Summary
"The Suitcase" begins with a woman named Saba visiting Addis Ababa, the large capital of Ethiopia. She lives in America but is returning for a visit with her extended family. It is the final day of her visit and she has decided to go out into the city to explore. She goes out and discovers that the roads are a tangle of road traffic, filled with many motorcycles, buses, and cars. She attempts to cross a busy street on foot and is nearly hit by a car. She decides to take an overpriced cab to make her way across, unscathed.
When she returns home, she finds that her uncle Fassil and her various other relatives have packed her suitcases for her. She has come with two suitcases, one for her belongings and one for gifts that she has been instructed to carry from America to Ethiopia and vice versa. They weigh her luggage and it is over the accepted flight limit. Saba offers to simply pay an additional fee, but her relatives refuse to let her do so. The family proceeds to argue about what needs to remain in the suitcase and what can be removed. Konjit, an elderly woman, is the driver of much of this disagreement.
Saba grows anxious about missing her flight, as she knows that the traffic around them is bad. In the end she decides, as a show of generosity for all of their incredible kindness, that she will simply empty the suitcase with her belongings. Everyone is stunned by the gesture. They say they will keep her belongings safe and that she can pick them up the next time she visits. They take her to the airport and watch as she makes her way to her gate.
In "The Wall," a young Ethiopian boy living in Iowa befriends an elderly German man named Johannes Weill. The boy has recently moved to the United States after escaping Ethiopia. He lived briefly in Berlin before ultimately ending up in Iowa. They meet at a community potluck and the boy learns that the man is a professor at a nearby college and that people call him Herr Weill. Herr Weill notices that the boy is trying to talk to a girl he has a crush on and asks him, in German, a language they both speak, about it. The boy says that he doesn't speak enough English to talk to her.
Herr Weill offers to teach the boy English and they begin having lessons. The boy goes on to describe how he spends most of his time in school being unable to understand anything that's being said in classes, except for math. They go through exercises from a basic English textbook. At the same time the young man learns that Herr Weill became a refugee during World War II while escaping Nazi Germany. They bond over their shared experience of being forced to leave their home country to escape political violence.
Herr Weill gives the boy a journal which he begins to fill with his daily observations. He talks to Herr Weill about a girl at school that he has a crush on. As his English improves the boy is able to make friends at school. His visits to Herr Weill begin to dwindle. Many years later, he returns to his hometown and seeks out Herr Weill. He leaves a note at Herr Weill's house with his address. It is a page from the first day he had his journal where he talks about his new friend, Herr Weill.
In the story "The Street Sweep," an optimistic man named Getu travels to a high-society party in the city of Addis Ababa. He does so in the hopes of getting a job from an American man named Jeff Johnson who works for an NGO. He brags about this possibility to his mother, who remains skeptical. She says he will never be accepted by members of another class. He gets into the party by pretending to be one of Jeff's employees. Getu talks to Jeff and discovers that he has no real intention of helping him get a job. Saddened by this revelation, Getu nevertheless returns to the party by pretending to be one of the people who gave him a business card.
Analysis
Community is a major theme in these early stories. In "The Suitcase," Saba returns to Ethiopia to see her home country and visit with her extended family. When she gets back to her uncle's home, she finds that her suitcases are over the airline's weight limit. Everyone begins to squabble about what to take out, as no one wants to give up their spot. Finally, Saba settles the matter by removing her own belongings, saying that every single member of the family has been so generous with her as she details the experiences that each one of them has shared with her. In this brief moment, Saba reveals how deep their bond has become, as they reintroduced her to a culture that she felt distant from, having grown up in America. She gives up the space in her suitcase as a way of showing just how much their care has meant to her. The story shows how much community has meant to Saba as she literally carries the weight of the experience back to America with her.
Political oppression is another key theme that appears in this section of the book. In "The Wall," the narrator reveals that he and Herr Weill shared the common experience of being political refugees. While the narrator and his family were fleeing the Derg in Ethiopia, Herr Weill escaped Nazi Germany during World War II. As they get to know each other better, they talk about how they both share feelings of woundedness, loss, and anxiety, as their forced exile had a lasting impact on them both. The story reveals the way that this connection transcends culture and age, as they have similar feelings despite being from such different places.
Language is also an important theme in "The Wall." The narrator wants to gain a greater facility with English in order to make friends and talk to the girl he has a crush on. At the same time, he is able to speak with Herr Weill because they both are fluent in German. They gradually become close over the course of his English lessons and eventually, after he has become adept at English, he makes friends at school. He is able to do so because he finally has a grasp on the words and culture surrounding him. Where before he was adrift, he is now able to understand the social world of the school. This story explores how common language can act as the basis for relationships, allowing people to connect with one another when there aren't barriers between their communication.
Opportunity is a major theme in "The Street Sweep." Getu hopes that he can get a job from an NGO employee named Jeff Johnson. His mother expresses doubts about the likelihood of that coming to fruition. She says that people from a higher economic class rarely have a genuine interest in helping people outside of it. Still, Getu holds onto his optimism, as he believes that Jeff's encouraging words about their organization needing people like him will translate into a job. Getu is proven wrong when he asks Jeff about this directly and Jeff reveals that he has no job for him. This story shows how the allure of opportunity sometimes outweighs what is actually available. This becomes particularly true of the way that Jeff, an American man, overstates what he can offer, suggesting that many other Westerns have and will continue to do the same.
These first three stories establish many of the themes that continue throughout the novel. Characters are caught between worlds, seeking to make adjustments that will improve their circumstances. The narrator of "The Wall" hopes to learn English to become friends with the students at his school. Saba goes to Ethiopia to reconnect with her cultural heritage. Getu talks his way into a party in the hopes of securing a better-paying, more prestigious job. Hadero picks these moments of transition to highlight how these characters are adjusting to shifts in their cultural contexts.
