Short Stories of Arabic Group 2

The Lawsuit seemed a bit odd to me. This story of a man whose father was married with children marries again and then dies. The second wife makes off with the money and then years later wants maintenance because she no longer can afford the lifestyle she had grown accustomed to. This seems entirely her fault and I have no sympathy for her at all. I would have liked to see what the verdict would have been in the case that would have made the story of much more interest to me. The thing I do not understand in the slightest is how people can live like this. Being a family and then introducing another wife into the household did this other wife cook and clean and take care of the household chores or was she simply a trophy for the old man. That is where arrogance and ignorance collide head-on, in the heart of an old man. He thinks that because he has money and wealth that this young woman would love him, but in turn she only ever loved his money. The family knew this, but the old man was oblivious and up until the very end of the story it is believed by the family that she was simply putting on a rouse.
Naguib Mahfouz tells an interesting story in A Long-Term Plan. The main character Isam al-Baqli is a very rugged, good-for-nothing man who mooches off of everyone he knows, especially his mother. When his mother dies he is left with nothing and no one so he begins a downward spiral into poverty and eventually is on the brink of starvation when a company offers him a grand sum of money for his house. He accepts the offer at the age of seventy and believes that everything is turning around for him. He gets new clothes, a new place to stay and gets completely cleaned up; however this is his last night alive. He dies directly after this happens and I do not think it was out of place. He had, his entire life, been no good to anyone, not even himself so in the end it made no difference that he finally had money and wealth because he did not get to enjoy it, and I do not think he should have had that opportunity.

Gold Dust

I enjoyed Gold Dust for its content and story line, though I was a little confused at some parts because of the pacing of the story and the way it moved around. Though I must say I completely understand Ukhayyad’s devotion to his piebald Mahri. He was a young man when he got the camel as a present and he knew it was a good animal and wanted everyone else to know about it too, what person would not do that? Granted he was foolish when he went out at night to spend time with girls and allowed his piebald to graze near the other camels and for his foolishness in the end his piebald was infected with mange. Ukhayyad’s response to this also showed great devotion, he would rather have his camel be driven mad than die from a horrible disease. Through the course of event that followed the two became closer than ever before and their bond that much more unbreakable. More trials and tribulations came at them and time and again Ukhayyad showed his devotion and undying love for his camel and the piebald returned the love he had for his master. Every time he was sent away he would come back quicker than before, this eventually led to his undoing, but still he was devoted to Ukhayyad until the very end of it all.

The confusing parts came to me when timelines would switch and there would be no real sign of a switch, this always makes it harder for me to really fall into a story and truly enjoy the mastery of the literature. Gold Dust did this a few times, and I had to readjust myself and my though process to really understand what was going on but it was a rather enjoyable story.

Picture Books

The two short stories that I read for class were strange to me, being that they were children’s picture books. As I was reading I was thinking about what I used to read as a young child, Sesame Street, Barney and other young aged books about being a good child and doing everything I was asked to do. They were always very vibrant with their colors and simplistic with their words. These children’s stories are vibrant with their words in contrast to the picture books I used to read. The Day of Ahmed’s Secret is a story about a boy who has learned to write his name in Arabic, but before he can show his family he must first fulfill his duties as a butagaz boy and deliver the cooking oils to his customers around the city of Cairo. Now, granted this story has a very child-like meaning behind it, with Ahmed being proud of showing his family he has learned to write his name, but the context of the story just bewilders me. He is a child doing a man’s job, this was never the setting for any of my picture books as a child and the sheer difference of that speaks volumes for how different the two cultures are.

In Sami and the Time of the Troubles a young boy is again the protagonist and this time he and his family are living in the basement of his uncle’s house for fear of being bombed. Again the setting and context of this story blow my mind. The fact that this children’s picture book is centered on a city being bombed makes me wonder what that can do to a child. If they grow up around violence and are being read violent picture books then what is their mindset going to be? In the story Sami and his friend Amir are playing with pieces of wood that resemble guns and Amir says to Sami “When we are older, we will have real guns.” Sami insists that the fighting will be over by then but Amir is doubtful. I used to play with toy guns when I was a child but the thought never crossed my mind to have real guns when I was older, the times that these children were raised in terrify me. I would never want that for my children and the mother of this story expresses that throughout the picture book.

These picture books were interesting because I gained a perspective into the lives of the children of the Middle East. Though I could never agree with the content of these stories they were still very interesting to read.

Choices

First off I want to thank everyone who wrote a blog on the movie that we viewed last Tuesday in class!!! The blogs were very interesting to read and I really enjoyed what you all had to say!!! In regards to choosing this movie I want to explain a bit for my reasoning. As many of you pointed out there are many parallels between homosexuality in the United States and in the Middle East. It is a very current social topic for both regions and cultures. I want to touch on that word social. I feel like a lot of what we have been viewing and learning about so far is the cultural aspects of the Middle East in regards to war and oil. I know that is a big part of that area but it is not the whole part. In Aunt Safiyya we gained a bit of perspective into the social workings of the Middle East, but it was not on a very current subject. So that is one of the reasons I chose “The Road to Love” it is very current and you can easily identify the main themes that are relevant in both cultures. I also chose it simply because of its content. There were many things to be learned by watching the movie and many things that I did not know myself. I appreciated very much those that went above and beyond just writing a blog post and doing some research into the subject themselves;(Angela and Chelsea) because it is relevant to the times and something that everyone should know a little bit about. So in closing I just want to thank everyone for having an open mind and be positive about a controversial topic!! Thanks!!

An Addiction

The film “Blood and Oil”, I found to be very interesting and though provoking. To learn that the United States has had a specific interest in the Middle East since the Roosevelt administration was rather startling. In the video it is stated that America has an addiction to oil and this statement answered a lot of questions that I had. To put the situation in terms of an addiction is very relevant, I feel, because then you can picture the America in a different light. Unable to get enough so they go to the extremes to get their fix. The United States’ interest in the Middle East has always been directly related to oil and to our assumed inherent right to that oil. It seemed to simply develop and grow through the continuing administrations until we felt it was our duty to go in and use military force to secure the areas. I understand that as a leading consumer of oil in the world that we felt it was important to protect our interests in that area for very specific reasons; I just think that we should have been using that same amount of time and energy to research renewable sources as well. I know that we’ve begun to expand our national research and funding in that area in the recent years, but to just imagine how much more advanced we could be in that department of our nation makes me rather ill. I really don’t agree with the statements about the United States having to be a world police, and protector of all. I think those reasons are scapegoats for the actual reasons for us to be in that part of the world with the influence that we have. It comes down to simply one thing they have the oil that we need and we’re willing to do anything to keep it that way. It was quite apparent in the movie that the government, in the first Bush administration, was aware that we would no longer be able to use the excuses of oil to protect our interests and soon turned to policing those nations because of suspected WMD and other dramatic reasoning. If you’re going to be in a foreign land spilling blood of Americans and natives alike, at least be honest about why you’re there.