are things that would never be encountered by the average American teen (aka the arranged marriage and dealing with her father's multiple wives). Overall, I really like Mariam so far. I think she's smart and very strong. Hopefully she can learn to stand up for herself a little more-she needs a little Minerva Mirabal attitude in her! I can't wait to keep reading and see what happens when Mariam gets married to Rasheed..should be interesting!
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