Page 65 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 17

Re-Education
Re-education

The Plight of our Farmers

(Literary Depiction in Sibhat’s Short story: “Five Six Seven”)

magine a man who is willing man develops when faced with these a mental breakdown. In the begin-
to do anything for his family. tragedies is worth examining. It also ning of the story, we see the phys-
Try to picture a toiling farmer points to the failure of politicians ical strength and determination of
Iwho looks up to the sky for a and intellects, as they continue to Bersufekad. We see that he put all
drop of rain, but is stuck with a bar- ignore the deplorable life Ethiopian his trust in God and began a family
ren land and a single ox. What can and generally African rural popula- of his own. He became a father of
be worse for such a man than living tions endure. five, relying on his oxen and land.
in destitution with five little children He was in total darkness as to the
and a feeble wife? But it gets worse! This short story can be exam- misfortune that was to strike him
This man had to bear witness to the ined from various vantage points. soon after.
death of his wife and five children. Focusing the attention on the main
Feeling powerless and dragged to character, Bersufekad, helps to Being a typical Ethiopian farmer,
the depth of despair makes him unravel all aspects of the story. Ber- he had put all his faith in God’s gift
question his faith in God. This is the sufekad struggles with many forces, – rain. But the sky deprived him of
life, the literary genius of Ethiopia, the major one being poverty. It is this basic element. His coping meth-
Sebhat Gebre-Egziabher, portrays poverty that creates his conflict with od was simple – selling his oxen.
in his short story, ‘Five Six Seven’. his neighbor. It is again poverty that He sold all except his treasured ox,
Reading this masterpiece makes one makes him struggle with nature. In Sisay. He tried to make the most out
wonder how such calamities befall a the end, it is poverty that provokes of what was left, but this too ended
man. Above all, the mentality such a him into denouncing God and into in despair, with the severe injury of

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