The Arabian Nights: Reading 3

Parts read

• Second Old Man's Tale
• The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon

My reaction:

What is with people and being so jealous that they want to kill people in this book? First the old man's wife wants to kill the mistress. Now the second old man's brothers want to kill him because of his wealth. These are people, and murder is not a legitimate reason to take away their lives. People also have some odd ways of getting revenge. Changing people into animals is apparently a bad fate. Sure its not ideal, but couldn't they just go to jail or something instead of making them into a deer or dog. Third of all, what are demons exactly? There was the nice she-demon of god but then there are demons so bad that they are in a jar for 800 years. Alot of levels into the story happened by the end of the Fisherman and the Demon. Shahrazad, the old man telling the Demon, the  Fisherman, who is going to start telling a story. Wow. That is very confusing.

The Arabian Nights: Reading 2

Stories Read:

• Merchant and His Wife
• Merchant and the Demon
• First Old Man's Tale

My reaction:

In the Merchant and His Wife, the merchant puts his wife in her place by beating her, and the people celebrate afterwards. What sort of lesson does this teach? Gender inequality and domestic abuse, that is what it is. 

The Merchant and the Demon was only interesting in the fact that it set up another frame story, with the old man within the story telling their life tales, in perhaps the hope of saving the merchant's life.

The old man tells us his odd tale with his mistress and son becoming cows, and his wife being slaughtered. However, his wife ends up becoming a deer. Like its an everyday sort of occurence. And of course the woman is to blame, by being jealous. No wonder, because she was happily married and the old man decides to have a mistress, who manages to have a child. I understand where she is coming from, especially when childbearing was basically really important in that culture.

The Arabian Nights: Reading 1

Sections read:

• Foreword
• Prologue
• The Tale of the Ox and the Donkey

Major Plot points

• Shahzaman finds wife cheating, and kills her
• Shahzaman sees Shahrayar's wife cheating with Mas'ud
• Shahzaman and Shahrayar plot to catch the wife
• the brothers decide to roam the world in the hopes of finding someone with worse luck
• Black demon
• woman sleeps with 100 men despite being locked in a box in an ocean
• Shahayar marries a new girl every night, and kills her in the morning
• Shahrazad wants to end the killing by having her father (the vizier) let her marry Shaharyar
• ox beaten down
• donkey tells the ox to pretend to be ill
• the merchant understood, and has the donkey used instead of the ox
• the donkey wishes to be back the way it was

My reaction

These characters are crazy. Finding your wife to be cheating on you does not mean you can kill her. Yes, it is not a positive thing. However, this is all a very gender biased way of looking at women. Just because some women choose not to be faithful, does not mean that all women are cunning and cheating. Men in the story can just go and have concubines, screw around a bit, and they are not killed. And just because you are angry at your one wife does not give you the right to marry a new girl every night, and then kill them in the morning. First of all, that is wasteful. Of your resources, your subjects, your future generations will suffer. No body even bothers to tell the king to chill, instead they just let him kill every girl in the area. What about women's rights and not wanting to be married off to their death, just because they might not stay faithful to their husband of one night. The characters in the story just really are irritating. They only think of themselves, not of the common people and how they are destroying their kingdom. Also, the king must really be a sex addict if he needs to sleep with a new woman each night. I realize that all of the girls are supposed to be virgins, but there has to be a serious risk of getting STDs, especially that one woman who slept with 100 men. She needs to control herself. 

A Separate Peace: Chapter 13

If I were the author, I would have perhaps left out this chapter. I personally did not find it necessary to the plot, although it provides some reflection on how Finny's death changed Gene, and the war changed his friends. The whole part with Brinker's father wanting to be young to be in the war was just pitiful. I felt bad for that man who felt that someone's whole worth and existence depended on their role in such slaughter. The whole line where Gene said he never killed anyone in the war, and he never hated the enemy was because he killed his enemy at school. He never points out exactly who his enemy was, whether it was the darkness in him or Finny. Gene talks about how Finny was the best because the worst never game out in him because he never had an enemy, but Gene's enemy was not brought on by the war but rather Gene conquered it before. I was not a fan of this part, because while it makes the reader think, I felt that it really detracted from the plot.

A Separate Peace: Chapter 12

Important Plot Points:

• Finny has re-broken leg
• Gene tries to sneak in and talk to him
• Finny goes to have leg set
• Finny dies

My reaction:

NO!!!!!! Why? Why is this necessary to the plot. We were one chapter away from finding happiness. It really made me sad. Finny admitted he applied to a bunch of military branches, but they all rejected him. Which is why he refused to believe there was a war. And even though Finny knows the truth about Gene, he still forgives him. It would have been a happy and nice resolution. But no. Finny has to die while having his leg set, and the doctor completely did not seem to carry about Finny as a person. Instead he just referred to the war, and the coming of more deaths. The worst passage of all to read was about how Gene felt like attending Finny's funeral was like attending his own. Gene was literally crazy in love for Finny, wanting to be him and thinking about Finny all the time, and his one true love dies through his fault. No. It's not okay for this to be the second to last chapter of the book. 

A Separate Peace: Chapter 11

Important plot points:

• Finny stops believing in his conspiracy
• Gene is put "on trial"
• Finny falls down the stairs

My reactions

1) What is wrong with Brinker?

Honestly, why does he constantly have to push Gene? First he hints to Gene that Gene is to blame. And then for some reason he finds it necessary to hold that trial. What sort of friend does that? Why didn't he just let it be? Brinker gains nothing by holding the trial. All it does is hurt people who he is friendly with.

2) Leper's return left me confused

How would he be allowed to return, if he is so crazy. First off, he deserted the army, so it would be unacceptable for Devon to accept Leper to return. Also, why would his mother allow him to leave? 

3) Irritation at the author

Why did he have to make Finny fall? Why can't Gene have been the one? Honestly, Finny's life already sucks enough. It is not necessary for him to fall again.

4) Anger at Gene

This kid seriously has some problems with telling the truth. He lied so many times during the "trial" and then there was that whole thing about him being from the South, which he had just said he had grown up from. But then only hours later, he goes around lying.

A Separate Peace: Chapter 10

I found the reading to be confusing, and very dark considering the light attitude of the past chapter. While there weren't any particularly important moments for the plot in this chapter, the development of Leper as a character was very interesting. It was revealed that Leper ran away/ deserted the army, as they were going to give him a Section Eight. Section Eights are worse than dishonorable discharges, mean that the person can never get a job, and are only given to those who are "psycho". Leper's lack of sanity is exhibited by his hallucinations, and complete personality change. Leper accuses Gene of knocking Finny out of the tree.
Gene is not exactly the best under pressure and first knocks Leper over, and later leaves Leper alone while the two were on a walk.