(The bean Trees and The Kite Runner)
All I could wonder was what was going to happen next... but knowing me I never knew the answer to that. My name is Taylor Greer. I am alone with a child I named Turtle, who happened to join me in the midst of my travels to the South. I have yet to find out more about her and why this woman just gave her up to me on the side of a gas station. I woke up to another dreary day in Tucson, Arizona as usual, but this time was different. I had a mission to get my life back on track and assure myself I can do whatever it is without worrying about making mistakes and having regrets.
Thankfully, I happened to pass by this “Jesus is Lord Used Tires” place and decided to finally fix the beat-down car I have been driving with no air in the tires. Coming out to help me was this Afghani-looking man who was maybe in his 30’s. I could tell by the look on his face he was eager to help me out. “Come to fix those flat tires of yours?” He says. I told him yes and he quickly went to work. He introduced himself as Amir and said he was only working there for a certain amount of time until he could get enough money to help raise his son. Since it only took about twenty minutes with the help of his fellow worker and owner of the place, Mattie, we had time to talk with one another.
“What’s her name?” Amir asked, pointing in the direction of Turtle. Turtle, I said. She’s actually not mine and it was a “being in the right place at the right time” kind of moment, which is why I ended up with her. I feel like I’ve had her forever. “Reminds me of my son.” He says. So why in the world are you in Tucson Arizona, in the middle of nowhere?” He replied by telling me a long and very informative story about how there was a lot happening in Afghanistan right now which is where he lives. He told me that he needed to find a quiet place where he can help get away from all of the madness happening in Afghanistan and since he’s been here, he actually met his wife, Soraya. He told me that she wasn’t able to have kids, so they ended up adopting one and they both decided to stay here in America to bring up their adopted son with no risks. Amir explained to me everything from how the Russians invaded, to how one of his best friends got shot to death along with his friend’s wife. “It was too much for myself to handle and I knew the best decision was to escape it all and maybe go back one day when my son grows older and everything calms down.” He even said how his dad, Baba, died of cancer.
“I could not even imagine going through what you went through”, I said to him. I told him he was the strongest person I knew, besides myself, that is. He told me that even though he had just met me he wanted to spill all of that information out to someone. I’m glad that that someone decided to be me because not only did I hear a great story that I will remember till the day I leave Earth, but I will always fight for myself and the people I love.
It was then time for me to continue my travels and leave this wonderful Afghani man, Amir who I met along the way. So far I am not regretting this decision to go off and do my own thing because in the end I am gaining more for myself. As we said our goodbyes I promised myself I was able to do anything I put my mind to.
I - My personal reaction to your story was that it fit both of the stories very well and I think you did an awesome job including both major characters into one story and setting. I feel that everyone in the world is able stand up for what is right and to fight for the fairness of something. I felt there was a lot of connection between both Amir and Taylor Greer. The image I saw when reading this was the tire shop and an afghani-man and young women talking about their lives. In my head, I wish that Amir was not married and that he and Taylor Greer could have been a very strong couple because of both of their backgrounds. This story made me think about having hope and knowing that no matter what, you should never give up.
ReplyDeleteII. The aspect of the setting that was best described was “Jesus is Lord Used Tires” because it was a tire shop and I could image what a tire shop would look like because of reading, The Bean Trees as well. The writer used a strong element of description she was describing Amir. She had described him by saying, “Coming out to help me was this Afghani-looking man who was maybe in his 30’s. I could tell by the look on his face he was eager to help me out.” I thought this was very creative and well thought out because she had given a clear picture of what his age and ethnicity was. She also made a good introduction to Taylor here because it was very settle and felt as though it fit.
III - The conversation between the two characters felt as though it was authentic because she used a lot of ideas that seemed to fit well from each book. I thought that all of her details especially with the children felt real and natural because I think that when people just meet and have children they make a good connection. The characters dialogue was very believable and you did a very good job making it all see as though it was two stories combined into one. I think this story really flowed well.
IV - Something that I think you could work on to make your writing become more effective is to give a little more detail about each character. I think that if I did not read either The Bean Trees or The Kite Runner, I would not know who Turtle, Amir, Taylor, Mattie, and Soraya were from your story. I think a little more background information about each would have helped clear up some confusion in who each person was and why they were so crucial to the story. Such as if you mentioned that, “Amir worked at the tire shop because it is a sanctuary for him to stay and be safe with his child.” I feel like you did a good job but could have made it a little more interesting by adding something about Mattie’s sanctuary that she has out of the tire shop.
After reading the story it made me feel very inspired and intrigued with what happened and how it happened. From this story the thing that I remembered most after reading it was the fact of how she finally decided to stop and get air in her tires because they were so flat she couldn’t drive anymore and wouldn’t have made it much further. I can picture Taylor pulling up to the tire place and Amir coming out of it and then talking to her and the conversation they had. Some concepts/ideas that are in my head are how when you meet someone and you know them for such little time, but you connect with that person and you feel like you can share even the most personal thing with that person. The story made me think that you might think that you’re the only one that has something bg going on in your life, but in reality there is always someone else going thought it too.
ReplyDeleteThe aspect of the setting that was best described was how real she made it feel, by the way she made it so detailed, it was very easily pictured. She used good elements of description when she described the scene at the tire place. “Being in the right place at the right time” is the quote that stood out most to me because it was so true.
The conversation between the two characters was very realistic and it seemed authentic. The conversation fit because what they ended up talking about was actually what both books were about and the way she incorporated the talking it didn’t seem like something they wouldn’t say.
After reading this story many times to try and find something that was wrong with it or something that was problematic. The only thing that I thought that you could work on was describing the characters more because you didn’t really describe them very much. Other than that the story was very well put together.