REFUGEE MOTHER AND CHILD. (aka A MOTHER IN A REFUGEE CAMP). A haunting representation of tragedy in the aftermath of tragedy, Chinua Achebe's never mawkish word picture of a mother holding her dying child manages to be both tender and tough. Rarely has so much emotion been packed into such a short work. Dr Andrew Barker provides a line by line reading and analysis of the complications and questions within the work.
ADDED POINT.
I don't mention here the synesthesia of "the air was heavy with the odour of . . ." Synesthesia is when something is described in terms usually associated with one of the other senses. A "loud shirt" is the most famous example. A shirt can't, of course, be loud but everybody with sensitivity to language knows the type of shirt being described. The same is true of a 'heavy' odour. The situation described by Achebe is so oppressive that the smell has actual weight.
We could argue that, literally speaking, if there is more moisture in the air then the air would literally be heavier, and it would smell as well, but I don't think Achebe is trying to describe weather conditions accurately here, and is after the figurative when he uses the phrase. And does so successfully. Anyway, it was a point I forgot to make when I recorded the lecture.
Andrew Barker
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