Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard

Many people are familiar with the story of the Mayflower’s voyage and the founding of Plymouth, but Philbrick’s account of this period in history seeks to challenge that easy familiarity and complicate the “predictable” narrative of relations between the English and the Native Americans. 

This is a quote by the habesha elders to Mawi’s family before the family leaves for America. The plight of the habesha refugee in America is so dire thatshared history, shared heritage, and shared suffering create bonds strong enough to unite former enemies. Ironically, exile can have the effect of bringing a community together.  

“So, when we saw our two-story house with its huge yard, we could not believe our eyes. Are they right? Is it for real? This whole stretch of house and yard ours? It’s too much.” 

Having come from a one-room adobe in a Sudanese refugee camp, Mawi’s family is in awe of their brand-new home. The vast difference in their new, Americanstandard of living is evident in this chapter, which details the family’s first moments in the United States.  

“People always mistreated the angels, my father said, because the angels never looked like angels. They were always disguised as the lowliest of beetles: beggars, vagrants, and misfits.” 

The notion that there are “angels” and “beetles” populating this world is espoused by Haileab,who instills the value in Mawi and his siblings to see the good in all people. Numerous Americans in this story need to be taught this lesson, as we see them regarding refugee “beetles” with disdain.

“Right now, we are among the poorest in the land. Neither your mother nor I will find good work because we lack schooling. We will have to work back-breaking jobs, we will never fully understand our rights, and others will take advantage of us. But if you, our children, work hard at school and finish the university, maybe someday you can help yourselves and help your family too.”

Haileab, in a characteristic display of intelligence and resourcefulness, intuits that his family is at a huge disadvantage due to structural racism in America. Despite the aid and various kindnesses his family receives from their church sponsors, Haileab’s family will always be at this disadvantage.

“Our rules demanded that we would never add hurt to the hurting.” 

While Mawi is guilty of causing mischief, especially around Halloween, this quote shows that Mawi actually does follow his own code of ethics. Youthful, innocent mischief is fine, so long as it does not harm anyone. In a country like America, where excess abounds, stealing, in Mawi’s opinion, is a victimless crime.  

“Around age thirteen, he started to go through a special transformation, an emotional maturity that my people call libee magbar, or developing a heart.” 

In this quotation, Mawi speaks about his brother’s Tewolde’s good nature, which developed as he grew from a young child into a teenager. Tewolde’s premature death is made all the more tragic when the reader considers his extraordinary generosity and kindness.

“I thought of the Biblical tale where a rich man donates a large sum to a synagogue and a poor woman donates her last two cents. As the story goes, her gift is worth infinitely more, for the rich man gave out of his surplus and she out of her scarcity.” 

A recurring theme in the book is generosity, and, even more than that, maintaining that generosity in the face of poverty. Mawi is reminded of this fable when thinking of his brother Tewolde, and how Tewolde always gave, regardless of how little he had.  

The Pilgrims died from starvation and disease at such an alarming rate that many wondered if anyone would be left to establish a settlement. Despite this high mortality rate, the colony managed to grow.

This quote refers to Haileab’s work as a doctor. Haileab’s position as a healer cannot be overstated in importance, particularly in East Africa.  

“What could books teach me if I didn’t have access to the medical equipment they described? What could they teach me if I had to treat modern-day horrors with ancient tools or if I had to traverse twenty-five miles of barren wilderness to treat a bedridden mother, knowing that she might be dead by the time that I arrived?” 

Here, Haileab explains the unique difficulties he faced as a doctor in East Africa during the Ethiopia’s civil war. This passage is particularly important for American audiences, as it elucidates the myriad of problems that they will likely never experience as members of a first-world society. 

“We are the same people. Same language. Same food. Same culture. We even share the same genes. We, the Tigrinya-speaking people. But somehow, we have formed separate identities, and more recently, have become bitter enemies.” 

Mawi is speaking in this quotation, explaining the Ethiopian civil war in the broadest, apolitical strokes possible. As promised in the Author’s Note, political overtones are mostly left out of this narrative.

“The day comes in each of our lives when those around us are asked to testify and to tell what kind of character we have demonstrated in our past.” 

Haileab is talking in this quotation. He tells his children one of the many reasons why they must be morally upstanding people. In this same chapter, Haileab’s advice here is shown to be true, when the Asgedom family’s neighbors in Wheaton testify to the family’s strong character, in order for the Asgedoms to get approved for a new apartment.  

“X cues me. I rake and try to fix leaves. X cues me. I do not understand. No, I am poor man, I am disability. Please, do not take me to the house of imprisonment. Please do not stain my record.” 

This quotation is spoken by Haileab, spelled phonetically to emphasize the way in which he believes Americans to hear him. Though Haileab is an incredibly intelligent man, in this scene, the reader is forced to see Haileab as the “beetle” that many Americans perceive him to be.   

“You see how this treacherous world works? Sometimes you try to do something good and you end up getting punished for it.” 

Time after time, life proves itself to be unfair, especially for refugees born into difficult circumstances. In this scene, that unfairness follows Haileab to America, when he tries to help beautify his new neighborhood by helping clear the fallen leaves at a local park. However, Haileab does this by burning the leaves, which is illegal, and the police soon come. Haileab reacts by saying the above.  

“The poorest, most recently arrived refugee received the same welcome as the richest American. Sit down, please. Have some injera. Have something to drink.” 

Mawi used to think the whole word shared his parents’ philosophy. As he grows older, he realizes this is not true.

“My brother had always looked for angels. I had watched him see angels in the least likely places, and wanted nothing more than to be like him.” 

Part of Tewolde’s legacy lives on through the advocacy work that Mawi continues to do for refugees. He has made a lifelong commitment to “seeing angels” among those communities most in need.

The English settlers’ prejudicial attitude to Native Americans undermined the alliances they had made with the indigenous people. When the Narragansett’s’ realized that the English were united by nationalism, they were forced to confront the fact that they perceived all Native peoples as the same, and thus, as possible enemies. 

Though education and academic achievement is valued highly by Mawi, he also places great value in social work and charity, in large part due to Tewolde’s influence.

“It’s funny how one word of encouragement can change your life.” 

When Mawi is encouraged by his basketball coach to join the track team, he is put on a path to becoming a well-rounded student, which will help him get admitted to Harvard University. 

“Hntsa and I knew our father well enough to understand what he meant by ‘a good way.’ We could picture him hunched over in the courtroom, with his head raised high and his body leaning on his cane taking a deep breath, starting softly, then raising his voice to a near-shout, hands pumping emphatically to accentuate his points.” 

Through the eyes of Mawi, here we see Haileab demonstrating characteristic cunning and intelligence. Haileab knows exactly how to manipulate Americans’ prejudices about refugees to his advantage. So, in this scene, when Haileab is called upon to defend two habesha teens for a minor crime in court, Haileab knows that if he acts like a pathetic, destitute refugee, he is more likely to win the judge’s sympathy.

“My father is not here to hear their stories…If he could hear their stories, I believe that Haileab, the son of Zedengel, a man who did not often cry, would weep uncontrollably.” 

“Their stories” refers to the many habesha community members that spoke at Haileab’s funeral, who told stories of appreciation and gratitude for the many instances in which Haileab helped them.

“I do not remember much of what was said during his funeral, for I am not good at remembering such things. The little I remember was said in the language he loved and fought for, his native Tigrinya.” 

As a testimony to the power of language, in this painful moment, Mawi only remembers the parts of his father’s funeral spoken in the Tigrinya language.

“Haileab, the kindhearted, the compassionate, friend to the poor and the downtrodden, the first to comfort the sick, the last to leave them, ally of his people, our father and shepherd, he has gone up, and we pray, oh Eternal One, that you receive him.” 

This is an English translation of a Tigrinya phrase that is spoken at Haileab’s funeral. Mawi makes the authorial choice to include the original Tigrinya phrase in the text, which adds to the authenticity of the moment and emphasizes the importance of Haileab’s cultural roots, even in death. 

“This is my son, Selamawi. A long time ago, when he was just a little one, I taught him to work hard and to respect others. Now look where that has taken him.”

In a particularly poignant moment, this quotation is Mawi imagining what his father would say upon witnessing him graduate from Harvard University. Haileab is killed by a drunk driver before being able to see Mawi graduate.

Though the Pilgrims are thought of today as God-fearing people, they were also instrumental in the destruction and enslavement of Native American populations.

One of the most shocking plot elements of this book is the fact that both father and son, after having survived the true crises of war and impoverishment, were both killed by drunk drivers in suburban America.