Regarding the Problem of Newborn Piglets in Winter and Dancing for Mao

                Based in China, during the time when Mao’s power was terribly great, these literary works about life during Cultural Revolution are similar, yet very different in the way that the government is perceived.  Jennifer Lin’s article, Dancing for Mao is comparative to Chen Rong’s Regarding the Problem of Newborn Piglets in Winter, in that they both are set in China during the Cultural Revolution.  More different than alike, Lin’s article focuses more on the Chinese people unknowingly integrating and assimilating with the Mao’s ideology.  Rong aims for the opposite; having her characters fully aware of the changes around them and it is not until the very end that her characters finally give into the unknowing integration.  Lin’s portraying of the unknowing integration is much like acceptance.  When asked about the dance she performed as a child, Kang Wenjie “hadn’t even known that the dance she performed that day had a name.” (12)  This means that as a child, Kang’s parents, relatives, or friends had never told her what the dance meant or mentioned anything negative about Mao.  Thus, they too must have become accustomed to this way of life and governing.  In contrast, Rong’s novel exposes the hesitation to assimilate with this new ideology.  When watching television at her grandparent’s house, Babe expresses curiosity and agitation when her grandpa, Zhang Dingfan tells her that she cannot watch what she wants to watch.  “Why not this? The melody of youth.  Very nice” (183), Dingfan tells her when recommending a different show, a show from before Mao’s time.  He is trying to keep his granddaughter from being exposed to Mao’s new ideas.  Despite trying to shelter Babe from the media of that time, Dingfan himself finally gives in to the new ideology at the end of the story.  “When the time comes, I’ll make up words to suit whatever tune the authority picks” (194) says Dingfan.  By expressing this, Dingfan surrenders his support against integrating with Mao and his followers. 

                  

Pigeons At Daybreak Response

Anita Desai’s, Pigeons at Daybreak, exposes and unveils the pride that Desai has for her beloved and native country, India.  She opens the door and ushers in the reader to an alien world.  Desai virtually eliminates the 8,000+ miles that lie within a plethora of terrains and countries that separate the United States and India.  She shows her affection for her country, by allowing a reader to truly experience a fragment of the life of an Indian.  This permits the reader to recognize that despite the miles that lay between them and the differences in language, culture and beliefs, they are really no different from one another.  They both live, day to day with obstacles and circumstances over which they have no control.  Desai has taken a chisel to the barrier between people from opposite corners of the world that has been building because of the miles between them.  She ultimately shows that people more alike than they think and she displays this through her telling of the Basus.  This story is just one of a myriad of global narrations, whose purpose is to eliminate distances and reveal cultural similarities.  Authors of global narratives, relate their culture through a story that all people can relate to. 

Harkness Questions: The Collector of Treasures

1) Does anyone think that one reason why Dikeledi doesn't feel guilf after killing her husband, is because she grew up fatherless and thinks that she turned out well despite this.  Thus, she believes that her children are strong enough to grow up like this and not have it really effect them.

2) Besides for her freedom, what does Dikeledi sacrifice for her children? 

3) The story is titled The Collector of Treasures, what does Dikeldi consider treasures?

4) What could be a possible reason why Bessie Head decides to exclude Dikeledi's name in the first few pages when she is introduced as a murderer?

5) Do we think that it was Dikeldi's plan to kill Garesego and have her children cared for by Paul Thebolo and his family?

The Collector of Treasures Writing Response

In Bessie Head’s, The Collector of Treasures, it is interesting how the main character, Dikeledi Mokopi sacrifices a lot for the well being of her children despite all of the tragedy she has endured.  From the very beginning of her life she has been associated with sadness and death of her father, due to her name meaning tears. Several years after her birth, her mother also died, leaving her an orphan.  Though she moved in with her wealthy uncle, she was treated as a servant.  Her marriage to Garesego Mokopi was her escape from her uncle.  However, she did not escape a lot because Garesego was a cruel man.  Through their marriage Dikeledi had three sons, and eventually Garesego left, leaving Dikeledi to raise their children alone.  She was able to well care for her children.  When it came to be time for secondary school for her eldest son, Dikeledi was left no choice but to ask Garesego for money to help pay for tuition.  Her son had worked extremely hard and she felt that she owed it to him to do everything in her power to help him further expand his studies.  Asking Garesego was a big thing for her because she feels like a failure asking for money.  By approaching Garesego she basically openly admits that she is not capable of completely caring for her children and this forces her to show weakness.  She sacrifices her reputation of parenting by doing this.  By killing Garesego, she sacrifices her children’s mother.  Much like herself as a child, her children will grow up orphans and will be forced to live with someone else.   Though this time, they will be living with a person who cares for them and does not treat them as outsiders and servants.  She sacrifices her freedom for the well being of her children.  When in jail, she doesn’t show any regret for killing Garesego because though the short term effect on her children will be bad, in the long run, her children will have access to higher education, thus opening doors to many opportunities later in life, which Dikeledi herself, didn’t have the opportunity to have.  All in all, Dikeledi’s actions were all carefully planned out with her children as the main focus.

The Bluest Eye Harkness Discussion Topics

“God was a nice old white man, with long white hair, flowing white beard, and little blue eyes that looked sad when people died and mean when they were bad.”   Page 134

“And now the strong, black devil was blotting out the sun and getting ready to split the world open.” Page 134

-          I would like to talk about the relationship between religious figures and the character because they are not openly addressed.  Can they believe in God if they cannot relate to him?

Based upon what we know about Pauline and her history, are her actions towards her children somewhat justified? (Based upon the flash back beginning on page 115)

Bluest Eye Blog Prompt

THE ITALICIZED SECTIONS

            Morrison creatively inserts passages of italicized sections to reflect Pauline’s past.  These specific passages are told from the first person point of view from Pauline, instead of the third person, which is the format by which the rest of the novel follows.  There could be numerous reasons as to why Morrison chose these first person passages and why he chose them to be about Pauline.  It is evident that there are many layers and mysteries behind Pauline. The impression is given that she is a woman filled completely with anger and hatred; for example by the way she reacts to her own daughter’s birth by calling her ugly (126).  However, the italicized sections allow the reader to experience a different perspective about Pauline and where she came from.  Readers learn about her past and her relationship with Cholly and how that relationship has become strained over time.  Beginning after they had moved up north to begin a new life together, Cholly’s drinking habits and the unfortunate occurrence of Pauline losing her tooth, lead to the ultimate tension which the reader sees earlier on.  They show what a difficult life Pauline has had to endure and the constant feeling of loneliness she has always had to live with.  Working all her life and having no friends or supportive family members truly takes a toll on Pauline’s overall well-being.  But, most importantly, these passages almost justify her actions in a sense.  Knowing about the past that shaped Pauline as a person and the feelings that she had endured ever since knowing Cholly, the reader can easily see where she is coming from.  Thus, these italicized passages truly add to the novel by allowing the reader to experience an unfamiliar character in depth which in turn, allows for the understanding of other characters.

            NON-LINEAR NARRATION

            Morrison’s style of non-linear narration truly adds to the story by giving past details to help the reader understand the present events.  Morrison’s decision to write like this, gives the reader so much more insight and depth to characters.  Such as when he uses non-linear narration with the italicized sections to describe Pauline, the reader gets so much more out of this than if the story were told in a linear manner because then the story is set up in a way by which the author can give vast amounts of information without being confusing.  In the preface of the novel, when readers learn that Pecola is pregnant with her father’s child, this style allows readers to have an idea about who these characters are before they are even introduced.  Overall, in a story like this, where the characters have many layers and complicated pasts, a non-linear narration works best to convey all that needs to be told.

The Danger of a Single Story

I had just began middle school and had been placed in classes all with kids from the other schools which fed into the middle school.  I knew no one, and didn't want to be friends with these kids because they seemed weird to me.  Since they had all gone to elementary school together, they had already formed their 'groups' long ago.  I tried to continue being friends with the kids from my elementary school, but never seeing each other, caused us to grow apart from one another.  Later on, I realized that maybe I could at least try to be friends with these people whom I believed were weird.  What had I got to lose?  I began to talk to them and realized that they weren't all as weird as I had previously made them out to be.  After talking to them and hanging out with them, I realized that we had more in common than I thought.  Today, I am still very good friends with these kids, despite the fact that we see each other very rarely.

Discussion questions for The Bluest Eye

1) Where exactly do we think that Maureen Peal (introduced on page 62) came from.  What is her background and what makes her think she is superior to others, besides from the fact that her family is wealthy?

2) I think that deep down, Geraldine knows that her son, Louis Junior, killed the cat, but what exactly are the underlying reasons as to why she blames Pecola besides for the fact that Louis Junior says that it was her?

Daniyal Mueenuddin       

By Lauren Pugliese     

Born: Los Angeles, California in 1963                         

Died: He hasn’t died

Awards: Daniyal Mueenuddin won the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award this year.  His book, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, was in the top ranked books for TIME Magazine, Publishers Weekly, The Economist, The Guardian, The New Statesman and The New York Times during 2009.

Works: He wrote In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (2009)

Style:  He writes in a poetic-like manner, where the words flow very well together.  He writes about the class differences that those in Pakistan experience. 

Quotation: “I don’t want to be identified as a Pakistani writer, but as a writer.”

Daniyal Mueenuddin is very heavily influenced by Chekov.

-          Wikipedia contributors. "Daniyal Mueenuddin." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 11 Sep. 2010. Web. 21 Sep. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniyal_Mueenuddin>

This source provided the information on Daniyal Mueenuddin’s birth, awards and works.

-          Javed Jahangir. Interview with Daniyal Mueenuddin.  Beyond the Margins.  23 February.  2010.  Web.  20 Sep.  2010.  <http://beyondthemargins.com/2010/02/interview-with-daniyal-mueenuddin/>

This source provided information on Daniyal Mueenuddin’s writing style, quotation and his literary influence.

Response to In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

Daniyal Mueenddin’s, In Other Rooms, Other wonders, Mueenuddin tells of a man by the name of Nawabdin.  Nawabdin is a servant to K.K. Harouni, who owns a great deal of land in the Middle East.  His main responsibility is to tend to the tube wells, which are used for the irrigation of the land in a very dry terrain.   One day, on his way back home to his family of thirteen children in Punjab, he comes across a man stranded on the road in the middle of the night.  The man asks for a ride, and Nawabdin agrees without knowing the dangers involved.  Shortly after beginning on their journey together, the man pulls out a gun.  He tells Nawabdin that if he doesn’t give him his motorcycle, he will shoot him.  Nawabdin ends up shot, but townspeople heard the gun shots and come to Nawabdin’s rescue within a short period of time.  When they arrive, they find the robber and shoot him.  They are both brought to a clinic where the extent of their injuries is discovered.  Nawabdin’s gunshot wound is not life threatening, but the robber had gotten shot in the lung and dies shortly after arriving at the clinic. 

I thought this short story was very well written and interesting.  I found the very end of the story where Nawabdin refused to forgive the robber, very interesting.  This was interesting because the reader gets the impression that Nawabdin is a very kind, forgiving man who would just be thankful that he survived.  However, when he doesn’t forgive the man, it challenges the idea of who we believe Nawabdin is.  This story demonstrates how people may surprise you in terms of actions when something they love is in danger.

Author Profile

After reading In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin, it appears that Mueenuddin is an author that focuses on lessons, life and working hard.  It is evident that Mueenuddin is a writer from the Middle East, but more specifically from India.  This short story implies that Daniyal Mueenuddin is or has been much immersed in the Middle Eastern culture and suggests that he possibly lives or lived there. 

If this was not a true story, then what was the inspiration for this?

What time period is this story exactly set in?