What I have to Say About the Ear the Eye and the Arm
Report by: Fiona Whalen
Title: The Ear the Eye and the Arm Author: Nancy Farmer # of Pages: 301 Publisher: Puffin Books Date of Publication: 1995
When I started reading Nancy Farmer’s The Ear the Eye and the Arm, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. A few of my classmates told me that it wasn’t very interesting. Also, I am not really a sci-fi kind of girl, but I decided to give it a chance anyway. 301 pages seemed like quite a few, but when I started reading the story, I could hardly stop. Unlike The Kite Rider, the author wrote the novel in a very personal way. By her descriptions, I could feel what the characters felt. For example, when Tendai (the main character) is imprisoned at the plastic mines, I could feel that he is losing hope of ever seeing his mother and father again. But then, he finds the ndoro (a necklace made of shell that was believed to has contains spiritual connection to the ancestors), you can feel the rush of courage and hope that flows through his body as well as yours, being connected with its former-wearers. In the story of The Kite Rider, the author, I thought, was a little distant from the main character. It is the difference between hearing and listening. Nancy Farmer also wrote in third person omniscient, telling you more than one story. I liked this because I like feeling that I know the things I learn from the book through everybody’s eyes. This I think helps me make a decision on how I feel.
I thought the setting really fit into the story which takes place in 2194 in Zimbabwe. It was nice to see that the ways of the past hadn’t been forgotten, also, people found that living in the past seemed more ‘right’ then the present stage. The culture in this book was very prominent and I have always thought that culture was extremely interesting and important. Even today I think about all of things that we have lost to the hands of time and I wonder if we will be a lost culture, will everything be robots, or will something remain of the things before us.
One of the conflicts in the story was between two different belief systems. The Gondwannans of Gondwanna and the Shona of Zimbabwe have a great dislike for each other, but the peace treaty between them stops them from war, at least public war. In the shadows of Zimbabwe, the Masks lurk. The Masks are a gang of Gondwannans who are causing the state of Zimbabwe to turn to chaos. Little by little the spirit of the Shona is being taken away from then as the mhondoro (spirit) of the Big-Head Mask (Gondwannan spirit) slowly takes over. Nancy Farmer’s description of the mask reminded me of an African mask my mother purchased a while ago. There is a picture below.
My two favorite characters in this book were Tendai and Trashman. Tendai’s father is the general of Zimbabwe and he raises his children to be neat and military. Tendai can fight well, but, as the karate instructor told Tendai’s father, he is hesitant to kill even a dummy person because he imagines the feeling of cold steel going through a man’s skin and he feels his pain. His father then believes that he’s soft when he really only has sensitivity. Tendai eavesdrops on his instructor and his father’s conversation, and wonders if he is good for something. Tendai soon finds out on his quest across Zimbabwe that he is clever, strong, and has plenty of courage and bravery in times of need. He also proves to his father that he doesn’t need to be a soldier to be a man.
Trashman in The Ear the Eye and the Arm is a simple character, but an important character. He befriends Tendai’s little brother Kuda in the plastic mines after they have been kidnapped. He is a grown man, but he acts much like a child, like he never was care and nurtured into being a man. He acts like a mother to Kuda, when Kuda is unhappy, Trashman will do anything to make him happy again. If he is hungry, Trashman will bend a bottle cap with his teeth and shapes it like a coin. Then he sticks it in the nearest vending machine and gets him a snack. Trashman saves Kuda a few times just because he is eager to please and keep him safe. Trashman is a combination the rare combination of goodness and innocence and it brings a smile to your face even if he is fictional.
I would give The Ear the Eye and the Arm 4.5 out of 5 because I thought the brother and sister of Tendai could get a little obnoxious, but otherwise the book was enchanting and fantastic. I recommend anyone in the middle school to read it.
What I have to Say About the Ear the Eye and the Arm
Report by: Fiona Whalen
Title: The Ear the Eye and the Arm
Author: Nancy Farmer
# of Pages: 301
Publisher: Puffin Books
Date of Publication: 1995
When I started reading Nancy Farmer’s The Ear the Eye and the Arm, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. A few of my classmates told me that it wasn’t very interesting. Also, I am not really a sci-fi kind of girl, but I decided to give it a chance anyway. 301 pages seemed like quite a few, but when I started reading the story, I could hardly stop. Unlike The Kite Rider, the author wrote the novel in a very personal way. By her descriptions, I could feel what the characters felt. For example, when Tendai (the main character) is imprisoned at the plastic mines, I could feel that he is losing hope of ever seeing his mother and father again. But then, he finds the ndoro (a necklace made of shell that was believed to has contains spiritual connection to the ancestors), you can feel the rush of courage and hope that flows through his body as well as yours, being connected with its former-wearers. In the story of The Kite Rider, the author, I thought, was a little distant from the main character. It is the difference between hearing and listening. Nancy Farmer also wrote in third person omniscient, telling you more than one story. I liked this because I like feeling that I know the things I learn from the book through everybody’s eyes. This I think helps me make a decision on how I feel.
I thought the setting really fit into the story which takes place in 2194 in Zimbabwe. It was nice to see that the ways of the past hadn’t been forgotten, also, people found that living in the past seemed more ‘right’ then the present stage. The culture in this book was very prominent and I have always thought that culture was extremely interesting and important. Even today I think about all of things that we have lost to the hands of time and I wonder if we will be a lost culture, will everything be robots, or will something remain of the things before us.
One of the conflicts in the story was between two different belief systems. The Gondwannans of Gondwanna and the Shona of Zimbabwe have a great dislike for each other, but the peace treaty between them stops them from war, at least public war. In the shadows of Zimbabwe, the Masks lurk. The Masks are a gang of Gondwannans who are causing the state of Zimbabwe to turn to chaos. Little by little the spirit of the Shona is being taken away from then as the mhondoro (spirit) of the Big-Head Mask (Gondwannan spirit) slowly takes over. Nancy Farmer’s description of the mask reminded me of an African mask my mother purchased a while ago. There is a picture below.
My two favorite characters in this book were Tendai and Trashman. Tendai’s father is the general of Zimbabwe and he raises his children to be neat and military. Tendai can fight well, but, as the karate instructor told Tendai’s father, he is hesitant to kill even a dummy person because he imagines the feeling of cold steel going through a man’s skin and he feels his pain. His father then believes that he’s soft when he really only has sensitivity. Tendai eavesdrops on his instructor and his father’s conversation, and wonders if he is good for something. Tendai soon finds out on his quest across Zimbabwe that he is clever, strong, and has plenty of courage and bravery in times of need. He also proves to his father that he doesn’t need to be a soldier to be a man.
Trashman in The Ear the Eye and the Arm is a simple character, but an important character. He befriends Tendai’s little brother Kuda in the plastic mines after they have been kidnapped. He is a grown man, but he acts much like a child, like he never was care and nurtured into being a man. He acts like a mother to Kuda, when Kuda is unhappy, Trashman will do anything to make him happy again. If he is hungry, Trashman will bend a bottle cap with his teeth and shapes it like a coin. Then he sticks it in the nearest vending machine and gets him a snack. Trashman saves Kuda a few times just because he is eager to please and keep him safe. Trashman is a combination the rare combination of goodness and innocence and it brings a smile to your face even if he is fictional.
I would give The Ear the Eye and the Arm 4.5 out of 5 because I thought the brother and sister of Tendai could get a little obnoxious, but otherwise the book was enchanting and fantastic. I recommend anyone in the middle school to read it.