Chapters 25-28 (Franklin)
1.Response
Mark’s decision to contemplate is suicide is justifiable given the events in his life that he witnesses. At age ten you don’t expect him to even to think about killing himself but given that he has already seen someone murdered you can see where he’s coming from. Mark is a strong and brave ten year old and considering that he has lived through poverty, has been without food for months, and has had to deal with his parents fighting about everything, I wonder if he had contemplated killing himself even before the murder. Mark constantly lives in terror, starvation, and poverty. Frankly I don’t even know if his family would be able to function without him. His family just needs someone to be strong and tell them that everything is going to be okay and I think that Mark could become that someone.
Mark has had to deal with family issues such as seeing his parents fight continuously. How is Mark supposed to ask for his parents advice on how to deal with his feelings when his parents can’t deal with their own feelings of confusion. His father would beat his mom quite often and seeing the man of the house beating someone you love dearly is unbelievably hard to deal with. Mark has gone through many life threatening events and he is very mature to deal with all of this. As I stated earlier I do think that Mark’s decisions were justifiable but i do not think that suicide is the way to end your life.
2.Quote
” Thus, as I stood dreamily by the stoop, twirling a switchblade knife between my trembling hands, oblivious to the world around me, I thought of killing myself. How was I going to do it?”- pg.167
This quote struck me as the most significant because if I were to read this quote knowing nothing about the book I would assume that this was someone older saying this. He describes how his hands are trembling which can be of sign of uncertainty, nervousness, etc. This is when I realized that Mark really has no clue what to do or where to go for guidance so as a result the only solution he can think of is suicide. Thank goodness his mom came through for him and was there for him in the end to show him that ending his life wasn’t the right answer and that she’s always there for him.
3. Questions
1. Will Mark ever find his safe haven and overcome his emotions from Alexandra?
2. Does Mark realize how far he can go in life?
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Wow Elizabeth. I agree with you a lot on the reasons why it is understandable that Mark Mathabane would want to commit suicide. I didn’t even think about how he can’t go to his parents for help with his feelings. I think that is a wonderful point. It adds so much more understanding to why suicide would be his first conclusion. I think it is shocking that he would think about killing himself at the age of ten, but at the same time, I can see why it is not surprising, because he is much more mature than an average ten-year-old. His society has forced him to be an adult while he is still a child.