Bluest Eye Discussion Topics

• The use of color and seasons when describing (Pg. 66 "her springtime eyes...") (Page 75 "his light green words restored color to the day (Page 77 "black and red words") Page 90 The silky black cat
• The talk about naked men and "father" Pg. 71and the argument/fight on page 73
• The description and differences between the mobile girls and girls like Claudia's mom.
• Junior and Pecola

Daniyal Mueenuddin

Born: Los Angeles, CA in April of 1963
Awards: Winner of the 2010 Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders was the winner of The Story Prize in 2009. His collection for short stories was also a finalist for the 2009 National Book awards, as well as the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, the 2010 Commonwealth Writer's Prize, the 2010 Los Angeles Times First Fiction Award, and the 2010 Ondaatje Prize. It was also selected as one of TIME's top ten books of the year as well as both The Economist's, Publisher's Weekly's, and The Guardian's top ten lists for 2009. Also, his short story "Nawabdin Electrician" was selected by Salman Rushdie to be in America's Best Short Stories of 2008
Works: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
Style: He uses very particular and precise diction matched with flowing and detailed description.
Quote: "Half-Pakistani and half-American, I have spent equal amounts of time in each country, and so, knowing both cultures well and belonging to both, I equally belong to neither, look at both with an outsider's eye. These stories are written from that place in between, written to help both me and my reader bridge the gap."  
Questions: On who did yo base the conflict and character of Nawabdin?
What was the most exciting/thrilling/interesting thing that happened to you during your time in Pakistan?

Nawabdin Electrician

In this short story by Daniyal Mueenuddin, the main character, Nawabdin, he is clearly a hardworking man and he is every good at what he does. And yet he isnt well off with his 12 daughters for whom he needs to pay for dowries. But he is a happy man, a man that is happiest when he is busy and doing things. He has many jobs, working on the farm, cheating the electric company, and trying to fix anything he can get his hands on. He has a positive outlook, he is still poor, but he does his best to enjoy and love life, rather than wallowing in sadness, depression, and doing unethical and immoral things.

But the important thing is, that rather than being wealthy or a successful business man he is happy, surrounded by the love of his wife, whom he adores, and his daughters who make him smile, he is a happy person. Sure he is a a bit of a predicament with the dowries of his many daughters, and sure he isnt the wealthiest man in the world, but he lives his life happily and with people he loves. And when something threatens his happiness, and the happiness of his family, he doesn't have mercy and risks his life for his happiness. The robber is actually much like Nawabdin, a poor man trying to support his family in the ways he can, but he goes about it in a less honest and different way than Nawabdin, rather than pursuing things that will make money and make him happy.