Partition - Semester Project

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My story is set in a village in Pakistan years after the Partition in 1947. It follows a woman just trying to go about her day. While cleaning the house with her kids, they happen upon a diary that she kept when she was younger. They decide to sit down a read it together, and the story's setting changes to the woman's experience with the Partition of India told through a series of diary entries. My main goal with this story is to shed light on what life was like during the partition, especially how hard it was to move from India to Pakistan or the other way around. A lot of people were displaced and a lot were killed. The use of two different settings is to try to show the hardship a lot of people went through to start a nice calm life. I wanted to contrast a family eating breakfast together with their biggest worry being when the power would come back with a family eating what little food they have while hiding in a mosque worrying if they would even be able to make it to the border. A warning of sorts, the partition part of the story can get dark as this time period was full of violence.

Here are the references I used: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18j7OexvQ-UCPsrKY8yTUzeyWMUEnF7qewnYH4mjDX0s/edit?usp=sharing

Finally, here's the link to my story: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14AlIZZ54XbQAwAZHI0DkMJKOARA8gz-kFWa0WYjySxk/edit?usp=sharing


Comments

  1. NikaMay 11, 2020 at 1:14 PM

    Wow. I think you definitely accomplished your goal -- the contrast between the alternating scenes of Asiya's life as an adult and as a child is very clear, very striking, and haunting. I think the finding of the diary was a very clever way to have both of these scenes. This was really really good!

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  2. Minji ChoiMay 12, 2020 at 12:34 PM

    I really enjoyed your story! I love how you displayed all the thoughts Asiya was having as she was going about her day. It really added depth to her character and to the story as a whole. Your story really showed what life was like during the partition, and how it contrasts with Asiya's life afterwards.

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  3. Anya Kaplan-HartnettMay 13, 2020 at 7:32 AM

    Asiya is such an strong character. I love how you write her internal thoughts during the scenes where she's an adult, and the same voice is present in her journal from years ago. The parallels between the two time periods are often beautiful, like the details about lizards and roof afza. It's very powerful to learn about this time period from the eyes of someone who survived, like Asiya, rather than simply learning the textbook account of what happened. The way your wrote Asiya's story really grounds this history in real human experience, which helps readers empathize on a deeper level.

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  4. spolonus282May 15, 2020 at 2:47 PM

    I like how you took an actual event, and told it from the point of view of someone out of the loop. The main character, when writing the diary, only knew a portion of what was going on but still was able to describe the event in a way for it to be considered a history. It sheds light on overall picture of the event and asks what it may be covering up.

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