Globalization - Block - A Public Feed
Behind the Beautiful Forevers Infographic
Global Fiction Final Project
Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Book quotes:
1. "for every two people in Annawadi inching up, there was one in a catastrophic plunge".
2. "hope is not a fiction"
3. "for every two people in Annawadi inching up, there was one in a catastrophic plunge"
4. "for the poor of a country where corruption thieved a great deal of opportunity, corruption was one of the genuine opportunities that remained".
5. "a smogged-out, prosperity-driven obstacle course... from which wads of possibility had tumbled down to the slums"
6. "Everything around us is roses," Abdul's younger brother, Mirchi, put it. "And we're the shit in between."
Book notes:
1. One thing being, the authorities harsh ways of taking unnecessary actions. They take things way too far and they know they are. The police are purposely being mean.
2. I feeling like Abdul would never do anything to harm or endanger his family. He does everything he can to keep them safe.
3. It’s hard to read this book and try to put yourself in the situation, since the things that occur in this book are far from our lives here today.
4. After reading this weeks section, I found myself feeling sorry for these characters. More so than I did previously.
5. The characters of this book really gives me an in depth detail of how an individual lives in the slums.
6. Katherine Boo was not just one of those typical Americans who goes to a third world country and writes a sympathy novel, she wrote a great book with a story.
Documentary notes:
1. A lot of slum schools that hold orphaned children are based off of praying and hope.
2. Many people give back to those below them, because they once were in that position as well.
3. Very religious. Everything has a reason behind it involving god.
4. “since there is no running water, many kids get sicknesses and diseases. So we are praying that god will give us working wells to get them clean water”
5. A lot of togetherness, no one is really left behind or alone.
6. Since they don’t have many resources in the slums, they take whatever they do have and make it work for the best.
7. People that aren’t in the slums, such as Americans have so much sympathy for the slum children.
8. The people/ children living in the slums idolize Americans and see them on such a higher level.
9. Unity plays a big role in the lives of these people.
10. Slum schools are a huge safety net for the uprising of those children
11. Life seems harder for them, and they still try their hardest
12. Many people care, and try to make an effort to help.
Infographic draft/outline:
topic question- What makes the slums?
Using quotes from my outside source as well as my book to shape my infographic. I will also include many pictures. Since this is more of a visual representation I am going to keep all photo descriptions and information to a minimum. Though still enough to make it informational.
Citations:
http://vimeo.com/23822607 - iBelieve in India- Documentary
http://hqdesktop.net/clouds-cityscapes-houses-asia-rivers-slum-area-india-wallpaper-18865/
Ethan Reese Global Fiction #1
In the Time of the Butterflies:
Quotes from the feast of the goat:
Sources:
The Feast of the Goat
In the Time of the Butterflies
Ethan Reese
The Dominican Republic Public Archives
• Political commitment to overthrow the goat made by the 4 sisters
• MIS shown dishing out severe punishment
• Minerva went to school
• Sinitta the first Minerva encounters of someone speaking badly about the goat
• One of Minervas friends taken by Trujillo for sexual acts and then exiled
• Minerva is being courted by Trujillo
• Minerva slaps Trujillo across the face!
• The sisters used the false name to identify themselves as "butterfly"
• Trujillo had Minerva's sisters executed publicly
• Trujillo disposes of all evidence making the deaths seen like an accident
• So much death and violence
• Complete destruction of a country by one man
Quotes from the feast of the goat:
• “The Chief’s limousine pulled away leaving him in the stinking mud hole, General Jose Rene Roman was trembling from head to toe, like the soldiers he had seen dying of malaria... He waited for the trembling to pass before walking to San Isidro Air Base. The guard on duty was shocked to see the head of the Armed Force appear on foot covered in mud.”
• “Abduct him? That’s bullshit! As long as he’s alive nothing will change. You have to kill him”
• "Nothing that a man has been, is, or will be, is something he has been, or will be forever, rather, it is something he became one day and will stop being the next"
• "I am writing out of civic duty to protest the affront to Dominican citizens and to the unrestricted freedom of expression which the government of General Trujillo guarantees this republic."
• ''He had more or less all the common traits of a Latin American dictator, but pushed to the extreme. In cruelty, I think he went far far away from the rest -- and in corruption, too.''
• “But all of them had to confront two closely linked problems: how to conjure up an evil that had once grown in intensity and pervasiveness until it became almost unutterable; and more generally, how to incorporate into a fictional structure such a well-known and infamous man without simply rehashing the archives of history.”
Quotes from my own work:
• "He turned an accomplished boxer and award winning courageous military leader into a sniveling child left in the mud to walk back to base after being beat."
• "I think this book speaks volumes about the power of one man, the power of death, and the power of liberty."
• "Urania speaks of a man thankful for the rule of the goat, for putting the Haitians in their place and bringing them into a modern era."
• "This concept was interesting, the people had been oppressed for so long that they were happy with this dictator"
• "Urania reveres the men who fought against his dictatorship and say they were few and far between."
• "Trujillo has kept up his image even through these times of political crimes, and why the people have yet to revolt. I'm hoping the more modern perspectives bring answers to this."
Sources:
The Feast of the Goat
In the Time of the Butterflies
Ethan Reese
The Dominican Republic Public Archives
Global Fiction Book #1 Final Project – Daniel Varnis
Sources
Article – In the Background: Life in a Delhi Slum
Article – Gang Rape in India, Routine and Invisible
Article – India
Article – Urbanization and Slum Formation
Article – In India Slum, Misery, Work, Hope, and Politics
Website – Living Conditions in Indian Slums
Documentary – iBelieve in India: A Documentary
12 pieces of information from the source
Around 28% of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight.
1.2 billion people live in India. 110 million of them live in the slums.
India is the second most populous country in the world.
A bulk of that extreme deficit comes from South Asia.
186,000 children under the age of five die each year are a result of diarrhea.
Aid has to come into the slums with fresh water because it’s not accessible for most people living in the area.
90,000,000 people in India don’t have access to this free fresh water, either.
With 17% of the world’s population (over a billion people), the water crisis in India is only getting worse and is becoming life or death for millions of people.
Measles is also one of the reasons why children in the slums are dying.
Not every child who lives in the slums has access to a [somewhat] quality education.
Most people in the slums don’t understand that it takes a while to escape poverty, so they try to make quick money in hopes that it will alleviate all of their problems.
Less than a third of people have access to sanitation in India.
Six significant quotes from the book
"Everything around us is roses," Abdul's younger brother, Mirchi, put it. "And we're the shit in between." -Prologue, p. xii
“She was less and less sure she wanted to go to Vasai, less and less sure her husband would live to get there. She wanted a more hygienic home here, in the name of her children's vitality.” -Chapter 5, Ghost House, page 83
“Abdul wasn't sure how much money his family had left after fixing the house and paying his father's hospital bill. But he thought that whatever remained should be paid, in order to be innocent. He wanted to go home to the place that he hated.” -Chapter 7, The Come-Apart, page 107
"My flowers live because I don't keep anything dark in my heart. I let the bad things come out into the air." -Chapter 12, page 179
"Do you ever think when you look at someone, when you listen to someone, does that person really have a life?" -Chapter 13, p. 198
“Abdul could control his many desires, but not this one. He wanted to be recognized as better than the dirty water in which he lived. He wanted a verdict of ice.” -Chapter 15, p. 220
Six excerpts from my own writing about the book
It’s not common for the people in the slums to find any form of jobs, so having Rahul’s foot in the hotel will allow me, as a reader, to see the two sides to these contrasting styles of living (rich vs. poor).
When reading this book, the reader has to take into consideration the horrible living environment/environments when making judgements about someone or something.
Although Fatima lied about many things, setting herself on fire was an act that did a very good job displaying her senses of self confidence and individuality.
How are you going to allow all of these high class events to occur, knowing that the people in your own country are dying from poverty and famine?
The people of the US are probably so drawn to this book because of what it pertains to. Although we do have a lot of homeless and poor people in the US, we don't have large cities of people that has a poverty rate of 100%. Reading behind this book allows us, as readers and Americans, to learn about different cultures and ways of living in India.
All in all, even though this was a really good book, it came to a close with a very sad ending. Some good things did come about towards the end, however, there was an equal amount of bad things that occurred.
Infographic (click to enlarge)
