Ben Okri's Short Story 'In The Shadow Of War'

The theme of coming of age sparks knowledge into political realities within the short story “in the shadow of war” by Ben Okri and social realities within the short story “boys and girls” by Borden Deal. “In the shadow of war” takes place in West Africa in Nigeria during the Nigerian civil war. The narrator, being a young boy (Omovo) and the protagonist of the story has been told about the incoming eclipse by his father. When Omovo follows a mysterious veiled women into the woods, he witnesses the realities of war, which altered his whole Childhood and his understanding of political realities such as war. “Boys and Girls” takes place in Jubilee, Ontario, Canada in a small village, where the protagonist is a teenage girl who begins finding her true identity, however due to her race and her gender, she struggles to express her goals and cravings in her life due to social realities. Within both short stories, the protagonists experience their coming of age by being bombarded with social …show more content…
Ben Okri wrote: “Turn off the radio, it's bad for a child to listen to news of war” to illustrate the idea that Omovo’s father is trying to hide the truth about political realities from Omovo. This will soon create conflict between the protagonist and his father, when the protagonist discovers the truth about political realities. Ben Okri wrote: “Omovo saw that the dead animals on the river were in fact the corpses of grown men” to show the audience some internal conflict. His knowledge from school and from his dad taught him that the world is a nice peaceful place, however from what he saw after he followed the veiled women like all the dead humans, animals, gun shooting, blood, and torturing, the character developed in finding his true identity and losing his