Appreciation Due to Death

Appreciation due to Death

Since the day the first man was created and then destroyed, a theory about life has been made. Everyday people take their lives for granted. But after they have faced mortal loss or life-threatening situations, their attitude towards life changes. They soon come to understand that the gift of life is to be appreciated and not taken for granted. Yulisa Amadu Maddy and T.S. Eliot are two writers who through their literature prove that death can change a person’s outlook on life.

Both of these authors, however, express this theory differently. For instance Maddy, author of No Past, No Present, No Future, portrays this theory through the life stories of three very different African boys. Whether it is someone they care for or themselves, each one of these boys, throughout their life, is confronted or threatened by death. The story of Joe Bengoh’s life is one example of how Maddy shows that death can teach a person to appreciate life. Maddy begins Joe’s life story by showing readers his attitude towards life. He portrays it as an unappreciative and non-caring attitude. A reader knows this because in the beginning of the book Maddy describes how Joe’s drunken parents died in a house fire. When Joe finds out about this tragic event, he reacts by stating that "My father destroyed my mother; my mother inveighed against my father. Thank God they are dead"(4). By reading this, a reader can come to the conclusion that Joe despises his parents, does not care that they are gone, and has no appreciation for his life or anyone else’s. If he appreciated life, then he either would have felt sorry that the parents he hates lost their lives or he would have been thankful for not being in the fire. But Joe did not express any of these emotions; therefore meaning that he does not appreciate life.

This ungrateful and unappreciative attitude of his, however, does not last. A number of life-threatening and mortal loss events happen to him. All of these events are the beginning stages to changing Joe’s outlook on life. They leave strong emotional and mental impacts on him, and force him to understand how to appreciate the life he is granted with. For example, it begins with the Mary incident. One summer Joe stayed at Ade John’s house and there they met a young, innocent girl named Mary.