The Red Pencil

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2014

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-32

Part 1, Chapters 33-79

Part 2, Chapters 80-112

Part 2, Chapters 113-145

Part 2, Chapters 146-180

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 1, Chapters 1-32Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “Our Farm”

Part 1, Chapters 1-16 Summary

Part 1 takes place between September 2003 and March 2004. This section covers Chapter 1: “Wheat,” Chapter 2: “Dando’s Delight,” Chapter 3: “Lost Tooth,” Chapter 4: “Dizzy Donkey,” Chapter 5: “Opportunity,” Chapter 6: “School,” Chapter 7: “Pinched,” Chapter 8: “The Wager,” Chapter 9: “Fruitless,” Chapter 10: “Contest,” Chapter 11: “War,” Chapter 12: “As I See It,” Chapter 13: “Chores,” Chapter 14: “Birth Story,” Chapter 15: “Heartbeat,” and Chapter 16: “Okra.”

It is Amira’s 12th birthday, and she is finally old enough to wear a toob (a sash). Her mother, “Muma,” greets her with birthday blessings. Amira reflects on the beauty of the ripened wheat that sways in the sun on the morning of her birthday; the novel includes an accompanying illustration of wheat rows. “Dando,” her father, runs up behind her and scoops her up, saying that “Amira Bright” is never too old to greet the sky. In his arms, Amira feels she can truly fly.

Amira remembers helping her best friend, Halima, yank out a stubborn tooth when they were both six. The girls play “dizzy donkey” together—lacing their fingers and spinning in circles; the novel includes crookedly aligned verse and an illustration of the girls to capture this spinning. Amira believed they would play this way forever, but Halima and her family are leaving for the city, “looking for something [Halima’s father] calls / Opportunity” (9). Halima will be attending Gad Primary School, a school that welcomes female students. Her parents are considered progressive in their thinking, unlike most in the village; Muma especially dislikes the idea of education for women, believing their lives must be confined to marriage and farm work. Amira thinks her mother is “locked in a hut of tradition” (13) with no windows to let in new ideas; sometimes, she wants to ask Muma if she can breathe. When Halima finally leaves, Amira feels “pinched” by two feelings at once—missing her friend and disliking being left behind.

Dando and Old Anwar, the family’s neighbor, have made a bet about tomatoes. Old Anwar claims he can grow the most by picking time, but Dando brags that the quality of his tomatoes is superior. Amira thinks the fight is insignificant, wondering why grown men argue about such things. She asks Dando about this when he tucks her in at night, to which he asserts that Old Anwar and him are not fighting—they are having a contest. He also tries to explain what war is; Amira doesn’t understand much, especially when Dando uses words like “persecution,” “rebellion,” and “genocide.” Amira likens war to the battles between Dando and Old Anwar. Dando denies that he is at war with Old Anwar, but Amira insists they are. The novel’s accompanying illustration depicts two men arguing over a tomato, as a bird flies into the sky against the backdrop of clouds and sun.

The bad part about turning 12 is that Amira is nearly a grown-up in her family’s eyes, and so is given more farm chores. She accepts these with “grace / and obedience, / and not a speck of complaint” (24) as instructed by Muma: She weeds, husks corn and millet, peels and chops vegetables, and rakes cow dung.

Dando retells Amira’s birth story every year, in the days following her birthday. He tells the story with pride, and Muma adds the “silliest bit—the okra” (30). Muma had risen to pick okra before dawn, and Amira came fast, “Hurling ahead, quick as the winds” (27). As Muma felt Amira begin to move, she ran back home across the field. Dando called out to her to stop, but she only slowed down to pick up okra. Amira knows her birth story well.

Part 1, Chapters 17-32 Summary

This section covers Chapter 17: “Twig,” Chapter 18: “Ditty,” Chapter 19: “Waking the Moon,” Chapter 20: “Glowing Sayidda,” Chapter 21: “Leila,” Chapter 22: “Our Bent Baby,” Chapter 23: “Double Joy,” Chapter 24: “Gamal,” Chapter 25: “Goal,” Chapter 26: “Tradition Hut,” Chapter 27: “Chasing the Wind,” Chapter 28: “Goz,” Chapter 29: “Drawing,” Chapter 30: “Hand, Twig, Sparrow,” Chapter 31: “The Janjaweed,” and Chapter 32: “Fright.”

Dando gives Amira a sturdy twig with which to make “sand-pictures.” Amira’s four-year-old sister, Leila, pouts because she wants it to be her birthday, and she wants to trade her tarha (a headscarf) for Amira’s toob. Leila sings an original ditty about Amira’s new twig. At night, the family beats drums and bells to call out the moon: “A hiding moon is a curse” (34), and so they attempt to bring it out from behind its cloud cover with noise. Some nights, “Sayidda Moon” answers their call immediately; some nights, she is stubborn and refuses to come out at all; on this night, she is a “trickster,” playing hide-and-seek until sunrise. The novel’s accompanying illustration shows a family of four beating drums and instruments beneath a sleeping crescent moon among the clouds.

Leila was born on a moonless night that remained dark despite the entire village’s calls. She came fast, like Amira, but not easily; she was born blue, barely breathing. Dando helped clear Leila’s nasal passages, but her first cry was a weak one. She had a crooked spine and oddly shaped limbs, but none of this mattered to the family, who held her close and loved her immediately. Dando asserted that such a child would make everyone “stretch to meet her” (41), thus keeping the family strong. The novel’s accompanying illustration depicts a tree reaching up to meet an outstretched hand.

Amira’s lamb, Nali, was born on the same night as Leila, birthed by Farha the sheep. Dando called it a “double joy” that a girl and a lamb were born on the same night. When Dando came to announce Nali’s birth, Leila’s weak cry suddenly turned to a wail, thus giving the lamb its name: “Naaaaalleee…” (43). Leila was a frail child in the beginning, but her spine and limbs became stronger as she grew. She mostly hobbled, finding it difficult to walk, until she met Gamal, a spirited village boy the same age as her. Gamal taught Leila how to play soccer with a tin can, which she does despite her physical disability: “Leila isn’t fast, / but she’s determined” (46). Old Anwar made wooden crutches for Leila, which she took but refused to use; instead, she and Gamal use them as goalposts. The novel’s accompanying illustration shows cloth flags strung between two wooden crutches stuck in the sand.

Amira is able to talk easily about most things with Muma; however, school remains a forbidden subject. Anytime she brings it up, Muma “slaps [her words] away like flies” (48), as school is expensive and “useless” to women: “A good wife lets her husband do the reading” (49). Muma rejects Amira’s suggestion that she may never marry, and Amira views her mother’s thinking as regressive. Amira tries to present a case for attending Gad Primary School by suggesting that learning how to read will help her read books on how to farm better; however, Muma understands that Amira’s true desire is to learn everything other than farming. Muma believes Amira’s desire is a waste of time, asserting that Halima and her family are simply “chasing the wind” (51). This is accompanied by an illustration of an open book with its pages flying in the wind.

Amira describes the goz, the soft sand, as “Darfur’s great soil blanket” (52). She reflects on how it is everywhere, how food is grown in it, and how she dreams and draws in it with her twig. Amira draws a soaring bird in the sand. When she draws, she feels it is not her doing, but her hand, her twig, and the sparrow itself creating pictures independently: “My hand / holds my twig. // But my twig goes / on its own. // My sparrow—that’s what’s inside me: / flight” (57). The novel’s accompanying illustration shows a twig held up in two hands, as a bird and leaves fly above it.

Muma tells Amira about the Janjaweed, explaining that they are a result of the war Dando described. She uses words like “armed,” “militia,” and “renegade,” which Amira does not fully understand. Though Amira finds it difficult to pay attention to Muma, she listens out of respect—and because she sees her strong mother’s fear when speaking of the Janjaweed. Muma tells Amira that the Janjaweed attack without warning, and that if they ever come, she must run.

Part 1, Chapters 1-32 Analysis

The Red Pencil opens as its protagonist, Amira, celebrates her 12th birthday. It is a significant age, as Amira notes she is now old enough to wear a toob, a “sari-like long piece of fabric worn by a Sudanese woman as an outer garment to wrap her whole body” (322). This point in her life foreshadows the theme of Resilience and Growth in the Face of Change, which is explored throughout the novel. Amira’s 12th year is one that heralds a number of changes. Besides being old enough for a toob, she is also considered more grown-up and assigned more chores by her family; it is also the year in which she is parted from her close friend, Halima. As the novel progresses, even more impactful changes take place this year.

Narrated in first person and in verse, the novel quickly establishes the nuances of Amira’s character. She is clearly loved and treasured by her family, especially her father, Dando, who takes great pride in retelling her birth story every year. This, among other things, contributes to Amira’s strong sense of identity; she also feels deeply connected to the land upon which she lives, rejoicing in the beauty of the wheat and the feeling of the goz (the soft sand). She displays a natural sense of curiosity and creativity, encouraged by Dando; with him, she feels bright and able to fly. Despite her thirst for learning and desire to break away from convention, Amira still responds to her traditional mother, Muma, with grace and obedience.

Muma’s character and the way she remains rooted in tradition point to the theme of The Relationship between Tradition and Faith. She holds clear views on education, that it is a waste of time for girls; she believes Halima’s family is “chasing the wind” in their unconventional choice of moving to Nyala and enrolling Halima in school (51). Muma represents the norm in the village; by contrast, Amira describes Halima’s family as “modern” and unlike other villagers. The village’s collective thinking is seen in their practice of calling out the moon and their shared belief that a hidden moon brings bad luck. Superstition is seamlessly woven into the daily lives of Amira and the villagers.

Despite Muma’s traditional beliefs about education, Amira maintains a good relationship with her; she is able to talk to Muma about everything else quite easily. Besides Dando and Muma, Amira’s younger sister Leila is the third important person in her life. Like Amira, Leila, too, is loved and doted on, reinforcing the idea that Amira comes from a warm family. Leila’s physical disability highlights her tenacity. She accepts the crutches fashioned for her by neighbor Old Anwar, but does not use them to help her walk; instead, they become goalposts in her soccer games with close friend Gamal. Thus, Leila actively spurns the physical limitations of her condition.

Old Anwar and Gamal are the other characters introduced in this section—the former being a longtime neighbor and friend of the family and the latter being a young boy Leila’s age and the first person to challenge her as an equal (rather than treating her as helpless). Both of them will become integral parts of Amira’s world as the story progresses.

While Amira’s life initially seems idyllic, the context of war is introduced to her through different conversations with Dando and Muma. This context is intertwined with the theme of Resilience, Growth, and Change—as Amira turns 12, she becomes privy to information that belongs in the adult world. Amira learns about the idea of war in general, as Dando introduces her to the concepts of persecution and genocide. This conversation is significant in multiple ways: Firstly, Amira’s confusion about war highlights her still making her way from childhood into adolescence. Secondly, her equating war to the contest between Dando and Old Anwar underlines how, in a child’s eyes, so many adult conflicts seem insignificant and unnecessary. Finally, her reaction examines how the seeds of conflict are present in all of humanity: On an individual level, a single seed of conflict may result in a “fight” about tomatoes; on a communal level, if left unchecked, it can just as easily devolve into war.

The geographical and historical settings of the novel are clear from the outset—a Part I subtitle frames the story as taking place in South Darfur, between September 2003 and March 2004. The specific conflict that Dando refers to is clarified by Muma, as she names the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed are an ethnically based militia composed mainly of Arab groups. The civil war in Darfur in 2003 saw the Sudanese Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement accuse the government of Sudan of neglecting Darfur politically and economically—and declared war. In response, the Sudanese government mobilized the Janjaweed to quash the rebellion, leading to violent clashes between Arab groups and the Fur people, the latter being the largest tribal group to occupy Darfur. Muma’s conversation with Amira introduces the ideas of renegades and armed militia. The threat of the Janjaweed is emphasized by Amira noting her strong mother’s fear upon speaking of the group.

A number of important symbols are presented in this section. The goz, which Amira terms “Darfur’s great soil blanket” (52), represents fertility—and points to the theme of Land and the Idea of Home. The village’s surrounding land is one of plenty, reinforced by the wheat Amira celebrates in the very first chapter. The goz is also fertile for dreams, as she draws pictures in it that allow her spirit to soar. Furthermore, her twig and the sparrow are important symbols as well. The twig is the instrument with which Amira exercises her imagination; as a tool, it is replaced later in the novel, but both the twig and its replacement signify a path to greater creativity, opportunity, and learning. The sparrow, in turn, is symbolic of Amira’s spirit that longs to fly high and free like a bird.

Speaking of the sparrow, another related image is that of air or wind. In terms of positive symbolism, air is associated with the sparrow that flies high and Amira herself who, in her birth story, arrives as fast as the wind. However, Muma places a negative spin on the wind when she describes Halima’s family as “chasing the wind” (51); here, wind equates to elusiveness and fruitlessness. Finally, air plays a part in Amira’s visualization of Muma as trapped in a “hut of tradition” (13) which, devoid of air, is suffocating. The image of a hut further emphasizes the often restrictive nature of tradition, calling to the theme of Tradition and Faith.