2. Consider the following words: adulterer -alcohol - beliefs - devotion - drugs - gambling - jihad - the Koran - mullah - Muslim - Paradise - prostitute.
How can we use these words to characterize Ali and Parvez? Furthermore, understand their different ways of living and reactions?
- In what ways do they differ in terms of how they look upon women and life in general?
- Why has Ali decided to become a practising Muslim?
- Why does Parvez hit Ali at the end of the story?
1. What themes does this short story present?
ReplyDeletea. Religion, disappointment, expectations and heritage that Ali brings in from his "home country"
2. Consider the following words: adulterer -alcohol - beliefs - devotion - drugs - gambling - jihad - the Koran - mullah - Muslim - Paradise - prostitute.
How can we use these words to characterize Ali and Parvez? Furthermore, understand their different ways of living and reactions?
a. Some words fit Ali and some his father but they are both Punjabs. Ali goes from being a “straight A” student who is very dedicated to sports and is having an English girlfriend to being devoted to the Koran and the Muslim religion. When praying 5 times a day and studying the Koran he is becoming more sarcastic and careless of his dad Parvez.
Parvez is a cab driver and has been for many years who work mostly nightshifts and long hours, therefore he also likes to enjoy life with some alcohol and sometimes more than enough. Due to his nightly shifts his regular customers sometimes is prostitutes and one of them is Bettina, a woman which Parvez almost can talk about everything.
In what ways do they differ in terms of how they look upon women and life in general?
a. Ali thinks that his father’s use of alcohol is wrong and so is the way he lives in general. Parvez is not seeing what is happening just before his eyes according to Ali. He thinks that his father loves a country which hates him back.
Why has Ali decided to become a practising Muslim?
a. I do not know I cannot find any pointers in the text to why he started it in the first place. But a guess would be that Ali learned something at school and found himself in a position where it felt right to do so. Read an article, was being bullied or realized that he just not were like the others.
Why does Parvez hit Ali at the end of the story?
a. Parvez is angry of his sons’ behaviour against Bettina and maybe also disappointed that combined with the alcohol and Parvez’ frustration would be why. He does not know his son anymore, cannot recognize him because Ali is so changed.
3. Discuss message and intention
a. Sometimes in sociology you hear about successful parents having very high expectations to their children these parents being so busy they do not have time to be with their children that the children see no other solution than to go the other way and become outlaws or unemployed. Perhaps the writer here is trying to show something like that, a father who has high expectations to his son and the son who is defying him and becoming a Muslim, giving up everything accomplished earlier in his life.
1.What themes does this short story presnet?
ReplyDeleteThe themes is the differens and understandng
between a father and a nearly adult son.
2. Consider the following words: adulterer -alcohol - beliefs - devotion - drugs - gambling - jihad - the Koran - mullah - Muslim - Paradise - prostitute.
How can we use these words to characterize Ali and Parvez? Furthermore, understand their different ways of living and reactions?
a. Words like alcohol, beliefs, gambling and prostitute relate to Parvez who is cab driver who works a night and therefor avoid his wife and son. He has accepted most of the English set a life .
b. The words devotion, Muslim, Mullah, Jihad and Paradice are all words that charactesize Ali who has become a pratice Muslim who prays 5times a day and is very fanatic about his new found religion
1. I think some of the themes for this story could be “identity”, “father and son relationship”, “how to live whit the Muslims religion and culture in the Western culture”, “issues of upbringing a child”,
ReplyDelete2. As Ali has grown older he has chosen to follow Islam more honestly than his father does. Therefore takes he Korans words very seriously and think as it as the only truth which means that alcohol, drugs, prostitutes and so on, are sinful things. . Ali doesn’t respect his father because he is drinking, spending time with prostitutes and don’t pray five times a day. I guess Ali see this as a shameful thing, which is the reason why he doesn’t treat his father respectfully. In the end of the story Parvez’ frustrations and feeling of powerlessness culminates and therefore he physically attacks Ali. At this point Ali shows that he is superior to his father- the religion has made Ali strong and Parvez powerless. The fact that Parvez in the beginning thinks that Ali is on drugs shows that he doesn’t know his son and that he is implicated into the western culture. Parvez has given up the Islamic values (they are strange to him now), and is not a practicing Muslims. He doesn’t understand Ali, and it seems even like he is afraid of him.
Parvez doesn’t follow the Koran and talks a lot with a prostitute. And it doesn’t seem like he pays much attention to his own wife- she is just sitting on the bed sewing and not talking. Ali looks at women according to the Koran: They are lowest in the hierarchy, even under their own sons. This means that prostitutes are not someone that you should even look at.
One of the reasons could be that he has been influenced by friends or other fanatic Muslims that he knows. Or maybe it is the way that his father is living that has provoked him to choose to become a fanatic Muslim.
I think he hits Ali because he has been frustrated and provoked by how arrogant and proud Ali is of being a part of this new religion.
3. The story is about how bad a relationship between a farther and a son can develop but it is also a story there shows the issues of Muslims who integrates into a western culture where they choose to live as fanatics. They choose to live as that because they are afraid to lose their cultural and religious values, or think that the western people hate them. I think there is more than one intention with this text. One of them is to tell that you shall go and confront the “head” and not the “tail”. Another could be that it is not easy to integrate when you are coming from another religion and another culture that is fare from the one you have to try to fit into now. Or the text shall remind us about the impotency of the attention and communication between children and their parents.
Rebecca Christensen
Very well answered. However, it is probably not so much about choosing to become a fanatic, but moreover to actually feel rottless in a new country where you are treated liked a foreigner, despite having grown up there. Ali is searching as you write for his identity and the Islamic faith embraces him whereas the British look upon him as an outcast.
Delete1. What themes does this short story present?
ReplyDeletea. Religion, way of life, conflict resolution, accept.
2. Consider the following words: adulterer -alcohol - beliefs - devotion - drugs - gambling - jihad - the Koran - mullah - Muslim - Paradise - prostitute.
How can we use these words to characterize Ali and Parvez? Furthermore, understand their different ways of living and reactions?
a. Ali goes from having focus on values such as school, sports and being with his girlfriend to live by the rules of Islam. This dissents him from his family. Living through the Koran he has to distance himself from alcohol, adulterer, gambling and prostitutes which all in some way, some more than others, take part in his fathers way of living. He hates the west, and he says that he will gladly offer his life in form of jihad in favour for a place in paradise.
b. Ali's dad Parvez is a taxi driver, and comes originally from the region in Pakistan called Punjabi. He is Muslim but a bit devoted from the the rules of the koran. He drinks, gambles and hangs out with fellow Punjabis that occasionally spend time with prostitutes as compensation for payment. One of these prostitutes is Bettina which Parves is very close to, and together they can talk about anything. Parvez is very concerned about the changes in Ali's life, and tries to figure it out. He even thinks he is taking drugs.
´In what ways do they differ in terms of how they look upon women and life in general?
Parvez likes to drink and likes to hang out with he's prostitute friend Bettina. He believes in making the best of his time on earth, and when death takes him away he will rot in earth and grass and flowers will grow out of him. Parts of him will live on in the generations to come.
Ali thinks there is a greater purpose in live, and he is very strong in his believe. He sees no reason to love a country that does not love him. And he dislike most of the things his father does for example drinking and letting women tough him.
Parvez likes England “ they let you do almost anything here”. For Ali this is the problem.
Why has Ali decided to become a practising Muslim?
The text does not say exactly way he becomes so fanatic.
But I guess it is triggered bay a felling of not fitting in. In his opinion the country does not like him, as in him having another ethnic background.
Why does Parvez hit Ali at the end of the story?
Parvez fells frustrated and cant level with Ali.
3. Discuss message and intention.
Especially young people have a need to identify themself with something. For many youngsters it is simply not enough just being, you have to be something or someone. Ali is great at sports and god in school but if he still does not feel that he fits in or being accepted by society, he need to seek acceptances else were. For Ali it is in religion.
The same story could be told in any society regarding acceptance. Example the boy from class getting bullied, and later becomes a gang member. I am not saying that choosing to be religious or become a gang member is the same, or only for seeking acceptance for that matter. But if you can't fit in one place you have to fit in in another. I guess there is other messages in the text , but I have jut deepen one of them.
Good Jens Peter, it is exactly the problem "not fitting in".Acceptance is a good theme and I think you are right, many youngsters seek sub cultures in order to fit in some where, unfortunately some choose gangs or become religious fanatics.
Delete1. What themes does this short story present?
ReplyDeletea. Religion, way of life, conflict resolution, accept.
2. Consider the following words: adulterer -alcohol - beliefs - devotion - drugs - gambling - jihad - the Koran - mullah - Muslim - Paradise - prostitute.
How can we use these words to characterize Ali and Parvez? Furthermore, understand their different ways of living and reactions?
a. Ali goes from having focus on values such as school, sports and being with his girlfriend to live by the rules of Islam. This dissents him from his family. Living through the Koran he has to distance himself from alcohol, adulterer, gambling and prostitutes which all in some way, some more than others, take part in his fathers way of living. He hates the west, and he says that he will gladly offer his life in form of jihad in favour for a place in paradise.
b. Ali's dad Parvez is a taxi driver, and comes originally from the region in Pakistan called Punjabi. He is Muslim but a bit devoted from the the rules of the koran. He drinks, gambles and hangs out with fellow Punjabis that occasionally spend time with prostitutes as compensation for payment. One of these prostitutes is Bettina which Parves is very close to, and together they can talk about anything. Parvez is very concerned about the changes in Ali's life, and tries to figure it out. He even thinks he is taking drugs.
´In what ways do they differ in terms of how they look upon women and life in general?
Parvez likes to drink and likes to hang out with he's prostitute friend Bettina. He believes in making the best of his time on earth, and when death takes him away he will rot in earth and grass and flowers will grow out of him. Parts of him will live on in the generations to come.
Ali thinks there is a greater purpose in live, and he is very strong in his believe. He sees no reason to love a country that does not love him. And he dislike most of the things his father does for example drinking and letting women tough him.
Parvez likes England “ they let you do almost anything here”. For Ali this is the problem.
Why has Ali decided to become a practising Muslim?
The text does not say exactly way he becomes so fanatic.
But I guess it is triggered bay a felling of not fitting in. In his opinion the country does not like him, as in him having another ethnic background.
Why does Parvez hit Ali at the end of the story?
Parvez fells frustrated and cant level with Ali.
3. Discuss message and intention.
Especially young people have a need to identify themself with something. For many youngsters it is simply not enough just being, you have to be something or someone. Ali is great at sports and god in school but if he still does not feel that he fits in or being accepted by society, he need to seek acceptances else were. For Ali it is in religion.
The same story could be told in any society regarding acceptance. Example the boy from class getting bullied, and later becomes a gang member. I am not saying that choosing to be religious or become a gang member is the same, or only for seeking acceptance for that matter. But if you can't fit in one place you have to fit in in another. I guess there is other messages in the text , but I have jut deepen one of them.
1. What themes does this short story present?
ReplyDeletea. Integration, honor, relationship between father and his son and religion
2. Consider the following words: adulterer -alcohol - beliefs - devotion - drugs - gambling - jihad - the Koran - mullah - Muslim - Paradise - prostitute.
How can we use these words to characterize Ali and Parvez? Furthermore, understand their different ways of living and reactions?
a. some words can be used to describe Ali, and some his father. Ali goes from being a straight a-student with normal, western interests such as sport, girls and school to a very religious Muslim living after the rules of the Koran. Due to the Koran Muslims are not allowed to drink, partying, gambling etc. which makes Ali take distance from his father for whom these things seems to be perfectly normal. His father loves the west, while Ali gladly would give his life in exchange for “a place in paradise”.
b. Alis dad wants to fit in. He is a taxi driver who has worked hard to make enough money for his son to go to school and has bought him clothes to make him fit in. He eats bacon in the morning (like every other English people) and drinks a few beers in the afternoon with his colleges. Ali is a first class student who is also trying to fit in. he works hard and get good grades, but he does not feel accepted. He is talking about differences between races and cultures and does not feel equal with the western youngsters.
• In what ways do they differ in terms of how they look upon women and life in general?
o Ali looks through the eyes of the Koran, which limits him a lot because of all the restrictions. Parvez wants to live the life he was given and knows that he has only got this one chance. He tells Ali to enjoy live without hurting others.
• Why has Ali decided to become a practising Muslim?
o I believe it is his feeling of being in the wrong place. He makes an effort trying to fit in, but in his opinion he will never be worth as much as his western with-students. He wants to be something, someone. He wants to be important and make a difference. And maybe he needs a meaning of life – a sort of guideline to live after.
• Why does Parvez hit Ali at the end of the story?
o Frustration. He has given up. He has tried everything, and the moment when Ali speaks to Bettina like if she was trash, he just looses it. He turns his brain of and let the hands do the job.
3. Discuss message and intention.
a. Again, I think it is about young people’s need of being something and somebody. Knowing (or feeling) that they can’t get any further, makes them search for other opportunities. The Koran is easy because everything is written out, you just have to read and follow. As a parent you aren’t always in position to make changes in the mind of your child. No matter how things were when they grew up, their perspective can always change.
I think religiion as well as sub cultures, skaters, indies, being a member of a gang make youngsters feel they belong somewhere. Islam embraces him and makes him feel welcome. Parvez fails to give him stability because he does not teach Ali about his roots, which is of immense importance for a person. Just think of adopted childen who almost always go back to find their roots, to find answer - something is missing.
Delete