Shambhavi's Shells

In Pachinko and The Importance of Being Earnest, the difference in the marital relationships between eastern and western couples brings significant differences in the fulfillment and happiness of marriage and becoming married. In the first two generations of the novel Pachinko, we witness arranged marriages for both Yangjin and Sunja, two female characters in the novel. Arranged marriage is seen as a more frequent occurrence in eastern countries, so arranged marriage being the deciding factor of Yangjin and Sunja’s relationship and life is not unordinary, especially considering the time period of the first two generations of the novel. Both Yangjin and Sunja were in unstable positions before their marriages were arranged, whether it be financially or socially. Neither woman had the idea of “raising” their social status, rather they wanted to “save their social status. Although “this does not mean that one must be rich to make a marriage work. However, if one has the basic necessities o...

      Throughout the Stranger, we see the different portrayals of women and men in Algier in the 1940's. My pod discussed this often, even before we learned that Mersault was on the spectrum.      The way different male characters treated the women in the novel was both surprising and not surprising at the same time. Already noticing that Mersault seemed detached from the others in his life, the way he treated Marie compared to Celeste or Raymond differed greatly.      Although Mersault seemed distant from most people around him, Mersault's perspective and how he viewed Marie was similar to how someone views an object. "I wanted her so bad" or "I wanted her to stay with me" at first didn't shock me since many of Mersault's sentences (using the ctrl F feature 21times) started with "I want" and directly conveyed his feelings, but Mersault's possessive form of "I want" for Marie was not seen with other characters.      Now pa...

       (This blog post is merely thoughts and opinions)     Humor is something that varies from person to person. My pod happened to be discussing a topic that we found extremely hilarious: bananas.   After Cecelia brought up cucumbers in The Importance of Being Earnest , we started to talk about foods that are seen as phallic, bananas being one of them.      while the phallic nature of bananas was what started this conversation on bananas, we began to talk about bananas and the different ways to peel them. Although this topic isn't as funny as a stand up comedian's act, we found that being able to relate to what's being joked about makes it easier to laugh and find the conversation interesting.        Something as mundane as bananas became a topic that we talked about for a good amount of time and enjoyed talking about. So does humor really vary from person to person or is how we experience humor what make...

      In Toni Morrison’s Recitatif, the story of two young girls in a temporary orphanage and then zooming in on their lives multiple years later, the readers are taken through an experiment where the factor of race has never been clarified.       Throughout the whole short story, Morrison never clarifies the race of the two girls, Roberta and Twyla, instead Morrison leaves it up to the reader to figure it out themselves. This reminded me of those “choose your story” books from when we were younger, where one small decision we took could impact the rest of the story's experience for us. For those who assigned a race to each character from the beginning, the story could have become confusing, or our perspective could have changed throughout the story. For those who didn't assign a race to the characters, we could've used other means to decide the girl's social standings, like their economic situation or relationships(family and friends).   ...

     The inequality faced by women in stories such as Pachinko , Cat in the rain , and Story of an Hour was not only forced upon them, but in a way it was reinforced by the women's misconceptions of their place in society.      As many are aware today, the oppression against women has been something enforced by society, especially men and patriarchal beliefs. What some may not know is that women have also brought the misconception upon themselves. In Pachinko , Sunja was constantly told by the women around her that she needed to devote herself to her husband “otherwise another woman will”. Yangjin, Sunja’s mother, herself was devoted to Sunja’s father, and enforced this thought process on Sunja too. To someone young and innocent, another woman’s words, especially someone the young girl looked up to, would be taken heavily, and possibly influence her mindset and perspective. In Pachinko , Sunja later meets Kyunghee, who has been in a patriarchal relationsh...

      Under a diving board at what seems to be a community center, I bump into a girl who appears to be around 5'10 in height, East Asian, slender, with long black hair, and wearing a school's swim and dive merch. "Oh I'm so sorry, my name is ....." "I'm sorry could you repeat that?"      No response.     The mysterious girl turns around and walks into the locker room where I follow her but cannot seem to find her.     On my way up the stairs to leave the community center I see the girl again, this time at the top of a flight of stairs. I run up the stairs towards her but she walks away and turns a corner and now I've lost her again.     I walk out further to a set of bleachers where again at the top I see the figure of the girl. This time I ask the janitor nearby. "I keep running into this girl but every time I approach her she disappears."     "Look shes up on the bleachers"     As I tu...

       "Stop shaking your leg; you'll shake the luck out" ( Crying in H mart ) these are words I've heard too often.     I grew up in a fairly Indian household where superstitions were a part of my daily life. "Don't cut your nails at night" or "Don't shake your legs" was something that I heard often and even unconsciously follow to this day.      While reading Crying in H mart , the author's mother reminded me of my mom at times, especially with how she brought up superstitions and other reminders to make sure Michelle, the author, presented herself the best she could.      While this quote at first might not be seen as beautiful, the words Michelle's mother uses are not something complex that has multiple meanings and takes hours to understand, rather they are simple words that come from a mother worried for her daughter's luck and future.     When this line first came up, I felt more connected to the book tha...