Paragraph Answer for "A Spoiled Man"
Write an answer that is based on information found on the pages you have been assigned. Try, as best you can, to connect what happens on that page to events that occur either before or after in the story. Quote the story at least once, but no more than 20 words, maximum, for all quotes. Identify the page numbers and topic, please, as a heading before your paragraph. See my model answer for more ideas on what to do.
Write between 150 and 200 words. Bring your word processed work to class on Wednesday.
Link to the story online for easier cut and paste quoting.
After reading all your pitches, I must say, "Bravo"! It will be a fantastic experience to read about all these amazing people. Like Andrew Stanton says at the end of his lecture, " Use what you know. Draw from it. It doesn't always mean plot or fact. It means capturing a truth from your experiencing it, expressing values you personally feel deep down in your core." It seems to me you have done so!
24 comments:
Pages 1-6 (specifically Page 4) on Character
It is interesting to note how Rezak comes to be hired as a gardener by the American wife, Sonya Harouni. Daniyal Mueenuddin describes her as “an English major,” who uses the words of Yeats, Rilke and Keats “as a restorative,” painting her as a sensitive soul, but perhaps also as shallow and unable to think on her own. She wants to do more than Ghulam Rasool asks for Rezak because “It made her happy to think of spoiling [Rezak] in his old age.” It seems that Daniyal Mueenuddin means “spoiling” in two ways: the sense of treating someone indulgently and also of harming them from overindulgence. Mueenuddin only uses the word, “spoiling,” once in his story, worth noting as it connects to the title. The events that follow are indeed both—at times, Rezak has the indulgences of life as Sonya hoped; at others, he is seriously harmed by his involvement with her family. It is ironic that her desire to help Rezak backfires so badly, leading in some way to the loss of his wife, his torture, and his lonely death; all this from an innocent decision to hire him as gardener and to ease his passage through life.—199 words
Pages 1-6 on Setting “A Spoiled Man”
In the story, “A Spoiled Man” by Daniyal Mueenuddin, Rezak lives a miserable and pitiful life; and the misery is stressed by Rezak’s cubical which is “his guarantee of independence.” Rezak has lived in this box for decades as “his home and consolation” since he failed the contest with his step-brothers for shared property. He is powerless to handle the intricate society -- which is unfair and full of deceit, and he can only feel secure in his “nutshell”; on the other hand, Rezak desires a colorful life, and he continuously decorates and refines his little house: a pipe served as a handy spittoon, a skylight of red glass, cupboards and drawers , cotton mattress, matting on the roof, and photographs on the walls and ceiling -- All these make him comfortable. Even when he is spoiled and earns a salary “more than he had ever made in his life,” what he wants, firstly, is to buy a radio and a cheap television to refine his little cocoon. The cubical is the epitome of Rezak’s life: For a small potato like him, the cubical(even puny compared to the Big House) is almost his whole world -- where he lived and died; whereas for others, it means nothing except a dish of gossip at tea time that a raconteur can show off to his guests. What a contorted world!
Pages 7 to 11 on setting " A spoiled man"
Daniyal Mueenudin’s story “A spoiled man,” is a heartbreaking story about an old man, Rezak that has a rough life but his humility impacted the master’s wife. The pages 7 through 11 contain interesting social environment portraits. Until this moment he was content with everything; however, something was missing in his life—a family—and his culture can provide that if you have money. Now he was making a good salary and had enough to arrange one. He decided to get married. He did not care about the metal issues that this girl has, just the idea of having a son was good for him. After a few months, she disappeared, maybe because of her metal issues. Rezak stress about his lost wife, looked for help. In the Harounis’s party, they contacted Omar Bukhari (inspector General of police). The man in his manners lacks gentleness. He knew that in many cases, family was involved, but also in this society we believed that if we have a high status, we are better than others. Mueenudin, created intense settings, which let us think that humans are not content in our fortune, we always desire more in life. It is an interesting story that leaves the reader with a truly bitter flavor of life.
“ THE SPOILED MAN”Page 12-17 Setting
In the page 12-17 from the story from Danial Mueenuddin, the setting is in the police station
In Pakistan, and before when the D. S. P comes to Rezak to ask why he lost his wife. Four Policeman
takes him, and band his wrist with handcuff. Rezak’s wife “ is not well in head” and has run away. They
takes him to the car and then Police station. In the Police station, the Police “ put him on Hook “. They
ask him if he has sold his wife, but Rezak say” No”. The Policemen say bad things to him, and finally “
they take him from the hook and throw him on the ground”. Rezak who works for Harouni’s family, had
a wife and a son before, but he lost them, and he married a abnormal minded woman, but she has run
away. Gholam Rasool, one of the servants from Harounis,is his friend and Sonia, the woman from Soheil
Harouni is an American woman, who likes Rezak. The Harouni Family have a party. After that they leave
to Islamabad in Pakistan when the incident happens. After the Police station Rezak thinks about death,
and he buys a gravestone before he thought about trees in Kashmir, and the trees brought from
America by Harouni’s. He chooses his gravestone , and finally died. Sonia Harouni comes back from
Islamabad, and understands the death of Rezak , looks at the cabin of Rezak, which has a television
Antenna and plastik flowers. The story ends when the Rezak’s cabin had been broken, and emptied, and
rains washes it.
247 words
Pages 7-11 on Conflict
The middle part of the story is full of various conflicts. The author again mentions the conflict between Rezak and his family; his brothers had deceived him, and deprived of all inheritance. Rezak made a vow never go back. But when he met a young man from his native place in the mountains, he fondly recalled the old well-being life and family. The author describes another conflict between Rezak and his wife, the young “feebleminded girl.” As she mentally ill, he met some difficulties to adapt her to it, “…her condition was really worse than Rezak had expected.” Despite this, he put effort and patience to accustom the wife, for example, he bought “tree-kilo box of sweets” for her. Gradually their lives became more bearable. As soon as Rezak got comfortable with his good fortune, another catastrophe occurred. Disappearance of his wife demonstrates us a deep internal conflict that is going through Rezak. He is worried about the fate of his wife, “if she was lying hurt somewhere in the forest”, and at the same time, he struggles with his anger to her. Every time he goes to search, after a while his hope turns to despair and he is deeply affected. Finally, he asked for help but ended up being arrested and tortured by the police. This heartbreaking story allows us to touch different culture and to feel sorrow at the old man’s loss.
Pages 7-11 (Mainly pages 7 & 8) on Character
The short story “A Spoiled Man” by Daniyal Mueenuddin is the story of a man named Resak. He seems to be very successful after leaving home at a young age; this makes him to be a very ambitious person. “He had left home determined never to go back.” Resak was also a very kind and understanding man since he brought sweets to his wife on their wedding night. He was even empathetic about his wife being freighted by him, “he rattled the chain as he opened the lock.” This is connected to the beginning of the story when it is mentioned that Resak wanted to have a son so Sohail Harouni told Resak that his cousin has a daughter he can marry. This is also connected to the story after these pages when Resak comes home one day and his wife is missing. This makes him very worried so he frantically searches for her. Daniyal Mueenuddin’s story “A Spoiled Man” has a main character that has many positive traits.
169 words
Pages 1-6 on Conflict in "A Spoiled Man"
The conflict in the story "A Spoiled Man" by Daniyal Mueenuddin is very interesting in the story. As we all know without conflict the story will be bland. In the 1st page of the story we find the first conflict between Rezak and a un-named gardner about something that Rezak is doing, the gardner say, " Hey old man, you better leave that before you hurt yourself." Rezak replies saying that he lived in the mountains and shuns him by saying, " I can carry you up on my back and one of these in each hand." The first conflict shows that Rezak is a hard working man. The second conflict happens a little later in the story, when Rezak now works for Sonya Haroumi as a gardner that owns a estate. The conflict begins when he moves his home [a shack] towards the estates's gardens. This is a person vs self type of conflict, because its hard for him to move his shack around due to the fact it can break at any given moment. He thinks that his house is "his guarantee of independence." This makes Rezak life difficult and tough throughout the story.
Words - 185
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Mladen Gavric 05/05/15
A Spoiled Man: Conflict pages 12-17
It seemed to me that the
conflict in this part of the story
had a great connection to earlier
when Rezak speaks about how his
family had taken everything he had.
Rezak said of his new found wealth,
“God gave me so much more than I
deserved, when I expected nothing at
all.” To me this was a reference to
earlier on in the story when his
brothers had gotten greedy and taken
away his part of the inheritance.
Rezak had found himself in this
situation, abusing the wealth that
had been brought to him and “marrying
with one foot in the grave.” The
police questioned where someone like
Rezak found enough money to buy a
wife at his age. They didn’t believe
he had gotten such a well-paying job
at his age and this made his
character less reputable, leading to
the police suspecting him of selling
or even murdering his wife. Finally,
when the police bring him home, Rezak
goes back to his old ways and only
spends what he needs, eventually
saving up for a gravestone. All to
make an American woman feel like she
did a good deed for a lonely old man.
A SPOILED MAN
Pages 7-11 Character
Rezak is an old man, who had left home to never go back. He has several brothers that he hasn’t seen for long time. Even though Rezak choose to leave his family, he would like them to know about his success. Rezak is a noble man, who was married once. But he lost his bride less than a year after the marriage, when she was giving birth. The baby had died too. After all these events Rezak became a lonely man for many years. He was grateful with his life, but he always wanted to have a son by his own just like his brothers. When he was offered to have an arrange marriage with a young girl (who had some mental problems) he was full of hope and desire. He will finally have a wife to bear a son with. Rezak is a strong and independent man with dreams and aspirations. He is also enough patient and smart to gain his wife “trust”. Unfortunately his life seems affected by an unexpected twist.
185--words
Pages 7-11 on Setting
In pages 7 through 11 the fiction story “A Spoiled Man,” by Daniyal Mueenuddin, the main character Mohammed Rezak is enjoying his new marriage; however, he faces a conflict once his “feebleminded” wife and his two goats go missing. He stayed sitting in the cold room controlling his anger, as she had gone missing twice before. This time was different, Rezak searched alone (and with the help of his neighbours) – there was no sign of his wife. The Harounis’ hosted Christmas parties every year, and it was just about that time. Everyone gathered, and this is when Rezak got a faint sign of hope that the “son of the Inspector General of Police, Omar Bukhari” was going to help him find his wife. Later that evening, Rezak had a policeman pick him up from his hut, handcuffed him and took him into the police station. Rezak asked “But what have I done”? And the police man shut him up. They hung him up on a hook and beat him. The policemen did not even know who Rezak was, yet they were treating him as if he had committed a crime. Unfortunate for Rezak, he had to deal with these policemen torturing him even though he had done no wrong.
209 words.
Pages 7-11 (specifically Page 9-10) on Conflict
In the story “A Spoiled Man” Mr. Mueenudin showed us how Rezak lived a bittersweet life. He married a feebleminded girl “who was not right in the head”--Rezak was happy again to have a companion in his house who talked to him , who showed him compassion, who cared for him whenever he was sick, and helped him do household chores. One day upon returning home he found his wife missing again. He tried his best to search for his wife but there was no sign of her. His wife had disappeared. He was worried he will never see her again. This created an internal conflict within himself and caused stress and frustration. Rezak never bothered asking for help “Living alone for years, he had learned not to ask for help.” He looked for his wife everywhere and felt restless until he finally asked for help. He lost hope and thought that his wife was “dead or stolen.” He seemed to gave up hope finding his wife he prepared himself for a life of loneliness. Rezak, a man who lived a pleasant life that turned into a misery when he lost his wife.
--192 words
pages 12-17 on character
Rezak, the main character of Daniyal Mueenuddin's story, “ A Spoiled Man”, is a miserable old man. He left his hometown and never came back in his early twenties because of a big fight between his step-brothers and him; his wife died in childbirth, and he lost his baby as well. He lives in a tiny hut he built for himself, where “he could sit but not stand inside”. He is poor until he becomes a gardener for Sonya Harouni, a American wife who is happy to “think of spoiling him in his old age”. He earns the money, which for one month is “more than he had ever made in his life”. He can afford goats, and even has a new wife. However, his life turns back to tragedy while he just starts to enjoy his new life---his wife is missing. He is tortured by policemen, who think he should take the responsibility for his wife's missing. He changes a lot and can't feel happyness anymore after he is released. He arranges everything for himself before his death, and dies someday lonely in his hut ( an unexpected but reasonable ending). Is Rezak a spoiled man? No. It is an irony. He is a tragical man with miserable destiny.
---211 words
Paragraph Answer for "A Spoiled Man"
Pages 1-6 Setting
Henry Young
"A Spoiled Man" takes place in Islamabad. The first one third of the story holds an neutral and ordinary atmosphere, with "brightly clothed" people and majority of lower class workers. The protagonist, Mohammed Rezak, is one of the workers. Rezak lives a tough life that he describes himself soon might be "eating grass" as he asks for hiring in Hoarouni estate, a rich family made wealth in cement and other industries during the previous generation. Rezak has basically nothing other than his "portable cubicle" as house because of his determination of independence from his family - his step-brother has taken all the property from him. Later, the mood of the story starts to brighten as Rezak is hired, making more than he could ever earn in his life time in one month, and can purchase new items and even goats as properties. During the first six pages of the story, "A Spoiled Man," the readers can see a poor man living in a typical third-world society transitions to be possible to have a brighter life for the rest of his years, in Islamabad, Pakistan.
-184 words
Pages 7-11 on Setting
It is interesting to know how money collapsed Rezak’s life. Once upon a time there was a hopeless man, Rezak. Luck knocked his door, and he was hired by one of the most prominent persons as a gardener. He earned good money, and this money changed his entire life. Money gave Rezak hope—hope of having a child. Since Rezak yearned for a child, he decided to marry “a woman who was not right in the head.” He got married, and, later, it became obvious that his wife didn’t want him—she wanted his money. Money aroused selfishness in him. Although he was old enough to choose an isolate life, he decided to marry a 20-year-old girl. Money gave him hope, yet changed his life in a way that he will never hope again—hope of a child, hope of a better life. Daniyal taught us that money can’t buy anything—you may buy a house, but it will never become a home. It’s interesting to see how money could change our life if we don’t use it in the right place at the right time. –187 words
Pages 7-11 on Conflict
In the story, “A Spoiled Man,” pages 7 through 11 there is a conflict that arises over a man’s sole wish: having own sons. Rezak was an old man, but he was able to have a very young wife (hoping she would bear him a child) with his new wealth: a salary, a hut, two goats, the vegetable patch, a radio, a television set. In that society, wealth can “buy” a young bride. It is natural that he felt “more equal now among these people, the shopkeepers, passersby, families” after marriage because he was abandoned and dispossessed by step-brothers, and his connection was the teahouse only. Soon, however, a major conflict broke down him: his tiny young “simple” wife disappeared! (She was the only one who cared for him in his life.) Since the power was absolute in that society, the American wife (who “spoiled” Rezak) asked Omar Bukhari, the son of the Inspector General of Police, to search this poor girl. The events that follow were that, unlike her intention, Rezak was arrested and tortured severely by the policemen who treated him as a suspect. Most importantly, despite all bitterness in his life, his soul was never spoiled—he said, “God gave me so much more than I deserved.” –209 words
Pages 12-17 on Character
Something interesting I noticed that the character of a spoiled man, Mohammed Rezak in the story was nowhere to be found in pages 13 and 14. Rezak shrieked, scorned and groaned for 6 minutes on the night of his beating--it's heartbreaking! He was the victim of flawed, unfair and biased treatment and perhaps envy by the police. His life was only spared because " ....this is some American woman's pet servant," said the Deputy Superintendent of Police. Rezak's lips were sealed about what had happened; for him it was the consequence of belonging to the Harounis. On pages 15-17, Daniyal Mueenuddin took us back to the title of the story "A Spoiled Man", thru Ghullam Rasool, Rezak's request to be buried in the Ali Khan orchard was granted. The stonecutter carved the best gravestone from his shop that Rezak paid with " blue notes, thousands". Sonya placed Rezak's cabin to the big estate and park as a memorial. Sonya may have lost one spoiled man but still had a living one-- her husband. Was Rezak a spoiled man? I truly believe so. 182 words
Pages 12-17 on character "A Spoiled Man"
The torture of Rezak at the police post and the grim reality of the disappearance of his wife broke his hearth and lost all his hopes for life. In fact, The Ghulam Rasool—who strived to assist his friend Rezak finding his wife—sought the help of Bukhari to solve the wife denouement. However, this succour turned out to be a torture because the police suspected that Rezak killed or sold his wife. Certainly, Daniyal Mueenuddin disclosed—in this part of the story—the dictatorial regime of the police where crimes against humanity are common among the unfortunate ones. For instance, “the big man” used an excessive violence and a filthy language while dealing with a small old man who “he’s clean”. The only things the D.S.P. cared were “no visible marks” and “no word to anyone.” This dreadful incident let Rezak drop all his hopes on locating his wife. He felt that he was expecting (the wife) more than he deserved as a servant (who belonged to the Harounis). Disappointed, Rezak’s focuses went to the place where he will be buried and his lonely death.
(189 words)
Pages 7-11 (specifically Page 8) on Setting
It is very interesting to realize how Pakistani arranges the marriage between an old man and a “feebleminded girl”. Suggested by Rezak’s childhood mate to arrange a marriage, the old man decided to marry a young girl without a dowry but paying a lot of money by installments. The wedding was not celebrated and the crying girl was locked in the hut. Imagine how frightened the girl had gone through; a strange place with unfamiliar people surrounding. Moreover, an old man would become her future-husband. It is also very pleasant to see how considerate and careful Rezak had shown to the girl; rattling the chain before entering the room, sitting across from her, and offering her a box of sweets. Rezak’s effort melted down the cold wall and “she became accustomed to living with him”. It is very sad to hear about many arrangements of marrying a rich and old man in order to make their families have comfortable life nowadays, even though the criminal eyes on this as a big business. This leads to the poor becomes poorer and the rich becomes richer. The article lets us know more about some countries still have this type of social problem.
- 200 words
A Spoiled Man. (pages 1-6 on conflict)
Sonya
Sonya’s internal and external conflicts was interesting to follow along the story A Spoiled Man. On pages 3-4 D. Mueenuddin was describing Sonya as an American wife married wealthy Pakistan man Sohail Harouni. Sonya’s internal conflict came up when she‘d mentioned that she “really love it here”, but at the same time “miss the States so much”. Her unstable emotional state leaded her to fight with her husband (her external conflict). Even though she “studied Urdu”, “wore Pakistani clothes” properly, and “insisted that she loved Pakistan”, sometimes she sobbed that she “hate it”. Sonya, the gracious woman, who has carefree life with servants and major-domos lives in their estate above Islamabad, but isn’t happy. Moreover, she tried to convince Begum Sahib to hire Rezak, the “old man”, but “reliable person”, to work at their property for “just food and few rupees”. At the same time she knew that she wanted to “spoil” him by giving him “the same as all others”. Later, reading the story, I see that author sarcastically named the old man’s life “spoiled” compare to “American wife” and her husband. Even at the end of the story, when Sonya was praying at the small old man’s grave, in her mind she was in Wisconsin, were her father and mother were buried.
Words-214
Pages 12-17 on Conflict
Daniyal Mueenuddin has saved the best for last conflict in pages 12-17. He shows the conflict between Rezak and the policemen clearly and intriguingly. Firstly, the D.S.P didn’t believe that Rezak, the old poor man, could “get that much money,” for having the wife. Later, the conflict reaches its peak at the time when Rezak was taken to the police station. At that place where he should get help, he was tortured instead: he hung on the wall, was slapped and beaten many times, and got the worst pain when his arms and feet were stretched out to the bench. What he could do is just shrieking and groaning, “O my God, O my God, O my God.” When the policemen told him to keep his mouth shout, he just nodded his head. After all of these torment, Mueenuddin shows the irony in this story by telling the internal conflict within Rezak; he recognized, “The fault is mine,” hoping for a better life, but the fact the opposite happened.
-170 words
A Spoiled man
Page 12-17 on setting
In the story “A spoiled man” by Daniyal Mieenuddin, the setting shows us the corrupted side, when it comes to police officers and their abuse of power which cause an old man to get caught in between. In Pakistan there lived an old man named Rezak who is going through a rough time because he recently lost his wife and the police took him to the station at Tret. They walked him to a windowless room and hung him by manacles around his wrist. He stayed there till late afternoon until the big man (the boss) came in and started questioning by slapping him when he answered wrong, soon after he went the next step by whipping Rezak and called another policeman to start beating on him. After the beating they threw him in a storage room and threaten him to keep his mouth shut or they would do it again. After the traumatizing experience at the police station Rezak was in so much pain he lay in bed all day without sleeping. After he had recovered, he asks Ghulam Rasool his dying wish is to be buried in the lands of his master. After his night at the station, Resak walked in pain and made grunting noises. After Rezak died his dying wish came through when Ghulan Rasool buried him in the Ali khan land.
- 226 words
Pages 1-6 on conflict "A Spoiled Man"
“A Spoiled Man” by Daniyal Mueenuddin is a very engaging short story. Several conflicts takes place between pages one and six. The first conflict started with, “Hey, old man, you better leave that before you hurt yourself,” stated by the gardener on page one. Rezak replied, “I am from mountain, brother, I can carry you up on my back, and one of these in each hand.” This demonstrates that Rezak is a hard working person although he is old. The second conflict occurs when Sonya wasn’t happy about how life becomes difficult in Pakistan on page four. She states, “I hate it, everyone’s a crook, nothing works here!” These words make her argue with her husband. The last conflict that I found occurs on page five when Sonya said, “Salam baba” to Rezak. His heart, his soul melted, as if a queen had spoken to a foot soldier. And Rezak felt happy. These three conflicts were interesting and they made me feel that I am reading a story about reality.-words 173
Page 1-6 (specifically page1-3 ) on setting
Setting usually contains social environments of the story and time such as seasons, or hour of a specific day. Unlikely other fictions that I have read before, in “A Spoiled Man”, by Daniyal Mueeunddin this fiction takes place in “Islamabad” which is a capital of Pakistan. Since the place of the story is happened in Pakistan, which has a big wealth gap within the people, I could assume that the protagonist would be extremely rich or poor. Besides, the national religion of Pakistan is Muslim; thus, re-marriage or having several wives is more common than other countries. These cultures would lead a sibling dispute very easily. In fact, Rezak, who is a protagonist in this fiction, has a “step-brother.” Rezak’s step-brother took over Rezak’s property. After having a land dispute with the step-brother, Rezak has not seen his family at all. So, Rezak “was alone.” His loneliness was revealed strongly through the season of the story. It can be assumed that it is spring season by the“green grass sprouting all over the hillsides after winter” and this season always begins so “early" for Resak.” Through a good setting, I could predict the story and understand the characters more. Therefore, Setting is one of very important element that composes a fluent story.—219 words.
Pages 7-11 on character
In Daniyal Mueenuddin’s “A Spoiled Man” Rezak marries a young girl who is about nineteen or twenty, and according to the man who sold her to Rezak “she’s a bit simple” due to complications when she was born. She is just referred to as “the girl’ in the story, making her seem unimportant in the eyes of the men who know her, deeming her important enough only for housework and bearing children. Even though her own family may not value her, Rezak values her as a wife and companion who takes care of him when he is sad or ill. On the night that she disappears, Rezak is both worried that she lying hurt somewhere, and mad at her for leaving him to be alone once more. Reluctantly, Rezak does ask Ghulam Rasool and other Harouni house employees to help him look for her. They eventually all give up, except Rezak who continues looking for her. His determination to find “the girl” shows that despite being “simple” she does have value. – 171 words
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