I was dumb struck when Tabitha was killed. How much can one person (even a character in a novel) actually take? No family, no country, and now the women who he loves, a woman that can understand and identify with what he has been through, is gone. And she's not just gone--she dies in a horrifying way that is connected, once again, to the SPLA and the war. I find it interesting that a person can take in so much pain, and still remain the kind of person who other people are drawn to, because people are drawn to Valentino. He has such a strong support system throughout the book because he is the type of person people want to help. Dut, the bicycle man, the village lady, the girl who picks him up off the road, Gop, Phil, Bobby, Abraham, and the others all see something special in him. But is that what the author is actually getting at? I like Valentino, so I think the others in the story must, too. But I wonder if the examples of help, which are likely exaggerated in the same way as the trials and tribulations, are really there to highlight that the people who are helping actually become extraordinary themselves once they do so--how something so small as sharing a meal, or extending oneself in friendship does not only change a life, but can actually save one. I think it is proof that even if you don't have much to give, you can make a big difference. Monetary help like the support Phil provides, although extremely valuable, isn't the kind of help that keeps Valentino alive, it is a series of smaller but equally selfless acts that takes him safely (relatively, anyway) through the story.
I had not seen this side of the novel before. The fact that these people were brought up in the novel because their selfless acts aided Valentin's life to a degree that kept him alive. And now he is able to tell his and others stories. You are right, these actions helped Valentino stay alive, they helped save him. Now I see this message threw your blog. The narrator wants us to know that any aide, big or small, helps these refugees. We may feel that we can't do anything because we don't have nothing to give, but we are proved wrong. Money is not the all, because just extending oneself in friendship changes lives. We are all capable of this.
ReplyDeleteOn another note. It is sad to see that Tabitha was able to come to the US to get away from all the suffrage in Sudan, but found death in instead. You would think she was safe and free here in the US. She went through so much just to find death away from home. A home that was definite death had she stayed there. How ironic.
I agree. I think its the small things that really help people out through a crisis. Valentino even makes the point throughout the novel that the only way he can be healed is through telling his story. So help for him is as easy as some one to listen.
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