Right away in the story, something happens when "...the sugar bowl" that had a "dragon on [it]...to ward off evil...fell to the wooden floorboards...and shattered." It is foreshadowing something "evil" or bad happening like Mariam's father not showing up to get her, her father turning to hide from her when she saw him in an upstairs window, or Nana committing suicide. In the beginning chapters I am always confused who is the good and bad guy. Nana or Jalil? Nana seems to over exaggerate everything or lie about how much of a fool Jalil is, also calling Mariam a harami and saying she's nothing. But sometimes Nana turns into the insane but loving mother and Jalil is a two faced father that only wants his daughter to believe he is all good, when really he's fake. The situation isn't helped by the narrator being mariam, the child just as confused as the reader.
Jalil and Nana seem to fight one another through their daughter. They will barely have conversation when they're having tea together with Mariam, but apart they accuse the other of lying. "And you, Mariam jo, you were in no rush. Almost two days you made me like on that cold, hard floor." "They told me it was all over within under an hour.' Jalil said, ' You were a good daughter, Mariam jo." "He wasn't even there! Nana spat.
..."Nana said she was the one who'd picked the name Mariam because it had been the name of her mother. Jalil said he chose the name because Mariam, the tuberose, was a lovely flower."
"I'll die if you go. The jinn will come, and i'll have one of my fits." A jinn is Arabic meaning "hidden from sight" and is a "spirit of lower rank than an angel...a demon" What made Nana become demon possessed in the past? Was she possessed when she commited suicide, did she just believe she was, or was she actually insane?
Monday, October 29, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
The Poisonwood Bible 7
The Congo has affected each sister in some sort of way to change who they were into who they are now at an old(er) age. But Leah and Adah agree Rachel "[would] win the prize for 'Changed the Least.'" When Leah and Adah are walking infront of Rachel she was "shocked to see how alike they were...[Adah] talks now...She's exactly as tall as Leah now...they hadn't seen each other for years, and here they even showed up wearing the same heairstyle...not even a regular fashion." Why hadn't Rachel seen the physical similarities between the twins before? Even though Ada had a limp and not as strong on one side of her body, the only thing that could really be different now is that they grew up.
Why is it that Leah is the only one in the family that gets emotional about Nathan's death? Rachel didn't care one ounce, Adah seemed unaffected, and Orleanna just went to work like she did when she was told that Ruth May had died. I supposed Orleanna felt something because she kept busy with work to keep her mind off of Ruth May's death and said "Only when I stopped did hte slick, dark stuff of it come floating around my face, catching my arms and throat till i began to drown. So I just didn't stop." There's a possibility she had a LITTLE love for Nathan left from the memories of how he used to be before he went to war.
It was incredible how Adah points out that Father got 'The Verse'. The verse that Nathan would give Adah for just being slow was exactly how he ended up dying! Is there significance to why he just gave Adah that verse? It didn't really apply to someone being slow just being punished for causing trouble: "The King of Kings aroused the anger of Antiochus against the rascal...this man was to blame for all the trouble..." Wouldn't it be necessary for this message to be "taught" to the other girls because their punishments of writing The Verse is because they did soemthing wrong or caused trouble in the eyes of Nathan.
Why is it that Leah is the only one in the family that gets emotional about Nathan's death? Rachel didn't care one ounce, Adah seemed unaffected, and Orleanna just went to work like she did when she was told that Ruth May had died. I supposed Orleanna felt something because she kept busy with work to keep her mind off of Ruth May's death and said "Only when I stopped did hte slick, dark stuff of it come floating around my face, catching my arms and throat till i began to drown. So I just didn't stop." There's a possibility she had a LITTLE love for Nathan left from the memories of how he used to be before he went to war.
It was incredible how Adah points out that Father got 'The Verse'. The verse that Nathan would give Adah for just being slow was exactly how he ended up dying! Is there significance to why he just gave Adah that verse? It didn't really apply to someone being slow just being punished for causing trouble: "The King of Kings aroused the anger of Antiochus against the rascal...this man was to blame for all the trouble..." Wouldn't it be necessary for this message to be "taught" to the other girls because their punishments of writing The Verse is because they did soemthing wrong or caused trouble in the eyes of Nathan.
Monday, October 1, 2012
The Poisonwood Bible 6
"I went on foot because i still had feet to carry me. Plain and simple, that was the source of out exodus: I had to keep moving...Carry us, marry us, ferry us, bury us: those are out four ways to exodus, for now." An exodus is the removal or departure from a place. Each lady of the family is described in these two sentances of how they left the Congo: "Plain and simple...I had to keep moving." All Orleanna did once Ruth May died was move move move. If she quit moving her thoughts and reality would catch up to her. She left the Congo is a hypnotized state it seemed; in a haze. "Carry us.." Adah was now the youngest of the girls and her mom "carried" her by doing all she could to finally find a ride in a banana truck for a few miles. "..marry us.." is the bargain Rachel had for flying out with Anatole and leaving her family behind. A "..ferry.." is how Leah got away because she was taken into a small boat to bring a banana truck battery to help the ferry.
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