As these chapters of What is the What opened up, I wondered why the narrator, Valentino Achak Deng, decided to start off with violence. In the first chapter, the readers discover that Valentino is being robbed. He is hit and sent crashing to the floor, bleeding. As Valentino contemplates his unfortunate situation, he begins to recall the beginning days of the civil war in Sudan.
According to How to Read Literature Like a Professor, there is a deeper meaning behind violence in a novel. So, I thought to myself, "Why would Valentino start his narrative with him being mugged and then transition to the violence that began to happen in his home of Marial Bai?" I think that the reason the novel begins with a robbery scene is to indirectly characterize Valentino, so that the readers can relate to him better throughout the rest of the book. Through the scene, we learn that Valentino is trusting, not too cautious, forgiving, pacifist, and unlucky. For some reason, he always gets into trouble. Another reason I think the novel begins with this type of violence is to offer a comparison between the troubles Valentino has now in America with the hardships he had to endure in Sudan. Compared to a robbery, which usually gives a person a temporary shock and then can be solved later by replacing the items, the death and violence that Valentino encountered as he trekked across Sudan is worse. For all that he saw, Valentino would have to live with the trauma, sadness, and emptiness. Those things cannot be easily replaced or fixed. The robbery is unfortunate, but it seems insignificant compared to the pain that Valentino endured as a Lost Boy.
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