First Thoughts
When did you begin to guess the truth about Meji?
When Asi started asking him questions. We got scandalized when he said he was always using his scarf because then his head would fall off.
Shaping Interpretations
Nicol uses foreshadowing to hint at what is going to happen later in the story. Go back and see how many clues you can find that foreshadow the truth about Meji.
We found some “clues”, like the one we already mentioned (when he said his head would fall if he took off his scarf), or when his watch stopped at twelve o’ clock (meaning he died at noon), and when he said he wanted to thank his mother for giving him a chance (he wanted to say goodbye).
Which passage in the story do you think best sums up its main message?
“I am glad I gave him the opportunity to come back, for life is sweet.”
What do you make of Bola’s final comment to Musa, the magician?
As Musa was always telling her to kill the baby, we thought Bola standing up for herself was the best thing she could do.
Connecting with the Text
This story takes place several years ago in a village in West Africa, where beliefs and visions of reality may be different from those of your culture. Despite those differences, how does the story suggest values that all people share?
To always listen to what your heart wants for yourself and never let anyone tell you otherwise.
Extending the Text
Think of other persons, from real life or literature, who, like Bola, have defied authority or the law (maybe even the laws of science) in order to save a loved one. What do these people and Bola have in common? How are they different?
We thought of Peter Parker (AKA: Spider-Man). In the last movie, at the end of it, he asks a sorcerer (Doctor Strange) to make a spell for everyone to forget who he was, including his loved ones (his girlfriend and best friend), to save them and the rest of the universe as well. He ends up all alone, but with the certainty that they were safe.
Modern social pressures and changes are breaking down many of the old customs in Africa. What evidence of this do you find in Nicol’s story? Do you think such changes are taking place today all over the world? Why, or why not?
An evidence could be when Bola decided not to perform a traditional act that would have ended her cycle of becoming pregnant with the soul of the child that died. We do think there are a lot of changes nowadays all over the world, because so many people have decided over the years to not follow the steps of their family or religion’s traditions at all, or at least not to follow them in such a strict way, like it was seen before.
Challenging the Text
This story asks you to accept as a fact something that most people would probably find unreal. What is that “fact”, and how did it affect your reading of the story?
That “fact” is people coming back from death to say goodbye. We don’t think it affects our reading, because when we read books or stories we keep a very open minded prospective on everything; we know that anything can happen at anytime.
