House of Sand and Fog, Analysis
Carlos Rivas
English 2341
Professor Scott Whitebird
March 10, 2011
The book and the movie of the same name, The house of sand and fog which is a movie about the conflict that arises over who is rightful owner of a small bungalow along the California coastline. The story in of itself is amazingly refreshing as the whole story doesn’t really have a protagonist or antagonist because at points in the story all characters are a little bit of both.
The book’s and the follow up movie’s main theme are about how different people’s hopes can collide and how dangerous it is when they do. (Perelman, 2003) The novel was well written and unique whilst the movie follows along with the novel almost faithfully mostly because the author himself had a direct hand in the making of the movie. The author Andre Dubus III who writes for the most part, a first person narrative revealing the inner thought and feeling of two of the main characters in a former Iranian colonel Behrani Massoud working two job and taking care of a family while maintaining the illusion of an elaborate lifestyle like he used to enjoy in his country when he worked in the Iranian Air Force. The other character he directly clashes with is Kathy Nicolo, a divorced woman and former addict living in the titular house which was her father house when he was alive. The context clues litter the book as when Behrani makes references in Farsi, his native language of Iran, he call people who live in his apartments as Pooldar which we learn pretty quickly that he means wealthy.
Behrani himself was once a wealthy man in Iran forced to start from scratch in America which he is an immigrant in a new land even after many years and earning citizenship he still in many ways feels like an immigrant. As opposed to Kathy Nicolo who is a former drug addict and divorced from a man who probably wasn’t much of a person to begin with showing that her judgment is not the best in the least, from the book you get this impression in
English 2341
Professor Scott Whitebird
March 10, 2011
The book and the movie of the same name, The house of sand and fog which is a movie about the conflict that arises over who is rightful owner of a small bungalow along the California coastline. The story in of itself is amazingly refreshing as the whole story doesn’t really have a protagonist or antagonist because at points in the story all characters are a little bit of both.
The book’s and the follow up movie’s main theme are about how different people’s hopes can collide and how dangerous it is when they do. (Perelman, 2003) The novel was well written and unique whilst the movie follows along with the novel almost faithfully mostly because the author himself had a direct hand in the making of the movie. The author Andre Dubus III who writes for the most part, a first person narrative revealing the inner thought and feeling of two of the main characters in a former Iranian colonel Behrani Massoud working two job and taking care of a family while maintaining the illusion of an elaborate lifestyle like he used to enjoy in his country when he worked in the Iranian Air Force. The other character he directly clashes with is Kathy Nicolo, a divorced woman and former addict living in the titular house which was her father house when he was alive. The context clues litter the book as when Behrani makes references in Farsi, his native language of Iran, he call people who live in his apartments as Pooldar which we learn pretty quickly that he means wealthy.
Behrani himself was once a wealthy man in Iran forced to start from scratch in America which he is an immigrant in a new land even after many years and earning citizenship he still in many ways feels like an immigrant. As opposed to Kathy Nicolo who is a former drug addict and divorced from a man who probably wasn’t much of a person to begin with showing that her judgment is not the best in the least, from the book you get this impression in
Bibliography: III, A. D. (1999). house of Sand and fog. New York: W. W. Norton & company Inc. Perelman, V. (Director). (2003). House of Sand and fog [Motion Picture].