Scrapbook
Entry 4
Natalie
Powers
Book
Title- What Is the What
Author-
Dave Eggers
Terms and Concepts:
The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation-The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation is a nonprofit organization working to increase access
to education in post-conflict South Sudan by building schools, libraries,
teacher-training institutes, and community centers.
Lost Boys of Sudan- This is the name of the groups of over 20,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced and orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War from 1983-2005. The name "Lost Boys of Sudan" was used by aid workers in the refugee
camps where the boys lived in Africa.
Dinka- An ethnic group inhabiting the Bahr el Ghazal region
of the Nile basin, Jonglei and parts of southern Kordufan and Upper Nile
regions. This is the ethnicity of the main character and co-author, Valentino
Achak Deng. As the largest ethnic tribe in South Sudan, there were about 4.5
million Dinka there in 2008.
Marial Bai- The village in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, South
Sudan where Valentino is from.
to education in post-conflict South Sudan by building schools, libraries,
teacher-training institutes, and community centers.
Lost Boys of Sudan- This is the name of the groups of over 20,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced and orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War from 1983-2005. The name "Lost Boys of Sudan" was used by aid workers in the refugee
camps where the boys lived in Africa.
Dinka- An ethnic group inhabiting the Bahr el Ghazal region
of the Nile basin, Jonglei and parts of southern Kordufan and Upper Nile
regions. This is the ethnicity of the main character and co-author, Valentino
Achak Deng. As the largest ethnic tribe in South Sudan, there were about 4.5
million Dinka there in 2008.
Marial Bai- The village in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, South
Sudan where Valentino is from.
Second Sudanese Civil War- The conflict lasting from 1983 to 2005 between the
central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. The
Sudan People’s Liberation Army was fighting for independence of the southern
Sudanese provinces. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955
to 1972.
Displacement- Roughly two million people have died as a
result of war, famine and disease caused by the South Sudanese civil war
conflicts. Four million people in southern Sudan have been displaced at least once as a result of the war. The war officially
ended with the signing of a peace agreement in January 2005. The
protagonist, Valentino Deng, experienced displacement throughout the early years
of his life as he fled to various refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The Author’s Conclusion:
While the author of What is the What is
Dave Eggers, the story is told from the perspective of Valentino Achak Deng.
The novel was written as a collaborative effort of Eggers and Deng having
conversations, interviews, and research. Dave Eggers serves as the crafter of
words who fused the stories together of Valentino’s experiences which are the
foundations for fictional and non-fictional elements of the novel. I thought it
was very noble and brave of Valentino to not only feel the necessity to tell
the story of his existence, but to also contact an author for collaboration on
this project. I felt that Valentino was trying to raise awareness of the harsh
conditions during his life in Africa so the world would know the realities of
Sudanese refugees. While some conversations and smaller details were
fictionalized, the major events in What
is the What can be compared to the lives of thousands of refugees in the
same situation as Valentino. By sharing his experiences in the novel, Valentino
is aiming to tell the world about the severity of harm caused by the Sudanese
government and civil war. His story of survival despite the horrific conditions
he experienced from his displacement in Africa is a message of hope, faith, and
advocacy for continuous progress of humanity.
The Author’s Argument:
This novel is unique in our course because unlike the other novels we have read thus
far, it is an autobiography of Valentino Achek Deng written by Dave Eggers. It
is a collaboration of Deng retelling his stories and experiences and Eggers
transforming them into the novel What is
the What. Although this is considered an autobiography, elements of the
novel combine fictional and non-fictional aspects to culminate in a special
type of memoir. I think this style of writing has its’ benefits and negatives.
I found myself questioning to what extent elements of the story were fictionalized,
and which elements were in fact true events that Valentino experienced. I
completely understand the author’s purpose in recreating certain events because
as Deng explains, exact conversations from 17 years in the past cannot be
recalled to detail. I do think Eggers achieved his goal of writing in
Valentino’s voice despite the difficult challenge of retelling the biography of
another person in an autobiographical way.
central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. The
Sudan People’s Liberation Army was fighting for independence of the southern
Sudanese provinces. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955
to 1972.
Displacement- Roughly two million people have died as a
result of war, famine and disease caused by the South Sudanese civil war
conflicts. Four million people in southern Sudan have been displaced at least once as a result of the war. The war officially
ended with the signing of a peace agreement in January 2005. The
protagonist, Valentino Deng, experienced displacement throughout the early years
of his life as he fled to various refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The Author’s Conclusion:
While the author of What is the What is
Dave Eggers, the story is told from the perspective of Valentino Achak Deng.
The novel was written as a collaborative effort of Eggers and Deng having
conversations, interviews, and research. Dave Eggers serves as the crafter of
words who fused the stories together of Valentino’s experiences which are the
foundations for fictional and non-fictional elements of the novel. I thought it
was very noble and brave of Valentino to not only feel the necessity to tell
the story of his existence, but to also contact an author for collaboration on
this project. I felt that Valentino was trying to raise awareness of the harsh
conditions during his life in Africa so the world would know the realities of
Sudanese refugees. While some conversations and smaller details were
fictionalized, the major events in What
is the What can be compared to the lives of thousands of refugees in the
same situation as Valentino. By sharing his experiences in the novel, Valentino
is aiming to tell the world about the severity of harm caused by the Sudanese
government and civil war. His story of survival despite the horrific conditions
he experienced from his displacement in Africa is a message of hope, faith, and
advocacy for continuous progress of humanity.
The Author’s Argument:
This novel is unique in our course because unlike the other novels we have read thus
far, it is an autobiography of Valentino Achek Deng written by Dave Eggers. It
is a collaboration of Deng retelling his stories and experiences and Eggers
transforming them into the novel What is
the What. Although this is considered an autobiography, elements of the
novel combine fictional and non-fictional aspects to culminate in a special
type of memoir. I think this style of writing has its’ benefits and negatives.
I found myself questioning to what extent elements of the story were fictionalized,
and which elements were in fact true events that Valentino experienced. I
completely understand the author’s purpose in recreating certain events because
as Deng explains, exact conversations from 17 years in the past cannot be
recalled to detail. I do think Eggers achieved his goal of writing in
Valentino’s voice despite the difficult challenge of retelling the biography of
another person in an autobiographical way.
Place in Course content:
What is the What is a novel that connects to the themes
of our course through discussion of the effects of displacement. The clash of
cultures during the ongoing 22 year civil war caused famine, death, and the
displacement of thousands of people in South Sudan. The hardships Deng and the
other ‘lost boys’ encountered on their trek to Ethiopia and Kenya is shared
among refugees in many situations of displacement throughout history and around
the world. Whether it is in South Sudan or Palestine, refugees similar to Deng
share a yearning to search for any options of a better life when they are
forcibly removed from their homes. Although not every refugee experiences the
same types of adversities, the suffering, pain, and even death caused by forced
removal from one’s homeland is shared despite cultural differences. For
example, the characters of Men In the Sun
are refugees fleeing Palestine in search of jobs in Kuwait. They are so desperate
to reach Kuwait that they travel by way of smuggling in extreme heat in a water
tank. The three men’s fate of dying
inside the water tank is tragic and ironic, but the desperation caused by their
situation as refugees can be compared to that of Deng and the ‘lost boys’ in What is the What. Although their particular journey is different, Valentino and many other Dinka tribe members
travel to multiple refugee camps in search of better conditions, encountering terrible
hardships of harsh climate, all on the quest for survival.
Valentino can be compared to other writers we have read in this course because he uses
literature as a method of speaking the stories of his suppressed people. While
he is just one of thousands of people harmed by the South Sudanese Civil War,
Deng uses the novel What is the What to raise awareness of the harsh situations in his homeland. He had told the story of his difficult life as a refugee in Africa, but used literature to tell
his story to the entire world. By re-telling his personal experience during the
civil war crisis in Sudan, Valentino was aiming to raise awareness of Sudan’s
place in the global community. Another goal of the novel was to raise funds and
promote programs for the improvement of conditions in Valentino’s homeland. An
author who can compare in similar literary mission to Valentino is Ghassan
Kanafani. Among other methods, Kanafani used his novel Men In the Sun to speak
out against government organizations which were causing the displacement of
Palestinian people. Valentino also used literature to raise awareness of the
atrocities caused by several government regimes of Sudan.
I thought our discussion this week was interesting because of the different views
people hold about cultural boundaries. I was surprised to hear some of my
fellow classmates stating that, for example, it is ok to not bring education to
women in certain African tribes where that is not traditionally accepted by
their culture because that would be “altering” their culture. It is true that
the definitions of what is right and what is wrong are completely different
around the world. However, I don’t think the avocation of education for any
ethnicity, race, gender, or class is ever a bad thing. Foundations like The
Valentino Achak Deng Foundation are beacons of progress and hope in a land
where destruction and conflict have ruled for far too long.
Interesting info
The offical website of the Valentino foundation- http://www.valentinoachakdeng.org/
Dave Eggers What is the What lecture- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgbfBQc_ExM
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