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Maricela
Amir is a fabric merchant from India and narrates a chapter of Seedfolks. As he describes his idyllic childhood in Delhi, he suggests that major cities in India and the U.S. aren’t so different when it comes to their size—but he takes issue with how isolated people are in American cities. As Amir details his experiences meeting other gardeners, he comes to the conclusion that he—and nearly everyone else in Cleveland—is, to some degree, prejudiced against people from other countries. Most importantly, he realizes that the stereotypes surrounding people from a certain country don’t tell the whole story about that person. Rather, it’s necessary to talk with others and share one’s history and memories in the process. And this, he suggests, is the beauty of the community garden: it helped bring the people in his neighborhood together and see each other as neighbors with something to give, rather than as stereotypes or people who should be avoided for one reason or another.
Amir Quotes in Seedfolks
The Seedfolks quotes below are all either spoken by Amir or refer to Amir. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 12: Amir
Quotes
In India we have many vast cities, just as in America. There, too, you are one among millions. But there at least you know your neighbors. Here, one cannot say that. The object in America is to avoid contact, to treat all as foes unless they’re known to be friends. Here you have a million crabs living in a million crevices.
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In the summers in Delhi, so very hot, my sisters and I would lie upon it and try to press ourselves into its world. The garden’s green was as soothing to the eye as the deep blue of that rug. I’m aware of color—I manage a fabric store. But the garden’s greatest benefit, I feel, was not relief to the eyes, but to make the eyes see our neighbors.
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When I heard her words, I realized how useless was all that I’d heard about Poles, how much richness it hid, like the worthless shell around an almond. I still do not know, or care, whether she cooks cabbage.
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She’d gotten quite angry and called me—despite her own accent—a dirty foreigner. Now that we were so friendly with each other I dared to remind her of this. Her eyes became huge. She apologized to me over and over again. She kept saying, “Back then, I didn’t know it was you...”
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Amir Quotes in Seedfolks
The Seedfolks quotes below are all either spoken by Amir or refer to Amir. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 12: Amir
Quotes
In India we have many vast cities, just as in America. There, too, you are one among millions. But there at least you know your neighbors. Here, one cannot say that. The object in America is to avoid contact, to treat all as foes unless they’re known to be friends. Here you have a million crabs living in a million crevices.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In the summers in Delhi, so very hot, my sisters and I would lie upon it and try to press ourselves into its world. The garden’s green was as soothing to the eye as the deep blue of that rug. I’m aware of color—I manage a fabric store. But the garden’s greatest benefit, I feel, was not relief to the eyes, but to make the eyes see our neighbors.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
When I heard her words, I realized how useless was all that I’d heard about Poles, how much richness it hid, like the worthless shell around an almond. I still do not know, or care, whether she cooks cabbage.
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
She’d gotten quite angry and called me—despite her own accent—a dirty foreigner. Now that we were so friendly with each other I dared to remind her of this. Her eyes became huge. She apologized to me over and over again. She kept saying, “Back then, I didn’t know it was you...”
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
