own role in them. In other words, the persona in this narrative mode is confiding in the reader. In third-person narratives the storyteller is not directly involved in the story, but knows enough about the events and characters involved to not only describe what happened, but to sometimes make comments and perhaps also include general value judgements.
Very often the characterisation influences the tone, mood and atmosphere of a story – compare the atmosphere created by characters in the humorous stories with those in the stories dealing with politics.
The setting establishes a physical and time context for the story, placing characters and events in a particular time, place and background. The setting is also the physical environment where events take place. In some stories the physical environment features so strongly that it seems to play an active part in the story (‘Sea-wall’). The setting may also suggest or underline a theme (‘Blemish’).
Theme
While relating a story, the writer is also presenting a theme – an implied comment on situations arising from relationships, attitudes and actions, customs, beliefs and value systems. To establish theme, a writer may highlight certain features of the story such as:
•the action in the plot
•characters
•narrative mode as a form of comment on events
•mood and tone, using description, the setting, literary devices and symbols
•emotionally loaded and/or figurative language to establish tone (‘Blemish’; ‘Hearts which are alike’)
•contrasts or repetitive patterns in the characterisation (‘Anukul’) or plot
•formal or informal language, for instance, in the dialogue (‘Anukul’)
•ironies that are opportunities for satire.
Sometimes the theme of a story is stated clearly, sometimes it is implied; the reader is left to decide whether the theme is relevant and universal.
The writer’s use of language when telling the story adds to our enjoyment, making it entertaining, interesting, dramatic, amusing, suspenseful, sad, enlightening or realistic. When considering the writer’s use of language, decide whether the descriptive details in the story enable you to visualise a place, situation, thing or character. Also think about the dialogue: does it sound like real people talking, laughing, crying, arguing or shouting? (Remember that situation determines the level of formality in a conversation.) Try to determine to what extent the writer uses figurative language to describe or comment. What is achieved in this way? Also look for very short sentences to see whether they pinpoint important moments in a narrative or summarise a comment succinctly.
We hope that you will step into the human landscape painted in these stories and that you, in the words of Jack Cope, will be ‘sharing in the story, absorbing it, taking off in the flight of imagination’.
Personal relationships
A note about the theme
We do not live in isolation, but are part of a family, a group of friends, a team, a community, a nation, and in the final analysis, we are members of the human race. We are friends, acquaintances, colleagues, opponents, care-givers; we may even be enemies, depending on the different situations we find ourselves in. Our interactions with others range from being close, intimate and friendly on the one hand, to distant, uncaring or aggressive on the other hand. In other words, we form several different relationships with the people with whom we come into contact. How we relate and respond to them is often determined by our own personality, our attitude towards them or a particular issue, or the value system we believe in. Even a particular circumstance or event may influence a relationship.
The stories in this section take the reader through a landscape of personal relationships as characters respond in varying ways to each other in given circumstances. You will come across a variety of characters who experience friendship, love, longing, loneliness, disappointment, misunderstandings or difficulties that influence how they feel and what they do. The writers take you on a journey of discovery, placing markers (for example, by using contrast, dialogue, description) along the way as their plots develop. Depending on the writer’s purpose, characters are one-dimensional in a simple story; or more complex, revealing their thoughts and feelings; or leave you to work out for yourself what makes the character ‘tick’ or a relationship work or collapse.
Take a close look at the way in which these things influence the relationship in each narrative: is it a straightforward progression from point A to point B? Or do the characters experience difficulties along the way – and what causes them?
Some of these stories will challenge you to ‘read between the lines’. If you do, you will not only be entertained, but may gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of personal relationships.
Kimwaki and the weaver birds
a Kikuyu fable retold by Phyllis Savory
A note about the story
A fable is a short story that conveys a moral lesson, often using animal characters that represent human characteristics and behaviour that illustrate the moral point of the story. This story is about a useful life lesson that the main character, Kimwaki, learns from the noisy nest-building activities of weaver birds. When he inherits his father’s wealth, he ignores two things: his father’s positive example of hard work and the general rule of Ubuntu, of neighbours helping each other. He is lazy – an opposite trait to that of the birds – and takes it for granted that he will always have enough food – something the birds by their very nature do not even consider. The direct consequences of his attitude are that his fields deteriorate, his animals suffer and he becomes bored.
Then in the Spring he notices and begins to watch the noisy, chattering weaver birds building nests in the tree above him. This breaks his boredom and he soon sees the reward of their hard work: nests that will shelter them in the future. The rest of the simple plot emphasises the importance of Ubuntu and takes the story to its logical conclusion, with Kimwaki himself expressing the moral of the story.
Pre-reading
•What keeps you busy all day? What day is your busiest one? Why is this so?
During reading
•Look for clues that explain why Kimwaki becomes
–bored and
–interested in the weaver birds.
•What role does time play in the story?
Kimwaki and the weaver birds
As an old Kikuyu man lay dying, he sent for his only son Kimwaki. ‘My son,’ he said, ‘I have lived my life, and the time has come for me to join my ancestors. In all these years I have not been idle. My fields are the fairest in the land, my cows are fat and healthy, and my goats are many. All these now belong to you. Carry me out and let me lie under the stars, for it is time for me to die.’
So he died, and when the burial ceremonies had taken place, Kimwaki looked around him, and counted his wealth. He found that he was even richer than he had hoped, and he was young enough to enjoy it. No need for him to work any more – and no one to nag him either. Life was very good, and he settled down to enjoy it as lazily as he could.
Day
