Like most of the rest of the class, I did not do my reading for last class so I missed out on the discussion. I might be lost on some points because of it, but here is what I got out of it:
Reading through This Blessed House at first, I was looking for something to happen. The story kept building up and building up and I was waiting for a big twist or just something to happen in the story to give it a plot. Then I was on the last page...still waiting for it, and much to my disappointment it didn’t come. I can see that Professor Corrigan clearly gave us this reading assignment to focus on character, not for the entertainment of a story.
Throughout the story you could really see all five points we are to look for in Sanjeev as laid out in the notes on character: “physical description, what they say, the things they do, the way others respond to then, and their thoughts.” The only character traits we can know of Twinkle is only Sanjeev’s description and thoughts of her. Even though, Twinkle is more described than Sanjeev is leaving her to be round while he is flat. I am not sure what label to put on wither of them dealing with dynamic and static. Although Twinkle shows more to be excited and curious, she doesn’t change much throughout the story. Sanjeev changes some, because he lets her keep the items in the house but I don’t think he changed in a dramatic way, so I think they are both static.
As far as the story itself goes, I did enjoy reading it. Like I said before though, it didn’t really have a climax or resolution so it seems to be unfinished. Unfortunately, since they are Hindu they do not understand the sacredness of some items of Christianity, so it was a little sad. It did made me think, what would I do if it was the other way around, if I found items of a different religion in a new house I bought? To be honest, I would be a little freaked out if I found them hidden all over the house, but I do like learning about different religions and I too might keep something relating to one if I found it.
I would have to say that Sanjeev was a more dynamic character than Twinkle because throughout the story he goes from not knowing why he married her to appreciating her enough to keep the Christian relics because they meant a lot to her. I think Sanjeev changes because Twinkle does not.
ReplyDeleteI was also expecting there to be some moral to the story. And I suppose if you dug deep enough, there may have been. But I guess that did make it easier for us to actually focus on the characters instead of the plot.
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