Quarter 2 Outside Reading Week 1

Part I:
1) Attache(14)
A person who is attached to an authority's administrative staff.

2)Perfunctory(55)
Performed as a routine duty; without intense care.

Part II:
In response to the character of David Richards, I feel that, while he is the hero, the author intends to very much make him as normal as possible. He has capabilities that place him above more normal people, be it in his "enlightened" view on things, or his ability to woo members of the opposite sex, but at the same time, he finds himself in difficult situations. For example, he accidentally lets it slip that he will be leaving the country of Kutar to head back to the U.S. soon, and then immediately regrets it; "..'You're leaving soon, no?' David nodded, started to answer, but then he saw Nicky's stricken look as he peered out from the shade. 'You're leaving?' The boy asked." (29) He is very much human, making mistakes, and having weaknesses and faults: just like almost any movie star seducer, he doesn't want people to get too close to him, only opening up to an intimate few; his friend Paolo, and the boy Nicky. At this point in time, his role doesn't seem very important (yet) as he is just another employee for the U.S. embassy to Kutar, a quiet, dull country in the middle east. This makes his character a little boring at least as far as action is concerned; he is just another person who could be affected by the coming conflict. I find his everyday life to be more interesting, especially in the way he interacts with other people; he's a charmer, but at the same time gets tired of things easily and so carries himself in a way that is almost uppity. He doesn't want to be troubled with pretending to be like so many of the other people around him, and this places his character on a seemingly different level to the others.