Written task literature

TASK 2A

Reading literature, or watching a film, can do so much more than to just entertain. Reading a book can be a great way to learn something new. You can say the same thing about watching movies. Even though you might not be aware of it, you probably are learning something. And there are several films and literary texts that have been raising my awareness about one or two global challenges. However, there are some who have made more impression than others.

 I remember reading a book by Khaled Hosseini. An Afghan-born American, who has also written the famous novel, The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini, 2014). But the book I read was named A Thousand Splendid Suns. This book takes action in Afghanistan, more precisely in the capital, Kabul. The plot starts in the 1960’s, and ends in early 2000’s. The story is about the tough life and challenges a lot of Afghan women had to go through. We follow different female characters, and we get a good impression over the difficulties they are experiencing. One of the difficulties is school. There are no guarantees for young, Afghan girls when it comes to education. The faith of many girls is that they get married. Family members often arrange marriage for the girls. That is the case to several characters in this book, even though marriage is not a priority. Just look at this quote:

“Marriage can wait, education cannot.” (Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, 2007)

And arranged marriage is surely a global challenge. In many parts of the world, arranged marriage is considered as normal. One of the characters in this book, Mariam, gets married when she is fifteen. Her father arranged a marriage between his daughter and a shoemaker from Kabul, Rasheed. He is thirty years her age, and not really a caring husband. But Mariam has no other choice than to stick with it. If she could choose her faith, she definitely would have chosen something else, like going to school. And the fact that so many girls don not get education is definitely a global challenge. Women and girls are often denied education in developing countries. In some countries you might have the possibility to go to school for a couple of years. But taking a longer education, going to university for an example, is very often rare for women. Laila, another main character, wants to take an education. But the war comes in her way. It is sad to think about how many girls out there who want to go to school, but they do not get the possibility.

In addition to the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, I have also learned something from a film called The Intouchables. This is a French movie from 2011, and it takes place in Paris, France.  Philippe is a rich quadriplegic who is looking for an assistant who can take care of him, called a caregiver. His assistant arranged interviews, where many well educated participated. But Phillippe chose Driss. Driss had not any ambitions of getting hired, and the only reason he was there was to get his welfare benefits. He accepts the offer from Philippe, even though he wasn’t really interested, or qualified, for the job. The two guys could not be more different, but they end up being a perfect match. Driss learned how to take care of Philippe, and Driss learned, and showed, Philippe how to have fun, and brought back joy to Philippe's life. No one thought that Driss would be a good caregiver for Philippe, but it turned out to work really well.

In addition to bringing up a lot of different conflicts, this movie also brings up a clear global challenge. And that challenge is to understand different cultures. The main characters are both living in the same city. They speak the same language, and they are both a part of the French culture. However, their lives are quite different. While Philippe lives in a luxurious mansion, Driss lives in a bad neighborhood, with a lot of criminality. The social differences are big, and the difference between the rich and the poor is big as well, even in a well-developed country like France. In many other countries, from all over the world, the differences are even bigger. Driss lives in a bad part of town, he has no job, and it seems like he lives a life where he feels like society has given up on him. When going to the job interview, he had no goals of getting the job. He probably wouldn’t imagine that, even in his wildest dreams. And no one expected Philippe to give him the job. There would probably be a lot of people who would look at Driss like a problem-maker. With a cocky and careless attitude, he certainly wasn’t like any other of the jobseekers. But Philippe welcomed him anyway. Not everyone would have done that, when he already had a long list of well-qualified and experienced people. But Philippe gave him a chance. Here is a quote from the film, which shows how open-minded Philippe is:

“Anyone can change your life, if you let them (Olivier Nakache, 2011).”

The world probably need more people like Philippe. He manages to not care about the warning signs, and it really turns out to be a good decision. What we all can learn from him is to not judge a person before you know him. Give the person a chance, because everybody deserves a chance.

Both the book and the film, has given me awareness about different global challenges. They have also helped me to understand different cultures, and they taught me more about how different our lives can be. I definitely feel that literature and films can help in solving global challenges. If you 
 raise awareness, you are nearly there. So it is absolutely important to read literature, and to watch films. 

Bibliografi

Khaled Hosseini. (2014). Hentet fra Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_Hosseini