What is the What: Violence

Violence seems to be a very central—perhaps even necessary—part of What is the What. The novel begins with Valentino, the protagonist, being robbed by African-Americans. The events get even more shockingly violent as Valentino recounts the chaos that besets his once-peaceful village: the arrival of the SPLA rebels, and the massacre committed by the Arabs. Even the way the story was told seems hectic, jumping from one timeframe to another. I suppose the violence serves as the author’s political statement about the plight of the Dinkas in Sudan. Yet interestingly, the author tells it with a self-sacrificing, painstaking patience, a tone devoid of anger.