My book, (ahh, I keep forgetting to post that I'm reading a new book!!!) is called Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind. It's about how 12 year-old Shabanu lives and survives a life of many hardships in the Cholistan Desert with her sister Phulan, her mother, father, aunt, and their herd of the finest camels in Pakistan. But anyway, (This is just so you can sort of understand what I'm talking about,)
I can see that in Pakistan, as well as China, people of both countries hope and pray for sons and for their daughters to have many sons. Most people don't care to have any daughters, and would much rather have a boy. Auntie, (who is quite cantankerous ;) always brags about having two sons when her sister (Mama) only has two daughters, and when she is stitching Phulan's wedding dress she outwardly complains, " If God had blessed you with sons, we wouldn't have to break our fingers over wedding dresses." And when the family goes to Phulan's new cottage where she will live with her future husband, Hamir. It is tradition that the family members paint symbols of good fortune on the walls. A fish for fertility, circles intertwined for harmoney in the family, camels for wealth, and a row of lines with arms and legs and appendages that indicate the many sons that the family wishes for Phulan.
In Social Studies we learned that in China, because of the large population, families were only allowed to have one child. And the preferred gender of choice would be male in most cases. if they had a girl, people used to even kill them. Nowadays, they either keep, or put them up for adoption. I have a friend that was adopted from Vietnam and her sister was adopted from China.
I think the reason people preferred having sons over daughters is because they thought that boys were more useful and important than the girls. Sure, men used to provide money for the family, but today, women work as well. I don't know, I am a girl, and I feel really bad for all of the girls who were turned away just because of their gender. I think it's nice to see the perspective of a girl who lives in a world where her opinion doesn't matter and she is shunned for her strong spirit, and how she copes with all of this.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
PERSPECTIVE
Alright, I am now reading my new book called THE SON OF NEPTUNE!!!!!!!!!!!! Percy Jackson lovers, I know you're jealous, and people who have not read the series, do it. NOW!! But anyway this post is about the perspective of my book not how awesome it is so here it goes!
In the book, "The Son of Neptune" I have come to the conclusion that my story is told in third person limited but alternates perspectives of different characters every couple of chapters. An example to back up my conclusion would be chapter 1: Percy followed, staggering under the weight of the old lady who was definitely getting heavier. He didn't know how that girl Hazel would hold off the gorgons by herself, but he was too tired to argue." You can tell it's third person limited because only Percy's thoughts and feelings are revealed to the reader, although it's not told in first person, because the author is referring to Percy as "Percy" instead of "I" or "me". Another example would be, " In the past few days he'd hardly slept. He'd eaten whatever he could scrounge-vending machine gummi bears, stale bagels, even a Jack in the Crack burrito, which was a new personal low." This sentence is mostly told in third person objective, but it also mentions that eating a Jack in the Crack burrito is a "new personal low" for Percy, which you wouldn't have known about if this sentence wasn't told from Percy's perspective. An example of how Percy's perspective is directly revealed would be, "Then he thought about Annabeth, the only part of his old life he was sure about," This sentence is directly stating his thoughts about Annabeth. (His girlfriend) An example of how his perspective is indirectly revealed would be, " Percy ran for the door in the hillside. June got heavier with every step. Percy's heart pounded. His ribs ached." From this sentence, you can assume that Percy is scared, in extreme pain, but still determined to get to the door in the hillside. And finally an example of how the narration shapes the reader's perspective on a specific person or event: "Then she'd met Percy. At first, when she saw him stumbling up the highway with the old lady in his arms, Hazel had thought he might be a god in disguise. Even though he was beat up, dirty, and stooped with exhaustion, he'd had an aura of power."
In the book, "The Son of Neptune" I have come to the conclusion that my story is told in third person limited but alternates perspectives of different characters every couple of chapters. An example to back up my conclusion would be chapter 1: Percy followed, staggering under the weight of the old lady who was definitely getting heavier. He didn't know how that girl Hazel would hold off the gorgons by herself, but he was too tired to argue." You can tell it's third person limited because only Percy's thoughts and feelings are revealed to the reader, although it's not told in first person, because the author is referring to Percy as "Percy" instead of "I" or "me". Another example would be, " In the past few days he'd hardly slept. He'd eaten whatever he could scrounge-vending machine gummi bears, stale bagels, even a Jack in the Crack burrito, which was a new personal low." This sentence is mostly told in third person objective, but it also mentions that eating a Jack in the Crack burrito is a "new personal low" for Percy, which you wouldn't have known about if this sentence wasn't told from Percy's perspective. An example of how Percy's perspective is directly revealed would be, "Then he thought about Annabeth, the only part of his old life he was sure about," This sentence is directly stating his thoughts about Annabeth. (His girlfriend) An example of how his perspective is indirectly revealed would be, " Percy ran for the door in the hillside. June got heavier with every step. Percy's heart pounded. His ribs ached." From this sentence, you can assume that Percy is scared, in extreme pain, but still determined to get to the door in the hillside. And finally an example of how the narration shapes the reader's perspective on a specific person or event: "Then she'd met Percy. At first, when she saw him stumbling up the highway with the old lady in his arms, Hazel had thought he might be a god in disguise. Even though he was beat up, dirty, and stooped with exhaustion, he'd had an aura of power."
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