6 Metres of Pavement: The Lurking Past
Does telling someone about your problems make you feel better? It is hard to talk about your problems with others, as it shows your vulnerable side towards them. When you tell them about your problems, you are sharing your life, and doing so will create a connection between you and them. This is evident in the novel, Six Metres of Pavement, where the main character, Ismail Boxwala, is closed off from other people, as well as other characters, such as Fatima GURAB and Celia Sousa facing a similar feat of being closed off. With Ismail, he had a dreadful past, as his little daughter, Zubi died, due to Ismail, leaving her in the car on a hot day at work. From this it triggered a series of unfortunate events
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Alongside these characters, minor characters such as Fatima’s parents or Celia’s daughter tend to not come to terms with the past either. All of these characters experience the same problems, however, they do resolve it in the end. This brings into the idea that one’s ability to come to terms with the past will allow them to move forward, which was evident through Ismail’s change in mindset of his life, Celia’s ability to handle the traumatic experience and the interactions and arguments with minor characters. To start, through the positive development of the mindset of the main character of Ismail Boxwala, it was evident that only coming to terms with the past will allow one to move onward with their life freely. In the beginning, Ismail had trouble coming to terms with the past of his daughter’s death, Zubi. Ismail, always had nightmares at night and had flashbacks to the time that he still had Zubi. The thought of her haunts him, but through his progression, he was able to slowly to resolve himself. He had always kept track of every infant death due to being left in the car, which was a bad habit he had, however, …show more content…
When Fatima’s parents found out about her past, they used that to hold a grudge on her and kick her out of the house. They found out about her sexual life, of being lesbian and used it against her, they did not come to terms with the past in the beginning. They said, “She must change herself, live with our conditions, if she is going to live under our roof, eat our food, and receive our money, Hassan said, his index finger pointing at Ismail, emphasizing each point. It’s not possible to change, Dad. This is who I am. She held her head and stared at the floor”(213). They do not accept who she is and thus, kick her out of their house, giving her no financial and emotional support. Not coming to terms resulted in losing their daughter and having emotional problems within the family. As seen in the end, they slowly try to accept their daughter which resulted in the decrease of tensions between family members. Furthermore, Celia’s daughter, Lydia, shows her inability to accept the past, and thus could not move forward at the start. When Celia started dating Ismail, after Celia’s husband or Lydia’s father died, Lydia found and could not believe what Celia was doing. Lydia was in disbelief saying, “Mae! You’ve done all this, she said, gesturing at her mother’s clothing, for him? You came
In John Connolly’s novel, The Book of Lost Things, he writes, “for in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be”. Does one’s childhood truly have an effect on the person one someday becomes? In Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle and Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, this question is tackled through the recounting of Jeannette and Amir’s childhoods from the perspectives of their older, more developed selves. In the novels, an emphasis is placed on the dynamics of the relationships Jeannette and Amir have with their fathers while growing up, and the effects that these relations have on the people they each become. The environment to which they are both exposed as children is also described, and proves to have an influence on the characteristics of Jeannette and Amir’s adult personalities. Finally, through the journeys of other people in Jeannette and Amir’s lives, it is demonstrated that the sustainment of traumatic experiences as a child also has a large influence on the development of one’s character while become an adult. Therefore, through the analysis of the effects of these factors on various characters’ development, it is proven that the experiences and realities that one endures as a child ultimately shape one’s identity in the future.
Everyone has the tendency to think or act immaturely when something does not happen the way they wanted it to. How people behave and develop in such situations can uncover hidden sides and the true inner self of their character. The changes that occur to them through conflict can depict how mature they really are. Nazneen Sadiq’s story “Shonar Arches” shows the impact on a character’s maturity as a result of the main conflict. The happy resolution of Amit’s conflict shows how through time, even a rude little boy can mature into becoming a gentleman.
People will always come across ups and downs but its the struggles, hardships, and obstacles people face that determines how strong they are. Walking away from a situation or problem does not make matters better. It does not shield an individual either, it just causes things to be unsettled. Communicating with someone will allow feelings to be exposed in a safe manner and cleansing the soul will also be a great therapeutic technique in rejuvenating the mind.
Amir’s development from being “a boy who won’t stand up for himself,” to a man that stands up for the morally responsible thing to do (22, Hosseini). When Amir was a child, he tried to escape from his sins in the past by hiding them with lies. However, this only made it worse for Amir, causing him to be an insomniac for much of his life and putting himself through constant torment. Only when Amir became a man, like Baba wanted him to be, was Amir able to face the truth of what he done and put himself on the path of redemption. Even when Amir was suffering a violent beating from Assef, Amir was able to laugh because he knew he was doing what he should have for Hassan years ago. Amir’s development from a child, who lies in order to cower from their own mistakes, into a man, someone who is not only able to admit his sins, but atone for them, is essential to communicating the theme of redemption being the only way to settle with your
The two mothers despite their differences are both help their family be as successful as possible. Nonetheless, the mothers were successful in showing that an ideal mother sacrifices for her children, does her best to ensure their children’s survival, and uses tough love. Yet, the two moms were not only successful because they showed the ideals of a good mother, but because they passed on the values of a good mother. Nana passed it on to Mariam and Mariam passed it on to Laila, who will pass it on to her next girl names Mariam.
In her book “Daring Greatly”, Brene Brown discusses aspects of our cultures, religions, families, and other important areas that affect our everyday functioning and ability to connect in most nourishing way possible with one another. She calls us to be vulnerable and open ourselves up to others when we are hurting, struggling, confused, and whenever we feel like the only method to cope with our failures is to hide. By learning how to feel and understand our feelings we become
The book’s opening chapter focuses on Amir's conversation with Rahim and Amir’s "way to be good again” (Hosseini 1). The reason Amir flies all the way to Pakistan leaving behind his wife and life in America is Rahim Khan. Amir desires to make up for what he did to Hassan, so he answers Rahim's quest to “be good again” (Hosseini 1). This meeting allows Rahim to tell Amir what he must do to make up for his past. Rahim tells him he must put his own life in danger to save Hassan’s son, Sohrab. At first, Amir wants to refuse Rahim Khan’s wish, thinking of his life back home. He also thinks about how Hassan’s life may have been different if Hassan had the same opportunities he had. Then he realizes, “ But how can I pack up and go home when my actions may have cost Hassan a chance at those very same things?” (Hosseini 226). Rahim Khan warns Amir that it cannot be anyone else; Amir must make up for his own sins. Although he knows it's dangerous, Amir agrees to get Hassan’s son for Rahim as his dying wish. Amir believes that saving Sohrab is “A way to end the cycle” (Hosseini 227). Amir’s commitment in the face of danger proves his determination to be better and finally atone for his sins. Amir realizes his mistake and knows he can't change what he’d done. Eventually, with Rahim's help, he begins to see saving Sohrab as a “way to be
... of time,and,living once all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present.” Basically saying the missing part of him, which was shown through Aminadab, was the key to see that he had everything he could possibly want. That is when he no longer fights with this inner struggle. What is even more tragic is that even with the passing of his wife, he is unable to learn from this expierence because his own wife basically says, dont feel guilty it is going to be ok. This totally disturbs the possiblility of learning from this horrible incident, because his wife eases the guilt.
...ind a way to redeem themselves. The relationship between Amir, Hassan and Baba has shown so much neglect and disregard to the fatherly love that Amir and Hassan needed from Baba as it stands in comparison to Amir and Sohrab’s growing relationship. The appreciation of the unselfish actions are demonstrated as they give up their career, life, and pride for the betterment of their sons. The book itself demonstrates the development of the characters as they got more mature to which this bad past they had causes them to reinforce a more effective functioning father and son relationship. A neglect of a father may lead to bad decisions as a father should be there to ensure and reinforce a lesson to his son, acquiring the happiness of the son which is necessary for a fatherly figure.
...ey have surrounded her with. She longs for a deeper connection with her past, but she realizes this is not to be, at least not as far as her family is concerned. She must adhere to the role of the loyal daughter as it has been established through many generations, and strive not to shame the family as her aunt did many years ago.
To start of, the awkward relationship betwixt the protagonist, Amir, and Baba,his father as well as the circumstances
is true it does help the person feel better to talk about their problems whether
It is in the final image of Laila’s family that Hosseini’s use of characters as smaller personal representations of a larger picture is most clearly, and most essentially to the significance of the novel, seen. The thoughts of Mariam that Laila has after her death are where the heart of the novel is revealed. “Laila resigned herself to moving on… Because in the end she knows thats all she can do. That and hope” (Hosseini 363). Hosseini at this point reveals the idea that the novel has been written to exemplify. Laila chooses to move on, as Mariam would have said to, learning from the adopted mother of her life. Hosseini paints a picture of hopefulness in this ability to move on that Laila posses. The entire novel has been centered around relationship of two women and the effect that that relationship had on the two characters as both individuals and windows into Afghan society. It is at this point that Hosseini shows not how he painted this picture, but why. Hoss...
Throughout the novel, her mother has contributed to Esther`s problems. From Esther`s point of view, consequences of her mother's actions have lead to further problems for her. It was her mother who denied Esther the right to go to her father's funeral:
“In tough times, everyone has to take their share of the pain,” this was once said by Theresa May. Even though many people believe in this when you’re the one facing times of crisis you oppose this idea. People will try to bottle up the pain they are felling but in return will end up doing reckless actions. For this reason, people commonly shut out there friends. They won’t talk to their friends even though they usually do or they will be harsh to them even if they are nice people. These times can bring out the worse in people and I have experienced it first-hand. For instance, about a year ago my friend’s parents’ had recently divorced. Of course I wanted to help her and I tried to make this person happy but it didn’t work. The stress of what