Looking For a Rain God

Team members: Netiswaran Muhammad Faiez Muhammad Rusydi Amin

About the Author

BESSIE HEAD was born in South Africa, the child of a white mother and black father. After a childhood in foster care and in an orphanage in Durban, she trained as a primary teacher and taught school for several years. In 1962 she married a journalist, Harold Head, and they had a son. In 1964, estranged from her husband, she left South Africa for Botswana where she made her life. Her first novel, When Rain Clouds Gather, appeared in 1967. As her writings made her better known, she traveled to the United States and to Australia. Granted Botswanan citizenship in 1979, she died in 1986 of hepatitis.

Synopsis
There is a terrible drought in the African bush,and people living there have little food to eat.They become desperate as they face starvation.they wait uselessly for rain. Finnaly ,an elder,Mokgobja,comes with a solution.He thinks about the way people used to make the rain fall by ritual murder.So,two members of his family are killed,but there is still no rain.The family have no choice but to return to their village.They have to face the consequences of their action.

Themes
Nature can be a friends or enemy Man cannot control nature but nature can control mans destiny We must be tough and strong to survive under harsh living conditions We must have hope in times of despair Superstitions make us lose rational thought

Messages
While respect for our elders and traditions is valued in most societies, we must also be able to think by ourselves We must think about whether all old ways of thinking actually fit into the modern world

Tone and Mood

The story shows the sympathy for the family members who have done this terrible things.Te are asked to understand why they commit this crime to their own flesh and blood.The tense atmosphere of the drought help us to fell sympathy for the villagers

Language
This story is written in a realistic style. They way it is written gives the story a sense of a legend or traditional tale. The author uses the literary device of:
Personification The sun has a strange cruelty as if it enjoyed the suffering of the villagers. The rain had fled away as if it purposely wanted to run away from the land.

Moral Values
Critical thinking is important in life
-

learn to solve problems carefully

be realistic in life

It is important to appreciate the gift of life

- the gift of life is divine - not to commit suicide

It is important to discard any cultural and tribal practises that are irrelevant
tribal practice that need to take ones life for making rain is not relevant

Questions
1. The family members go to their land after the November rains because A. they want to cut firewood so they can work B. their animals need to drink water at the well C. they want to plough their land D. their house has been flooded 2. What happens after the girls sacrificed to the rain god? A. It rains. B. It drizzles. C. It does not rain. D. It rains till the land is flooded.

3. How do the villagers feel after they learn about the murder of the children? A. They feel happy because now it will rain. B. They feel sorry for Mokgobja and Ramadi. C. They feel angry with Mokgobja and Ramadi. D. They feel nothing because it does not concern them.

 How do the people who practise black magic cheat the villagers? Briefly describe the feelings of the family after they kill the two little girls. http://www.slideshare.net/ne_tis93/looking-for-a-raingod http://www.scribd.com/doc/10207082/Looking-for-aRain-God http://literature.com.my/index.php?option=com_cont ent&task=view&id=306&Itemid=275