Literary Text Summary on Ajax Là-bas

Central character: The main character is Saliha. She is a Turkish immigrant who now lives in Park Extension. She is 26 years old and works as a cleaning lady. She used to be a teacher and now wants to learn English and French. She wants to rebuild her life, here in Montreal, but it is not always easy for immigrants to do so. However, she is perseverant and determined. She has a high sense of organization.

Other characters: The Rivest are a French couple who take good care of Saliha and they travel a lot. Her other clients are: The two spinster sisters (suspicious, very messy people, greedy), the old Czech (quiet and lonely man) and her friend Eleni. Saliha cleans her house in exchange for hair and nail treatments. There also is the principal and her mother.

Setting: The story takes mostly place in Monsieur and Madame Rivest’s house, in Longueuil. They live in a building. We know it because Saliha has to take the elevator to get to their residence. In her flashbacks, she also remembers being in the schoolyard filled with children in Turky.

Narrator: The narrator is limited-omniscient. We primarily see the story from Saliha’s perspective. The principal brings another perspective to the story when he gives his speech. There could also be a third perspective: the unspecified narrator. The narrator speaks in a good English compared to what Saliha could have spoken since she is learning English.

Events in summary: Throughout the story, Saliha cleans the Rivest’s house. 1) Sitting on the washing machine, she is thinking about her cleaning job while smoking a cigarette. 2) She realizes that she always gets her period when she has to work here. 3) She thinks about the first time she had her period at 11 years old. 4) She talks about Canadian culture throughout the detergents. 5) She vacuums the house and thinks about the warning her friend gave her. 6) She thinks about her elementary school while doing the laundry. She thinks about the principal’s speech. 7) She is thinking about her other clients. 8) Madame Rivest comes back and talks to Saliha.

Style and tone: The short story has a neutral tone. It uses an informal language that it is still acceptable. There is no slang. We only hear the accent of Saliha at the end when she speaks French to the women she works for. The author tells a true story in a simple way. The readers follow a normal day in the life of Saliha.

Theme: The themes are ethnicity, immigration, hard work and prejudice.

Symbols: The detergents and Saliha’s monthly period.

Evaluation: At first, the story can be understood as the simple thoughts of an immigrant girl who is trying to start over her life here in Montreal. However, the last sentence makes us realize that there is a strong message in this story: “We come here to speak, like them, she thinks; but it will be a long time before they let us practice.” We accept immigrants, we want them to come and live in Canada, but we do not give them enough opportunities to get adapted.