Blog #9 30 Little Turtles
This was a very mixed bag of feelings, both good and bad, for me as i read through "30 Little Turtles" by Thomas Friedman. My mother being born in India and most of my family growing up close by in Singapore, and having visited twice i can tell when someone does not fully understand the culture.
I did like the encouragement and respect that he showed young men and women who were completing university and getting a better chance at life. Yet when he discusses things like living at home and still paying the parents money for the family, and how these young adults should step up and move on in life. This is an example of his misunderstanding of places such as India and Singapore, family is everything it is your lifeline growing up and when you are older it is your responsibility to take care of everyone when you run the household. It is not uncommon at all for a man to marry and have his wife and children simply join in with the existing family in the home.
I did not like how Friedman stated that while Indians are working as tech support, people will call and say "Im glad I reached an Indian," I know that he was using it as an example of a complement for the excellent hard work, the way it was placed in this piece came off sour and i found it very off putting.
The audience would be the middle class of North America, I also believe it would be interesting for a young adult Asian from that area to read this essay. If that were an audience Friedman was targeting, some wording in this paper would need to be changed, because I am certain some of the examples provided, would not be something acceptable to an Indian man or women.
Friedman has a very credible history of writing and uses what seems as a friendly tone while trying to convey his serious message to the audience. I was not exactly sure on the tone used, what do you think it is? The second to last paragraph was one i did not properly understand if he was using sarcasm or not when discuss the future of the Palestinian boys.
I did not mind Friedman's ideas, and i liked the respect and honor he showed these young women and men who were striving for a brighter future. There were some instances where he showed a lack of understanding of the Indian culture which i found to be a major flaw since it was a main aspect of the piece. Overall it was a decent essay with some interesting points, would you consider this story to be read again in future English 150 classes?
What did you think of Friedman's analysis on the Indian culture?
I did like the encouragement and respect that he showed young men and women who were completing university and getting a better chance at life. Yet when he discusses things like living at home and still paying the parents money for the family, and how these young adults should step up and move on in life. This is an example of his misunderstanding of places such as India and Singapore, family is everything it is your lifeline growing up and when you are older it is your responsibility to take care of everyone when you run the household. It is not uncommon at all for a man to marry and have his wife and children simply join in with the existing family in the home.
I did not like how Friedman stated that while Indians are working as tech support, people will call and say "Im glad I reached an Indian," I know that he was using it as an example of a complement for the excellent hard work, the way it was placed in this piece came off sour and i found it very off putting.
The audience would be the middle class of North America, I also believe it would be interesting for a young adult Asian from that area to read this essay. If that were an audience Friedman was targeting, some wording in this paper would need to be changed, because I am certain some of the examples provided, would not be something acceptable to an Indian man or women.
Friedman has a very credible history of writing and uses what seems as a friendly tone while trying to convey his serious message to the audience. I was not exactly sure on the tone used, what do you think it is? The second to last paragraph was one i did not properly understand if he was using sarcasm or not when discuss the future of the Palestinian boys.
I did not mind Friedman's ideas, and i liked the respect and honor he showed these young women and men who were striving for a brighter future. There were some instances where he showed a lack of understanding of the Indian culture which i found to be a major flaw since it was a main aspect of the piece. Overall it was a decent essay with some interesting points, would you consider this story to be read again in future English 150 classes?
What did you think of Friedman's analysis on the Indian culture?