A SILENT SONG ESSAY QUESTION
Some people end up suffering after they refuse to pay attention to advice or warning. Using relevant illustrations from Talking Money by Stanley Gazemba, write an essay to support this statement.

Sometimes people are given good advice. Failure to heed results in agony. Mukidanyi suffers when he ignores advice and warning from his wife and brothers concerning Galo’s money.

Mukidanyi ignores Ronika’s advice about Galo’s money but he ignores her. She says that the money is not good and they don’t know where they get it from. He ignores her. He even lashes her. When he receives the money, time elapses while Mukidanyi sits there staring at the money. He talks nervously and trembles. Long after Galo had left, he sits there clasping the black briefcase, his gaze fixed on a point in the distant hills. He rushes into the house, his heart thumping in his chest, dry throat craving a drink of water. This is because he was holding a lot of money. He skips supper that evening. Galo’s money makes him terribly nervous and anxious. (P49-52)

After receiving the money from Galo, Mukidanyi endures a sleepless night. Mukidanyi does not heed the advice of his brothers Ngoseywe and Agoya about not selling the land and taking Galo’s money. The night he receives the money, he wakes up twice, lights the lamp to ascertain the money was still there. He had chained the money to the bedpost. Ronika tells him that it is the middle of the night – the hour for witches. Mukidanyi is anxious about taking the money to the post office in Mbale the next morning. He squeezes his eyes shut trying to sleep to no avail. Because of the money, Mukidanyi cannot sleep that night. (P49-53)

Mukidanyi is frightened when the money starts talking in the middle of the night. Ronika is audibly irritated when he wakes her up. She had earlier cautioned him about doing business with the Galos or taking their money. He had ignored her advice. Mukidanyi regrets. There is a note of urgency in his voice. The tinny playful voices say: “This place is nice … I like it very much”. Mukidanyi freezes stiff. There is morbid silence when the couple hold their breath. Mukidanyi can only speak in a frightened childlike whisper. His hands shake when he tries to light the lamp. He backs into a corner and is scared of touching the briefcase. He cries: “Nyasaye goi! What madness is this?” Their children had never seen their father this scared. (P49-51, 54-55)

Mukidanyi has to endure mockery and derision from his wife Ronika. She speaks in a shrill voice. She tells him that those are viganda spirits. She orders him to light the lamp. She tells him that he will now listen to people. She has a wild look in her eyes. She tells Mukidanyi to take his millions. Mocking him, she tells him not to be afraid. Ronika refers to Mukidanyi as ‘big man who is hard of hearing’. Her lined face is set as if she was going to fly at Mukidanyi and wrest him to the floor. She reminds him that she had warned him about Galo’s money. Ngoseywe and Agoya had warned him too. Ronika laughs hysterically, her eyes glowing angrily. Mukidanyi has dipped his finger in the wound and ascertained it for himself. She tells him: “Today you will learn about the people of the world.” (P49-51, 55)

Mukidanyi had ignored the warning against trusting Galo. When the money starts talking, Ronika is forced to physically drag Mukidanyi out of the house. She forces him to unlock the padlock and free it from the bed frame. She snarls at him and hurls the briefcase into the night and sends him after it. She tells him to go and find a place for his money away from that house. The children, woken by the raised voices, are stunned to see their mother so agitated and their father very scared. (P49-51, 55)

Mukidanyi suffers when he returns the money he had been warned about. It was the longest journey he had ever undertaken in his life. The couple hundred yards from his home to Galo’s house seemed like a mile. The scary case got heavier and heavier. Mukidanyi felt he was surrounded by unseen creatures, formless bodies squirming in and out of his way as if trying to entangle him with their many scary octopus arms. He would trip sometime. He suffers when slick tendrils snaked out of the darkness and coiled around his ankle. He feels a tight bloodsuckers grip as he wrestles with unseen demons threatening to bite into his flesh without drawing blood. Despite these struggles, Mukidanyi is determined to return the money. He is relieved when he gets to Galo’s gate. He is not scared of the two huge hounds flashing their teeth. He tells Galo that he had changed his mind and flings the money back to him. Dashing away from the compound, he bangs his head and knocks his toe painfully. He regrets ignoring his brothers’ and his wife’s advice. (P49-51, 55-56)

You should not turn a deaf ear to what everyone tells you. It is important to listen to what other people say. Ignoring good advice results in anguish.