Actions speak louder than words

The scene after the dance with Yolland and Marie was my favorite one of the whole play. It was so interesting because Yolland speaks English and Marie cannot speak English. I think it shows how important language is but demonstrates that language goes deeper than mere words. The essence of what is being spoken and the moment they share is more important than the actual words. They are not able to understand what comes out of the other's mouth but they know how they feel- Yolland says, "Don't Stop- I know what you are saying" (67). He obviously cannot understand the literal words but they are able to read each other because of their actions. They are sharing this moment and expressing how they feel all the while the other one can not understand a word-- it is a powerful scene.

Omishto's Power

I enjoyed the end of the book. I think this is where Omishto's real power comes out- she develops as a character since Ama is gone and she does not want to stay with her real mother. You can see her power most blatently when she deals with the sheriff on page 205 saying, "and I look at him without my eyes wavering or lowering." Another place you can see it is on page 209 when Herm comes, "He steps back and I see him grow smaller than I thought he could, heavy in the stomach, his back weak." Omishto grows into her own person and lives her own life, not the life of someone else as she had been, as she says. Omishto has the power to decide what to do with her life now: "I grow like the roots and stems of plants, as if I am coming up out of the ground to the light after the dark season." She is growing into who she wants to be- she goes back to the old ways and lives with the old people. Omishto is a mysterious girl and in that she has power over others. She has power because she knows exactly what happened, but she is the ONLY one, she has power because no one is able to tell her what to do- they can not make her go back to school and in a sense they could not make her go to the hospital, and now she has the power to do what she wants.

power

I found it interesting how at the end of the reading for today Omishto grabbed her things and walked out on her mother. It was not surprising considering the relationship she has with her mother and family but I do not think she really thought this through. Where is she going to stay? What is she going to eat? She does not have anywhere to go; Ama is not at home. She does not have an "outside mother" at this point. Omishto is like many teenagers though who leave when something does not go their way- so it will be interesting to see how long it takes her to return home.

Pretty/ beautiful

Today in class when we were talking about "pretty" I found this passage on page 19 that really grabbed my attention: "Today is a day Ama is beautiful, but a person has to look for it. If she was a flower, she'd be one of those hard-living ones that hang on the earth for dear life and have tiny blooms a person can barely see, but they are there." I think Ama is a beautiful person not on the outside but on the inside. One may not be able to see it just by looking at her but it penetrates from her- it is infectious. She is beautiful for reasons that lie deep within her: her fearlessness and courage. These are words Omishto uses to describe her and they help to shape the beautiful person she sees. She is not a perfect flower that grows tall and strong but she carries herself this way anyways. She acted like she was a flower with full blooms that everyone adored-- the confidence she had in herself allowed her to look past superficial looks and know that she was royalty because she felt like royalty.

Cold Heart

"I used to think that just a change in venue would banish forever from my life the things I most despised. But that was not to be so. As each day infolded before me, I could see the sameness in everything; I could see the present take shape-the shape of my past" (Kincaid, 90). This passage really stuck out while I was reading for class. I think this passage by itself summarizes her experience with the new place. She came to America as a way to get away from her past. She was not happy before and thought this change would allow her to forget. What she has come to realize is that she is experiencing many of the same things she did back home. She is reminded how much she hates Sundays, she sees Mariah and Lewis' marriage start to fall apart, and she sees him doing things her father did. This passages demonstrates that just by leaving a place does not erase her past as she thought would happen. As much as she wants to forget her past she is still tied to it. I think she needs to face her past and not try to run away from it. The grass always seems greener on the other side, until you get there. Her trip to America is much different than she expected and that is because she expected to find a perfect life here. But no one is perfect and though it may appear that way on the outside, it most likely is not true on the inside.

Lucy

The daffodils in Lucy show the different views that two people can have. Mariah loves daffodils, they are her favorite flower and a reminder of Spring. Lucy, on the other hand, hates them. They remind her of a poem she had to recite many years ago about this flower she had never seen. On page 29 Lucy says, "I did not know what these flowers were, and so it was a mystery to me why I wanted to kill them." Even though she did not know what these flowers were they reminded her of her past and hated them from first glance. Mariah knows about her poem and hatred of daffodils but wants her to find them lovely. The different opinions of Mariah and Lucy stem from their very different pasts: "...where she saw beautiful flowers I saw sorrow and bitterness. The same thing could cause us to shed tears, but those tears would not taste the same." I think this is an important line in the first part of this novel. It shows their two different perspectives on life. It is so true how something can cause very different reactions by two people. The place one comes from has this impact and shapes the experiences we have. Can anyone think of a time when this happened to them? Had a different reaction to the same thing?

Blessed House

I enjoyed reading Lahiri's story. Twinkle's character kept my attention. What I found to be interesting was Sanjeev and Twinkles very different personalities. Sanjeev is more reserved and worried about what others will think and Twinkle is open and curious. This strong contrast made the story interesting because you never knew what would happen between them. I think this difference in personality led Sanjeev to feel displaced. I especially saw this during this housewarming party. Twinkle told the guests about her treasure hunts and they all wanted to join. Sanjeev was left out because he did not like the statues and posters Twinkle found; they irritated him. This feeling of displacement stemmed from the fact that he was much different than Twinkle and, because of that, he was irritated by her. Page 157 says, "Most of all he hated it because he knew Twinkle loved it." Even though he liked one of the treasures he kept himself from liking it just because Twinkle liked it. This line sums up their relationship, because of their different views on life and personalities irritation arose. This contrast and irritation led to a feeling of displacement for Sanjeev.