Log 4 (Borders)

“But Uncle, Abba says that this is just a bad time, but we can always go across the border and start again.”
“Borders!” He yells. “What do you know of borders! Do you know what happened to my grandmother when she fled West Bengal? They murdered her! Neighbors turned assassins. Those Hindu mobs, they came upon her in the road, and they killed her. And not just her, but two of her children! Little boys, younger than you! What about that? You think you can just start again? I see you there! Sitting around , fat and lazy! What are you going to do?” –page 44

I found these paragraphs very powerful. It may seem like her Uncle was being very harsh, but I think it was the best way to get his important point across. These paragraphs leaped out of the page because they were so powerful—the stage was set just right for the meaning to be at its best. This gave me a huge perspective on borders. Borders are such an important topic/subject/situation in many places in the world . I feel like borders aren’t talked about enough because there is an insanely huge amount of them and so many problems, wars, etc. to know about regarding borders. 192 countries are members of United Nations, so that can give you a sense of how many borders there are. There’s probably so much history to behind them. I think the history would trace back from a long time ago. It would be very interesting to learn about.

Again, this paragraph was so vivid. I felt like this sentence was extremely powerful: “You think you can just start again?”. This sentence really gives me a sense of borders in the real world. I agree with him. They can’t just start again. It seems so unrealistic. On another note, I was thinking if he said the same paragraph in a friendly tone and not in a heated argument; I think the meaning of it would be completely striped away. I think her Uncle has every right to state his important thoughts. I think this event will make Nadira stronger and more aware in the long run, but she mentioned it did start a chain reaction of bad things happening in her day. (It must have been a very difficult situation for her. If I were in her situation I would probably have to fight back tears.) Her Uncle seems like the kind of guy who doesn’t talk much, but when he has something to say, it is very important and meaningful. Sometimes I feel like her Uncle in that sort of sense, (not in the harsh way).