The Firewood Gatherers
Aaron Reyes (12) September 24, 2013
The Firewood Gatherers – Theme
A frail and hard-working family doing all they can to help out with their community is seen in the short story “The Firewood Gatherers,” by Thierry Mallet. The narrator is at his camp when he sees three people in the distance on a hill. Fuelled by curiosity, he climbs the hill in hope he will encounter them. In a matter of time, he finds the three figures, who turn out to be a very old woman accompanied by two young girls. The three women are gathering firewood for their own campground, but the narrator notices odd movements from all three of them. He concludes that the old woman is blind, and the two girls are deaf and mute. Despite their disabilities, the three women muster up all their strength and exemplify that everyone can help with community affairs and contribute to their people. The narrator comes across the three workers, but they have bodies unfit for working. The three included, “Two little girls, nine or ten years old, so small, so helpless, and an aged woman, so old, so frail,” (paragraph 6) that it awes the narrator how they are able to work with such weak bodies. The girls are more able and nimble than the old lady, in that they can go around and pick up firewood, but “Their little hands were bare and black, the scratches caused by the dead twigs showing plainly in white, while their fingers seemed cramped with the cold.” (Paragraph 8). The girls are also missing the ability to hear and speak, making matters worse. The old woman is even worse off, as she has no teeth, almost no hair, dry and wrinkled skin, and has gone blind. Working in the woods gathering firewood would certainly shorten the few days she has left to live. Even though the three women should not be working with such health conditions and handicaps, they carry on with their work to do the best they can for their tribe. Working through frail bodies and disabilities, the three women
The Firewood Gatherers – Theme
A frail and hard-working family doing all they can to help out with their community is seen in the short story “The Firewood Gatherers,” by Thierry Mallet. The narrator is at his camp when he sees three people in the distance on a hill. Fuelled by curiosity, he climbs the hill in hope he will encounter them. In a matter of time, he finds the three figures, who turn out to be a very old woman accompanied by two young girls. The three women are gathering firewood for their own campground, but the narrator notices odd movements from all three of them. He concludes that the old woman is blind, and the two girls are deaf and mute. Despite their disabilities, the three women muster up all their strength and exemplify that everyone can help with community affairs and contribute to their people. The narrator comes across the three workers, but they have bodies unfit for working. The three included, “Two little girls, nine or ten years old, so small, so helpless, and an aged woman, so old, so frail,” (paragraph 6) that it awes the narrator how they are able to work with such weak bodies. The girls are more able and nimble than the old lady, in that they can go around and pick up firewood, but “Their little hands were bare and black, the scratches caused by the dead twigs showing plainly in white, while their fingers seemed cramped with the cold.” (Paragraph 8). The girls are also missing the ability to hear and speak, making matters worse. The old woman is even worse off, as she has no teeth, almost no hair, dry and wrinkled skin, and has gone blind. Working in the woods gathering firewood would certainly shorten the few days she has left to live. Even though the three women should not be working with such health conditions and handicaps, they carry on with their work to do the best they can for their tribe. Working through frail bodies and disabilities, the three women