Obstacles, Barriers or Boundaries: “Looking for a Rain God” – Bessie Head

Looking for a rain God is a short story about an African family that is desperate because of a drought that has been going on for seven years in their village. People in the village were struggling because they were dependent on farming, and with no water no crops could be grown. The rain finally comes and many families rush out to resume farming. Mokgobja and his family are one of the first to clear and plough their land. Their hopes soon vanished after two weeks because rain goes away. The family becomes desperate like never before. They fear starvation and all the problems they would have to face the upcoming year. Mokgobja then remembers a ritual that people used to do back when he was a kid. They used to sacrifice children to please a Rain God, and after the ritual the rain would come. Mokgobja spread that to other family members, and then they decided to sacrifice the only children in the family. The two little girls were innocent about what was happening and spent their day playing pretend. After sacrificing the two little girls the rain never came. They decided to go back to their village filled with guilt, and soon people asked what had happened to the girls. They told people that they had died for an unknown reason while they were away. When the police went to their house, the mother of the two little girls confessed. After that Mokgobja and his son were sentenced with the death penalty. This story shows that when people are desperate, there is no measure in what they would do to overcome their problems. Many people are like that. When they have a problem they do crazy things without thinking of how it could harm others or itself. Many times that is why people commit suicide. They want to end with all their problems the easy way without thinking on the consequences that will have in others.

Identity, Voice or Self – Image: “The Other Wife” – Colette

This short story by Colette is about a couple, Marc and Alice, which were going to to have lunch at a restaurant. Alice wanted to sit on a table that had a beautiful view to the bay, but Marc made her sit in another table, in an area were most of the other people were sitting. Marc told Alice that he would explain later. They order lunch, and Marc later told her that the reason why he did not want to sit on the other table was because his ex – wife was sitting over there. Alice became really curious about her husband’s ex – wife and started asking him questions. Marc told Alice that he could never make his ex – wife happy. She was never satisfied, was difficult, and felt superior. After what Marc told Alice and her observations, she started to compere her to her husband’s ex – wife. That made her feel very insecure of herself and made her wonder if she really was satisfied with her husband. Women tend to compare themselves with other women, and that causes internal conflict and low self – esteem. Every woman should value their own virtues and stop thinking about the things they see in other women and they wished they had. Everybody is unique and should value itself more. 

Narrative: “Bigfoot Stole My Wife” – Ron Carlson

This short story is narrated by a man who says that Bigfoot stole his wife. Nobody in his town believes what he says, and that makes him really upset because he truly believes that Bigfoot, a fictional character, stole his wife. The truth is that his wife left him. He thinks that Bigfoot had been watching her all summer until the day he decides to still her. When he came back from the track one afternoon like around 11:30, he finds out that Bigfoot has stolen his wife. She did not left any note, but half of her clothes and their pet were gone. This story shows how some people don’t want to see things how they really are, and are capable of making up ridiculous stories to justify things. This man did not accept that his wife had left him; he instead wanted to believe that a fictional character had stolen her. Some people are like that; they lie to themselves to make up excuses for something they did wrong. The guy was probably not a good husband and his wife could not take it any longer and decided to leave.

Family: “Love, Your Only Mother” – David Michael Kaplan

This is a short story about a mom that left her daughter and husband when the daughter was only seven years old. She sends her daughter postcards with one or two lines and signs by saying, “Love, Your Only Mother.” The reason she left is unknown. I can infer that she probably did something against the law and that she is trying to hide, because there is a part in the story where they thought they have found her and the girl’s dad calls the police so they can get her. All the postcards the mother sends to her daughter are like a puzzle to her. The mother always knew where her daughter was at because when she was living with her dad she used to send the postcards there, but when she moved to the University, apartments, and a house after she married, she kept receiving the postcard no matter where she was. The daughter has contradictory emotions throughout the story. Sometimes she thought her mother was dead, or wished she was. But whenever that happened, she would get a postcard. The daughter wished that her mother came back one day, she would wake up at night feeling that she had returned, but her husband will soon make her realize that she had not. This story shows the importance between the love of a child and a parent. All children want to have a family and feel the love of it. Having a family is a privilege that not all children have, but that all wish to have.

Food: "Las Papas" - Julio Ortega

 Las Papas is a short story about a single dad that is cooking for his son and himself. The story starts at the kitchen, where he is gathering all the ingredients to try out a new Italian recipe called “chicken cacciatore.” His son goes to the kitchen to find out what his dad is cooking and disapproves the dish. That brought back memories from when his dad used to cook for him. He remembered that he rejected the food his dad cooked for him once because it was “too spicy.” That made him feel really bad because he probably hurt his dad’s feelings even though his dad acted like it did not. The dad later decided to make something else to eat so that his son would like it. This reminds me of how my mom always makes at least two different foods because my sisters don’t always like some of the food she cooks. She tries to make everyone happy when it comes to eating and she is an excellent cook, but my sisters are very picky. Sometimes she complaints because she doesn’t feel like cooking two different dishes, but I believe it’s her fault because she was the one who started cooking different foods to them. If she had given them no choice from the start, my sisters would eat what the rest of the family eats, and my mom would not have to cook more than one dish everyday.