I just wanted to share a few thought about the Red Apple. This historical novel, the Red Apple, begins with Manuel, a young Christian boy tending his flock of sheep. Manuel must take part in the devshrime where the Ottoman troops take Christian boys and enslave them to the Janissaries. Although Manuel does not seem to have much promise to be a good fighter he is taken into the troops and sent to Edirne where he is converted to Islam and then sent on to a trainer. He is fortunate that his trainer Mahmut is a compassionate, educated man and treats him well. With Mahmut Manuel, now Ibrahim learns about Islam and about the importance of loyalty to his superior, he understands that his loyalty is first towards the Sultan and his nation and second to Mahmut. After seven years of studying and working for Mahmut, when Ibrahim has accomplished what Mahmut expected of him he is made to join the Janissaries barracks. As he is joining the ranks Mahmut dies and it becomes evident that not all of the Janissaries had the same type of trainer. Most of the others were abused and ill treated. Ibrahim quickly makes an enemy with Semsi and friends with Ahmet. These two make political use of Ibrahim throughout the rest of the novel. In Jonathan Levintan’s the Red Apple we are given an insight into the way people lived and the political situation in Turkey during the fifteenth century. Although the Red Apple is the story of Ibrahim growing up and finding himself it is also an important source of information about the lives of Janissaries. Because they were slaves they lacked the right to a personal life but had many more rights than most people. They were able to gather great riches and had the power to move up through the military ranks. This lead to a lot of political ambition and insecurity. Because as young boys they were treated badly they seem to make up for it when they are older and treat others who cannot help them with contempt. Although the Janissaries had a rough life because in battles they never knew if they would die or not, life for the common people seemed even more uncertain. They never knew if they would be attacked at any point and seemed to be constantly afraid of the Janissaries. All in all, life according to The Red Apple seemed to be very difficult and without very many freedoms.

I found the image here: http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/070102janissaries.jpg