The Wine

“The wine”

The chapter title “The Wine” signifies how during this time alcohol and other things such as cassettes, cards, chess, and parties were banned. Marji and her family and friends did not give these things up as was required, but chose to keep what they were doing a secret.

Summary-- In this chapter it shows Marji’s mother covering their windows so as to be secretive about what they were doing. They would get punished if they had gone on and participated and hosted events such as parties or done things like drink alcohol or play cards, however they do anyway with the hope of not getting caught. While at a party they hear the sirens wail and the party disbands. On the way home Marji’s father gets pulled over, and accused of drinking. Marji’s father tells her and her grandmother to go upstairs and flush all the alcohol down the toilet, and they get away from the officer by saying that she has diabetes and he is willing to let them go. While Marji and her grandmother are upstairs, her father pays off the officer and he leaves happy to get his money without caring about the real problem. After all of this Marji’s father and her family are out of alcohol, but also out of trouble.

Unfamiliar terms-- In this chapter Marji’s father uses an instrument called a Zarb which is also like a drum. At the end of the chapter Marji’s father uses the term “ideology” this term means “the body of a doctrine or belief that guides an individual or a group” (dictionary.com)

Humorous parts-- On page 106 is shows an image of the cleaning lady crushing grapes in the bathtub with her feet saying “God, forgive me, God, forgive me!” I thought that this was humorous because she is clearly against doing something as insignificant as crushing grapes with her feet in a bathtub, but she is doing it anyway and asking for forgiveness from God.

Significant picture-- At the end of the Chapter there is a picture of Marji and her grandmother and then her father walking in and yelling, “Where indeed! Their faith has nothing to do with ideology! A few bills were all he needed to forget the whole thing!!” in response to the question, “where’s the guy?” asked by Marji’s grandmother. What Marji’s father was saying was he really didn’t care whether or not he was breaking the rules, only that he was making money. I chose this picture because this was a very common occurrence at the time; people were forced into positions and thus were only interested in the money not if the job was done right.