The Impact of Diction on the Development of William Kamwkamba in The Boy Who Harnessed Anonymous 11th Grade

Within the nonfiction narrative The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, William Kamkwamba illustrates his childhood in rural Malawi and the hardships he and his village endured during this time of his life. Throughout the book, William and the rest of his village are put against all the odds: unreliable power causes frequent power outages to plague the community, a corrupt president rules over the country and exploits the people for economic benefit, education is hard to come by, the wealthy Malawians exploit the poor; the most impactful of all these issues, however, is the famine which overtakes his village throughout almost the entirety of the novel. A flood during the early harvest season washes away many of the village's crops, and further adding to this problem was a drought, causing William and his fellow Malawians to be struck by extreme hunger and its effects, including anemia and death. This famine has a devastating impact on the people of Malawi; however, it does not halt William's plan to construct a windmill in order to bring electricity and running water to his community. Beginning with a radio which sparked his interest in science and engineering, William continues to educate himself with books about physics and...