and extra curricular activities. "Besides school, this meant clubs, theatrical productions, HIV-awareness programs, puppetry-even pen pals from Japan." (Eggers 412) Yes, I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned HIV or AIDS in this book until now. Is HIV not a big deal in Sudan? I hear in the news all the time of the AIDS epidemic in Africa, so it must not be happening in Sudan or Kenya. There are organizations and funds to help with AIDS, like the Gap (red) organization. I've bought a bag and bracelet from that, and my mom has a couple t-shirts. I feel slightly helpful.(pg. 416) "If there was a gap in understanding between generations, I was often asked to mediate." (Eggers 416) Valentino is talking about his leadership position as a youth leader, and how parents don't like their children being involved with the theatre group. Even in Sudan, with all the fighting and sickness, there are still misunderstandings and a gap between adults and youth.
(pg. 427) The SPLA people have come back to Kakuma, which is supposed to be rebel-free ground, looking for new recruits. After more convincing speeches more than 20 young men actually signed up to join, leaving the peaceful Kakuma and going back to the world they just escaped. These speeches were so convincing, Achor Achor felt that he needed to go fight too; he felt obliged to go. Luckily, all Valentino had to say was, "You wear glasses now. How will you shoot if your glasses break?" That is all Achor Achor needed. The aching turmoil stopped, and his feeling of obligation ended. "I am fairly certain that he was simply looking for a good reason not to join, something he could say when or if he were ever asked. He never spoke of the SPLA again." (Eggers 427) It seems that people can die easily over there, but it's also easy to save a life. Maria saved Achak's life by forcing him to get up off the ground and continue walking to Kakuma, and Achak saved Achor Achor's life by giving him a reason to not join the SPLA.
(pg. 450) I wasn't sure that Achak's parents would really be alive when it was suggested it in the book. I mean, the drum up to the moment. Miss Agok, a lady from the International Rescue Committee, said she went to Marial Bai, but the Achak's luck has been going I didn't expect too much. Not until she describes another lady, another midwife like her, she met there who was, "a very strong woman who wore most days a dress of faded yellow, the yellow of a tired sun." (Eggers 450) That's when I knew for sure. Achak described his mother in the beginning of the book according to her dress, "but she favors yellow, a certain yellow dress, the pregnant yellow of a setting sun." (Eggers 35) Though now it's described as a tired sun, maybe meaning her mood is tired and that she's changed since Achak has last seen her, when they were separated at the raid of Marial Bai.
(pg. 459) It's amazing to think the Kenyans and Sudanese hear the same news Americans do. I never thought of other people's reactions to 9/11 or the death of Princess Diana. When the theatre troupe went to Nairobi they were hosted by Kenyans. Achak was hosted by a couple, Make and Grace. Grace was particularly upset and cried for Princess Diana when the news came, but she wasn't alone. "All day, people were crying. Ten of us, Tabitha and the Somalis and most of the Dominics, walked through the city and wherever we went, we found people weeping- in the markets, outside the churches, on the sidewalks." (Eggers 459)(pg. 466) Tabitha and Achak had a very romantic time in Nairobi, and that just shows teenagers are teenagers everywhere. They take advantage of trips because there isn't any authority. "When Tabitha arrived that afternoon at the theater, I was so entranced by memories of the night before that I barely noticed the real Tabitha, who was purposefully ignoring me." (Eggers 466)
1 comment:
I read your entries about What is the What because I too was intrigued by the character Dut Majok. It seemed to me that he was very wise and selfless and I find myself really wanting to know what became of him. I sense a disconnect with Achak Deng when it comes to how much he owes his life to this "teacher" and I was left very wanting when he said that was the last time they saw Dut. He appeared to the boy as a dispassionate leader, but it was necessarily so. The conditions they were under required a very strong leader. I find it amazing and heartwrenching that a mere boy of 16 led all these children so competently and moreover knew all of their names and helped them to visualize a brighter day, which according to survivalists is the exact key to surviving disastrous conditions. I want to know what happened to him and why there is no information about his fate. He seems a very heroic person.
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