What are the precise strategies that are used by its creator to convey the world to us and us to the world?
We start off with knowing the names of the characters: Bastard, Chipo, Godknows, Sbho, Stina, and the storyteller, who is later named “Darling”.
Bulawayo introduces the characters through their interplay during the overarching action. They are traveling from Paradise, their modest village, to Budapest because their friend, Chipo, is starving for a guava. We discover that Chipo is pregnant when they take a break from traveling because she needs to rest. During a discussion about childbirth, it's inferred the group is bordering on puberty because of their lack of specific knowledge. The most horrifying revelation occurs when one character states that a man has to impregnate a woman in order for her to get pregnant, and candidly asks Chipo if her grandfather was that man. Chipo nods without answering aloud. Her reluctance to vocalize implies trauma associated with incest and sexual abuse. Chipo declares that she does not want to be pregnant or be a mother, and that she is starving and only wants guava. This frustrated proclamation implies the situation was against her will, and the guava is her simplistic way of coping under the circumstances.
Bulawayo describes the landscape in Budapest through the character musings from previous visits, and how beautiful they say it is compared to their home. It is described as an idealistic place that appears locked up as if residents are off on vacation, and everything is put away. The phrase, “Budapest is like a different country. A country where people who are not like us live,” implies an elevated way of life as compared to the simpler village life of these characters.
The group meets a woman from London who is wearing a long dress, and a camera around her neck. While conversing with this woman, the audience discovers that the collective group is aged around 8-10 years old. Even though Chipo's stomach is the “size of a soccer ball”, the London woman is emotionally removed from the harsh reality that the child before her is pregnant. She, instead, asks to take a picture of the group as a memento of her trip, but appears oblivious to their hardship. When the group leaves, they observe her throwing away the food she had in her hand. They children shout insults at her for not appreciating something so necessary to survival that they could not readily find.
The group eventually comes across a large house with guavas growing around it, and collect them before they start their walk back to Paradise. To avoid looking like they were stealing, they try to appear as relaxed as possible as they travel. The group’s discussion reveals Paradise is more impoverished than Budapest. The children romanticize about owning a house in Budapest, or marrying someone that lives there. Most, if not all of the children, want to escape their current station in life, and fantasize about where they will travel in order to begin this new life.
The story is being told through an unrevealed character that is looking forward to going to America with her aunt. The boy, called Bastard, disagrees saying she shouldn’t go because it’s too far away, and Chipo agrees with him. The unrevealed character describes Bastard as “stupid” and Chipo as “soccer-bellied” to the audience to demonstrate her frustration with their negativity. It is at this point the audience realizes that the character telling the story has her own perspective within the group as opposed to merely being an omnipotent storyteller. Bastard starts saying offensive things about the move to America stating she will do nothing but “work in nursing homes and clean poop”. The storytelling character is enraged, and imagines physically attacking Bastard for his insulting comments. She chooses not to because no good will come of it. We then discover in her inner dialogue that she is called “Darling”, and that Bastard’s opinion doesn’t matter to her because she is going to America without him.
The group arrives back in Paradise after eating lots of guava fruit, and they are all relaxed now that they are full. Later that night, the kids are using the bathroom in the bushes. One of the kids, Godknows, screams upon discovering a hanged woman in a tree. It is inferred that the people who lured this woman to her death are still lurking because the kids heard an unfamiliar voice ask, “What’s that?” when they heard Godknows scream. At first, everyone is horrified at this discovery, and all of them want to run. Bastard, on the other hand, is intrigued with the shoes on this woman, and starts throwing rocks at her feet to make the shoes fall off. He is under the impression that the shoes could be traded for bread, and convinces the rest of the group to go along with him. The ability to see a murder victim and only see the monetary value of their shoes communicates the desperation of these children, and their willingness to do whatever is necessary to survive.
The story ends on this dark note, leading the audience to believe that the cycle of desperation will continue given an unrelenting need to survive in these harsh circumstances. Even though Darling has the opportunity to escape, she is too deeply rooted in her primal instinct to survive to avoid going along with Bastard's quest to get the dead woman's shoes for money. These children seem unaffected by the brutal circumstances deemed unthinkable in other areas of the world. The idea that a 10 year old child can be pregnant at the hands of her grandfather is disturbing regardless of economic status. It is also troubling that Darling observes that the adult women are unemotional an uncaring toward the children, except someone called Mother of Bones who tells them stories.
We are introduced to the characters through Darling’s perspective of her friends, and the description of their surroundings. The character motivations are conveyed through group conversations and recollection of events within the group, which allows the audience to visualize the scenario, and imagine their experiences, including the taste and texture of the guava fruit. Even for those that have never visited Budapest, it can easily be visualized from Bulawayo's eloquent descriptions of the roadways, houses, and surrounding landscape. It’s as if the reader is sitting down with Darling to have an intimate conversation rather than experiencing it as a distant reader.
No comments:
Post a Comment