Saturday, August 29, 2009
Group D Connector
Post your connections to the book. These may be connections to: your own life (text to life)To happenings at school or in the neighborhood or in the newspaper (text to world)To other books or stories (text to text)To other writings on the same topic (text to text)To other writings by the same author (text to author)Please respond to each other's entries.
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Hello. This is Heather Mahler
ReplyDeletetest
ReplyDeleteokay I got on
ReplyDeleteI finished the book this afternoon. There are many connections that I made as I read. First and foremost was my connection to the movie Gandhi. It seemed as though many of the scenes she paints in the early part of the book mirrored the Indian perceptions of British rule. I was also reminded of Empire of the Sun, another great movie that explores countries colonized by the British. It wasn't until after about page 60 that I began to identify with Vidya as a developed character. Venkatraman did a good job of introducing and explaining through context clues, all the different foods, terms of endearment, and religious holidays that are part of Indian culture. This helped me to understand certain parts of Gandhi(movie)with more knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThe first connection I made continuously throughout the book was to my roommate my freshman year of college. I went to a college in Pennsylvania, and I was paired with an Indian girl who had never been to the U.S. before. She was rather traditional, and I remember her closet filled with saris in every color of the rainbow. I remember her telling me about many of her culture's traditions, and I found myself frequently comparing her stories with the life of Vidya in the text. I found this text did help me better understand her and where she was coming from. I also made a connection to the movie "Gran Turino", which I recently saw. In this movie, Clint Eastwood's character becomes aware of the strict customs of the Loatian family living next door. The family was very traditional in their beliefs and actions, much as Vidya's family was in the text. Even though this connection was between two different cultures, I gained some great insight into the traditions and customs of other cultures.
ReplyDeleteIn the book Climbing the Stairs, I was able to sympathize with the character Vidya who lost her father. Granted Vidya's father was not "gone completely" because he had not died, but too Vidya it was almost the same as her father dying when she referred to him as being "only a shell" of the man he once was. The father Vidya knew and loved was no longer the same because of the British soldier beating him so badly that it caused brain damage. I lost my father at a young very young age as well. However, unlike Vidya's father my father died in a car accident. In a way I can sympathize with Vidya even more because I think it was worse for her that her father had survived the beating and was left brain damaged. She constantly had to hear her family calling her father "idiot." That would have been awful to hear family members of mine calling my father names and treating him as though he was not really there anymore. Also, Vidya was of an age that losing her father in a sense was much worse for her because she remembered what life was like for her and her father before the traumatic situation. Whereas, I was only a baby so I never had to feel the sense of loss that Vidya experienced. I agree with Liz, that the author did a very good job with showing us what life was like in Idia in the 1940's. The author used vocabulary and terms to describe Indian culture to readers. For example, she used the festival terms and religious holidays. Also, she used the terms of endearment that was traditional in Indian culture when referring to someone very close to you. I was able to picture what life really would have been like for a women living in India during this time because of how the author portrayed events in the novel.
ReplyDeleteIn Climbing the Stairs, the main character, Vidya, is quite well-developed. I could picture her in that transitional stage of moving from a child into a woman. She has a spunky personality and is very idealistic. Her feelings of being held down, either by the British or by her own culture, play into a running theme throughout the book. Vidya feels trapped and is constantly rebelling against authority. Thatha described her as having spirit and even a bit of a temper. As I read this story, I really connected with Vidya's character. Growing up, I was very controlled by my parents. Most of the ways in which I was controlled did not seem to make sense and I chose to rebel against the rules. Vidya, too, did not accept many of her culture's traditions or rules. What really struck me is when Vidya bought the stamps for her letter to Rifka and then lied about it. She expressed to the reader, "Lies are a form of self-defense." I can relate because I would lie to my parents constantly as a teenager in order to have some sort of normal life. I wasn't proud of it, but it was a necessary means to survival. I think that push-pull struggle during the teen years is a difficult time for almost everyone. But for some, it is more difficult than others. I kept feeling that yearning for freedom that Vidya had and her desire to make her own way instead of accepting what others had planned for her. Another connection I made was between the book and a movie I have watched recently entitled Not Without My Daughter. The movie is based on a true story of an American woman, played by Sally Field, married to a Muslim man living in Iran. Throughout the movie, women in Iran are shown as inferior to men and often take abuse from their husbands. The wives must be very dutiful and are constrained by many rules within the Muslim culture. She is desparate to move back to America so she can find freedom once again. The imagery and treatment of women is very closely aligned to that in the book. It frustrates me how women have been treated throughout history and how some women are still treated poorly today.
ReplyDeleteHeather, When I read about your father I was surprised and saddened. Most people do not lose a parent when they are young. However, my husband was only five when his father died of cancer. His dad was only 36 years old. Tragedies like that do help us understand other people's situations. When Vidya's father could no longer take care of his family, the family's entire lifestyle changed. My husband's life changed dramatically after his father's death and the family struggled through a lot of tough times for years; I thought about this often as I was reading.
ReplyDeleteLisa,
ReplyDeleteI agreed with you when you said you felt as though a theme throughout the book Climbing the Stairs was the power struggle between Vidya and authority. I think Vidya was definatly very progressive for her time period in defying Indian men and their beliefs to repress women. I think that Vidya is sick of being treated as inferior to men she comes in contact with, which is why I think she was so hurt by Raman when he went against rights she believed were hers and hers alone by asking permission to marry her from her uncle before asking Vidya herself. Also, I can sympathize with your husband in saying that I'm sure it was a struggle within his family growing up without a male role model around. If anything, it was probably more difficult for him than me because first, he was old enough to remember a time when his father had been a part of his life and second, because he is a boy and missed out on a male role model as a significant part of his life.
Heather
Krysta,
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice first hand cultural experience you had in college. You must have a more personal understanding of the Indian culture and traditions than most of us. Your background knowledge and personal relationship probably enhanced your ability to visualize the characers and setting. Did you find yourself sympathizing with Vidya as you connected her life to the life of your roommate?
Heather,
I definitely see that my husband was very affected because he is a male. Similar to your experience, his sister was also too young to remember her father. But my husband had a close bond to his dad and I think there is probably not one day that goes by when he isn't somehow disappointed by what happened. It really did change his life. At least Kitta and Vidya were older and were able to be with their father during their formative years. They have already been molded by their father and have built many memories.
Hi Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI connected the treatment and view of women in Climbing the Stairs to that in other historical fiction books I have read (The Other Boleyn Girl, A Thousand Splendid Suns) that I have read for two reasons.
First of all, and more obviously, from a modern western perspective the women are not treated as equals. The women in Climbing the Stairs were ostracized during times of menstruation, were not allowed to “climb the stairs”, etc. Similarly, in The Other Boleyn Girl, which was set in the time period when England was ruled by the tyrannical King Henry the VIII, the women sat around doing needle point, gossiping, had little to no say in who they married, and turned a blind eye on their cheating husbands. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, the course of the story took us through a number of different eras for women in Afghanistan, from an earlier progressive time when women were beginning to show their faces in public and value education, to a later time when the Taliban had established rule and women returned to a more subservient role.
Such historical backdrops can be hard for modern western minded people to tolerate. A good friend, who I often swap books with, was so frustrated with the treatment of women in The Other Boleyn Girl, that she put the book down half way through and declared that she simply could not get past the way these women were behaving in such a subservient manner. However, the second and stronger connection that I have begun to establish among such historical fiction novels regarding the treatment of women is that, while I find the unequal and at times abusive treatment of women upsetting, I have also developed an appreciation for the progressive thinking of certain characters FOR THEIR TIME in each novel. I found Mary Boleyn to be an extremely progressive thinker for her time, and in that era would probably have been considered a feminist. Yes, she “played the game” of the English court, following orders from her father, did not marry for love, etc., but this was necessary for survival. She showed her progressive thinking and independence when she abandoned the court altogether whenever possible to be in the countryside with her children, her independent mind captivated the attention of many, and she eventually did marry for love. Similarly, in Climbing the Stairs, Vidya learned from her father to think more progressively and saw a college education as a reasonable dream. Vidya was hurt by Raman’s sentiments, when he said the he would of course “allow” her to go to college, as if she would need his permission. This comment certainly speaks to the culture that is deeply rooted in Raman and Vidya, though they are very progressive in their thinking considering the time and place. What is important in this case is Raman’s reaction, as he declares he has much to learn from Vidya, further testament to his progressive thinking and core values.
-Lauren
Heather and Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI connected with the stories that you both shared about losing a parent. My dad lost his mother at 19 after a long battle with lung cancer, and my mother often said that he was never the same after this loss. She first became sick when he was only a young teenager, and therefore he and his siblings had to grow up quickly. It's hard to imagine the emotional strife that Vidya must have been going through having lost her father (for all practical purposes) at an age when she was still quite young, but certainly old enough to miss the connection they shared, not to mention all of the drastic changes she was forced to endure upon moving in with her more traditional relatives!
Lots of text to text connections and personal responses. Wonderful discussion.
ReplyDeleteLauren brings up an interesting point - and one that our students are not always made aware of: that classic conflicts with women or female characters are important models for the teens growing up today. I shake my head sometimes to see the young teens at my high school that are rail-thin or playing the "dumb blonde" role so that they can fit in. It is almost as though, even with our free society, there are unseen but very strong restrictions on girls to be strong individuals. Why is this???
ReplyDeleteLisa,
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question about my roommate: having that experience in college did help me sympathize and understand Vidya's situation. I must say that I didn't get along all that well with my roommate, mostly due to the cultural differences, but I did grow a deeper appreciation for my ex-roommate as a result of the story. Even though we were two different people with different personalities, I now better understand the traditions and customs she came to the United States with, customs that as a freshman in college, I could not easily acclimate to.
Liz,
In response to your last comment...I, too, agree that characters such as Vidya are good role models for teenage and pre-teen girls. As you mentioned, too many girls try to fit in to a particular stereotype, and, as a result, end up dumbing down their intelligence and inner voice. Reading about a young woman such as Vidya serves as a great example of how powerful humans, especially women in a patriarchal society, can have a say and achieve their dreams.