READ THIS: PRESENTATIONS

PRESENTATIONS: please take these seriously: they are an important part of your participation in the class. Your job when you present is to lead the discussion on the reading for that day. You may bring in some research, but most of all, you should be very well-prepared with insights, interpretations, and questions about the reading at hand. You may want to begin by summarizing the progress of the plot represented by the excerpt assigned on that day. Then you should have passages picked out for the class to discuss. You may want to be ready, also, with the posts for the day (you can copy and paste them and print them out). The purpose of the presentation is to give more responsibility to the classmembers and de-center the discussion a little bit (although I will still chime in). Here are your assignments, mostly random. 1. Wed. 3/30 Small Things, 84-147, Eidia. 2. 4/4 Small Things, 148-225, Hannah. 3. 4/6 Small Things, ending, Anna. 4. 4/11 Ondaatje, Dan. 5. 4/13 Mukherjee, Michael. 6. 4/18 Poppies, 3-87, Karol. 7. 4/20 Poppies, 88-156, Jason. 8. 4/25 Poppies, 157-226, Joe. 9. 4/27, Poppies, 227-342, Will. 10. 5/2 Poppies, 343-446, Rachel. 11. 5/4 Poppies, finish, Jane.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Rachel - Rushdie, 2/14

I love this book.  "There are dynasties waiting in it, like snot."  (p. 8)



Not going to lie - I was tempted to leave that as my entire post.  But no.  I'll be good.


Since rivers seem to be a common theme in books by Indian - or expatriated "Indian washed" people, like Hesse - I'm going to talk about the ferryboatman, Tai.  (Isn't there a similar character in Siddhartha?  I forget.  I read that my senior year of high school, and my teacher referred to it as: "the book to write about when you have no idea what to write on your AP exam essay."  His reasoning for this, I gathered, was the fact that Siddhartha is the Moby Dick of contemporary literature...its main theme is aslkdjgwieg???, also known as "whatever you want.")

Either way, Rushdie introduces the river as point where modern India and traditional customs clash.  Tai, the riverboatman, was once friendly with the young Aadam Aziz.  You might even say close, and in a taboo way, since on page 10, Aadam's mother tries to wash lower-caste Tai's "germs" off her son.

But when Aadam comes home from German medical school as Dr. Aziz, his strong friendship with Tai degrades into skepticism and distrust.  This is primarily because the riverboatman deeply distrusts European influence, especially that of modern medicine.  On p. 16, Rushdie writes:

"...Do you still pickle water-snakes in brandy to give you virility, Taiji?  Do you still like to eat lotus-root without any spices?"  Hesitant questions, brushed aside by the torrent of Tai's fury.  Dr. Aziz begins to diagnose.  To the ferryboatman, the bag represents Abroad; it is the Alien thing, the invader, progress."

Does this strike memories of water hyacinths?  Interesting parallel to Naipaul.



No comments:

Post a Comment