Shzeen – JewellENG1101D325/C325

Audience 2

4 December 2019

The human rights violations occurring in China aren’t being addressed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Pakistan is a neighboring country to China and they have been allies for quite some time. This however, should be no excuse to not call out the Chinese government. Rather, it is a great point of leverage from which to demand an end to the inhumane reeducation camps and senseless violence against the Uighur Muslims. The following is a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan. I’ve chosen to write a letter because I’m aware of the likelihood of it being acknowledged as the Prime Minister’s office has been known to respond to the concerns of the people.

Dear Prime Minister Imran Khan,

You are the Prime Minister of Pakistan. You hold great power and have been utilizing it to do great things for Pakistan. This country is undoubtedly making progress in the form of reform, taxation, and alliances. The most interesting thing about you, however, is your incorporation of Islam into your campaign. Yet, you fail to address the genocide going on in China, one of your most diligent allies. There is no faith that would allow for complacency in the face of such unjustness.

In an interview with the Financial Times, you were questioned about your stance on the mass detention camps where Uighur muslims are being held. You failed to acknowledge the truth and you simply said, “I don’t know much about that.” This is a lie.

It’s no secret that Pakistan depends on China for diplomatic, military and economic support.

At the United Nations General Assembly you said that “China has come to help when we were right at the rock bottom.” You praised the Chinese government and all that they have done for Pakistan. Well now it is your turn to help China, by way of its most vulnerable communities and your brothers and sisters in Islam, the Uighurs. They have been beaten down to rock bottom, Mr. Prime Minister. Who will help them? As a Muslim yourself, how would you feel if your government forced you to disavow your values; to eat pork, to neglect your daily prayers, to know that military officals were “sharing beds” with your wife?

These are the kinds of horrific acts the Chinese government is inflicting on the Uighur Muslims. As you turn a blind eye to the tragedy occurring know that the world is watching, and more importantly, God is watching.

The people of Pakistan deserve to know the truth about where you stand.

Your Uighur brothers and sisters demand your attention.

It’s your call, Mr. Prime Minister.

Best Regards,

Shzeen Cheema

Works Cited

Chaudhury, Dipanjan Roy. “US Rebukes Pakistan for Being Mum on Plight of Uyghurs.” The Economic Times, Economic Times, 28 Sept. 2019, economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/why-pm-imran-khan-is-silent-about-chinas-treatment-of-uighur-muslims-us-to-pakistan/articleshow/71324644.cms?from=mdr.

“China’s Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-repression-uighurs-xinjiang.

Dhume, Sadanand. “Opinion | Pakistan Gives a Pass to China’s Oppression of Muslims.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 3 Oct. 2019, www.wsj.com/articles/pakistan-gives-a-pass-to-chinas-oppression-of-muslims-11570142866.

“Imran Khan Called out for ‘Double Standard’, Ignoring Issues of Uighur Muslims.” Asia’s Premier News Agency – India News, Business & Political, National & International, Bollywood, Sports, 15 Sept. 2019, www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/imran-khan-called-out-for-double-standard-ignoring-issues-of-uighur-muslims20190916040001/.

Westcott, Ben. “Imran Khan Dodges Questions on Chinese Muslim Detentions.” CNN, Cable News Network, 29 Mar. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/03/28/asia/imran-khan-china-uyghur-intl/index.html.

“World Uyghur Congress Slams Pakistan PM Imran Khan for His ‘Silence’ on Uyghur Muslims Issue in China.” Google, Google, www.google.com/amp/s/www.timesnownews.com/amp/international/article/world-uyghur-congress-slams-pakistan-pm-imran-khan-for-his-silence-on-uyghur-muslims-issue-in-china/489890.

Audience 1

4 December 2019

There is a genocide occurring in the west of China, a modern-day Holocaust of the Uighur people. Despite the awareness of this crisis, those appointed to preventing such horrors (namely the United Nations) are startlingly silent. My decision to address the UN is due to my disbelief at the fact that they are very much aware of the ongoing terror the Uighurs are facing, yet they are allowing their own indifferences to prevent much-needed intervention. My message will be written in the form of a letter because of their authoritative power–something that addressing the Secretary General demands. And more importantly, letters are personal, conveying genuine concern. In this letter, I am trying to convey the importance of the topic and hopefully cause the addressee to take action.

Dear Mr Secretary General,

Imagine: it is the end of an incredibly taxing semester, you are overjoyed to be finally going home and seeing your family. Your mother’s warm hugs, the wrinkles around your father’s eyes when he sees you, it brings a skip to your step, a smile to your face. You rush home only to find stone-faced Chinese officials waiting for you with no trace of your family in sight. Your home, your haven, feels different–disturbed. You muster up the courage to ask about your family and are informed they have been placed in special “schools” and that if they “behaved,” they would be allowed to come home. Your stomach begins to knot and your palms grow sweaty. The officials then take you to see your family, with strict orders to comply–or else. And this is how you and all your neighbors are gathered. You see the lady down the street who feeds the neighborhood cats, the shopkeeper, your teacher with the crooked glasses. You even see your cousin, the one who always teases you, but his laughing face is drawn, his brow furrowed, and his movements jerky. The feeling in your gut worsens.

China’s treatment of the Uigher Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region is nothing new, it can be likened to that of the Jewish people by Nazi Germany. The world could not save the billions of Jewish lives lost. Everyday, more and more Uighurs are subject to the brutality of the Chinese government. We must take immediate action to prevent history from repeating itself.

Victims have come forward and shared their experiences, opening up on what it was like to escape the clutches of the Chinese government. They are willingly reliving their nightmarish memories repeatedly in hopes of getting the attention of people like you. People in positions of power who can help stop the suffering of their people. There are hundreds of thousands of people in need of our help and it is our duty to help them.

Four-hundred Chinese documents were leaked. These documents included the government of China’s plans to cleanse the region of Muslim majority groups. “The documents also include several speeches given by President Xi Jinping where he lays the groundwork for how everything should play out” (Ramzy and Buckley). The President himself is directly responsible, ordering Chinese officials to gather these groups and place them into reeducation camps. He went on to say that the officials should be “sharing beds with” the detained women. China claims that they are trying to cleanse its country of “radical Islam,” they claim that they are trying to rid their country of terrorists, a baseless claim (Maizland). In the words of the Council on Foreign Relations, “their only crime is being Muslim.” President Xi Jinping is using “radical Islam” as an excuse to murder the Uighur people. Again we see the parallels between the Uighurs of China and the Jews of Nazi Germany. Is faith so heinous a crime that it may justify genocide?

I understand that the members of the United Nations are divided in terms of China’s treatment of these minorities. I urge you to consider the severity of the situation and put aside your differences to act immediately. Every moment spent postponing a solution means lives lost. I urge you to do something, anything.

The Uighurs need you to act on your promise to be the upholders and preservers of peace.

Sincerely,

Shzeen Cheema

Works Cited

Deutsche Welle. “UN Members Divided over China’s Treatment of Uighur Minority: DW: 30.10.2019.” DW.COM, www.dw.com/en/un-members-divided-over-chinas-treatment-of-uighur-minority/a-51046710.

“History of the UN Seventieth Anniversary.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/un70/en/content/history/index.html.

Kirby, Jen. “China’s Brutal Crackdown on the Uighur Muslim Minority, Explained.” Vox, Vox, 7 Nov. 2018, www.vox.com/2018/8/15/17684226/uighur-china-camps-united-nations.

Press, Associated. “Secret Documents Reveal How China Mass Detention Camps Work.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 25 Nov. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/mass-surveillance-system-flags-uighurs-for-detention-camps/2019/11/24/f8077904-0f19-11ea-924c-b34d09bbc948_story.html.

Ramzy, Austin, and Chris Buckley. “’Absolutely No Mercy’: Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Nov. 2019, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/china-xinjiang-documents.html.

Short Stories

Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. Perfection Learning, 2001.

This story documents the complicated reaction of Louise Mallard upon learning of her husband’s death. Set in the late nineteenth century, this story takes place in the Mallard residence. The historical setting of this story is significant to the theme regarding the oppressive status of married women. The tone of “The Story of an Hour” is ironic, people assumed that Mrs. Mallard would be sad after the passing of her husband, however, the ending of this story proved that instead she felt free. Louise Mallard shows a lot of character development when it comes to her emotions and how she feels; pathos is evident here. “She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.” Mrs. Mallard’s growing awareness of the freedom she will have without Brently Mallard, her husband, lurks until the very end of the story. A great turmoil fills Mrs.Mallard as she seems glad that her husband has died, but she still thinks of Brently’s “kind, tender hands”.

Chopin, Kate. Desiree’s Baby . Perfection Learning, 2001.

In “Desiree’s Baby” Chopin explores southern racism and the widespread of hatred when it comes to the mixture of races. Set before the Civil War, this story is about a baby and a racial crisis between a husband and a wife. Armand is a wealthy Louisiana plantation owner, later when he’s burning Desiree’s things, he finds his mother’s letter, in which she thanks God for keeping her secret that Armand is part black. At times, the tone is ominous, hinting at the troubles that lie ahead. The author uses logos to appeal to the audience with reason, during the time of the civil war, America was fighting to abolish slavery. It makes sense that racism and xenophobia was still evident during this time, so much so that Armand’s biggest disgrace would be the showing of his black ancestry through his child. “Moreover he no longer loved her because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name.” As a wealthy plantation owner, Armand feels the need to keep his appearance, he can’t bear to look at his own child but he isn’t aware of who’s at fault.

Henry, O. “The Skylight Room.” Short Stories and Classic Literature, americanliterature.com/author/o-henry/short-story/the-skylight-room.

Hope is important. It is the thing that allows us to feel excitement and joy. It is the thing that allows us to move beyond the present moment. A young woman in the short story, ”The Skylight Room” by O. Henry, uses hope to light up the darkness in her life. This story can be described as a modern day fairy tale, set in the heart of the authors favorite city, New York. This heartwarming tale describes the dream come true romance of Miss Leeson, a poor working girl in New York that looks towards the light in darkness. The author uses epithets to describe the characters, for example, “…gave her the incredulous, pitying, sneering, icy stare…”, the epithets are used here to intensify the way she looked at the heroine. The author uses words like “stare” instead of “look”, this shows the emotional coloring; in other words, pathos. Another example of appealing to emotions is when the author says, “…full of tender, whimsical fancies…” this is used to show us the girl’s inner world brighter.

Jacobs, W. W. “The Monkey’s Paw.” Short Stories and Classic Literature, americanliterature.com/author/w-w-jacobs/short-story/the-monkeys-paw.

“The Monkey’s Paw” is a story about a mystical charm, a monkey’s paw that is brought into the home of the White family by Sergeant Major Morris, who has served in India. The monkey’s paw has the ability to grant 3 wishes to 3 people. This story vividly illustrates the old saying of, “Be careful what you wish for.” It presents Mr. White, an ordinary person with a magical item and allows his own character traits (the desire to be free of debt) to destroy him. The monkey’s paw indeed grants his wishes, but they were never granted in the way he envisioned. Somewhere in England, this story takes place in the 1900’s, mainly inside and around the White family home. The author shows sympathy, with a hint of mischief towards his characters and the subject at play. Logos is used to appeal to the majority of the audience, this story vividly illustrates the old saying of, “Be careful what you wish for”, when Mr. White wishes what he does, he doesn’t think it through and this ultimately leads to more harm being done. ‘“with a look of alarm on his face, caught him by the arm. “If you must wish,” he said gruffly, “wish for something sensible.”’. The sergeant-major in a way tried to warn Mr.White by telling him to be smart and reasonable with what he’d wish for.

Maupassant, Guy de. The Necklace and Other Tales. Random House USA Inc, 2004.

In the short story “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant, it is evident that one of the central themes is appearance vs. reality. For Mathilde, one of the main characters, her necklace symbolizes wealth, beauty and eventually, shame as she goes into debt trying to replace the lost necklace. The irony in this story is that the necklace was artificial. This story takes place in Paris, France, the author uses currency in the form of francs and uses the titles monsieur and madame. The author seems detached from the characters but understanding of their situations. The tone in this story is the author’s attitude towards his subject. The use of logos is evident in this story as Maupassant tries to explain the power in being grateful, Mathilde had lived years in misery due to her wanting to live a more materialistic life. The author is trying to show the audience that we must be cautious of becoming too greedy otherwise, we may end up in a situation similar to Mathilde’s.

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Black Cat. Applewood Books, 2016.

In the short story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe, love and hate are the two key themes. The narrator is very fond of his pets and wife until he grows irritable of them leading him to kill his black cat. Eventually, he finds another black cat which he also tried to kill but, instead he accidentally killed his wife. The narrator tries to hide the truth by walling up his wife’s body but, the voice of the black cat (trapped in the wall) helps bring him to justice. The event in this tale takes place at the narrator’s home, however, the recounting of these events takes place on a single day in the narrator’s prison cell. At times, this story is unwittingly ironic and irrelevant, at others, it is dark and mocking; the tone is variable. The use of pathos is evident all throughout the story, “with these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy when it came to feeding or caressing them” (Poe, 12). The narrator is a textbook definition of a psychopath, he offers insight on what the inner workings of a psychopath are. There are many emotions at play here especially when you take into account that the narrator writes his story before being hung for the murder of his wife.

Short Story Rhetorical Analysis of “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant

Honesty is the best policy. In “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, Mathilde and her husband lead a very simple life. Until one day, her husband, Mr.Loisel receives an invitation to a ball. Mathilde is very displeased to learn about this invitation as she has nothing “extravagant” to wear. Here is where Maupassant uses hyperbole irony, in order to have Mathilde seem as a greedy character. Once Mathilde has her dress and diamond necklace, on her way back from the ball is when she notices that she lost the necklace. The short story is formed around the loss of this diamond necklace. Mathilde and her husband had changed their lifestyles and had spent the next 10 years paying off the debt from replacing the necklace. The Loisel’s face conflict between paying off the debt and the characterization of Mathilde, this contributes to the themes seen in the story. Throughout this story, the author tries to tell us that we should be honest with people and that we must be grateful for what we have.

The characterization of Mathilde also helped to contribute to the overall theme. “One of those pretty charming girls, born by a blunder of destiny in a family of employees” (page 1). The author is being direct when he tells us that she was born into a family of destiny, and for this reason she feels she must live up to it. Characterization can be defined as the creation or construction of a fictional character. We can see as the story develops, how guilty and remorseful Mathilde feels.

The author uses characterization and hyperbole irony to get his point across. Hyperbole irony can be defined as when a character contradicts themselves extensively. A direct example of this was seen when Mathilde was displeased to receive an invitation to the ball. For 10 years, the Loisel’s lived miserably trying to pay off their debt. If Mathilde had just been honest, she wouldn’t have needed to buy a replacement for a fake necklace.

https://americanliterature.com/author/guy-de-maupassant/short-story/the-necklace

2006. Kindergarten

2006. Kindergarten.

We were told to write a story, there was a number of lines we were required to fill. I remember we had our blue folders up, it was a test and there was a time limit.

Palms sweaty, cramps in my left hand, I was in a rush. I had to finish on time. I could hear everyone’s pencils scribbling on the paper, they had so much to say, I remember thinking. I knew what I wanted to say but, under all the pressure it didn’t translate well on paper. “And then aun scwad eradiue vatxjia gudia maan iujxn euo…” is what I started to write in order to fill the lines.

Pencils dropping, papers rusting, chairs sliding back, everyone began to hand in their assignments.

As I got up, a part of me thought, “the teacher will understand what I’m trying to say”, but when she looked at my paper, she was so confused. I quickly went back to my seat, I couldn’t wait to go home and draw.

Beginning.

I grew up speaking roughly 4 languages and I was terrible at all of them. I remember my brain being so confused all the time. “Speak Urdu with your mom” my dad would say. Meanwhile, he spoke to me in Punjabi. We’d watch movies in Hindi and my siblings and I conversed in English.

English. What a language.

As I grew up, I slowly mastered these languages but it sure was a rollercoaster learning them. In elementary school I was placed in ESL, my dad was so disappointed, he’d always say to me “you was born here, how could you not know the english”. My spirit was constantly crushed, I would get so frustrated when it came to reading and writing. Instead of reading I’d look at the illustrations and sometimes I would copy them. I’d draw them over and over again until one of the teachers would scream my name incorrectly.

Reading tests.

We had books. We read them. When it came to reading tests, we would read a passage aloud to the teacher. As we read the words, she’d put a check mark next to them with her green marker indicating that, yes, we did in fact read these words out loud successfully. Some kids would move on to the “next level”. I would always stay at the same level.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like reading, there had been only one way of teaching and I couldn’t comprehend the lessons. I found them boring. Stupid. Useless.

I wanted help, but I didn’t know how to ask or what to say. I wanted to do better but I was stuck. I wanted to write about how I was feeling but, I didn’t have the vocabulary. I wanted to make my dad proud but I didn’t know where to begin.

English, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi.

Looking back has made me realize how difficult it was, finding a balance between these languages. There wasn’t exactly a “how to” guide on speaking four languages. Even now, I struggle with my third and fourth languages, but these experiences make me who I am today. Even though I struggle, I know it’s worth it.

Author: Shzeen

Audience 2

Audience 1

Short Stories

Short Story Rhetorical Analysis of “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant

2006. Kindergarten

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