The text Insignificant Gestures is written by Jo Cannon and it is a short story from 2007. I will in this essay make an analysis and interpret of the story. In the following I will comment on the characterization of the protagonist, the

International Baccalaureate World Literature

Insignificant Gestures

By Joe cannon

When people travel or move to another country they meet a new culture and a new lifestyle. The text “Insignificant Gestures” is written by Jo Cannon and it is a short story from 2007.

I will in this essay make an analysis and interpret of the story. In the following I will comment on the characterization of the protagonist, the relationship between the protagonist and Celina, the protagonist’s error of the judgment and the significance of time and place.

At first I will come with a short summary of the story. The text is about a young doctor who worked in Africa as a district health officer. The doctor was new in African culture so he could not understand it, therefore he had an assistant. The assistant’s name was Celina. She helped him with almost everything like doing the laundry, cleaning, etcetera. One day when the doctor was called at work he heard that a young woman was admitted at the hospital because her boyfriend had beaten her up. The young woman seemed to be Celina, so the doctor decided to bring her to another and bigger hospital. At the same time the doctor also decided to report the boyfriend to the police. Six weeks later the doctor received a letter from the hospital which said that Celina died of meningococcus. When the doctor had read the letter he remembered that Celina went home from work, because she was not feeling well and it made the doctor feel guilty. He could have saved her if he gave her some penicillin. He also tried to withdraw her boyfriend’s police statement to save him, but without success.

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Second I will make deeper analysis of the text. The protagonist in this essay is the young doctor. He is about 28years old. He worked in Africa as a district health office. At the first we hear that the doctor has returned from Africa and has become a psychiatrist. The reason why he became a psychiatrist was because he had mental problems in Africa; he did not want to work with blood again. The doctor seems to be an enclosed person because he does not share his feelings. An example on that is when Celina dies, because the first time he actually speaks with somebody about it, is long time after he has returned from Africa. The fact that he does not speak with somebody is the reason why he has got mental problems. So the fact that he became a psychiatrist is ironic, he was helping other people with mental problems instead of looking at his own. The protagonist also seems to be an honest person. Instead of pretending like nothing, he withdrew his police statement of Celina’s boyfriend because he knew he was innocent.

Beside the people at work Celina Dimba was the only person the doctor had contact with. She was an African woman and she worked as a housekeeper for the doctor. The relationship between the protagonist and Celina started to be a professional relationship, but it developed especially when they started to draw together. When they drew, the protagonist felt free and he tells us about how peace full it was; “no words exchanged between us, no judgements or calculations” (p.2. l 47). Another place we can see that their relationship was developing is when the protagonist is afraid of the cockroaches. Celina starts to protect him by killing the insects with her bare feet. But even though the relationship was developing, it did not become physical;”Celina was my companion; our elbows at the table never touched” (p. 2 l 55). Their relationship dies at the same time as Celina dies further in the story. When Celina died the protagonist stopped drawing, he felt that he had lost the freedom she gave ham. He was very sorry about her death and he missed the relationship he had with her, because it made him happy. He also knew that their relationship was the reason for her death, because if he did not have feelings for her he would do his job. He would have listened to the story about her boyfriend who hit her and he would have discovered that she was sick – as a doctor should do.

The story takes place in Africa and it spans over a longer period which has an influence on the story. One thing the author wants to tell us is that to live and get used to another country can be very difficult because a different culture and lifestyle. In this case it is the protagonist who cannot get used to the African society.

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