Memed, My Hawk

We read Memed, My Hawk a few weeks ago and had a class discussion. It’s truly sad, it was a coming of age novel about a boy whose family is being starved and punished by a controlling landowner. He runs away at first to escape the constant beating by the Agha, but being away from home for so long he begins to feel guilty for leaving his mother and his responsibilities, like most would. He is captured and returned, and tries to solve his problems before his family starves to death. He becomes a brigand and fights for the Agha for his family and village. A brigand is an outlaw and highly romanticized within the novel. The villagers appreciate brigands because they are fighting for their land, rights and lives. I thought that was pretty cool. What a geat book it kept me on my toes the whole time!

Honor Killings in Turkey

So I liked this topic so much that I rewrote my second paper on it. I’m really glad the Turkey group picked Women on the Front Line, for us to see in class. I learned so much from it! One of the topics I chose to go over in my paper was how the men could also be viewed as victims in these killings and I would love to share that with you.

Here it is: Many would not consider men victims in these situations, but in some cases, they are. Ahmed, a 52-year-old Palestinian Muslim states in Reputation Is Everything , “Honor is everything. If a person loses his honor, he becomes like an animal." The significance of honor among Muslims is complex, especially when compared to Western standards, but in the high-context, collectivist cultures of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, the inappropriate behavior of relatives brings shame to everyone in the extended family. In Palestinian communities, family members often remain in the same village or neighborhood for their entire lives. Muhib Nimrat, a consul member of the Embassy of Jordan in Washington, D.C., adds "The family plays a role in every aspect of life in the Arab world, whatever you do, you have to consider the immediate family and extended family, even the neighbors. How will they react? What will they think? Unlike Western countries, which champion individualism, Arabs focus on the group. The family is more important than the individual (Emery).” In the film, Women on the Front Line, a masked woman spoke about how she was marked to be killed in the name of honor. The exaction day was already arranged, they were going to take her to the hillside near the village to kill her, but she escaped. Her brother who was also masked spoke in the film, stating he had been contacted many times and was told to give up his sisters hiding place or to kill her himself. When he said no, they said give us your sister or we will continue to kill people from your family. One can see now how he too can be viewed as a victim. From in class discussions, I also learned that if a man refuses to kill a loved one, and is disowned by his village, he can no longer buy food, or even walk down the street. While on this topic the film did some interviews with men who were put in prison for killing their mothers and sisters. When one man was asked, “what does a man live for?” he replied “his honor.” So I see the debate here as, is one man’s honor, worth another women’s life? I think many would beg to differ.

Paradise Now

I really liked the discussions we had in class about this film. It’s funny because before class discussions, I go in thinking one thing, and then after hearing people like Victor, Dan, and Katie, who challenge different point of views, I can leave feeling totally different about the subject because they’ll bring up points that I never thought of. I really enjoying hearing everyone’s point of view on these topics, it keeps the class interesting to say the least.
Ok back to the movie! I think the film did a really good job of putting a “face” like Victor said, on the suicide bomber. I was really surprised to find that Khaled was the one who didn’t go through with the bombing, because he was so sure about it in the beginning. I thought it was really sad that Said, felt he needed to go through with it because of his father. I know he was embarrassed of what he was, but was it necessary to kill for this embarrassment. I mean this man was living a normal life, he had a job and a family who loved him. It’s really sad that people think suicide bombings, will change things for the better. Killing another human being, only makes one a murder. And then what does one have to look forward to after death? That’s just the way I look at it.

The Two Short Stories

I really enjoyed the short stories we read for class, I think it’s because I have a harder time staying interested with full length novels. Some of the things in the stories really confused me at times and I don’t think it helped that I was absent when the speaker came in, it seems from everyone’s blogs that you all learned a lot! I really liked that in The Lawsuit, we got to see how the women brought the suit upon her family. The second story, A Long-Term Plan, was very interesting as well. I liked that the man in the story came to the conclusion by himself that he had lived his whole life doing nothing, never helping anyone. I guess that’s what happens when you only use others around you to benefit yourself and in the end you pay the price for that. After his mother dies and money disappears, he so calls “wins the lottery,” and becomes a millionaire. But later he dies, spending his last moments in alone….. I guess money isn’t everything!

The Day of Ahmed's Secret and Sami and the Time of the Troubles

The Day of Ahmed’s Secret is about a young man named Ahmed, who has big news to share with his family, but before doing so, he must complete all of his duties as a butagaz boy, doing things such as delivering cooking gas to customers.

Thought the story Ahmed is thinking about when it would be best for him to

share his secret. It was until the very end of the story that Ahmed finally did so. His big secret was that he could now write his own name. Thi

s was not what I was expecting at all, but it’s pretty cool that he was so excited about it.

Sami and the Time of the Troubles is a story about a boy named Sami. He is ten years old and lives in Beirut, Lebanon. His life is different from how most of us grew up, for his family and him spend most of there time in their uncle’s basement, due to the gunfire and bombing happening in the streets. I feel think book had a great message behind it, and I really enjoyed our class discussion about it. Sami is a lot like kids all of the world… he hates fighting, and violence.

```When we are older, we will have real guns,''' says Amir. Sami disagrees. ```The fighting will be over then. It cannot last forever.'''

When people get older it seems as if we are forced to take sides, but with children its different, they haven’t been around long enough to be forced into doing so, because of this they remain unbiased. Maybe if we still thought as if we were kids, there wouldn’t be as many problems with this world.

Gold Dust

Gold Dust was a very interesting read to say the least. I am still shocked by the amount of love Ukhayyad has for his camel. I mean after reading just the first chapter you already know how the camel came into Ukhayyad life and how very proud he is of it. Here in the states, people say a dog is a man’s best friend. Well in Ukhayyad case the dog is his camel. When I really think about it, almost everyone of my friends or family members have had a pet that they consider family, but where should one draw the line. I have to agree with Saralynn’s blog, Ukhayyad, love for his camel, does not allow him to make any connections with humans, especially women. At the end of the day Ukhayyad needs to realize that he needs human interaction in his life.

War in the Land of Egypt

In class, we were assigned to read War in the land of Egypt. I found this book to be very interesting. The story takes place during the 1973 Yom Kippur war. The author fuscous on one young man in particular, named Masri, who is sent into the Egyptian army. The story is told through several perspectives such as, the Umda, a broker, Masri friend, and father, the commanding officer, and an investigator. This was great because it helped the story truly come alive.
I thought it was very interesting, that Masri perspective was never shared. Then again, when you think about it, what really would he have to say, and even if there was something would it have changed his future? For he never had a choice in what he did. His father was the one who made the decision to send Masri in place of the Umda son. This also makes me question, should Masri really be considered a hero because of the choice others made for him?