The tone of the last third of the book is stern and somber. This is shown through all of the criteria in the acronym DIDLS, which is diction, images, details, language and syntax. The whole style of the book is written to be very straight-forward and brutally honest. The writer doesn't dress the story up with fancy words or theatrics. It just is what it is. When Valentina gives his belongings to a man in distress in Kenya, he soon realizes that it wasn't worth it and that it was probably a scam. After he realizes his folly he says: "Each exhalation was a falling tree and my mind went mad with the noise of it all, but I deserved the turmoil. I deserved nothing better. I wanted to be alone with my stupidity which I cursed in three languages with all my spleen (342). The author uses words that everyone can understand and relate to in order to make the reader sympathize with the narrator. They are simple words that are interpreted easily, the exact opposite of Shakespeare. Nice and straight-forward. The tone of the book is somber because it describes in detail the scenes of villages destroyed and people dying. The author again describes the events very evenly and without dramatic words and images. When describing the refugee camps on page 371, the narrator says, "In Kakuma, a community of tents grew to a vast patchwork of shanties and buildings constructed from poles and sisal bags and mud, and this is where we lived and worked and went to school from 1992 to 2001." When we think of the idea of living in houses made of mud and poles, we relate that with horrible squalor and bitterness. The author describes these images in detail but leaves it to the reader to interpret them, not telling them how to feel. For example, he simply describes these scenes without adding adjectives for effect. The overall tone is somber because of the subject, but it has nothing of Romeo and Juliet flowery tragedy. It is subdued in its language and style, even though just as tragic as Rome and Juliet. That is a comparison of two ways of describing tragic events and stories. The book also uses straightforward language, using words that the reader understands instead of overly complex vocabulary. It also sets the scene by using Sudanese titles such as father, which is respectful to call someone older than you.
Achak lives for a long time in refugee camps, and this left me wanting to know more about refugees not only in Africa but in the world as well. I kept asking, "Which countries have the most refugees? What major events right now are causing people to be displaced from their homes?" This is an issue I am interested in, so I decided to investigate more about it. According to the MillionSoulsAware website, there are approximately 5.3 Sudanese who left their homes and are refugees. They did this to escape the genocide. In Columbia, a similar military problem resulted in 2.9 displaced people. The Middle East gets most of these refugees, and the second largest areas are Africa and South Asia. People leave because of conflict in their country that is always violent. According to the AllAfrica Newspaper, conditions in these camps are horrible to live in and there is usually a desolate feel in them. There can be around 66,000 people at a camp at a time. Here is a picture of a refugee camp Yida in South Susan (from BBC):
While also in agreement with Erin, I believe that some positivity can be taken from the last third of the book. One of Geena's main points in her CCQC for hope, is the scene when Achak reassures the youngest boy on the journey that they won't be ignored. Because of Valentino's hope and drive he brought the boy to comfort and lit the boy's candle of hope as well. Hope is found in each and every one of the characters. While Dave Egger's depiction of what happened in a somber tone, there is more underlying flame in each of the characters. The goddess of Kakuma, Mrs. Glady gives the opportunity of acting in the big city to the drama group. Mrs. Glady brings hope to the camp and spirit. The whole story is a retelling of suffering and violence, and while finding the positivity in the characters may be hard at times, it is always there.
ReplyDeleteHello Erin, I find it amusing that there are only 5.3 Sudanese refugees, the 6th refugee must have had some serious disfigurement. Be careful to add the word million in there somewhere or the statistics are a little to cheery. While the tone is somber at times, optimism plays a large part in the book as well. Something I noticed is that the tone changes throughout the book. When Achak is a child he experiences and observes horrific things, but can still see these things through the innocent eyes of a child. While Achak understands more and more, we still know more than him during many points in the book. An example of this is when Achak is walking with the priest from his town, and sees a soldier and woman" wrestling" on the ground. It is not until later that he realizes that what he saw was rape. I think that the tone shifts back and forth from desperation to hope, and Achak reflects upon what he saw in a way where we can tell that he is more mature than he was when all of it happened to him...If that makes any sense.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the story is told in a very grim fashion, with no dressing up. However, I feel like the scene with the man who doesn't exist is proof that though times are grim, Achek still hopes for a better life. Even though the story is told in a way that is very stern and realistic, this scene is completely different. It's a dreamy hallucination, projected from Acheks mind, in which he finds hope. I think it is a direct shift from the gruesome reality that the rest of the book presents, and makes it so that I can't view the last third of the book as just grim. I feel that amid the tragedy and despair there is always still a bit of childish hope left between the lines.
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