http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.fr/2016/12/creative-writing-erasmus-plus-in-paris.html

Discussion guide and notes for Death of Princess by Savita Kalhan

Summary

Manny is lying face down on the sand on a deserted beach. He doesn't know where he is or how he got there. Slowly he begins to remember. His mother's voice  takes him back to the past.

 

The family chicken has just died, and both Manny and his mother know what this means. His little sister Sumi, only 10 years old, knows too, but she doesn't understand the situation as well as Manny.

 

Everything changed when the new government came to power. Manny's father was taken away by them, other people disappeared. The new regime sent their Firemakers to every town and village to enforce the regime's new laws. Books were not approved of, so they were burnt. Girls were not allowed to go to school. Boys were encouraged to join the army of the Firemakers rather than attend school.

 

And all the while, people kept disappearing - some taken by the Firemakers, some went to fight the Firemakers, like Manny's brothers, and some to escape the fighting to find a place to live in peace. There were food shortages, which led to people stealing in order to survive. Manny, his mother and his sister stayed as long as they could in the family house, waiting for Manny's father or his brothers to return. But the death of Princess forces them to pack their bags and flee the country to safety.

 

They visit the old school teacher, who lives in a house hidden on the mountain. He used to run secret lessons for any children who could come to him. Manny's mother wants to leave him a message to pass on to Manny's father and brothers should they return. But when Manny and his mother and sister reach the teacher's house a terrible sight awaits them. The Firemakers have found the teacher and killed him for running the secret school. Manny buries the teacher before he and his mother and sister start their journey.

 

The journey is hellish. Only their will to survive keeps them going. They reach a place by the sea where they have to make a choice to go forward across the sea or back to where they escaped from. They decide they must go forward and risk the journey by sea.

 

 

Themes

War

The story is about the struggle of life in a war torn country, how it impacts ordinary people, how it can change them. Everyone takes their lives for granted when they live in peace. "Normal" means going to school, playing with your friends, listening to music, television, mealtimes, running water, heating etc. War changes everything, every aspect of life. In war there is nothing that is normal any more. The struggle to find food and clean water, the basics of life, these things become the norm. So the children in the story miss everything - they miss their father and brothers, they miss their friends, they miss school, they miss their life the way it was before the Firemakers came.

 

Survival The story is about survival and the lengths to which people must go in order to survive. For Manny and his family, it is hiding in a bombed house that is falling down about them. It is about hiding from people, hiding from the enemy, hiding so they can survive. Living on very little food. Relying on each other as there is no one to help them. They only have each other.

 

Flight/A Journey/New beginnings

The ultimate act of survival for Manny's family is to embark on a perilous journey with no set destination, but with the hope that they will find somewhere they can live in peace. Manny and his family must escape the Firemakers by journeying through dangerous land, inhospitable terrain, across borders and territories where they may not be welcome. The end point of their journey brings them to the sea where they have a choice to make.

 

Choices

It may seem that there are many choices Manny and his family have to make in the story - whether to stay or leave, where to go, how to get there, and when they reach the sea, whether to go forward or back. But are any of these choices real choices? In reality, they have no real choice. War, the will to survive, and their journey have brought to the point where they can only go in one direction. They must face the sea to find safety - even if that means they may lose their lives trying.

 

Hope - Throughout the story, the family do not lose hope.

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all." Emily Dickinson, (American poet who's poetry was published after her death in 1886)

 

 

Quick-fire questions with answers

 

1. What's the name of the protagonist? (Manny)

2. Who is Caesar? (the rooster)

3. How many eggs are in the chicken box usually? (1)

4. What is the name of the chicken? (Princess)

5. How many eggs are in the box on that last day? (3)

6. What is Manny's sister's name? (Sumi)

7. How many brothers does Manny have? (2)

8. What is the colour of Manny's mother's dress? (blue)

9. Where is Sumi desperate to go? (school)

10. How old is Sumi (10)

11. What is his favourite sport? (football)

12. How old is Manny? (12)

13. What does Sumi want to be when she grows up? (a brain surgeon)

14. What was Manny's father's profession? (doctor)

15. What does Manny want to be when he's grown up? (a teacher/footballer)