BEAR LITERARY CIRCLE

"The Cry of the Dove"
By: Fadia Faqir


One of the books I chose for my summer read was "The Cry of the Dove". I chose this book because the issues Salma, the main character, faces are all issues that alot of modern day teens can relate too. Although I didn't feel a direct connection with the character there are some things I think myself as well as my peers can relate to. The story "The Cry of the Dove" is about a young teenage girl growing up in a Bedouin tribe. Salma had a boyfriend, a boy whom she was madly in love with and one day planned to marry. To her dismay she becomes pregnant, but not only that she had sex out of wedlock which was considered crime with the punishment of death. Salma terrified flees her tribe and is brought into protective custody where her new born child is taken from her as she is rushed to safety in Exter England. Salma is very confused for now she has to start over and regain her morals and values as well as her inner need to return for her lost daughter...


PASSAGES

"It was a new day, but the dewy greenness of the hills, the whiteness of the sheep, the grey-ness of the skies carried me back to my distant past, to a small mud village tucked away between the deserted hills, to Hima, to silver-green olive groves gleaming in the morning light."

RELFECTION

The reason I like this passage is because it is full of imagery. When your reading this you can just imagine the dew on the hills and looking up at the white speckles that are really sheep and then the dark and gloominess of the clouds which she said carried her back to her past when she was in her Bedouin village. This shows that no matter how far advanced from the past she is, just a gloomy day as this one can bring her back to the dreadful days.

POINT OF VIEW -- LIFE

The point of view from which this story is told varies because it goes back and forth between the motherhood of a teenage girl and an older woman looking back on her dreadful past. The point of view on life is a scared teenage pregnant girl and then her reactions to her past later in life.

PERSONAL CONNECTION

I think a personal connection I have to the reader as do a lot of other teens, while it may not be teenage pregnancy but other pressures teens face and also the reactions of parents to these actions. I think many people can connect with Salma because we all have news to break to our parents, whether its a bad test grade, a not so smart choice, and the list goes on, and while we may not get as severely punished as Salma, there is a punishment that fits the crime.

REAL WORLD CONNECTION

I think a real world connection would be the drastically increasing rate in teenage pregnancies. In Salma's time this was uncommon and that's why it was dreadfully frowned upon especially by her strongly religious tribe, but now days teenage girls are becoming pregnant more and more often, although this is wrong and looked down upon by many some people feel as if it is just the way things are.