How This Story Touched Base

A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk was a really good book. It had a great story line following Jacob and his friends on their journey's across the land. Knowing that this was something that truly happened really makes me think about what goes on in my own life. I and many others take what we have for granted and I, personally, have grown up knowing there is always going to be someone who has it worse than I do, but this story really touched base for me. The undying hope Jacob and his friends had was amazing, along with how they handled their own land being taken away from them. They could always find something good in every situation, always looking to tomorrow because maybe it held someone better. The way they coped with losing their families and everything they knew of and still thinking things are going to be alright is something I don't think I could rise to in that situation. Really taking the time to try and put myself in that situation is hard. Lots of people don't realize how lucky they are to have things in life like a house, clothes, good food and clean water. This book will stay with me for ever because every time I think I am in a tough situation I think of those young boys and knowing it's a true story and that is actually happened really makes me think.

Survival And Hope

In my mind the theme of this book is survival and hope. They both kinda play into each other throughout the story. I see this because as Jacob is walking he wants to quiet but he tells himself over and over that his mom is going to be ok and waiting for him. After Jacob got to Kenya and noticed that his mom wasn't there either then he start to believe that he wasn't going to ever see her again. He started school at this refugee camp and did that for 3 years then he wanted better education bc he realized that maybe his mother was right by saying that if people were more educated then maybe there wouldn’t be so much war. Jacob started walking to Nairobi for some better school. On the way he traded and sold things and made enough money to pay for his schooling. I think that even though his mom wasn’t ever really with him in person doesn’t mean she wasn’t with him on the inside.

It's finally over

Over all this book now being, ended In the last few pages Jacob finally sells in a market he trades his school bag and clothing for five cones of tobacco. Which are then exchanged for five goats, that’s when Jacob finally sells in a market. Jacob loves his mama even though they may not be together he still wants to make her happy with any of his decisions. In order to make this happen he does a very special thing for her. When Jacob gets to Nairobi he meets a young boy, Jabari, who helps him find a school. Jacob being so excited gets so worried when the headmistress tells him he needs a parent to sign a note allowing him to join the school. This is where if you were him and didn't know what to expect you would panic, this was actually touching in a way for me made me think that even though it’s just school it would be very touching to his mother.  Eventually through the book just dragging o per usual you get to the end where Jacob is laying in his bed in his school dorm on the eve of his first day of school.  Again it kind of gets touching, because as he is laying in bed Jacob can see the stars over africa just like his mama promised him. I am very happy the book is over, because it just dragged on and on i think. I am also sad in a way, because it made you realize what it's like to not have a home. The book also made you see that not everything is as great as it is in canada.

The End is A New Beginning

The story of Jacob surviving the war Is over, he has survived and started school just like his mom wanted home to. Jacob has lived more than most people will ever in their lives. It’s very interesting to see jacob's attitude change from the beginning of the book to the end. In the beginning Jacob is determined to become a soldier and fight for sudan. After living away from home for seven year really change how he thinks about the war. Seeing Adam and Matthew's fight, helped him to see fighting wasn’t the answer. By the time he was in kakuma, Jacob was determined to go to school. Jacob visited the first boarding school but they turned him down because of religion. The second school required him to have a parent guardian. What Jacob did next really shocked me, he handed all but a few shillings to the head master. This shocked me because Jacob has only just met this headmaster and hardly knows him. It is surprising how different the culture is compared to Canada. Jacob would have experienced Canada for himself after coming here. Canada was a new beginning for him.

Ending Jacob's Journey

A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk

To start off Oscar is not dead, and while Willy and Jacob were walking to the Kakuma Refugee Camp Oscar gets a ride to the camp by a SPLA officer that feels bad that he is walking alone. The three unite again in the camp. The boys return to going to school. The receive notebooks and pencils from other places in the world so they are able to right on paper instead of in the dirt. The receive other items from other places in the world as well as clothing and other numerals supplies. Jacob is a very knowledgeable boy and picks up learning new English letters and words very quickly. Due to Jacobs ability to communicate in both English and Sudanese, he receives a job offer of becoming a translator, and he accepts. Jacob begins saving his money for schooling. Jacob soon leaves just like his nephew, in the night, leaving Oscar and Willy behind. We never do hear about them again. Jacob is off to "school". Jacob becomes the owner of goats, that he names after his family. My thoughts on Jacob naming the goats after his family is, to me, a tad strange. Jacob also "sells" tobacco. This section of the book flies by. We have several pages of walking at the beginning of the book that could have easily shortened to learn more about Jacob's life after Kakuma.

We are re-introduced to Uncle Daniel. The meeting really comes out of nowhere and we are not given tons of information about the encounter. Uncle Daniel is the only family member that comes back into Jacobs life, as far as I know. The whole point of Jacobs travels is to continue his schooling. The last page the book ends on is Jacob writing to his Mama. Pg.274 "Dear Mama: I hope you hear my words,wherever you are.Can you see me in school? I am wearing shoes, and i am writing this letter to you in English, in my new notebook. You are with me everyday, Mama. I hear your voice telling me, "Wadeng," and I see your face when i go to sleep every night. I hope you can still hear the stars singing over Southern Sudan..." and that has to be the most inclusive and disatisfying ending I have read. We know Jacob makes it to school, but that's that, nothing about after school. This happened so quickly. Maybe it was like this because it is trying to have us feel how the tie is passing how Jacob felt it. However a good writer can accomplish that without dragging less important sections on for what feels like forever.

All in all I am glad that  had the opportunity to read this book, and learn this story. I wish the book had more information on Jacobs life past where the book ends. There are interview questions in the back of the book and if you read those, you learn that Jacob made it to Canada, and a little more information that I feel could have been incorporated into the books "story".

Making his mother proud

So the book comes to the end but I disagree with the ending because i was expecting him to find his mother or at least a sister. Jacob walking for many months and the only thing that kept him awake was his thought of his own mother. (page 274-Jacob clomped his way into the classroom. He stood in the doorway,lifted his shoulders,and took a deep breath. So this is what school smells like...ahhh...like many storybooks. his fingers remembered mama’s stone and he smiled. He picked up the sharp pencil and wrote his name.) That is the last sentence about how jacobs traveled to laiser hill academy to fulfill his mother's dreams of him going to school.  

Finally some good luck.

Jacob had to decided he was to go to a boarding school after the school at Kakuma shut down from lack of teachers. So one morning Jacob was off to sell his belongings so he could get enough money to attend a boarding school. On this journey Jacob traded his clothing plus his knowledge for 5 cones of tobacco. He traded his 5 cones of tobacco and his knowledge for 5 fine goats. He lost one of his goats in a market but luckily his old friend from the SPLA found him and returned him. Jacob got a heck of a deal for his goats and then he was able to have enough shillings for boarding school. This reminded me of when we save money for things like vehicles what we do just to get enough money for the things you want in life. Jacob wanted to learn new things about the world and know about peace. When Jacob got back to Kakuma it seems like he came back at the perfect time as a relief truck was going to the city that night. Jacob got a free ride to the city and was then greeted by a poor boy that ended up helping him find his uncle after one of the boarding schools would give him entry if he had a family member's signature. Everyday people in schools related to this. If we want to go to extra curricular things or school trips you can't go unless you have parental permission. Jacob really had a lot of luck with his journey to school. I thought there would have been a bigger reaction when he saw his uncle Daniel, it didn't seem like he was all to excited to see Jacob. I mean they haven't seen each other in seven years and they don't really show that they've missed each other all that much, Jacob was gone the next day. Yah I get he was excited about boarding school but still, he had to leave Oscar and Willy. Is school worth leaving your family behind? I agree with what Jacob did. He went to school and the changed his life forever. Jacob is now a citizen in canada with a family. Do you think this opportunity would have presented itself to jacob if he didn't go to school? Maybe but there's a good chance it wouldn't have. Jacob ran into lots of luck in this last part of the book, and it worked in his favor. Sometimes we take school for granted and we don't realize that kids don't get the luxury of school and would give up anything even family to get that luxury.