Thursday, March 20, 2014
What Blog #2
I think the one of the biggest culture clash's in this part of the book is when Valentino goes to the hospital. He has just been found by Achor Achor and has dealt with the cops, and is now receiving medical care for his wounds. He is at the worried about not being able to pay the hospital without health insurance. "Valentino, we've got to take care of everyone that comes in here. By law, we do. We can't turn you away. So you don't need to show your credit cards..."(pg. 243). He is so startled when he doesn't have insurance, thinking that he is too suspicious. He is trying to cover up any suspicion by showing his credit card. This is showing culture clashing, because it depicts his lack of knowledge in this country by a hospital visit. A normal american would have no problem with going to the hospital, but since his culture has nothing quite like a hospital he is frightened and confused.
Finding the What
The last third of the book, after Tabitha is murdered, exemplifies hope in both Achak's past and present life. By the end of the book, the author's tone also infers that Achak has adapted to change; He has accepted his misfortunes and is ready to move on, but he will not forget his past or the lessons it has taught him. Throughout the these pages of What is the What, hope is demonstrated in all characters. Pg 492, "Tabitha would talk only about the United States, about Seattle, about what she would find there.....Oh, she would laugh, the kaleidoscopic possibilities!" Pg 487; Maria, "I told her what I knew: that girls were invited to apply.....When I told her this, a light came to her eyes, for a moment, before flickering out." Pg 535; Achak, "Whatever I do, however I find a way to live, I will tell these stories." There is hope when Ms. Gladys lets the refugees act in a large city, when the possibility of leaving Kakuma is presented, when Achak hears of his parents' survival and even when Achak speaks to the boy who stole his cell phone. Achak loses people who mean the world to him time and time again, and he receives each blow with a strong will and faith in his god.
There were many joyful and painful moments in What is the What, and I find myself noticing a bit more of all the luxuries in my world. Many parts of the book were touching, such as the passages where people showed Achak love and comforted him as a wandering child, but perhaps the most touching was the part where he was able to comfort someone else. Towards the end of the book, a group of men from Sudan are bracing themselves for departure the next day. The youngest boy appears to be frightened, and Achak lets him know that they are a team and will no longer be ignored. "But we're no longer rain, I said,- we're no longer seeds. We're men. Now we can stand and decide. This is our first chance to choose our own unknown. I'm so proud of everything we've done, my brothers, and if we're fortunate enough to fly and land again in a new place, we must continue. As impossible as it sounds, we must keep walking. And yes, there has been suffering, but now there will be grace. There has been pain but now there will be serenity. No one has been tried as we have been tried, and now this is our reward, whether it be heaven or something less than that". If I ever go through hardships even 5% of the difficulty of Achak's in my life, I hope that I will have someone who can comfort with words like these, and a group of people as resilient as them to carry me along.
There were many joyful and painful moments in What is the What, and I find myself noticing a bit more of all the luxuries in my world. Many parts of the book were touching, such as the passages where people showed Achak love and comforted him as a wandering child, but perhaps the most touching was the part where he was able to comfort someone else. Towards the end of the book, a group of men from Sudan are bracing themselves for departure the next day. The youngest boy appears to be frightened, and Achak lets him know that they are a team and will no longer be ignored. "But we're no longer rain, I said,- we're no longer seeds. We're men. Now we can stand and decide. This is our first chance to choose our own unknown. I'm so proud of everything we've done, my brothers, and if we're fortunate enough to fly and land again in a new place, we must continue. As impossible as it sounds, we must keep walking. And yes, there has been suffering, but now there will be grace. There has been pain but now there will be serenity. No one has been tried as we have been tried, and now this is our reward, whether it be heaven or something less than that". If I ever go through hardships even 5% of the difficulty of Achak's in my life, I hope that I will have someone who can comfort with words like these, and a group of people as resilient as them to carry me along.
Finding the What
The last third of the book, after Tabitha is murdered, exemplifies hope in both Achak's past and present life. By the end of the book, the author's tone also infers that Achak has adapted to change; He has accepted his misfortunes and is ready to move on, but he will not forget his past or the lessons it has taught him. Throughout the these pages of What is the What, hope is demonstrated in all characters. Pg 492, "Tabitha would talk only about the United States, about Seattle, about what she would find there.....Oh, she would laugh, the kaleidoscopic possibilities!" Pg 487; Maria, "I told her what I knew: that girls were invited to apply.....When I told her this, a light came to her eyes, for a moment, before flickering out." Pg 535; Achak, "Whatever I do, however I find a way to live, I will tell these stories." There is hope when Ms. Gladys lets the refugees act in a large city, when the possibility of leaving Kakuma is presented, when Achak hears of his parents' survival and even when Achak speaks to the boy who stole his cell phone. Achak loses people who mean the world to him time and time again, and he receives each blow with a strong will and faith in his god.
There were many joyful and painful moments in What is the What, and I find myself noticing a bit more of all the luxuries in my world. Many parts of the book were touching, such as the passages where people showed Achak love and comforted him as a wandering child, but perhaps the most touching was the part where he was able to comfort someone else. Towards the end of the book, a group of men from Sudan are bracing themselves for departure the next day. The youngest boy appears to be frightened, and Achak lets him know that they are a team and will no longer be ignored. "But we're no longer rain, I said,- we're no longer seeds. We're men. Now we can stand and decide. This is our first chance to choose our own unknown. I'm so proud of everything we've done, my brothers, and if we're fortunate enough to fly and land again in a new place, we must continue. As impossible as it sounds, we must keep walking. And yes, there has been suffering, but now there will be grace. There has been pain but now there will be serenity. No one has been tried as we have been tried, and now this is our reward, whether it be heaven or something less than that". If I ever go through hardships even 5% as difficult as those of Achak in my life, I hope that I will have someone who can comfort with words like these, and a group of people as resilient as them to carry me along.
There were many joyful and painful moments in What is the What, and I find myself noticing a bit more of all the luxuries in my world. Many parts of the book were touching, such as the passages where people showed Achak love and comforted him as a wandering child, but perhaps the most touching was the part where he was able to comfort someone else. Towards the end of the book, a group of men from Sudan are bracing themselves for departure the next day. The youngest boy appears to be frightened, and Achak lets him know that they are a team and will no longer be ignored. "But we're no longer rain, I said,- we're no longer seeds. We're men. Now we can stand and decide. This is our first chance to choose our own unknown. I'm so proud of everything we've done, my brothers, and if we're fortunate enough to fly and land again in a new place, we must continue. As impossible as it sounds, we must keep walking. And yes, there has been suffering, but now there will be grace. There has been pain but now there will be serenity. No one has been tried as we have been tried, and now this is our reward, whether it be heaven or something less than that". If I ever go through hardships even 5% as difficult as those of Achak in my life, I hope that I will have someone who can comfort with words like these, and a group of people as resilient as them to carry me along.
Third Post
The tone in the very beginning of the last third starts off hopefully. Through all the tragedies and suffering encountered through the past few years, Valentino still has hope and drive left to create a livable life. After years of living in several refugee camps and being threatened by several different ethnic tribes, Valentino goes off on a mission to successfully get "recycled." "I walked through the night perhaps too cheerfully, thinking my trip charmed and knowing I would be successful. With any luck I would be back at Kakuma with six thousand shillings and another ration card, in three days time." (396) Obviously later in the book, the tone changes but the candle of hope was still lit inside of Valentino. Soon after Valentino embarks on his journey, he is scammed by a man that stole all his belongings. “...I deserved the turmoil. I deserved nothing better. I wanted to be alone with my stupidity, which I cursed in three languages and with all my spleen.”(408) The author Dave Eggers uses very plain language and says it exactly how it is without any spice. Even with the blunt text it is easy to see that Valentino stands out from many of the unaccompanied minors, with his passions and helpful personality. Valentino’s reason to leave Kakuma to get “recycled” was in the better interest of his new family.
When the Lost Boys from Sudan went to see a NBA basketball game they talked to the pro basketball player Manute Bol who left Sudan before the civil war broke out. Basketball was a very popular sport in Kakuma and a main way to pass time. Manute bol was 7 ft 7 in, coming from one of the tallest populations in the world, the Dinka. His parents were 6 ft 10 in and 6 ft 8 in, Manute didn’t even start playing basketball till he was 15 years old. Bol played on many different teams in the United States and passed away on June 19th, 2010 at the early age of 47.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
DIRECTIONS for third posting and comment
Third Posting due Thursday, March 20
Third comment due Tuesday, March 25
For this post, write a CCQC that identifies the TONE of the last third of the book. The claim should include an adjective or two that you think describe the tone, then you need lots of examples/quotes from the book that prove your claim. Sophs, if you need a refresher on TONE, I have put it up on the Edmodo site.
Then write a paragraph that does one of these things, your choice:
*describes a favorite part of the book
*is a review of the book
*uses some part of the book to comment on an issue that interests you
For the comment, find someone who has a different idea than you do about the tone, or about some other part of the book in their second paragraph. Add to their evidence, or challenge their idea by countering it with evidence of your own.
Third comment due Tuesday, March 25
For this post, write a CCQC that identifies the TONE of the last third of the book. The claim should include an adjective or two that you think describe the tone, then you need lots of examples/quotes from the book that prove your claim. Sophs, if you need a refresher on TONE, I have put it up on the Edmodo site.
Then write a paragraph that does one of these things, your choice:
*describes a favorite part of the book
*is a review of the book
*uses some part of the book to comment on an issue that interests you
For the comment, find someone who has a different idea than you do about the tone, or about some other part of the book in their second paragraph. Add to their evidence, or challenge their idea by countering it with evidence of your own.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Post two-Cultural Clashes: the alluring tampon box.
Valentino and the other sundanese men that travel to America experience many cultural shocks because they are not used to a consumerist society. When they first arrive, they are in awe at the amount of the products sold in America and the beauty of each product. "There were a different pair of Lost Boys, who had recently been taken shopping for the first time, at an enormous grocery store. They had fifty dollars to spend, and had no idea where to start. Along the way, they had picked out a very special box and put it in their cart. Their sponsor, a woman in her fifties, smiled and tried to explain what was in the box, which was in fact tampons....She thought she had accomplished her task, only to find that the men wanted the package anyway. 'It is beautiful' they said, and they bought it, took it home, and displayed it on their coffee table." (pg.175)
Even though this is early on in the story, it reached out to me because it made me think about the things we take for granted. To find something as boring to us as going to the grocery store so amazing, it defines the difference of our two cultures. We are used to the life where we can go to a beautifully lit store with thousands of items that never run out of stock and think nothing of it. While they, they find it extraordinary and enticing. This perfectly describes the modern consumerist culture vs. the culture that the Lost Boys grew up in. In the consumerist culture, we are used to endless factory farmed products and the giant availability of things. But when they are in awe of such a thing we find so boring, it makes me think that in their culture, people spend more time on their products. This probably makes them more valuable. An example of this in What is the What, is when Valentino is describing his early days in Marial Bai. He tells us about a dream day that he thought of before sleeping when he was on his journey to Ethiopia. The day begins with him leaning against his sister as she is grinding grain. He then goes to the compound of a girl he is in love with, Amath. Amath is winnowing shorghum. After Amath asks him for a bucket of water, Valentino runs to a washerwoman and asks to quickly borrow her bucket. These three women put an enormous amount of time and hours into something Americans in a consumerist country don't even think about. The two Lost Boys were probably amazed that not only was a product so beautiful, but there were many copies of it. It probably takes ages to make a beautiful thing in the Sudan, while in America, millions of them are created in five minutes. This is also because the United States is a wealthier country than Sudan, so Sudanese are probably not used to so many products that are all a variety of colors and styles. An example of this is when there is a bicycle that a shopkeeper traded for in Marial Bai.Valentino, and his friends William K and moses are in awe of the commercial beauty. This shows that Sudan is not a consumerist country, and poorer because a fairly average object to us is priceless to them. They also did not know what to do with the plastic, so they are not used to consumerist packaging. Below is a picture of a shopping center in Khartoum that I found from a tourist website. Then is a picture of the interior of a Safeway.
Even though this is early on in the story, it reached out to me because it made me think about the things we take for granted. To find something as boring to us as going to the grocery store so amazing, it defines the difference of our two cultures. We are used to the life where we can go to a beautifully lit store with thousands of items that never run out of stock and think nothing of it. While they, they find it extraordinary and enticing. This perfectly describes the modern consumerist culture vs. the culture that the Lost Boys grew up in. In the consumerist culture, we are used to endless factory farmed products and the giant availability of things. But when they are in awe of such a thing we find so boring, it makes me think that in their culture, people spend more time on their products. This probably makes them more valuable. An example of this in What is the What, is when Valentino is describing his early days in Marial Bai. He tells us about a dream day that he thought of before sleeping when he was on his journey to Ethiopia. The day begins with him leaning against his sister as she is grinding grain. He then goes to the compound of a girl he is in love with, Amath. Amath is winnowing shorghum. After Amath asks him for a bucket of water, Valentino runs to a washerwoman and asks to quickly borrow her bucket. These three women put an enormous amount of time and hours into something Americans in a consumerist country don't even think about. The two Lost Boys were probably amazed that not only was a product so beautiful, but there were many copies of it. It probably takes ages to make a beautiful thing in the Sudan, while in America, millions of them are created in five minutes. This is also because the United States is a wealthier country than Sudan, so Sudanese are probably not used to so many products that are all a variety of colors and styles. An example of this is when there is a bicycle that a shopkeeper traded for in Marial Bai.Valentino, and his friends William K and moses are in awe of the commercial beauty. This shows that Sudan is not a consumerist country, and poorer because a fairly average object to us is priceless to them. They also did not know what to do with the plastic, so they are not used to consumerist packaging. Below is a picture of a shopping center in Khartoum that I found from a tourist website. Then is a picture of the interior of a Safeway.
The difference in cultures portrayed by just these two pictures is amazing. Most of the products in the Khartoum shopping center picture is handmade and very beautiful, but also very unlike the products in the second photo. If you are used to one and then see the other, you would probably find something that others would find silly to be in awe of, like a tampon box, extremely beautiful
Though the Christians are portrayed as those who want to help the Sudanese, their approach is often involuntarily counterproductive. While Achak is tied up, he tries to kick his legs against the floor so that the noise can alert his Christian neighbors that he is being robbed and needs help. He thinks that since Christian institutions are usually the ones that aide the relocated Sudanese people, they will be most likely to help him. Achak acknowledges that the Christians have good intentions, but since their lives are so different from those they are trying to help they can come off the same way. "...he had read something about the persistence of slavery in Sudan; his church was sending money to an evangelical group that was planning to travel to Sudan to buy back slaves 139)." Not only is this ironic in the sense that he is buying back slaves and therefore not really changing the industry at all, but evangelical Islamists and Arabs are the one that are destroying Sudan. Religion is a huge part of the conflict, so adding another religious group to it seems counter intuitive. They are just giving money to the slavers that capture the people, and therefore fueling the business. This is an important ironic point in the book because it exhibits how lack of experience and tunnel vision makes us look at things, even if we don't mean to. We don't really understand until we've been in their shoes.
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