Book Review: Minaret

Minaret by Leila Aboulela

Minaret is a story about a girl named Najwa who lives in a luxurious way of life. Nevertheless, she cannot help but feel an empty hollow inside her heart. There is a missing piece that she could not find. One day, a political coup ousted her family, taking her father with them which leads Najwa and her family members fled to London. Eventually, Najwa ended up being alone as her mother passed away and her brother, Omar, went to prison. Minaret is a story about how Najwa endured all her sufferings and found her way back to Islam.

Leila Aboulela has captured the reader’s attention by her style of writing. She portrays her story in a subtle way for the readers to grasp the idea of women empowerment. One of the main issues that can be found in Minaret is the idea of Feminism and how men perceive women as powerless. This can be shown when Najwa’s lover, named Anwar, constantly feel intimidated by her just because she was more fluent in English compared to him. Najwa is often bullied into doing all his editing work which makes him more inferior towards himself. His treatment towards Najwa is disrespectful in a sense that he tricked her into losing her virginity. Anwar perceives her as someone who would do all his bidding and commands. He does not treat Najwa as his lover or as his equal. Eventually, Najwa leaves him when she gets to her senses that Anwar will never marry her.

Another idea that readers can find is the idea of post-colonialism and the impact that it gives to the society. Based on the story, Leila Aboulela reveals the outcomes of British colonialism towards the Sudanese people. The dispute between East and West shows how their Political system is unstable. Whilst some govern their hatred towards the West, others such as Najwa admire the way of living. Due to the chaos, Najwa and her family members had to flee to London while her father was captured for being a fraud. Her predicaments worsen when she had to survive on her own with no money nor protection. Nevertheless, not many people are as lucky as Najwa where she had the chance to run off to London.

The reason why this book was chosen is because the storyline is very uplifting in a sense that it gives hope to ones who think they have gone astray. Minaret teaches the readers that even in the hardest time, and at the point of giving up, Allah S.W.T will always hear one’s prayers.

Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them directed by David Yates

Last week, my friend and I went to watch Fantastic Beasts. The movie is quite entertaining; however, the plot of the story can be easily guessed. The movie has the Archetypal elements where there is the portrayal of witches, wizards, magical creatures and scapegoat. 

Newt is the main character in the story, plays a role as a wizard who come to New York to capture magical creatures for his collections. Upon his arrival in New York, he meets Jacob, a No-Maj (non-wizard) and it leads to one event where they mistakenly switch their suitcase. This incident is silently watched by a witch named Tina who works with Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA). 

While Newt and Jacob searching for the wondrous creatures, there is one event that is happening in the city which is destruction that is made by the unknown character. Thus, Tina suspects Newt as the culprit who creates the chaos in the city. She arrests him as an unregistered wizard and sends him to MACUSA but no one trusts her. 

While they are being together, Tina and Jacob discover a lot of fascinating beasts in one suitcase. The suitcase is where the beasts are being placed. At the same time, the unknown character who destructs the city appears and reveals himself as Credence, after his foster mother abuses him for his minor mistakes. Graves who is a Director of the Magical Security uses Credence as a scapegoat to find the culprit.

Short Story Review: The Cask of Amontillado

 The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his Gothic Literature (Taschner & Morgan). Every story that he writes will contain the elements of mystery, supernatural, and he also includes eerie and horrifying events (n.d.). By reading his story we can explore and invades the evil of human mind. In his writings, he reveals the human action; that not all human being embrace good virtues in their life. Indeed, in the short story entitled The Cask of Amontillado, Poe portrays these features to make an enthralling storyline in order to seize the readers’ attention.

The story is narrated by the Motresor’s point of view or also known as the first point of view. By using this technique of narration, the readers know the feelings, thoughts, and opinions of the character. For instance, Montresor expresses his hatred towards Fortunato. Apart from that, the readers also can invade the thoughts of the main character; Montresor, when he is plotting to murder his friend, Fortunato.

The story begins with this excerpt; “Fortunato had hurt me a thousand times and I had suffered quietly.” To me, it is an ambiguous declaration by the main character. This is because he never mentions what kind of torment that he has endured before he decides to avenge. However, later, he learns that his friend, Fortunato makes jokes about his noble family’s name.   

            From my reading, revenge is the central theme of the story. It can be seen from the beginning of the story where Montresor announces his detestation towards Fortunato. 

“I promised myself that I would make him pay for this — that I would have revenge.”

Since he pronounces his vengeance, he starts to plan his modus operandi by using Fortunato’s great weakness which is the fond of wine. He, Fortunato knows a lot about the wine and whenever he hears about the fine wine he wants to taste it. And Amontillado, according to the characters, is an old wine and it has a wonderful taste. There is no doubt, by using one of his weaknesses; Montresor manages to kill Fortunato in a dark underground.

            The story ends with a horrifying event (Sova) where Fortunado pleads to Montresor to save his life. Nevertheless, Montresor keeps piling up the bones and stones to build a wall to bury a hole where Fortunato’s body stands and he is terrified with the action done by Montresor.

Moreover, the story contains the element of irony, puns, and jokes (Taschner & Morgan). For instance, the name of the character named Fortunado has the element of irony where his name in Italian means lucky. However, when I read throughout the story, there are no fortunate events that occur to the character. In fact, the character is tragically killed by his acquaintance. Furthermore, joke happens in the story where Fortunado does not aware that he is about to be killed and he says: “I shall not die of a cough” and Montresor replies with a dishonest answer; True-true. Additionally, the pun in the story happens when Montresor says: “Come! Let us go back before it is too late.” It is not his real intention because he already plans the murder. He says that just to show he fakes out his concerned towards his friend’s health.

Last but not least, in many pieces of Gothic literature, the setting is always in a dark place in order to illustrate the mystic features in the story. In The Cask of Amontillado, the setting is in the vaults; located down under the ground of his palace. It is also storage compartment to keep the wine and also a burial chamber of his proud family. And deep down the palace, the air is cold, the surrounding and the vaults is connected to river’s bed. Here, Montresor can easily kill his friend because there is no one knows and hears if Fortunado shouts for help.

            In a nutshell, to me, the storyline is very short and simple where it can be easily understood. Without any doubt, the story offers a thrilling yet an easy plot and it can grab the attention the young readers to read the story. Additionally, the stories written by Poe are surreal that readers can experience the goose bumps feeling while reading his writings. However, from my reading, the simple storyline does not provide challenges to readers because they can guess what will happen to the character soon.

Short Story Review: The Lottery

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

 “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in 1948. The story tells about a ritual or tradition that happened annually during summer in a small town in England. The villagers gather together in the square to draw lots in a small box called “the black box”. Mr. Summers runs the lottery with his postmaster, Mr. Graves. Mr. Summers convinced the villagers to replace the original box that made of wooden chips with slips of paper. Some other villages have stopped the lottery, however, Old Man Warner says that giving up the ritual will lead them to return to being primitive. They make a list of the families and the households in the village. There are some rules in the lottery that need to be followed. Mr. Summers will read the names, and the family heads come up and draw a slip of paper. No one should look at the paper until everyone has drawn. The chosen people will have a black dot on its paper. The villages will throw the stones towards the chosen people. Everyone will not care to hear the whining scream as everyone wants to finish the ritual as soon as possible.

The theme for this story is the danger of blindly following tradition. The tradition will lead to a violent murder each year. This tradition is ridiculous as it suggests a dangerous effect and the villagers tend to follow it blindly. As shown in the story, the villagers unaware that of the consequences after drawing names in the black box. The children also, unknowingly the purposes of collecting the stones and bring it to the town square. Because of it has become a tradition, people looks as if it has nothing wrong to do with the ritual. The villagers only think that the tradition is a way to link families and generations. In this story, it emphasizes that the villagers do not really know much about the lottery’s origin but they only want to preserve the tradition. The action of the villagers’ of accepting the tradition blindly and has allowed the ritual murder to become a part of their life. Though the tradition is something being passed down from the early generations, it does not mean that the next generation has the obligation to follow the tradition, thus, it is completely up to the next generation to choose for continuing the tradition or completely reject it (Yildrim, 2014).

Moreover, Old Man Warner also being so firm to the tradition and he fears if the new generation will stop holding the tradition. While those ordinary people, easily follow the summons to kill someone as if they believe they have no reason to object to the order. Nebekker (1974) has stated that despite all these critics that have been discussed in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, there is also in terms of the scapegoat traditions of anthropology and literature, that pointing out its obvious comment on the innate savagery of a man lurking beneath his civilized trappings. No one stops the villagers from doing the ritual murder, and for them, they have no reasons to not to continue the tradition. Thus, the villagers believe more in their tradition over to think that murder is a big offense according to human law.

There is also a symbol in this story which is the black box. The black box is an important significance in this story as it represents both the tradition of the lottery and the illogic beliefs of the villagers to it. The black box has become shabby and not in black color anymore because its usage after years, but the villagers are unwilling to replace the new box. This symbolizes that the villagers believe that the antic things should not be changed, same as the tradition that has been doing since their early generations. This is because it is a part of a tradition that no one wants to deviate like the lottery must be put in its place as it is always because that is how it is always been done. However, there are also other lottery traditions that have been changed or forgotten. For example, they use slips of paper to replace the wood chips. Thus, there is no reason for the villagers should be followed to the black box or disloyal to other traditions.

In conclusion, the lottery does not only represent the tradition but also an essential element of the social order. It serves to instill an unconscious fear in the villagers that if they rebel against the social rules, they might be selected in the next lottery. Also, because of the subconscious fear, they do not suggest that their village should give it up on the tradition as their reservation may indicate a vague sense of guilt concerning what they are about to do (Dabek, 2008).

Book Review: So Long a Letter

 So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba

So Long a Letter was beautifully written by Mariama Ba and it was published in 1980. Originally, it was written in French and a year later, it was translated into English Language.

This novel portrays a protagonist character named Ramatoulaye. She earns money by teaching the school children. She has been married to her husband, Modou for twenty-five years and bore twelve children. However, after 25 years of marriage, her husband drastically decided to marry a young and beautiful girl named Binetou. Before her husband dies five years later, she lives in agony. She needs to endure her pain alone; taking care of the household. She recounts all of these events and her marriage dilemma to her friend, Aissatou in letters throughout her mourning period.

To resume, Ramatoulaye’s tribulation begins when her husband, Modou marries a young girl named Binetou. This event gives her great pain because the girl whom her husband marries is her daughter’s friend, Daba. After her husband ties the knot, he fails to run his responsibilities towards his family. She takes over all of her husband former duties such as paying the electricity bills and water rates.

Whenever she needs to escape herself from her hectic life, doing all the chores, she hits the town to watch a movie. At first, the people are staring at her as the look questioning what a middle-aged lady does in the town without a companion. As the months passed by, she finally can defeat the feeling of discomfort while she is in the public space. 

Besides that, her children become wild and uncontrollable that put her in a great concern. She needs to give her attention in order to supervise her children. Again, she does this all by herself without the help of her husband. It can be seen where she sees her trio (Arame, Yacine, and Dieynaba) smoke in their room. Upon seeing this occasion, she feels frustrated and betrayed and thinks that she fails as a mother. To put herself in a great pain, she later founds her daughter, Aissatou gets pregnant out of wedlock. It takes sometimes for her to process the event that is happening to her daughter. Eventually, she realises that her daughter needs her support and because of her motherhood nature she forgives her and tries to make things right again. 

With the anguish that she endures, she is blessed with the brilliant children and a faithful friend. They are her source of strength. Indeed, the deformities that occur in her life formed a stronger version of her and she proves it by forgiving her late husband. And, she has faith that the time will cure her agony.