Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Passage from FASTING, FEASTING
The passage is taken from Fasting, Feasting, a novel published in 1999 by Indian novelist Anita Desai. In the excerpt, Arun, an exchange student from India, joins members of his American host family for an afternoon at the beach. Read the passage carefully and analyze how the author uses such literary devices as speech and point of view to characterize Arun's experience.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In the passage "Fasting, Feasting," i feel that Desai's use of point of view, diction and syntax helped emphasize Arun's awkward and unpleasant experience. In the beginning when Desai is explaining Arun and Melanie's encounter, she uses words like 'despondent' and 'challengingly' which create an uncomfortable tone and makes the two's relationship seem almost competitive. Throughout the passage, the point of view being used seems to focus on Arun, rather than Melanie or Mrs. Patton. In the beginning of the passage, Desai uses informal, short sentences and sentence fragments, but as the passage continues, it changes to formal, long, and more complex sentences, what is that showing about Arun's experience?
ReplyDelete-Taylor Shaffer
Period 3
Sally Kang
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
I think that the informal and short sentences in the beginning of the passage was used to make the passage sound awkward like the awkwardness between Araun and Melanie. And after they reach the forest, the sentences changed into formal and long sentences because these long sentences will let the readers understand what Arun is experiencing then short sentences that doesn't have any detail.
And I agree with Taylor that Desai used diction to show Arun's experience. Desai also uses the words, "scuffed", "shrill", and "shriek" to tell the readers that Arun is not enjoying his time while he is going to the beach.
Jessica Martinez
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
In the passage from "Fasting,Feasting," by Anita Desai, she describes how an exchange student from India feels out of place, and uncomfortable to be in a new place he has never been to, as well as being with a family he barely met by the use of an omniscient point of view of Arun focusing on his true feelings, the use of different sentence structure, and comparisons to nature.
@ Taylor Shaffer, At the beginning, I think the author writes it in short sentences to show how he feels detached, and his uncomfortableness. As the story progresses she uses longer sentences, for example at the second half of the story Arun is describing the scenery and how everything to him seems frightening. He begins to pay close attention to his surroundings while on his way to the beach, it shows he is frightened and is more cautions. I noticed that at line 35-37, he describes hearing animal noises that sound terrifying and it seems as if the trees were making the noises, to me that seems that the animals are hiding in the same way he is trying to hide. All this open space to him is extremely uncomfortable due to the fact that he is from India and he is used to being around large crowds, as well as this being his first encounter with nature.
I would also like to point out something the came to my attention; in lines 23-26 it talks about Arun helping Mrs. Patton with the basket. I think that the basket might represents his effort to try to connect with Mrs. Patton and trying to make the situation less awkward. What do you guys think the basket might represent?
Alexis Donaldson
ReplyDeletePer 3
I agree with Sally. I also thought that the the authors use of the short sentences were strangely put together and that it was to emphasize that Arun's feeling out of place and unwelcome and that his life could have been put together better like the first few sentences were. I also thought that the words plead and despondent really shows that he doesn't want to be in the situation he's in.
Another thing I would like to add is that I thought the fact that the author is using a 3rd person subjective narrator was strange. We know everything thats going on in the setting and story so maybe the author really wanted readers to see the relation ship between Arun and the things around him because the author also goes into more detail than before and longer sentences later on into the passage. It's like the author is telling us to pay more attention to the end. I also thought that perhaps the point of view was to emphasize his distance from what he's experiencing because we know his feelings. It feels like the last two lines "he stumbles and has to steady himself so as not to spill the contents of the basket" Maybe that was a metaphor for Arun and his life, the contents being who he is. He feels that his new surroundings will do him harm.
Kassandra Delgadillo
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
I agree with Jessica's thoughts on what the basket on line 55 represnts. Perhaps, the basket represents that he is trying to make things less awkward with Mrs. Patton as she mentions, and he tries make to a good impression among these new people. The passage is analyzed through the third person limited point of view. Which helps us see through Arun's eyes, and gives us an insight to what his thoughts might be. However, in addition to him feeling uncomfortable with the whole situation, he probably also feels the pressure to fit in. Being new impacts him in the way that he does not exactly know what to expect. He is used to working a lot, and is not entirely accustomed to the idea of taking the day off to go to the beach. He tries find reasons why not to go with them, as eveidenced by the quote "he starts wildly to find excuses" (line 5). I also agree with what Taylor was saying about Arun's expirience with Melanie being uncomfortable. That might also add to why he does not want to go in the first place. All these reasons probably make Arun feel even more aprehensive about going.
As I was reading through the passage I got confused with the senteces in lines 35-37 "A bird shrieks hoarsely, flies on, shrieks elsewhere, further off- that ugly jarring note that does not vary." Does anyone know what that means, or if it represents something, and what kinds of connotations this brings?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCourtney Wersal
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
I agree with Alexis in terms of the last 2 lines. I felt that Arun was depending on the basket, which was full of all his customs, traditions and memories (basically everything he had that connected with his Indian culture)to get him through his American experience. I thought that the woods/wilderness stood for America, which he felt was out to get him. So when he says he "nearly trips upon a root" (Desai 53/54)it seems as if something or someone in America is trying to take away his customs and traditions. By spilling the basket, he would be loosing who he really is.
Kassandra, I think that lines 35-37 primarily are there to show how Arun interprets his surroundings. The words "shrieks" and "ugly jarring" suggest that he finds the noises frightening, and that he reacts to them in a negative way. He exaggerates on birds flying around, and makes them appear to be in a more significant then they truly are.
My question however, lays at the beginning when Arun does not wish to go to the beach. Is this due to the fact that he was just afraid and hesitant of going out and experiencing America, and felt that he should be doing something productive such as work instead? Or is it more of due to the fact that he was in a culture shock?
Jessica Martinez
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
@Kassandra Delgadillo, I think that in lines 35-37 the author is trying to show that Arun feels frighten by nature, and it is all strange to him because he has never been in the woods. This is supported by line43-46 "Arun finds the hair om the back of his neck begin to prickle, as if in warning. He is sweating, and the palms of his hands are becoming puffy and damp". Here Arun feels extremely uncomfortable. As you read further on, he asks a rhetorical question, "Why must people live in vicinity of such benighted wildreness and become part of it?". He does not comprehend why people would even like to live in a place where there is a blend of urban life and nature. As you read further on he argues that he rather be living in a small town rather than where there is wilderness. This can connect to the fact that a town would have more people around, which signifies that he is uncomfortable having so much space all to himself.
I would say that the theme of this story would be that when you are presented to a new change it can be hard to adapt or adjust, but letting go of what you are most comfortable or used to will let you perceive it in a whole new different way.
Jessica Martinez
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
@Courtney Wersal, I think that Arun was just in a culture schock, because he is not used to these things he is seeing and hearing. It all seems strange and frightening. As well as having too much space, and finding it uncomfortable to be there as evidenced by lines 19-21, where the author says that he finds it hard to be walking in the wilderness, and wants to be close to Melanie due to the fact that he is uncomfortable with so much space.
Jessica Martinez
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
I also wonder what lines 23-25 means; saying that "she can lag even better"? What do you guys think that this means? Is it some sort of competition thing, where she thinks that anything he can do, she can do better?
Courtney Wersal
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
Jessica, so I'm confused by what you said. If he is uncomfortable being around Melanie because of his culture shock because her attire makes him feel uncomfortable, then why does he want to be closer to her in the wilderness? Is it because he is more fearful of the wilderness then the girl? Does the unknown that the wilderness have override his lack of comfort by being around Melanie?
Rachel Sese
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
To answer Jessica's question about line 23-25, when Arun says "she can lag even better", I believe it was said in a sarcastic tone implying that Melanie is just making the whole situation even more awkward. As the story progresses we see Arun decides to follow Mrs. Patton instead to escape the awkwardness and slight annoyance(judging by his slightly sarcastic tone) by Melanie. I believe there is slight contrast between the comfort levels between Arun and Melanie, and Arun and Mrs. Patton. In my opinion the contrast shows the awkwardness that Arun feels and the desire to escape the awkwardness.
My puzzlement coincides with Courtney's question about why Arun wants to be closer to Melanie in the wilderness.
in my opinion courtney i think Arun is just unsure and shy, impressed the way he met Melanie "dressed in her bathing suit" but when it came to be either with her or apart/alone in a 'horrifying' place as the woods i would probably also choose the girl. When he described Melanie's smile as a "radiant lip-stick smile" shows that he felt way more comfortable being with her, evethough it was new to him, than being sorrunded by somethin frightening-new.
ReplyDeleteTo add somethingi think the rethorical questions are also used to point out Arun's mood shift from uncomfortable to more paranoid.With the first question it is shown that Arun does not know how to fit in in the situation. Now with the second question Arun is not trying to fit in anymore, now he is questioning why he must be there in the first place.
did you guys find any similie/mataphor that might be insignificant for the excerpt? also, do you have any other suggetions for waht the theme might be?
Jason Galang
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
Regarding how Melanie was "dressed in her bathing suit,"(3) his background comes into play. Remember, Arun is from India and when we think about that region of the world, we have the tendency to think of a patriarchal society where women are required to have their entire bodies covered. None of us are absolutely sure on whether or not Arun was Muslim, but still, the fact that he saw Melanie as revealing too much added to his discomfort.
Does anyone have anything to add considering the possible character foils in the story?
@Mr. Galang
ReplyDelete^Arun's name indicates that he is Hindu (extra info: Arun is a Hindi word that means sun) :)