Serial, Episode 2: The Breakup
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| Photocopy of Hae Min Lee's diary. |
In the previous episode, you listened to the prosecution's version of the story: when Hae broke up with Adnan, he was so furious that he decided to kill her.
The prosecution is even quoted as saying that this was a murder (and I paraphrase) "not motivated by love, but by pride."
What is especially useful about this episode is the opportunity for Hae to speak, metaphorically, of course. Her diary, which was later submitted as evidence in the murder trial against Adnan Syed, details her relationship with Adnan closely. The first entry is dated April 1, 1998, and the last entry is dated January 12th, the day before she went missing.
According to Koenig, if you had to bookmark Hae and Adnan's relationship, you would put a school dance at the beginning and at the end. This kind of relationship is pretty typical of the major social events of an average high school couple.
What wasn't typical was the amount of secrecy that Adnan and Hae had in their relationship. Because both Adnan and Hae came from immigrant families with conservative values (no dating, no riding around in cars in with members of the opposite sex), the two had to be careful not to leave evidence (such as a girl's long hair) in each others' cars.
New characters in this episode:
-Shamim Syed - Adnan's mother
-Don - Hae's older, new boyfriend
-Anjali - a girl Adnan made out with/dated
-Nisha - another girl Adnan made out with/dated
New evidence in this episode:
-Hae Min Lee's diary
Discussion Questions:
1) What does the entry from Hae's diary you were given today say?
2) What does the entry mean?
3) How does this piece of evidence help/hurt Adnan's case?
4) Do you get any new information from this episode you didn't have before?
And Ian hits the ground running with a focus on the drama in their relationship and how Hae and Adnan both feel about it.
ReplyDeleteI think Ian's observation about Adnan and Hae and their different perceptions of their situations is very apt. However, Margaret made a good point that diaries often aren't written to be read by other people.
ReplyDeleteIan points out that there was drama in the relationship, but I disagree. I do not think that there was much drama. I do agree with Ian that there was drama on Hae's side of the relationship and that her emotions were up and down, but I do not think that this was abnormal for a high school relationship. I like Margaret's observation that we need to remember that this was her diary and that she was not sworn to tell the complete unbiased truth, and that it was her personal thoughts.
ReplyDeleteIan raises a good point about how Adnan seems to overlook the drama in their relationship. That's pretty clear when Adnan made jokes about how Hae was the devil, and Hae took that pretty literally and was upset by that. Hae seemed to be the primary instigator of drama within the relationship.
ReplyDeleteI didn't quite understand or really agree with Zach's comment, I think the group did a good job clearing it up though.
ReplyDeletePride vs Passion for Adnon.
ReplyDeleteAlana makes an interesting observation that maybe Don killed Hae. I wonder how much this was investigated. I agree with Hailey that I have mixed feelings too about if Adnan did it, because it does not seem like he killed Hae out of anger or pride, especially because most of his friends said that he did not seem too upset about their breakup.
ReplyDeleteIan and Stefan bring up the point that Adnan seemed like a normal guy within the context of the break up.
ReplyDeleteI think that Zach is right in pointing out that the prosecution did not focus on the relationship drama, but rather the family's views on dating. So far, people have been talking about the drama within the relationship, but the prosecution did not build their case on that. They built their case on the idea that the anger that Adnan felt due to betraying his family caused him to murder Hae.
ReplyDeleteHailey reminds us that they are all teenagers and their mindsets can be very different from ours.
ReplyDeleteThe group is doing a good job of keeping the conversation moving, and a good amount of people are taking. I also agree with Hailey that some of Hae's comments in her diary could be hormone driven and just could be some over emotional entries written that she did not fully mean.
ReplyDeleteA lot of dominant speakers in the circle and the other people are trying to speak up. I like how Stafan has the transcript out and can find exact quotes to back up his ideas.
ReplyDeleteHae and Adnan had different thoughts on how he felt about his religion.
ReplyDeleteI like Alana's point on how the prosecution were filling back and forth on how religious Adnan was.
Alana raises an interesting point about how the prosecution is changing their opinion on Adnan's religiousness. First, they say that his religiousness is what drove him to kill Hae, but his lack of religiousness is what let him date her in the first place. Their argument does not make sense.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alana that it was never decided whether Adnan was truly religious or not. And there is a lot of tension in the group because people did not allow Hailey to say what she wanted to, but Margaret pushes the conversation forward with a topic change, which is good. I think it's important to address the fact that Adnan asked Hae for a ride. Hailey does a good job of making sure people are not talking over each other and making sure Will gets a chance to talk. I kind of agree with Will that he might not have purposefully lied about asking for a ride. I think Adnan might have just forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that Ilana is asking questions of her peers, it always helps to clarify arguments from everyone. I also appreciate Hayley letting Will have a chance to speak.
ReplyDeleteI like how Stefan is trying to keep the peace and let everyone have the chance to speak.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Sam that there was a weird triangle between Adnan, Don, and Hae. I do not think that Hae led on Adnan, and agree with Margaret when she points out that Adnan was also seeing other girls and that he probably was not still caught up on Hae. I doubt that Don was jealous about Adnan.
ReplyDeleteSam brought up a point about Hae leading Adnan on. This idea might seem like a stretch, but maybe Don was jealous that Hae was still flirting with her ex and killed her. It seems like that would be a valid motive.
ReplyDeleteI like how Zach is bringing up the problem of unreliable information in this case.
ReplyDeleteZach brings a good comment on memory and how people only remember special memories. The memories that most people had that day became special afterwards with the trial.
ReplyDeleteLive Blogging:
ReplyDeleteTrue but Hae seemed to try to create problems. I agree with Ian. Hailey good point as well, seemed kinda weird. The lack of drama for him does punch a lot of holes. Good from Ian. Good point from Hailey & Will, more about pride. Just about everyone agrees he wasn't crazy. He didn't take it too seriously ever, good point. The defendants really were cherrypicking. They are arguing now; bad form. Hailey and Ian need to get past this point. Good job shutting them down. Almost talking over each other, unnecessary. Good patience from Zach. Interesting points but really all speculation at this point. I agree with Hailey; it is way too soon to call anything.
I like how Hailey brought up the teen's behavior in the podcast. Teenagers can be unpredictable and can be lying.
ReplyDeleteI thought Ian brought up an interesting point about the "drama" in the relationship, and propelled the conversation in an intriguing direction.
ReplyDeleteAlana brings up a really good point about the nature of the prosecution's argument.
It is good that people are allowing others to speak when they need to
Zach brings up a good point about how easy it is to confuse these events.
I agree with Margaret that it was weird when Hae agreed to give Adnan a ride home and then later said she couldn't, especially when both Hae and Adnan knew that knew that she had to pick up her cousin every day. It is suspicious.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rothery about the importance of the character's emotions in determining the level of bias within their accounts.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that Rothery brought up the topic of putting perspective onto Hae's diary, and to take it with a grain of salt so to speak.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rothery, her diary is biased and emotional, but no one else is supposed to see it. It is not the most reliable piece of evidence.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Hae was absurdly childish (especially considering that she was a senior in high school...).
ReplyDeleteLoved Sophie comment, especially when she brought up how the trial would have likely turned out nowadays.
ReplyDelete145: Ian starts off by saying he wants to focus on something specific to start the conversation
ReplyDelete146: Alana did a good job intgreating herself into the conversation and not being talked over
147: Zach's comment made me think about how ep.1 their familu dynamic was the biggest motive and now ep.2 it's the breakup
149: I liked that Stephan used a quote
151: Stephan wanted to speak and he had a good point but the way he intergected himself was kind of disruptive.
151: I like Will's comment about cherry-picking
152: hailey's passive agression deterred the conversation but Margaret did a good job trying to push the conversation in the right direction
155: Humam still hasn't spoken
156: Hailey does well getting others (Zach and Will) a chance to speak. She offers Humam a chance to speak and he chooses not to and says nothing which I thought was weird