Child Narrator in Parents\' Bedroom

Child Narrator in Parents' Bedroom

Seeing New Perspectives: Through the Eyes of a Child

Child narrators can be very tricky to understand. Often times, they are oversimplified or clearly naive. Still, the innocence of a child allows the reader to see the narrative from a much different perspective than from an adult's view. Adults often have their own personal agendas and biases that can potentially leak into even the most objective narrative. In Uwem Akpan's story "In My Parents' Bedroom," the child narrator's point-of-view allows the reader to see or understand that might have otherwise been missed; the childish innocence attached to the narrator provides a sense of genuine honesty untainted by selfish adult biases.

The innocence associated with the child narrator generates a sense of reliability in terms of the honesty when describing characters and situations throughout the story. The child is innocent, and not innocence is attached to how they view the world. Thus, this child narrative has not imparted her own bias onto the description of the characters he sees around him. The descriptions of the mother and father sound very genuine, as seen in the description of the father, "pop-up looks like most Hutus, very black. He has a round face, a wide nose, and brown eyes. His lips are as full as a banana. He's a jolly, jolly man can make you laugh till you cry" (Akpan 1). The description is very concise, clear and visual, thanks to the association of the childish innocence of the narrator.

Still, even in this child this description, Monique clearly illustrates that she is keenly aware of the cultural divides within African society. She immediately describes her parents by their cultural denomination, either Hutu or Tutsi. At first, this seems perfectly innocent, just like describing someone as black or white. Yet, as the story continues to darken, it is clear that the child's awareness of these cultural differences comes from dark memories of hatred and violence. The brief mentioning of her parents cultural affiliation seems innocent at first, but then becomes a major factor in the violent events that soon follow. It shows that she, even as young as she is, is aware of the divides that will soon endanger her life.

Moreover, Akpan can show the sheer absurdity in the extreme oppression and racism exhibited between the two tribes from this very naive childlike perspective. Monique serves as a catalyst for which criticism on the nature of the situation and the reasoning behind the African genocide. The hatred between the members of the family is exposed as being so unnecessary and confusing from Monique's perspective. This confusion really helps expose the genocide for how unnecessary it was. Rather than being bogged down by the biases and prejudices of an adult narrator, the child narrator here really exaggerates the sense of absurdity and ridiculousness involving the foundation behind the genocide. This coincides with the notion that Monique recognizes some of the attackers from her very church. The fact that churchgoers and leaders would be involved in such a genocide is absolutely ridiculous, and her approach in describing them once again shows how critical the situation has become.