Monday, April 19, 2010
House of Sand and Fog: The Escalating Conflict
As you have been viewing the film and noting some of the similarities to events and/or characters in Kite Runner, what do you think are some of the specific causes to the escalating conflict between the Colonel and Cathy and between the Colonel and Lester? What specific prejudices or assumptions do the characters make, limiting their inability to communicate effectively? What about the Colonel's wife and son, Cathy's mother and brother, and even Lester's wife?
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the argument between the colonel and cathy is the house. cathy didnt keep up with her payments so when they government took it from her the colonel paid around 45 thousand dollars for it. because the house is so memorable to her cathy wants it back and gets lester her new boyfriend cop in the situation. lester isnt a fair man because he uses threats to "help" cathy. because colonel's wife doesnt speak much english they assume that she is from the middle western and that she is an immigrant which lester uses that to his advantage. both the colonels wife and son seem not happy with everything that is going on but they cant really say anything because colonel is the man of the house therefore they do as he pleases. cathy's mother and brother live in a lie because they dont know that cathy's husband has abandoned her and that she has lost her home. lester's wife still has some hope that they are not done and that he will return, because she told the kids daddy was taking a break.
ReplyDeleteThe escalating conflict that puts a hindrance on communication efforts between characters in the movie is caused by the prejudices and assumptions they make about one another. The Colonel feels no sympathy for Cathy’s situation because he assumes that since she lost her house, she did not work as hard as he did to earn it, without stopping to ask about how she was wrongfully taxed and evicted. Cathy, on the other hand, assumes he is only there to make a profit on what she still believes is her house, so she has no respect for him. Lester, assuming that they are foreigners who have a reason to be afraid of deportation, tries to threaten the Colonel because he thinks he has power over them as a police officer, but the Colonel sees through him and reports him when Lester refuses to have a civilized conversation with him. The other characters have problems that interfere with their communication as well, such as the Colonel’s wife, who does not speak any English and cannot understand the details of the situation with Cathy and the house and cannot communicate with the American stranger, Lester, who practically terrorizes their family. Cathy cannot get any help from her family because she doesn’t communicate openly with them, as she does not tell her mother anything about her troubled life or money problems, but she tells her brother all about it, making sure he won’t tell their mother. Finally, Lester has problems communicating with his family, and although he explains to Cathy that he regrets marrying his best friend, he cannot explain it well enough to his family, and that is why he tells Cathy he has to go home and “explain things better.” In the end, all of the characters experience problems communicating with other characters.
ReplyDeleteWhat brought the Colonel and Kathy to a huge disagreement begins with pride. Kathy needed the house, especially when her mother and family were coming to visit, because she wanted to show that she still had her strong inner-woman. Colonel Berani has his own pride issues as well, because he wants to live better than what he is assumed of him (by the Americans). He wants to show everyone that he is still the same great money-maker, and can still provide a great life for his family, like he did in his home country. The situation between the Colonel and Lester began when the Colonel gave Kathy a bruise. Lester has protection issues, and wants to make sure the ones he truly cares about are protected and unharmed. Therefore when the bruise was made visible to Lester, he took matters into his own hands and threatened to deport the Berani family. Lester only said this because he believed the Colonel meant to hurt Kathy, when he is at a lack of information. Everyone was at a lack of information, so it really was not anyone's fault for the miscommunication. As for the Colonel's wife and son, they are just a couple of deer in headlights because they do not have the "privelage" to know what is going on, because of gender or age. Kathy's family does not know the secrets that she is hiding, like the fact that there is no longer a "Nick" in her life, or that her home was evicted. Lester's wife was in shock because she did not know how her husband felt. She did not understand that it was not her fault he left her, but fate's fault. It seems as if Kathy and the Colonel both have reasons behind their actions that are personal, which causes more conflict than communication.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the movie each charcater had issues. instead of fully knowing the problem each of them were to stubborn to communicate. Colonel was a family who escape their country to America. Cathy, who loses her house doesnt care about Colonel problem but hers. Instead of talking they get into a arguement and he yokes her up. Lester, tries to take control of the situation but only makes it worst. he is already having problems at home with his own wife and children. NObody talks they argue. the only person that tries in the Mother but its to late.
ReplyDeleteA specific cause for the escalating conflict between the characters is that their is a lack of understanding. Cathy can not comprehend the Colonel's story or what he and his family are going through and vice versa. Lester on the other hand just doesn't want to understand anyone he thinks is wrong. This causes all three families to start breaking apart and cause their selves pain. Cathy is a weak girl who relies on other people. The Colonel views Cathy as unworthy to talk to him and Lester can't abide the law.
ReplyDeleteThe escalating conflicts between the characters begins with the house and trying to determine who has rightful ownership, however the root of the problem stems from lack of communication and pride. All the characters have trouble communicating different aspects to others. For example Cathy and the Colonel both only looks at the problem of the house from their perspective and do not take the time to hear the other persons side of the story. Cathy like her Lawyer assumed that Colonel had money due to the way he dressed. The Colonel on the other hand assumed that cathy had the house put up for auction because she did not pay taxes even though the government was at fault in that situation. Lester was also guilty of making false assumptions for example after hearing that the Colonels wife did not speak much English and cathy explained they were form the middle east he thought that threatening to have them deported would strike a nerve. Lester also had problems communicating with his wife after leaving he eventually told Cathy that he had to go hoe for a while to explain to his wife and children what was going on. Communication was also a trouble for Colonels wife because she did not speak much english and could not understand Cathy's situation when she tried to explain. All the characters were also guilty of issues concerning pride. Cathy had too much pride to admit to her mother that her boyfriend had left and that her house was taken and put up for auction and after seeking help form her brother asked him not to tell their mother. The Colonel and his family had to try and put on a good show for the rest of their family and friends by holding a big wedding for his daughter and telling his friends that the house in which they were living in was only an investment property. If everyone would have been more understanding and actually listened to each other and the problems they were facing the escalating conflict could have been easier resolved. The characters also needed to let go of their pride issues and realize that everyone needs help sometime.
ReplyDeleteThe escalating conflict in the movie is caused by assumptions and prejudice remarks. The colonel and Kathy have conflicts because the colonel has no sympathy for her because she lost her house because she didn’t pay her businesses tax. The colonel assumed that Kathy didn’t work hard enough to keep her home as he had to provide for his family and to keep ever thing they owned. Now Kathy believes that the colonel is only buying her house to flip it and make a profit which she believes he stole from her, and she has no respect for him. When Kathy is asked where the family is from she answers, “I don’t know but the wife barley speaks any English.” Lester on the other hand makes the assumption that the colonel and his family are illegal immigrants and have every reason to be afraid of deportation. So he takes it upon himself to make a trip over to the house to threaten the colonel and his family that if he doesn’t give Kathy back her house then he will have them all deported upsetting the colonel’s wife and son. There are also communication problems in the movie between the colonel’s wife and the Americans, and Kathy and her family. The colonel’s wife doesn’t speak much English so she really doesn’t understand the problem with Kathy and the colonel over the house, she also has trouble communicating with some of the Americans in the movie like in the scene where Lester is asking what happened to Kathy after she attempts to kill her self and the colonel’s wife answers him in her language and Lester yells “in English” at her. Kathy’s communication problems with her family are seen when her mother calls at the beginning and Kathy lies about her husband being in bed with her when he really left her eight months ago and again when she talks to her brother on the phone and tells him at the end of the conversation not to tell her mom. So as you can see in the end all of the characters in the movie experience some type of communication problem with one another.
ReplyDeleteSome specific conflicts that i believe came to escalating the situation, was the ethnicity. Kathy and Lester assumed that the Berhani family were immigrant, which is when Lester decided to pay them a vist and threaten them to deport them. Of course the Colonels family was devestated and were afraid that if they went back to their country they would be killed. This made the Colonel angry and want to fight back even harder where he asked them to pay him four times the price he payed for it. The assupmtions that Kathy made was that the colonel simply wanted the house for an investment, and she felt he was cold because she was homeless and it was only a profit for him. Where in reality all he wanted to do was stop working in those conditions of a construction worker and make a better life for his family. If Kathy and the colonel sat down and talked about the situation before making assumption then maybe it would have turned out differently. I also believe that Kathy's action were wrong for her trasspassing into the Berhanis new home simply because she wanted to satisfy he family. I believe this situation could have turned out differntly if both partys would have attacked the situation differently.
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