Snow #6

I finally finished reading this book. It was a very difficult read in my opinion.

Ka's death is narrated in chapter twenty-nine. The season fits in with his death since the whole novel focuses on winter time and winter symbolizes death and the end of life. By now, I have concluded that this novel is based on true events, but I do not know how true it is. Like Fazil tells the readers at the end of the book, there is still room for doubt. We will never be able to understand the people of Kars just by reading this book, so I cannot assume that everything is true. Orhan Pamuk is a very honest narrator and I am amazed by how well he investigated his facts.

This book made me think about religion vs. secularism in the US because there are conflicts in the school system here like there is in the novel. There was a part in the novel where a character asked a very interesting question that was sort of like this: Should God's laws interfere with secular matters? Should the government be able to tell women to bare their heads when it is God's laws that say that women should cover their heads?

I also thought a lot about the meaning of silence- especially about the silence of snow. Many times throughout the novel, the silence of snow is mentioned. Maybe it has to do with the silence of God since the snow reminds Ka of God and mortals cannot hear God. At least, that is what I think. Also, at the end of the novel, when Orhan is walking to the train station, the snow is once again silencing the whole city except for his loud breathing. I cannot help but think that Orhan did not find all of the truth like Fazil said since to me, the snow in the story symbolizes fantasies and the masking of reality. And Orhan went to Kars in the winter...thus the truth may never be fully revealed. I don't know. This book was really hard for me to understand.