Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji is a novel that brings to light an event in time that is often forgotten by the masses. This novel, through its protagonist Sabine, tells the story of racial tensions in Uganda in the summer of 1972 and Sabine’s journey of self-discovery and growth can be compared to Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank. Sabine is forced to abandon everything she knows and through this experience learns so much about herself, the world around her and explores the themes of race, class, loyalty, identity and fate.
The story begins when the military dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin, declares to the people that he has had a dream where God told him that all “Foreign Indians” to be forced out of the country. He plans to carry out this mass expulsion by implementing a 90 day countdown during which all Indians who are not Ugandan citizens will be forced to leave. Initially Sabine is not worried about the countdown as her and her family are
I found it very interesting and educational to learn about the history of Uganda, a country often forgotten by the Western World. Before reading this novel I had no idea about the struggle that Indians and Africans underwent during this countdown. As a result of this novel I also learned more about the issues of systematic racism and the various downsides of class systems. Before this novel I had learned about class systems, such as the caste system in India, but by infusing history with the struggles of a young girl really helped me connect with the themes in a stronger way.
As I researched the novel I also learned that the author, Shenaaz Nanji, became a refugee after the expulsion of Indians of Uganda. This knowledge about the author’s personal experience was a defining factor in how I related to the novel and the impact it had on me. Knowing that she went through the same thing that Sabine experienced in the novel made the story so much more than just a
However, instead of allowing the corruption and grief of losing a significant figure in her life completely consume her, Leah embraces a new culture and turns to another male figure, her husband Anatole, for guidance. With new surrounding influences, Leah encounters various forms of separation, whether it be from her birthplace, father, or husband, and accepts all the drawbacks and loses that come along with the isolation. At the same time, Leah also challenges herself to overcome the loss and succumb to the loneliness that could potentially bring her closer to a new aspect of life never explored before. Through it all, Leah turns her experiences with exile into bittersweet memories sprinkled across the time span of her life for each rift allowed her to obtain a sense of self identity during periods of time free of human contact or, in Leah’s case,
Shostak, out of all the women in the tribe had made close connections with a fifty year old woman with the name of Nisa. The woman, Nisa, is what the book is about. The book is written in Nisa’s point of view of her life experiences while growing up in that type of society. Nisa’s willingness to speak in the interviews about her childhood and her life gave Shostak a solid basis on what to write her book on. Nisa’s life was filled with tragedies. She had gone through certain situations where Nisa loses two of her children as infants and two as adults. She had also lost her husband soon after the birth of one of their children. According to Shostak, “None of the women had experiences as much tragedy as Nisa…” (Shostak, 351).
No one knows what will happen in his or her life whether it is a trivial family dispute or a civil war. Ishmael Beah and Mariatu Kamara are both child victims of war with extremely different life stories. Both of them are authors who have written about their first-hand experience of the truth of the war in order to voice out to the world to be aware of what is happening. Beah wrote A Long Way Gone while Kamara wrote The Bite of the Mango. However, their autobiographies give different information to their readers because of different points of view. Since the overall story of Ishmael Beah includes many psychological and physical aspects of war, his book is more influential and informative to the world than Kamara’s book.
The most meaningful part of the book for me, was the sit-ins, a form of protest in which demonstrators occupy a place, refusing to leave until their demands are met. The reason the sit-ins were so meaningful is that it really brought attention to how Americans were segregating the African Americas. Just as if you do nothing when a bully, whites, is picking on you, blacks, they will continue picking on you until you fight back. The sit-ins were a nonviolent way to show that they no longer will or have to take the abuse.
“Miss Brill was glad that she had decided on her “fur” for that Sunday afternoon in the park. Her little friend she wore around her neck would be the perfect companion to enjoy such a beautiful day. After going to the park and sitting down, Miss Brill wishes to talk with the other people sitting about, but they never make a sound, though after this she admits to listening to their conversations. “She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn’t listen, at sitting in other people’s lives just for a minute while they talked round her.” Within moments, Miss Brill is commenting on other people: The old people who sat on the benches like statues, the little children running here and there, a beautiful woman accidentally dropping violets on the floor, and once a little boy picks them up and tries to...
This work documented the human experience in a light that I would not have seen it had I only read the books assigned to me in class. The themes in this book and how they were portrayed helped me to be able learn symbolism a bit better and also to understand my own life more clearly.
The narrator in the story “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield, is telling us this story in the third person singular perspective. Our narrator is a non-participant and we learn no details about this person, from a physical sense. Nothing to tell us whether it is a friend of Miss Brill, a relative, or just someone watching. Katherine Mansfield’s Miss Brill comes alive from the descriptions we get from this anonymous person. The narrator uses limited omniscience while telling us about this beautiful Sunday afternoon. By this I mean the narrator has a great insight into Miss Brill’s perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and into her world as a whole, but no real insight into any of the other characters in this story. By using this point of view, we see the world through the eyes of Miss Brill, and feel her emotions, even though this third party is telling us the story. This beautiful fall afternoon in France unfolds before our eyes because of the pain-staking details given to us by the narrator. We aren’t told many things straight out, but the details are such that we can feel the chill coming into the air and see the leaves of fall drifting to the earth. The figurative language that is used is superb from beginning to end. The imagination and detail made me see what was happening and hear the band play. The characters in the park are observed through the eyes of Miss Brill, and we learn bits of information of those who catch her eye. The detail of the observations that Miss Brill ma...
This is a gripping novel about the problem of European colonialism in Africa. The story relates the cultural collision that occurs when Christian English missionaries arrive among the Ibos of Nigeria, bringing along their European ways of life and religion.
Similarly, the book’s three leading protagonists ultimately possess a common objective, escaping their unjust circumstances in pursuit of seeking the “warmth of other suns.” For this reason, they abandon the laws of Jim Crow and the familiarity of their hometowns as they flee to a better life. In the process, they all assume a level of risk in their decisions to rebel against the system. For example, Ida decides to embark on a precarious journey while in the beginning stages of a clandestine pregnancy. Any number of unpredictable events could have resulted from this judgment, including fatality. All of the migrants shared an unspoken agreement that the rewards would far outweigh the dangers involved.
...ater appreciate and learn several lessons from its theme and historical content. Overall, the novel is valued by many writers and will continue to be inspirational to all throughout the many generations to come.
The concepts of multicultural education, my experience as an Immigrant, and the parable story in the book Is Everyone Really
By utilizing an unbiased stance in his novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe promotes cultural relativity without forcibly steering his audience to a particular mindset. He presents the flaws of the Ibo tribe the same way he presents the assets—without either condescension or pride; he presents the cruelties of the colonizers the same way he presents their open mindedness—without either resentment or sympathy. Because of this balance, readers are able to view the characters as multifaceted human beings instead of simply heroes and victims. Achebe writes with such subtle impartiality that American audiences do not feel guilty for the cruel actions of the colonizers or disgusted by the shocking traditions of the tribesmen. The readers stop differentiating the characters as either “tribesmen” or “colonizers”. They see them simply as people, much like themselves. With this mindset, the audience starts to reflect upon their own cultural weaknesses. Conversely, the colonizers forcefully declare their religion onto the tribesmen instead of neutrally presenting their beliefs. Achebe prevails over his anger to present his opinion without forcefulness and with open-minded consideration. Yes, the colonizers succeed in converting many tribesmen into Christians; however, their success is subjective because they destroy African culture in the process. Ultimately, Achebe is successful in delivering his political views, but he does so by encouraging open-mindedness and cultural relativity instead of forcing his individual ideals upon his readers.
The protagonist Hazel in ‘Yesterday’s Weather’ carries the insights of her slightly unhappy marriage and her motherhood. The story illustrates the occurrence of family gathering and how Hazel was affected by this particular trip. In this piece of the story, the readers will pick up on Hazel’s using the third person narration. “Third person limited point of view offers the thoughts and motivations of only one character” (Wilson, M & Clark, R. (n.d.)). That is to say, third person’s usage in the story is only able to give the set of emotion and actions. Therefore, limits the ability for the readers to see the insight of the other characters in the story.
The first part of the book gives an account of Immaculée’s family background. The love she experienced from her parents and her three brothers is illustrated. Her parents cared for everybody, particularly the poor. Because of the love with which she grew up, she never realised that she was living in a country where hatred against the Tutsi, her tribe, was rampant. It was not until she was asked to stand up in class by her teacher during an ethnic roll call that she realised that her neighbours were not what she thought them to be – good and friendly. After struggling to get into high school and university, not because she was not qualified but because of discrimination against her ethnic background, she worked hard to prove that if women are given opportunities to...
Katherine Mansfield’s “Miss Brill” protagonist, Miss Brill, portrays an educated, older white Caucasian female in France, seems to the reader to be alone, deranged, and miserable with an extensive imagination. Mansfield doesn’t say if Miss Brill is married or not; however, the reader would assume she isn’t due to how lonely she is. The only time Miss Brill gets to interact with people is on Sundays when she goes to the park to eavesdrop and “supposedly” listen to the band play. She is so deranged that she doesn’t even assume eavesdropping is wrong. She has lost all touch reality, imagining she is a lead actress in a play which in actuality is she was in a play her role would be minimized to an extra. However, in Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”