Blog Review

http://aroseanothername.blogspot.com/2015/01/non-fiction-critical-analysis-2.html

                I read Rose’s non-fiction critical analysis blog post on the book “Hechinger’s Field Guide to Ethnic Stereotypes” by Kevin and Curtis Hechinger. I thought her post was very interesting and informative, and was the right mix of thought and opinion. I have not read the book, but Rose did a good job describing it and giving details from it. The book is a satirical “field guide” to stereotypes,  which shows readers that stereotypes do not make sense by giving crazy examples of them. Rose chose to focus on the more ridiculous and funny aspects of the book in her blog post, and it was interesting to see the observations and conclusions she got from them.

                 
        The main idea of Rose’s blog post was that the book uses humor to show that “people should not be confined to stereotypes or listen to stereotypes.” She provides several examples from the book that prove this point. The quotes Rose selected from the book gives readers a good idea of what the whole book was about and supported her main idea. Her examples also made me want to read the book and see more humorous and interesting things the authors wrote.  I thought Rose’s observation about the way the authors used causal language was really insightful. I agree that it makes readers feel more comfortable, and I never would have occurred to me while reading the book.

                In the last paragraph of Rose’s post, she briefly mentioned that she did not like the way the authors used a lot of humor to support their ideas. She said that “Their humor was too forced and to me it ended up just being confusing and seemed at least a little racist.” Rose did not expand on this thought, so it left me intrigued as to what she might have found to be racist in the book.  I like the way Rose crafted her blog post, and I think I could try some of her techniques in my own posts, particularly how Rose noticed and wrote about the authors tone and its effects, and her way of adding her opinion in so it tied into the main idea. Rose’s nonfiction critical analysis was intriguing and made me want to read “Hechinger’s Field Guide to Ethnic Stereotypes.”

Non-Fiction Critical Analysis #2

          “A Woman Among Warlords” by Malalai Joya is the story of one woman’s struggle to find freedom and equality throughout Afgahnistan and Pakistan. The main message Joya wants to get across to readers is that if people unite and speak up, they can begin to fix the many problems that plague the Afghan government and nation.  Joya uses many details and facts and her own personal struggle to convince readers of this. One important statement Joya added was in the conclusion of her book where she wrote that “With the help of peace-loving people around the world, I know that the Afghan woman and men are ready to do their part to stop this cycle of misery and build a better future.” She also includes whole sections about the problems that continue throughout Afghanistan such as the mistreatment of women and the domination of the country by the Taliban and warlords. These techniques and more convince readers that if people speak up, things can be fixed.

Joya wants readers to feel not only sympathetic for the people going through these struggles, but angry and inspired to take a stand about them.  She wants you to feel the need to join her cause after reading the book. She does this by mostly describing how horrific the powers in control of Afghanistan treated their people. She describes how “ in Afghanistan, killing a woman is like killing a bird.” She also adds that “the United States has tried to justify its occupation with rhetoric about ‘liberating’ Afghan women, but we remain caged in our country without access to justice and still ruled by women-hating criminals.” This is meant to make readers angry and sad, yes, but also make them want to take a stand about the discrimination against women.

Even before reading “A Woman Among Warlords” I knew about the unfair situation in Afghanistan and other places in the Middle East, however, Malalai Joya’s story educated me a lot more about the specific issues and how they could be fixed. I now feel more empowered to speak up about injustices against women and tyrannical rule in countries like Afghanistan.