"It's not so bad now" he said... but I'd seen the way he winced and rubbed his wrists on damp days... "Besides I didn't bring us here for me, did I?" Pg. 113
This excerpt to me shows a pivotal turning point in the story. Baba is shown, for the first time in the novel, to be weakened. His strong willed personality is becoming overwhelmed by his physical ailments, and while Baba seems to love the idea of America, as Amir stated at the beginning of the chapter; it seems that actually living in America does not agree with Baba.
I connected this to several things which I am familiar with. The first connection that popped into my mind would have to be a connection with my history class. During the beginning of the class we'd always hear about the horrible treatment that immigrants would get in this country. We'd hear about the way doctors would be degraded down to janitors, and I thought of how painful that must be to Baba, how embarrassed he must be on the inside, and how painful it must be to hold that all in because of his pride.
I also made a small connection with "Stand and Deliver". I thought of my mini-monologue in Act II in which Escalante explains to the kids the trials and tribulations he faced when he came to America. I remembered how he said that he had to mop floors, bus tables, learn English, take classes about courses he had already taught, and other embarrassing things. When I did that scene I always felt some sort of pain, shame if you will, when I was in character, and I can empathize with Baba.
What a perfect connection! I keep thinking of that wonderful line when Escalante says that he had to take college classes about stuff that he taught back in Bolivia. This was one of my favorite parts of the play, when Escalante comes clean and shares a piece of himself with the students
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