Blog 5

 The background of  the reason why the author wrote this poem is that people started to discriminate Arab people after 9/11. Because the terrorists that planed the attack were Arabian, including Osama Ben Laden,which was the most famous terrorist in the world. This event brought the whole Arab nation a horrible fame, and that’s why Nye wanted to write this poem for explaining the truth of Arab people to the world. She mainly introduced a few aspects in the poem and use different things to stand for them. I think the reason why he didn’t use straight expressions to tell them but use different things to represent them, is because that she wants the readers to understand them by knowing the essence of the poem. I like this method because we can tell the points as well as knowing some interesting facts about the Arab culture.

 The first point that she mentioned is that the deep and mysterious Arab culture is accumulated years by years, centuries by centuries, took a really long time to form. And I quote”It was never too strong for us, make it blacker, Papa, thick in the bottom, tell again how the years will gather, in small white cups, how luck lives in a spot of grounds.” She used Arab coffee to represent the Arab culture, “never strong for us” means that their culture is too “thick” , and nothing can really penetrate it. She is kind of giving the hint that coffee is the culture by saying that “years gather”. The first paragraph is playing a great role starts the whole article by a main concept of Arab culture, so that she can explore more details and list them below, which she did. For example,I quote”Leaning over the stove, he let it boil to the top, and down again. Two times. No sugar in his pot” These sentences truly gives the idea that Arab culture has been formed , thumping by different challenges and difficulties. In my opinion. “No sugar on his pot” means that the Arab culture is pure, unadulterated. This is a fantastic use of representation.

 In the rest of the article she introduced the readers several things of Arab culture, for example, quotes, “olive-wood beads”, “pocket handkerchiefs”, “dish of corn”. “Olive wood beads” is the ingredients that make coffee, and it’s showing the spirit of simple and sincere of Arab people. The reason why I say it represents Arab people is because coffee beans make coffee and Arab nation is consists of Arab people. It exactly fits the relationship. “Pocket handkerchiefs” is the symbol of Arab people and one of the most significant dressing code for them.

 In conclusion, the article shows different essences of Arab cultrue, and she is using her own words to tell the world that Arab people are not the in the way that they think. On the other hand, people should get to know about them better because they have such interesting ethinic backgrounds.