50 pages • 1 hour read
Dave EggersWhat Is The What
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaBook 3, Chapters 22-26Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 3
Chapter 22 Summary
Deng ruminates on the reasons that Sudanese murder and harm others in the United States. Crimes like Tabitha’s murder are virtually unheard of in Sudan, and although Deng admits that men there might beat their wives, and assaults happen, the idea of someone snapping and killing their spouse or innocent child is almost inconceivable. He does not blame Tabitha, but is frustrated that she did not take Duluma’s threats seriously, considering that he was ex-SPLA and capable of killing.
The population of Kakuma continues to grow, and people come up with a strategy to get more food that they call recycling, where a person will leave Kakuma and then return under a different identity to get another ration card. When Deng’s “camp father,” Gop Chol Kolong, discovers that his wife and children will be coming to live with them, he volunteers to recycle himself to get the family more rations and supplies.
Deng finds out that Achor Achor and three other boys from his original group of 11 made it to the camp. He also comes across his old friend Moses, who has grown into a large and severe man after his time as a soldier. Moses warns Deng not to call him Moses anymore because he’s changed his name, just in case former SPLA commanders are looking for him. Moses tells of the difficult and horrible conditions of the SPLA military training, and how some boys died from being pushed too hard.
Deng and Achor Achor make a plan for Deng’s recycling mission. Between themselves and Gop, they have a strategy by which Deng will leave at night and take some pants and clothing to sell in order to make some money on the trip. He is supplied and given some money and sent on his way. One night, Deng is staying in a place called Loki and meets men who seem to want to help him, but in the end, Deng loses all his money and supplies. First, a man named Thomas sends the boy on a truck with some rebels, but it turns out it is mostly filled with the dead and dying. Deng is terrified, as the men swerve all over the road and seem to want to torment him. The rebel soldiers stop the truck to drop off the dying at Lopidang Hospital and a Kenyan named Abraham helps Deng hide from them, using a mask that is meant to hide the face of burn victims. Finally, after calling for Deng several times, the men drive off without him. Abraham feeds him, but fools Deng into thinking he is a friend, then ends up swindling the boy out of his possessions and remaining money. Cursing his trusting nature, Deng walks all the way back to Kakuma.
Chapter 23 Summary
Deng spends much of his time working with a drama group in Kakuma. He has a crush on a teacher named Miss Gladys, who all the boys are very interested in. She calls them all “Dominic” which turns into the nickname for many boys, including Deng. Tabitha joins the group, and she and Deng quickly begin a romance. They are unable to be intimate together, because they know that the elders would disapprove, but they find ways to physically interact, such as Tabitha acting as a cheerleader and hugging Deng when he scores a goal during a soccer match.
One day, Deng is called home to Gop’s house and is surprised to find all his neighbors there, including Miss Gladys. They are there to share in the startling news that Deng’s parents are alive. Deng immediately wants to go home and see them, even though he knows it’s dangerous, and that Sudan is still beset by violence and disease in the south. Those close to him try to stop him, reminding him that the drama group has an upcoming trip to Nairobi, where they will be the only refugee theatre group to perform at a play festival. Deng decides to stay.
The trip to Nairobi is a success, with the Kakuma drama group placing third in the competition and having a wonderful time experiencing the city. Deng stays with hosts named Mike and Grace, who treat him very well. He gets to experience nice beds with sheets and blankets, great food, and the excitement of the city. He does not want to go back to Kakuma, but feels that if he runs away and stays in Nairobi, there will be no more sanctioned trips for the youth of Kakuma and his actions will harm others. At the local mall, on a trip with his sponsors, Tabitha tries to convince Deng to run away with her, so they can live like Mike and Grace: “We have to think of what you and I can do. We have to live, don’t we? What right do they have to tell us where we can live? You know that’s not living, how they have it at Kakuma” (463). Ultimately, Deng decides he can’t do it. He and Tabitha share their first kiss. Deng considers asking Mike to sponsor him so he can stay, but feels this would be taking advantage of the man’s generous nature. Dejected, he returns to Kakuma.
Chapter 24 Summary
Deng calls his stolen phone in the middle of the night, and Michael, the boy who guarded him for Deng’s kidnappers, answers it. Although they hang up on him, this tells Deng that the police didn’t bother to call his number or investigate the crime at all. Deng calls back, but this time, there’s no answer, so he listens to his messages. The first message is from a small Jesuit college, explaining to him that he has not been accepted, and that he should perhaps get in touch with them after a few more semesters of community college. He has been denied entry to several colleges, possibly because the admissions officers look at him as too old.
The second message is from Deng’s friend Daniel Bol. Daniel has a gambling problem, and needs money to take care of his debts. Deng calls him back, and makes the conversation awkward until Bol is forced to admit the reason for his call. Bol lays on a guilt trip, vaguely threatening suicide, but Deng calls his bluff, telling Bol about his own experience being beaten and robbed. This makes Deng think about the violence that the Sudanese in America are reported to be committing, and wonder what his people have come to.
Chapter 25 Summary
Deng enters the Century Club, the gym where he works. The maintenance engineer sees his bruised face and asks why the Sudanese are always fighting. Deng showers, washing the blood off his face and body, and tries to prepare himself for work, despite the pain he is in.
Deng remembers the rumors that were swirling around camp about boys being taken to America. They are told to write autobiographies, so that the evaluators can read their stories and decide who needs to be taken to America sooner than later. Deng writes a page, but after speaking with Achor Achor, is able to expand his story to ten pages. Achor Achor and Tabitha both end up leaving for America; soon, Valentino is one of the oldest refugees in his age group left. He wonders if the fact that his parents being alive, or that he is important to the camp and its programs, is hindering his ability to be chosen to leave.
Noriyaki, the Japanese man who co-directs the programs with Deng, stays in the camp and tries to encourage Deng, telling him that his time will come. Finally, Deng’s name appears on the list, and he is scheduled for an interview. On their way to a soccer game with several boys, Noriyaki and Deng are in a terrible accident, and the truck they’re in flips over. Noriyaki is killed in the crash. When Deng returns from the hospital, he’s depressed, and considers giving up on his dream and going back to Sudan. With the help of a Somali radio owner who charges for his communication services, Deng is able to speak to his father for the first time in years. His father tells him not to come back to Sudan, and to go to America: “You have to go, boy. Are you crazy? This town is still ashen from the last attack. Don’t come here. I forbid it. Go to the United States. Go there tomorrow” (513). Deng meets Noriyaki’s family, who have come from Japan to meet him. They weep together for their loss.
Deng is next taken to Goal, where refugees are processed. Here, he waits with some others for his flight, but the September 11th attacks on the United States occur on the morning he is scheduled to leave, so he is stuck at the airport waiting for instructions on what to do next. Weeks later, he is finally able to leave Goal and fly to Atlanta for his resettlement in the USA.
Chapter 26 Summary
Deng thinks about his life as he gets off work and heads home. He knows he will leave his job and leave Atlanta, although he is not certain where he will end up. He knows he wants to go back to Africa someday, but in the meantime, he will tell his story to as many people as he can:
Whatever I do, however I find a way to live, I will tell these stories. I have spoken to every person I have encountered these last difficult days, and every person who has entered this club during these awful morning hours, because to do anything else would be something less than human. I speak to these people, and I speak to you because I cannot help it. It gives me strength, almost unbelievable strength, to know that you are there. I covet your eyes, your ears, the collapsible space between us. How blessed are we to have each other? I am alive and you are alive so we must fill the air with our words (535).
Book 3, Chapters 22-26 Analysis
Deng struggles to see Tabitha as not complicit in her own death, which echoes earlier sentiments in the novel concerning the toxic masculinity inherent in Sudanese culture. Although he knows he should not blame her, he cannot defy the thought that she put herself in danger by dating a known SPLA member. He compares her death to other deaths he is aware of stemming from Sudanese men in America feeling unable to control their women, and consequently unable to control themselves when it comes to violence towards these women.
American culture is a difficult adjustment for the refugees. In Sudan, the violence is widespread, and propped up by religious differences and political shifts. In America, the violence is enacted more on an individual basis, and often glorified or twisted when portrayed in the media. In Sudan, the dream of many teenagers was to come to America and get educated, and progress in society. Once in the US, many of the young men find that they are ill-equipped to get into the right colleges, despite their intelligence or work ethic. Deng is even told, at one point, that he is too old, and that the idea of a thirty-something-year-old man in the dorms with young women in their twenties would be unseemly. The system is stacked against the Lost Boys, and the difference between their dream and the outcomes they experience is wide and hard to define.
Deng has adjusted to American culture better than some of his peers. He is relatively well-educated, and learned to use computers when he worked for the Japanese project. He is well-liked, and looked to for leadership and advice. He has made a variety of friends throughout his life, and survived great hardships. Even with all of this, however, he still feels like he has not yet found a home, and would like to travel back to his country of origin. The novel ends on a bittersweet note, with Deng reliving some of his earliest memories of his mother, and declaring that he will continue telling his story, no matter if the listener wishes to hear it or not, because it must be told and not ignored or forgotten. The only way to bridge the gap between the American cultural norm of ignoring what is happening in Sudan, and the reality of the war there, and its victims, is to tell the story to as many people as possible.
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