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.

What Blog #3

         

                  What is the What had a very bittersweet ending, which the tone in the last part of this book mimicked. The author used some very strong sentences that gave us hope for Valentino, yet sometimes made us feel sorry for him as well. During the last pages of this book Valentino was about to board the plane to take him to america, but at the last minute the 9/11 attack had happened and made all the boys lose hope in going to america. "As I had foreseen, as Maria had foreseen, I was being sent a message from god. I did not belong on this or any plane."(pg. 525). During this Valentino even questions if he wants to go to america because of how awful it looks from the attack on the twin towers. The whole book was leading you up to the freedom of Valentino, but then the author turns it around making it seem like he is just going to have to suffer even more in america. This is the kind of mental mind games the author has been playing on us giving us a little shred of hope for Valentino then crushing that hope only to spark a new one, like a roller coaster with small ups and huge downs. This is not bad, in fact it is really good, and I for one am very appreciative of someone who can write in that kind of tone. It makes the book feel very intense and interesting.


               The book what is the what was a roller coaster of emotions, both for the characters and reader. It truly shows the hardships of the Lost Boys, and what they have endured. It was a harsh tale from start to finish but was expertly written giving tons of feeling and power to the characters in this book. It was very inspirational proving that anybody can do anything if they put their mind to it. The reader can learn so much from this book, their are tons of lessons to be learned, one major on would be gratitude and how Valentino is so grateful/appreciative of what he has and what he receives. Over all the book was very good mixing an interesting and mind boggling tale with great writing, to make a very good book.

"What is the What", the end.

Valentino spends the book telling stories he remembers about his life. It seems that there are like two worlds, his present and his past. What is happening in his present affects the tone of how he tells his past for the first part of the book, but slowly he accepts the painful memories in his life and he ends with a reflective tone. The robbery at the beginning made him upset, so he begins telling stories of the times he experienced people treating him poorly. "I stand before Powder and my memory is searching for the time when I last felt this betrayed, when I last felt in the presence of evil so careless." (pg5) He is angry at the citizens of the United States and the way he is treated here so his tone becomes angry and annoyed ("I am tired of this country.."-pg7).  But soon, Michael comes and in an attempt to try and relate to Michael, he tells stories of his life as a young boy. This tone seems more compassionate. "At this moment, I am contemplating ways I might save you" (pg. 48). The tone changes so much because with every new person in his life, he has all of these memories that bring forth many different feelings. But right before Achor Achor arrives, there is a shift from the ever-changing tone. Valentino seems to have accepted that the Christian neighbors have not helped and he just tells them his life story, with a kind of peaceful tone. He seems to be slowly appreciating his past and the fortune he has now. He goes to the hospital and continues on with telling Julian his story. Although he is upset with Julian, he doesn't let it get in the way of his story. His memories let him reflect on the life he has now and the life he used to have. He appreciates the wonderful life he has now after remembering the amount of pain he has suffered through. "Each time I find myself giving up on this country, I have the persistent habit of realizing all that I have here and did not have in Africa." (pg. 351). He transforms from a storyteller who was altered by his past, to one that values the experiences he had. Towards the end of the book, he is checking his phone and his last voicemail is from a familiar friend. "The last message is from Moses. Moses of Marial Bai. Moses who was brought north as a slave, Moses who was branded and escaped and later trained to be a rebel. Moses who went to private school in Kenya and college in British Columbia and now lives in Seattle." (pg. 477). This causes him to reminisce about his experiences and how far he has come. Valentino has grown in strength because he has accepted the life he's had. Valentino falls back into a reflective, calm town, which guides the reader to the end of the book.

My favorite part of "What is the What" is when Valentino rides a bike for the first time. While the boys stagger through the desert, many have gone mad, many have died and all haven't eaten for days, a bunch of swirling lights appear in the distance. Dut is gone, so Kur tells the boys to run. Valentino runs in a random direction and ends up getting cut on  barbed wire. On the other side of the barbed wire, there is a man who offers him help. He brings Valentino into his shelter and gives him water and nuts and cleans his wound. Valentino notices the bicycle and the kind man teaches him how to ride it. "The round-bellied man sighed and called himself crazy. He rolled the bicycle out of his home and into the sun. The spokes shimmered, the frame shone. He showed me how to sit on the seat, and while I arranged myself upon it, he held the bike upright. It was the most astonishing bicycle ever seen in Sudan, and I was sitting on it luxurious black leather seat" (pg. 206). I love this part because it is almost like a dream or something that would only happen in a movie. The way Valentino describes it makes the experience sound so perfect at first I thought he was hallucinating. It was just this random kind man in the middle of nowhere. It gave me hope that Valentino was going to be okay and the kindness of this man in-between so many villagers refusing to help the lost boys was truly inspiring.

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):

 

Whattttt??? #3 Alissa WInkler

What is the What never had the ultimately happy part that I was expecting in the last third. And surprisingly, I am ok with that. What is the What is not suppose to be a happy book, it is a true and painful story that leaves you with a sense of hope. It is a miracle Valentino Achak Deng lived and was getting a second chance at life. He grabbed the opportunity to leave Kakuma by the horns and even though a complete stranger to the USA, he made it work best he could. His life in Atlanta may have seemed horrible at times, but compared to life in the "Walking Boys"group he had left, he was incredibly thankful. He learned valuable skills, got a job, got sponsored, and went to school. Everything thing is new to Achak Deng, the world is confusing but he is getting by. He even manages to cope with the loss of the love of his life Tabitha who is brutally murdered by her boyfriend. And still, at the end of the book, he chooses to keep his hope alive and move on with his life. "The heavens have been a hammer to me, and I will be moving, as soon as I am able, to a quieter place. A place where I can spend some time thinking. I nee to make some new plans without the eyes of these clouds over me"(533). Achak acknowledges his past but has learned not to let the horrible memories and cruelties of the world set him back or stop him. He is not extremely excited to leave but he knows it is for the best, he knows he has hope. The question of what the "what" actually is pops up throughout the whole book. The Dinka people chose the cows. I believe this was a smart choice, because if they chose the "what" then why would be getting something they already have. I think the "What" is hope. And Achak has had the "What" all along. He is still alive and still hopeful. 

My favorite part of the book was when Achak mets the man who does not exist. Achak has been walking for months and has received a huge gash on his leg; he thinks he will die within the next days from infection and lack of food. Then a mysterious man appears out of nowhere and takes him into his home. The man lives alone in hiding, he's escaping from the world but seems to have bountiful food supplies under his house. He gives Achak nuts, water, and an orange and is extremely pleasant. Achak even feels comfortable enough to ask him if he knows what the "what" is, and the man replies "keep looking." I have a strange feeling this mysterious man is suppose to represent Jesus. Anyways, in his home is also the exact same bicycle that as children, he, moses, and William K had guarded with aw. I love how even though Achak has been exhausted and beaten up mentally and physically from walking for months, he is finally given the chance to ride the bike. He gets to feel free again and regain a small portion of his childhood that had been demolished by the war. 

What Blog #2

                 I think the one of the biggest culture clash's in this part of the book is when Valentino goes to the hospital. He has just been found by Achor Achor and has dealt with the cops, and is now receiving medical care for his wounds. He is at the worried about not being able to pay the hospital without health insurance. "Valentino, we've got to take care of everyone that comes in here. By law, we do. We can't turn you away. So you don't need to show your credit cards..."(pg. 243). He is so startled when he doesn't have insurance, thinking that he is too suspicious. He is trying to cover up any suspicion by showing his credit card. This is showing culture clashing, because it depicts his lack of knowledge in this country by a hospital visit. A normal american would have no problem with going to the hospital, but since his culture has nothing quite like a hospital he is frightened and confused.

Finding the What

The last third of the book, after Tabitha is murdered, exemplifies hope in both Achak's  past and present life.  By the end of the book, the author's tone also infers that Achak has adapted to change; He has accepted his misfortunes and is ready to move on, but he will not forget his past or the lessons it has taught him.  Throughout the these pages of What is the What, hope is demonstrated in all characters.  Pg 492, "Tabitha would talk only about the United States, about Seattle, about what she would find there.....Oh, she would laugh, the kaleidoscopic possibilities!" Pg 487; Maria, "I told her what I knew: that girls were invited to apply.....When I told her this, a light came to her eyes, for a moment, before flickering out." Pg 535; Achak, "Whatever I do, however I find a way to live, I will tell these stories."  There is hope when Ms. Gladys lets the refugees act in a large city, when the possibility of leaving Kakuma is presented, when Achak hears of his parents' survival and even when Achak speaks to the boy who stole his cell phone.  Achak loses people who mean the world to him time and time again, and he receives each blow with a strong will and faith in his god.



There were many joyful and painful moments in What is the What, and I find myself noticing a bit more of all the luxuries in my world.  Many parts of the book were touching, such as the passages where people showed Achak love and comforted him as a wandering child, but perhaps the most touching was the part where he was able to comfort someone else.  Towards the end of the book, a group of men from Sudan are bracing themselves for departure the next day.  The youngest boy appears to be frightened, and Achak lets him know that they are a team and will no longer be ignored. "But we're no longer rain, I said,- we're no longer seeds.  We're men. Now we can stand and decide.  This is our first chance to choose our own unknown.  I'm so proud of everything we've done, my brothers, and if we're fortunate enough to fly and land again in a new place, we must continue. As impossible as it sounds, we must keep walking. And yes, there has been suffering, but now there will be grace.  There has been pain but now there will be serenity.  No one has been tried as we have been tried, and now this is our reward, whether it be heaven or something less than that".  If I ever go through hardships even 5% of the difficulty of Achak's in my life, I hope that I will have someone who can comfort with words like these, and a group of people as resilient as them to carry me along.