The Other Hand - second blogpost

Hey :)

I have now read the whole book, The Other Hand by Chris Cleave, and I thought it was fantastic! It was funny, well written, interesting and very sad sometimes. I will definitely check out some of the other books that Chris Cleave has written, because he is an amazing author. You can read more about the book in my other post about it. In this entry I will try to describe a conflict in the book by using quotes from the book.

First of all, I think that the themes in the book are many, and one example is hope for a good future and friendship. The two women, Little Bee and Sarah, are from to different cultures and different in so many ways. Sarah is a editor of a magazine that focuses on superficial stuff, while Little Bee is the asylum seeker from Nigeria with a terrible background. But in the end they bond of the fact that they both have lost someone close to them, and wants to move on and they find comfort in each other. They learn that they have to appreciate what they have at the moment, because they see how life can change so fast by things they don't have control over. They both have a hope for a better future, because of the things they have experienced in their past. Little Bee wants to finally be free, and not live a life on the run from the soldiers in her home country.

One conflict that you maybe don’t think a lot about when you are reading the book is the conflict that Little Bee struggles with herself. In the book there are a lot of conflicts between people, but everyone also has their own personal conflicts. And the struggle Little Bee has is mostly hidden behind the use of humor and stories that she tells. One of the things she deals with is her past in Nigeria, and she is haunted by the thought of some men coming for her. Throughout the book she describes ways she could kill herself in different ways everywhere she goes if the men would come. One example of this is this quote:

If the men came suddenly, I will be ready to kill myself. Do you feel sorry for me, for thinking always in this way? If the men come and they find you not ready, then it will be me who is feeling sorry for you.

When she talks about suicide in the book, it really difficult to take her seriously, because it seems as such an easy think for her to do.

I worked out how to kill myself in every single one of the situations a girl like me might get into in a detention centre. In the medical wing, morphine. In the cleaner’s room, bleach. In the kitchen, boiling fat.

I think this quote describes the way she always had irony when she spoke, but deep down she was actually serious.

Another conflict she struggles with is that she finds it irritating that everyone always says that she is not selfish at all, and she goes around carrying a image of herself as very selfish because of what she did to Sarah’s husband (she thinks she caused him to take his own life). This quote is from a conversation with her and Lawrence, Sarah’s lover, where she tries to explain to him that she is in fact selfish too like everyone else.

I shook my head. “I am selfish too, you know”
“No, you’re really not”
“Now you think I’m a sweet little girl, do you? In your mind you still don’t think I really exist. It does not occur to you that I can be clever, like a white person. That I can be selfish, like a white person”

She is regretting leaving Sarah’s husband “hanging in the air” and therefore she wants to help Sarah as much as she can to make up for what she did. Throughout the book Little Bee is afraid of meeting police and that they would find her and send her back to her country, but in the end she does something that is very unselfish and puts another person’s needs before her own. I won’t tell you what this is, because that would ruin the book for you, so I will just leave you with this quote:

[Lawrence]”(…) And Bee, you take my phone and you go to where you can get reception and you call the
police. Then you wait at the plantation gate for the police, so you can show them where we are when they arrive”
(…) [Sarah] She just stood there. I couldn’t work out what the problem was.
“The police, Sarah,” she said.
I stared at her. Her eyes were pleading. She looked terrified. And then, very slowly, her face changed. It became firm, resolved. She took a deep breath, and she nodded at me.”

I really though that this was a great book, and I recommend it to everyone! You will laugh, cry and smile when you read it, and you could actually learn something from the book.

Anna

Gran Torino

Today in English class we watched a movie called Gran Torino. It is a drama film from 2008 directed by Clint Eastwood, and was named one of the ten best movies of 2008. Eastwood also plays the main character in the movie, a grumpy old man called Walt Kowalski, who just lost his wife and is dealing with his own problems from his past. As a young man he was in the Korean war, and memories of his killings and this time seems to haunt him deeply. Living in a neighborhood with Hmong people (a people from parts of Thailand, China and Laos), he is constantly annoyed with these people.

A gang in the Hmong society one day tries to get Walt's neighbor Thao Lor (a young and mannered boy) to join their gang, and though he refuses at first, they make him steel Walt's car, a perfect Gran Torino from the 1970's and the most possessed thing in Walt's life. Walt almost caught him in the action, and Thao is more afraid of his angry neighbor than ever. But one day the gang comes back to get Thao, and they start a fight with the Lor family. The leader of the gang is also Thao's cousin. When someone in the fight accidently steps on the lawn that belongs to Walt, he threatens to kill everyone of them if they ever set a foot on his property again. This scares the gang and they run. The next day, the Hmong people of the neighborhood treats Walt like a hero, because he saves the life of Thao. He also rescues the daughter in the Lor family, Sue, from some other gang bangers, and after a while he starts hanging out with both Sue and Thao - and he starts feeling joyful again. But the trouble with the gang continues and the struggle for the Lor family is almost to much to handle - so Walt decides to end the fight one in for all.

I got a task to answer this question: How do Hollywood films portray people of different races and ethnicities?

And I will try answering this as best as I can.

I think Hollywood movies portray people of different races and ethnicities very stereotypically. The image of the people are almost exactly how you expected it to be. But movies like this, challenges the stereotypes, as we can see for instance the character in Thao. They say in the movie that it is normal for the Hmong girls to og to college, while the Hmong boys end up in jail. But Thao is a good kid, who isn't looking for any trouble, and wants to stay away from the gangs and the crimes they commit. He'd rather do a woman's job, as they say in the movie, and do gardening and clean dishes. He is a hard working boy, who wants to do good in life.

Gran Torino is a great movie, and I recommend it strongly. Absolutely a movie you should see before you die. It's interesting, moving, funny and a movie you really learn something about. It brings up different problems, like gang violence, communication between different races and ethnicities, family issues and the fight for justice.

Anna

The Other Hand

We got a new assignment in English class a few weeks ago, and this was to choose a novel and read it. I choose the book "The Other Hand" (2008) by the British author Chris Cleave. This was the book of my choice because I have heard great things about it from people I know who have read it, and it has also gotten great reviews. It was for instance shortlisted for the 2008 COSTA Novel Award and nominated for a Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2009.

The novel is about a Nigerian girl who is an asylum-seeker in England and a British magazine editor. They both are the narratives. The girl is called Little Bee, and in the immigration detention centre she learns fluent English, or as she calls it: Queens English. The woman is Sarah, and she is married to Andrew, and they have a son together, known as Batman. When Little Bee is released from the centre she goes straight to find the couple, and calls Andrew up. He commits suicide right after the call, so Sarah is left alone with her child when Little Bee comes knocking on their door on the day of Andrews funeral.

I haven't read a lot in the book yet, but I like it so far, and it is actually quite funny sometimes! I even caught myself laughing out loud several times. So I'm looking forward to reading further in it, and I hope that it will be as good as I expect it to be!

I'll post another update when I have read more, or when I'm finished.

Anna

Megacities

The term "megacity" is used for a city with more than 10 million inhabitants. These cities are developing all over the world, and in 10 years time there will be about 26 megacities in the world. Not many years ago there where more people living in rural areas, but in 2006, for the first time ever in human history, more people were living in urban areas.

All of the megacities that are now building up around the world, are all in developing countries. Of the 26 megacities that are supposed to be in the world in 2006, 22 of them will be in developing countries.

One of the graphs in the book shows that the biggest megacity in the world is Tokyo, Japan with 33.4 million inhabitants, followed by New York City, U.S.A. with 24.1. million and Mexico City, Mexico with 21.7 million. The source of these statistics are Population.Data.net, and they are from 2006. But new statistics from 2011 shows that the list of the 10 biggest megacities has changed drastically. Tokyo is the still the biggest of them all, but the number of inhabitants are now 36.7 million, which is 6.3 million more people living in the same area as when it was less people. New York City is no longer number two; New Dehli, India has taken over the position with 22.2 million people. This means that New York City has less inhabitants now in 2011 than in 2006, and has dropped to number six on the list. Now the number of inhabitants in New York City is 19.4 million.


This is the list over the 10 largest megacities in the world in 2011:

1. Toyko, Japan: 36.7 million
2. Dehli, India: 22.2 million
3. Sao Paolo, Brazil: 20.3 million
4. Mumbai, India: 20.0 million
5. Mexico City, Mexico: 19.7 million
6. New York City, U.S.A.: 19.4 million
7. Shanghai, China: 16.6 million
8. Calcutta, India: 15.6 million
9. Dhaka, Bangladesh: 14.6 million
10. Karachi, Pakistan: 13,1 million

(Source)


The fastest growing megacity in the world is in fact Dhaka in Bangladesh. In 2006 it wasn't on the list over the 10 largest megacities in the world, but in 2011 it is in the ninth place. In 2025 it is supposed to have as many inhabitants as 20.9 million, which is an 6.3 million increase in 14 years. Other fast growing megacities are Mumbai with a supposed 25.8 million inhabitants in 2025, Shanghai with 20 million in 2025 and Calcutta with 20.1 million.
India is definitely a country where many megacities are developing. Dehli is a megacity, an d Mumbai and Calcutta are two other cities becoming megacities.

The urban population is continuing to grow, as the rural population is sinking. Take Europe for instance, in 1995 there were 209 millions who were a part of the rural population and 518 millions of the urban population. In 2015 statistics estimate the number to be 188 millions of the rural population and 532 millions of the urban population. The other parts of the world shows the same thing, urban population will grow increasingly in the years to come. In 1800, only 2% of the world were called an urban population. In 2000, 47% of the world were an urban population and the number in 2030 are estimated to be 60 %. That's a 6/10 of the earth.


Basically, the world will in the future be dominated by megacities and urban populations. The grow of them both continuous fast, and maybe someday 100% of the world will be what we call urban population?

9/11

Hey!

In class today we watched a documentary called "9/11", which is about the terrible happening that shocked and changed the whole world on September 11th 2001. The Twin Towers placed in New York City were attacked by two airplanes hijacked by terrorists. Another hijacked airplane hit Pentagon, and the fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. None of the passengers or hijackers of the four planes survived the crashes.

Two filmmakers from France, brothers Jules and Gedeon Naudet, and cameraman James Hanlon were in New York the day of the terrorist act, because they were making a film about a firefighter rookie. This man was Tony Benatatos, and though out the movie we get to see him develop from a boy to a man. The moviemakers were filming Tony at a regular day at work, but this day turned into a day made history. September 11th had arrived. The small group of filmmakers also made their way into history that day, because they were one of not many who actually caught the two planes crashing into the Twin Towers on camera. What makes the movie even more real for us who are watching it, is that whole movie is filmed with handheld camera, so you almost feel like you are present.

The documentary was extremely moving and sad, because when the towers collapsed you could really feel the frustration and the shock that hit people of New York, and the rest of the world. Chaos was everywhere, and it was almost too hard to watch sometimes.

Citizens of 77 countries died as a result of the attacks on 9/11. Including my own country, Norway. Many lives were lost that day. Most of them were civilians. But also policemen and firefighters were taken away. Most of them trying to help other people out of the buildings. For some it was too late, when the buildings collapsed - it left not much, but dust. But there were also many lives saved that day. And in all this grief, I believe that this is something we all should focus on, so we don't drown in the sorrow.

September 11th. I believe that this day has definitely strengthened the Americans patriotism. The way I see it, the Americans has always been a people with strong feelings about their country and background, but this day has a special place in every citizen of America's heart. So if you're in the States, you will definitely notice that there is always an American flag waving proudly in the wind.

A symbol of friendship

Every year there is one special tree that is transported from Norway to England, and placed in Trafalgar Square in London. The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is a central part of the Christmas celebration in London and it also is a symbol of the friendship between Norway and England. It is a tradition, which has been around since 1947. The first tree brought over was a token of the Norwegian gratefulness for the British friendship during the Second World War. The close relationship between the two countries gave the Norwegians hope throughout the occupation years 1940-1945. London, where the Norwegian King Haakon VII and his family stayed during the war, became a represent of freedom during the hard years.

On November 23rd Fabian Stang, the Mayor of Oslo, Councilor Judith Warner, the Lord Mayor of Westminster, and lots of media from England cut down the tree in the forest outside of Oslo. It was a mighty tree chosen carefully and the Norwegian foresters who looked after it describes it as "the Queen of the Forest". Yesterday, Thursday December 2nd, the tree was lit in the customary place in Trafalgar Square and a traditional ceremony was held. Music, caroling, speeches and poems read by school children was on the program for the evening. Both national anthems were sung beautifully by Alfie Boe. This year it is the 64th tree that gets to bring joy to thousands of people who will pass it and admire it and perhaps take time to pause in a hectic December time and think about how important it is to have good neighbors! I certainly will!

You can read about the story here:
















Anna

English in South-East Asia

Today we learned about the use of English in South-East Asia, and about anime and manga in Japan. I worked with Tuva, Rikke and Martha. We read the three texts a couple of times, and then we took notes from them. Afterwards we talked about what we had read and discussed the facts.

For instance, we learned that Japan is the forefront of developing technical products - automobile to computer chips and in Japan it is considered virtuous to exhaust yourself, and effort is being favored over results.
We also read that Manga is fastest growing category in American publishing and that the export of Anime are making the world are becoming Japanized. We can see shows and comics like Pokémon and Digimon on television all over the world.The Call Centers in India was also mentioned in the text "English in South-East Asia" and that English words are added to their daily tounge in China.



I think it was a good use of time, because we could choose the way we wanted to learn and work the way we learn best. If I could have done something differently I would have read the text a few more times, to really understand them. And all four of us took notes from different pages, so maybe next time we all should take notes from every page we have to read.

But after all, it was an effective and good way to work.


Anna