What Ending

The tone of the last third of "What is the What" is very different than one might expect. Because the story had been, up to that point, relatively grim and harsh, a reader might think there would be a good ending. But true stories don't really have good endings. So the last third of the book is, I would say, melancholy. Even though Achek has escaped to America, there are always hardships and pain. The ending is sad, in a sweet sort of way.

     The most interesting part about the last third of the book for me was the man that didn't exist. When Achek met him, he was everything Achek wished for--kind and welcoming, with food and shelter to comfort Achek while he was injured. Obviously, this wasn't a reality, but it was a fantasy that held everything Achek desired in that  moment.
I believe the man was supposed to represent God.
Additionally, the bicycle was there. When Achek, Moses, and William K were children, they had guarded the bicycle, as it was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.
The bicycle symbolizes what Achek wishes to hold dear to him, what he never lets go of, what he "guards." In Achek's subconscious, the bicycle is a symbol of everything that was shiny and perfect in his life, and everything he needs to keep close in his memories.
The most interesting part of Achek and his personality, to me, was his optimism and his belief in good. At times it vanished, when he was afraid, young, or injured, but no matter what happened he always held onto a hope that things would get better. Even when he is ambushed in his home in America, he believes that he can reason first with the robbers, and then with the little boy. He always believes that people can have an underlying goodness and has a sense of hope, even when nobody else does.