In The Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner pages 33 to 38, Ratner writes the passage through the eyes of Raami, a 7-year old girl witnessing the events of this chaotic and violent evacuation without understanding the significance behind it. Ratner’s style creates meaning in this passage by revealing layer by layer the details that Raami takes in, in childish curiosity, allowing readers to grasp the full depth of the situation.
Raami observes the “cooking pans, wooden stools and chamber pots” that various people are dragging behind them. Ratner, using these long lists of items, depicts a chaotic scene, with the lists of words mimicking the flow of people rushing in the streets hurrying towards evacuation. The description of a blind old beggar …show more content…
However, through this haphazard evacuation, they are in the same boat. Readers see this whole scene out of the eyes of a child taking in the sights, looking from one scene to another, taking in the magnitude of this evacuation along with Raami. Readers grasp who exactly Khmer Rouge is and what it’s intent is through the struggles of a little girl to do the same. The adults in this story already know the goals and aims of the Khmer Rouge, making this scene from their point of view unhelpful in allowing the readers to understand who the Khmer Rouge …show more content…
Ratner uses Raami's naivety towards these fighters to describe the backstory and details of these members for the benefit of the readers. As Raami is puzzling out why people call the Khmer Rouge "red" when their uniforms and the smoke they leave is nothing but black, readers learn the identities of these men, “Revolutionary soldiers, Communists Marxists”, and people’s opinions of them, “rebels!, Thieves! Jungle rats!”. By crafting this passage through the eyes of a child, readers learn explicit details that help clarify the chaos and its varied aspects.
Through Ratner’s craft, readers learn about some of the political agendas of the Khmer Rouge as well. Raami observes “a huge crowd” fight to get over the “tall wrought-iron gate” of “a white-pillared villa”. Along with the accompaniment of comments from Tata, “Good god… they’re expelling all the foreigners”, Mama “[i]s it a diplomatic sanctuary then”, and Papa “They’re not letting anyone in without a foreign passport”, readers learn that this is perhaps an embassy that the crowd is trying to seek shelter
Raami observes the “cooking pans, wooden stools and chamber pots” that various people are dragging behind them. Ratner, using these long lists of items, depicts a chaotic scene, with the lists of words mimicking the flow of people rushing in the streets hurrying towards evacuation. The description of a blind old beggar …show more content…
However, through this haphazard evacuation, they are in the same boat. Readers see this whole scene out of the eyes of a child taking in the sights, looking from one scene to another, taking in the magnitude of this evacuation along with Raami. Readers grasp who exactly Khmer Rouge is and what it’s intent is through the struggles of a little girl to do the same. The adults in this story already know the goals and aims of the Khmer Rouge, making this scene from their point of view unhelpful in allowing the readers to understand who the Khmer Rouge …show more content…
Ratner uses Raami's naivety towards these fighters to describe the backstory and details of these members for the benefit of the readers. As Raami is puzzling out why people call the Khmer Rouge "red" when their uniforms and the smoke they leave is nothing but black, readers learn the identities of these men, “Revolutionary soldiers, Communists Marxists”, and people’s opinions of them, “rebels!, Thieves! Jungle rats!”. By crafting this passage through the eyes of a child, readers learn explicit details that help clarify the chaos and its varied aspects.
Through Ratner’s craft, readers learn about some of the political agendas of the Khmer Rouge as well. Raami observes “a huge crowd” fight to get over the “tall wrought-iron gate” of “a white-pillared villa”. Along with the accompaniment of comments from Tata, “Good god… they’re expelling all the foreigners”, Mama “[i]s it a diplomatic sanctuary then”, and Papa “They’re not letting anyone in without a foreign passport”, readers learn that this is perhaps an embassy that the crowd is trying to seek shelter