A SILENT SONG ESSAY QUESTION
No one else understands suffering more than the person experiencing it. Using relevant illustrations from A Silent Song by Leonard Kibera, write an essay to support this statement.
Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches. It is hard to know how much someone else is suffering.
Mbane undergoes a lot of pain. Pain in his spine and stomach gathers violence. He feels sharp pains from the navel tearing into his body leaving him paralyzed the pain disappears with the same savage fury of its onslaught leaving Mbane cold with sweat. He knows that the pin has simply recoiled for another attack. When his brother asks him if he believes in God, he simply lies there sobbing anticipating another attack. He swallows painfully while talking to his brother. Only Mbane understands the pain that he goes through. Not even his brother Ezekiel does. (P17,20)
Mbane has difficulties in movement. He has to drop towards the door. He crawls weakly on his knees. He has to crawl away on his lameness. On the streets he could not move around easily and he is forced to earn his living on one St. only. He only retires to the Back lane. (P17-18)
Mbane is forced to beg to survive. He earns his living on one street. Gay people answer his plea. He comes to learn that money was the essence of urban life. During Christmas, the mean men become generous. That notwithstanding, they still accuse Mbane of being crippled by idleness of leisurely begging. In the streets, he does not talk to anyone except for the occasional mechanical plea of “Yes”. When people occasionally answer to his plea and drop a copper in his heart they help him to stay alive. (18-19)
Mbane has to endure the harsh weather. During the day the sun pours its heat too generously upon him. At night the sun withdraws and Mbane has to endure the hostile cold. Usually, he is unsheltered. Sometimes, he has to make do with the rain washing his dirty body. (P18,19)
Mbane cannot communicate normally. In the streets he has no one to speak to for a long time. He can barely start a conversation. All his life he has been speaking to himself in his thoughts. For a long time on the streets, he had no one to address but himself. If anyone spoke to him, he carries the subject on a line of uncommunicative thought in his own mind. The only time he speaks is when he begs and mechanically says “yes” hoping for someone to drop a copper in his hat to help him stay alive. Mbane suffers silently and only he understands the agony that he goes through. (P18, 19)
As a result of the pain that he undergoes, Mbane is so critical of religion. He doesn’t know whether or not he believes in God and he doesn’t think it matters. His life is a world of darkness that no one would understand. The good men and women curse him saying that he is crippled by leisurely begging. His brother tries to compel him to accept God so that he may be saved. Clearly Ezekiel and the others do not understand Mbane. (P19, 20)
Mbane felt alienated when his mother metaphorically described men. She said that all men make up one stream that flows through the rocks of life. They go through whirlpools. Some laugh and sing when the flow is smooth others cry and whirl in the potholes of life’s valleys. Mbane was not only crying. He feels that he is not even part of the stream. He is neither part of the heavenly pool nor the eternal deluge and chaos. He feels like the bitter fluid in his throat. He has no reason to believe in God. Not even his mother understands him and his tribulations. (P19)
Lastly, Mbane lives a life of squalor. The hut that his brother puts him in is dirty and the floor is flea-ridden. It is serene yet so suspicious. It is his new confinement after being ‘rescued’ from the hard pavement. Sometimes Mbane wonders why the big vehicle which empties the dust bin has never swept him away. He wishes for his journey’s end so that he can escape from ensnarement of his body smells of sweat because it is an washed except in the rain. Only he understands the terrible dirty living condition that he has to endure. (P17, 20)
In conclusion, only the people that experience pain know how much it hurts. Mbane knows his suffering more than anyone. His brother Ezekiel, the wife Sarah, his late mother and the good men and women cannot fully comprehend Mbane’s tribulations.
