1. Yasin comes tell his father disturbing news: Yasin's mother, Ahmad's first wife, is getting married. Part of the problem is that it might mean that Yasin's inheritance from his well-to-do mother might be endangered. The other problem has to do with Yasin's feelings. Why is her desire to get married so "tragic"? The answer isn't obvious, but the book has given us clues that would allow us to suggest some answers. What do you think?
2. Why is the fact that his mother's finace is said to be "in his thirties" something that embitters Yasin?
3. Can you see how the conversation in this chapter supports the idea that this is a very sexist culture? Can you also feel sympathy for Yasin at the same time?
4. Ahmad recalls, in his mind, his first wife, and how their relationship went bad (pp. 106-107). How does the account make you feel about his first wife? About Ahmad?
5. Do you think that Yasin's going to visit his mother in an attempt to persaude her not to re-marry is a good idea?
6. Notice something about the reading that no one else has.
2. Why is the fact that his mother's finace is said to be "in his thirties" something that embitters Yasin?
3. Can you see how the conversation in this chapter supports the idea that this is a very sexist culture? Can you also feel sympathy for Yasin at the same time?
4. Ahmad recalls, in his mind, his first wife, and how their relationship went bad (pp. 106-107). How does the account make you feel about his first wife? About Ahmad?
5. Do you think that Yasin's going to visit his mother in an attempt to persaude her not to re-marry is a good idea?
6. Notice something about the reading that no one else has.
15 comments:
Heather Rhee
Q5
Answer
Yasin is very anxious about his mother getting re-marry. He goes to his father to talk about this problem he has.
He thinks that his mother's re-marrige is not right because he believes that the man wants to marry with his mother for money.
"What makes him marry a woman ten years odler is greed for the money and property."
Although Ahmad, the father, himself was anxious about this topic at the same time, he tries to help his son. He thought that this new topic which Yasin had came up with will help his son to divert from dwelling on more sensitive and painful matters. He also thinks that it makes sense for some reason because his first wife was a well-to-do woman.
Ahmad starts to agree with Yasin's opinion and he suggest Yasin to go and avoid Haniya from the marrige.
" Who knows? Perhaps your surprise apperance on her horizon will bring her back to her right mind"
Yasin thought that it was a good idea but he was still not sure about how he can make it possible because he didn't visited his mom for a long time and it caused him to lose his confident toward his mother.
"How can I go back to her? ... "
"Isn't there any better solution?"
I think the father is pretty convictive. His advice can help Yasin and cause the marrige to be avoid. The mother might listen to his son and think about her re-marrige again. According to the book, although he is not confident, it seems like Yasin agrees to his fater too. At the end of the chapter he said,
"Just as you wish, Father".
Yasin's strong anxious feelings toward his mother and this solution from Ahmad will help the mother to think again. The mother already had a hard time after she got married. Due to her painful memory of marrige she has and she wants to stop that to take place again, she might listen to other's opinion about her new marriage in a serious way. If someone ask her to not get marrige again, espeacially if the person is her son, who she loves, she might think more about it and it will increase the chance of not getting marriage. Thus, I think this solution can solve this problem.
3. Can you see how the conversation in this chapter supports the idea that this is a very sexist culture? Can you also feel sympathy for Yasin at the same time?
The conversation, as well as the subtext of Ahmad's part side of the conversation, implies a sexist, discriminative culture. For example, when Ahmad hears the news, he recalls his marriage as though it were "an illness he had had." He treated his wife as though she were a pet or a piece of furniture, and even know, without a second thought, he regards her with the same apathy. He even refers to his wife as "a person who never existed". These examples of striking disrespect obviously imply sexism in the culture they exist in.
4. Ahmad recalls, in his mind, his first wife, and how their relationship went bad (pp. 106-107). How does the account make you feel about his first wife? About Ahmad?
I feel very sorry for both of them. On page 106 it states what she did wrong that drove Ahmad so insane and drove him to beat adn divorce her. In the last paragraph, it says, "He had enjoyed living with her for a few months until she displayed some resistance to his will, which he imposed on close family members. She saw no harm in enjoying some freedom, even if it was limited to visiting her father from time to time."
Basically, she isn't content with stayign in the house like a caged bird, like Amina is. She wants to be able to leave the house. Even that simple want is made more innocent by the fact that it's only to visit her parents! I always felt that Ahmad was ridiculous to be so cruel to his family and friendly with everyone else he knew. I would think it more important to show love to your family than to those you see every once in a while, rather than every morning and night.
I feel sorry for Haniya, his first wife, because all she wanted was to get out of the house. I, for one, go crazy if I'm in one place for more than maybe a weekend. Even after a day, I have to get out and DO SOMETHING! She probably missed her father and needed a change of scenery every once in a while. For a marriage to be ruined over a simple thing as visiting family is just silly. Also, I'm sorry for her because she was beaten. All she needed was a change of pace, I bet!
I feel sorry for Ahmad because of the way he feels he must act to be respected in his household. From what the reader sees of Ahmad, which is more than the other characters and is both sides of him, I believe the cruel side of him is a waste. He's almost jolly with his friends, and he cracks jokes, as is demonstrated in the first chapter when he gets out of the carriage, being merry with a friend. I'm sorry for Ahmad because his view of the world is so black and white. He should listen to at least one thing that will please his wife when it doesn't do him any good. It doesn't do him bad because Haniya was only seeing her father! I don't understand why he is SO territorial over the women in his family, and I feel like it's a handicap for him. Someday he will really hurt someone. Just look at what happened with his first wife. She just wanted a little "lee-way" (sp?), I think.
3. Can you see how the conversation in this chapter supports the idea that this is a very sexist culture? Can you also feel sympathy for Yasin at the same time?
The conversation in this chapter strongly supports the idea that this is a very sexist culture. The reason I felt so was because of the disgust the two men had upon hearing the news of the second marriage. Ahmad remarried and he is seen as an extremely succesful personne and is practicaly worshiped in his house, his family
and everyone who knows him is in awe of him.
Yasin's mother is getting remarried and is thought to be doing a horrible thing. This act is even considered to be a cruel punishment to an innocent son!
Yeena
4. Ahmad recalls, in his mind, his first wife, and how their relationship went bad (pp. 106-107). How does the account make you feel about his first wife? About Ahmad?
“She saw no harm in enjoying some freedom, even if it was limited to visiting her father from time to time.”
“He did divorce her and pretended to forget about her for a period of days and then weeks, while he waited for a representative of her family to bring him good news.”
It is mentioned in the book that Ahmad had a first wife named Haniya and that Ahmad and Haniya were good to each other for a several months after marriage. However, Haniya started to get tired of just being inside of the house and felt restricted and so, she wanted to be free and tried to do so. Then Ahmad figured this out and beat her up. Haniya was very angry and disappointed so she ran away to her parents’ house. Even though Ahmad still had affection to her, he got divorced with her. He felt that this wasn’t that serious and that Haniya would come back in a few days but Haniya did not come back.
I feel that Haniya knows more about to fight for her rights than Amina. When Ahmad beat Amina, she didn’t react to it, for she wanted peace. By wanting peace, she eventually lost her rights as a human being. In contrast, Haniya has a stronger opinion about her thoughts and actually tries to be free. I feel that Haniya is more intelligent for she is probably happy because she is getting re-married. In this chapter, I felt again that Ahmad has problems with expressing his emotions. It shows in the book clearly that he love his first wife when he waited for her response after the divorce. I personally do not get how he could beat a woman that he loves. I think that he doesn’t think Amina as his real wife but just one of his royal servants. However, I believe that he loved Haniya and it confuses me that even though he has strong agreeing thought about patriarchy, how he could beat her up just because she wanted a little freedom.
Sang Eun
2. Why is the fact that his mother's finace is said to be "in his thirties" something that embitters Yasin?
The fact that his mother's fiance is in his thirties annoys Yasin, because Yasin is thinking why would a young man willing to marry a woman who is much older than him. Then, Yasin is convinced that the man would be having an eye to his mother's money and property. Yasin is distracted by the fact because he was already been upset about his mother getting married again.
Ahmad recalls, in his mind, his first wife, and how their relationship went bad (pp. 106-107). How does the account make you feel about his first wife? About Ahmad?
“She saw no harm in enjoying some freedom, even if it was limited to visiting her father from time to time.”
Well it sounds like to me that Ahmad's first wife was not a very respectful wife. She did not do what her husband asked of her and it also sounds like she cheated on him. Even though the things Ahmad wanted his wife to do were very small, she still did not obey him and that was what you were supposed to do as the role of the wife in that culture. Ahmad had the right to divorce her, but I think he shouldn't of expected anything in return. If you divorce your wife you do not go and remarry her. That doesn't make any sense. It defeats the purpose entirely. Because of his divorce his son had to grow up with the humiliation of living in his mother's house.I don't think Ahmad was being very wise with his divorce decision. I think he should have waited for his son to be born, then he could divorce her and save his son's honor.
Sung Kun Kim
Q.2
2. Why is the fact that his mother's finace is said to be "in his thirties" something that embitters Yasin?
- When Yasin heard his mother who is in her forties marrying a man who is in his thirties, he feels anger and bitterness. Because he thinks if a man is marrying a woman who is ten years older, the only reason is "greed for her money and property." He doesn't think his mother's new marriage isn't a result of real love.
2. Why is the fact that his mother's finace is said to be "in his thirties" something that embitters Yasin?
Because his mother is in forties. He thinks the fiance just wants his mother because of her mother even though she is very beautiful right now. It really does not make any sense to him that he is 10years younger than his mother. He also feels that the relationship between him and his mother won't be the same.
Ka Yeon Nam
Question 4
Ahmad recalls, in his mind, his first wife, and how their relationship went bad (pp. 106-107). How does the account make you feel about his first wife? About Ahmad?
When Ahmad's first son, Yasin, told his father that his mother was getting married to a man who is in thrities, he gets frustrated, but he remebers and think about her. When he married his first wife, she obeyed him at first, but she enjoyed her freedom and would not follow the rules he set for his family to follow. To restain her, he first scorned her and then beat her. However, she flee to her father's house. Ahmad divorced her to make her come back, but she never came back. He also remebers that he was attached to her and that she was attractive. This tells that even though he was attracted to his first wife, he does not like that she disobeyed his laws. Also that Ahmad's first wife likes freedom and have affair with other men and marries a men younger that her.
question 2
2. Why is the fact that his mother's finace is said to be "in his thirties" something that embitters Yasin?
The frase "in his thirties" means that finace is a little more than 30years old. He thinks that the finace is too young to marry his mother. Yasin also feels like as if the man is marring for the money that his mother, Amina has. Because of all the money that his mother has and because of the age of the fiance he doesn't agree with marring again. Also if Amina marries the man (her finace, then it might be uncomfortable for him to talk to his mother.
2. Why is the fact that his mother's finace is said to be "in his thirties" something that embitters Yasin?
The Fact that Yasin's mother is being remarried to a man in his thirties upsets him greatly. First of all, his mother is in fact in her forties, making her fiance 10 years younger. This disgusts Yasin in a great way. This makes him feel as if his mother is unfaithful to "the law" or going against true respect of the community. He is so much in disbelief that he begins to ask himself, why in fact would a man his age want to marry a forty year old woman. "What makes him marry a woman ten years older is greed for her money and property." He doesn't believe the fiance loves her in any way but that he is using her for money and riches. Yasin is not a man who believes that marriage with a significance age difference is correct or even civilized. I am not sure what Yasin's exact age is although there could be the fact that the fiances age is near his age. This may disgust Yasin even more thinking that he himself could be marrying his mother when this man in his thirties is....He might also get the thought his mother is doing this in a way to be "slutty" in marrying a younger man for a different appearance that others view her as. Although, Yasin needs to realize they both might in fact be in love, no matter what age difference there is.
Answer to #3:
"It would be outrageous in the extreme if Yasin emerged from the inferno of this tragedy with both wounded honor and empty hands."
"He had enjoyed living with her for a few months until she displayed some resistance to his will... Ahmad had grown angry and had attempted to restrain her, at first by scolding her and then by violent beatings. The spoiled woman had fled to her parents, and anger blinded the haughty man."
This chapter shows that in Ahmad and Yasin's culture, women are itemized. They are but something to sell and trade for money, and then used as a servant and a tool in procreation. If they do something wrong, they are harshly treated, in addition to the many restrictions placed upon them. Although it is true that Ahmad's wife was spoiled and rich, she was treated very poorly. But, moreover, Ahmad's unwillingness to compromise for simple freedoms was ridiculous.
However, on the other hand, I can feel somewhat sorry for Yasin. If this marriage is to occur, he will loose much in the process, such as his inheritance and his honor (as quoted above).
2. Why is the fact that his mother's finace is said to be "in his thirties" something that embitters Yasin?
Yasin is still fairly young and he is deffinetly no longer a teenager and his mother's fiance is close enough in age to him that he could be his older brother. How would you feel if your parent was getting remarried to someone who was very close in age to you? Not very good right? That's how I would feel. No one is comfortable with their parents remarrying after a divorce and are often very nervous.
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