Friday, January 7, 2011

Critical Article Summaries

A Thousand Splendid Suns
Afghanistan's True Darkness
            -Successfully shows us an unfamiliar setting and drives the emotions home
            -Puts you in the events of life during war so you are drawn into the trials characters face
            -By blending two narratives together the reader is more connect to the protagonists
            -Tragedy is met by more loss for Mariam and it rarely gets better throughout her life
            -Both women accept their fate of being with Rasheed but later leave together.
            -Brutal rape, punishments, lashings, and killings are described and create a dark tone
            -Somewhat of a love story with darker trials faced before finding happiness


Afghan Secrets

            -The west has been fascinate with afghan women recently and have wanted to learn more
            -Little is known by most outside of new reports which only paint vague pictures of war
            -Women are the main focus of the book and their lack of rights is emphasized
            -The perspective comes from citizens of the country so it feels unaltered by other cultures
            -Follows the shift in dynamics between men and women and how they interact
            -Elegantly portrays the chaos of the female’s lives in his writing

Oryx and Crake


The end is nigh

            -Follows the main character through the rollercoaster of his life
            -When something good happens to him there will soon be something bad to follow
            -Doesn’t want to be put in these situations but is thrown in without options
            -Many problems arise for Snowman right away such as lack of food and hostile animals
            -He tries to do the best he can but is constantly set back by unforeseen complications
            -Many boundaries in science are crossed and make life more difficult for him later on
            -Oryx is all Jimmy ever wanted but is taken away by his best friend in an ironic scene
            -Without anyone else he upholds his promise to Crake regardless of what had been done
            -Jimmy continues to struggle with life and continues to uphold his promises  

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