Anita Vacation
Mrs. Baringer
World Literature (write out the class name)
19 March 2018 (day month year with NO commas)
Investigator: African Culture (include what you researched)
“My grandmother once told me a story about a notorious hunter of wild pigs who used magic to transform himself into a wild boar. He would then lead the herd into an open area of the forest where he would change back into human form, then trap and shoot the pigs. One day during his trickery, a small pig saw the hunter biting a plant that enabled him to return to his human form. The pig told all its companions what it had seen. The herd searched the forest for the hunter’s magic plant and destroyed every single one of them. The next day the hunter performed his trickery and lured the herd into an opening. But he couldn’t find the plant to become human again. The pigs tore him to pieces” (Beah 53).
African culture is a rich part of Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone. One aspect of African cultural that Beah includes multiple times is oral tradition. Oral traditionis messages that are passed down from generation to generation through songs or stories. Parents, grandparents, and relatives participate in telling stories to children to pass along wisdom.Storytelling entertains and teaches lessons about life. In A Long Way Gone, Beah shares stories that his grandmother used to tell him. When Beah is chased up a tree by wild pigs, he is reminded of a story his grandmother told him “about a notorious hunter of wild pigs who used magic to transform himself into a wild boar” (Beah 53). The hunter used a magic plant to turn himself into a pig, trap the pigs, and then shoot them. The pigs discovered and destroyed the plant so that the hunter could not return to his human form. According the Beah, “since that day, the wild pigs have distrusted all humans, and whenever they see a person in the forest, they think he or she is there to avenge the hunter” (54). This story explains why the pigs chase Beah, and overall teaches a lesson about why animals distrust humans. Beah’s grandmother’s story about pigs is an example of African oral tradition. (Be sure to close the paragraph with a sentence that includes what you investigated.)