January Blog Post

For some reason, my entries get progressively longer with each month, and while right now I cant imagine how much I possible had to say about Beowulf, I'm far too uninterested to actually go back and read it. On that note I do remember complaining that we couldn't pick what we were allowed to write and reading packets containing the countless comments and opinions of experts was downright boring. I at first had no idea what I could possible write about for this entry.
But really, every group of books has something in common so its only natural that there is a common theme between what we have been reading. The most prominent similarity has to be of course the treatment of women throughout history and in different countries. Its no surprise that women in the middle east are treated as second class citizens. Its something we as students of course have known about for a while and the most one could say is well "its terrible the way people are treated like property, some societies are just primitive." However, with a thousand splendid suns, we actually got to step inside the lives of these women in a way that no mere t.v documentary can allow. Its strange how when you don't fully understand things you cast them aside as being unimportant. Books like these really open your eyes to the way things really are, and I have to say well, it was depressing to say the least. I'm truly not a fan of depressing stories and books are worse than movies because it takes longer to read depressing books than it takes to watch a sad movie. But my point is, reading something like a thousand splendid suns, it gives more of a face to a problem the world is facing. The trials of Mariam and Laila really hit home because although we cant necessarily identify with their situation, we can identify with their fear and uncertainty. The feeling of abandonment that Mariam deals with is something everyone can identfiy with. For some reason, every time we hear about a car bombing or a hijacking in a middle eastern country, we don't fully understand the ramifications of it. Its only a simple headline in an American newspaper but its affected so many lives, already made difficult by poverty and crime. I have read many books documenting the lives of people all over the world, but not once have I read one that shows a viewpoint of Americas "biggest enemy." Its really eye opening and if anything the reader has a better idea of how women actually suffer. Few people took into consideration the lives of African American slaves before the 1900s and imprisonment was acceptable because it was "in the bible." America is guilty of the same crime to an extent, but we have openly admitted this and avidly asserted equal rights since. Africans were treated as property in a similar sense as women are in some countries. I have read documentaries about slave life and it gives a similar understanding as this book does. Not saying that a civil war will free women of hundreds of years of mistreatment, but a thousand splendid suns only makes the suffering of women all the more clear and identifiable to the average person, and sheds a whole new light on my perception of the middle east.