Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Bobis
Bobis
(Source: http://www.merlindabobis.com.au/biography.htm)
I feel the need to say that she may have written this story in order to give
a lesson and showcase how multiculturism has changed society over the
years. We were all divided before globalization has started. It takes
months for a message in this country to reach the other one. People were
sheltered to only know a certain culture which is their own and now we
can appreciate everyone’s culture by taking the time and effort to get to
know this specific culture from another country.
The theme of this book, multiculturism, isn’t far from what Philippine
literature can offer. Most of the modern Philippine literature published
today has influences from world literature but it mainly focuses on our
own culture, unlike this story, it promotes several cultures.
To keep the story short, this is a story of 5 different people who came
from different countries. They shared a dish to one another in order to
give someone a taste of what their culture is like. (No, really! That’s the
summary!)
It’s a wholesome story that I ever read about sharing one’s culture. It’s
a bite-sized story you can easily read without having to sit through an
hour trying to figure out what’s the meaning of a certain object that
wasn’t meant to have meaning at all.
(Source: http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/spring97/litcrit.html)
I like this story for its admirable writing style. It’s a beautiful
representation of how ‘show and tell’ works. I can’t help but look back at
how it was written from time to time. Her writing style is delicate and
imaginative. The way she describes the ‘taste of the food’ makes me ‘feel
hungry’ to know about other cultures and how these people experience
them. I also like how this story wasn’t ‘in-your-face-philosophical” type
of narrative. Some stories just tend to go overboard in showing
symbolism and moral lessons that just tend to be overwhelming.
However, some of the descriptions didn’t sit right with me. Some
descriptions just seem off and tend to give another picture instead of the
actual intention. The first opening lines were a bit difficult to understand
but after rereading again, I came to terms with it.
I would recommend this book to… everybody!
This story won’t make someone bored and it’s entertaining to read. This
story is perfect for both light and heavy readers who want to view
different cultures in a new perspective and a respectable way.