WLB+Minae

** Love the Gandhi connection
 * Animal Farm Chart

**Page 119** My breath was moving faster. The room seemed to grow smaller as I grew quickly impatient. My eyes seemed to grow bigger as my tongue seemed to be all that mattered. Trying to surpress my growing desire, I quickly motioned for Peekay to bring the tin in which heaven was stored in.

"Open it Peekay. Quick man, open the tin!"

I could barely see Peekay, his scrawny arms and legs scrambling along for the metal tin. I could not wait any longer. Why did it take so long to open!?!? And then with a sudden burst I could hear the tin explode open with my beloved chocolate cake landing all over me. I could not think but just acted. My hand darted down to my belly to grab the first piece of chocolate cake that I could get. The first bite felt like heaven. Like how you would feel after a nice long gulp of crystal clear water in the midst of a hot dry desert. My hand immediately darted out for other pieces not satisfied with one. After satisfying myself, I searched around for more, my chocolate covered desperately searching. After that, a sudden shock came to me. Peekay was staring at me with the most afraid and unbelievable eyes as if he had just witnessed a lion viciously eating his prey for the first time. I felt so embarrassed. What have I done? I have become a monster. Those chocolate cakes were for Peekay. I hated myself for this reason and started to cry.

Passage: (page 46) Why wasn't he able to go to the waterfall? Is there something different this time that enabled him not to go there?

Passage:(page 45) When Peekay mentions taking off his camouflage, what does it mean? Does it mean coming out of his shell and showing his true self?

Craft: The author has great word choice in describing the character of Peekay. He uses big words such as Judge, Englishman etc. Words that normally grown-ups would use in a real life situation. However, the author also has a great voice for the child. “Please sir. I will do anyting! Anything you ever ask! Anything you want! PLease don't kill Granpa Chook!"(48)

Here we can see the voice of a whining child. This shows both his matureness and yet reminds us that he is still a child.

Page 46- The author described the situation in great detail, that I felt as if I were blindfolded, and could feel the terror Peekay went through everyday.

Connection: I can relate this book to Things Fall Apart 1.the use of African language in the book 2.the setting and customs. (magical healer, doing funny dances) 3.the character is all alone in what and how he feels, just as Okonkwo did when the whites took over.

Moreover, I could connect Peekay to Gandhi. They both used passive but effective methods to deal with his opponents and win them over. For example, he volunteers to help The Judge with his math homework which guaranteed his safety for the rest of the year. Furthermore, he used tactics such as having a chicken as a comfot tool, and going back to his dream with the waterfall as a relieving method. Gandhi similarly used passive resistance against he British, and never used violence by protesting strikes and refusing to do things.

Theme: One of the themes in this book I think is the theme of racial differences and how this affects connections and feelings between people. For example, the school Peekay is going to, an Afrikaan school, bullies Peekay, the only British boy in the school. Because of the differences, Peekay is constantly bullied and harassed. Furthermore, there are separate schools for whites and blacks where Peekay lives, as the situation was the same for most of Africa. We can see that also because of this racial discrimination between blacks and whites are portrayed.