"The Khan Men of Agra" Response

     "The Khan Men of Agra" is a remarkable piece of writing that describes a Pamela Michael’s experience in a foreign land and how her journey unfolds when there was absent choice but trust a complete stranger. We can sense the author’s alertness when she listed the different types of people wanting to carry her luggage.

Perhaps two were porters, four or five were rickshaw drivers, three or four were taxi drivers, and maybe a couple were thieves. (60)

     It is the contrast from porters to thieves place within a single sentence that creates an uneasy mood throughout the story, which also builds a sense of suspense of the unknown when she finally agreed to employ a stranger to carry her luggage, knowing that the stranger could be one of the options listed. Suspense is also achieved by the imagery Michael chooses to reveal to readers. The choices to mention the absent “Agra Taxi Company” or the “glimpse of a spectral, loinclothed man through the leaves,” are imagery told to readers so they could relate to the doubts Michael had about the each situation.  

     I particularly enjoy how the mixed-up tone was set when the author decided to start with: One good thing about monsoons. By starting this way, readers are fixated on the gloominess and uncertainty elicited from the image of the monsoon season—unpredictable and dark.

By combining these elements, Michael made a story that was relatable, and ultimately uplifting at the end