Summary
"The Life and Times of the Little Manuscript & Anonymous" is a two-part story, describing two instances of political writing and their respective aftermaths. In the first part, "Little Manuscript," the story follows a shy woman who has just written an inspiring essay in Ethiopia. The manuscript is celebrated by various governmental officials because it depicts the horrors of the previous regime. They like it because they can use it as justification for their power and point to it when people ask why they've held onto power for so long.
The manuscript is published and given expensive binding and paper to make it additionally appealing. The author of the manuscript is revealed to be a very shy, unassuming woman. She is catapulted to fame as the book draws a massive amount of attention. She receives a significant amount of money and is invited to a number of society events. Then she begins to be critiqued by the opposition party, which dislikes the current regime and thinks she is doing too much to support them and their corrupt practices. The manuscript begins to be interpreted in a number of different ways.
The author becomes increasingly nervous about her shift in status and anxious about people being angry with her. Various people are inspired by the author's example and begin writing their own accounts of this period of time. Thrilled by this outpouring, the author decides to write another manuscript. In this one, she talks about how the country actually belongs to the people and how their stories can't be claimed or controlled by political interests. Powerful politicians hate this new manuscript because they believe it paints them in a bad light. She loses all of her acclaim and is forced to leave the country.
The second section, "Anonymous," begins the morning of election day in Ethiopia. A journalist named Ephraim makes his way to a hotel room. He encounters various other guests at the hotel and reflects on the past. Four days before the events of the story, the narrator tells us, Ephraim ruined his life. The story goes back in time and Ephraim is at his favorite bar, writing a story about the election. Even though the election hasn't occurred yet, he knows he is supposed to write that the incumbent party won in a landslide and that the country is overjoyed and will be filled with prosperity.
However, as he attempts to write this story, he cannot move his hand. Instead, he begins to write the truth about what is happening in the country. He writes that people are terrified to speak out and that arrests and political violence are rampant. Finally, he writes that it is unlikely that they will ever know for certain who actually won the election. He drunkenly gets into a taxi and drops the story off at his newsroom. He wakes up the next day and realizes how severe the consequences of what he has just done could be. In the present, Ephraim talks to another writer named Yacob. The story ends that night, with Ephraim reading the falsely positive story he wrote a few days earlier, praising the election and the various leaders.
"The Elders" is a story about the funeral arrangements being made for an engineer named Paulos. The members of his church congregation argue about whether or not to have him buried in Texas, where he lived, or flown back to Ethiopia, where he is from. They talk about how he was a kindhearted man who always gave back to his community. They also reveal that he was murdered in a brutal hate crime. They try to decide if it is worse to bury him in a place where he was treated with such cruelty or if it is a victory for the racist townspeople to send him away. The community leader, Adam, ultimately decides that it would be best to bury him in Texas, to properly celebrate his life and show that he belonged here all along.
"The Drought That Drowned Us" describes a brutal drought in Ethiopia. A woman named Deborah lives in a small village with her family. They often find themselves in the midst of various conflicts. A man named Mikael comes to the village and offers to transport people across a lake to safer, more fertile land. They attempt to cross but the voyage proves treacherous; only Deborah survives the journey. Before they reach the shore, Mikael pushes her into the water and steals her food. She drowns.
Analysis
Writing is a major theme in both sections of "The Life and Times of the Little Manuscript & Anonymous." In "The Little Manuscript" section, the author of a manuscript about the cruelty of the previous political regime in Ethiopia garners a great deal of praise. Politicians feel like it portrays them in a positive light, as it reminds people of the evils that preceded their current rule. The citizens are inspired by the author's bravery and feel empowered to write the stories of their own experiences under oppression. This response makes the author famous and celebrated in Ethiopia. However, things quickly take a turn when she writes a second manuscript and the politicians feel that its support for everyday people makes them look bad. She is stripped of her accolades and forced into hiding. This story highlights the way that a writer who refuses to compromise her values or beliefs is subject to the changing tide of political opinion. The perceived negativity of her second manuscript results in her immediate downfall. In this way, the story highlights the precarity of her position as a public figure.
Similarly, the "Anonymous" section deals with the difficulty of writing truthfully about the forces of political power in the country. Ephraim, a journalist, is asked to write a positive story about the election. He plans to say that the incumbent party won and that the country has a bright future ahead of it. However, feeling frustrated and slightly inebriated, he instead writes a more truthful account of what is happening. He takes note of the many arrests occurring throughout the country as well as the atmosphere of fear and anxiety that is stifling free speech. He drunkenly leaves the manuscript at the office of the newspaper he works at. The story does not run and ruins his entire career. He hides out from the authorities. Like the first section of the story, "Anonymous" explores the danger of writing truthfully about people in a position of power. Any deviation from the state-sponsored narrative results in immediate retribution. This story, taken as a whole, explores the pitfalls and dangers of trying to speak truth to power.
"The Elders" deals with the aftermath of a hate crime and depicts the attempts of an immigrant community to move forward after a tragedy. An engineer named Paulos is viciously murdered by a mob of men. The people in his community try to decide whether or not he should be buried in Texas or Ethiopia. They ultimately choose Texas, as that is where he lived his life and they feel that it is important to establish that, in spite of the tragedy of his death, he belongs there. This story explores what it means for his community to celebrate his life, as they try to find an appropriate way to mourn him. Their actions become symbolic of their larger attempt to heal and move forward in the wake of something unthinkably horrifying. Their decision to bury him in Texas is indicative of the fact that they believe in holding firm to their community and not wavering in the face of cruelty or prejudice.
Desperation is a key theme in "The Drought That Drowned Us." Deborah and the people in her village are forced to take a chance and trust the boatman who appears in their village, as they are caught in the middle of various local conflicts and suffering immensely during a drought. This ends up being a terrible mistake, as most of the villagers are killed when the raft is battered by large waves and Deborah, the sole survivor, is murdered for her store of food. This story explores the way that material needs drive the characters to their limits. Deborah takes a chance on the dangerous boatman because she is afraid she and her family will not survive the drought. In the same way, the boatman, likely as desperate as she is, pushes her into the water and steals her food to live another day. The story highlights how these brutal circumstances drive cruel actions.
The stories in this section of the book depict survival under different kinds of extreme duress. "The Life and Times of the Little Manuscript & Anonymous" show how free speech is under constant attack in an oppressive political climate. "The Elders" shows how prejudice and hatred lead to the horrifying murder of a kindhearted man. "The Drought That Drowned Us," shows how bad weather and famine push various characters to the brink. These stories are some of the bleakest in the collection and explore how cruelty is rationalized and justified in various contexts.
