Honors English Deibler 5

Prompt 1:

Mark has been through challenges that make him more mature than his actual age. This makes him understand and experience things that are not what other ten year old children go through. Mark is living through poverty and is seeing murders, like when the six men murdered the man they were chasing after, and other events, for example, the dead baby in the junkyard, that make him mentally and emotionally more mature. He is still very young and I believe that it is not justifiable because he is going to open many doors because he is receiving an education. Yes, he does witness murder and is beaten everyday but having an education can help him and his family in the future.

Mark obviously feels scared and horrified over what had happened but he is strong and brave. His mom is able to convince him not to kill himself. Maark has to think about his sisters and his other family and what would happen if he was to die. They love him so much and do not want to see him go. Mark is a great help to everyone, he is smart and respectful towards others. If he ends up killing himself, it will not help the fact that he is leaving events that are worse and leaving people who love him. He felt abandoned and lonely but his mother convinced him otherwise.  

Prompt 2:

Mark experiences many obstacles and events through these chapters but the one that struck me as most significant also has a large impact on Mark. In chapter 27, page 164, Mark encounters an event that changes his life. The passage is, ” An icy chill of death froze the world around me. For a long time I remained stock-still in the tall grass, in the limpid night, scarcely breathing, watching the naked, mutilated, lifeless body contorted on the ground, in a pool of blood. Each gaze made it seem to come alive, to stir, to slowly rise, like an entombed Egyptian mummy coming back to life. I panicked, and shot out of the grass as though I had been shot out of a cannon, howling like a maniac, as if tenscore devils were after me. Blinded by terror, I was mindless of my safety as I ran all the way home without stopping, dodging cars, bumping into obstacles and people, and leaping over dongas. Upon entering the house I fainted. My mother revived me by pouring water over me.”  I believe this is most significant because Mark has seen something that no other ten year old would have probably seen. He has seen a gruesome murder that has left him scared and caused him to have nightmares. Mark has been through many challenges but I believe this is the worst. He becomes depressed because of seeing this and because of other obstacles and challenges that causes himself to want to commit suicide.

Prompt 3:

Since Mark is doing so well in school, do you expect him now at this point in the book, to have a chance to move to America, go to college, and expect him to have a new start? Explain.

A dystopian society is shown through many non-fiction and fiction texts but I believe it is more effective in non-fiction. The texts are real and are more believable than fiction. In Kaffir Boy a young boy lived in a place where there was dangerous challenges that he had to live through everyday. His stories are believable and true. A dystopia is shown more effectively because he went through dangerous obstacles throughout his life. For example, the police raids. These raids were terrible for the people living in an apartheid because they cause pain, suffering and fear. The adults have to flee in terror while the children have to stay with the harsh dangers given by the police.  Another example is when the young boys’ father is laid off work and then he is arrested for his unemployment. The stories Animal Farm, “Harrison Bergeron,” and “The Lottery,” are dystopias but they are not true and are less believable. Obviously animals cannot talk and there is no such thing as a Handicapper General. These stories are not what people are able to relate to. There are no talking animals and people are not walking around with black teeth, a clown nose, or a mask. These type of situations are not seen in our world which are very, very strange.