How can different people have the same purpose, but in completely different historical contexts? Things change every time in the world, but some aspects and wishes never change. Even though the time is passing, the feeling of building a better world with peace and equality continues alive in Africa and Asia. Passing in 1919, the book Listening for Lions, by Gloria Whelan, the main character Rachel, is an African girl who came to England when she was a little kid. Unfortunately at this time, the Influenza epidemic started in Africa, and her family had to come back to the continent to help people that were in the hospital. She was a British girl, but Raquel always felt more comfortable and part of a family when she was with Africans, since her personality was similar to them. Her challenge and will through the story is to find a way to help people have better hospital conditions and health access. Later in 1973, in the book A million shades of gray, by Cynthia Kadohata, Y’Tin, who is the main character, lives in Central Highlands- South Vietnam in a small village with his family. The teenager works as a handler, and for him, taking care of elephants is his biggest talent and his favorite hobby. His dad, as a soldier, was fighting in the Vietnam troops, trying every single day to stop the Americans attacks. This tireless job, made grow inside Y’Tin the will to help them to recover peace for their lives. Overall, in different times and continents, with different goals and challenges, even though both characters had the same purpose that they are able to build a better world, their levels of power and experience were different.
One similarity between the characters is that both have a helpful purpose no matter the circumstances. These kids are in different contexts in Africa and Asia that both were so difficult to pass through. In 1973, Y’Tin as a teenager, was living with the war between Vietnam and the United States. In his case, he would like to fight in a mission with his father, as a motivation to contribute and definitely stop the war, because Ama (the father) was a soldier, and many times he had to come back to the Vietnam troops, since the American attacks that just stopped for a while and not forever. In the chapter one, Y’Tin was used to say that when he is distract he is not daydreaming, the boy is just thinking, because to him, his thoughts are about things that will become true. Through this, readers can infer that Y’Tin is very confident, and this is a necessary characteristic to follow his goals. Also, in a dialogue in chapter 1, Ama says that he is just a little boy. Disagreeing, Y’Tin answers “I old for my age” (p.10), being a result of the quantity of responsibilities that he has, meaning that he could contribute as a soldier. In addition, readers can infer that to add credibility, transmitting the idea that he knew the opponents, Y’Tin, as a Vietnamese, spoke in English to show Ama his skills and credibility, since his father called the war “American War.” In the same way the boy wanted to help change the world by helping his father serving in the war, Raquel in 1919 was planning ways to help people affected by Influenza. In page 194, she relates her will to create a large hospital with technological equipment and many doctors, a school for kids and a nursing school in her future projects, even though she doesn’t have money and political power for this. As Y’Tin, Raquel’s thoughts and ideas were about how she could help her society to live better and safer, no matter what she would have to do for it.
One difference between the characters is that since they were living in different times and continents, from 1919 until 1973, the levels of power changed through the years. In “Listening for Lions,” the character writes that Africa had two different hospitals, for white and for black people. White people, as the richest farms from other countries, had privileges and this scared africans. In chapter one, Raquel relates that once a Kikuyu (group of Africans), who worked for the Pritchard family, was brought to the hospital by other workers because he had been beaten by Mr. Pritchard: “He was covered with blood, and his ribs were broken” (p.8). Throughout this, the character suggests that since the family had plantations in Africa that benefited its economy, the government did not care about the crime, and kept Africans at risk, instead of investigate the case even though the family’s business offered money to the authorities. On the other hand, in 1973 the quantity of wealth of people did not matter, but the influence of external conflicts did. Considering the war that was happening, the decisions of each family were affected by the fights between Vietnam and the United States. In chapter 3, Y’Tin’s mother wanted him to go to another city, to have better living conditions far away from the war, “That way, you can have a better life” (p.31). But the boy did not want to change his situation, he would like to keep in Vietnam being a handler, even though he did not have a good teaching. Y’Tin’s father agreed with him, but in the Rhade Tribe, where they live, women have more power than men. Through this, her mother chose her point of view and made her own decision, since she could not consider Y’Tin’s side, because of the violence in Vietnam. As a hard power, the violent conflict between their country and the United States, forced the woman to want her son to leave the village, being far away from his parents. The benefit to Y’Tin, would be save and not in risk to be attacked by a bomb, because in this time the violence were more powerful than the people will, since impacted his mother decision.
Another difference that readers can see between the characters is that they did not have the same life experience. In Raquel’s life, since her parents were missionaries and were serving in the war, the girl had to see what was really happening with Africa, by helping her parents in the hospitals. She saw people dying from influenza in the bad conditions of the hospital, different levels of power between white and black people, and this being stimulated through government decisions that did not care about the Africans’ families that were being destroyed by deathes. In chapter 1, her father recommends to her that she should go back home, because the Influenza was contaminating everyone, since he said that after his mother died. At this moment she could be immature, as all the other girls with 13 years old, but Raquel was not this type of person. As she says “I knew I would survive, but I wasn’t sure how it was supposed to be done”, readers can suggest that Raquel was using all her force of the past to keep strong and help Africans, even though she will miss her mom and did not know how this pain will be take it of, since her father was too busy in the hospital and Raquel will not have his support. All the missionaries’ work that she saw her parents doing, impacted her level of maturity. On the other hand, Y’Tin’s life was completely summarized in the Rhade Village. His neighborhood was like a big family, everybody knew each other, and this was the only reference of society that Y’Tin had since he was a kid. Just in 1973, when the war was gaining proportion, he realized what was happening, and for being very creative, confident and helpful started to grow inside him the will to be a soldier to help his father and Vietnameses. In chapter 2, for the first time he convinced Ama to go on a mission in the jungle. Through this, for never being in this type of situation that requires attention, skills and experience, Y’Tin was not fastly enough and made a mistake that caused the death of a Vietnam soldier that was attacked by Americans. Also in the chapter, the narrator, who is not Y’Tin, relates that the boy was afraid to ask help to count the number of Americans (his part of the plan) and this caused the mistake. Readers can infer that, considering that the boy had to beg for the father to be part of the mission, at the moment that Y’Tin had the opportunity to show that he deserves to be here, he did not want to disturb his father or other soldiers asking for help. Throughout this, readers can see that the experience of work in a group that the character never had, impacted the way he treated the situation in a bad way, since he was a handler and his job was between himself and the elephant, and in the war, out of the village, things do not work like that.
In conclusion, the teaching that the character received and the cultural power that they are inserted in, were different, but instead of giving up Raquel and Y’Tin continued believing in their selfies to build a better world. Raquel was used to helping her father in the hospital, instead of ignoring what was happening with Africans and just cared about herself, and Y’Tin, trusted himself to improve his skills to help in the war and contribute to society. The teenagers, as the new generation, would like to show their power and what they are able to. Both characters had dreams and goals for their lives, but different from the other teenagers, they want to be part of the world change, since they are building a better place for the next generation, that will be then.
