Saturday, November 23, 2013

Unpretentious Adaptation

I have just started reading a novel called Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder. At first I wasn’t fully content with my decision to read this, since its not the kid of genre I usually enjoy. But seriously, since the fist sentences of the book I was hooked. There is nothing in particular that make the beginning special, but something did and I enjoyed it.
It’s about this man, Deo who came to New York, at about his 30’s I’m guessing. After six months on the run, from Burundi where at the time (1994) it was in horrible conditions with war and deaths. He arrives to America with almost nothing. Now, right there the story already gets even more intriguing, we all want to know how a guy, that by the way, knows no English since his native language is French, will survive in a place like America, and much worst, New York!
When Deo first came to New York, at the airport he met a guy, Muhammad, who I like to believe is his some kind of guardian angel, since Muhammad pretty much saved Deo. He gave him a place to stay while he settled, and helped him get a job. Although probably Muhammad will be a nobody in a couple of chapters, right now he is the savior.
The first time Deo went to find a job, Muhammad had kind of given him directions of how to get there. However New York is not a simple city and much less for a tourist whose never been to America. So as you can imagine Deo got lost, and wasted the whole day on the subway trying to find his way back. I can really assimilate to this since I am a person who gets lost really easily. Although the author makes an excellent job describing Deo’s experience, I can completely understand how he feels like, and it’s definitely not a good feeling. A mixture of being confused and paranoid and disoriented is simply horrible. But it was here that we see how Deo’s personality is. He never panicked, just kept trying, and he learned street names and images for potential use, when he was to take the subway again. Deo is definitely a smart and brave man.
We can also see how Deo compares the city to where he used to live, remembering his native birthplace, and seeing how similar yet extremely different they are. “…He was met by a noise as loud and constant the waterfall on the Siguvyaye River, but much less peaceful: a mingled noise of car horns and sirens and shouts and babbling voices and a blaring…” (Pg.15) What is interesting is that he doesn’t connect his assimilation with any war nor death scene he must have lived in Burundi, but to beautiful waterfalls from nature. When the reality is horrible, n this cases he chooses to forget it. Something that seems even worse is how he is sanding there in the street, and everyone else beside him, yet nobody knows his story; in fact, most of America didn’t even know the situation of Africa at that time.


Vocabulary

Tenement (n): a piece of land held by an owner.







Remnant (n): a small remaining quantity of something.



Blare (v): make or cause to make a loud, harsh sound.

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