2. Rosa and Aminat

[Carol]

Sulfia was a big reason for this attachment to me. When she doesn't even know how she got pregnant, and then has a child, how could she possibly have parenting skills. I liked Rosa in the Grandma role. I thought she had a lot of skills to share, and though a little tough, I felt she had nothing but Aminat's best interests at heart. If I lived in that time/culture, I would have been grateful for a woman like Rosa to take care of me. I admit I'm not quite done, so need to finish, and will comment more when done.

[Meghan]

I have a whole difference take on Rosa. She was soo attached to Aminat becuase she lost her grip and control of everyone else in her life. When her daughter got pregnant and Rosa was unable to successfully abort the baby and her husband left Aminat was the only thing she had complete control over. In a sick twisted way this might have been love, but I viewed it more as Rosa thought of Aminat as a possession that was hers to do what she pleased with, regardless of anyone else's wishes or free will. If Rosa had been a man many would have considered the character depraved and sick. As you can probably tell the author really painted Rosa as a scary person to me albeit in a charming way.

[Carol]

Meghan, I'd forgotten about her trying to abort the baby. That does indeed put it in a different perspective. Thanks for the reminder.

[Meghan]

People like Rosa scare me...charming to outsiders...but evil to their loved ones. In many ways there is no one more dangerous.

[Julie]

Maybe Rosa's desperation for a close attachment to Aminat was partially to spite Sulfia- she thought Sulfia could do no right, so it would've killed her to have Sulfia and Aminat have a healthy mother-daughter relationship. She decided to try and sabotage that relationship by becoming the primary woman in Aminat's life.

[Meghan]

I think that has a lot to do with it. She is unable to view anyone else's life choices as adequate when compared to hers.

[Ashley]

I think Rosa views Aminat as an extension of herself. She continually talks about how pretty her grandgirl is--"same" featues and so on. She absolutely does not believe that Aminat is her own person, with the right to make her own choices. Rosa is so caught up in making sure Aminat does everything "right" with the stupid little stuff that she doesn't see that she's just pushing her away.

The lady definitely can't pick her battles. EVERYTHING is a battle--to the death!