Blogging Journal Questions for "A Spoiled Man"
Please answer one of the following questions for the story, "A Spoiled Man." Make your answer a comment to this post. Write between 150 and 200 words; provide your word count at the bottom of your paragraph(s). Please finish your work by 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 28.
1. Write about something you learned from the reading.
2. Write about something that surprised you, angered you, delighted you, or evoked any strong reaction as you were reading. Write about anything that stays on your mind after reading.
3. Write about the most effective things you notice in the writing.
4. What does the work mean and why do you think that?
14 comments:
Hello, brad… This is my answer for the short story, i hope this is the right format, and i hope u like it…^^*
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-Question #2: Write about something that surprised you, angered you, delighted you, or evoked any strong reaction as you were reading. Write about that stays on your mind after reading.
-Answer:
'So boring… Do I have to read this story?' was my first reaction when Brad handed me a big book of short story, and told us to read the story, and then respond to the journal questions, my heart sank immediately not knowing what are the questions going to be.
But, as I read further and further, the story is a real page turner because when Rezak comes to Harouni’s house and tends the gardens, and he gradually increases his belongings. He even married to a young girl, but later disappeared. I was extremely mad when Rezak arrested by D.S.P. police officer and tortured unfairly because they think that Rezak killed the girl or sell her to prostitution, but he really loves her whenever Rezak goes back to the hut, “he felt more equal now,” (8) because I think he now has a wife and welcomes him home. After I read the story, I can’t help but to think ‘Whatever happened to the girl, is she died, or what?’
Words: 198.
Question 2:
Reading Daniyal Mueenuddin’s story I experienced a variety of feelings, but the one that resonates most and the one that I’m left pondering is simply this—how little mark many of us make on the world and how cruel life can be. Rezak, such a simple man, taking pleasure in being useful, gardening for the wealthy landowners, showing with pride his tiny shack that is, in his words, “more than I deserve,” evokes in me a deep pity. Mueenuddin uses that “weird little cubicle” throughout the story to show us how ephemeral are the things around us and how they reflect our true nature. Note how the television and goats, signs of Rezak’s being a “spoiled man” disappear after he has lost all hope from losing his precious second wife, and his “filthy mattress,” put into use by the sweeper after his death, was once “deeply comforting to [Rezak]” because of its “animal odor.” In the end, the feeling in the story is desolate as “the wind and blown rain [that] scoured [the cabin] clean,” a fitting end to show how a man can be forgotten, his things taken until all is as if he had never existed.
—198 words
Q2.
The story did not tell us what happened to Rezek’s wife when she disappeared. How could it happen to an old man who desperately needed someone to care or love? “God has been good to me, more than I deserve.” Is God really spoiled him? It’s a tragedy or a miserable life compared to our life in Canada.
We will never give up the hope to look for the person you cared or loved went missing or kidnapped. The task of searching is exhausting. The disappointment will gradually eat you up. If you lost any hope in your life, you couldn’t live on any more. Rezek loves his wife so much. After his wife disappeared, he lost his interesting in living. He sold his TV and goats. He might find out that his wife was dead after 18 months, so he wanted to follow her to heaven and kept on taking care of her. He might commit suicide even though the writer did not give us any hints about his death. The torture in the police station is harsh and brutal; he could hold on. The torture in spirit kills him eventually.
Sonya thought of Rezek’s death and it remind her parents buried far away in States. The gravestone might be stolen after his cubicle been torn down by the wind and rains. No one will think of Rezek again. Word count 230
Question 2
Even though this story is a fiction, I believe that thousands unpleasant incidents like this story occur in the world. I watched a documentary on TV the other day, it was about “human-trafficking”. Many poor people who were kidnapped or deceived by hiring advertisements, work in severe situations. Surprisingly the traffickers and police have a connection with dirty money to their mouths shut, so it is hard to regain the victims for their families.
I admire Sonya and her husband, and Ghulam for their kindness and giving an equal treatment to Rezak and other servants. They accept Rezak through his personality. “He felt more equal now among these people” of course he deserves to be equaled, however, a cruel thing is he started to boast about his salary after he worked at Harounis’s. He does efforts for his living with true loyalty; at the same time, he has a vanity about God gave him more than he thinks he deserved, unfortunately that changed his life too. Unfair justice by police: caring more social status than rights, and people who envy and intrigue, or judge others whether wealthy or poor….Rezak is a victim of them, and involved himself without suspicions.
199 words
# 4. What does the work mean and why do you think that?
Spoiled Hopes
An Iranian saying “human is alive with the hope” is lustrated in the story. Millions of people work and look to get better situation, but they don’t show their wishes because they are mashed by the cruel life. What they want is to get a morsel food, a sleep space, and clothes. Knowing these people situations, which are imaged in Rezak , interrupt and make us griefful, but this not what was needed in the writing. The author shows readers wishes of these people are emerging on the base of their situations. Rezak “Decided go into the house,” “He pleas for working.” “He got money than before.” He pleas for electricity, and to marriage is the top of his life with a hope to have a son, “The boy would go to school, he would learn to read and write.” “The son…had become a doctor and now… Rezak would die happy after that.” We see his right and normal wishes are flourishing moment by moment. But to disappear his wife is a catastrophe to him; his hopes faded, Rezak used all his money for the gravestone, and passed away after a while: No hope, no life. 200
#2
Rezak and we all live in a world something like unfair or injustice would happen to us sometimes. What would we react to that? Probably complain, fury, avenge. It seems reasonable having those kinds of reactions for most of people.
But, what Rezak had done does really shake my heart. He had been outmaneuvered, dispossessed, cheated, and tortured. How life would be bearing so much spiritual and physical pain still showing the good side of human nature. “The policemen did as they always do”, that is what he thought about the torture from the policemen. ”God gave me so much more than I deserved,” this is also his thought about what he had ever possessed of. But what are they? A little wooden cubicle, dead chickens, a feebleminded wife. Is anything worse than these? But, for Rezak , cubicle is his heaven. The mental disturbed wife is his hope and gives him warm and comfort. He was satisfied with what he ever had.
Like an ordinary people, I see the insufficiency of Rezak’s life. However he sees the opposite side as well as shows his thanks and satisfaction from a very unfortunate life.
-193 words
1. Write about something you learned from the reading
In 1997, I have visited a small village in Hebei China as a university student. I’ve seen local school and teacher. There was actually only one teacher and several grade students mixed in one classroom. The teacher worked in his field still. I saw some cuts on his hands which were completely farmer’s hand. His salary was some rice or flour donated by whomever among that community. He smiled to us in that shabby classroom humbly but proudly. 10 years later, I still remember his face and the cuts on his fingers.
Whenever I visited India, I saw countless street animals and street people. One cow would be huge fortune to support the whole family. It’s very common to see several servants in any rich families. Once the servants die, their children would also become servants. Do they have any objection to their masters? None! They appreciate any bread they receive and a tiny hut for their families to live.
This story jogged my passed memories; I could even “see” Rask’s face when I read it. Living in a rich country like Canada makes forget there is another world on earth. Maybe it’s time to pick it up.
----198 words
#2 "A Spoiled Man"
While reading “A spoiled Man” by Daniyal Mueenddin I experienced many different feelings and emotions. I was captivated to see how Rezak lived his life, completely proud of everything he had to show. He worked hard as a gardener on a high estate owned by very wealthy people. I quickly learned Rezak was a very gratifying man. His appreciation for life truly made me rethink my own [life]. Such items as a radio, and a television were items he never thought he would own. A mere cup of tea was “a refinement that made him smack his lips with appreciation.” A man who truly appreciates everything life has given him.
I felt a deep sadness and compassion for Rezak when I read his second wife, who loved with all his heart, went missing. Worse of all, he was suspected of being responsible and was tortured, I think anyone reading that would have been able to feel his pain. Here is man, who appreciates everything he has in life to the point he feels spoiled, and is now feeling broken.
When Rezak died, he wanted to be remembered by his humble estate. Sadly, everything was stolen and became rundown. What was once his place of happiness was now weather beaten, “the wind and blown rain scoured it clean”. Razik’s life, one of few people who truly lived for every day, had now been washed away.
1. Write about something you learned from the reading.
Respect what I have already, it is a gift; stop searching for something that I might not really need. I learned this while reading through this story. In this story, the old man was not very healthy nor eating well while he worked in the poultry shed. He made his best effort to have a chance to live on a corner, a small place outside the huge house that he really loved. And in return, he offered himself to do whatever he can to get the spot. He did not expect that he would have salary either. This is what he wished in the beginning. But he was paid as the other servants who were really serving in the house, and it was a lot of money more than he had ever earned through out his life. He was so astonished he felt his luck has just begun. He suited himself for things that he had never longed. This turned out to bring him to the opposite. For life is always an uncertainty, it leads to a totally different direction while we weren’t aware of.
Word Count: 185
Question #2
After reading “A Spoiled Man”, I was shocked. I can’t keep my mind not thinking of a poor Rezak, and a cruel life. I see hearted people tend to face tragedy more than brutal people. I don’t know just because of their statuses. Rezak who is a hard working humble old man always tries his best to please people, but still be abandoned and insulted. His step-brothers are disappointing him of “over shared property”. He set a shed or “a portable cubicle” at wherever he stops is his home. He helps out of paying all his earning money to his feebleminded wife’s family as trading, but finally she is gone. However, he still believes “God has been good to me more than I deserve.” I don’t see he deserves cheerful things, but seeing his life is worthless. While living, he is tortured and disrespected, and after dying is even worse. Rezak’s figure is faded gradually in his kindest masters’ eyes. His ordinary shack’s equipments are stolen, and the tiny hut’s door “hung open, the wind and blown rain scoured it clean.” Throughout his life I only see his gravestone exists. In my buddhist, we believe in doing the right thing and live the right way, so we can receive a good life,but I don't see in mine or even in Rezak's life. Life is unfair to Rezak and to magnanimous people.
Hi Brad:
Sorry, I am late again. The following paragraphs are my answer to question #2.
The plot of the innocent old man, Mohammed Rezak, tortured by the policemen make me furious. The system that people rely on to protect good and prevent evil actually destroy people’s hopes. I hate to confront this kind of possibility. When I came to this plot, my mind was attacked by the image of a tortured body, my ears were full of painful shrieks any my heart was suspended. Under such a violent torment, I was afraid the old man would admit a crime that he had never committed. My anger even increases when I notice that I can do nothing to this situation, and it could happen to me too.
After suffering from a punishment, giving an explanation is a part of human nature. Rezak’s explanations to his misfortune make me sad. Though he is innocent, he says, “The fault is mine”. In his case, self-devaluation may work. However I think about the innocent girls, in Christian Duguay’s movie Human Trafficking, who are abused and forced to prostitute, this kind of self-devaluation drives some of them to death. I do not know how many evils we can bear. I do know if we don’t fight with them, they will multiply rapidly.
--202 words
2. Write about anything that stays on your mind after reading.
Through money we have built differences between us, but this has been a great deceit because we all are the same. “A Spoiled Man” by Daniyal Mueenuddin shows the life of a poor old man, Rezak, who doesn’t have a land where to live and whose job in Ayub’s sheds don’t allow him to eat properly. However, he has a portable hut which he carries when he changes his job; “This box has become his home and consolation”. With astuteness he found a job as a gardener for Sonya Harouni, a rich woman who are more just than his last boss. Now, he could eat enough, have some appliances, a couple of goats, some crops and a wife. “He felt more equal now among these people [shopkeepers, passersby, families],” he said; now that he has more belongings. Nevertheless, one day his wife was gone and with her the dream of being a Doctor’s father. He was alone again and his life obscured until he died as everyone else: leaving everything in here.
183 words
Hi Mr. Brad, sorry for posting solate. My loptop is not working so i have to make a new one again. Im late because i have to use the computer at work. Sorry
#2
"Flat tears slipped out his gummy eyes and dissappeard into the wrinkles of his face" is one of the few lines that brought me back to my past. It brings me back to the period of in denial and to the memories of pains of loosing someone unexpectedly. The pain that caused axiety and scepticism lingered in me. In the story "A spoiled man", a deep feeling of symphathy, sadness and indignation permeats in me.
Symphaty for being apart from his family due to the fact that he was "outmaneuvered, [and] dispossessed" by his step-brothers: for being isolated and for not having a stable place to live.Sadness due to the death of his first wife and their child, as well as the dissaperance of his beloved second wife. I am also quite upset to what the police have done to Rezak. Hung him on the wall all night and although he is innocent, he had suffered an excruciating pain in the hands of this mischievous policeman.
I am totally affected with the changes in Rezak's character in the story , specially the part where he married the girl, accustomed with her company to the point wherein, "he [already] felt more equal now among [the] people" and then suddenly, everything subside because he lost her, the most precious thing in his life.
words 222
#2
Reading the story “A Spoiled Man” by Daniyal Mueenuddin gave me mix emotions in the way the old man lived his life. Rezak, the protagonist in the story, reminded me of those old people in most developing countries who struggle to survive and experience the bitterness of poverty and maltreatment. It really angered me in the way Rezak was treated by the police officer. It was very appalling to see an old man tortured and bitten to death to a crime that he did not commit. I could just imagine the excruciating pain that he experienced in their hands. His right and privacy was unjustly invaded. But because of the lack of support and the widespread of unjust police, he may never have the chance to defend and fight for his right. However, despite the severity of his condition, his being down to earth really fascinates me. He even said humbly to himself, “Why should I complain?...the fault is mine” (15). This only shows his very humble and positive attitude despite the great tribulation that befell on him. He may not have the chance to defend his right but at least he experienced some happiness working in his master’s land. –200 words
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