3. Bitterness:
“The bundle held the bitterness and hardships of the years spent in detention camps.”
Kamau had kept this bundle all throughout his time as a prisoner. It reminded him of
home and that turned into bitterness towards life. It wasn’t fair that he was pulled
away from his family for years. When he arrived home to find that everything he had
was gone, that bundle became a ball of hatred towards those he loved. When the river
swept away that bundle, his feelings of bitterness and hate were washed away as well.
The Past:
This bundled contained everything that Kamau had known and loved. It was the life he
left behind, and the life he thought he would return to. Times change and people
change with them, and life will move on without you. Kamau needed to let go of that
past in order to move on, and the river did just that for him, sweeping away the bundle
that contained his past.
Selfishness:
The bundle that Kamau had held onto was everything that he wanted to return to, it
was the life that he was going back to. Kamau wanted everything to return to normal
and everything to be the way it was, but that just wasn’t the case. His family had left
him after his many years at the camps, and he was so hurt and mad that he didn’t
realize that maybe it was the best decision for them. “Why should she have waited for
me? Why should all the changes have waited for my return?” When the river engulfed
his bundle, Kamau realized that it wasn’t all about him, and that his family needed to
make decisions for themselves as well.
5. Life
Life can be a very vicious thing and it teaches us lessons when we need to
learn them, and that is exactly what the Honia River is to Kamau. The river
swallowed up Kamau’s precious bundle filled with bitterness and his past, and
it quickly taught Kamau that he needed to move on and start life over again. It
was a hard, fast lesson, but life is usually like that.
Re-Birth
When Kamau returned to his home, he realized that life didn’t wait for him. His
friends and family had all moved on without him. Kamau was holding onto his
past by carrying around his bundle, but when the Honia River carried it away,
it also carried Kamau’s past away. He realized that he needed to let go of the
past, just as he let go of the bundle, and be re-born.
Hope
“Yet as he approached Honia, he felt more akin to it than he had felt to anything
else since his release.” This river represents hope because after all of the years
that Kamau had spent in concentration camps, the river was always there and
always welcoming. When the river consumed his bundle, it gave Kamau hope
for a new beginning and a new life.
6. Kamau’s Quality of Character
In the section were Kamau accidently drops his bundle into the river, we can learn many
different quality's of his character. The fact that he does not jump in to retrieve it tells
me that he is…
•Brave: Kamau is brave for letting his bundle float away because it is very hard to
completely let go of your past, especially one you loved so much, and that is what he did.
•
•Forgiving: By not going and repossessing his bundle, it shows that Kamau is forgiving
the fact that his family left. He has come to the realization that he will more than likely
never see them again, and he seems to finally be okay with that. He has forgiven them for
leaving him.
•Strong: Kamau has realized that he needs to start his life over and get through these
hardships. It has only been mere hours since he has realized that his whole life has fallen
apart, and yet he manages to get through it and start life over. This shows that Kamau is
extremely strong.
•Peaceful: Rather than Kamau freaking out and doing anything he could to save his
bundle, he simply lets it go. He realizes that it is gone for a reason and this shows me that
he is very peaceful and will let life take him where he needs to go.
