A Silent Song
Plot A Silent Song is a short story by Leonard Kibera. It adopts a unique narration style that uses flashbacks to highlight the suffering of a paralyzed blind boy of about 14 years. The flashbacks help bring out his thoughts about his plight as a street beggar and later as a boy incarcerated in his brother's hut. The title, A Silent Song, is in fact, an oxymoron that refers to his silent reflections on his life and the future he would like to have. Through the flashbacks, readers clearly see how he loathes his new home, whose floor is said to be flea-ridden p.17. His thoughts show that he prefers being out in the streets to being left lonely in his brother's hut. He 'speaks so well of city life and even wonders why prostitutes, drunkards and pimps are considered bad people yet he sees them as good men and women who are trying to relax after working so hard during the day. As for prostitutes, he asserts that they are good women whose work starts at night when the rest o...