reflection #2

Return by Fatima Ahmed:

This story follows the journey of a girl returning to her childhood home in Cambodia after leaving years ago due to the political crisis.  I believe the pivotal point in the story is when Fatima has her first sip of sugarcane juice, “I went over to the sugarcane juice seller and immediately ordered a glass of fresh-squeezed.  I fervently took a sip, the first in twenty years.  Its taste, its fragrance took me back in time, to that distance day when I left Phnom-Penh” (32).  This quote marks the beginning of Fatima’s memory as she describes the day her family left Cambodia.  Fatima came from a mixed background; her father was Somali and her mother Vietnamese.  Her family fled Cambodia once the political crisis began in 1970 and traveled to Somalia.  The memories that flooded her mind were some that I believe shaped who she was and gave her a better sense of identity.  It was as if she identified as Cambodian rather than with her mixed heritage.  Her story gave a deeper perspective into her immigrant background and of self-identity. 

Give Me Back My Coat by Adrian N. Bravi:

Give Me Back My Coat follows the author as he lives his “last” day.  In the morning he decides that today will be his last and after he returns home from a morning café.  But while he is there, submerged in his bliss of ending his life, someone accidently takes his coat by mistake.  The pivotal point in the story is when he thinks to himself, “I felt like the loneliest person in the world, swollen everywhere, without a coat or anything of value” (43).  This quote portrays the author’s emotions in his most vulnerable moment.  With no coat, freezing on his walk home, his suicide plans are thwarted.    He wanted everything to be perfect of this last day.  Everything seemed to be going his way, he even noticed things for the first time, but with the event of his coat being stolen his perfect last day is ruined and he cannot end his life.  His dream to live the perfect day was interrupted by this man taking his jacket and thus causing him to live yet another day.

Light Beer and Peanuts by Viola Chandra

Viola Chandra tells her story of struggle of finding her identity.  Growing up with an Indian father and a White mother.  The pivotal point in the story is when she states, “I wanted a whole population to accept me and put aside its traditions, its dogmas and its castes.  I wanted it to put itself away in order reach out to me: for how I am” (47).  Viola longed to be accepted by the Indian people and for them and her father to acknowledge her Indian roots, despite her Western dress and attitude.  Another key moment is when she explores her relationship with her mother.  When she was younger her mother did all she could to keep her daughter as light as possible.  She was bathed in crèmes and covered in sunscreens when in the sun.  She reflects, “I would never have become white but at least I would remain beige.  I shared the same desire” (52).  Her mothers craving to be as light as possible carried down to her.  Throughout Viola’s story, she struggles to accept who she is and whom she should identify with.  She longs to be accepted by her Indian peers, yet to also seem as “white” as possible.  At the end of her narrative she learns to accept who she is to be apart of both worlds. 

The B-Line by Christiana de Caldas Brito

This story follows a passenger as he rides the B-line metro to Termini.  The pivotal moment in the story is when he thinks, “words are not born in a hurry like the landscapes flashing by through the windows of the metro.  It takes a long time to penetrate the fabric of the soul” (55).  This quote shows that the character things before he speaks.  Many have walls build up around them, ideas that are hard to change.  People are sometimes very set in their ways and the ideas of others may not be able to break through those walls. 

The Beggar by Christiana De Caldas Brito

The Beggar tells the story of an old beggar as he seeks for more words.  In the beginning I believed he was in need of money, like many of the beggars I see, but instead I was surprised to find that he wanted only words and saw himself as a poet.  The pivotal point in the story is when he states “a poet does not live by words alone…” (60).  This quote expressed that words alone do not make a person.  Experiences are what create who someone is.  Throughout the narrative, the poet is presented with many words, but he finds little use with those that are just tossed to him, he savors the words that are presented to him with meaning and purpose.  In the conclusion of the story, the poet respects each word, no matter how he got them.  Some he treasures more than others, but in the end each word holds a special meaning to someone.