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Scott Sandoval Reader Response #2 LAE 6467 Ishiguro K. Never Let Me Go / Kazuo Ishiguro [e-book]. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.; 2005. Available from: University of South Florida Libraries Catalog, Ipswich, MA. Accessed July 1, 2013. Japanese 1. “After one “when” a second “when,” after a second “when” a third “when.” A strange maze of “whens” that had passed away, the “whens” that were yet to come” (7). The quote occurs in the text when Hakim Bande Ali and Musayyab Husain ask Abba Jan when the world is going to end. Abba Jan responds with a set of answers all beginning with the word, “when.” The quote reminds me of when I was a child and something was explained to me. I would always ask my mother at what point something was going to happen, and for the longest time she would just respond with “when” attached to an answer. For example if I wanted to eat candy she would respond with “when” you are done with your food. Yet at the age of six one instance stuck out in my mind more than any other. It was the day my father passed away, and I asked my mother, “when would we see him again.” That day she gave me a set of whens, such as “when you get old,” “when you pass away,” “when you go to heaven.” This is similar to the text, because Abba Jan isn’t sure the exact time the world will end, just like my mother could not explain to a child when he would see his father. 2. “But the workers, having put up the poles, again vanished from sight. Days passed, months passed, then time just went on passing. The poles, laden with dust, again became part of the landscape. They didn’t look as if they’d been put up, but as if they’d grown from the ground” (15). The quote describes electric poles coming to the small town, and how the workers abandoned the poles to wait for electricity to come to them. The quote might be an odd one to pick out, but growing up I lived on a farm, where electric poles were placed in the middle of our
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land. I have this distinct memory when I was ten or eleven looking up at an electric poll that had looked like it had grown from the ground. Vines and different plants engulfed the pole to the point that it had just become part of the scenery. Until reading this part I did not notice the pole when I went over to my mother’s house. So this weekend I went outside and the pole was still standing where it has been my whole life. 3. “Electricity has now begun to be installed in the mosque as well, but Abba Jan had thrown a spanner into the works, “This is ‘innovation’” (28). At this point of the text Intizar Husain explains that electricity has come to the city, and that they are replacing lanterns with electric lights. Abba Jan does not want electricity installed at the mosque and equips himself with a cudgel where he defends the place. When the mosque is finally overridden with lights, he spends his prayers at his home. The way Abba Jan acts reminds me of when I interned at Steinbrenner High School. While interning at the position I had a discussion with my 9th grade teacher about teaching English. My 9th grade teacher told me not to become a teacher here in Florida, because of Springboard. Throughout my week I learned that the teachers were in a feud, the ones who supported Springboard and those who did not. Abba Jan is similar to my 9th grade teacher, who was resistant to change. In the end both my teacher and Abba Jan cannot enjoy the place where they spend a portion of their day. 4. “Om the family when a wedding took place and all the family members go together, Chacha Jan started telling stories like this about Khan Bahadur Uncle, and sons and nephews gathers round and listened as though they were hearing legends about some mythic hero. ‘My brother the late Khan Bahadur had a silver leg’” (35). The quote reminds me of when my father was alive. My father was sixty years old when I was born, and had served in World War 2. By the time I was four or five he had both of his legs amputated, and I could never figure out why. He did not have a silver leg like Khan Bahadur, but I created a story in my mind that my father had lost his legs due to being shot in the leg during
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the war. He was in fact shot in the leg, but he did not lose them, because of this action. Similar to Chacha Jan I created a mythic hero out of my father. 5. “There will be war, and this worn-out system which sustains you will be torn to pieces. Not one of those stale, rotten moral values you carry around with you, that spread a stink in the society, will survive. My babbling fool of a father asked me what then would survive. I said, ‘Old fool! I will survive- I, the revolution!” (99). The quote reminds me of the texts I read from Mexico before the revolution occurred. The same way Salamat talks about the “worn-out system” the Mexican people were unhappy with the way the resources were being outsourced to the European countries. A moment of history where the people were unhappy is at a mine in northern Mexico. The people decided to go on strike, but were attacked by a group of Mexican soldiers. After several deaths the people went back to work, but became hostile sparking the Mexican revolution. Salamat is similar to Madero who openly spoke out against the president of Mexico. Madero is imprisoned when he tried to run for public office, and ultimately is the final spark in the Mexican Revolution. 6. “Delhi is now a ruined city. “Lanes that were like leaves from a painter’s album” have been laid waste. So many leaves have blown away with the wind, so many others have been utterly erased. So many houses are lightless, reduced to rubble” (163). The quote reminded me of the setting created in the novel I read for my country, Pedro Paramo. In the text the author shows the area as dead and decaying with all of the lights out. The area has been “laid to waste” similar to the city of Delhi. In this part of the novel India has been under attack and part of Delhi has been destroyed due to different air raids. In Pedro Paramo the people had abandoned the town years before and now there is a small population in the city. The same occurs in the novel when the air raids begin. People begin to move from the countries so that they can find shelters in other areas. Both of the stories depict a city that has been devastated by war, and what happens when the people leave.
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7. “The she very slowly drew a sheet over the lifeless body. Then she collapsed on the floor, rested her head against the bed-frame, and began to sob” (179). I picked this quote from the end of the novel, because it reminded me of when my father passed away and how my mother handled the situation. I remember a day in the middle of October when I arrived at the hospital to visit my father. When we asked the clerk to see his room, the doctor came down to talk with my mother. At the same time the nurse came and took me away and gave me a red popsicle. I remember looking down the hall and seeing my mom collapse on the ground with her head against the wall frantically crying. When I read this quote I see not only my mother, but my father’s lifeless body as well. When they put the sheet over his body, it was the last time I saw him until his funeral. The scene and this quote really hit home for me.