The Setting Sun and the Rolling World

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1987

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Story 15Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Story 15 Summary: “The Victim”

Ngoni Moyo is a research assistant who lives and works at a tree plantation in Chikara Forest. One night, a colossally drunk coworker named Mangazva arrives at his lodgings covered in blood and claiming that another plantation worker named Samba nearly beat him to death. He calls on Ngoni for help because Ngoni illegally sold him nipa, an extremely strong alcoholic palm beverage. Mangazva demands to speak with Mr. Jones, the manager, but Ngoni worries that Mangazva will carelessly reveal that Ngoni provided him the nipa.

Two other workers, Old Mangara and Chokuya, arrive and promise to get medical treatment for Mangazva. As the three of them leave, Chokuya warns Ngoni about Mangazva’s mother, who is known across the plantation as a powerful and vengeful witch.

Later that night, Mangazva returns to Ngoni’s home with bandages covering half his face. He says he spoke to Mr. Jones, who merely laughed at his misfortune. Mangazva also swears he did not tell Mr. Jones that Ngoni sold him nipa.

Given that Mangazva is still incredibly drunk, Ngoni offers to walk him the four miles to his house, which he shares with his mother, father, wife, and three children. There, a very awkward conversation ensues between Ngoni and Mangazva’s family, which culminates when Mangazva’s wife begs Ngoni—who has been sober for a year—to help her husband quit drinking.

As Ngoni leaves, Mangazva asks him to take a sip of nipa to help with the long, cold walk home. After one sip, Ngoni proceeds to drink a significant portion of the bottle in one pull. Mangazva’s wife catches them, and while she is angry at Ngoni for supposedly lying about not being a drinker, she still insists that he help Mangazva quit.

On the walk home, a very drunk Ngoni cries out, “No, I will not help you!” (167).

Story 15 Analysis

While most of the previous stories take place either in the rural countryside or the urban center of Harare, “The Victim” is set in an environment that combines urban and rural elements: a tree plantation. Although the setting is technically a farm, the plantation is a form of industrial agriculture overseen by Europeans. Thus, the tree plantation is a hybrid setting where old traditions collide with new. For example, despite the modern industrial work done on the plantation, the workers all live in fear of Mangazva’s mother, who is rumored to be a powerful witch. Yet once Ngoni meets the mother and the rest of Mangazva’s family, he is struck most by the social awkwardness of their meeting as opposed to any kind of occult treachery. The tendency to label any woman who seizes even a small amount of power or control over her family as a witch is echoed elsewhere in the collection, as in “Who Will Stop the Dark?” and the forthcoming “The Day the Bread Van Didn’t Come.”

Finally, like in the previous story “Some Kind of Wounds,” the protagonist Ngoni feels that the moderate success he enjoys can insulate him from the problems of others. His final cry into the dark of “No, I will not help you!” (167) suggests that Ngoni has accepted the advice given to him earlier that he should not get involved with dysfunctional men like Mangazva. This once again shows how professional, industrialized environments are not conducive to the kind of community support that may be found in more strictly rural environments.