Tragedy in the Sentences of "My Parents' Bedroom"
"She's capable of doing that, I know, just as she stopped Papa from telling me that he was going to smash her head" (Akpan 26).
The main character in "My Parents' Bedroom" narrates here the moment after the angry Hutu mob has left her house, as she denies her mother's death. A quick glance over the straightforward meaning of this sentence parallels the obvious tragic components of the story. Analyzing the tone, syntax, and word choice of the sentence further reveals complexity of Monique's character, especially her thought process. More importantly it provides insight on the significance of her reaction to this traumatic experience and the overall themes of the story.
The tone of this sentence overall embodies that of a young child deifying her mother. Before experience tells us otherwise, we think of our parents as all powerful, incapable of making mistakes or abandoning us. Monique's naivety here reflects her mentality as a whole, as she expects her parents to make everything normal again. Even after witnessing her mother's murder at the hands of her father, her brain does not make the leap to understand that her mother can no longer protect her. The simple word choice too, with the blunt "smash her head" reminds the reader how young Monique is. She is able to observe and state what happens, but can't fully reflect on the impact of those events on her own future.
At the same time, the syntax of the sentence, with the structuring of leaving the shock value for last also demonstrates the cold logic of Monique's character. It seems that at the beginning, she reminisces about her childhood, about safety and the security of her parents' protection. However, the second half reveals that she understood the sacrifice of her mother and the gravity of the situation at hand. Despite all the traumatic events confronting her, she manages to figure out why her mother did not want her father telling her what was going to happen -- because her mother wanted to protect her. Ironically, her mother's last act of protection leaves Monique vulnerable and alone, a fact that Monique refuses to accept. This is made clear by the stubbornness of this statement.
I think Akpan specifically incorporated conflicting thoughts in Monique's narration, because it adds depth to Monique's character, and also because it is accurate to reality. Kids are not one-dimensional, especially a kid spurred to grow up faster because of traumatic circumstances. At the same time, they are still young, and therefore have no idea how to deal with trauma. Faced with her mother's death, it makes sense that she would deny that possibility. Adding this reaction instead of one with hysterics and grief actually makes the reader more upset, in my opinion. Sometimes in writing, less is more. Leaving the reader to imagine how the violence in the story will change Monique and her brother's lives without Monique herself realizing emphasizes how unprepared she is to live life alone. The purpose of the story -- to criticize this senseless violence in Rwanda -- is augmented by Monique's numb denial of her horrible reality.
The main character in "My Parents' Bedroom" narrates here the moment after the angry Hutu mob has left her house, as she denies her mother's death. A quick glance over the straightforward meaning of this sentence parallels the obvious tragic components of the story. Analyzing the tone, syntax, and word choice of the sentence further reveals complexity of Monique's character, especially her thought process. More importantly it provides insight on the significance of her reaction to this traumatic experience and the overall themes of the story.
The tone of this sentence overall embodies that of a young child deifying her mother. Before experience tells us otherwise, we think of our parents as all powerful, incapable of making mistakes or abandoning us. Monique's naivety here reflects her mentality as a whole, as she expects her parents to make everything normal again. Even after witnessing her mother's murder at the hands of her father, her brain does not make the leap to understand that her mother can no longer protect her. The simple word choice too, with the blunt "smash her head" reminds the reader how young Monique is. She is able to observe and state what happens, but can't fully reflect on the impact of those events on her own future.
At the same time, the syntax of the sentence, with the structuring of leaving the shock value for last also demonstrates the cold logic of Monique's character. It seems that at the beginning, she reminisces about her childhood, about safety and the security of her parents' protection. However, the second half reveals that she understood the sacrifice of her mother and the gravity of the situation at hand. Despite all the traumatic events confronting her, she manages to figure out why her mother did not want her father telling her what was going to happen -- because her mother wanted to protect her. Ironically, her mother's last act of protection leaves Monique vulnerable and alone, a fact that Monique refuses to accept. This is made clear by the stubbornness of this statement.
I think Akpan specifically incorporated conflicting thoughts in Monique's narration, because it adds depth to Monique's character, and also because it is accurate to reality. Kids are not one-dimensional, especially a kid spurred to grow up faster because of traumatic circumstances. At the same time, they are still young, and therefore have no idea how to deal with trauma. Faced with her mother's death, it makes sense that she would deny that possibility. Adding this reaction instead of one with hysterics and grief actually makes the reader more upset, in my opinion. Sometimes in writing, less is more. Leaving the reader to imagine how the violence in the story will change Monique and her brother's lives without Monique herself realizing emphasizes how unprepared she is to live life alone. The purpose of the story -- to criticize this senseless violence in Rwanda -- is augmented by Monique's numb denial of her horrible reality.
Works Cited
Akpan, Uwem. "My Parents' Bedroom." 2006.
I think that a key component of "My Parents' Bedroom" is that it is narrated from a child's perspective. As a result, many of the story's events (and the meaning of those events) are up to the reader's imagination (as you mention in your post). However, I like how you bring to attention the complexity of Monique's character, something that I unintentionally overlooked by focusing on figuring out what was happening. You do a good job of analyzing her character from this one sentence. I agree that it shows Monique's deification of her mother, and how she doesn't fully comprehend what is going on (consistent with the rest of the narration).
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