Review Of Dave Eggers 'Raising Awareness About The Sudanese Civil War'

Dave Eggers wrote What is the What to raise awareness about the Sudanese Civil War, and the Lost Boys living in America. Eggers originally decided to write his novel after he was approached by Achak Deng, who asked him to write about his life. Eggers was interested in the conflicts in Sudan, and making the voices of the lost boys in America heard, and decided to write Deng’s story. The story itself follows Achak Deng, a child refugee who migrated to the United States under the Lost Boys of Sudan Program. The events in the novel take place during the second Sudanese Civil War. One of the main themes of What is the What is the casualties of war. During his travels in Sudan, Kenya, and Ethiopia, Deng experiences death on a firsthand basis- from
The book switches between the past and the present, with both focusing on telling the stories that are not told. The story in the present tells about Deng being mugged, and the changes it makes to his life. The past begins when Deng is a young boy in the village of Marial Bai, and explores his life as he is separated from his family, and travels as a refugee first to Ethiopia, then Kenya, and finally to America. There is an emphasis on storytelling within the novel, and many references to people Deng is imagining telling his story to. “I will tell stories to people who will listen and to people who don't want to listen. All the while I will know that you are there. How can I pretend that you do not exist? It would be almost as impossible as you pretending that I do not exist.” (pg. 535). The constant references to storytelling explain a lot about Deng’s personality, and helps the reader to create images of the events and places occurring in the book. The storytelling manner provides easy to understand and imagine descriptions of the refugee camps, mass killings, SPLA attacks, and trips to the city of
From the beginning of the book of the What is introduced, and throughout the story Deng tries to discover what it is. "So the first man lifted his head to God and asked what this was, this What. 'What is the What?' the first man asked. And God said to the man, 'I cannot tell you. Still you have to choose. You have to choose between the cattle and the What.'"(pg. 62). The What is a driving force of the novel, and often inspires Deng to keep going, or gives him solace in difficult situations. This also helped the effectiveness of the book. The book was effective in telling Deng’s story, and helping the reader to empathize with the Sudanese, refugees, and Lost Boys. It was also effective in exposing many of the problems of refugee camps, the contrasting religions in Sudan, and the issues that occur when rebels try and take over a government. This also helped to enhance my understanding of these issues. Due to it’s particular point of view, the reader sees the events through the eyes of a growing boy. This allows the reader to understand more of the conflicts as Deng does, and starts to realize the scope of the problems occurring in Sudan and among the refugees. I now have a greater understanding of the difficulties faced by countries in a Civil War, the problems with refugee camps and faced by refugees, and how the actions of other countries can both help and hurt the people of