onsdag 23 september 2009

An unarranged marriage w. 45


A picture of the author Bali Rai.

We will now begin to read the novel An unarranged marriage by Bali Rai. Go to the learning platform Rex Net before you start reading the book. On the platform I have given you net addresses to Bali Rai's homepage and to other useful sites. Read these before you start reading the novel to get a proper introduction to the author and the themes of the novel.

Please read chapter one until chapter four and answer these questions on the blog. Publish your answer by choosing "kommentar".

1) Look at the front cover of the novel and describe what you see, look at the title and ponder on what the novel will be about.

2)What kind of cultural differences are described in the four first chapters? Punjabi culture vs. European culture?

3) The author describes some changes in Manny's life. Reflect upon the changes.

4) Present another character that you have met in the novel. What do you know about this person so far?

5) In chapter three and four Manny starts to rebel. How?

6)Multiculturalism is one of the themes in the novel. How do you notice this?

7)Lisa is introduced in chapter three and four. What do we know about her? What kind of a role do you think Lisa will have in the novel?

Deadline: 6 November

16 kommentarer:

  1. 1) The cover of the book is quite boring. Half green, half orange with an India inspired background pattern, on the lower half of the book, which is orange, you see a pair of legs dressed with black pants (probably jeans) and a pair of sneakers on the feet. (You can guess that this is a man.) On the upper half of the cover which obviously is green, you see a red-black-goldish skirt with matching socks on the feet, and some sort of ankle links. (You can guess that this is a woman.) And of course the authors name and the title of the book. The fact that "un" in "an (un)arranged marriage" is in parenthesis makes the book more appealing, or interesting.

    2) I haven't really come across that many described differences except that Manny (the main character) at one time says that families from the Punjabi area have a tradition where the newly married girl moves in with her step-parents and becomes a part of that family. The couple then stays there, have kids there and in the end there will be a few generations under the same roof. Although theese may not be cultural differences there is a few things that is different in Manny's family compared to other families, for an example his father likes to give him a beating from time to time.

    3) A lot of changes are taking place in Manny's life in the beginning of the book. His brother is going to have a kid, his other brother is about to get married, he has to move in with one of his brothers, since they don't have room for his brother's wife otherwise. And on top of it all he seems to be falling in love.

    4) One of the other character is Ady, or Adrian, Manny's best friend. He calls himself a "black-Jamaican" They've known each other since junior school, and at the moment they play football together, both for the school team and for a club team. I quote page 19: "Ady was well chilled out, like nothing ever bothered him or upset him, but in many ways he was also a lot like me. He lived with his mum and dad, who were educated and wanted him to do well at school."

    5) He starts be out more often, with Ady just hanging around. He starts to "talk back" to his father, and one day he goes all crazy and goes berserk on his brothers stuff.

    6) One of the way you notice it is that Manny often describes people by their skin-colour. And that he often run in to people with other ethnic backgrounds than his own.

    7) Lisa is a "friend of a friend of a friend" to Manny. (More exactly, Ady knows a girl whose name is Sarah, Sarah's friend is Lisa.) We don't know very much at this time, more than that Ady seems to like Sarah, and Manny seems to like Lisa, or "Ringlets" as he calls her.

    SvaraRadera
  2. Thank you Timmy for your comments. The novel will probably open up a new world to you, the world of forced or prearranged marriages. The fact that Bali Rai has chosen a male main protagonist instead of a female one makes the book the more interesting.

    SvaraRadera
  3. 1)
    The Cover is divided in two, where the upper half is in a light green color, while the bottom is in an orange color. The upper left corner shows a persons legs, or more precisely, a skirt and a pair of feet. The skirt is orange with golden stars or dots, and black flowers.
    The bottom right corner also shows a pair of legs, this time with black pants and White/black sneakers. The title reads clear at the bottom, (un)arranged marriage, in a green color similar to that of the upper part of the cover. Above it the authors name is written in black, Bali rai.
    I'd definately say that the novel is about a Forced marriage of sort.

    2)
    One of the differences is, obviously, forced marriages. Also when a son gets married, he starts a family with his new wife under the same roof as he was born under. Which is quite strange. That means that often, they are several families living within the same house. I'm sure there are more differences in there, but not that crosses my mind at the moment.

    3)
    For a kid as him, 13 years old, theres plenty of changes that shouldn't be there. His eldest brother is about to get a kid, the other (middle) brother is about to get married. Because of his eldest brothers recent marriage, he is forced to move in with the middle brother whom he dislikes quite a lot. And through it all, he meets a girl and kind of falls in love.

    4)
    The only person you get to know a lot apart from Manny is his best-friend Adrian, who is called Ady. They met at Junior Highschool and hung together through the years and started playing football together with both the School team and a Club team.

    5)
    He leaves the house everday without his fathers permission, starts shoplifting everything he rests his eyes upon and stuff like that.

    6)
    Because of the fact that they talk about Asians and Africans from time to time, even talk about how the people act based on where they are from.

    7)
    We sure know that Lisa got ringlets, or at least had once. According to Manny, she's very beautiful and slightly cat-like. Lisa is the friend of Sarah, the girl that Ady's got a crush on. I think that Lisa will have a major role because of the fact that Manny likes her, and he isn't allowed to do. If they get into business, they will have to hide it from Mannys father.

    SvaraRadera
  4. 1)
    The front cover of the novel has an India sort of pattern in the background, green top half and orange bottom half of the page. There´s a half woman (from waist and down) in the top left corner. She has a skirt all the way down to her ankles, with some nice pattern on. No shoes, but she has anklebracelets on both legs. There´s also ha man (from waist and down) in the top right of the orange part. He han black pants and sneaker-shoes. The title of the book is written in green at the bottom (un)arranged marriage. Bali rai is written in black above the title. The cover isn´t that inspiring if you ask me.

    2)
    The differences are that Punjabi culture have arranged marriages and that the families with all the different generations live together in the same house.

    3)
    Ranjit is expecting a child soon, and Harry is soon going to be married. He has to move in to Harrys room because of Ranjits wife Jas is going to fit in their house. He is also getting a crush on a girl he saw when he was out walking with his friend.

    4)
    As he describes himself, Black-Jamaican, is Adrian. He´s Mannys best friend. They spend a lot of time outside, and also play football together. He goes to the same school as Manny. Ady can switch accents in an instant, that Manny thought was funny.

    5)
    Manny is out more often from the house, because he wants to come away from his family. He´s shoplifting with his friend Ady.

    6)
    ? I have to search some more in the book;)

    7)
    She is a friend to Sarah. Sarah is a girl who Ady likes, who goes to their school. She wants to go out with Ady. Lisa has long blond hair, mad green eyes and a deep tan.
    I think Manny and Lisa will become a couple and she will try to help Mannt with his problems at home.

    SvaraRadera
  5. 1. The front cover has two colours, turquoise and orange. In the colours there is a sort of Indian pattern with leaves and flowers. The top of the cover is turquoise and you can see half of a woman(from the waist down). She is wearing a orange skirt with golden details. The bottom half is orange and you can see the leggs of what I think is a man. He is wearing black trousers. In the bottom half is also the title written in turquoise and the nme of the author written in black.
    When I read the title "(un)arranged marriage" I think the book will be about an arranged marriage that never happends.

    2. Well, the first difference I can think of is forced marriages. They aren't so common in European culture, at least not now a days.

    3. His oldest brother Ranjit is going to be a father and his other brother Harry is about to get married. This means that Manny has to move out of his room (which he shared with Harry) to make room for Harrys wife.

    4. Another character that is worth mentioning is Ady(Adrian) who is Mannys best friend. He describes himself as "black-jamaican". He and Manny met at junior school. They do everthing together, like play football and shoplifting.

    5. He is out of the house as often as he can, he starts shoplifting and talk back to his father which is a very strict man.

    6. In the book you come across of alot of different people. They have diffrent skin colours and diffrent cultures. Sometimes you can see a huge gap between the people and sometimes you can't.

    7. Lisa is a friend of Sara, who are interested in Ady. Manny thinks she is very cute and I think that she and Manny will be a couple, at least one time. Before Manny knew her name he used to call her Ringlets.

    SvaraRadera
  6. 1. The top half of the book is turquoise and the bottom half is orange. The background has a beautiful Indian pattern with leaves and flowers. In the top left corner there's a pair of legs (probably a woman's) dressed in an orange skirt which ends by her ankles, where there's an ankle bracelet on each leg. In the top right corner of the orange area there's another pair of legs wearing a pair of, what I think is, black jeans and sneakers. The title is written in turquoise and is found at the bottom of the cover, under the author's name. By looking at the title I'm assuming the book is about an arranged marriage that turns out to be quite unarranged.

    2. Uhm.. Arranged marriages and that the new wives live with their husbands' family.(Which isn't very normal in the European culture..)

    3. Uhm.. Well, his father tells Manny that he'll be getting married at 16 which terrifies him. After that he isn't home that much, mostly hanging out with Ady. Oh, and he'll soon be an uncle and Harry, one of his brothers, will be getting married soon which means that Manny has to move (again) into a different room.

    4. Ugh.. Everyone's picked Ady. x___x So I'll be all awesome and pick someone else. Hmm.. Daddy-ji!

    He's a drunken bastard (if you ask me) who beats his own children, but mostly Manny 'cause his not a complete robot like his brothers. He works at a plastic factory and has been saving up money to build a new room where Manny will be staying when Harry gets married.

    5. Well.. he sort of gets his revenge on Harry, which I think is awesome. Hmm.. And he hangs out with Ady more. The smoking and shoplifting isn't anything new.. But he does start shoplifting more after he meets "Ringlets".

    6. It's sort of all Manny talks about, innit? (Tihi, see what I just did there? ^__^)

    7. Dude, Bali hasn't told us Ringlets' name at chapter four. But I guess that's who you meant since everyone else is saying it's Sara's friend = Ringlets. Anyhow.. She's Manny's first cruch. It would be fun if they ran away together. That'd be very "Romeo and Juliet"-ish. ^__^

    And yes, I'm well aware that you usually don't speak to your teacher this way.. But I think it's more fun this way. It's more.. Moi. Qui, qui. ^___^

    SvaraRadera
  7. 1. The top half of the book is green and bottom is orange. The bakground looks like some kind of a Indian pattern whit leaves and flowers. The top half shows a girl/woman in(what i think is) an Indian dress/skirt. The bottom shows a man whit black jeans and white sport shoes. Under the man, there is the title (un)arrabged marriage. Well obviously this book is gonna be abaout forced marriage and the broblems someone hawing about it. By the looks of the book, I don´t really know if it gonna be good or bad. I´ll find out soon i gues.


    2. They have forced marriage in punjabi, wich is a tradition there(Glad im born in Europe). More than that hasen´t i notice yet. Oh1 well one other thing a notice was that after a marriage the couple move in to the mans parents house. This can lead to many families lives under the roof.

    3. Well his brother is getting a kid and his other brother is getting married soon. Becasue of that Manny most move out from his roome (Yet again)

    4. I pick Ady(Like most of the bloggers here) Ady is Manny´s best friend. He calls himself a "black-jamaican". Together they play football, shoplifting and some time steal and sell stuff. One of Ady´s talents is that he can switch accent anytime.

    5. Manny is starting to be out more and more. He is talking back a little to his father. He also get revenge on his brother Harry by messing up his stuff. He even whent a little berserk on him later.

    6. They sometime speaks about peapole whit diffrent´s skin color and base them on sertain things for that.

    7. Manny likes Lisa. Lisa is a friend to Sara (Ady´s girlfriend.) By Mannys eyes, she is beautiful and cat-like. I think Manny is gonna get some problem whit this little "cruch" of his in the future. I dont know if this love is gonna be good or bad.

    SvaraRadera
  8. 1) The front cover of the book have a green and orange colour, the green is on the top of the book and the orange below.
    When I look at the cover I get a happy feeling, I think the colour sets of a good first impression. On the upper side you can see the bottom of a womans dress and her feets. The dress is orange wich matches the lower part. And on the bottom part of the book you can see a man who is walking, all thought you can only see his legs. He is wearing a pair of dark jeans and sneakers. Also on the bottom you can see the title of the book and the authors name which is written in black and the same green colour as the rest. When I see the books front cover I got a strong feeling that the book
    is about a woman and a man from different cultures who is struggling with their different lives.

    2)The only thing that cross my mind when I read the question is when Manny says that families from Punjabi (where she comes from) have an old tradition where the newly married woman moves in with her new step-parents to be a member of that family. Where the couple lives and raises their future kids. In the longer road there will be a few generations living in the same house.

    3)Of cource Manny's life changes, but the first change for him is that one of his brother's is going to have a child, the other one is about to getting married. So Manny has to move in with one of them, beacuse otherwise they don't have enough room for his brother's wife. And then he falls in love with a girl.

    4) Adrian is also a character in the novel, they have known eatch other a long time, since junior school and they also play's fotball together in the club team. He was a calm person and wery chilled out and reminds a lot of Manny himself.

    5) He goes out more often with his friend Ady which bothers his parents a bit. He also starts to answer his father and one day he stopped to cear and goes mad and crazy.

    6)Because Manny himself often describes different peoples by their skin-colour and that he also run on to people with other ethnic backgrounds than his own. He often talk about how different people act based on where they come from.

    7) Lisa is a beautiful girl who is friend to Sarah, which Ady got a crush on. Manny seems to really like Lisa and because of that I think that Lisa will have a hugh role.

    SvaraRadera
  9. Den här kommentaren har tagits bort av skribenten.

    SvaraRadera
  10. "... He's a drunken bastard (if you ask me) who beats his own children, but mostly Manny 'cause HE'S not a complete robot like his brothers..."

    I'm not an idiot.. I just sort of got confused? (a) Well, at least I noticed it. -___-''

    SvaraRadera
  11. 1)
    The front cover both appeal to me and not. The colours are very stimulating, not too strong or too boring and it feels like the book will focus on different units, since the border between the colours are so clear. And since I see the legs of a guy and the legs of a girl I think that it will be about love. When I read the title I am thinking that it must be about an arranged marriage, of course, and because of the border between the colours I think that it will be against someone's will.

    2)
    It's very different and Manny do not want to really follow the Punjabi culture. In the Punjabi culture the families already has decided how a family should be to be accepted and the man's role is the strongest, and the woman appears to be depressed. Unlike the European culture, people from the Punjabi culture starts family very early, and education are not considered as an important thing.

    3)
    Lisa comes in to his life and he starts to think that he might wanna have a girlfriend, something he doesn’t have reflect over before.
    Mannys brothers are going to marry and have a child and Manny is leaving his old room for a much smaller one. A big change in his life is that his future dreams get crushed by his father who tells him that he is going to marry at the age of 17, just like his brothers, something that make Manny scared and worried.

    4)
    Mannys father. That he is very violent and greedy of power. He drinks sometimes and for him it's all about maintaining families honour by marrying his children into good families, and he happens to does it so that he always helps a friend with something. He is according to me a rather nasty man who beats his own children and is at the expense of others.

    5)
    He starts to pay back on his brother Harry for things that he has done and he starts to shoplift even more than before. He also stays out of house a lot even though his father wants him at home.

    6)
    You meet different cultures in the book. Both the European and the Punjabi culture and constantly it is discussed about differences between the both cultures and they talk about ranking. It´s Multiculturalism when different cultures meet, as they do in the book.
    Where Manny live there are all kinds of people, white, Asian and black and all of the people integrate into society and become one and the same proportion, and that is what multiculturalism is about. And even if some people disagree in that it´s good it´s multiculturalism, cause many different cultures comes together in one small area. The community are infected by the other cultures always, even if people doesn´t notice.

    7)
    We know that Lisa is a girl who Manny has completely fallen for. He doesn’t know her yet but he thinks about her a lot and she is very beautiful. She hasn’t spoken to much yet but she seems to be attracted to Manny to.
    I think Lisa will have a big role in Mannys life and I think that they are going to fall in love with each other which probably will make life even harder for poor Manny.

    SvaraRadera
  12. Teacher's comment:

    Thank you for your inspiring thoughts on the first four chapters. Please read each other's comments and let your blogfriends help you with your own thoughts!

    SvaraRadera
  13. 1. The cover of the book is separated in two colours, turquoise on the upper side and orange on the lover side. I get some indian feeling when I look at it. In the left corner in the turquoise field, there is a girl in typical indian clothes, and in the right corner in the orange field there is a man in regular clothes. It tells me that the book is about the two differenses, especially when the book is called (un)arranged marriage. The back of the book is much as like the front, and there's also a picture of Bali Rai.

    2. One of the differenses is forced marriage of course. He's brother is about to get married and his future wife will live in the same room after the marriage so Manny has to move to another room which is really small and he doesn't look forward to it. In the European culture, the girl doesn't really move in with her husband's family.

    3. His father tells him that he will be married at the age of 16 and that he already knows a girl.
    His oldest brother Ranjit is going to have a child and his other brother Harry is about to get married. That must feel very wierd for him. Manny is also falling in love with a girl, and he has never had a girlfriend before.

    4. Well Manny's father. He's a cruel person I think, he doesn't show any love at all to Manny. He also drinks a lot and get hangovers which seems to get him in bad mood. He punches Manny when he has done something bad, which he really doesn't have in my opinion.

    5. He's out with his friend Ady alot because he's a good friend of him. He starts to shoplift more then he uses to. He's also being more lippy to his father and one day he went crazy in his brother Harry's room. He literally turned it upside down.

    6. Where Manny lives there is a lot of different cultures. And I've noticed that he acts a bit different based on where people come from. He often talks about it and the different cultures.

    7. Manny's friend Ady likes this girl Sarah who has a friend called Lisa (or Ringlets which Mannys calls her). Manny has a thing for her and is falling in love obviously. If they will be a couple I think she will have a big role in the book, and always be on Mannys side and be there for him. She will be the "understanding person".


    I'm sorry for my late answers, I really haven't got time to read a book at the moment, but I'll do my best!

    SvaraRadera
  14. 1 The cover is quite boring. The book is split into two. On one holder, on the green one there is a girls legs and she wears a dress that is red and gold.
    ON the red half you see a boy legs. He is wearing black pants. It seems that they want something and it is not each other.


    2 The Punjabi coulture.
    They married in young age. They have no interest in school.
    The girl lives with their parents in law and calls them mom and dad. Boys and girls may not know who to marry. In the Marrage case parents decide whom to marry. Women have no voice at all, and their opinion does not matter for the man. The man works and the women is allways home and taking care of the chikdren and the home.
    European culture, girls completing their studies and graduating ang get sucsessfull. The girls are independent. In India girls are not allowed to go out at night. I European they can party all night long. They all decide who they should be together and with who they want.

    3 Manny came from being a young free guy to a man. He was not allowed to be with her best friend Ady. He was threatened to marry in that young age. He dosent want to get in to a relationship with somebody he dosent know. He was trap.

    4 Mannys Father, he run the family with fears. He was always either at work or sitting around. He was angry all the time. he was kind of a racist too. Manny got hitten by him all the time for no reason. He does not care about anyone's opinion other than their own.

    5 It wasent Ady that lead him to be a rebel it was Manny himself. It wasent that serious. It was more a way of showing off. He thought it would impress girls.

    6 I think its aboute when two culture meet. Like now Panjabi and European culture.

    7 Manny likes a girl named Lisa and she is Blonde hair girl. She is at first shy but later she opens up for Manny. She listen to his problem and really cares aboute him. Lisa lives with her mom and dad. Her mom is a teacher, and her dad lectures at the university. Manny do really care aboute her.

    SvaraRadera
  15. 1)Half green and halv orange. a girl on the left upside of the bok on the green side and a boy on the orange side on the right. but you can only se their legs. There are a text: bali rai (un) arranges marriage. i think its about the two people on the bok who are going to get married but they dont know anything about eatch other... 2)In Punjabi culture they are not able to deside their destiny. they have to do as their parents say. They have to get married when they are 17 years old to some Punjab girl. they cant do "anythhing wrong" like drink, stealing and so on...and girlfriend or boyfriends are not allowed in theiir culture. But in European culture they cant get married before 18 years old and they can deside who ever they e´want to get married with. they can do whatever they want but they have to take the consequence. 3)I can tell three things, about Lisa, the girl he started to like...before he meet her he was different. He could never see him self with a girl or anyting. He didn´t know anything about love, but when he meet her he started to have fellings. the second thing is about his life. He was like a child, who could go aut and have fun. But then when he went to India he became a man.4) Andrian as Ady...he is Manny´s best friend and they are always together. he smokes and steal. Sarah is the girl who like Ady and he is like a ghetto boy. He have out of sorts cloths. He have a older brother who is a weed dealer and he´s also five years older then Ady.5) Because his father told him that his friend´s daughter who´s only a few moths older than him should be married to Manny so she could stay in England. but Manny didn´t want to, because he was only 13 years old and only had 4 years to think and get comfortable about it. But he didn´t know anything about her so he didn´t want her as his wife. then it was Ady, the friend he was with, they started to be more and more with each other. They did some wrong things and they meet Sarah and Lisa. And there we have Harry the brother who Manny always fights with. 6)There are some Asian people, some black people and some white people and so on...Ady are black, Manny from india a Punjab and Asian. Sarah are white.And Manny´s father didn´t like when Manny was with Ady, he thinks that Ady destrot Manny. 7)She is Sarahs cousin. It´s something going one between Lisa and Manny. i dont know, maybe they will fall in love and get married insted who knows. but she is absolute an important person in the novell now...

    SvaraRadera
  16. On the front cover of the novel there is a picture of a woman with Indian clothes and another person with “regular” clothes. I think that is so that we can see that it is different cultures and it shows what the book is all about. The front cover picture is like an Indian theme and is very nice. If you concentrate at the front picture and the title you will get an idea of what the book is about and you get more curious to read it. It is very important that the front cover is tempting so that we will get interested in reading it.

    I didn’t notice so many differences except that in the Punjabi culture it says that when the newlyweds get married they move into the same house that the man’s family lives in, so they get a room in the house instead of moving in to a house of their own. Even when they have children all of them still stay in the same house. So it gets really crowded. It’s a regular thing for Manny that he gets beaten from time to time, sometimes by his father and sometimes by his brothers. Of course there are a few other things that I a little different but not something you notice that much.

    There are a lot of changes in Manny’s life at this point and he doesn’t like the changes but he can’t do something about it. They find out that his brother is going to have a baby, his other brother is going to get married, he have to share his room with his sloppy brother and on top of all this he is falling in love with a girl he met. This is a lot of changes in one teenager’s life, changes that not everyone can handle.

    The character that most interested me beside Manny was his “black-Jamaican” friend Adrian also called Ady. He is Manny's best friend and they do everything together even though Manny's parents don’t like Ady because he is black. They have known each other ever since they were in junior school, and they play football together in the school team and in the club team. Ady is described like a very cool person he doesn’t care about what the other people think of him and just go for it!

    At this time he starts to go out more often and of course with Ady, they just hang out together and do fun stuff together. And now when his father yells at him he doesn’t shut up, he “talk back” to his father and goes all crazy at his brother’s stuff he hates them all.

    You notice the multiculturalism because they often talk about different races and different skin colours. And he often talks about how people act based on where they are from.

    Lisa is a Sarah’s friend and also the girl that Manny falls in love with. Sarah is Ady's friend or “girlfriend” maybe is a better word. Not much is told about this girl but Manny seems to like her. She is also called “Ringlets”.

    SvaraRadera