The Bite Of The Mango Theme

The Role of Adults: Failed Parents One thing that comes to mind when the role of parents is thought of, is that they their job is to love their children, do what is best for them in terms of their emotional stability, mental health and their success in life. This statement is true for many, but there is are still children whose parents are not like this at all. People are lead to believe that these parents have failed their children, which also happens with Mariatu in the novel The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland. Under the unfortunate circumstances of poverty, the adults in the novel, The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland, have failed their children by not meeting their wants and needs, …show more content…
Majority of the opportunities that come along in one’s life as a child, comes from their parents, but in Mariatu’s case, the parent figures in her life do not provide her with any, and if anything, they question the ones that she makes herself. Mariatu expresses to Yabom, one of the social workers, that she wants to go to Canada and that she dislikes living in England. In order to go to Canada, Mariatu needs a Canadian visa and therefore return to Sierra Leone to acquire one. Yabom informs her that, “‘There isn’t even a Canadian consulate in Freetown-- I don’t know where this woman expects you to fill out the paperwork. You’ll likely never leave Freetown again. Is this what you want?’” (McClelland 155). Yabom down plays the idea of her long term goal to move to Canada and she wants Mariatu to question if this idea is what she really wants. Any person or parent figure would want their children to have all of the opportunities they can get and most will do anything for them. People who do not do this, have failed their children, just like what happens with Mariatu. The adults in the novel could have done more for Mariatu, like provide her with opportunities and to make her journey to get where she wants, …show more content…
Her parents did not ensure that she was in a safe environment. After leaving the hospital because of her amputated arms, she and her family were directed to an amputee camp that Mariatu describes as, “The camp was filthy with litter and with laundry that had fallen from the clothesline hanging everywhere. There were dogs, and people of all sizes and skin tones, speaking an array of Sierra Leone dialects. The smell of garbage, dirty bodies, and cooking food was sickening.” (McClelland 84). Mariatu’s family stayed in this camp for a long time and did not do anything to ensure the children’s safety. They could have tried to leave the camp to go somewhere with better living conditions, but they did not and they risked the lives of many of their own. Similarly, it is stated in Caitlin Flanagan’s article about the different types of parents, “The horror stories (awful accidents, alcohol poisoning, lawsuits) tend to involve parents who didn't do it right—who neglected to provide some level of adult supervision, or who forgot to forbid anyone to get in a car after drinking.” (Flanagan 25). Flanagan mentions that parents who have failed to ensure the safety of their children, for example, forget to tell anyone not to get in a car under the influence of alcohol, did not do it right and that they have failed their children. This situation is