–The narrator tells us that “every new generation finds the doum tree as though it had been born at the time of their birth and would grow up with them.” What do you make of this?
–What seems to be the story’s perspective on the government in newly independent Sudan? What’s the relationship between the government and the villagers?
–Explain the shift in narratorial perspective in the final passages of the story? How does it change our own view of the text
–At the end of the story, the old man refers to his own son and says, “it is my hope that he will stay where his is and not return.” How do you explain this?
–What do you think this story’s ultimate perspective is on the issue of tradition vs. modernity?
What do you think this story’s ultimate perspective is on the issue of tradition vs. modernity?
The perspective I got was from the very end when the cement was cast around the doum tree. Modernity caught up to tradition. The government officials only found interest in the tree for the sake of gaining support. It was really for publicity and not for the sake of the villagers.
What seems to be the story’s perspective on the government in newly independent Sudan? What’s the relationship between the government and the villagers?
The story’s main perspective on the government comes from the perspective of a villager. The majority of the villages have a disagreement of how the government runs Sudan. The reason being is that the villagers prefer to maintain their cultural/political values the same, and the villagers prefer not to have strangers enter and make changes in the newly independent Sudan.
What do you think this story’s ultimate perspective is on the issue of tradition vs. modernity?
Toward the end the narrator mentions that the doum tree, the pump and the stopping ground could have all co-existed and that there was enough room for all of them. This is trying to make a statement about how traditions can continue to flourish in a more modern lifestyle. There does not have to be a choice of traditions or modernity, but rather both at the same time.