In one car ride
Summer Reading Essay:
(The Bean Trees and The Kite Runner)
What if one day you went into a bar and by the time you got back in your car, your life had changed dramatically? Well that did happen to me. You see, I decided that I wanted to drive away from my mother, who was back in Kentucky. I never thought I could build up enough courage to actually leave and drive across the country all by myself, but I knew if I wanted a change of scenery I needed to go. I had so many things on my mind when I was driving, like what happens if all of a sudden the car completely loses a tire? What happens if the transmission goes on me while I'm driving and I get stuck on the side of a road? Well I did not get to experience all of that while driving but I did experience the time when my gas gage was on empty and I decided to not stop until my 1955 Volkswagen Bug decided to stop. Finally, the car stopped in Taylorville and that is where I decided to change my name to Taylor Greer, instead of Marietta, sometimes called Missy. After that, I continued west to see what else the world had in store for me.
I decided that I wanted to keep on driving and when I did do that, I came upon many new findings. The first finding was that I got a daughter when I was in Oklahoma. An anonymous lady came to my car door and put a baby in the front seat. I did not know what to do with it because at this point I really did not even know what to do with myself. I drove a long way with this little girl in the car who I finally decided to name Turtle because she had such a tight grip to me every time I held her. Turtle was not my child of course, but she did mean the world to me so I took her along for the ride. I continued on and came across some people I soon became friends with in Tucson, Arizona. When I was in Arizona for a few months, I became very close with Mattie, Lou-Ann, Esperanza, and Estevan. These people were sort of like “family” to me because they treated me as if I had always been a part of their lives. Esperanza and Estevan was a couple who had been living with Mattie because she was someone who would take care of illegal immigrants. When they were looking for a change of scenery, just as I was, I decided to be that someone who would risk it all and drive them to a new sanctuary.
Once I got in the car and drove to Oklahoma, it was not long until I finally came to the house where Esperanza and Estevan needed to go. I was heartbroken because I did not want to say goodbye to such a wonderful man who I had connected with so much. All I wanted to do now was to get something to eat. I went in to the same place that I had gotten the new responsibility in my life; she was in my arms so nice and close to me. There were not that many people inside this place for lunch. When I was looking around, a young boy caught my eye. This boy was in his early teens, and he was not smiling back at me. I shortly understood that he was trying to play a game of hide and seek with Turtle.
On their way out, the son’s father came over and said, “Hello mam, my name is Amir, and this is my son Sohrab, and who are you (speaking to Turtle).”
I replied, “Hi, I am Taylor and this is my daughter Turtle, Come sit down and join us for some dessert.”
Amir said, “Why thank you mam, we will.”
At this time, Sohrab was now seated next to Turtle and started to make her laugh by making funny faces and talking to her. Amir and I were talking and we soon started to ask questions about each other.
Amir asked, “How old is Turtle, and where was she born?”
I replied, “Honestly, I do not know how old she is or where she was born, she was a gift from the lord.”
Amir said, “Well that’s a coincidence, because so is Sohrab, he is such a wonderful boy, and if it wasn’t for me, he would not be in America.”
This caught my eye, and I wanted to attack the response and ask so many questions but I did not want to make Amir feel awkward. Instead of waiting for him to ask me, I decided to tell Amir the whole true story of how I got Turtle. I found out the real reason Sohrab was in the United States and how he is truly his nephew and not his son. In the end of our conversation, we both realized that we have truly saved these children from their abusive lives and that if it was not for us, they probably would not be as healthy or lively looking as they are right now. Amir and I had such a great connection, it was as if I had never lost Estevan in the first place, that was until Amir told us he had to go because he was going to miss his flight to California if he did not leave that second. In that last minute, it was the most I have ever felt connected to someone, therefore I had told Amir that it was wonderful meeting him and Sohrab. The last thing I heard Amir say was to always remember that what we are doing is right. In my head I knew all along I was doing the right thing by saving this poor innocent little girl but by those last words, it truly hit me that I really was creating a better life for Turtle and myself.
I understood the general idea of where you were going with your blog, but I felt that you were trying to get more information in than you were prepared to explain. I felt that I was missing some key points in understanding what really happened in both books. I could envision her driving in a car that she was afraid would break down.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the best aspect of the setting was the sense of going west. I didn’t find any particular sentence that described the setting well, but the sentence that stood out was, ‘I did not know what to do with it because at this point I really did not even know what to do with myself.” I believe this sentence best captures the feeling of going west to find answers. I think the feeling of searching for something can be explained by going west.
I believe the dialogue was unlikely to happen. You wouldn’t invite complete strangers to join you for dessert. I thought the writer through dialogue showed that Amir and Sohrab were foreigners by their politeness, curiosity, and cultural display of love for little children. Also Taylor came across as being very friendly and confident of her role as Turtle’s mother. The dialogue could be made better if took place in a more likely situation and the timing was not so close to Amir missing his plane.
If I were to give you advice it would be to have you try to focus on explaining one aspect of the story in detail than trying to include many other important details without explaining them. I was left wondering what happened with the mother, why the girl wanted to change her name, and why did she feel so attached to Esperanza and Esteven.
After reading the story I felt as if she did a great job of connecting the two characters. She did a great job with the way she characterized them in the story and the way she had them meet was very thoughtful. The thing that I remember most from the story was in the beginning about how she talked about how she didn’t know if she would be able to, but she ended up being able to run away and leave her mom and go off on her own. The image that I mostly see from the story was when she talked about the scene in the shop and the little boy Sohrab tried playing hide and seek with the girl Turtle. Some concepts and ideas in my head are that these two people are very loving, caring and kind people, because they didn’t have to take in the children, but they did anyway. The story made me think that if everyone or more people were like Amir and Taylor every child would grow up with parents.
ReplyDeleteAlmost every aspect of the setting was very well described, but the best would have been when Amir and Sohrab, and Taylor and Turtle met in the shop. The writer used strong elements of description when she explained the meeting of the two families and the hide and seek game Sohrab was trying to play with Turtle. “i replied, “Honestly, I do not know how old she is or where she was born, she was a gift from the lord.”” I really liked this line because I thought that it fit in perfectly.
For the most part yes the conversation did seem authentic. I thought it was correct because the way that they talked and the way that they interacted and what they said seemed believable. The parts of the parents not really knowing where their child came from was one of the more believable parts of this because it was a legitament part of the book.
There was no real distraction or problematic issue with this paper what so ever. I thought that it was very well crafter and well thought out. If I had to pick one thing that was a little bit different it would have been how the author made it in Taylor’s point of view. Other than that it was overall a great story.
I - I felt that you did a great job connecting the two characters together from each story through one in yours story. I also feel that you gave a background on each of the characters you used, which gave me a better understanding of how they would react to one another. I feel that you used good detail and I could read the first paragraph and completely envision where the setting was and what was going on. Through the detail you used I can get the general vibe of what each character is like and how they will react to each other and different situations.
ReplyDeleteII - I think the setting was described well and not over described but enough to allow you to understand what you need to. "Finally, the car stopped in Taylorville and that is where I decided to change my name to Taylor Greer, instead of Marietta, sometimes called Missy. After that, I continued west to see what else the world had in store for me." I believe that this line discretely conveyed the setting by basically stating she was on a journey to find herself a new life, and a new reason to live.
III - Some parts of the conversation seemed authentic but other did not. I think that the things they talked about were really authentic and adequate to the situation that they characters were in. But the whole way that they met I believe could have happened differently. Although the way they met was a little awkward, they topics they covered in their conversations were very related to what was going on and how each of their lives seemed to be so similar.
IV - I think that this was a well crafted essay and does not really have anything that makes it distracted. I think that this was well thought out and made a really great connection between two books that showed how a character from each book interacted with the other. All in all, I do not think that I would change a thing besides maybe how the characters form the books met. Although, that would be the only piece I would clarify and the rest I would leave alone. All in all, it was a very interesting and enticing story that was well crafted.