Response to Sophia Miranda's Crazy Indian dads...

I would agree with you, but the problem is his wife is from the same region, but has embraced Western Culture at the same time has not forgotten were she came from.  Alsana was more concerned with raising her children to the best of her ability and not so concerned with she and her family going to hell or even making deals with God.  Samad is extremely insecure with himself and never realizes it or the damage he ends causing because of his insecurities.  I will give him credit in trying to do the right thing but he ends up taking the worst possible route in any discussion he makes.  Splitting his kid’s ups, the attempted affair, the deals with God, and trying to be a "good" Muslim by being a hypocrite (criticizing secularism but very much being involved and embracing it to a certain extent).  Samad never embraces the future nor the possible opportunities that lay before him but rather stays in the past and continually talks about the good old days.  He is unable to grow as person or chooses not to, either way his family pays for his insecurities.   

In Response to Nikki Freeman's: Woman Objectification and copmarison confusion

There is still a good portion of the world that the sexes are treated very differently.  The Western world (overall) has come to the conclusion that society is better off with the sexes being treated as equally as they can be.  Though, this is not the case in every way, for example Women cannot be drafted, but do not always receive equal pay for equal work that men perform.  In the Middle East, especially in countries that are ruled by theocracies, women are deprived of most of the basic rights women in the West take for granted.  It is still accepted if a women is rapped it is her fault and her own family may perform an honor killing.  Mustafa's women definitely were insecure with themselves, which is the trait that he looked for as they are easy prey for him.  As for the women being sluts, in my experience people who are promiscuous (men and women) tend to be very unsure of themselves and are looking for some sort of acceptance.  As sex is the most intimate activity a couple can have this tends to bring some amount of acceptance/security to the individual for a certain amount of time.  With Mustafa leaving these women would lose that and may fear they would never be able to experience that again or they may have contracted a std and gone insane (syphilis is a possibility).

Confessions of a mask

After reading the first 100 pages and the back of the novel, I find it interesting that the author is gay as well as he is into very weird sexual fetishes. In a culture having the reputation as the Japanese culture does, I personally would never think about a person in this kind of society. Not saying they didn't exist but I didn't not realize that he could be accepted into such a strict society. The strange thing is honorary suicide was still considered acceptable in the recent past so I find it ironical that he lives his life so differently but ends it not in a fashion that’s so outrageous.  At the end of the author’s life in 1970, Japan was no longer a colonizer but rather had been under the control of the United States since September 1945 and society, I would argue, slowly becomes more accepting of outside ideas and anything else that maybe different.   Personally, his guy has some serious issues. Finding grotesque images of men dying and the crucifixion of Christ as sexual turn on is plain disgusting and disturbing. Everyone has their thing but this flirts with that line and will turn into something dangerous.  Of all the fetishes that turn him on the only one I find somewhat normal is the armpit one.  The fact that he lust for blood, even though he fears death, it’s almost fitting that he commits suicide.   

Religion

I find the whole idea of religion very interesting.  I'm not saying there is no god, but rather how people react towards this idea.  A great example of this is how Samad justifies his actions by making excuses and deals with Allah which he turns around and breaks anyways.  His affair with this kid's teacher and how he couldn't stop thinking about her, even though he was married and how he would become upset with her because she was with a married man.  Then when he did call off the affair, he expected her to plead for him to stay but instead she told him where to stick it.  Samad turns around and gives the argument that his children need to be sent back to the old country so they do not fall into temptation.  I think it was because of the guilt he felt for his sins, he just used his sons as an excuse.  He continues onward for some time to try and choose which son should be sent (of course without telling his wife of his plan), but his reasoning is just as flawed as this whole idea.  As he goes back and forth between sons, his justifications are not based on faith nor morality but rather secular reasons.  The son that stays behind is in fact strays far more than the other, but is kept behind because of his potential football skills!  Even though throughout the chapter, Samad keeps informing people that he is Muslim and in fact his wife reminds him that he is the only one in the household that considers himself Muslim.  The rest of the family seems not to care too much about religion, but much rather live their life as to how the wish to live it.