What can you
learn about writing in a more general sense from Katherine Boo's writing?
Katherine Boo develops the scene for the
reader; she provides details and other stories in order to further explain the
personality and character of a person she is writing about. Boo was thorough –
to the extent of actually annoying those she talked to – in her research. Each
story and detail is meticulously placed; everything Boo wrote and included fits
nicely together. Careful thought and planning was placed into the narrative she
wrote. From the first 50 pages of Boo’s story I've learned that good writing isn't about using big words, but about placing thought into each word that is
written. Those small details and side stories included may be better indicators
of character or motive.
“’Seriously, you can’t look. Not even at
the rich people’s toilets. Security will chuck you out. The toilets for the
workers were nice, though. You have a choice between Indian- or American-style.’
Rahul, who had a patriotic streak, had peed in the Indian one, an open drain in
the floor.” While this part to Rahul’s story may not be necessary to mention,
Boo writes it in. This small quote gives us the sense that Rahul is loyal to
India, and while his place of work may be new and better than anything he has
back home, he still chooses something that he’s used to and comfortable with.
What can you
learn about writing about culture from these pages?
Writing about culture means detailed,
descriptive writing. This writing includes small stories or quirks, and the
hardships that come along in life. Katherine Boo leaves nothing out, and
everything that she includes is meant to be there.
Through Boo’s writing - through the eyes of
Abdul, Asha, Sunil and other residents of Annawadi - the reader experiences the
life and emotion of each person. Boo not only captures the spirit of Annawadi
through multiple individuals, but the spirit of India and some of those who
live there.
Boo attempts to place us into the minds of
those we’re reading about; she tries to give us a taste of a culture that is
foreign to us.
“To jumpstart his system, he saw he’d have to become a
better scavenger. This entailed not dwelling on the obvious: that his
profession could wreck a body in a very short time. Scrapes from
dumpster-diving pocked and became infected. Where skin broke, maggots got in.
Lice colonized hair, gangrene inched up fingers, calves swelled into tree
trunks, and Abdul and his younger brothers kept a running wager about which of
the scavengers would be the next to die.”
Through the use of description, especially the recording of the not so pleasant memories and details, the reader is offered an opportunity to try and make sense of something we may not know much about. The hardest part is making sense of the things we cannot relate to. Because Boo provides such a descriptive background and setting to the characters in her story, the more we read of the conditions in their lives, the better we’re able to understand the people we’re reading about.
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I apologize, I can't correctly cite my sources. I'm reading this story on my kindle and unfortunately it doesn't provide me with page numbers
Blog Response #1 to Behind the Beautiful Forevers
ReplyDeleteI noticed there is a lot of imagery portrayed in this novel. The way Katherine Boo writes each scene out to make me feel like I was there. So far I’ve felt very saddened by the hardships Abdul deals with. Disease strikes the nation and simple things such as asthma are left untreated and people die.