50 pages • 1 hour read
Dave EggersWhat Is The What
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaBook 1, Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 1
Chapter 10 Summary
Deng remains bound on the floor while Michael rummages through his bedroom. He hears the boy open drawers, and it makes him sick that Michael will see his personal photos of Tabitha. Tabitha and Deng originally met while at the Kakuma refugee camp. They took a Home Economics class together. Tabitha was the type of girl everyone loved, and Deng was smitten with her almost instantly. Since she was not forced to marry young, Tabitha was able to focus on her education. She made it to America and lived in Burien, a suburb of Seattle with her family. Deng was talking with one of the other Lost Boys who lived in Seattle when he put Tabitha on the phone. Deng is happy that Tabitha eventually chose him even though she was wanted by so many.
Deng tries speaking to Michael again but the boy simply ignores him. Deng then continues his story with how he met Dut Majok. Dut was leading a group of 30 boys and invited Deng to march with them toward Bilpam. Dut is the leader and emotional support for the group, ensuring that the boys keep moving and keep up their spirits. Deng also meets another boy named Deng, who, while his village was under attack, hid himself inside a locker. This other Deng kept soiling himself over a period of several days without being able to move. When the Arab soldiers opened the locker, they were met with the horrible smell of Deng's waste, and so they quickly closed it and went elsewhere; this saved him from being caught.
The boys eventually arrive at a village, and the local boys try to frighten the group off, saying “We don’t like beggars here. You hear that? Don’t you have a family?” (127). Luckily, an elder takes pity on them and gives them food and water, though he does not allow them to stay. Later, Dut tries to explain the war to Deng and the others, but the boys don’t know much about the government or the political situation. To them, the world is only Sudan. John Garang, a Dinka rebel from the first civil war, created a group called the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Ethiopia. The SPLA did what they could to change the Sudanese government, which made Muslim leaders in the north very angry. Those leaders then enlisted thousands of their countrymen to battle the Dinka. As a reward, the fighters would receive parts of the Dinka's land. By the time Valentino and Deng wake the next morning, ready to march, the group has grown significantly, and as they move, they continue to collect more children.
Chapter 11 Summary
Deng hears the door opening and hopes it’s Achor Achor, but instead it’s Tonya. She tells Michael they’ve brought the minivan. A small man accompanying Tonya grabs the TV. Tonya goes into the bedroom to do one last search for valuables. They then leave without untying Deng.
Deng makes bangs his feet against the floor; his downstairs neighbors are Christians, and he hopes to let them know he needs help. Nobody comes to his aid, and he thinks about the African slave trade, which the Christians often want to hear about. It is a common belief that the Arabs raid villages and take young girls and boys to sexually assault and make into slaves. The rest of the world ignores what is happening to Africa, as even when people from other countries visit, they are often fooled into believing that the black-skinned Arabs of northern Sudan enslaving the Dinkas of the south is a consensual work arrangement. People from the outside have been convinced that these enslavements are simply “tribal skirmishes and cultural practices particular to the region” (141). Deng flails and kicks, but nobody seems to hear him.
Chapter 12 Summary
The walking group of boys reaches the village of Gok Arol Kachuol. The villagers do not want the boys to rest in their town, but Dut steps up and tells them the boys will rest, and goes to meet with the chief. While they wait for the meeting to end, some of the older boys go into the village and steal some food. The villagers angrily chase the boys in every direction, and go after everyone in the group, regardless of who stole anything. Six of the boys go missing in the chaos, and another five are injured. One is so badly injured that they are left with no choice but to send him back to the village for medical treatment. They never see him again.
Dut does not join the boys for a full day, with Kur taking the leadership role. Deng finds an Arab headscarf and arranges it on top of his head. That night, Deng dreams of his mother. Many of the boys start to show signs of trauma because of their ordeal: “One boy would not sleep, at night or during the day. He refused to sleep for many days, because he wanted always to see what was coming, to see any threats that might befall us” (147). Others behave oddly, dragging sticks behind them to mark their way home or hoarding food.
Four days later, they see a blue dog they recognize from the village where the boys had made fun of them before—they then realize they have gone in a huge circle. This village has been completely destroyed; dead bodies litter the land. Later in the afternoon, they hear gunshots and find some rebels who have killed an elephant. The boys swarm it, tearing pieces of meat off and eating them raw, crazed from hunger. The rebels talk with the boys about the war and teach them about guns and ammunition. Overnight, the soldiers leave; by morning, the other Deng has died. They bury him under leaves, as best they can. After this, Deng stops talking. More boys begin to die as the march continues. A bomber flies over and drops bombs on the large group of boys, sending them scattering in all directions. Several are blown up and killed. One boy, Monynhial, decides that he can no longer stand being hunted and marching with such a large group, which he thinks makes them a target. In the next village they come to, Monynhial finds a hole and leaves the group. He spends two days using the hole as a base from which he goes out to look for food. On the third day, he crawls into it and remains there until he quietly dies, alone.
Book 1, Chapters 10-12 Analysis
The hardships of the Lost Boys of Sudan are made clear here, as they work their way from Sudan to Ethiopia. The boys are lost, confused, and dying. The blue dog appears in these chapters and functions as a symbol of futility; despite the distance the boys have travelled, the refugees are right back where they started, and weaker than they were before.
The elephant serves as a metaphor for the groups’ false sense of salvation, something to strive for and that seems like it will save them, when in reality the elephant only serves to remind them of their impending and inevitable deaths. It is a food source, one so tempting that most of the boys cannot even wait to cook the meat, but despite finding this resource, by the next morning, more boys are dead.
The novel’s sizable portions of flashback are counterweighed by the narrative present’s static setting. Eggers juxtaposes Deng’s confined state in his Atlanta apartment with Deng in Africa, where he must necessarily be on the move in attempt to remain alive. One can make the case that Deng had more control over his fate in the Sudan than he does in Atlanta.
Eggers paints Deng’s life in America as complicated, and America itself as seemingly two places, or figurative faces, at once. While Deng is unlikely to be killed by lions or militia groups, he does have his apartment invaded and his valuables taken. While his Christian neighbors downstairs arrive as friendly, their questions to him about the African slave trade can be seen as ignorant at best, and bigoted at worst.
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