Thursday, May 6, 2010
the book of Negroes/ thousand splendid suns question.
The book of Negroes and a thousand splendid suns, both share a similiarity. And that is the bad treatment of women by men with higher status in the society. Rasheed and Appleby are men who use their higher status in society to abuse females. My question is, between Rasheed and Appleby, who do you think is more cruel to females, and explain why.
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I was thinking about this too, and I think that Appleby was more cruel just because I think slave trade is more inhumane than polygamy. At least in one point of the A Thousand Splendid Suns Rasheed was nice to Mariam and Laila. But in The Book of Negroes, Appleby is mean to everyone. But I also think that cruelty between those two men can not be accurately compared because of the fact that they are from two different time periods. We have to wonder what Appleby would do in Rasheed's position and likewise.
ReplyDeleteA good example is the idea of a child not belonging to them. Aziza did not belong to Rasheed, and although he arranged her to be in an orphanage, he did not sell her as a baby even though Appleby did.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I would say Rasheed was more cruel towards Mariam. For example; making her chew on the stones because she made the rice to hard. This goes back to men thinking they are they superior gender in which they have control over their women. I think their marriage made him think that he now owned her and she belonged to him. This shows that women are used as objects towards men rather than something precious that they should respect and adore.
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ReplyDeleteI think that Appleby and Rasheed are both equally as cruel. Although both of the stories were different situations both of them treated women like they were nothing and disrespected them in a number of different ways.
ReplyDeleteI think that Rasheed was at least nice to Mariam inthe beginning of their marriage. where Appleby of course never showed any fairness in his treatment. As for when Rasheed forced Mariam to chew the rocks, i believe that really he was frustrated with mariam becuase he could not have a boy like he wanted.Since he did lose his son. And really it took a simple thing like the rice to set him off
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bianca and believe that both Appleby and Rasheed were equally cruel to women. It is not about a comparison between who did what throughout each novel, but more so the intentions and truth behind their actions. They both abused their power and priveleges to gain satisfaction amongst themselves. They had no care towards what was morally right or wrong. Due to the fact that no consequences existed in their wrong doing there was nothing else that stopped them from doing the things that they truly believed was okay to do. Their selfish and careless ways is what led to the disgusting and unacceptable actions. Therefore, they are both equally titled cruel men in my book.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say with no doubt that Appleby was crueler. Rasheed even though he did not treat women correctly, he still fed them and took care of them. He even took care of Aziza until he could not support her, knowing that she was not his daughter. But Appleby was not like this he was involved in the slave trade and he had no respect for non whites. He raped Aminata and sold her son, but Rasheed did rape Mariam. He was not as vicious as Appleby though. What makes me pick Appleby is his involvement with slaves.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Rasheed physically more cruel towards his wives but you have to take into consideration the amount of women Appleby used and abused. It almost out ways Rasheed in a way but Rasheed also did almost beat Laila to death.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that Rasheed was by far more abusive to women. Even though Appleby may have used more women wand was cruel to more women he was only using them for sex and abusing the women that worked on the plantation, to keep his business running, I'm
ReplyDeletenot saying this is any excuse and that deep down he's a good guy or anything, but he was doing it for a reason whereas Rasheed abuses and mistreats his wives. He does it on a daily basis, he makes it his business to make Mariam and Laila feel unwanted. Rasheed even goes as far as to teach Zalmai that it was important to treat Mariam and Laila and this was when he was around.
I agree with Makilpriya in saying Appleby is far more crueler. Rasheed in the beginning of his relationship with Mariam would take her out, eat with her, and treat her normal. It was when she could not conceive a baby boy that he turned on her. Appleby on the other-hand was cruel from day one. First he rapped Aminata, then he shaved her hair in front of everybody and lastly he sold her baby.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I believe that Appleby is unbelievably cruel he not only treated Aminata inhumanly but other Negroes as well. He didn’t just punish them but ridicule them in his own ways. Like the means of rape by overpowering the females and going against their will. Also, one key example that proves Appleby is a coldhearted man is when he did everything in his power to get back Aminata and prevent her gaining freedom in Nova Scotia and reunite with Chekura. Only someone like Appleby is capable of ruining other people's dreams.
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ReplyDeleteRasheed definitely hates women more. Unlike Appleby who is prejudice and hateful towards all slaves regardless of their gender, Rasheed’s cruety is only focused through the female characters of, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Although I guess you can also argue that Appleby is more cruelty due to the fact he raped Aminata but again, his cruelty is because of her skin color and race.
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