The Overcoat

The overcoat is about how a man feel more accepted when he is wearing his new coat. At the beginning of the story he was very shy, he did not talk to anyone at work. He did not really have friends. He likes being alone at first. He did not feel the need to be socialize when people. He lived in a very poor neighborhood. After he brought his new coat, people begin to talk to him and he was accepted. He fit in with people. He did not buy new shoes that he needs to save the money to buy this expensive new coat. He went to the city where there are a lot of lights and a lot of stores open during night. When someone stole his coat he told the police but they didn’t believe him because he was so poor looking. In the end of the story he was very sick and he die. 

Things fall apart

As a story about a culture on the verge of change, Things Fall Apart deals with how the prospect and reality of change affect various characters. The tension about whether change should be privileged over tradition often involves questions of personal status. Okonkwo, for example, resists the new political and religious orders because he feels that they are not manly and that he himself will not be manly if he consents to join or even tolerate them. To some extent, Okonkwo’s resistance of cultural change is also due to his fear of losing societal status. His sense of self-worth is dependent upon the traditional standards by which society judges him. This system of evaluating the self inspires many of the clan’s outcasts to embrace Christianity. Long scorned, these outcasts find in the Christian value system a refuge from the Igbo cultural values that place them below everyone else. In their new community, these converts enjoy a more elevated status.

Motorcycle Diaries

Motorcycle Diaries is mainly about two guys Ernesto and Alberto travel with their motorcycle around South America. As they travel, Ernesto changed his view about his future and about politics. At first they were only gonna travel for 5 months but they ended up travel for a few years. throughout the story Ernesto changed as he came across people who are lower class then him. When they came across the two couple, who travel to find jobs to feed their family Ernesto gave them $15 that his girlfriend gave him. He is also a very honest human being. One of his famous quote was "you gotta fight for every breath and tell the death to go to hell.."

The Kite Runner

I was really surprise when Amir did not help Hassan when the other boys were beating him and raped him. Afterwards, for some time Hassan and Amir keep a distance from each other. Amir reacts indifferently because he feels ashamed, and is frustrated by Hassan's saint-like behavior. Already jealous of Baba's love for Hassan, he worries if Baba knew how bravely Hassan defended Amir's kite, and how cowardly Amir acted, that Baba's love for Hassan would grow even more. I was very surprise when i found out that Amir and Hassan were half brothers. i really like how the story end, Amir taking care of Hassan's son. Amir said the same that Hassan used to say when they were young to Hassan's son. 

The namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

In the namesake i think Ashima and Gogol are the main characters of the story. while Ashima is tryng to learn how to adapt the american ways of living, Gogol is trying to find his own identity. Gogol struggled with his name throughout the story. Before his father death, he did not really like being around his parents. When he moved to New York, he started dating Maxine and become part of her family. He is more comfortable being around Maxine and her family then his own family. But when his father die, he became more closer to his family but i think he is feeling guilty about how he was not around his family. He married to Moushumi who is a Bengali like him. I think that they got married because they are both Bengali not because they love each other. Their marriage did not work out in the end. At the end of the novel, Ashima sold the family house and went back to India. Gogol pick the book that his father gave him on his graduation and started reading it.