The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf

In this book I thought that Khadra's transformation was most interesting. When she was a girl she was all about following the laws of her community precisely and as a small child how she would challenge others if they were not the same. This is seen when she would compare the practices of the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) with the trasitional Muslims, and how they contrasted the idea of converting and coming into your consciousness. As a child even though she might or might not have understood everything, she had a great zeal for the practices and traditions of the Muslim faith. I do not think that when she grew up she lost this zeal, but I think that she was chllenged because of the way she saw others and the freedoms and liberties that they had. I think that she had to find her own Mulism identity and what that meant to her. Like how she went out without her hijab on but later she would still go out with her veil on, because that was her way of identifying herself as a proud muslim. I think that after Khadra got older the love for her culture and faith was not about what her parents taught her as a child or any traditions, I think it became something that was embedded in her.
In this book I do have to say that I did not enjoy the writing style. I find that if you are not Muslim or have a good idea of the terminology you tend to loose focus on what she is saying and talking about. I think that it is hard for a person to follow along because half of the words that she is using you do not understand. It is almost like reading in another language. You find yourself confused.

Kindred

Kindred was a very interesting book. The part of the book that I enjoyed the most was when Kevin time travelled with Dana. I think he would have never been able to understand what she was going through if he hadn't went with her. I think the trip helped the dynamics of their relationship. They both could understand the moral sacrifices that each other had to make to stay alive and they appreciated each other for it. For instance, Kevin had to pretend as though he was Dana's master even though they were married. This really could have put a strain on their realtionship, because they didn't get to spend alot of time together. But this was not the case because Kevin made it so that Dana could sleep in his room, and he always looked after her the best way possible. What struck me as odd was the trust that Dana had in Rufus. I understand that it was her destiny to make sure that Hagar was born but I never would have given Rufus as many chances as he had to betray her. He sent her to work in the fields and he ran after her when she tried to escape. After those incidents I would have killed him myself. When I was reading the book, I was really sad about the things that the slaves had to face: the beatings, and the degradation. I ask myself if I would have had the courage to live a life of this sort; if I would have had the courage to defend my family when needed. To my dismay, I don't think I would have been mentally or physically strong enough. To have to be beaten by a person who had just raped you, or to have my children and family sold away while I worked in the fields, would have been too much for me to handle. I begin to wonder about my own lineage. What kind of cruelty did my ancestors have to face? And are there any stories of courage and valor? Reading a book like this puts alot of things in perspective for me. Had I been born a hundred years ago or even 60, I think my life would have been drastically different.

The Bluest Eye

I think the Bluest Eye gave a great insight as to how it was for an African-American to live during the early to mid 1900s. It showed how Blacks lived more as a community, where everyone knew everyone's business but also that people where there to provide strength to their neighbors and friends. I think it was sad that Pecola was so insecure about herself. She was insecure about her physical beauty and also her skin. She wanted so bad to have features that would waterdown her black skin. I also thought the dynamic between the light-skin and "dark-skin" african americans was very interesting. The light skinned blacks were just as snobbish as the white people. It's as if they totally disregarded there balck ancestry. I can't say that I blame them because balcks were treated so badly. As an African-American I often wonder how I would have been if I lived during those times. I probably would have acted just like Maureen, because that would have life easier. Another part of the book that was interesting was the part about Mrs. Breedlove and other women like her. THey worked harder for the Master than they did their own family. They nice meals for them made sure they had tings of high quality. I guess this is because they were more or less running the household. With this responsibility they were respected by white people and had the means to do things. This was probably more exciting than living their mundane existence at home. I think this book really hits home for me because I"ve had family members who lived during this time and I can only imagine the insecurities and racism they have felt.