We Need New Names (Novel) PDF

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A coming-of-age story, We Need New Names tells of the life of a young girl named Darling, first as a 10-year-old in Zimbabwe, navigating a world of chaos and degradation with her friends, and later as a teenager in the Midwest United States, where a better future seems about to unfold when she goes ...

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220035981 Aqeelah Khan 2021 ENGL102H2 Introduction to English Studies B We Need New Names (Novel) Tutorial 1 + 2 Worksheet Ms Nkululeko Motha

Worksheet One 1. Now that you have read the novel, describe the following: i) Title of the novel: To what do you think it is referring? ii) Narration: Is this a first person or a collective consciousness narrative? Explain. iii) Characterisation: Who is the novel about? iv) Setting: Where is the novel set? v) Mode of representation: Is this a depiction of realism? Is it a true depiction of current Zimbabwe? Are the children represented? vi) Time span of the narrative: What is the time span? What does it cover? From when to when? Does not have to be time specific. 2. Provide a plot analysis of the novel. 3. Focal points of the narrative: what is the context or period of the narrative? How do you see this? Do we see a transition in the novel? 4. Discuss who the author of the novel is and how her depiction of Zimbabwe can be trusted. 5. Name and describe each of the characters in the novel. Can you identify the protagonist(s) that you can find in the text? 6. NoViolet Bulawayo has opted to use the children’s voices to talk to the reader. How does this affect your reading and interpretation of the events narrated in the novel? 7. “There are guavas to steal in Budapest, and right now I’d rather die for guavas. We didn’t eat this morning and my stomach feels like somebody just took a shovel and dug everything out.” What do you understand about this quotation? Analyse the narrative. 8. Do the games the children play represent a need for an escape? How is this depicted? 9. “Blessed are the givers.” Why do you think religious institutions thrive in helpless communities? What does the quote mean? 10. In church, Darling says “the pretty woman keeps screaming for the sons of bitches to stop but the sons of bitches keep doing their thing. I try to catch her eye, to make her see that I am not joining in the activities, that I am with her, but she is too busy kicking and screaming to see me. The prayers grow louder and louder, some praying properly, some praying in strange languages, some chanting”. Although she is a child, this scene displays a level of consciousness that the reader can appreciate. What do you think her comment means? Please read closely and carefully, then analyse (respond).

Worksheet One 1. i) The title of the novel is referring to the inhabitants of Africa that attempt to establish a new way of imagining reality. A new name suggests a new identity that is given to a character. The realities of some of the novel’s characters are established through the distinctive names, “Godknows,” “Bastard” and “Darling.” ii) The narration is a first person narrator. The novel is told through the voice of a ten-year-old girl named Darling, who provides an account of her life in Zimbabwe in the first part of the novel, and of her experiences as an immigrant in America in the second part. iii) The novel is about a ten-year- old girl named Darling, who provides an account of her life in Zimbabwe in the first part of the novel, and of her experiences as an immigrant in America in the second part. iv) The setting of the novel is in Africa, Zimbabwe following political unrest. v) The novel is a depiction of realism. It is a true depiction of current Zimbabwe. Bulawayo shows contemporary Zimbabwean history through the view of a child, which creates a muted effect for some of the political events Darling does not fully understand. vi) The time span of the novel begins in the early 2000’s in Zimbabwe and continues towards winter of 2008, when Darling moves to America to live with her Aunt Fostalina and her family in Michigan. 2. The novel begins by following a group of mostly pre-teen children - the central character Darling and her friends Stina, Chipo, Bastard and Godknows - living in tin shacks in Zimbabwe after their homes have been bulldozed by Mugabe's paramilitary police. The author gives a child's-eye view of a world where there is talk of elections and democracy but where chaos and degradation become everyday reality, where death and sickness and the threat of violence lurk in a shanty town misleadingly named Paradise, where people try to hold on to dignity while families fracture The children spend their days getting into mischief, stealing guavas from the rich neighbourhood known as "Budapest", inventing a life of adventure and make-believe, daydreaming of enjoying luxury overseas in places such as Dubai and America. When eventually Darling travels abroad to live with her aunt who is working in Detroit, Michigan, she discovers the many other struggles and stresses to be faced as an African immigrant to the US, including listening to misconceptions about one's land of birth, having to adapt to a new culture, and the fact that there are so many illegal immigrants in the States over whom the threat of deportation looms. 3. The period of the narrative was when Darling was ten-years-old. Her journey involves transitioning from a rather normal life of a ten-year-old; attending school, spending time with friends, living in a house with her mother and father, to then living in a shanty town called Paradise.

4. The author of the novel is NoViolet Bulawayo. She was born in Zimbabwe and later moved to the United States for higher education. The depiction can be trusted as she experienced the very same transition the main character went through leaving your home to an international country for your own welfare. 5. ●

Darling - is the narrator and protagonist of the novel. Darling is a young girl who once lived a fairly comfortable life in Zimbabwe but, along with her family and much of her community, must move to a shanty town called Paradise following political unrest. She spends the first half of the book as a child in Paradise, playing games and stealing guavas with her friends, and in the second half of the book moves to America to live with her Aunt Fostalina.

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Bastard - he is one of Darling's young friends in Paradise who often tries to act brave and manly. Most of the time, his solution to problems is violence or stealing.

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Chipo - one of Darling's young friends in Paradise. Her grandfather raped her and got her pregnant, causing her to go mute in the beginning of the story. After Darling leaves for America, Chipo has her baby and names it Darling as well. Chipo is generally a reserved girl, but she yells at Darling over the phone for abandoning Zimbabwe.

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Sbho - one of Darling's young friends in Paradise, she often plays a maternal role in the group. She is known as the prettiest girl of all the children in Paradise. She has big dreams.

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Mother of Bones - takes care of Darling for a majority of her childhood in Paradise, while her father works in South Africa and her mother sells things. Mother of Bones is a very strict and religious woman who makes Darling go to church services on Fambeki and fasts to try to cure Father's sickness.

6. It affects the interpretation of reading in a grammatical form. Since the story is told from a child’s point of view, the book is grammatically incorrect and can be at times difficult to read and understand. 7. The quotation is a hyperbole simile. The quotation is emphasizing the child’s hunger to such an extent that is exaggerated and compared to as if somebody took the food out of their stomach. In a sense, it hints at white supremacy and how they snatched the living and welfare of the blacks. 8. The games the children play do represent a need for an escape from reality. Games are an important way the children in Paradise process the world and an important window for the reader into the complex and somewhat damaged psyches of the children. A prime example is when Darling in an authorial yet conversational style describes the country-game saying “you divide the outer ring.. like this.” By saying, “like this,” Bulawayo wants the reader to visualise themselves as present in Darling’s reality.

9. Religious institutions provide a spiritual, social and psychological background for helpless communities. In a way, religion gives helpless communities hope and the will to live for God. The quote above indicates that those individuals who give are blessed because they are free from greed as they are obeying the teachings of God. 10. It displays the maturity and consideration of Darling towards the women. It portrays that Darling herself does not support the demeaning conduct of the church people. She can see that this woman is being violated and forced to condone that behaviour. It depicts a sense of womanhood - whereby even a 10-year-old female supports an adult woman.

Worksheet Two A) What is your understanding of the concept of innocence and experience? Relate and limit your discussion of these concepts to how they used in as literary concepts. B) “There are three white people, two ladies and one man, whom you can just look at and know they’re not from here, and Sis Betty, who is from here. Sis Betty speaks our languages, and I think her job is to explain us to the white people, and them to us. Then there is the driver, who I think is also from here. Besides the fact that he drives, he doesn’t look important.” Analyse this extract. To what is it referring? Who is saying this? What can you deduce from this extract that informs the reader that this is a child speaking? What are they criticising? C) The children take the reader and shows them (plural because it is less gendered) the society in which they live. We are aware that they are also experiencing the society, do you as a reader still see them as children? Explain. D) Being, Belonging and Constructing are concepts that the novel deals with. How do some, if not all, of the characters form and/or transform these notions in order to become in the society Bulawayo describes in her novel. E) Using your response from above as a guide, does being and belonging (either location or connection) go beyond the political stage? Can the children construct their identities without the influences of the political state of the country? F) In what ways are the adults (either the parents, leaders, the NGO, etc.) in We Need New Names (2013) answerable for the condition of the children and the country? Show from the text how they renege this responsibility. G) The children show their capacity to act (agency) and a rather unguided view (subjectivity) of how things are done, and they use their voice to judge the adults. What do you understand these concepts to mean? Show from the novel. H) “Maybe Ncuncu heard us. Maybe she didn’t. She remained there, right in the middle of the road; head bent toward something we couldn’t see; you would have thought she was praying for the country.” This happens towards the end of the novel (the last page), do you think the children’s narration changes after taking us through their experiences? Does the country change? Why do you think that is the case? I) What do you think is the depiction of the last scene of the novel? J) The use of voice can be a sign of great authority, a form of resistance and freedom. How is this depicted in the story? “I can speak for Chipo because she does not talk anymore. She is not mute-mute; it’s just that when her stomach started showing, she stopped talking” (pg. 2). “He did that, my grandfather...” (pg. 40). Why is voice Important?

K) Do you think anyone speaks out against the pregnant child? Even notices it. How is this a criticism of failed leadership (both in society, government and at home)?

Worksheet Two A) The notion of innocence refers to children's simplicity, their lack of knowledge, and their purity not yet spoiled by mundane affairs. Experience refers to the events that an individual has endured. In this novel, the children lack the notion of innocence. The children’s environment and upbringing destroyed their child-like innocence. An example was when the children were doing the “adult thing” on the white people’s soft bed. The boys were on top of the girls: Bastard on top of Sbho and Stina on top of Darling. The fact that they have knowledge about this act and are acting upon it proves their lack of innocence and evidently proves their experience to fondle around. B) The three white people are from a NGO. Darling is narrating the events that occurred during this period of time. The use of simple words and the constant statement of “I think” is evident to prove that this is a child speaking. Only a child is curious enough to ask constant questions yet draw their own conclusions to it. C) Yes, as a reader, I still see them as children. They are a victim to their circumstances and adversities. They still play games, communicate in a child-like way, long for toys and dream big. As a kid, your future is uncertain and you do not think realistically as you do as an adult. D) Firstly, the society Bulawayo describes in her novel is like a dystopia - dehumanizing the standard of living of the population and frightening in the sense of political turmoil. The characters transform these notions by having the capability to act upon their dreams. e.g. Darling wanted to live in the US, Sbho joined a theater group, Bastard went to S.A etc. In essence, they have transformed their lives in such a way that they found where they belong. E) Yes, being and belonging go beyond the political stage. External factors such as society and internal factors such as family also play a role in being and belonging. However, the children cannot construct their identities without the influence of the political state of the country. The influence of the politica state did not affect the children directly, but it affected their community which was recognised by the children. It is the political state and failure of leadership that compelled most children to abandon their country and move to a democratic country to construct their identity. F) Parents - the parents fail to show affection and protect their children from dangers. Chipo’s parents failed to protect their child from getting raped. Darling’s mother was never around to pay attention to her daughter, while her father abandoned her. Bastard’s parents failed to discipline him by teaching him stealing is wrong. As such, the lack of parental guidance is answerable for the condition of the children. Leaders - the leaders failed to provide basic sanitation and housing for the residents of Paradise Town. They defecate in the bush and live in tin shacks for a living. It is an inadequate way of survival.

NGO - an NGO is meant to address concerns and issues prevailing within the society. However, this NGO merely gives gifts (toy guns, sweets, t-shirts, food). They fail to assist the community in the sense that they must address a social issue: like the lack of clean water. G) The children are opinionated enough to voice their judgements about the adults. However, they view life with the lenses of right and wrong in their own world and readily criticise the actions of adults who do not give them something that will benefit them. A prime example would be the white women in the beginning of the novel who were taking pictures of the children. The children shouted insults at the women because she did not offer the children what she was eating. Or the refusal of the Chinese man to give the children zhing-zhongs. In essence, their capacity to act and a rather unguided view of how things are done cause the children to readily use their voice to judge the adults. H) The children’s narration does change after taking us through their experiences. Their experiences shaped who they are as an individual and allowed them to mature with time to achieve their dreams. A prime example is Chipo. Darling says she thinks she is “speaking to a grown woman.” As for the other children, Bastard finally went to South Africa. Godknows is in Dubai. Sbho joined a theater group that will be traveling and performing all over the world. The country does not change, but rather the people. Hence the children left their country to pursue their dreams elsewhere. I) The final scene of the novel leaves the reader with an incomplete feeling. The last scene portrays the sense that Darling is unhappy in America. It ends with her reflection of her childhood unsettling memory in which she and her friends played their game Find Bin Laden and saw a dog hit by a bus. It was a morbid memory, however it demonstrates the importance that Darling still reminisces about her days in Paradise with her friends and symbolically shows how quickly a situation can change. J) It is depicted by the character of Chipo. While Chipo resisted to talk due to her trauma, she later used her voice as a sign of great authority to reveal that it was her grandfather who got her pregnant by raping her. Voice is important as the voice is the medium through which we communicate with people, our ideas, opinions and also our emotions and shapes our personality through our voice. The voice is the very emblem of the speaker and a tool we utilize to express and reveal information about ourselves. K) No one in a community will speak out against the pregnant child. It portrays that the molesting and raping of a child is justified in that society. It is an example of failed leadership to protect the child from all sorts of adversities. According to the Constitution of South Africa, section 28 subsection (1)(d) states that every child must be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation while subsection 2 states that a child’s best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child. This depicts that even the government failed to upkeep the welfare of children and protect them....