Reading diary: Chapter 2: A year later

Chapter 7:

In December Manny gets caught while stealing an empty CD case. After picking up by his brother Ranjit, his brothers are pretty angry. Manny refuses to get married at 17 to a Punjabi girl, although his dad would kill him.

 

Chapter 8:

In May Manny is in a really bad situation: he doesn`t know what to do. His dad has already arranged a girl for him, but Manny doesn`t want to marry while thinking of the emotional blackmail of his older brothers when they were married.

 

Chapter 9:

In June Manny is in Year 10 and is already over one year together with Lisa now. His teacher blames for his bad marks and for skipping lessons. In the conversation with him he also mentions Lisa and his parents.

 

Chapter 10:

After telling Lisa about the conversation with his teacher Sandhu, Lisa is very shocked, but she tries to lead Manny to refuse the marriage. Manny misses his buddy Ady, because he hasn`t seen him for a while.

 

Chapter 11:

Manny is every free minute at Lisa`s house with her parents and he continues skipping lessons to see Ady, who left school. Manny wants to leave school, too. One night they spend time together at a disco without being noticed.

 

Chapter 12:

Manny had a really hangover after he went in the disco and he goes to another disco on his birthday with his brothers and his dad, but he is so bored that he goes home. His brother teases him, because of that.

 

Chapter 13:

Lisa really cares about Manny, he always goes to her parents and talks to them. One night he is invited to her house to talk with them about sex and all that. Then the arents leave the house and Manny and Lisa have the house for themselves. Before going to her, Manny gets know that Ady is going to be a father.

 

Chapter 14:

The night with Lisa was really good for their relationship, but Manny has problems in school with his exams. After forgetting Ady`s birthday, they celebrate it in a bar together later. They go to school after their night, but Manny remembers nothing.

 

Chapter 15:

After telling Ady that he is going to India in the next time, he realizes that he is not going to see Lisa and Ady all the time. Ranjit`s wife promises him that it is going to be only holiday. Then he gets a letter from Lisa who also misses him but goes to Australia. After that he doesn`t know what to do in his further life.

    

Reading diary: Part 1:

Chapter 1:

In the first chapter Manny (13) introduces his family and himself, but he does not like any of them. His dad beats Manny and is a racist. His brothers want to be like his father, so he does not like them as well. His buddy Ady is very important to him, because they spend a ´lot of time together.

Chapter 2:

In the second chapter Manny gets to know his cousin Ekbal, whose father is the complete opposite of Manny`s father. In April next year the wedding of his brother is set and later in the chapter his father says to him that he found a girl for Manny to marry when he turns 17.

 

Chapter 3:

The third chapter takes place in the summer break between Year 8 an Year 9. Manny often needs and one time they see Lisa and Sarah for the first time.

 

Chapter 4:

After seeing Lisa for the first time, Manny thinks of her all the time until Ady and him are seeing them again. The four go drinking a coffee together.

 

Chapter 5:

School had already begun in chapter five and Manny thinks about being adopted, because he fears that his dad does not welcome Lisa. Once he and Ady go together to Sarah, but Manny leaves earlier to leave them alone.

 

Chapter 6:

Manny and Lisa are having their 10^th date together, because Sarah and Ady introduced him to her.

Huge differences between the family members

I think there are such huge differences between the family members regarding identity, because there are two generations living in the house. One generation lived in India, never learned to be free. But Manny was born in England, so he loves the culture and the traditions. He would not feel home in India, because he never lived there and his friends are in Leicester, too. In contrast to his family members he got to know the British culture, e.g. in school or at friend`s houses. One more aspect that he does not want to have an arranged marriage is that he found his first love in Lisa, so he wants to marry her later. It is the same with Ady: Manny`s family does not like him, because he is Jamaican, but Manny is his best friend.

All in all there are such huge differences, because Manny was born in England and got to know its culture in contrast to his whole family.

Analyse how the mother`s identity is presented in the novel

Manny`s mum is presented not very nice, because of her character. In the text it says the she is in the kitchen all day long or is watching Asian channels only to be a good Punjabi wife. She wants to do everything perfect, so she does not get in trouble with her husband. Her identity is not important, because she is very silent and does not play a role in the whole plot.

Characterization of Manny`s mother

Manny`s mother does not play a very important role in the whole story, because she does not speak that much and does not act very often. She was born in India. In consequence she speaks good Punjabi and bad English. Manny introduced her as "odd". She does not speak to Manny, only to ask what to have for dinner. The mother of Manny never helps him with his homework, so Manny supposes that she never went to school, but it could also be possible that she does not want to help her son. She does not lover Manny that much, because she wants to be a very good Punjabi wife and Manny does not respect their culture. In the story she stays in the kitchen all day long.

Ekbal`s father and Manny`s father

	Ekbal`s father	Manny`s father
Profession	-doctor	-Factory worker
Character/Beliefs	-forward thinking -chilled out -doesn´t mind what colour Ekbal´s friends are	-strict -racist -aggressive -conservative
Education	-very important -went to university	-is not educated -not important to him
Consequence	a good example of successful integration	An example of failed integration

Introduction

The book tells the story of a young Punjabi boy, living in Britain, who is strongly opposed to the marriage that his father has arranged for him. The book looks at conflicts across cultures and generations....

Fourteen-year old Manjit (Manny) is a Jat Punjabi living in Leicester. He learns that his alcoholic father has already planned his marriage. It is going to take place when Manny reaches seventeen; his wife will be the daughter of one of his father's friends in India....