1. Ahmad (the father), outside of the house, is known for being charming, modest, and affable (characterized by ease and friendliness). Why might a person be so different outside the house from the stern way he is with his family?
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2. Note the Shaykh (teacher, wise man, holy man) at his entrance, and remember that he is blind. He sneezes on Ahmad. Comment.
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3. At the bottom of p. 36, we learn that Ahmad's assistant spends his unoccupied time reciting the parts of the Qu'ran (or Koran, the Islamic holy book) and that Ahmad has an agreement with the shaykh to recite from the Qur'an every morning. We know Amina frequently recites verses from the Qu'ran. Why do you suppose people in this culture spend time reciting the Qu'ran? Note that in American culture, a Christian person, for example, might quote frequently from the Bible, but not many shopkeepers (or other kinds of people) would spend time reciting verse after memorizzed verse. Comment.
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4. Notice the shaykh's description of his treatment by the British sodiers at the bottom of p. 39. Comment.
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5. Notice something about the reading that no one else has.
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2. Note the Shaykh (teacher, wise man, holy man) at his entrance, and remember that he is blind. He sneezes on Ahmad. Comment.
OR
3. At the bottom of p. 36, we learn that Ahmad's assistant spends his unoccupied time reciting the parts of the Qu'ran (or Koran, the Islamic holy book) and that Ahmad has an agreement with the shaykh to recite from the Qur'an every morning. We know Amina frequently recites verses from the Qu'ran. Why do you suppose people in this culture spend time reciting the Qu'ran? Note that in American culture, a Christian person, for example, might quote frequently from the Bible, but not many shopkeepers (or other kinds of people) would spend time reciting verse after memorizzed verse. Comment.
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4. Notice the shaykh's description of his treatment by the British sodiers at the bottom of p. 39. Comment.
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5. Notice something about the reading that no one else has.
16 comments:
question #1
1. Ahmad (the father), outside of the house, is known for being charming, modest, and affable (characterized by ease and friendliness). Why might a person be so different outside the house from the stern way he is with his family?
"He was loved for the charm of his persionality more than for any of his many other fine characteristics." Ahmad was known as a kind and respectful person to his friends. Unlike his family who thought of him as a cold and harsh man, his friend thought of him as a loved person. When he is at home with his family, everyone's scared of him and does not speak well. But, when he is outside the house he turns into a generous person. Ahmad having two different characteristics might be because when he is at work and when he is selling things, he has to be nice to people inorder to sell a lot. Also if he wants to keep a relationship with his friends, he has to be nice and kind. But when he is at home where there is no one who he has to be nice to inorder to maintain a relationship he does not have to be always nice. Also when he is at home he is the leader of the family, so to show his strong side, he might act like as if he is cold and scary.But, when he goes to socialize he has lower social class than the customers because they are the ones who buy things from Ahmad.
2. Note the Shaykh (teacher, wise man, holy man) at his entrance, and remember that he is blind. He sneezes on Ahmad. Comment.
On page 37, it states the situation in question: "It so happened that as al-Hamzawi approached to greet him, the visitor, who did not notice his outstretched hand, sneezed unexpectedly."
I think that the shaykh is much less blind than he pretends to be. He uses it to express his true opinions of people without them getting offended. For example, when he sneezes on Ahmad's hand. We learn later on in the chapter that the shaykh has a low opinion of Ahmad's practices with women. He asks, "What do you have to say as a devout Muslim concerning your lust for women?" Then, he states what he thinks of it, not really giving Ahmad's answer a second thought. He says, "Licit acts are not the same as forbidden ones, you son of Abd al-Jawad. Marriage is not the same as chasing after hussies." Therefore, I believe that she shaykh sneezed on Ahmad's hand because he couldn't bear the thought of shaking it.
Also, the shaykh uses his blindness to his advantage in another part of the chapter. He says, "I can almost see him sitting where you are," when looking at Ahmad and refering to his father. Ahmad's father married twenty times and was not successful at making children with any of them. He had to divide up his "fortune" between four of his wives when he died, instead of just giving it to his son. Also, his money was wasted divorcing a bunch of those twenty wives. He was not the most honest or smart man from what we learn in the chapter, and the shaykh seems determined to make it clear he can see Ahmad's father in Ahmad. He simply doesn't make it very clear for Ahmad himself.
I think that the shaykh uses his blindness as a sort of weapon. It gives him an excuse to be passively cruel to those he doesn't approve of. Because he can use the excuse, "Oh, I didn't see you! I'm blind," he can do things like sneeze on a hand he doesn't want to shake.
Heather Rhee
Q 1
Answer
Ahmad has 2 characteristics. When he is at home, he is a stern, hard-working man who doesn't show his kindness to his family. When he go outside and starts to work, he changes to a charming, gentle worker who is beloved by his customers.
I agree with Jiyoon's idea : Ahmad is kind to his customers in order to earn more money and to bulit a nice relationships with his neghibors. Also, he is harsh to his family because he is the leader of the family and wants to control his children.
In my opinion, I also think that he has 2 chracteristics because he loved his family too much that it made him to be strict to his children in order to make them to grow them strong. Usually, when the fater is too much friendly to his children and forgive his children all the time no matter what they did wrong, the children lost the way to control their behavior easily. Thus, a man who truly loves his children will be harsh to his kids rater than being kind.
Also, maybe a gender role is the problem. His wife Amina respects him all the time and it might caused him to feel like his a king of his family when he was staying in his house.
1. Ahmad (the father), outside of the house, is known for being charming, modest, and affable (characterized by ease and friendliness). Why might a person be so different outside the house from the stern way he is with his family?
Ahmad acts much differently outside the house because he must maintain a reputation as a respectable, approachable, and well-mannered man. However, in his own household, Ahmad considers it much, much more important to remain a sort of distant, almost god-like figure to his family. If Ahmad switched his attitudes, and was intimidating, constricting, and power hungry outside of his house, he would be considered a fool and all around him would lose respect for him. Similarly, if Ahmad elected to be "charming, modest, and affable" in his own household, his family would lose respect for him, and, from that point on, feel free to retaliate rudely to his orders, look directly at him during prayer, or argue with him. To maintain his respect within his culture and his family, Ahmad must continue this pattern of two-facedness almost* constantly.
*the exception being when Ahmad comes home very drunk
savannah,
question #1,
Ahmad (the father), outside of the house, is known for being charming, modest, and affable (characterized by ease and friendliness). Why might a person be so different outside the house from the stern way he is with his family?
Ahmad has 2 different personalities.He is clever and humorouse when with his friends but at home he is "stern and resolute". I believe this has something to do with him being sort of a perfectionist, at least with relationships. It said in a previouse chapter that when Ahmad
prays he does it to the extreme going on "a spiritual pilgrimage in which he traversed the expansive realms of the master.". When he is a friend he is a perfect friend "smiling and merry". I think he changes his personality each time to best fit his present role. this means if he thought a father should be "stern and resolute" then when he is playing the role of a father he is stern and resolute.
Sang Eun
1. Ahmad (the father), outside of the house, is known for being charming, modest, and affable (characterized by ease and friendliness). Why might a person be so different outside the house from the stern way he is with his family?
Ahmad is a person who is so different when he is inside the house and outside. He is known as a stern man to his family and charming and friendly to people other than his family. He probably behaves differently because outside of the house, he has to encounter with his customers or friends. It is not usual for a person to be strict to his/her customers or friends. Especially to customers, because if you are a seller, then you should be nice to them in order to advertise well and make them pleasant to buy your goods. However, he is strict to his family because he is the head of the house. Especially in the culture like Ahmad's, It is thought that a father of a house should be treated with respect from members of the family. Also, he might trying to be like a role model to his children so that they can learn something from him. In addition, he might be willing not to show any of his weaknesses to his family.
5. Notice something about the reading that no one else has.
Even though Shaykh is known as a teacher, wise man, and holy man, there's a part of him where he is scared and fears because when british soldiers were blocking his way and asked him to give up everything he had right at the moment, he was even scared and feared them because he knew he would lose. So I am trying to propose that even though he treats him self like a very high man in front of Ahmad, there are some point where he is not fully himself according to how he describes himself and act.
Yeena Sung
1.Ahmad (the father), outside of the house, is known for being charming, modest, and affable (characterized by ease and friendliness). Why might a person be so different outside the house from the stern way he is with his family?
Ahmad is a very friendly person that is very skillful in talking and making people feel better in his shop. So, sometimes people just stops by his shop to say good things about them and they could have a good day. However, in the house, he is cold and does not show friendly images. I agree with Ji Yoon that he has to be nice to people in the shop so he could bring a lot of costumers. In my thought I think he is stern and strict in the house because he is stressed from being low and friendly in the shop ,when his actual personality is that he likes to rule over people just like what he does in his house. He doesn’t have to be nice to his children or her wife because he thinks that they will never get to see the outside world.
I partly agree with Heather that he acts strict to his children to grow them strong and as a ethical person. However I don’t think that it is because he loves them but because he likes to use them as a tool to let all his stress out. If he loved them, he would sometimes show the loving side of him and sometimes show the strict side of him.
4. Notice the shaykh's description of his treatment by the British sodiers at the bottom of p. 39. Comment.
When the shaykh was walking down the street, two soldiers stopped him in the road and made him hand over everything he had in his pockets. They kicked his belongings across the road and unwound his turban and flung it in his face. The soldiers were very disrespectful to the shaykh. The shaykh is a very elderly man and when the soldiers should have been helping him they mistreated him and disrespected him. Soldiers are supposed to be seen as a helpful figure, but here they have given themselves a bad name and along with it a bad reputation.
Q1. Ahmad (the father), outside of the house, is known for being charming, modest, and affable (characterized by ease and friendliness). Why might a person be so different outside the house from the stern way he is with his family?
- Ahmad was only stern with his family. He was a kind person who was loved for the charm of his personality in the outside world. (p. 37) The main reason why he is so different is because of the Islam culture. The man has to stand above all the family members and be solemn to maintain his authority.
his entrance, and remember that he is blind. He sneezes on Ahmad. Comment.
"It so happened that as al-Hamzawi approached to greet him, the visitor, who did not notice his outstretched hand, sneezed unexpectedly." pg 37
I think that Shaykh is not indeed blind as to show his opinion on Ahmad and his result of Shaykh's behavior towards him. He could indeed be blinded although we know he may have a sense of the people surronding him.
I agree with Laura with the fact that being "blind" can have an advantage to hide his true emotions towards anyone. While some people may view sneezing or any simple any day accidents as nothing...this is somewhat Shaykh's way of "payback." There is also evidence to prove that a holy man would not want to have "payback" or any harm towards anyone. Also that he would not lie about the fact of being blind. This sneeze could also just be an any day accident that occurred.
sorry my question got cut off
"2. Note the Shaykh (teacher, wise man, holy man) at his entrance, and remember that he is blind. He sneezes on Ahmad. Comment."
4. Notice the shaykh's description of his treatment by the British soldiers at the bottom of p. 39. Comment.
The way that the two Australian soldiers treated Shaykh’s was extremely rude, disrespectful and uncalled for. They had absolutely no reason to disrespect another person like that. Also, the soldiers would be furious if he or someone else stole an ear of corn, but what results do they expect for their actions, when they kick the food that people have worked for like his corn.
Ka Yeon Nam
Question 1
Ahmad (the father), outside of the house, is known for being charming, modest, and affable (characterized by ease and friendliness). Why might a person be so different outside the house from the stern way he is with his family?
Ahmad acts differently when he is home and when he is outside with his friends. I think it is because at home, he does not have to be carful about what he saids. However, when he is with his friends, he is charming, modest, and affable becuase he does not want to show the way he acts at home. Also, he is the head of the family, so he acts differently at home to show his power and be respected.
Answer to #4:
When the shaykh was confronted by the Australian soldiers, they treated him both disrespectfully and cruelly. They asked for his belongings, destroyed them and then tore some of his garments. This unusually harsh, even considering the fact that they are mutual enemies. It is also strange because the shaykh was an old man; one who is harmless and hardly provoking. Perhaps the Australians simply took advantage of him for his weakness and for his different culture, as an act of discrimination. The shayakh himself was disappointed in them, not particularly angry, but did wish them ill.
1. Ahmad (the father), outside of the house, is known for being charming, modest, and affable (characterized by ease and friendliness). Why might a person be so different outside the house from the stern way he is with his family?
Ahmad has a reputation outside his house. So he has to protect it by being charming and modest and etc. But in the house he doesn't have a reputation to protect and he can act however he likes.
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