"The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" and Maybe a Couple of Answers to Janet's Questions

In "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm," the author, Nancy Farmer, imagines Zimbabwe in the year 2194. The story alternates between two lines. The first involves a terrorist group kidnapping and resulting escape-odyssey of three children who are the sons and daughter of the country's top general in charge of law enforcement. The second story line follows three detectives who have survived accidental mutations, which gives one superpower like hearing (the Ear), another extraordinary sight (the Eye), and the last the ability to 'feel' peoples' emotions and thoughts (the Arm). These detectives, hired by the general and his wife, narrowly miss catching up to the children a few times before playing a key role in their rescue at the story's end. I suspect that Lemony Snicket 'borrowed' a few ideas from the children's story line for his Series of Unfortunate Events books.

I enjoyed the care Farmer took to create what could pass for an authentic future Africa. I read that she lived there for a few years, and it shows in the way she weaves traditional language, customs, and history together in the imagined future. In particular one theme emerged that I found impressive: In order for the country to survive, the leadership of the country needs to act with a spirit of benevolence towards the wretched, wicked, and marginalized people because they are Zimbabwe too. The point where the general's oldest son recognizes this idea, and sees it in his father, is also the point where his parents recognize the adult growing in the son. The country likewise embraces the mutated detectives, especially after they make physical sacrifices in order to save the general's children. Heavy social/political stuff for a kiddies' book, but the novel strikes me as one that could be read at a couple of levels with different fruit emerging from readers of different ages. I dunno... sounds like literature or somethin' to me. ☺

Hats off to Nancy Farmer for even imagining that there will be an Africa in the future when everything we see today suggests Africa and its people are on their way to an earthly equivalent of hell. I wouldn't say that Farmer describes either a utopia or a dystopia, but just extension of current concerns: a nuclear accident gives the detectives their 'powers', the terrorists from a neighboring country operate through terror for terror's sake to spiritually poison the country of Zimbabwe, the traditional culture of Africa is preserved within a sealed environment where its inhabitants are aware of the modern country outside. I find utopian fiction ridiculous, and dystopian fiction paranoid and paralyzing... it makes me want to do nothing but smoke cigarettes. These days I find myself aligning more with the critical yet hopeful view that Miller described in last week's course pack reading, and I also noticed it this week from Ostry's description of authors "instilling hope their readers although care has to be taken not to be naively optimistic" (bottom of C.P. pg. 455). From what we've read, YA regularly gets slugged for being overly optimistic; and I suppose some works are, but I find adult works that squash all hope for the sake of a realistic viewpoint equally useless. When I want that kind of report, I'll watch the news. At least this work from Farmer lines up nicely between the two poles, and I think students would respond well, or maybe it'll just keep me away from the smokes.