Summary
This chapter deals with Kamkwamba's personal family history. Years ago, the Chewa were the native people of Malawi, but the Yao, Muslim businessmen, invaded the land and captured the Chewa for the slave trade. However, through the efforts of David Livingstone, ending of slavery, opening up trade, and building schools and missions, the Chewa and the Yao now view each other as equals. William Kamkwamba himself is half Yao.
When William's father was young, he was a trader at the market, which was a fairly relaxed and profitable profession. However, unlike many of the other traders, Trywell was nicknamed "The Pope" for not participating in the prostitution common at the time. He was not a completely moral man, still participating in fights and alcohol, but he "generally stayed away from the bar girls." He was uncommonly strong and well-built, and seemed to be able to take on a dozen men if he had to. On one occasion, Robert Fumulani, one of Trywell's favorite musicians, was performing a concert in town. Trywell tried desperately to go, but when he finally made it to the dance floor, his dance moves seemed to astound everyone, outshining the musical performance itself. As a result, the singer tried to remove him from the scene and Trywell fought policemen and civilians alike to maintain his spot on the dance floor. He held his ground for some time, despite being severely outnumbered, and that incident became local legend afterwards.
One day, Trywell's reputation preceded him, and it would be for the woman he was to marry. He had seen Agnes, William's mother, in the market a few times, and noticed her beauty. They circled each other for months, and when Trywell finally gathered the courage to speak to Agnes for the first time, it was to ask her to marry him. Because Agnes' parents had gotten married in much the same way, they seemed to have a soft spot for the situation and allowed it to happen without much friction. However, the early years of their marriage were strained because Trywell still maintained the drunken habits of his bachelor days. In addition to coming home late often smelling of booze, Trywell also seemed to undergo a period of grief as many of his friends died from a variety of incidents.
Trywell's fighting and drinking habits finally ended one night when he was arrested for getting into a bar fight. Luckily, before getting put on trial, his judge and friend promised to drop the case if Trywell promised to give up alcohol and fighting for God. He promised to do this, and had a dream of darkness and the voice of God that cemented the promise in his soul. After these incidents, Trywell seemed completely reformed, and devoted his time to family, work, and God alone. His change in countenance also changed his family's countenance.
While Trywell worked as a trader, his brother Uncle John worked as a farmer and made a significant amount of money from it. He persuaded Trywell to give up his easy life in the market for one out on the fields, especially since tobacco was such a lucrative crop. Land was acquired, seeds were bought, and the Kamkwamba family moved out to Wimbe with their growing family, now consisting of the eldest, Annie, the second eldest, William, and the third eldest, Aisha. Trywell worked hard in the fields to prepare the crops every day, and when he was done with that he would begin work on the family home, as the number of children grew from three to five.
One of Uncle John's seasonal workers was a man by the name of Phiri, whom William respected immensely. It was rumored that Phiri was endowed with some magical ability that enhanced his strength called mangolomera. The induction process was supposedly dangerous, only meant for the naturally powerful, and difficult to control in full. Often, Phiri lost control of his abilities and needed to be subdued with a sweet potato plant, a common remedy for magic out of control. This happened once when James, a fellow worker, was cheated at the market when in possession of Phiri's money, and Phiri flew into a rage, nearly pummeling James to death. With no potato plant nearby, Trywell needed to personally intervene and physically restrain Phiri until all evidence of his magical strength left his body.
Seeing Mister Phiri's powerful state, William himself wanted to feel that strong, especially since he was bullied for not being as large as the other kids in school. As a result, when Phiri's nephew Shabani offered to give William some mangolomera, William eagerly took his offer. The magic was administered by placing a paste made of ground leopard and lion bones into cuts made on the knuckles with small incisions. Shabani performed this ritual on William, and told him that it would take three days to kick into full effect. When on summer holiday, William went to a soccer game and picked a fight with a much larger boy, hoping that the mangolomera would allow William to beat him. However, William himself instead received a thorough beating, and his first personal encounter with magic left him with sore knuckles and no more power than he had previously had.
Analysis
This chapter primarily focuses on characters other than William, allowing the reader to see the important figures in his life and how they have influenced him. The story of Trywell, his father, and the legendary one-man battle against a dozen other men reads very much like a legend, and serves to characterize him effectively. He is compared to a "gazelle" and a "flying grasshopper," natural fauna that are typically considered graceful and elegant (30). By comparing his dance moves to these natural phenomena, Trywell becomes the picture of grace, or the "greatest dancer on earth," just as the text describes (30). Demonstrating how exceptional his father is also shows the reader that William acknowledges his roots, and allows the reader to respect him in the same way that William does.
In many ways, the story of William's father is a story of religious awakening, and serves to underscore how important God and religion are to William as well. His father, with his storied history as a drunk and unreliable man, eventually comes to term with responsibility by accepting God into his life. To emphasize his complete and radical departure from his previous habits, the simile of the "baby bird" is used to describe Trywell's trembling (36). This comparison depicts Trywell as a completely changed person, someone who has been, quite literally, reborn.
The importance of religion is also established by the contrasting force of magic. Magic, in the form of Phiri, who has manglomera, is very strong, but religion and faith are stronger. When Trywell needs to restrain Phiri and keep him from killing another worker, Phiri "kicked and screamed like a tethered animal" (43). This description places Phiri in contrast with the other animals that have been used to describe Trywell. In this case, Phiri is less in control, and being compared to pure, animalistic instinct. In the previous two examples of animal similes, the comparisons are more describing aspects of Trywell's movements, instead of pure instinct itself.
The final demonstration of William's attitude towards magic is his attempt at gaining the power of manglomera. When he first believes himself to have acquired the power, his arms are described as feeling "light, yet hard as tree trunks." His hands were "as solid as two stones." These similes identify the way William's body has seemingly transformed into natural elements, although notably, they refer not to animals, but to nature itself. This comparison serves to indicate how William feels different in his inhabited body, but the differences are not comparable to his father or Phiri. Instead, they are a new sensation completely, and the story goes on to show how they are indeed fake expressions of magic.
