2/5/13 Reading Response

Katherine Boo has an interesting way of capturing the lives of others. Her novelistic approach brings to life their struggles and thoughts in a whole new way, one of which I find is somehow easier to understand and connect to in reference to both the various 'characters' and their culture. Katherine Boo, in her manner of writing, places us more easily in the shoes of the people of Annawadi by showing us inside of their heads and their situations in a way we are already used to connecting to. Most people have, at some point by requirement of schooling or otherwise, read a novel. Thus, we are familiar with connectivity in this style. It puts an image in our head just as easily as if one were to be reading any popular novel on the market. I believe this is an excellent approach in getting us to understand another culture in that we aren't forced to face what we don't know. We simply see it and accept it, just we would the lore and settings of any work told in a similar stylization. For example is the talk between Zehrunisa and the tennant they kept in the home on pages 39 and 40. You can see how such an argument would go as if it is a movie in your head with the back and forth dialogue, while also having that third person omniscient perspective to better understand what it means. If it were stated verbatim alone, the context may get lost and you may not sink so deeply into the character; on the other hand, were it simply described you would not get the benefit of 'listening' to the exchange in the books format. One way or the other, you would not understand the cultural context as well.

In referendum to Katherine Boo's writing in general, I believe her language is something we can all learn from. She really sinks into the skin in her style, while also not intruding to greatly. She sets it up as if you really were inside the heads of the people, and this makes everything more beneficial. As I have stated prior, it makes connecting with characters easier. I believe the same conversation reference above can be used again here. In this exchange, we see both view points and really get to understand what is going on with the way Boo fleshes it out onto pages for us. We can learn not just about how to put through a cultural message with her ways of writing, but also connect across all types and styles of written communication by learning from her use of language, as well as her setup.