THE NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH ANALYSIS PDF

The Neighborhood Watch analysis PDF - Rem'y Ngamije

A Silent Song and Other Stories 

Characters in The Neighbourhood Watch

• Elias
• Lazarus
• Silas
• Omagano
• Martin
• Mrs Bezuidenhout

 

The Neighbourhood Watch is a story by Rwandan-born Namibian author Rem'y Ngamije that highlights the struggles of surviving as homeless people on the streets.

 Key issues in The Neighbourhood Watch

• Teamwork is necessary for endurance
• In difficult circumstances, intelligence or wisdom is essential for survival

 

The Neighbourhood Watch Summary

"The Neighbourhood Watch" is a clique of five derelicts; Elias, Lazarus, Silas, Omogano (the only woman in the group) and Martin, who is the newest and youngest member.

Elias is the oldest and the leader of the group. Lazarus is his de facto second in command.

Needless to say, the conditions on the streets are difficult. The clique spends cold nights under a bridge. They sleep on cardboards. They have no food  for breakfast so instead of chomps all you hear when they wake up is yawning, stretching and grumbling.

Despite this, their unity is apparent. They share a can of water which they each use to wash their faces. The can goes from Elias to Martin in a hierarchy.

The closely-knit crew has certain codes that guide them as they struggle to survive on the streets. For instance, stealing is frowned down upon. However, they have to defend their territory from rival gangs from time to time.

It is clear that the crew members care for one another. Although Omagano uses her fingers to comb her hair, she is responsible for shaving Elias’s hair.  When Elias suffers a worrying incessant cough, he reassures others that he is okay when they show concern about his health.

Elias and his posse have one mantra: today you need to take care of today. In their quest to survive on the unforgiving streets, their focus is on getting food and shelter to survive today.

On the streets they are forced to survive on leftovers and decaying food. Elias is known to most of the kitchen staff in the city hotels. They sometimes give him leftovers which he shares with his gang. The staff has to take some leftovers to their own families and so Elias is not always lucky. Other times, they have to rummage through bins to find edible throwaways. The disciplined crew members arrive rather early in order to find semi-fresh morsels before the food starts rotting and crawling with worms: “The neighbourhood watch knows: The early bird does not catch the worms.”

Sometimes the clique clashes with guards in their search for food. They have to part with a 10 or 20 dollar bribe in order to access some bins. When Elias has no money, a guard would demand sexual favours from Omagano in exchange for access to the precious bins.

Survival on the streets is quite difficult. That notwithstanding the group is organized and they work as a team to ease the burden of finding food and other valuables necessary for survival. Elias, Lazarus and Omagano are always on food duty while Silas and Martin look for other essentials. They then share their food when they meet late in the afternoon.

Elias and Lazarus always warn Silas who has the propensity for stealing. However, when he finds something valuable they sell it and share the proceeds.

In the suburbs like Pionierspark, the crew faces resistance. They have to contend with peering eyes, dogs, patrolling vehicles and angry men.

Elias and Lazarus do not like talking about the past. Everyone brings a past to the street. Nonetheless, the only worry they have is the present hunger pangs.

In spite of that, we have a peek into their past lives.

Lazarus was a prisoner while Elias faced gunfire against the South African Defence Forces in the jungles of Angola.

When they first met, they remained dumb about their past- they have their minds firmly fixed on the trials of today.

“The streets snacked on those who regretted, those who dreamed of a tomorrow that still required today to be survived.” (pg. 79)

Elias shared some street wisdom with Lazarus in their early days: “the street has no future, there is only today … Today you need to take care of today.” (pg. 79)

Elias and Lazarus talk about the past to Martin, Silas and Omagano to share street survival tips. The experience has made them street savvy.

At first, they used to go everywhere flicking through different bins, in poor neighborhoods of Katunura, Hakahana, Goreangab, Wanaheda and Okuryangava in their desperate efforts to survive.

Now they know better than that. 

In the beginning, Elias and Lazarus were always desperate and hungry. They would spend the whole day miserably searching for food to survive. They faced stiff competition from other gangs.

In the poor neighborhoods, people have nothing to throw away by themselves.

The crew understands that it’s only white people and black people trying to be white people that have enough to throw away. Elias and Lazarus who are fed up with the blistering search for food with little reward in the poor neighborhoods. 

They were smart enough to know it was time to upgrade when they found a dead baby in the garbage. 

Their relatives lived in such neighborhoods but they had to go through them anyway.

“To survive, mos, just to survive”

They used to find nasty garbage for example old food, used condoms, women’s things with blood, broken things and even dead babies! Elias says it is okay to find a dead dog or cat even a dead person is okay but a dead baby is evil! Martin recoils in shock and Silas laughs at the cringing newcomer.

Elias and Lazarus make a smart decision to move away from the poor neighbourhoods. They are so systematic that they decide to align their search for food and essentials based on the municipality rubbish collection dates. They make a timetable.

The streets are rough, needless to say. Violence is a common occurrence. It is not strange to experience young upstarts beat an old man in a dispute over a territory while trying to find food. Lazarus has the reputation of the tough guy in the neighborhood watch. The crew lost a former member in a squabble that turned fatal. Amos was famous for his audacious impertinence whenever he was drunk off Zamalek or cheap whisky. His insolence resulted in a stabbing incident that left him dead one fateful Friday night.

Whenever someone is killed on the streets, no one is ready to volunteer information because the police are brutal and inefficient. The investigation involves ruthless battering and kicking of the suspects. Whether innocent or guilty, the “interrogation” would leave the witness with cuts, bruises and bumps.

Sometimes, when the spate of murders and robbers become unbridled, a derelict would agree to incur punishment in cahoots with the corrupt police force on behalf of the real criminals just to escape the harsh life on the streets. In jail, you get better conditions – free food and shelter.

“The streets are not for everyone” (pg 81)

When Amos was killed, the police tried to frame Elias and Lazarus for his murder. The two were beaten till they were bruised and bleeding. They were allowed to go but after a stern warning and with swollen eyes, three broken ribs and limbs that took days to heal. The two chose to avoid Khomsadal neighborhood where Amos was killed for fear of more violent attacks from the murderer.

The crew spends Fridays and Saturdays under the bridge at Headquarters. It is safer there because police patrol on those days. Elias advises his friends to remain at the bridge. However, it is difficult to tether Silas and his itchy fingers. When he tries to get Martin to go with him on his escapades, the older members block his attempts. 

Of the five, Martin is the most hopeful. As much as Elias insists that the streets have no future, Martin believes that maybe the future holds greater promise. For Elias, “every day is today.”

The crew enjoys visiting the rich neighborhoods of Eros and Klein Windhoek on Sundays. Here the dogs are safely confined, the neighbourhoods have high walls and the bins are easily accessible on the pavement. The garbage is recycled and sorted in separate plastic bags. Some people even wash the trash before disposing it. It helps the scavengers to save time and what’s more, it is not far from Headquarters.

The crew has an unlikely benevolent friend, old Mrs. Bezuidenhout, in Eros. She gives them foodstuffs like peas, beans and bananas and essentials; a mirror, pair of scissors, old clothes, jerseys, old books and even a rosary.

The Neighborhood Watch thus relies on three reliable pillars that provide essential support: Elias says street savior-faire, Lazarus contained violence and Mrs. Bezuidenhout’s generosity.

Mrs. Bezuidenhout is so kind hearted that even Lazarus who is not a believer believes she is worth praying for. She is the only one who asks them how they are and what they need.

Silas once asked Elias why he never asks for toothbrushes or soap, or medicine or space in her garage. Elias learnedly tells him that by giving them the things they needed, she was raking the street away from them. We need  all of the street to survive the street. He further displayed his usual street acuity when he added: “soon she will not be around to give and give but we will still need to take and take.”

They anticipate Mrs.  Bezuidenhout’s kindness but are afraid that one day she will no longer be around.

They break their one rule: they start thinking about the future. They start having a glimmer of hope.

How do members of 'The Neighbourhood Watch' apply street wisdom, past experiences and unity to survive? 

Next: December analysis 

ESSAYS: Read A Silent Song and Other Stories Essays and Answers PDF here

GHOSTS ANALYSIS PDF

Ghosts Analysis PDF – Chimamanda Adichie

A Silent Song and Other Stories 

Chimamanda Adichie's story “Ghosts” revolves around the protagonist James Nwoye, a 71 year old retired mathematics professor.  Nwoye lives off a pension, although he does not receive it when he should.

The story explores how memories of the past can haunt us in the present. The tale, aptly named “Ghosts”, opens when Nwoye meets his former colleague Ikenna Okoro whom he thought had died in the Biafran war. His first thought is to throw sand at him, his people’s traditional practice to ascertain that a person is not a ghost. He restrains himself since he is a Western-educated man or so we think.

Characters in Ghosts

• James Nwoye – retired professor
• Ebere – James’s late wife
• Zik – James’s late daughter
• Nkiru – James’s daughter (doctor)
• Ikenna Okoro – James’s former colleague
• Vincent – James’s former driver
• Professor Ezike
• Dr. Anya
• Chuck Bell – James’s American friend
• Josephat Udeana – inept vice chancellor Nkussa university
• Harrison – James’s gardener
• Dr. Otgabu
• Professor Ijere – James’s next door neighbour
• Professor Maduewe – James’s friend

Summary of Ghosts

The professor is in the university to collect his pension yet again.  The pension money is mismanaged or stolen. Some people claim that the pension money was stolen by the education minister. Another avers that the vice chancellor deposited the money in high interest personal accounts. Since ordinary Nigerians cannot access pension, many of them are poverty-stricken. The former university staff (drivers and messengers) are tattered and hungry. They have not received pension for three years. Vincent, professor’s former driver avers that, “This is why people retire and die.” (pg. 58)

Adichie uses Vincent to shine a light on the plight of poor retirees of the university. The former driver is now a cobbler, who mends students shoes but they never pay him on time. He also complains about Nigeria being an ungrateful country. His skin is so wrinkled that he appears older than Nwoye who is older than him. The other workers, who are also there to collect their elusive pension, decry the poor state of affairs: carpentry is not going well, their children are ill and they have money lender problems. They laugh as they talk as if to conceal their resentment. Nwoye sympathizes with them. Luckily for him, he has some savings and receives some dollars from his daughter Nkiru who is a doctor in America. The men's ashy hands and faces remind him of how Ebere his late wife used to rub lotion on his body. This fond memory is a testament of their once affectionate bond.

Nwoye is shocked to meet Ikenna Okoro, a man he thought died 37 years ago. It is as if he had seen a ghost. Although Ikenna Okoro and Nwoye were not friends, everyone knew Ikenna Okoro. He was an eccentric dissident who never shied away from speaking his mind. He petitioned the government about better conditions for the non-academic staff. Other lecturers admired his edgy fearlessness. However, he now seems a pale shadow of his former brash self. Nwoye can pick up unusual diffidence (lack of confidence) about Ikenna Okoro.

Nwoye believes Ikenna Okoro died on July 6^th, 1967 the day they were evacuated from Nsukka. Their enemy, the federal soldiers, was advancing but the militia assured them of victory in a matter of days. Nwoye believed that the vandals (federal soldiers) would be defeated in a week or two. As the professor flees in his Impala, he observes the villagers fleeing on foot, women with boxes on their heads and babies on their backs hurry away. The men push bicycles and carry yams. They would later return to the misery of having to pick through the lecturers dust bins after the war.

Nwoye spots Ikenna Okoro driving back into campus. He tries to dissuade him but Ikenna Okoro is a headstrong renegade. When Nsukka is captured by the federal soldiers, two lecturers are killed. Nwoye assumes that one of them was Ikenna Okoro. Nwoye is disappointed to learn that Ikenna Okoro fled to Sweden on a Red Cross plane instead of staying to support the Biafran cause. He is angry at the saboteurs who betrayed the Biafran cause, which he supports dearly. Since his entire family was wiped out when a bomb was dropped in Orlu, Ikenna Okoro chose to stay in Sweden since he had no reason to come back. He claims that while there he organized Biafran rallies and fundraising.

The war had a devastating aftermath. When Ebere and Nwoye return to Nsukka in 1970, (three years after they left) they are dismayed  by the amount of destruction they find. Their books are a charred pile under the umbrella tree, lumps of calcified feces in the bathtub, pages of books used as toilet paper, Ebere’s piano missing, Nwoye’s graduation gown used to wipe something and crawling with ants and their photos ripped and frames destroyed. Devastated, they decide to leave for America and they do not return until 1976 (six years later.)

While there, his American friend Chuck Bell helps him secure a teaching appointment. When they return they are assigned a new house but they are disheartened when the umbrella tree at their old house is cut down by the new occupants. Sadly, we learned that Nwoye's daughter Zik perished in the war.

Another victim of the war is Chris Okigbo – a poetry colossus that Nwoye refers to as “Our genius, our star.” He took up a gun to defend Nsukka. Nwoye regrets when he says that at least he was brave enough to fight. He feels like it sounded like a jibe meant to deride Ikenna Okoro who fled when the war began. Out of discomfort, Nwoye decides to tell Ikenna Okoro about the day Ebere and he drove back to Nsukka and witnessed the destructive aftermath of the war: Landscape of ruins, blown out roofs, houses riddled with bullet holes and the wounded soldier who was shoved into their car bleeding profusely. Nwoye tries to cheer up Ikenna Okoro by saying that the metallic smell of the soldier's blood reminded him of Ikenna. This was a lie.

Ikenna Okoro sheds tears when he learns that Ebere died three years ago. Nwoye tells him that she visits him as an apparition but he dismisses it by simply quipping “I see”. Ikenna Okoro perceives belief in ghosts as madness because of his education.

Nwoye clearly misses his wife and the physical aspect of their relationship. He reminisces about how his wife would rub lotion into his skin. This is testament of how they had a strong intimate relationship when she was alive. He keeps her alive in his imagination by imagining that she visits him as a ghost. He is reluctant to tell his daughter about the mother's visits lest she drags him back with her to America.

The war and loss denies Nwoye the opportunity of teaching his grandson his language and simple courtesies like greeting strangers. The grandson lives in America with his mother. The family is broken as a result of the war.

The two acquaintances then talk about the university Staff Club. The club is a shell of what it used to be. The novices are incompetent. There is no teaching going on. They are only concerned about university politics. The students buy grades with money or their bodies. The Senate meetings have degenerated into personality-cult battles. Ikenna Okoro and Nwoye recall memories of Josephat Udeana Who was once the best ballroom dancer. He has been a vice chancellor for six years and has ran the university like a chicken coop. He stole university money and bought himself new cars. Court cases challenging this misappropriation did not bear fruit. Josephat runs the university as a one man show and dictates the promotion or stagnation of the university staff. The vice chancellor who replaces him is not any different. The inefficiency in the university is so rife that Nwoye and many others have not received any pension long after they retired. No one speaks against the widespread corruption and inaction. Ironically, even the lecturers bribe someone to change their dates of birth in order to work for five more years. No one wants to retire.

The corruption and inefficiency is experienced all over the country. The professor shakes his head resignedly “as if to say that the situation is, sadly, ineluctable.”

The latest plague in the country is fake drugs. People sell expired medicine. Ebere died because of ineffective medication. She was getting weaker and weaker instead of recovering from the medication. Nwoye was distraught. He says gravely that, “Fake drugs are horrible.”

Nwoye spends his retirement days visiting an old friend, taking leisurely walks, reading newspapers, talking to their daughter, reading all journals and watching birds from his veranda. From his admission we learned that the roads have potholes, motorcycles are ridden recklessly and you have to bribe someone at NITEL just to have your phone repaired.

Since Ebere started visiting, James stopped going to church since he claims that he is no longer uncertain of the afterlife.

As they part ways, Nwoye invites Ikenna Okoro who assents but he knows he would not come.   

Nwoye has more fond memories of Ebere as he remembers how she used to mock other people’s Mercedes. He says she still has a sense of humor even as a ghost.

While watching TV, he sees a man that admits selling fake typhoid fever medicine that doesn't kill people but does not cure the illness either. The only consolation for Nwoye is that Ebere visits him.

It turns out that nobody talks about the war but the harrowing memories keep lingering like ghosts. James recalls horrors like crouching in muddy bunkers during air raids, burying corpses, eating cassava peels and helplessly watching their children battling malnutrition.

As Nwoye sits in his study, he waits for a call from his daughter Nkiru or a visit from the ghost of his late wife Ebere.

 

The  destructive aftermath of the war in Ghosts by Chimamanda Adichie

• Displacement of families 
• Death – Zik, two lectures, Chris Okigbo, Ikenna's entire family
• Destruction of property
• Landscapes with ruins, blown out roofs, houses with holes
• Trauma – Wounded soldier, Ikenna Okoro pale shadow of his former self; hallucinations 
• Separation of families – Nkiru and his son live in America
• Harrowing conditions – muddy bunkers
• No food – cassava peels, malnutrition, relief food, picking through dustbins 
• Poverty
• Fake drugs
• Corruption - bribery
• Poor infrastructure  

GHOSTS PRACTICE ESSAY QUESTIONS

The survivors of war live with painful memories and experiences. Write an essay to support this statement citing illustrations from Chimamanda Adichie's Ghosts.

Do you believe in ghosts? What is the lesson in this story?

Next: God Sees the Truth, but Waits analysis 

ESSAYS: Read A Silent Song and Other Stories Essays and Answers PDF here

BOYI PDF ANALYSIS – Gloria Mwaniga

A Silent Song and Other Stories

Characters in Boyi

• Boyi
• Baba
• Mama
• Chesober - Baba's friend
• Matwa Kei – military gang leader
• Saulo
• Kimutai
• Koros – neighbour
• Chesaina - Baba's friend
• Simoni
• Narrator - Boyi's sister

 

Focus

• Devastating effects of war
• Conflicts ruin families/communities

 

Boyi Summary

War ruins families and communities. In Boyi, Gloria Mwaniga recounts the horrifying experiences meted upon families in Mt. Elgon alluding to the insurgency carried out by a self-styled militia, the Sabaot Land Defense Forces (SLDF) between 2006 and 2008. The leaders of the ragtag group claimed they were out to correct injustices committed during a land distribution exercise in the region.

The villagers erroneously think the militia’s mission is to protect their ancestral land from being given to “lazy strangers” but they are shocked when their own kinsmen go on an indiscriminate spree of rape, murder, torture, abduction, theft, destruction of property and physical punishment of perceived enemies or traitors. The saviour turns out to be a veiled savage enemy that leaves devastation in his wake. 

What starts as a simple mission to protect community land deteriorates into a bloody massacre …  and “war is a maggot that nibbles and nibbles at the hearts of men.” (pg. 95)

The narrator recounts the anguish they experience as a family after her brother is forcefully recruited into the militia when he is only 15 years old.

The militiamen raid their home to demand 40,000 land protection tax which the father could not raise. Matwa Kei, the leader of the illegal outfit demands 10,000 land protection tax and 30,000 betrayal tax since Baba lent a panga  and makonge ropes to the government surveyors. In his desperation to save his family, he brings out everything of value that he owns including his savings, his precious Sony transistor radio and his hunting gun.  He promises to sell his bull Mtambakaki and give Matwa Kei the cash. Matwa Kei declines. That is when he’s forced to hand over Boyi to the ruffian, as collateral, till he can raise the money.

Boyi’s mother is stunned, when his son is dragged away into the darkness. She tears her headscarf and starts to shout, enraged with madness. Baba is adamant that he had to surrender the boy to spare the rest of the family the wrath of the barbarian gang who are now infamous for chopping off people’s heads, carrying off the heads like trophies and hanging them on trees, eating them like Iddi Amin, and torturing them by chopping off their ears and feeding them worm-filled earth. 

Boyi and his sister (the narrator) must have been devastated by Matwa Kei and his army's callousness since they had laughed off the idea of being attacked by their own kin. After all the militia was formed to protect them against the strangers who had been given their land, or so they thought. 

Baba regrettably sums up the hopelessness they felt the day Boyi was yanked from their care when he says sadly: “Our very boys, who ate oaths to protect our ancestral land have turned to us like the angry chameleon that eats its intestines” (pg 92)

Boyi’s mother spends her subsequent mornings sitting in the kitchen alone, numbed by the devastation. She does not answer greetings. She would shriek at the narrator, “Stupid girl, you want to finish tea and your brother will come from the caves hungry. Leave him some.” She sits gazing at the walls and declares that she had seen a vision of her son returning from the caves. Her monologues alternated with torturous silence in the room. The narrator feels her mother is running mad.

The neighbours stream in to console the family following the anguish of losing a son to the ruthless ruffian army. Soon after, the stream of visitors dies down.

The government later sends the army to quell the vicious onslaught of the militia. About 200 soldiers descend mightily upon the region.

Boyi’s mother stops eating and starts muttering to herself, sadly wondering why she has to suffer like this. This goes on for weeks. She refuses to participate in escorting Boyi’s spirit away when Baba and his cousin, Kimutai, bury a banana stem a - custom performed to wade away the spirits of death.

The narrator hopes her brother is more powerful than the soldiers so that he is not killed. She is encouraged by the stories of how the militia drank magic portions from Orkoiyot (spiritual ruler) that made their bodies like stone and how their bodies were made invisible when they were embalmed in bloody cow dung. She also heard that earth God Yeyiin protected them.

The war prevented people from working on their farms. The militia stole young crops and animals like goats. Women did not work. They sat in groups and recounted how the militia killed people and dumped them in rivers, pit latrines and wells. They went door to door recruiting boys as young as ten and forcing them to kill close family members in order for them to be strong.

The war leads to the displacement of many fearful villagers who flee their homes in Kopsiro, Saromet, Chepyuk and Chelebei to Bungoma, Chwele and the neighbouring country Uganda.

The militia whose mission was to protect community land turns completely rogue and abducts young girls to go and cook for them. River Cheptub-burbur floats with human heads. The men rape their own blood relatives and they give birth to “pale babies.”

The war also interrupts schooling in the region. The narrator is haunted by thoughts of being raped or killed by her own brother (p 95). Boyi’s mother is an obedient woman who always sides with her husband but now she says she could never run away and leave her son behind.

In January, a neighbor brings disturbing news that Boyi is now Matwa Kei’s right hand man and is thus a marked man. The war has turned an innocent pious boy who recited his psalms earnestly to a cold blooded savage. His parents shed painful tears when they fathom this. The narrator misses her brother so much. She remembers his boyish laughter and their childhood games and mischief. She sympathises with him when she imagines his harrowing experience in the cold caves. She fantasizes about his return and hopes to fascinate him with tales about the army soldiers. 

That night mother and daughter experience different emotions when lightning strikes the Nandi flame tree in their compound. The girl senses something was wrong whereas the mother declares that the evil that had struck their home had been stricken down by the lightning.

The following morning news reaches the family that their son and brother Boyi had been brutally killed alongside other leaders of the militia. Simoni, a neighbour, brings a copy of the Nation newspaper that bears the grim news. The headline forlornly screams Ragtag Militia Leaders Killed by Army Forces.

"Boyi was hoisted to the aircraft and then after it had ascended up, up like a kite, he was shoved out by Sah-gent 'without a parachute, imagine'" (p97) 

Baba crumples on the floor like an old coat. Mama laughs in despair. The narrator is too devastated to weep. The mother is too stunned to mourn or roll on the ground. She only stares at her husband, with lunacy filled eyes. The situation is sombre. 

The devastation caused by the meaningless war culminates into mourning for the family when they lose their innocent son. The narrator's deluge of tears soak her blue silk blouse and purple boob top as she sits on Boyi's bed with her grieving mother. The father dumps his Sony transistor radio and the Nation newspaper in a pit latrine. 

As the country celebrates the killing of murderous militia brutes, the family mourns the loss of a loved one – a cheerful boy who spoke good English and played with his sister, who fondly refers to him as Boyi.

The land dispute causes conflicts in Boyi's household. The family members suffer. Mama is the most affected.

1. Mama's reproach

2. Hostile reaction after Baba's explanation 

3. Fear

4. Screams/monologues

5. Nostalgia 

6. Strain - refusal to "bury" Boyi

7. Hunger strike

8. Strain - refuses to run away and leave Boyi

9. Clash with Chesaina

10. Reaction to Boyi's death - devastation

How are Baba and and Boyi's sister affected?

Next: Cheque Mate analysis 

Read A Silent Song and Other Stories Essays and Answers PDF here

DECEMBER ANALYSIS PDF (Filemon Liyambo)

DECEMBER ANALYSIS PDF (Filemon Liyambo)

A Silent song and other stories

Characters in December by Filemon Liyambo

• September
• Ezekiel – September’s Grandfather (a.k.a Tateluku)
• Josef – Ezekiel’s brother
• December – September’s sister
• Tshuuveni – September’s childhood friend
• Silas Shikongo – September’s father

 

Key events in December by Filemon Liyambo

• KFC
• The hoeing mishap
• Traditions (Ezekiel’s hiding something)
• Silas' naming convention
• At the hospital
• Past visits to the hospital
• Rude nurse
• Catching up with Tshuuveni
• Meeting December
• Family members affected by December's illness
• Ezekiel buried with his secret

 

Key issue 

• Mentall-ill patients need love and care in order to cope

When Ezekiel dies, he takes his secret to the grave. He had meant to let the cat out of the bag to his grandson September before he first left for the UK but he did not. He wanted to explain why he forbids December from eating chicken. December’s story is shrouded in mystery. She abruptly and mysteriously goes from an exceptionally good student to a psychiatric patient. 

Ezekiel insists that she was bewitched.

December is a story about the relationship between mentally ill patients and their family members and the impact of traditions and myths on the condition. 

December Summary

December by Filemon Liyambo opens with September visiting his sister at the psychiatric ward. December suffers from a mental illness which seems to run in the family. Her younger grandfather Josef and her late father Silas Shikongo also exhibit characteristics of mental illness.

When his younger brother Josef started losing track of time in his teenage years, Ezekiel called it idiotism. September remembers his grandfather when the rude attendants at KFC sneers at him. The old man does the same thing anytime he notices what he calls “traces of idiotism” in his grandson September.

September is at KFC to buy some chips for his sister. December is two years older than September. When he was four years old, December accidentally grazed him on the side of the head while weeding tomato plants. She ripped her T-shirt to stem the bleeding. When he returned from hospital she helped to nurse him.

December does not eat chicken. Her grandfather forbids it but never discloses the reason to September. September is wise enough not to question traditions.

Can you dispute customs without being disrespectful? 

You may be wondering about the odd names. Well, blame Silas Shikongo. He is September and December’s late father. He named his last four children after the month in which they were conceived. His friends thought he was a fool. His father Ezekiel was afraid his idiotism would affect his grandchildren. Silas had an erratic conception of time.

The same attribute is manifested in Josef, who lost track of time is his teens and December, whose life is on pause.  

Was Silas also suffering from mental illness?

September visits the mental health facility to see his sister. Trouble started when she started having problems with classmates, fighting, hurling insults at them and even walking naked talking to herself. September was puzzled that she suddenly fell ill, almost inexplicably.

Apart from December, Ezekiel’s younger brother Josef also suffers from a mental illness. He started developing challenges tracking time in his teens. His brother Ezekiel thought he was  teasing and thought the “idiotism” would pass but it worsened. He went missing for a month. 

December on the other hand fell ill shortly before completing her secondary school education. Ezekiel was heartbroken that the affliction befell his favorite granddaughter just before she achieved her dream – enrollment at the teachers training college. The old man was convinced that other forces were at work.

December is now confined in a mental health facility with windows reinforced with metal bars.  The other restriction is dietary - her grandfather forbids her from eating chicken. 

September has visited her several times before. The hospital surroundings are familiar to him. He has been abroad for two and a half years studying in the UK. Now he is back and he notices some changes at the hospital, for instance, the new glass doors and reinforcements on the windows. 

On previous visits, he brought mutton or beef, never chicken; she always said she was fine but kept complaining that she was tired. 

September wonders whether she was tired of the hospital or of her health condition. She is trapped in both.

The service at the hospital is terrible just like the one at KFC. The nurse who speaks to September is impudent. She asserts that it is past visiting hours but September is adamant that he must see his sister. Luckily for him, when the rude nurse calls security to throw him out, the head of security Tshuuveni is his old friend. 

Tshuuveni used to pursue December when she was younger. The two friends catch up and September is allowed to see his sister. He has 20 minutes

December is in a sorry state when he finally sets his eyes on her. Her hair is scattered, she is gaunt – thin and her lips are swollen. 

The last time she appeared this thin was when her ignorant, conservative grandfather had taken her to a healer in his desperate attempt to save his favorite granddaughter from the clutches of the mysterious affliction. The clueless healer left her looking skeletal while attempting to starve out the voices in her head. 

It is important to question potentially harmful traditions or beliefs. A better insight about mental illnesses will lead to the kind of questions that will result in change. 

September gives his sister a T-shirt – a replica of the one she tore during the weeding mishap, a jersey, a book with puzzles and the chips he bought at KFC. 

December's illness had broken their mother’s heart. She aged faster.

September was angry that his sister's life was on pause as life moved on. When she remarks that Tateluku (grandfather) had not visited for a while, September suddenly holds back the urge to inform her that he was dead. That is the reason he was back from the UK.

Ezekiel had a dream that Josef was at a pond, where leopards drank. He was found there, eating. He was then taken to a healer by the elders. Ezekiel was asked what his brother was eating in his dream. 

Was it chicken? Is this why the old man forbade December from eating chicken? 

Ezekiel was interred while firmly holding on to these secrets.

Mentally ill patients suffer stigma and neglect as a result of ignorance. 

Our relationship with mentally ill patients should be based on love and care. 

This is how September shows his sister December love:

• endures rude treatment at KFC to buy his sister her favourite meal
• visits December several times 
• insists on seeing December at the hospital 
• cries for December when travelling abroad, needs reassurance from grandfather 
• shares a loving bond with the sister 
• brings December gifts 
• conceals the news of their grandfather’s death from December 
• he shows sympathy for her 
• embraces her tightly before he leaves 

Next: Boyi analysis 

Read A Silent Song and Other Stories Essays and Answers PDF here

THE TRULY MARRIED WOMAN ANALYSIS PDF

A Silent Song and Other Stories

 

Characters in The Truly Married Woman

• Ajayi
• Ayo - Ajayi's wife
• Omo -Ayo's neighbour
• Oju - Ajayi's son
• Bimbola – local nurse
• Chief clerk
• Jonathan Olsen – white missionary

 

Key events in The Truly Married Woman

• Daily routine
• The priest
• Beating Oju
• Meeting the missionaries
• Decision to wed
• The problems (Ajayi's sister, Omo's jealousy)
• Negotiations
• The wedding
• Truly married woman

 

The Truly Married Woman Summary

Ajayi and Ayo have lived together for 12 years but they are not married. They have three children and another on the way. Ayo’s mother remarks that Ayo is enthusiastic when it comes to true work of a woman – having children.

Ajayi and Ayo are used to each other and to daily routines and patterns of life. Ajayi is comfortable with this lifestyle. He has always meant to marry Ayo ever since they had their first child but he keeps postponing it. 

The cost of the ceremony also seems to scare him a bit.

Every morning Ayo wakes up at 5 to make tea for Ajayi. Apart from taking his weak, sugary tea without milk, his other morning rituals include: taking six deep breaths to prevent diseases of the chest, a quick bath, taking bitter medicine which he believes can cure about 20 different diseases and illnesses; and beating his son Oju to stop him from wetting his sleeping mat.

Although Ajayi and Ayo are happy with their arrangement, the church and her parents are not. The priest is categorically against unmarried couples living together. Ayo’s father hoped she would marry a high school teacher. Ajayi is a government clerk.

Ajayi loves his mistress because she is patient and honest. She is dark and beautiful with white teeth and neat hair. She is also obedient and rarely disagrees with him.

The one time they differed about Ajayi beating his son Oju, Ayo informed him that it is wrong to punish children for bed wetting. She learned that from Bimbola, a local nurse who studied in England and America. Ajayi is impressed by the enlightenment of his deceptively quiet wife.

This makes Ajayi thoughtful. Coupled with another incident, he considers marrying Ayo.

This is the visit by three missionaries working with World Gospel Crusading Alliance (WGCA) from Minnesota in USA. Ajayi had contacted the organization hoping to get free bibles to donate or sell and large religious pictures to put up on his bedroom wall. The visitors, led by Jonathan Olsen, visit Ajayi’s home. Ajayi is pleased by the way Ayo handles the visitors.

At short notice, she buys fruit drinks, replaces raunchy calendars with family photographs and magazines with religious books and hides wine glasses. The children and she dress smartly in Sunday clothes. She even borrows a wedding ring from a neighbour in order to appear like a truly married woman. She awes Ajayi when she speaks some English when she is introduced to the visitors. 

She does all these instinctively after learning that the visitors are not regular white men whom she presumes drink whisky and iced beer but are friendly, religious-looking men.

Ayo’s protest about Oju’s beating and her demeanor during the visit convince Ajayi to marry her. Another reason is the white man had taken some photographs of their family and millions of Americans would see their picture as ‘one God-loving and happy African family.’

When he tells Ayo that he wanted to marry her, she becomes worried thinking he is ill. She even cautions him: “let us get married but do not say I made you do it.”

They agree to have a church wedding.

That night when Ajayi pulls Ayo to him as they lay in bed she declines and tells him to wait until after the wedding.

Ajayi’s people welcome the idea of marriage except his skeptical sister who feels Ayo would become more important in the family than she was. She even visits a soothsayer in an attempt to scuttle the wedding plans but Ayo beats her at her own game.

When Omo, Ayo’s friend that she gossips with and who lends Ayo her wedding ring from time to time, hears about the wedding plans and sees Ayo’s wedding gifts she becomes jealous.

Meanwhile, Ajayi borrows a lot of money to cater for the wedding needs. He misses his normal routine especially his cup of tea, since Ayo had gone back to her parents’ home.

Ajayi finally marries Ayo after lengthy customary, back and forth discussions between the two families. About 60 people attend their church wedding. Ayo cries as if in disbelief, for she finally gets married in her mid-thirties.

An old aunt advises them to live peaceably and resolve disputes before going to bed. She cautions Ayo against gossiping with other women lest they steal her husband and warns Ajayi against using violence on their daughter. She adds that a wife is just as exciting as a mistress.

The morning after the wedding, Ajayi is met with a rude shock when he wakes up. Ayo does not wake up early to prepare breakfast as usual. He concludes that maybe she was taken ill. When he asks her, she replies nonchalantly that he should wake up and make himself a cup of tea. She even contemptuously wonders if something is wrong with his legs. Surprisingly, she demands respect from him asserting that she is now a truly married woman.

Next: Talking Money analysis 

Read A Silent Song and Other Stories Essays and Answers PDF here

THE SINS OF THE FATHERS PDF ANALYSIS

A Silent Song and Other Stories

Characters in The Sins of the Fathers – Charles Mungoshi

• Rondo Rwafa
• Selina - Rondo's wife
• Mr. Rwafa - (Ex-minister, liberation war veteran)
• Basil Mzamane - Rondo's father-in-law (MP, Businessman)
• Gaston Shoko - Rondo's colleague and friend
• Yuna (6) and Rhoda (5) - Rondo's daughters
• Rondo's mother
• Mrs. Quayle

 

In Charles Mungoshi's The Sins of the Fathers, we revisit scars of the past and appreciate how past hurts can cause present and future pain if the victims do not heal and forgive their supposed enemies. 

Mr. Rwafa, an ex-minister and liberation war veteran, clings onto hatred and this obstinate refusal to forgive and forget causes the tragic death of his grandchildren and his son’s father-in-law, when they perish in a car crash he engineered.

The biggest sufferer of Rwafa's sins is his son, Rondo. Rwafa exerts unwarranted pressure on Rondo causing him grief, leaving him with bitter memories and ruining his life. 

Focus

• Parents' wicked actions can destroy their children
• Children suffer when mistreated by parents 

The Sins of the Fathers Summary

Rondo Rwafa wistfully imagines how his father-in-law Mr. Basil Mzamane and his daughters Yuna and Rhoda, met their untimely deaths. He hopes they died happily, trying to erase his own pain. The three jolly family members perished in a tragic car crash after attending the girls' birthday party at Rondo’s house in Borrowdale.  He has been grieving for a week now, numbed by the pain.

Rondo is surprised when his father avers that one day Rondo will be grateful and glad that the tragedy happened then and not later. He adds:

 “You will remember me and thank me.” (pg. 28)

Rondo’s thoughts wander to a distant introspection, when his father leaves. The thought that he lives in his father’s shadow gnaws him. He is not his own man. His wife thinks she could do better in his pants and he is a laughing stock among his friends and colleagues.

Selina, his wife, seems to be the more confident and influential of the pair. This can be attributed to the fact that they were brought up differently – Selina was brought up by people with “long hearts” – people who forgave others while Rondo's father is an unforgiving savage.

His father is a bombed out battlefield of scars.

“And his deepest scar is that he cannot forgive: Not just his enemies,” says Mrs. Rwafa, his wife. (pg. 31)

He cannot even forgive his wife or his son. His bitterness arises from the past when his Zezeru-Karanga clan was attacked by the maDzviti-Ndebele clan. The war affected him so much that he always remembers the pain of the scars rather than the relief of healing. The situation is compounded by the fact that his son Rondo married into a muDzviti family. 

Furthermore, he gives birth to two girls, instead of a grandson who would inherit Rwafa’s wealth and qualities like his charisma. Mr. Rwafa is so disappointed in Rondo that it affects Rondo's personality. 

It is Mr. Rwafa’s ill treatment of his only son that makes Rondo a timid laughing stock among his peers.    

It is thus suspicious that the grandchildren that Mr. Rwafa considers inglorious die in an accident together with their grandfather whom Rwafa detests so much. Rondo starts to put two and two together while interacting with his colleague and friend Gaston Shoko. Shoko refers to the accident that claimed Rondo’s children’s lives as a typical Second Street accident, a subliminal hint that Mr. Rwafa may have been the architect behind the accident.

The bad blood between Rwafa’s family and Mzamane’s family is apparent at the party. Although Basil Mzamane is benevolent and compassionate, Rwafa remains obdurate and unforgiving. The two men’s speeches are the birthday party turn sour betraying the underlying resentment. 

A day before the party the two men also disagreed on the matter of white people in the country. Mr. Mzamane proposes that people should be viewed as individuals because some are good while others are bad. On the other hand, Rwafa holds blanket condemnation of groups of people and views anyone who seemed supportive of his supposed enemy as a traitor.

Further back, Mr. Mzamane had taken care of the expenses of their  children’s wedding, while Rwafa skipped the ceremony altogether, claiming he was away on “state business” for two weeks.

Mr. Rwafa also hungers for a certain farm owned by a white man known as Mr. Quayle and he is ready to get it by all means.

At the party, they try to conceal the boiling agitation between them behind the tight smiles and loud laughs. Later on, Mr. Rwafa recklessly talks about betrayals and enmity between clans and families causing visitors to leave uncomfortably one after another. In the course of his rant, Mr. Rwafa derides their weak sons who marry into families of their enemies, and contaminate the pure blood of the family.

In his father’s presence, Rondo always felt powerless. His mother insists that the old man loves his son but does not know how to show it.

The story ends tragically when Mr. Rwafa takes his own life using his service pistol, after being confronted by his son who he haughtily labelled ‘slob'.

With that soft muffled plop, the bitter past filled with pain, is probably buried.

The sins of the fathers are washed away by their own blood. 

In the words of acclaimed American rapper and mogul, Shawn Corey Carter (Jay-Z), “Nobody wins when the family feuds.”

The Sins of the Fathers - Rwafa's sins

Let's discuss how Rwafa's actions ruin his son Rondo:

• Second Street Accident: Rwafa engineers and accident that cuts short the lives of Rondo's daughters. This causes Rondo untold pain. 
• Laughing Stock: Rwafa's treatment makes Rondo a laughing stock among his friends and workmates. He forces Rondo to work as a journalist. He refers to his son using contemptuous terms like slob, making him a defenceless fool and laughing stock. 
• Ignominy: Rwafa vehemently opposes Rondo's choice of spouse. He calls Rondo effeminate for marrying Selina, an ignominious muDzviti, siring daughters and poisoning the pure blood of Rwafa family. 
• Old guitar: Rwafa destroys a Rondo's guitar by breaking the strings and throwing it into the fire. Rondo was only four and this was his first disappointment. Fear is planted in him and all the courage gutted out of him. 
• Heir: It is difficult for Rondo to accept his father's wish for a grandson to inherit his cars, houses, money and charisma. Rwafa is prepared to destroy his only son in his endeavour to have a duplicate. His is irreversibly disappointed when Rondo has two daughters with Ndevere blood. 
• Stammer: Rondo develops a stammer because he was unable to answer any of his father's questions. Rwafa's zealous pursuit of his duties ruin Rondo because the old man could not distinguish party from family. 
• Wedding: Rwafa leaves two for two weeks to attend to 'state business' because he purposely wanted to skip his son's. Rondo's mother cries when her husband asks who was wedding. 
• Birthday party rant: Rwafa ruins the birthday party when he rants about betrayals, enemies, and effeminate, spineless sons who married their enemies and poison the pure blood of the Rwafa clan. Rondo sits rooted, unable to wave goodbye to the guests, who leave in shame. 
• Mango incident: Rwafa joins a neighbour and thrashes his son Rondo without bothering to find out why the boy was being thrashed. After all these years, the haunting site of his mother dragging herself on her knees and begging the men to spare her only child gnaw Rondo. 

The Sins of the Fathers Practice Question 

Children suffer when their parents mistreat them. Write an essay to support this statement, citing illustrations from Charles Mungoshi's The Sins of the Fathers. 

Next: The Truly Married Woman analysis 

Read A Silent Song and Other Stories Essays and Answers PDF here