Melody

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

A lot has happened in the past 100 pages. There has been a lot of focus on outside characters, hints that there will definitely be more emphasis on them later in the story. Ahmad gets his job as a truck driver and makes his first delivery, where he ends up finding out some very strange things.

The biggest emphasis in this portion of the book is on religion and personal beliefs. So far, Ahmad has spoken out loud probably less than 100 words. Everything he says is without much emotion and is always somehow related to his religion, Islam. The reader follows Ahmad as he makes little disapproving comments about how people are living. His ways of thinking are so definitive and he allows no room for mistakes or exceptions. Ahmad also disapproves of his mother, but she knows nothing.

Ahmad’s truck driver teacher, Charlie, brings up very ominous and foreshadowing elements near the end of 2/3 of the book. He talks about how true believes in the Qu’ran will “take action” so that something can be done to help out the people in their home countries that are starving. He also talks about people planting seeds for action. All of this is very mysterious, and even Ahmad is overwhelmed with information. I can only guess that something very significant is going to happen soon.

Actually, I’m 103 pages in. So far, the main character, Ahmad has been introduced in his normal setting and lifestyle. He is the middle working class, and has a menial job at the Shop-A-Sec to help support his mother, who is a nurse’s aide. He also has eyes for one of the girls in his high school, Joryleen, but hesitates to have feelings for her because of her religion and her nose piercing. Ahmad wants to get his Commercial Driver’s License and is currently learning about toxic chemicals and hazardous materials. I don’t know why he wants to be a truck driver, but I think the hazardous waste and dangerous substances will become part of his lifestyle (possibly as a terrorist). So far, the book is easy to read but can get very lengthy at times. The author has made it very clear that Ahmad is by now, at eighteen, a strict follower of the Qu’ran. There is nothing that would move or sway his beliefs. The school wants him to go to college. The guidance counselor even came to his house to try and talk to his mother about future options. The author has also described Ahmad’s mentor, teacher, and master of Islam. The teacher, Shaikh Rashid, seems disturbing. He teaches Ahmad that things like fruit flies buzzing around the kitchen and cockroaches coming from under the sink have no feelings and need to be destroyed because they are manifestations of Satan. These bugs are actually metaphors for people Ahmad is being taught to hate. It is surprising to see how such a normal looking human being can be taught such things, and furthermore, brainwashed to regard them as simply rules of life. Ahmad became Islamic at age eleven, which explains his dedication and his closed mind.

The people in my group are Brayden, both Ryans, Matt, Norma, Jon, Rachelle, and Patty. So far we have been working very well together. All of our roles have been decided and we’ve already done a run-through or two. We’ve also assigned different roles to people in charge of the set design, soundtrack, costumes, and script assembly. I am Malcom and I don’t have many lines, so my memorization should be easy. I also know my first line (”O, by whom?”). Brayden is Macbeth and at first he did not want to be because of the memorization, but eventually he just went with it. We’ve agreed that since Brayden has the most lines to memorize, we will take care of all the other aspects of the play. We definitely have a lot of work to do, but hopefully if we can all get organized and work together we’ll be able to pull this off.

This novel by John Updike seems more meaningful than the average fiction book because it relates to current events and the human behavior we see around us today. I have always wondered how people could be terrorists and act in such a way that brings only horror and violence. I hope the author can take us into the minds of a terrorist and really examine how they think and feel. I expect this book to be very gripping and thrilling, as terrorists can be unpredictable and sudden. This book was one of my first few choices. I have read another book called The Terrorist, or something like that (I don’t remember the title). It was about a terrorist in London setting off bombs. It was interesting, but was only from a spectator’s point of view, and I would really like to learn more about the terrorist and their background. I can only predict that the author will show how America is partly to blame for the terrorists against them. We are not as innocent as the average human likes to think.