2. Post a blog comment that addresses the following questions regarding "The Real Durwan" from Interpreter of Maladies:
- What did you learn about the story through discussion?
- What led you this (or these) new understanding(s)? Be specific; use examples from the text.
Posts
26 comments:
Alison McManus
World Literature
I think the most important piece of information I gained involved the whole book, and not just that specific story. My group was talking about what overarching themes exist, like sadness, relationships, being American-Indian, and we noted that belonging is definitely a theme for this story, as Boori Ma doesn't seem to have a place she belongs. She did at one point, but then the world changed around her and she could no longer fit into it. The kind of conflict involving where someone belongs is common to all of the stories we have read so far.
Someone in our group also pointed out a passage on page 79 when Mr. Chatterjee describes the basin as "a sure sign of changing times". It certainly was, as it led to conflicts between the residents, jealousy of the Dalals, and, of course, to Boori Ma being expelled. We found it ironic that, in this case, having more actually tore people apart, as opposed to some of the other stories (especially A Temporary Matter) where loss was the culprit.
We also touched on the fact that no one will ever know whether Boori Ma was lying, exaggerating, or telling the truth. Really, though, it doesn't matter whether her stories are true, because they are true to her. Believing in something makes it true for the individual, and since Boori Ma had little other than herself and her broom, it makes it true for her world.
In my group, we discussed the possibilities of whether or not it could have been Bory Ma's fault that the basin was stolen. We had rulled out the possibility that she had done it on purpose, as the residents had claimed, because of p.81, when Boori Ma had noticed that she had lost her skeleton key. Or, as Shana had pointed out, any number of the workers that had been coming in or out of the residential area could have gotten it in their mind to take the thing. This was because there were too many to count, p.80 ("So many people...track of them). However, it was Boori Ma's job to gaurd the residents possetions and she had never left before. So, I personally do not think that wanting to get out of the way is not a good enough reason to abandon your job (sorry Shana). Therefore I still believe that it was Boori Ma's fault that the basin was stolen.
Erin Morris
I learned a lot about the individual story and the whole book from my group discussion. We discussed how many of the stories carry a theme of losing something important, that causes sadness or change. This is true in "Interpreter of Maladies" when Mr. Kapasi loses his family, causing sadness for everyone. In "The Real Durwan," Boori Ma loses the importance of her job because there were so many people in the building (p.80), this causes her to explore the world. In the end, the effect of this is her being blamed for the robbery of the basin.
In the book, we discussed a few important things. This includes Boori Ma repeating the phrase, "Believe me, don't believe me." This phrase was important because so many people did not believe her, but she believed herself. In the end, Boori Ma said "Believe me, believe me." She was so desperate for the people of the building to believe her. Unfortunately, this story was very closely related to The Boy Who Cried Wolf story. Although she was telling the truth, for the first time in the eyes of the residents of the building, they could not trust her because they thought they had been lied to many times before by her.
Also, my group discussed the jealousy felt for the Dalals after they installed a basin for the other residents to use. It did not make sense to us that the people would be mad for a family installing a basin in the building that they could use for free. The fact that once the Dalals went on vacation, the residents made changes to the building was very strange. This is because it seemed like they were trying to get back at the Dalals, but they were just making the building nicer. This doesn't seem like the best way to get revenge on someone because you are just helping them in the end. I learned a lot and made many connections from the group discussions.
EMMA DEMANE
In our group, we discussed the importance of
symbols such as the skeleton keys and the mop. The mop, i learned, was part of Boori Ma. An example of this in the text is when it says, "She never felt quite herself without the mop." We also discussed wether or not Boori Ma was telling the truth about her past. we decided that she may have worked for a rich family, sweeping there stairs, but most likely did not actually have that much money. If she swept a rich family's stairs then it would be true when she said that her feet only touched marble floors. So she would be mixing lies with truths, she WORKED for a rich family but was not actually part of one. That would explain why she said, "Believe me, believe me not." Also, our group discussed wether or not Boori Ma was responsible for stealing the basin. We concluded that, while it was obvious that she herself did not steal it, she was supposed to be on guard and she wasn't. While she was gone, the basin was stolen. This also proves the importance or Boori Ma's job. The only time she was not on duty, the pride and joy of the hotel flat was stolen (the basin.) Finally, our group discussed that it seemed as if the money and riches made the entire appartment flat much sadder as opposed to the happiness it was supposed to bring.
EMMA DEMANE
Will Erickson
In our group discussion we learned many things from the book. One of the connections we made between all the stories is that when we(the readers) find out that a family is in trouble such as in the interpreter of maladies short story. We got to this connectionn because in A Real Durwan the house keepers family becomes in danger i.e. The husband Mr.Dalal has to go and buy a bunch of things for his wife to make her happy and shortly after that is when Boori Ma gets kicked out of the house.
Another thing we learned is that people sometimes blame other people, with lower class, so they can release their frustration. When the Basin gets stolen everyone blames Boori Ma because she had not watched the door like she was supposed to. Everyone than punished Boori Ma because everyone was frustrated and needed a scapegoat.
I found my group discussion to be a fun and interesting way to analyze "The Real Durwan". At first my group was confused as to the greater meaning of the story and whether or not there were symbols we could identify. As we got the conversation rolling though, we started to dig deeper and discovered that Boori Ma was a more complicated character than we had originally presumed.
Alll though you may consider this topic to be of minimal importance, my group spent a fair amount of time discussing Boori Ma’s skeleton keys. We wondered what they meant to her and why someone would want to steal them. We figured out that the keys were Boori Ma’s connection to her past/made-up life that she always talked about. When they got stolen, a part of her and her stories was taken away. When we talked as a larger group, Helen brought up a connection between the stories in “The Real Durwan” and the stories in “Haroun and the Sea of Stories”. I came away from our group discussion with a thought: Stories are created for a listener but sometimes it’s the story-teller who gets the most out of the story. As long as someone is entertained it doesn’t matter if the story is true. All of the residents of the flat agreed that Boori Ma was indeed an entertainer. Stories are meant to take us away from our real lives and bring us to another word. In Boori Ma’s case, her stories took her to a time and place where hardship didn’t exist. Whether or not this parallel world was fictional or real is up for interpretation.
~ Katie Lindahl
While discussing A Real Durwan, I discovered many things. We came to the conclusion that Boori Ma was depressed, and when telling her stories, she slowly started to believe them. Also, everything was not as it seemed in this story. You start to think things are getting better, but in reality, they turn out even worse then before. For example, the basin seemed to make things better for the community. It turns out that the people of the apartment complex were getting angry for the wait they had to endure to use the basin. Later, the basin was stolen and they were quick to blame Boori Ma for the incident. She got her entire life’s savings stolen from her and ended up with nothing. Our group thought is was interesting that the story was written from Boori Ma’s perspective, since she was not directly involved in the action. We concluded that her perspective was the most neutral, since there are seriously opposite sides in the story. Overall, the discussion was a success and I learned about things I didn’t previously notice when I was first reading the story.
-Anna Cieslukowski
Joan Hancock
In our discussion we discussed many things about the short story. We all had something to say about each topic discussed about the story. One thing we talked about was Boori Ma's Blanket, and how she gave it up to help the building residents keep the building clean. We also thought that the Mr. Dalal was trying to help the building and the people in the building by adding the basin for everybody to use in the hallway. We thought that just because Boori Ma was sleeping on the newspapers, and did not have nearly as much money as the other people in the building, she should not have been blamed telling someone about the basin who would steel it. We also all agreed that it was very sad that she got kicked out of the building, especially when the Dalal's the couple she could rely on the most was not there to defend her.
Connor Remes
Through discussion, many different themes and symbols were uncovered (in my group at least), which was very interesting, since one usually cannot pick up on everything when reading a story once. One specificity would be that in our group, we related Boori Ma to Mr. Pirzada of the previous story. She is quite like Mr. Pirzada in many ways- she is a foreigner who has moved to a new, completely different country due to an event in their home country. What's more, they both left basically their lives behind, such as their families and houses, and all of her wealth in Boori Ma's case.
We also came to a conclusion that the apartment in which Boori Ma worked could have easily been classist when literally kicking Boori Ma out. They certainly did not believe Boori Ma's story, and they simply blamed the terrible stealing of their possessions on the poorest, most unfortunate, least important person around, which happens to be Boori Ma. Although this may not be the case, it certainly did make sense to us, and we used the key word "scapegoat" to describe Boori Ma's horrible position in this situation.
Briaunna Minor
As we read these stories connections are continuously drawn within and with all of the stories. The history of India is embedded in the text of this book. I continue to learn that it is the binging for the book and it makes the book what it is. During the discussion it was we discussed how the story of the Bengali people is written into this book so far in two stories. Another connection was of course the common theme of ill relationships that is in all of the stories. In this story the ill relationship was not really present in the way it was in the stories previously read. I learned through discussion that the relationship gone wrong could possibly be the relationship a person, in this case Boori Ma, and society. On a societal level Boori Ma was a reject. She had already been rejected by her home and her stories were rejected and portrayed to be untruthful. Boori Ma never was fully accepted by those in the apartment complex. So, I can say that the relationship gone wrong was that of society and Boori Ma’s. I also learned that Boori Ma was able to make an impression on those she surrounded. She was an agent of change without even realizing that she was. I draw this conclusion based upon her continuation of telling her elaborate stories about her previously elaborate life. Mr. Dalal heard her stories and felt the need to improve the state of the poor looking apartment complex. I would also say that I learned how Boori Ma’s psychological state progressively deteriorated throughout this particular story. As she sacrificed more and more and her truth continued to be rejected, she was slipping into a depression. By the end of the story she had been robbed of everything including her truth.
Our group mainly discussed how the story actually fit into Interpreter of Maladies as a whole. We realized that the main themes of the book were how one "belongs" somewhere and how different relationships affect their belonging. For example, we discussed how for the first story, the baby is what made the relationship between the two parents exist and "belong" even if it was only for a short while. For the second story, we discussed how the relationship between cab driver and Mrs Dal allowed Mrs Dal to "belong" in her family. In the third story, we came to the conclusion that the TV is what made Mr P (?) "belong" in a new country. Now, in the story we just read it was the belief that Boori Ma had that kept her "belonging" in the building, and then helped her leave in the end.
During the discussion in class on Friday my group discussed how class played a role in the short story, A Real Durwan. The apartment seemed to place all of their problems on to the one lower class person living amongst them, Boori Ma. They felt that it was her fault that the basin was stolen. This is a regular occurrence even in our society to blame those in lower classes than ours for our problems. We also discusses how possibly the tenants would have believed that Boori Ma was not connected to the stealing if she would have been more truthful throughout the book. For example when others would question Boori Ma’s stories she would just give the answer “Believe me, don’t believe me” (72, 79). So if Boori Ma was more truthful when in her stories in the end when she is suspected for being connected to the theft she would have been believed. Then her final story of where she was (proving that it was not her fault) Boori Ma would have been believed. Krista Lindgren
Patrick Dunphy
Our group discussed how Boori Ma didn't just guard the building, but she also "guarded" her own memories by embellishing them and telling them to everybody. We discussed how hope played a big role in the story. Boori Ma's stories subtly filled the whole building with hope with her stories, and that was one of the reasons that Mr. Dalal bought the new basins (p.77). Mr. Dalal was hopeful for a better life. Hope then takes a downturn when Boori Ma's life savings get stolen and the basins get stolen (p. 81) . We also discussed how Boori Ma usualy said "Believe me, don't believe me." (p. 72, 75, 79) because she didn't care if people believed her or not. However, at the end, Boori Ma says "Believe me, believe me" (p. 82) because she wants people to believe her and not kick her out of the apartment. Sort of like "The Boy who Cried Wolf."
We also (humorously) talked about how all of Jhumpa Lahiri's stories start out with relationships that are ordinary at first, then they get better, then they come crashing back down at the end.
In my group we discussed all the topics on the board. We talked about how Boori Ma's broom had significance. The basin and how the people started to make there apartments look better and not so poor looking. We commented on how certain phrases kept showing up like Boori Ma's believe me, don't believe me line. We discussed what a "real durwan" was and its significance.
Brandon McKinney
RACHEL DORN
Through dicussion with my group i learned a lot and went more in depth about the real durwin. We talked about the importance of the mop and skeletin key, and how the stories she told about her past were true. and that she may have worked for someone rich, sweeping the stairs. We discussed that the hotel riches and money made the hotel much more sad, and gloomy, becuas ethey all focused on what they were going to buy, not really what they needed. Also, at times, she was telling lies with the truth when she said she was part of a rich family, but really just worked for a rich family. "Believe me, believe me not." was one of our main ideas, that she was possibly telling lies at some times, and telling the truth at others. Then at the end when she said "Believe me, Believe me." We knew she was for sure telling the truth. We also talked about wether or not she stole the basin, the basin to our group was a symbol for the pride of the hotel. Once the basin was stolen, the pride went away, and also Boori Ma left with the pride, though she did not her self steal the basin, she was responsible for the stealing of the basin. We also went over what a real durwin was and why Boori Ma was a real durwin.
RACHEL DORN
My group discussed the basin stealing and truth. The other people in the building think that she is lieing about her old life.
We also discussed that maybe Boori Ma wanted to get kicked out of the flat house. She worked hard but maybe that was only because she wanted to be well liked and she enjoyed it. When she was told to leave she didn't put up a fight or demand to stay. Also, she only took her broom with her, and said earlier in the story that it was a part of her. My group also talked about how hard it must have been on her when all of her life savings and "skeleton" keys. We noticed the connection between the keys and the keys that the Palestinians have/had when they were kicked out of their homes.
Lastly we talked about the connection to this chapter and the earlier chapters before it. We felt that all of the stories have a reoccuring theme of belonging/wanting to belong. In the first one the couple wanted to belong in their own families,where they loved each other. In the second story the woman wanted to belong with her family and be happy. In the third story Mr. P wanted to go back to his country, where his family was and felt he belonged. And finally Boori Ma tried so hard to belong but in the end discovered she did not.
Katie Wheeler
Through discussion i learned a lot more about the symbols such as the water basin, the broom and what theses reprsented in the context of the story. I also learned a lot more about what a true durwan is and how they can affect a building.
What led me to these understandins was the discucsion. I learned how the basin represented a way of beign clean and money that was flowing in from the Dalaals. After this basin came in the whole story was in a mess, this was the item that messed up the entire story. Valuable things and greed caused her keys to be stolen. She was up on the roof and went exploring because of the wrokers. So in a way the people were the resaon she was not regonized as a true durwan.
Owen Duncan
During the discussion my group talked about what we thought of the characters and discussed why we thought they did what they did. We all kinda agreed that Boori Ma was slightly insane. We discussed whether we thought her stories were true or not and that brought us to the themes of the book as a whole... How it's about indians who either move to or from india, or to a different part of it and how they have lost something.
We also thought that the story was like an odd version of the boy who cries wolf in the way that she seemingly makes up all these stories and then at the end she swears that she's telling the truth. "Believe me, believe me!"
We also talked about the symbolism of the broom and the skeleton keys. (During this time we actually found out what skeleton keys are. Woot!) One thing that kinda clicked in my head was that the broom represented Boori Ma and her life and the basin, represented the people in the apartment's life. This confused me slightly though because both things, though very different, both have a similar job: Cleaning things. The broom is obviously used to sweep and the sink is used to wash oneself.
However, they both have another meaning as well. The broom can also be used, as it says in the story, to get rid of things: As when she gets rid of the unwanted people at the gate.
On the other hand, the basin can be used for water, which is used for many other things then just cleaning, such as cooking or drinking.
How these things connect with things in the story though, I don't have a clue.
~Abby M
Our group mainly focused on how this story as in an individual fit into the book, Interpreter of Maladies, as a whole. We came to the conclusion that the theme of the book is about "belonging" and how some one or something belongs in a whole. And also how different relationships and experiences can affect the whole group and the one member's 'belonging'.
An example of this is, we discussed how in the first story, the baby is what makes the relationship between the parents exist and 'belong' even if it was only for a short amount of time. For the second story, we talked about how the relationship between the cab driver and Mrs. Dal helped allow Mrs. Dal to 'belong' in her family. In the third story, we decided that the TV is what made Mr. Prizada 'belong' in the new country in which he was a part of. In the last story that we just read, it was the belief that Boori Ma had kept her 'belonging' in the building, this is what then helped her leave in the end of the story.
____ -- Tyler Larson-- ____
I learned many things when we discussed the story "The Real Durwan" our group came came to the conclusion that Boori Ma was troubled and depressed. We also thought that she thought that the stories she told were real and that she started to believe them. We also agreed that in the book you think things are getting better but they actually get much worse. We also thought that it was interesting how the story was written in Boori Ma’s perspective even though she was more or less a innocent bystander.In my opinion the discussion was to long and we often found ourselves dealing with awkward silence. I hope we can find a new way to do the group thing.
ADAM P.
In my group, we discussed whether Boori Ma was believable or unbelievable and whether it was her fault the basin was stolen. My conclusion was it was not Boori Ma's fault the basin got stolen because she was being pushed out by the residents through all the traffic coming through the building. On p. 81 when Boori Ma had noticed that she had lost her skeleton key shows she did not do it intentionally. In the begining Boori Ma tells tall tales of her life previous to her job as a Durwan. The residents believe her and at the same time do not believe her. This causes conflict when the basin is stolen. All the residents point fingers at Boori Ma but it was most likely one of their workers that was passing in and out of the building that left it open or even stole it. I think they should have taken responsibility for this instead of blaming the easiest target.
-MORGAN OIE
our group discussed symbols in the story such as the broom and the keys. we concluded that they Broom was something that traveled with her through her many jobs " she never felt quite herslef without her mop" we also discused weather Bori Ma was guilty of steeling the basen or not. we came to the conclusion she did not steel it but it was her fault that it was stolen because she was supposed to gaured it and she didnt. Also this proves how important her job is.
-Anna Dworsky
In our group we many discussed how the theme of this story fell into the bigger picture, the book. We found out that the first story, the baby is what made the relationship between the two parents to stay alive. For the second story, my group discussed how the relationship between the Driver and the family( Mrs. and Mr. Dal) and how the trip held them together. In the third story, we came to the conclusion that the TV is what made Mr P welcome in a new state. Now, in the story we just read it was how Boori Ma Belonged to the building and how meaningless and out of date she was for the people who lived in the building showing the relationship changes.Keeping the theme of the book intact
~Zach Doerring
Our group talked a lot about the significance of Boori Ma's keys and the basin. I like talking in groups, it helps gains other people's perspective. We decided Boori Ma was severely depressed and/or had some kind of mental disorder. The theft of her bone keys symbolised the end of her time as a durwan at the building, and 'bone' was an interesting adjective for the keys, showing their age and perhaps obsolescence - maybe Boori Ma as a worker is obsolete, or obsolescent. I admit the story did confuse me, but I learned a lot about writing itself by analysing the wording, phrase structure, repetetive phrases (ie. believe me, don't believe me) and other useful writing tools. Although this may not have been the objective of reading the story, as a (perhaps) aspiring writer, writing tools are also very important to me and the author's style is very interesting and beneficial to anyone who is able to absorb different styles and put them into their own writing.
Jhumpa Lahiri is a great author, and this story really brings out the beauty of her prose.
-katie.
SPENCER LUND: I learned a lot when we discussed the story The Real Durwan our group came came to the conclusion that Boori Ma was a bit strange and maybe a little crazy. We also disscused if Boori Ma was telling the truth about her previous life and how good it was. We discussed why she swept the stairs and why she had such bad luck and why people turned on her so fast when the basin was stolen. Our group also discussed symbols and themes in the story. we came to the conclusion that the Keys symbolized what she had and her only home and access to people she cared for it was almost like her hope and when her key got stolen things took a turn for the worse and she was kicked out by the people living in the building. another symbol we found was the basin, it gave a sense of new and more advancement to the building but people were soon not happy with having to share it and soon it was stolen. overall i learned a lot through talking about the book and hearing what my peers had to say
Shana Kagan
This discussion really helped me get a new perspective on the story. When I was going into the discussion I believed that Boori Ma was innocent, but some of the members in my group during the descussion made me dbout my oppinion. They made their point very convinsing, and it was a great discussion.
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