Tamara’s Blog

Nectar in a Sieve was a great novel.To start off with, I made many other connections from this book to other books. “It was my husband who woke me- my husband, whom I will call here Nathan, for that was his name, although in all the years of our marriage I never called him that, for it is not meet for a woman to address her husband except as “‘husband”‘.” This quote reminded me of the book, The Namesake because this book also has Indian culture in it. In the beginning of The Namesake Ashima says that she can not call her husband by his name. I thought this was very interesting and similar to Nectar in a Sieve. Another connection I made with Nectar in a Sieve is that it is very similar to Things Fall Apart. Throughout Nectar I kept remembering how Okonkwo and his people reacted to change in their little village. Ruku and Okonkwo did not handle change very well. The change for Okonkwo was the white man coming and the change for Ruku was the tannery.I enjoyed comparing the attitudes and plots of the two stories. The difference between Okonkwo and Ruku is that Okonkwo did something about the change and tried to stop it. Ruku just complained but did not find a solution to stop this change. Overall, I thought that Nectar in a Sieve was an amazing book. The title itself symbolizes something. The title shows that if a person works at something and has no hope than all of their work will go through a sieve and nothing good will come. This novel really shows the difficult side of life.

My best entry was probably the Stranger with the picture of the crucifix. I liked this one because I thought about the book instead of giving plot summary. I went into detail about how he was considered a stranger and why. My worst blog entry was Getting Used to Life. I did not like this one because I felt that I repeated the same concept over and over again. I used to many quotes and did not put enough of my commentary in the entry. The blog that I thought was most effective was  Makayla’s Blog because she wrote very insightful comments . I really could connect with what she was saying and she helped me understand some parts of the book. I learned many great things from writing my own blogs and reading other’ s. I learned that different people interpret the story in many ways. This helps to really understand the book. I also learned there are other ways to read and discuss a book. This helped me a lot because I got to see what my other classmates thought about the different books they read. Overall, this was a great experience.

tamara.wmvThis is my photostory and I hope that you comment on my work.

This picture symbolizes that Meursault does not believe in God or a higher power. “But, apparently, he[chaplin] had more to say on the subject of God. I went close up to him and made a last attempt to explain that I’d very little time left, and I wasn’t going to waste it on God.” This is a very important quote because it shows that Meursault is a stranger to the way of society. He is a stranger because the society does not understand him. They think that he is going against their rules and way of living. For example, when a person goes to a foreign country, they are a stranger to the country’s customs and culture. This is how Meursault is in the real world. His feelings come from himself and not from what the society tells him to feel. He also does not believe in God and the people see this as disrespect and they accuse him of going against the way of life.

In the Stranger, Meursualt has to get used to many changes in his life. “I remembered it had been one of Mother’s pet ideas- she was always voicing it- that in the long run one gets used to anything.” This signifies that while Meursualt is in his cell chamber he realizes that he has gotten used to his life there. “Still, that phase lasted a few months only. Afterward, I had prisoner’s thoughts. I waited for the daily walk in the courtyard or a visit from my lawyer.” This shows that any person that is taken away from their daily routines, can always get used to it and will adjust to the change. Meursault does not have a problem doing this becuase he is easy going about life and can change at any moment.    

This picture symbolizes the way Meursault thinks about different situations. He is only thinking about the moment he is in at a particular time. When he killed the Arab, he was not thinking about his consequences or what other people might think. He does not think ahead and he does not realize that with actions there comes consequences. A possible reason why Meursault killed the Arab, was because he was unable to tolerate the humid, sunny weather. All he could think of was the Arab and his own life. He was too caught up in the moment.

Raymond has a very aggressive and violent personality. He contrasts with Meursault because Meursault is just an observer and does not have major problems. Raymond has a desire to get revenge on his girlfriend and while he is expressing himself to Meursault, Meursault does not think much of the idea and just throws the thought over his shoulder. When Raymond asks for his advice, Meursault replies: “I said I hadn’t any.” If I was Raymond, I would be very frustrated because I would feel like I was boring Meursault and that he was just listening to me to pass time by.

“I fixed myself some eggs and ate them out of the pan, without bread because  I didn’t have any left and I didn’t feel like going downstairs to buy some.” I saw this quote and realized how incredibly lazy Meursault is. I get the feeling that he thinks that he will die sooner or later so, he does not have to make the best of his life. He spends his Sunday afternoons just sitting and watching the street. This irritates me because I feel like he is wasting his life and  just watching it fly by. The quote above signifies that he has no energy or drive to do anything.

In the “Stranger”, Meursault does not want to make friends with people. When his neighbor, Raymond , comes to talk to him he does not  care about what he is saying. Raymond asked for Meursaults opinion about his story and  the only response he gave was “…I’d found it interesting.” This shows that he does not care about what Raymond was talking about. Also, Raymond asks Meursault if he wanted to be his buddy. Meursualt just shook his head and said he will be his buddy if Raymond wants. To Meursault, this buddy ordeal means nothing. He does not need anyone in his life besides himself.

This picture reminds me of Meursault’s walk to the funeral. He kept describing how the sun was piercing and how it was very hot. He cares more about the scenery around him than anything else and he expresses himself through actions. This picture is how I imagined the walk and how he described the long uncomfortable way to the funeral. He experiences a “blazing hot afternoon” and that he is “almost blinded by the glaze of light.” These descriptions help me visualize exactly what Meursault is going through.