The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf

In Mohja Kahf’s novel The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf, I felt that Khadra was sucked into a specific lifestyle that her parents wanted her to live. When she was little she obeyed and even got frightened when others who are Muslim do not live the life that she was trained to live. This is evident on her Haj to Mecca when her cousin, Afaaf, subjects Khadra to a different lifestyle that Afaaf thought was American. “ What is your problem?... What’s the matter, is this not as fun as what you do in America?” (178). Khadra responded in the one way that she was taught by her mother as an insult to her cousin saying, “I hate you- you’re a FILTHY girl, with FILTHY friends- you take me home RIGHT NOW. You- you- you goddamn bitch.” (178).
Her religion was all she knew but after her second journey to her homeland, to Syria, Khadra received a different identity of who she was when she stayed with Téta. She experienced for the first time going out without a hijab on. But she still “would have to manifest the quality of modesty in her behavior” (312). Her family probably would have been disgusted to know of Khadra acting in this way, but to her, it was not about the hijab anymore, it was about the concept of modesty. Even though she experienced this though, on her return to America, she drapped a veil over her because it showed others her heritage which she was so proud of.
One thing that I really enjoyed reading about though, was not about the religion or even the family of Khadra, but was seeing Kharda’s friend, Joy, and her family. The whole scene talking about working in the kitchen and making the kibbeh really took me home. My boyfriend’s family is Lebonese and I have been involved in the whole process of making kibbeh and it really is a whole family event. Also, seeing the importance of family, taking care of them is also something that really touched me. Although, in my culture girls do not have to be followed around everywhere, just the fact that the Muslim community really looked out for one another was something very nice to see. They all bonded together calling each other aunt, uncle, sister, and brother. They whole community was one big family that loved each other and looked out for one another always. We do not always see that today and it was refreshing to see how much they cared for their community.

Kindred

Moving from one life to the next must have really taken a toll on Dana. Living in two different worlds and having to succumb to the suppression of racism must have killed Dana’s heart. Although the story was interesting, I did not understand the purpose of the book. Yes, Dana has to save her ancestor in order to live in her present life in the 20th century but I don’t understand how she came to have the powers to go between the 19th and 20th century even if it is a fictional story.
Rufus has changed greatly due to his experience as a white male in the 19th century. Although he had no racism in his own time, married a black woman even though that was not acceptable for his time, he seemed to loose some of his views of slavery when he time traveled.
On the plantation when Dana first arrived there, she had no bond with the slaves just because she had no reason to feel that she was equal to them. She had lived in a world where she was not forced to be a slave and could do as she pleased. After many returns to the South though, Dana felt closer and closer every time she was punished for her thoughts and actions as a black woman. She was rejected in the South as a real human being and by the actions that white men and woman showed to her, she grew to love the slaves she was with and care for them as a mother would for her children.
I understand that Dana’s arm was hurt because she killed Rufus and I assume from the ending and beginning that her arm was crushed where Rufus was holding her before she killed him, but I don’t understand why Dana’s arm was in the wall. Was she just saying that to get Kevin out of jail and to save him from punishment?
Overall, the book hurt to hear about how slaves were treated and how they were just property bought and sold like cattle. It was nice to see how Dana’s family had changed over time and be able to look at how her ancestors acted versus her actions in the present day.

The Bluest Eye

To start off, I really enjoyed reading this book. It had a great pace and was an easy read. A lot of books based on African American decent revolve around the harsh treatments that occur to the women of their race. Through The Bluest Eye, I was able to really get inside a specific character and think about how she was feeling. That character for me was Pecola. She reminded me of the ugly duckling that turns into a swan. She has a constant want to be beautiful in the way that society views beauty. Her obsession was the want for blue eyes and would pray for them every night. I feel as if Pecola wanted blue eyes because that was seen as a social trait that people associated with as true beauty. Since Pecola was born ugly, she always had a longing to be accepted by those around her. Everywhere she went she was treated with disrespect for the way she looked and finally at the end she received in her mind the blue eyes that she always wanted. “ Each night, without fail, she prayed for blue eyes. Although somewhat discouraged, she was not without hope.” (46). She thought that if she had pretty eyes, no one would do bad things in front of her and she would not be hurt as much. She was blinded by her thoughts of what the bluest eyes meant, because in order to have the bluest of eyes, she had to experience many terrible things that made her the saddest of all the characters.
The way that the book was set by introducing chapter with the story of Dick and Jane was very ironic to me. I believe that the story of Dick and Jane is a happy story of how wonderful life is with two siblings that have such wonderful parents who play with them, a mother who is nice, and a father who is big and strong. The opposite is the case for Pecola and her brother, Sammy. Their mother, Pauline Breedlove is mean to her children and their father Cholly Breedlove is a drunk and has been in jail. The story of Dick and Jane was a way to set up for each chapter and gave me an idea of what to expect. Using this story showed me how white people were seen as perfect families who had such wonderful children and loving parents, while African American families had the hard life with terrible, disobedient children and hateful, cruel parents. Life never really improved for Pecola, but it gave the reader the sense that life was hard in those days for African Americans and that life is not always so pretty as people view it to be.