Unit Six The Telephone

Period 7-8: Detailed Study of the Text

1. It rose and set,and the seasons rolled by and we sowed seed and harvested and ate and playedand married our cousins and had babies who got whooping cough and chickenpox-andthose children who survived... (para. 1)

— In theremaining part of the paragraph, the writer summarizes what life was like inhis home village when he was a child. The villagers followed the life patterngeneration after generation. He uses a series of action verbs to emphasize theunchanging cycle of birth, marriage, toil and death in the small Lebanesevillage. The paragraph ends with the conclusion that with Iife as it was, therewas no need to keep track of time.

the seasons rolled by: theseasons came and went in steady succession

 

Cultural Note:

lntermarriage among cousins is very commonin some countries. The practice has come down from ancient times, when peoplethere were mostly nomadic herdsmen who had no permanent settlements and movedwith the animals from place to place. There were very few options open to youngpeople in the choice of spouse. Today, this intermarriage is still commonbecause of economic considerations. For poor families, marriage within anextended family saves the trouble of exchanging dowries. When rich people marrytheir cousins, they don't worry that someday their money and property will passto another family.

2. It wasn't thatwe had no system for keeping track of time and of the important events in ourlives. (para. 2)

— Thisdoes not mean that we had no way of knowing what year, or season, or day, orhour it was and of remembering when such important events as births, weddings,deaths, disasters happened.

3. And that's theway it was in our little village for as far back as anybody could remember.(para. 8)

— Andthat's how we kept track of the important events in our little village for aslong as even the oldest people could remember.

Note: Here,"as far back as anybody could remember" serves as the object of "for."

4. ... because menwho would not lie even to save their own souls told and retold that story untilit was incorporated into Magdaluna’s calendar. (para. 8)

— … becausemen who would not lie for any reason or purpose, not even to save theirsouls...

until it was incorporated into Magdaluna's calendar: until the event became one of the things by which we kept track of the importantevents in our lives

incorporate sth (into): to addor include sth as part of sth else, e.g.

   Thecompany decided to incorporate the new feature into their microcomputer.

   Anurnber of courses in public relations bave been incorporated into our curriculum.

5. We little brown boys who went with our mothers to fetch water loved these fights... (para. 10)

— In the remaining part of the paragraph, the writer, as an adult, recalls and describes humorously the excitement the little boys felt at the chance of seeing the usually unexposed parts of the female body. We smile, as we read this part, atthe little boys' innocent curiosity about what they normally couldn't see andwe find nothing repulsive in the description.

Cultural Note:

The traditional robe Arab women wearoutdoors is a three-piece garment: a long sleeved black dress reaching to theheels, a large black shawl to hide the hair and to wear over the shoulders anda black, nontransparent veil to cover the face showing only the eyes. In a fewArab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Yemen, women must wear such a garmentwhen they go out.

6. I remember therush, the excitement, the sun dancing on the dust clouds as a dress ripped anda young white breast was revealed, then quickly hidden. (para. 10)

— This scene has never been erased from my memory. Some women were fighting so furiously that dust clouds were created. The sun (meaning sunlight) was moving quickly on the dust when a young woman's dress was torn open and her breastexposed. We little boys would rush to steal a glance before it was hiddenagain.

I stillremember the excitement I felt at such moments.

7. But, in anotherway, the year of the drought was also one of the worst of my life, because thatwas the year that Abu Raja, the retired cook, decided it was time Magdaluna gotits own telephone. (para. 11 )

— This isanother transitional sentence that begins the main part of the essay: How thetelephone changed the way of life of the villagers and marked a turning pointin the writer's life. All the first ten paragraphs serve as an introduction:What life was like before the telephone came along.

Note how the writer opens this section.After concluding that the year of the drought will always be one of the bestyears of his childhood, he goes on to describe the year as one of the worst inhis life, of course, from a child's point of view, or in the short run. Surelyin the long run, the year of the drought would be one of the most important inhis life.

8. ... andMagdaluna was not going to get anywhere until it had one. (para. 11 )

— ... andMagdaluna wouldn't achieve any success without a telephone.

get anywbere/somewbere/nowhere: to make some/no progress or have some/no success, e.g.

   Have yougot anywhere in your project?

   You'llsurely get somewhere ifyou persist in it.

Compare:

not to get sb anywhere: will nothelp sb to succeed, e.g.

   Losingyour temper won 't get you anywhere with them.

9. ... the shoutwent.out that... (para. 12)

— ... thesound of sb shouting informed people that. . .

The usualidiom is "the word went out," but here, obviously, is the coinagemeaning “the news was shouted across the fields”.

go out: to be told to people

10. Her house wasan island of comfort, an oasis for the weary village men, exhausted from havingso little to do. (para . 20)

— Herhouse was a place where the village men could find comfort, just as an oasis isfor weary travellers in the desert. The men sought pleasure because life inthis mountain village was monotonous and boring.

exhausted from having so little to do: exhausted because the men had so little to do (for recreation). This is aparadox(a statement consisting of two parts that seem to mean the opposite of eachother), which is frequently used in writing to achieve rhetorical effect.

11. And they werealways looking up from their games and drinks and talk to glance at the phonein the corne几as if expecting it to ring any minute and bring news that would changetheir lives and deliver them from their aimless existence. (para. 21)

— Thesentence tells us why the center of the village shifted from Im Kaleem's houseto the store.

On theface of it, the men were now flocking to the store to do the same sort ofthings. However, while drinking, talking and playing games, from time to timethey lifted their heads to look quickly at the phone. The new machine hadignited an unspoken hope 一 to escape from theirpresent life, which the writer describes as "aimless existence." Sothey were waiting by the telephone, hungry for news from the outside world.

their aimless existence: This isthe kind of life the writer thought the people in his home village was leading:meaningless and purposeless.

existence: a way of Iiving, especially if thisis difficult or boring, e.g.

   Therefugees have a miserable existence.

   Thefamily depended on what their land could produce for their very existence.

Notice thedifference between "existence" and "Iife."

12. Magdalunabecame a skeleton of its former self, desolate and forsaken, like the tombs, aplace to get away from. (para. 24)

— With thehealthy, the young, and the able-bodied all gone, Magdaluna was not what it hadbeen. The houses, the streets and the store were there, but they were no longeralive with laughter and the loud voices of the men talking, laughing, andarguing. It became a much deserted place, a place to escape from, a graveyardor cemetery.

13. Like the otherswho left Magdaluna before me, I am still looking for that better life. (para.25)

— He isnow an American professor or writer, and his living conditions must have beengreatly improved. But had he realized his dream and found the happy life he hadin mind? The author said no. He was implying that there were many things he wasnot happy about in this new world. That's why he was still looking for thatbetter life. And this is why he becomes so nostalgic. This feeling is probablyshared by many immigrants.