The Theme Of Ignorance In What Is The What By Dave Eggers

Within the book what is the what written by Dave Eggers in 2006, there are many themes including country, immigration, home, and cultural difference. But throughout the book the most prevalent is ignorance. The book follows the life if Valentino achak Deng who was born in Sudan with his mother and father. The novel starts with Valentino letting in a women who claims to have broken down but soon reveals that she is robbing him and her and a partner tie up Valentino and gag him. Then Valentino begins to have flashbacks from his past as a child with the civil war within Sudan and the hardships that created the person he was today. The theme of ignorance plays a big piece into the events of the character's life and how people can be ignorant towards other cultures and other peoples experiences. Eggers uses examples of social and political ignorance to shine a light on how we as a society can ignore the abominations happening somewhere else in the world.

The first heavy feeling of ignorance in the novel is when Valentino is being tied and beaten by the brute he names “Powder”. “This boy thinks I am not of his species, that I am some other kind of creature, one that can be crushed under the weight of a phone book”(Eggers,52). the motivation behind these quotes is that both Valentino and powder are refugees from Africa but the reader can tell the powder never went through war and sacrifice like Valentino. Powder sees Valentino as a lesser being but he has no idea what problems Valentino has faced in the past. This shows that Dave Eggers is making a stand to not judge people before you know what they have gone through. The example of social ignorance in this portion of the chapter is meant to make the reader feel bad for Valentino because if power knew what Valentino has gone through he would not rob him.

Furthermore, Eggers continues this theme of ignorance with a flash back to Valentinos childhood and him recalling the first events of the Sudanese civil war. The flashback begins with Valentino running to find his mom in a mess of fire and chaos, only to find his mom's body being held by Valentino's best friend Moses. “I looked at the land. It looked exactly like the other side of the river, the side that was Sudan, the side we left. There were no homes. There were no medical facilities. No food. No water for drinking…” (Eggers,227). The chaos that had wounded Valentinos mom was the bombing of a Sudanese village by the government in order to squash the rebellion known as the SPLA. But the village was a civilian village and Valentino calls the action “ironic” that there is no SPLA affiliation within the destroyed village. Dave Eggers uses this event to shine a light on political ignorance and ignorance on a government's actions. The next scenes is Valentino overhearing adults talking during his childhood about the U. S government coming to help the civilians. “No one is waiting to hear the kicking of a man above. It is unexpected. You have no ears for someone like me. ” (Eggers, 142). The speaker is Valentino retelling the story of how the U. S government overlooked the abominations happening in Sudan. Dave Eggers also takes a moment to talk about the ignorance of other government toward outer problems. Ignorance within What is the what is an important way for the author to exaggerate the problems in our society and how our ignorance as a society hurts the rest of the world. The way Valentino’s struggle is highlighted against the easy life of powder is a symbol of social ignorance. The ignorance shown by Eggers to define political Ignorance is the burning of Valentino’s hometown and the government doing nothing to help and support.