Homework for the Story, "Katania"
Using the questions you received with your first short story (on the reverse of the sheet) or the “Guide to Literary Terms,” write an answer based on the page range given to you at class on Friday. You may comment on more than one example (e.g. for setting you could refer to both the physical setting and the social environment) that occurs on those pages. Remember to have one overall topic that is more general than your content, so we know how you plan to answer. Write about 200 words in a single paragraph. Quote at least twice and work to integrate your quotations into your own sentences. Try to show how your page range relates to something that happens either before or after it in the story.
25 comments:
Lara Vapnyar’s story, “Katania,” contains richly imagined and evocative settings. In the pages five through eight, Vapnyar brings us detailed information on the social world of the two girls. Katya is clearly concerned about Tania’s potential for bad behaviour when she invites her for the first time and that she “would throw a tantrum,” but Tania behaves well enough that Katya’s grandmother is “delighted with her.” The surprise is that Tania is sure that Katya’s family is “rich” since Tania has her own room. It also becomes clear at this point how they have lost their fathers: Tania’s defected; Katya’s died. We also read about the unravelling of the girls’ friendship that, ironically, is caused by Katya’s receiving a male doll from her uncle, one that she promptly designates the “father” doll. Impatient at the end of a long, boring summer, Katya can’t wait to show off her new possession. Tania’s response catches her by surprise as she begins chanting “cripple and retard” because of the father doll’s “bad hip.” Thus ends their childhood friendship. Vapnyar has planted the seed for the story’s slightly contrived ending where Tania’s ends up with a husband who walks as if his leg “were detached at the hip.” Contrived, yes, but for its rich use of setting, a worthwhile story to read.—218 words
Lara Vapnyar’s story, “Katania” contains a dynamic interchange between the characters. Comparing and feeling inferior still exists between Katya and Tania when they met after years of being apart. As children, Katya was somewhat better off than Tania. In pages nine through twelve, Vapnyar brings us information about the obvious switch in fortunes of the two main characters. Tania’s invitation to Katya (they reconnect through FB), is not about reminiscing their childhood. “She didn’t ask me any questions, and she didn’t let me talk,” Katya said. As soon as Katya set foot in the house, Tania began a “never – ending tour.” Katya couldn’t help to notice that Tania had built a replica of Katania at her Berkshires house. Ironically, Tania said that she “vaguely” remembers Katania. Katya may not be rich like Tania but she is a successful independent woman who could go anywhere she wished. Tania no longer has the same freedom and the key around her neck that she brags about when they were little. The not so pleasant visit came to an end. Vapnyar ended the story for me to believe that the father doll came to life through Tania’s husband’s damaged hip. Did Tania deliberately recreate her childhood? Perhaps! What a brilliant story. 217 words
In the story "Katania" almost the whole story of Lara Vapnyar colours with both the external internal conflict. In the pages five through eight, Vapnyar brings conflict between the narrator and Tania, which is called person vs. person conflict. It occurs when Tania says he doll was crippled. The narrator replies by saying the doll isn't crippled and this is where the conflict reaches its climax. As a result, she attempts to take the doll from Tania. Tania is keen enough to dodge her attempt at grabbing the doll and says, "He is crippled. And look at that stupid smile." This only aggravates the conflict between the two. These incidents dramatically show how the trauma- lacked father- affected the girls behaviour. The narrator had been waiting for Tania, only for their relationship to take a tumble for the worst. Their friendship was going down hill over a doll and was coming to an end. Saying the doll is "crippled" and "a retard", only makes the situation worse. Lara Vapnyar is very smart in using this conflict type to get the reader intrigued. She knows that a bit of drama will get the reader of their chair and keep their eyes glued to the page to find out what happens next. She makes it in depth by adding this conflict.
Devinder Sandhu ~222 words
Lara Vapnyar’s story “Katania” is a very interesting short story. Several external and internal conflicts take place between pages one and four. On page one, the conflict related to the fatherless families. It was normal for families to be without fathers in Katia’s hometown. The second conflict was when Tania’s mother brought her the wrong cup at the school’s event. Tania screamed at her mother and caused her to go home and get the cup that Tania wanted. The third conflict was when Tania and Katia were talking about their personal lives. Suddenly, Katia asked, “How did your father die” This caused hostility between them and Tania assumed that her father was alive, as she said, “My father isn’t dead!” Tania told Katia that her father went to America on a business trip. Moreover, when Tania invited Katia to her home for a visit, Katia was worried that Tania might ‘’Betray her incompetence” because Katia didn’t have a key for her house. Finally, when Tania offered Katia some of her dinner, Katia imagined Tania would ask her to light a match or ladle the soup if Katia agrees. However, Katia rather to ‘’shook’’ her head instead. Katania has many conflicts which made this story very engaging and a joy to read.-words 217
“Katania,” by Lara Vapnyar is a story of two Russian girls who in childhood played together with dolls. In the pages one through four from the story, Vapnyar’s blend of different personalities makes this story interesting. Tania manipulates people’s feeling, and has a headstrong personality for example, “I wanted the blue one!” Tania screamed.” In this statement we can perceive how demanding she was with her own mother. Tania’s mother is a tall woman with a soft personality. She is over protective with her daughter because she doesn’t have a father, and she will accept her bad behavior. Katya is a shy girl, obedient and sensitive to others. When she assumed that Tania’s father was dead too, she felt so bad “I went home, crying.” We can see how sensitive she is. She didn’t mean to be rude to others, and she felt so ashamed about it. Katya’s mother is strict and responsible. Katya’s grandmother is a sweet lady that waits at home for Katya after the school. Vapnyar mixes the personalities so well in this story, so that some will be stronger than others but maybe because of the circumstance of auto defense mechanism for survival in this world. The author lets the reader think first about the circumstances before passing judgment.
214 words
Fatemeh Faraji Karimipour
“ Katania”
The short- story Katania by Laura Vapnyar is about the world of two girls, who played with dolls.
In the story Katania, Katya and Tania have two shoe- boxes fulled with dolls. Katya’s had a cow, a pig,
A goat and a fat chicken. A mother, but no father. That’s also the conflict that Katya had. They live in
Soviet- Union and mostly every child has no father. The father of Katya has died, and the mother who
writes “school textbook” is been forbidden to write about fathers. Tania has a father in reality,who is in
America. In the pages 1-4 Katy’s conflict is that she hasn’t a father. Katya gets a doll, who has a father
figure, but he has bad hips. That’s the point in the end of the story,when Tania in America, both Tania
and Katya have gone to America, sees Tania’s husband, she says,”There was something strange about
his gait. He walked as if his left leg didn’t work. He worked as if it were detached at the hip.” He is like
father doll of Katya. Tania’s house is also like Katya’s shoe- box. It is red with yellow awnings. I like the
story Katania very much.
223 words
The social environment setting of “Katania”
The short story “Katania” by Lara Vapnyar is about how the main characters (Katya and Tania) live and play together amid social environment changes. In pages nine through twelve the story talks about when Tania moves to America to study, earlier her father had moved to the country after leaving her mother. A few years later Katya and her husband moved to America. Sometime later Katya got a message from Tania on her facebook page. “Aren’t you Katya V. from my old school?” Tania invited Katya to visit her home in Berkshire. Tania was excited to see her friend and showed her around the home and garden. There was “A large framed [family] photograph on the living room wall”. The picture was of – Tania, her husband and her two children. This showed how happy Tania was and showed that she came from a more stable environment then when she was a child. When Katya was shown the garden she noticed there was a chicken coop just like the one from her childhood game. Katya even noticed the way Tania’s husband walked with a broken leg just like her father doll did. Vapnyr’s story Katania has social changes that her main characters go through from childhood to adulthood.
207 words
In “Katania”, Vapnyar uses round and flat characters which grow personally while she is exposing the reality of some Russian’s childhood. In the first pages, Vapnyar shows us Katya’s traits indirectly—how she chooses her dolls and interprets situations—as a round character. Also, the author directly introduces Tania, as a flat character that has a bad temper, to predict her reaction. Both characters are dynamic and have a similarity (no presence of a father), but the revelation of the way each one has lost her father triggers an epiphany. This climax deeply affects Katya who realizes that she “is being excluded from the elite group of children who had fathers”. Katya and Tania feel a huge relief playing with their dolls because they reflect their emotions through their imaginative world. For this reason, Katya’s joy is immense when she received “a true rarity” father doll which explodes the jalousie of Tania. Certainly, Katya and Tania approach us to the emotional and financial situations of some kids in Russia, and how these circumstances will grow and affect their future. For instance, Tania’s goal in her future is extending her wealth (inspired by Katya’s old shoebox). Yet, Katya is seeking the affection of “the protective husband”. “Katania” is a captivating short story where Vapnyar has engaged dynamic characters to reveal a cruel reality of some kids in Russian.
(230 words)
14/04/2015 Katania: pages 5-8, settings Mladen Gavric
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Lara Vapnyar`s short story ``Katania`` contained a lot of undertones that related to the
economic and political situation in Soviet Russia at the time. She uses a lot of her own
experiences to help the reader understand what it was like to live in a world like that.`` She said
she`d heard that Tania`s father had defected, my grandmother gasped,`` was something Katya
said that made the social environment seem harsh. Many people were leaving, or defecting, to
western countries to escape the the oppression and bad economy. Even if it meant giving up
there families and established lives. The social environment she portrays in her writing makes
the situation there seem extremely bleek as well. “But then my uncle came back from Bulgaria
and brought me the father doll,” this line is very powerful to me. Like Lara was explaining at
the beginning of the story, Soviet Russia was very oppressive at this time, and sometimes even
something as simple as a male doll had to be brought in from another country. The dominant
impression created is, in my mind, hostility. People being hostile towards anyone that has
more than them.
-192 words
Katania, by Lara Vapnyar, is a very interesting story containing many thoughtful settings. At the beginning of page nine, the two girls--Katya and Tania--had a big fight. Both of them didn't have fathers, which was common in that society. Katya's dad died when she was only two ( She might don't even remember her dad's face), and she was so excited to get a father doll which was exactly how she imagined “an ideal father would look”. She played with him all day long, and couldn't wait to introduce him to her good friend, Tania. However, Tania, whose dad had defected and left her behind (which was more hurtful), ridiculed the doll was crippled, which upset Katya deeply. Katya took revenge on her right away by mockinging Tania's dad didn't care about her. They had a big fight and finished their friendship until Tania's father arranged for her to go to America. She invited Katya “in the first place” to her leaving party to prove her dad “did care about her after all”. Twenty-eight years later, the two girls met again in America. Tania build a chicken coop which was just the same as the old doll house Katya had; she married a man who had the same “bad hip” as Katya's father doll. The childhood influenced Tania a lot in the rest of her life. This story is interesting and worth to read.
--220 words
In this story we can observe between the pages five through eight, what this two girls have in common—Katya and Tania--. Any of them has a father. And it’s reflected on their social behaviors. Katya lost her father, when she was very young. Therefore her behavior is not as rebellious as Tania’s behavior. Katya lives with her mother and grandmother. Katya’s grandmother is always at home, waiting for her to arrive after school, with the dinner ready to eat. Their economy is stable. On the other hand Tania lost her father not too long ago. Tania lives only with her mother. Their economical situation is not so good. Since Tania’s mother had lost her husband and “She still got fired from her job”. This situation has affected Tania. Her behavior is turbulent and impolite. Everything was reflected in their dolls. When Katya got a father doll, Tania was surprise but jealous at the same time. Singing “Cripple and retard, swinging the father in her hand”. The girls ended up in a fight that put them apart for several years. At the end we can see how unconsciously Tania created a real family just like in Katania. This is an interesting story to read, that will stay in your mind.
212 Words--
Lara Vapnyar’s story, “Katania,” consists of two inventive characters, Katya and Tania. In pages five through eight, Vapnyar delivers a structured message about both diversity and resemblance of the two girls. They play with their dolls quite often – they have doll-houses and admire their dolls. The girls spend plenty of time together, and get along great. Katya and Tania create country and city names for their dolls, and play dress-up with them as well. When the summer vacation started they had parted their ways – Tania went to her grandfather’s village, and Katya kept herself entertained at home by breaking old wooden rulers into pieces and gluing them back together. In the meantime, Katya’s uncle came back from Bulgaria and brought her the “father doll.” It was a male doll that she had been so excited to show to her friend Tania once she returned at the end of summer; however, Tania’s reaction was much different than Katya had expected. It was the moment that changed their friendship. “It’s damaged! “It’s a cripple. Is he a retard, too?” Tania said. Katya was devastated that her friend Tania did not approve of her “father doll” that she hurtfully responded by stating, “He ran off! He up and went! He doesn’t care about you! He hates you! He’s sick of you,” exclaimed Katya. It was Tania's father Katya referred to. Resulting in a physical fight, and also resulting in Katya and Tania’s friendship to come to an end. Vapnyar’s interesting similarities and differences in the characters kept me reading the story – wishing there were twelve more pages to read.
– 268 words.
Lara Vapnyar’s story, “Katania,” set up in Moscow in 1970s, and informed us of social environment in the Soviet at that time through the relationship of the two girls: Katya and Tania. In the pages five to eight, Vapnyar told about the two girls’ differences—Katya’s father died; Tania’s defected. Katya had her own room; Tania had a key. Katya’s dolls lived in a village; Tania’s lived in a city.—and similarities—both didn’t have fathers; both had a family of doll. They were so fascinated with playing with dolls that they created the country named “Katania,” and made a map of it—the road, the woods, the river, and the bridge. However, things changed dramatically after Katya got the father doll. They broke their hearts mutually: Tania described the father doll “cripple and retard.” Katya said to Tania, “Your father up and went!” Since the father doll and Tania’s own father were significant figures to them, the bond between them fell apart. So did katya’s imagination with dolls. Surprising twists of ending were that Katya’s husband left her, and Tania’s husband walked like the father doll. Katya had her freedom (even of GPS), and Tania had all (a big house, a garden, a family and even chickens). Subconsciously they might have wished to have the other person’s life. If so, they made it! –224 words
Homework for the Story, "Katania"
Henry Young
"Katania" by Lara Vapnyar revolves the rich interaction between the characters. At the beginning of the story, readers get an idea of the basic setting in which the two protagonist do not have their father and they are passionate about dolls. However, though having similar situation, Tania is seemed to be short-tempered and stubborn as she "[throw] a tantrum" in the first week school tea party with parents. In the other hand, Katya is more calm and detail-oriented based on her description about the dolls. Advancing to page 3 and 4, the conflict of the story emerges, and the focus is shifting towards Tania due to Katya's description herself - "incompetence" of doing what Tania and other kids could - and that Tania is not exactly as what Katya thinks when she gives a "cold, mocking expression" at Katya's lies. Later, as the two characters start sharing and playing together with their common hobby, the dolls, the story slowly rises to its climax. After all, Katya and Tania are both round characters at the first 4 pages of the story, "Katania".
-181 words.
In the story says about two girls who played with dolls. In the pages through one to four the writer describes in detail the conditions of life for families in the Soviet era and how the social environment had formed girls’s characters. At first sight the living standards are very similar. Both girls lived in the same building with thin walls of apartment. They had a little amount of toys; some of them were not real, as matchbox TV, the shoebox instead of dollhouse (nobody had dollhouse at that time) and girls were not spoiled for scarce things as bananas or delicatesse. They both have their dolls and fantasy lives and also they both did not have their fathers. Tanya perceived absence of the father (he died when she was two) as perfectly normal, “fathers had a tendency to die, or to lose themselves to alcoholism, or to simply “up and go.” But Tanya really hurt experienced no father in her life because he had defected and she created the legend that her father on a business trip in America. It was humiliating and embarrassing not to have a father, even like not to have beautiful furniture or rugs. Finally, the girls lost touch and went their separate ways. Rest of Tanya’s life she put out to be rich, successful and never be mortification.
-224 words
Lara Vapnyar’s “Katania” is an interesting short story that focuses on the relationship between two young girls in Russia. The conflict begins when Tania calls Katya’s father doll a cripple and a retard because the father doll’s right leg is broken. Katya responds by telling Tania that her father left her because he didn’t care about her anymore starting a fist fight between the two girls and thus ending their friendship. Years later after having very little contact with each other Tania invites Katya to her house in America. When Katya arrives Tania immediately starts a tour of her big luxurious house, without asking if Katya wants something to drink, or asking how she’s been. Tania shows Katya a picture of her and her family; Katya thinks they’re smiling a little too hard; implying that they’re happiness isn’t genuine. Tania confirms this when she says “I guess we’re happy”. After a full tour of the house, Katya realizes That Tania had created an exact replica of her old doll house. She reminds Tania of it, who vaguely remembers, but recalls the fight they had. Tania says it happened “because you wouldn’t share your dolls”, which is not how the fight happened, but Katya just agrees. Just as Katya is leaving the house she sees Tania’s husband in the driveway, and notices that he walked as if he had a bad leg like her father doll had. I think all this time Tania was jealous of Katya’s doll house and her father doll, so she unconsciously created the exact same life the dolls had for herself. -265 words
In “Katania” by Lara Vapnyar, there are many characters appeared. In the pages through five to eight, one of the main characters in the story, Tania, reveals her circumstances and characteristics through indirect and direct presentation. The narrator and Tania become close friends to each other as they spend more time on doll playing together. One day, the narrator invites Tania to her house and Tania starts showing her weakness and feeling of jealousy by comparing herself to the narrator. Specifically, Tania seems to be surprised about that the speaker “own room” and “have a balcony,” and Tania tries to comfort herself that she has a “freedom” instead of being “rich.” Beforehand, Tania’s behaviour was rude to her mother, and she got angry too much when the speaker asked how her father died. These may support that Tania is unstable in mentality because of her family background. As expected, it was known that Tania’s father left with lack of caring about his family and Tania’s mother “got fired from her job” during the conversation between speaker’s grandmother and mother. Tania shows her envy again when the narrator introduces the father doll that has “dangling” left leg. Several decades after their fighting, the speaker and Tania meet. Tania’s house, chicken coop and even her husband really look exactly alike with “Katania.” These indirect and direct presentations help readers to understand about Tania’s complex.—232 words
The setting plays an important role in the story “Katania” by Lara Vapnyar. In the pages one through four, Vapnyar indicates the fatherless situation in Soviet society. Katya, whose father died when she was two, thought her friend, Tania’s father died too as her father wasn’t around. However, it makes Tania angry and shriek that her father is on a business trip and misses her “every day.” It leads to the first conflict between the two characters. Kayta cries the rest of the day because “the sickening humiliation of being exclude from the group of children who had fathers.” Although the society tries to not mentioning the problem(even prohibiting the word “father” in textbook), it can’t change the fact that children care about their fathers so much and deep. Moreover, the fatherlessness affect character’s personality in some way. It shows on Tania who “throw a tantrum” as her mother didn’t get the right cup for her. It seems like she has a bad temper. The strong connection between character, setting and conflict makes the story more interesting.
197 words
Katania
Lara Vapnyar’s short story “Katania” contains both internal and external conflicts. As the story shows on pages five through eight, an internal conflict is when Katya has an uneventful summer, where she spends her time pacing and complaining about her boredom. However that conflict is resolved when her uncle brings her the male doll from Bulgaria, which she assigns as the “father doll”. But an external conflict arises when Katya, after waiting impatiently so long and after being so eager to show Tania her new doll, who in turn, after detailed and careful examination of the doll, disapprovingly and maliciously calls it “cripple and retard”. However, Katya thwarts her by telling her how her father had “defected”, which ends their friendship. This conflict is important to the story as a whole, because it not only causes the girls to drift apart and live their own separate lives, it shows that reuniting after so many years and after so many events that had occurred, that Tania’s initial disapproval of the male doll, was mere jealousy of everything Katya had, and that she spends her life trying to attain and fulfil that deficit, down to the cripple male figure.
197 words
“Katania” by Lara Vapnyar was interesting and satisfying and imaginative story. It involved external conflict and internal conflict . In pages one through four, the conflict appears when Katya's neighbour--up and went-- to the far north and he announced it by screaming “Im sick of you all!” and his wife screamed back. Since living without a father was common, Katya thought that it was “normal.” Another conflict took place when Tania “Threw a tantrum” during the annual tea with parents when her mother brought a wrong cup. She screamed “I wanted the blue one!” To resolve the problem, Tania's mother stood up and went home to get the blue cup, and that's when Tania's tantrum ended. The conflict arises as the story progress, as they walk home and started talking about how their grandparents died. Until Katya asked, “How did your father die?” assuming that he's dead, Tania replied, “My father isn't dead!” her mood changed and ran off to the building. Katya believed Tania was more competent and self-reliant than she was. Katya was faced an inner conflict within herself. She is faced with a choice- come with Tania into her apartment and see how she “betray” her incompetence or not go with Tania and see how she betray her incompetence in an “even worse way”.
Twist.
Lara Vapnuar in her story “Katania” has described two vivid characters. Two girls were studying at the same school, but the difference between them was obvious: not only in “rich” Katya’s three- rooms apartment and Tania’s “small one room”, but also in their attitude. However, at their childhood they found some common things to share like their dolls to play in their imaginary “Katania”. This fabricated world was a reflection of their real life with no fathers for both of their dolls as for both of the girls either. Even though Tania was envious of Katya’s well-being, they could get along playing. The problem had stood up when Katya got her “boy doll”. At that point Tanja couldn’t hold her jealousy any more. In pages nine through twelve the author described us in detail the end of girls’ friendship, and, later, how Tanja build her entire life to show up her successes. At the end of the story Tanja was happy to find Katya to make her to be jealous. Moreover, Tanja become “stuck” with her garden and chickens in her “happy” “six bedroom” house like Katya was in her childhood with her grandmother. Even her husband was limping like Katya’s “father” doll. What’s a life twist!
Words-207
Almost the whole passages of Lara Vapnyar’s story, “Katania,” colours with both the external and internal conflicts. In the pages five through eight, Vapnyar brings up the starting external conflict between Katya and Tania: “You’re stuck with your grandmother,” Tania says. “You may be rich, but I have my freedom,” she continues. Katya tries to solve this problem by convincing herself that she is okay, “I didn’t have a key, but so what? I guess I didn’t care that much about freedom.” Later, the conflict becomes more and more serious, and the climax is when Tania mocks Katya about the father doll, “Cripple and retard, cripple and retard.” Katya replies her with very sarcastic words. This conflict has never been solved. Moreover, the conflict happens again at the end of the story when Katya visits the adult Tania. There is also a very deep conflict in this story: the internal conflict between Katya and herself. On the one hand, Katya wants to make friend with Tania, loves to play with her. She even can’t wait to show her new doll to Tania. However, on the other hand, Katya must struggles with Tania’s bad temper and manner. This Vapnyar’s story, which is full with these conflicts (from the beginning to the end), is a must read.
-215 words
Reading the ending part of the story, Katania by Lara Vapnyar, it was interesting to find out that Tania and Katya’s later lives in the States seems opposite of their childhood; more interestingly, Tania’s round character was revealed later with her adult life which has lots of similarities with the doll family from Katania. Under the circumstance of the time when many families don’t have a father or a caring father, children like Tania and Katya were developing their wishes about an ideal family through the doll play: Tania did that certainly. In their fight about the limping doll and father issue, I observe inner conflicts and characters of two girls such as perception of poorer living circumstance comparing with the best friend, and envy about what each other doesn’t have—and for both, emptiness of father’s absence. In comparison with Katya, Tania is a complex character who brought many same features from doll play from childhood such as a chicken coop and the limping husband. Tania, the antagonist, did this even without noticing that her life resembles with one from Katania that gave a bit ironic shocking to Katya. Two girls are very typical, and the writer describes them so well and strongly, so whole story was very exciting. Even I recall one from my childhood! (217 words)
Conflicts after turning point
"Katania”, by Lava Vapnyar, is an attractive story containing many conflicts which draw our attention from the beginning to the end. On page 9, a “big fight” occurred between two protagonists: Katya couldn’t accept Tania mocking her father doll when she showed off it to Tania after a long summer waiting. This fight was the turning point of the story which ended their childhood friendship, however, the interesting conflicts continued. Katya was invited for Tania’s going-away party(She was moving to America) ten years after their fight, during which, no connection between them at all; Tania never forgot the words Katya said during their fight, she just wanted to show that “her father did care about her after all.” Another eighteen years passed, both Katya and Tania were living in US. Tania found Katya on Facebook and invited her to visit her house. Katya was coming from an internal conflict -- she just divorced and assumed she’d be “too depressed to go anywhere;” but the idea of being on her “own” excited her and made her “regain some long-forgotten intensity of living.” At Tania’s house, while Tania showed off her rich home and happy family, Katya noticed that Tania just replicated her doll house -- consciously or unconsciously-- and was trying to realize her dream in childhood. “You may be rich, but I have my freedom,” Tania said so when they are seven; finally, they exchanged their situation. It’s really a worthwhile story.
- 230 words
I Am Better than You!
Lara Vapnyar’s story, “Katania,” contains dynamic and round characters. In the pages five through eight, Vapnyar portrays the improper and childish characteristics of two Russian girls—Katya and Tania. One character (Tania) causes the other character (Katya) to change. Tania’s words were always sarcastic; when Katya “found the pathos of her words nauseating,” it caused her to behave in the same way as Tania did. Both characters in the story found a tendency to humiliate each other, and an intense sense of competition grew between them. For instance, when Kayta’s uncle brought her “the father doll,” she couldn’t wait to show her new doll to Tania. But Tania’s response shocked her. She started to make fun of the toy by chanting “Cripple and retard, cripple and retard.”Consequently, Katya flew off the handle and insulted Tania’s father. Both of them were trying to prove that I am better than you. As a result, competition, humiliation and selfishness put an end point to their friendship. Vapnyar thought us the characteristics of a person who is unfit to be chosen as friend. It was so complicated, yet it enlightened my mind. –188 words
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