Short Stories Reflection

The story that I have enjoyed the most so far in our reading has been B.L Honwana's Papa, Snake & I. The plot revolves around an unnamed male son and his day on his families farm. The stories primary characters are the boy, Sartina (a female worker for the family), the mother, the father, a snake, Toto (the family dog), and Wolf (another dog). There are several reasons why this story was the one that I have enjoyed the most, the first being the complexity. Even though the story is relatively short, there are many interesting plot devices being used by the author. The relationship between Sartina and the protagonist, the jealousy when the other man arrives and flirts with her, the dynamic between the two dogs, the relationship between the dogs and the snake, the lack of action from our protagonist, the dynamic between the father and son, the role of the mother, and the neighbor and fathers interaction all provide a deep and interesting text. This story did a great job of fleshing out all of these relationships and plot points in a relatively small window. For example, the line "For some unknown reason the war sensation of Sartina's body flowed through my senses. I managed to cling to her almost physical presence for a few minutes, and I wanted to fall asleep with her so as not to dream of dogs and snakes," (114). Those few lines completely change the readers perception of the narrator and the role of Sartina in the story. Because of its position at the end of the story, I can't help but wonder if the writer intended the dog and snake as the primary plot point at all.
      Another interesting dynamic is between the father and the neighbor. Contrary to the relationship between the two dogs, the two masters seem to have a different power shift. The father seemed more submissive, while conversely Toto was by far the more aggressive of the two dogs. The dog vs dog relationship compared to the master vs master creates for an interesting literary dynamic.
      The final literary technique that I liked was using one character to convey the message. In the dialogue between the father and the son, the father gives a speech about hope, saying "My son, one must have a hope. When one comes to the end of a day, and one knows that tomorrow will be another day just like it, and that things will always be the same, we have got to find the strength to keep on smiling, and keep on saying 'That is not important'" (113). With this speech, the author is able to bring his point across to the reader via one of the characters.
      The story does a great job of fleshing out many characters, introducing a complex plot, and conveying the message of the story all in a very short time period. It is because of the authors effectiveness in these areas that I enjoyed his story the most