"And the train carried me to Victoria Station and to the world of Jean Morris.
Everything which happened before my meeting her was a premonition; everything I did after I killed her was an apology,not for killing her, but for the lie that was my life." pg 26
Before this quote, Mustafa was telling the narrator about his life and how he had made it to Cairo and then to London. He had just been broughten to Victoria Station and then he said that. Immediatly when I read that I was like what the hell, I really must have missed something. Nope, that was it.
Later on in the paragraph, we briefly hear about his encounters with Jean Morris, but then really don't hear anything more like we do with the other girls. But we do hear that he killed her..intentionally. When I was reading this I was wondering what the narrators reaction was. That's such an unexpected twist in the story that he was telling before and really just came out of nowhere. I don't know if shock has anything to do with what we have been talking about in class, but I think that is a huge part of why this quote works for the author. I also think that it leaves the reader with a lot of suspense.
I've only made it through about half of the book, but I think that Jean Morris is going to play a huge role in Mustafa's life and ultimately why he ended up in that particular village. I think that the context of this quote temporarily acts as a counterstory, but later on in the book will mean a great deal to its entirety.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
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ReplyDeleteI read this quote and thought the exact same thing as you, “what the hell…I must have missed something.” I didn’t necessarily see a counterstory within in, maybe just more of an underdeveloped story. I'm confused about what story this is "opposing."
ReplyDeleteI think Salih purposely included it without any development for reasons, like you said, of shock and tragedy. Situations seem to be more dramatic when they come out of nowhere and aren’t really explained right away.
I kind of felt the same way when reading this quote and a few others...I think that there is a counterstory in this paragraph. They are talking about the lie that she has been telling her whole life. When you talk about Jean Morris, you cant necassarily predict that he will be a big part of the story. Yes he is brought up a few times throughout but wasnt a big part in telling the story. I think alot of what Salih says has a story within a story. Alot of what he says in the beginning isnt explained until the very end, this is what makes the story interesting and keeps you guessing.
ReplyDeleteI remember that phrase very clearly in the story and remember thinking how random it was, especially since it had been repeated, the exact same sentence, a few more times in his recap on his adventures. I 100% agree with you that because we did not find out that much information on "Jean Morris" we will later on in the story. It seems that the narrator is coming across a lot of paths that are intertwined with Mustafa Sa'eed's path so I feel like we will meet a lot of people that were important in his life and figure out more facts and eventually get to the bottom of this Jean Morris person. I was also in complete shock when he said that he killed her intentionally and then that the other girls might have committed suicide and some how he had something to do with, it seems like he caused a lot of broken hearts for his lack of life and love. This story is super intense and I am only half way done also so hopefully we will figure out all these answers tomorrow!
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