Reflection

When reading this next section in the book about his grandmother, Lalla, it became apparent that she was a unique character.  I took a few different lines from the book that describe the relationship Lalla had with her children and other friends in her life.  The first line is taken from the part where it talks about her day after she is down milking the cows in the morning, “The rest of the day would be given over to gallivanting-social calls, lunch parties, visits from admirers, and bridge.  She also brought up her two children”(116).  I found this line interesting because out of all the things Lalla could do with the rest of her day, raising her children was an addition to the list, almost as if it was supposed to mean, oh yeah…her two children.  Then next line I took talked about how other people viewed her parenting skills.  “For most of her life children flocked to Lalla, for she was the most casual and irresponsible of chaperones, being far too buys with her own life to oversee them all” (117).  This line was interesting to me because it seems to me that Lalla always has to be busy doing something that is self-stimulating.  That she is always on the look out for herself first, and then everything and everyone else follows after.  This just seems like another one of those things that is opposite from what is normally expected, like we talked about in class the other day.  You would think that a mother would put her children before herself, and not the other way around.      

I am not sure how I feel about Michael Ondaatje’s story.  It is very different from what I normally read.  The chapters are really short, which is something I am not used to, and the story just doesn’t seem to grab my attention.  There are a few lines that I picked out that really stood out to me.  These were lines that I could relate to or lines that just struck me as interesting.  The first line comes from page 22.  It states, “In my mid-thirties I realized I had slipped past a childhood I had ignored and not understood.”  This line sticks out to me because I find it hard for someone to not realize something as monumental as this, until they are thirty years old.  I mean I guess it is possible.  It just depends on who you are as a person and the type of family you were brought up in.  I think this line sticks out to me because it is a statement that is so different from how I feel about my childhood.  I have fond memories of my childhood.  I was never confused by something so bad that it took me until my thirties, well in my case my twenties, to realize.  I think it is just interesting to stop and think about childhood memories from an idea that is so different from my own.    Another line that sticks out to me comes from page 26, which states, “No story is ever told just once.  Whether a memory or funny hideous scandal, we will return to it an hour later and retell the story with additions and this time a few judgements thrown in.”  That passage struck me as interesting.  Once I stopped to actually think about what he is saying, I realized he is so right.  I can never tell the same story in the exact same way each time I tell it.  The first time I tell a story is like a practice run.  The next time I tell the story I add or take out things that will make my story sound better or more interesting.  It was just something that I had never thought about or realized until I read that passage.    

“The men all worked shift work because that paid a little better, so all of u knew how to tiptoe on days when the old man was on graveyards” (Karr, 64).  I chuckled a little when I first read this line.  The graveyard shift is a well known shift in my family.  The graveyard shift is when my dad works from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and sleeps during the day.  We are supposed to tiptoe around the house and not make a noise when my dad is sleeping.  However, with him it does not matter.  My father just cannot sleep during the day.  He could have been up for twenty-four hours the day before and maybe get an hour or two worth of sleep the next day.  My dad always makes fun of my mom or my brother or I when we nap during the day.  I think my dad is just jealous though because we can sleep when we are tired.  If I was up all night long I would have no problem sleeping during the day.  My dad is too concerned with who was on the phone when it rang or what we are all laughing about out in the living room.  It is nice to know that he is concerned and that he wants to be spending time with us, but for crying out loud if you are tired Pops go to bed.  So even though we try to tiptoe when dad is on the night shift it doesn’t matter.  He can’t sleep when the house is dead silent with no one around and he can’t sleep when we are in the house tiptoeing around.  We just finally gave up and stopped tiptoeing around the house when he is on nights.     

 “My sister grew up with an almost insane physical bravery:  once in the parking lot outside her insurance office, she brushed aside the .22 pistol of a gunman demanding her jewelry. “Fuck you,” she said and opened her Mercedes while the guy ran off” (Karr, 63).  This line really stuck out in my mind because I hear crimes like this being committed on the St. Rose campus and the surrounding areas.  Her sister defies all the procedurals we are told to take whenever security sends around an e-mail.  They always say to give the person what they want, not to fight back, and to immediately call the police or security.  Her sister simply tells a man with a .22 pistol to f-off.  It would be nice to imagine that a woman living or going to school in
Albany could perform this type of bravery and get away with it.  I would be scared out of my mind and I would just give the man my jewelry.  I would not want a man to shoot me over what, a pair of earrings, some rings and maybe a watch?  I value my life much more than the jewelry on my body.  Even though this is a short scene it really made me stop and think, “Wow this woman is nuts.”  It also made me as a reader want to know more about this scene.  I wanted to know what her sister was thinking at the time or why she was so brave and stood up to this gunman.  I wanted to scene to go into further details.