Iqbal+Discussion+Questions

I would like to use the novel __Iqbal__ by Francesco D'Adamo to look at issues around social justice, children's rights and values (how do we learn what is considered right and wrong).

Assignment 1:

Using the __The Ten Rights__ sheet, choose three of the children's rights that the children working at the carpet factory do not have. Find and copy a quote from the novel (include the page number) that supports your choice.

Create your work here on this page.

Assignment 2:

How do we learn our values? How do we develop a sense of what is right and what is wrong?

This assignment is trying to shed some light on how the conditions in this story, and in real life in this country, can exist despite the existence of the United Nations and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Check out this link to India's position as a member of the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child#India]

The following page numbers contain sentences that might help illuminate the reasons of why what is considered right or wrong in this country are so different from what Canadians consider right or wrong. Choose two or three pages that have not been addressed by someone else and try to find the sentences that may explain the beliefs held by the local people. Copy the quotes after each page number.

Page 17:"He had been down in the tomb once for two days, and when he emerged, parched from heat and stung by scorpions, he just spat in the dirt." I think it's not right to be stuck in a tomb for days.

Page 18:" 'Then he talked to my father, took his hat and the bamboo cane, and left. My mother was crying. She had already lost other children. The next morning, while we were harnessing the buffalo to the plow, my father told me that the doctor would return with medicine that might save my brother. And the doctor did return, and there was another man with him, well dressed a merchant or landowner, and he spoke to my father too. At a certain point he pulled some money out of a belt he had round his waist and showed it to my father, who only said "No"". They should have better medicine that would cure sicknesses.

Page 25:Iqbal never complained to his master he just ignored him. Iqbal did not cry or whine to his master. I Page 32:It was a special morning because Hussain Khan couldent bully them because he ws trying to convince them that he treated them well.

Page 50: The master is stronger the the children that work for him. Nobody cares about the kids who are slaves.The kids are scared of their 'master.'

Page 50: The master is stronger the the children that work for him. Nobody cares about the kids who are slaves.The kids are scared of their 'master.'

Page 60: People hide the children who are slaves when the police or others important people are at their home, and if people do find the kids, then the 'master' somehow convinces them that they are not slaves. People who have children as slaves keep the slaves secret, no one really knows about the slaves.

Page 76: her father was as poor as the poor farmers that sporadically sent their sons to him.

Page 77: "There was no time for school." I think it's wrong for kids to not go to school.

Page 82/83: "They thought things would never change and that there was nothing to do to make them change." It's not right that you can't change things that needs to be changed.

Page 89: "'You see', he explained slowly, 'I really want to see my family after all this time. I want to see my mother and my father, but I don't want to live their life." I think it's wrong that Iqbal can't see his family because he's a slave.

Page 104:"'Because they had to pay rent for the hut they lived in. The boy explained this to me. He pointed to a low, narrow building next to the kiln, and told me that each family has a hut, three metres by three, with a small cooking stove, some cots, and a window without glass. They have to pay the master for everything. They have to pay for the coal they burn and the food they eat. Everything costs a lot. Once they've bought grain and some lentils and onions, a small bottle of oil and some vegetables, nothing is left of their days earnings. The family has an enormous debt, but they weren't able to pay back a single rupee. The boy told me that he'll inherit the debt from his father, and his children will inherit it from him. Then he said, 'Go away. The munshi-the director-will arive in a few minutes, and he doesn't like to see people here.'" I think that it's wrong that people have to live like this everyday.