W is the W- Chapter 21 & 22

(pg. 349) "the civil war became, to the world at large, too confusing to decipher, a mess of tribal conflicts with no clear heroes and villains." (Eggers 349) It's true. When I first started reading this book I knew nothing about Sudan except there was fighting there. I didn't know who has versus who. All I knew about Sudan was what I saw in pictures on TV or in school that showed children with guns. I heard the words Dar fur, genocide, and refugee a lot. It's true about having no clear heroes or villains, because though I would side with the SPLA, their methods of recruiting soldiers and their lack of loyalty to the people is startling.

(pg. 357) After I read Tabitha was actually murdered I can now see why he thinks God has a problem with him. It isn't right that his one true love was killed by a deranged ex-boyfriend. In combination with the trials of his past I'm beginning to see Valentino is like Job from the Bible. God let Satan give these hard times to Job, his most faithful believer, to test him of his faith. I think he lost his entire family, became sick and poor, and though he asked God why this was happening to him, he never cursed him or turned his back on God.

(pg. 360) After the massacre at Pinyudo, Achak had to walk with everyone else to Kenya. His eyes were swollen shut and he was alone, without Achor Achor. He found that it was a good time to die. "I could continue to live, yes, but my days were getting worse, not better. My life in Pinyudo worsened as the years went on, and Achor Achor, I feared, was dead. And now this, walking to Kenya, where there were no promises." (Eggers 360) I think it is good storytelling how he talks about his darkest time in America, (when Tabitha died), at the same time he mentions his darkest time in Sudan. Let's just get all the most depressing stuff all at once, then out of the way.

(pg. 368) Valentino begins talking of the difference between the Sudanese and American culture when it comes to marriage and sex. Sex before marriage is unusual in Sudan, and for marriage, "virgins are preferred, and for a virgin, the bride's family receives a far higher dowry." (Eggers 368) That is like Memoirs of a Geisha who sells her virginity to the highest bidder. There comes a moment where she gets attacked by some creeper dude, but we don't see much, and she tells her mentor he only looked. So she needs her virginity to be a successful geisha as a Sudanese woman needs her virginity to have a successful marriage.

(pg. 384) It's hard to believe I was alive during most of what happened in Achak's life. Traumatic times always existed in history for me: World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, Vietnam. This is fairly recent. When Achak arrived in Kakuma and the UNHCR decided to count all the refugees there, that was 1994, only 14 years ago. I was only two years old then, but I was still alive. This and September 11th has been the trauma of my time. Who knows what else will happen in the future.

(pg. 386) As the count of refugees is beginning to be prepared, one day the people woke up to find fences, or barriers, being built. They ensured that everyone would walk single file to be counted, these six feet tall arranged hallways. These walls caused panic throughout the camp. Gop, Valentino's adopted father of sorts, thinks worst case scenario- the UN is trying to kill them all. Valentino isn't buying it, but Gop makes some points that reference into history.

"-That's impossible, I said. -Is it? he asked. -Was Rwanda impossible?"

"-This seems very much like what they did to Jews, Gop said." (Eggers 386) I can understand this paranoia because of all the horrible experiences they have all gone through. Plus, all the thoughts of Rwanda and the Holocaust in their minds don't help.

(pg. 398) "It was then that I saw that I had stepped on a person. The truckbed was filled with people, fifteen or more. But they were grey, white, covered in blood. These people were dead." (Eggers 398) This is like when Guido found all the dead bodies of Jews at the camp one night after serving the head Nazis in Life Is Beautiful. It was really late and foggy outside when Guido walks forward, the fog clears, and he finds an unspeakable amount of dead, white bodies mounded on top of each other.