Life Lessons in Yulisa Amadu Maddy’s No Past, No Present, No Future

Life Lessons in Yulisa Amadu Maddy’s No Past, No Present, No Future

An age-old cliché states that one really never appreciates what he or she has until it is gone. Does this mean that nobody has ever truly appreciated the gift of life while living? Such an assumption cannot easily be made because no one can truly know the experiences or feelings. One can only try to understand by relating it to personal experience. On the other hand, this cliché would seem to explain the changes that people undergo as a result of a close brush with death. Some people fear death because of the mystery involved in what happens afterward. As a result few people like to think that death is simply the disintegration of a formerly animated body into a pile of dirt. T.S. Eliot capitalizes on this fear when he makes the statement: "I will show you fear in a handful of dust" (1. 30). Death is ordinarily a very abstract concept because nearly everyone would like to believe that somehow it’s not going to happen to him or her. Therefore, when the dust is placed before anyone, the reality of death is often enough to scare him or her into some change in perception and/or appreciation of life.

Though it can be imperceptible, the change in life that often results from the fear of death can drastically alter the path of a person’s life. Such is the case for the three main characters in Maddy’s No Past, No Present, No Future. Joe loses his parents when their house explodes. Santigie loses his father, Chief Bombolai, when he falls terribly ill and tribal medicine proves inadequate. Ade (and to some extent Joe) loses Mary when she tries to abort her unwanted pregnancy. But in each case, the deaths aren’t entirely in vain. There are definite lessons to be learned. The biggest danger, however, is trying not to learn the wrong lessons. Sometimes, this task can be next to impossible. If people encounter too much death, they can become jaded. When this happens, death ceases to teach any positive lessons. Instead, it becomes something totally different.

Despite it’s necessity, death is a very bleak and hopeless storm cloud looming in the distance. Nobody can escape the oncoming rain that is the life cycle. It can be depressing to think that no matter how good of a life one lives; everyone ends up dying sooner or later.