No Class Next Week--but See Below

REMEMBER, no class on Tuesday, since I decided to cancel class so you could enjoy the entire week Comp I-free. However, try to finish behind the beautiful forevers for next week. There are NO questions--we'll do an in-class writing when you return to class. I'll also return your papers to you, and we'll start preparing for the Final Exam, which is your last assignment in Comp 1.

If you want some additional context for the book, here's an article just published in the New York Times about the persecution that Dalits (untouchables) face in modern India. As the book suggests, caste is still very much part of life for Indians trying to work their way out of the slums: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/17/world/asia/tell-everyone-we-scalped-you-how-caste-still-rules-in-india.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR121LSqi_J-hgY6Bm2I4bv5Me9_yQusKDpdCgKe8ZAN72Gd4lGoIipXYbQ

Enjoy the Break!  

For Tuesday: Boo, Behing the Beautiful Forevers, Chapters 10-13 (no class on Thursday, remember!)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Discuss how one of these chapter titles really acts as a "thesis" to the ideas that follow. How did it help you understand and appreciate each story? Remember to consider the titles not merely literally, but also as symbols/metaphors for the characters and their inner dramas. 

Q2: Why are people so callous to pain and suffering in the city considering they can relate--and often face the same suffering themselves? Consider the man hit by a car at the beginning of Chapter 10 who everyone--even Sunil--ignores and leaves for dead. Indeed, the only attention paid to the man is when he's long dead and his corpse is disturbing small children." You might consider Zehrunisa's quote at the beginning of Part 4 which reads, "Don't confuse yourself by thinking about such terrible lives."

Q3: Manju and her friend (from the Dalit caste), Meena, often spend time in the public toilets for a little "girl time." Reflecting on these moments, Boo writes that "The minutes in the night stench with Manju were the closest she had ever come to freedom" (185). What does this say about the life of a young girl of the slums, even in the "New" India? Why is she so unenthusiastic about her future--so much so, that she often contemplates committing suicide? 

Q4: Abdul writes that "Even the person who lives like a dog still has a kind of life" (198). According to him, why is suffering, scavenging, and neglect still a worthwhile life--if not the best one? What does his time in prison allow him to see about the world of the slums? And does this strike you as a strictly Indian perspective (like doing one's duty), or is it more universal?

Conversation Paper #2: The American Dream

“The key, she told Manju, was “to study the first-class people. You see how they’re living, how they walk, what they do. And then you do the same.” (Boo, Ch.9).

Boo’s book, behind the beautiful forevers, is about the aspirations of people on the bottom to climb their way a little higher, or even to the top of the bottom. For the first time, even untouchables are offered a chance at prosperity—a home, a job, and a little disposable income. The chance at a better life is the very definition of hope for many people, and it’s enough to keep them going under even insurmountable odds...even though for most, they will never attain their “beautiful forevers.”

For your second conversation paper, I want you respond to the question: what is your American Dream? That is, what dream are you striving to attain sometime in your future, and that college, hopefully, will help you achieve? What is the ideal, and what is the bare minimum you would settle for? How achievable do you think this is? Has anyone in your family every achieved this? Or is it something that is becoming harder and harder to attain? Discuss what you want, how you think you can get it, and what some of the obstacles are to achieving this in your lifetime.

To help you discuss this, I want you to find at least two sources that discuss some elements of your American Dream. It could be an article about the economy, or about recent college graduates, or about your ideal job, or about millennials, etc. Anything that helps you discuss your dream and why achieving it isn’t something that everyone can take for granted. In addition, I want you to use Boo’s book to compare and contrast your own ambitions. How do their ambitions compare with your own? In what ways is America like and unlike the undercity of Mumbai? What reflections or lessons do they learn that can help you on your own journey?

REQUIREMENTS

• At least 4 pages double-spaced, but you can do more
• At least three sources: two outside sources and the book
• Be sure to cite according to MLA format, which means introducing and citing quotes, and including a WC page
• Due next Thursday, November 15th by 5pm [we will have class that day, but it will be a Writing Day]

NOTE: Turn in a hard copy of your paper AND an e-mailed copy this time around. The English department needs a record of at least one assignment from each Comp 1 class to assess the kinds of work our students are doing.

For Tuesday: Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Chs.5 through 9

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: What does the title “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” refer to (hint: we learn in these chapters). How is it not only a literal title, but also a metaphorical one? What are the “beautiful forevers” offered by modern India—and who gets this happy ending?

Q2: Why is there so much tension between Fatima and Zehrunisa? What kind of relationship do they have, and how does this lead to the climactic fight which puts Zehrunisa’s family “in a trap”?

Q3: In Chapter 7 Boo writes, “The Indian criminal justice system was a market like garbage, Abdul now understood. Innocence and guilt could be bought and sold like a kilo or polyurethane bags” (107). Why is this? How can justice and guilt be simply a matter of bribes or beatings? What is the role of the police force in Mumbai, according to the book?

Q4: While in prison, Abdul falls in love with the teachings of a “Master,” who tells him, “Be generous and noble. Offer up your flesh, agree to be eaten by the eagles of the world, and justice will come to you in time” (132). This echoes the idea of the Bhagavad Gita, which tells people to do the work of their caste, no matter how humble, and suffer the indignities of life for a better birth tomorrow. Do you feel this is good advice for someone trying to make it in modern India...or is it propaganda by the government to keep lower class workers in their place?