"A BAND IN THE RIVER" and "THE OPTICIAN OF LAMPEDUSA", Sintesi del corso di Letteratura Inglese

Scarica "A BAND IN THE RIVER" and "THE OPTICIAN OF LAMPEDUSA" e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! A BEND IN THE RIVER SUMMARY A Bend in the River is set in twentieth-century Africa in a country that is not named. It is the story of an Indian Muslim shopkeeper named Salim who buys a shop in Central Africa from his friend Nazruddin. During his journey, he comes across many challenges, including men who stop him and demand money. By the time he makes it to the town, he finds that the shop is in disarray. The townspeople had driven the Europeans out of the town and had since been struggling to get on their feet. Salim gets the store in order and develops relationships with the townspeople. The town goes through many changes. At one time it seems to be doing well, and at another time it goes through distress. Salim has a love affair with a woman named Yvette. Eventually, Salim decides to leave and goes to England. He decides he wants to stay in London and start from scratch. When he gets back, he finds that the store has been taken over. To save enough to move to London, he starts illegally trading ivory. He gets reported and is arrested. Salim flees on a ship which ends up getting attacked. The book ends with Salim escaping the attack. (Book about the consequences of colonialism) THE OPTICIAN OF LAMPEDUSA This book tells a true story of an optician who saved 47 migrants in open seas off the coast to Sicily late in the summer of 2013. The migrants had been fleeing Africa and were on a seriously overcrowded boat that capsized off the coast to Lampedusa, the largest island of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. At least 300 people drowned. In this book Emma Jane Kirby brings to life the tragedy of what happens on these coasts and the emotions felt by these people migrating, leaving their countries looking for a better place to life in, for better conditions and having to face these tragedies. It also explains how people that lived an experience in first person, saving lives and having to face such a rescue situation feel afterword  the optician and his wife had difficulties falling asleep, had nightmares and became demotivated at work and also had a lot of trouble accepting that they weren’t able to save everyone. It’s a story that shows the two sides of the coin: the worst of humanity and the best of it, too. Racism, bad and good side of people, purity of humanity, solidarity …