Essay Questions

Chanda’s life is dotted with misfortunes. Illustrate the truthfulness of this statement using illustrations from the novel.

The challenging and somewhat erratic nature of life becomes evident in Chanda’s life earlier on. After Chanda’s father gets a promotion, their star seems to shine quite brightly as they move to a much more lovely and friendly neighborhood. However, Chanda and her mom, Lilian’s life takes a turn for the worse as the two lose a father and husband respectively in a mining accident. The mining accident sees Chanda lose her brothers, who also die alongside their father in the mining accident.

After Chanda’s mother, Lilian, remarries, Chanda ends up on the wrong side of her new step-father as she sexually abuses her. After her mother realizes this, she decides to cut ties with the man and remarries again. Unknown to Chanda, this is just the first in a series of her mother’s remarriages. Chanda later loses her mother and sister to the HIV/AIDS pandemic that had taken South Africa by a storm, an occurrence that sees the climax of the novel and the end of Chanda’s series of misfortunes.

Lilian’s life is full of significant betrayal and disappointments. Illustrate the truthfulness of this statement using instances from the novel.

Lillian’s disappointment in the novel begins when her husband and son die following the mining accident. She becomes disappointed by the fact that she is unable to comprehend the matter. Betrayal soon follows after the husband that she later remarries after her husband’s death fails to keep his end of the bargain and ends up raping her daughter Chanda. As such, Lillian blames herself for having trusted Isaac, a lowlife of a man.

Additionally, when Chanda’s mother remarries for the second time to Mr Dube, she soon ends up disappointed again. Mr Dube has promised to move the worlds for her later, dies before he is able to deliver on the same. Her lack of good luck sees her contract the AIDS virus from one of her many boyfriends. Lillian later dies of the same illness later in the novel.