Facing+the+Lion

The book Facing the Lion gives the reader a chance to see a part of Africa and the outside world through a native's eyes; it also illustrates kinship and age grade 1 extremely well. Facing the Lion was successful in depicting the ways of small tribes such as the Massai and the different climatic and political struggles they face nowadays. The climate is becoming more extreme, it is drier and harder to find good grass where the cattle can graze, and as a nomadic tribe they are being forced to move more constantly. But they have more limits to where they can move, poachers are often a threat, the government has also set aside reserves for animals where people or tribes can not pass through. The government's advice to the people of small tribes is to move into the city and abandon their jobs as cattle herders which is a big part of their culture and traditions; the jobs that the Massai people are able to obtain are not appealing, they are the lowest of low. However, throughout the entire book Joseph, the main character, is proving people wrong, and showing people that you can get out and be successful even if you come from a small town or area. You just have to be persistent and jump at an opportunity when you get one. The biggest advantage Joseph had, that helped keep him level headed, was that no matter how far he got in life he never forgot where he came from or was ashamed of his culture. The book shows how in tribes even when the children are young they are taught to be responsible. The younger children would be sent out to watch over their family's younger animals such as the goats. The children sent out were usually of the same age grade or year. This created an easily recognizable generation that would grow together, and help each other. Facing the Lion also shows how important certain ceremonies and rituals are. For boys, the people they were circumcised with would be considered all of the same generation. Facing the Lion shows how important the rituals were and how these men of the same generation would grow up together and share certain experiences with each other. The oldest group of boys of the generation would then become part of the group of elders later on in their lives. Facing the Lion illustrates the aspect of kinship because it exhibits the feeling of basic belonging that is very hard to describe or obtain in the modern day world where everyone is thinking of what to do next and not living in the moment and enjoying their company at that time. Facing the Lion shows how everyone's mother is your mother; everyone collectively watches over the children, and anyone can punish you. The book shows how the "Pinching Man" can pinch or punish whoever he wants if he sees that they are misbehaving. Kenya used to seem so far away and when trying to picture it in one's mind eye what came to mind were the pictures from textbooks, the people in their cultural garments with beads, happy. But Facing the Lion helped me realize what I already knew in the back of my mind. Going to cities in Kenya or in a different country in Africa is like going to a New York City. People are in business suits, carrying briefcases. The people that were in the pictures in textbooks are becoming less and less. These people that were so full of energy and seemed so strong and were not at all embarrassed to embrace their culture are the ones that are going through hard times. Yet these people are the ones that when we were younger kids we used to make fun of, now these are the people I admire for being able to embrace their culture and hang on to it in such a changing world yet still being able to succeed and be satisfied with their lives.

1. Yaaayyyy! I had the same thought when reading it. It really taught the "five circles" well. I'm glad you caught that too. :-)

This is excellent! I'm really happy that you learned so much and learned some valuable life lessons from this. That's exactly the point of the project.

Reflection 10 English 9.5