I want to write about the part where the author allows the refugees to make works of art. The images were eye popping because it demonstrates the pain, suffering, and sadness of these refugees. I like that instead of writing in English, they express ideas through images. In addition, I feel like this fits in with the idea that minor literature is political. For these refugees, they left for political reasons and are trying their best to gain a voice and political representation in a place where the government tries their best to get rid of their humanity. These images show the complex and arduous life that they had to endure so that they could be recognized as people.

This reminded me of colonialism and imperialism. I could imagine the frightening feeling that would ensue when a foreign settler comes to take your land and livelihood. In America, I remember how there was a time where Native Americans were forced to be "Americanized" and adopt American culture as opposed to Native American culture. The same would happen to these aboriginals. On one hand, it is devastating that even though the Aboriginals used this land for a long time, in the end, they lost their way of life because of colonizers. On the other hand, in this world, it is survival of the fittest. Communities such as these would not have the resources to fend off big powers such as the westerners

I feel like this is important to note because it demonstrates the father's complex relationship with Haiti. On one hand, he has committed insurmountable crimes in Haiti and has severed a part of his connection to Haiti. On the other hand, even after 37 years of living in the United States, he still prefers to use Creole instead of English. 37 years is a long time to learn English and forget Creole. Yet, the father keeps on speaking Creole and embracing that part of his culture. Even though he has bad memories of Haiti, a big part of the culture and the language lives on inside of him. In fact, the inherent love for the culture can be seen in Ka. Despite being American born, she is still enamored with the idea of visiting Haiti one day -Sk Ayon

I thought this is one of the most prominent examples of the ironic statements in the story. The story is characterized by irony. When the tourist thinks one thing, the narrator makes you look at it in the opposite way. I think this is the most interesting line because it is the most blunt line at this point in this narrative. Tourists like going to places to have fun and yet they do not care about the inhabitants. They do not care about how they live. There is also a divide and envy between the fortunate and the inhabitants who want their type of lifestyle. It demonstrates the cultural divides between the western hemisphere and countries that were the subject of colonialization. -Sk Ayon

I feel like Julius' description of psychiatry is a metaphor for the emotions he has been going through for the whole story. Ever since the beginning, he has been an enigma. We act as his psychiatrist and enter his dark room. Although his mind is a black box (we can't how his brain is coded), we can see his life story and actions. Just like a psychiatrist, we rely on what he tells us to make an opinion of him. He is unreliable as a narrator and we may have to take his words with many grains of salt. If I were to extend his analogy, I would say that his mind is the darkness and there is light surrounding it. The darkness is the functioning of Julius' brain while all his actions are the light surrounding it. We can never know exactly what he is thinking, but the way that the light bends shows us how he is thinking -Sk Ayon

I felt like this part was very important because for once, I felt like he actually had a sense of emotion/empathy. Throughout most of the story, he did not react much to people's stories. With V, he did not have much emotion about it as he was recalling the fact. However, this scene kind of shows how his thinking has evolved. He went from a shallow way of observing people to actually caring and thinking about people. Previously, he barely cared about his girlfriend. Now, he is caring about the stories that these Rwandans may hold. I feel like this shows his growth as a person and that perhaps, he is starting to grow as a person and is becoming less withdrawn. -Sk Ayon

This feels like something important that will be explored later on in the book. Earlier, we barely knew anything about Julius' heritage besides the fact that he is Nigerian. The ride with the cab driver showed how Julius has some disconnect with the African community. I felt like this scene is important because it is a clearer view of his disconnect with African culture. This scene shows a stark contrast between Julius and Yemi. While Yemi is excited about African culture and meeting a fellow African, Julius has no interest in talking about his culture. Later on we get a glimpse into his backstory to see the reason behind this disconnect. I think this scene is important to note because it highlights a stark difference between Julius and other African immigrants. While the other immigrants he meets are proud to be African, nowhere in this story has Julius indicated pride for his culture and that is something that we should look out for in the future. -Sk Ayon

This passage highlights one of the big themes that I have noticed in this novel: Duality of People. What I mean by this is that people are very complicated and have multiple sides to them. Earlier, the main character noted the one activist that is revered by a lot of people, but people that knew her actually hated her for being egoistic. There was also that other part where the parents were okay with artificial insemination and sperm freezing (artificial scientific things), but not with masturbation (something natural) because it goes against their religion. I think these types of polarizing differences are going to be a big part of the story and will show how people themselves can have many different masks and can embody different and often opposing personality traits. Even here, we can see that a cruel ruler could still be a likeable person in his inner circles. -Sk Ayon

There are many quotable pieces of dialog in this play. I chose this one because it is a microcosm of society at large. This man is a black psychiatrist who grew up in South Africa. He himself wants to be a humble man and try to be a good educated man. Yet, being a minority in a high ranking profession means that people would judge him by his skin, not his talents. This is something that is seen in society today. People say backhanded compliments such as "You are smart for a insert minority race here" or "You are beautiful for a minority race. They are treated as marvels of humanity instead of being treated for the humans that they are. -Sk Ayon

I thought this was a very ironic thought. Margaret and possibly other people such as her were brought up with the underlying idea that they were lesser beings because they were Marsarwa. It is interesting to see that earlier in the story, she was fine with openly announcing that she was a Masarwa. However, we see that even though she openly is proud of who she is, she internalizes some of the prejudice in this society. This includes diminishing herself and making her think that she is not worthy of love.

I thought this was an ironic thought because she probably does not understand the great rivalry between Moleka and Maru over her. Despite being a Masarwa and apparently having a lower value because of it, her character, presence, and personality leads to two men of higher classes fighting over her. -Sk Ayon

I have to say, one thing that is interesting about this is how much it reflects my culture. In my culture, people with lighter skin are treated better than people with darker skin. In addition, in Bollywood movies, I notice that many of the main characters are always fair skinned Indians while all of the less important characters such as gang members that get beat up are just dark skinned. This reminded me of this because there is too much of an emphasis on appearance rather than merit. Since people only look skin deep, many of the other features of people are overlooked. On the other side, people may work hard for what they want, but it is always boiled down to their skin color. This type of stuff is always so insane in these kind of societies and it just demeans humanity as a whole -Sk Ayon

I thought the language used here was very intriguing. Previously, we had a caste system of different ranks of people based on their skin color and birth. So far, only Margaret cared about breaking this system and would get very annoyed whenever one of these people gets treated unfairly.

The language here kind of hinted at the prevailing attitude towards people such as Margaret. Instead of using an objective adjective such as angrily, the author uses the word hysterically. Hysterical implies intense, uncontrolled emotion. One way to read it was that Margaret was so angered by mistreatment that she has no choice to get emotional about it.

The other way to read it would be in a way that undermines the efforts of Margaret. By saying that her reaction was emotional, it implies that this type of issue is just emotional, not rational. No one in this society rationally believes in the equal treatment of these Africans and therefore, any treatment to make them feel better and more equal just gets swallowed up as an emotional response rather than a rational one.

One thing that I thought was interesting was how she had no memory of pain. I remember how we were talking in previous classes about how some pain can be difficult to express and hard to forget. Maybe this kind of shows how some emotions have a stronger effect than others. The love and the safety she feels with Maru trumps all the suffering and venom he spits in his rare bad moods. This follows how strong emotions create strong memories. All her pain is weaker than all her feelings of love. Therefore, it would follow she would remember happiness more than her pain. There is a strong sense that they care about each other and thus they would feel safe.

My only question is "If they share a lot of love and feel safe, why is she fearful when she comes? Is the craziness of his bad moods that bad and does that contradict what is said?"

-Sk Ayon

I feel like this is one of the most important ideas in this poem. The poem talks about how the brutality of the partition broke people. The violence, chaos, and despair has psychologically broken people. This event is so terrible and full of despair that it is a burden passed on future generations.

Ever since The Partition, many survivors live with trauma from that time. They live with trauma that they carry on with them. They may even carry some survivor's guilt. Either way, it is obvious that some part of them is missing. Peaceful coexistence with neighbors and harmony was something that these people were used to. Once Partition came along, it shattered and ripped out this part of their being. Despite surviving, these survivors have to live through recurring pain that they can only express by retelling the story to others.

I think the use of the word "spell" implies the use of something spiritual or otherworldly. This is done because something as traumatic as living through Partition cannot be resolved naturally. It is so potent that it is trauma passed through generations. Because of this, there needs to be some kind of otherworldly intervention/cure for this type of pain. Nothing worldly would ever come to fix trauma. Instead, it is something that needs to be achieved spiritually.

When I was reading this part for the first time, I got confused in the contradiction of emotion. The father is relieved that his daughter is alive while the doctor breaks into a cold sweat, indicating he is nervous or scared Once I read it again, the contradiction made more sense. I think language is used here to demonstrate the complexity of emotions to events. Manto directly tells the emotion of the father. The father had been distraught at losing his daughter and having found her, even though she acts weirdly, all that matters to him is that his daughter is alive. The doctor's emotions, however, are shown, not told. They showed the doctor breaking a cold sweat, demonstrating the complexity of his emotions. I am not exactly sure why he breaks out a cold sweat. Maybe he was surprised she was alive. Maybe he was shocked at how she acts. Maybe he wanted to do something nefarious with her. The showing of emotion rather than telling of it shows how the doctor has a complex reaction to the daughter being alive