The Ear, the Eye and the Arm
Encyclopedia
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm is a Newbery Honor book written by Nancy Farmer
. It takes place in Zimbabwe
in the year 2194.
The book combines elements of science-fiction, Afrofuturism
and African culture, and depicts the struggle of a notorious general's three children to escape from their kidnappers in a crime-infested area of Zimbabwe.
against the many gang
s which terrorize the nation. His three children, Tendai, Rita, and Kuda are kept in a fortified mansion to ensure their security. This soon bores the children, who are seeking adventure, and they escape the house with the help of the Mellower, a retainer whose function is to make people feel good about themselves. The children then find themselves in the busy streets of Mbare Musika, where they are kidnapped and taken to Dead Man's Vlei, the lair of the She Elephant. There, they have to work in the plastic mines.
Their parents are extremely worried, so they enlist the help of the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, three "mutant" detectives from a slum called the Cow's Guts. They all have special abilities: Ear has very powerful, but sensitive, hearing; Eye has equally powerful but sensitive vision. Arm has extremely long arms and legs, like a spider's, and has psychic
and empathic powers; he can sense other people's feelings and see into the souls of others.
Meanwhile, Tendai discovers that the She Elephant is planning to sell them to the Masks, a dangerous gang who have evaded General Matsika's efforts to combat crime. The siblings escape to Resthaven, an independent country within Zimbabwe which aims to retain traditional African culture. Eventually, the children are banished from Resthaven.
The children end up in Borrowdale, a suburb created by the English
tribe
, where the Mellower's mother, Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham, takes them into her care after they catch chickenpox
. Tendai discovers that the Mellower's mother is holding them for ransom, and before what would have been a conflict between the woman and the children, the She Elephant captures them again and takes them to one of the Masks' secret lairs, and the Masks take the children to the Mile-High MacIlwaine, a skyscraper which houses the Gondwannan Embassy, the real headquarters of the Masks.
While the Masks attempt to sacrifice Tendai as a messenger to the gods, Arm is possessed by a mhondoro, a holy and legendary spirit of the land, who helps him to find the children. When Arm is knocked out, the mhondoro (and a group of staff and diners from the restaurant downstairs, led by Mrs Matsika) helps Tendai and his friends to temporarily destroy the Big-Head Mask, which had been going to kill Tendai. When the children's parents arrive, General Matsika crushes the mask and the mhondoro revives Arm. The gang is destroyed and their stolen wealth is redistributed among the poor; while General Matsika finally realizes that his children need more freedom.
Nancy Farmer (author)
Nancy Farmer is a prominent children's book author from the United States.Farmer was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She earned her B.A. at Reed College and later studied chemistry and entomology at the University of California, Berkeley...
. It takes place in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
in the year 2194.
The book combines elements of science-fiction, Afrofuturism
Afrofuturism
Afrofuturism is an emergent literary and cultural aesthetic that combines elements of science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, Afrocentricity, and magic realism with non-Western cosmologies in order to critique not only the present-day dilemmas of people of color, but also to revise,...
and African culture, and depicts the struggle of a notorious general's three children to escape from their kidnappers in a crime-infested area of Zimbabwe.
Plot
In the year 2194, in Zimbabwe, the Chief of Security, General Matsika, leads a battleBattle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
against the many gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
s which terrorize the nation. His three children, Tendai, Rita, and Kuda are kept in a fortified mansion to ensure their security. This soon bores the children, who are seeking adventure, and they escape the house with the help of the Mellower, a retainer whose function is to make people feel good about themselves. The children then find themselves in the busy streets of Mbare Musika, where they are kidnapped and taken to Dead Man's Vlei, the lair of the She Elephant. There, they have to work in the plastic mines.
Their parents are extremely worried, so they enlist the help of the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, three "mutant" detectives from a slum called the Cow's Guts. They all have special abilities: Ear has very powerful, but sensitive, hearing; Eye has equally powerful but sensitive vision. Arm has extremely long arms and legs, like a spider's, and has psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
and empathic powers; he can sense other people's feelings and see into the souls of others.
Meanwhile, Tendai discovers that the She Elephant is planning to sell them to the Masks, a dangerous gang who have evaded General Matsika's efforts to combat crime. The siblings escape to Resthaven, an independent country within Zimbabwe which aims to retain traditional African culture. Eventually, the children are banished from Resthaven.
The children end up in Borrowdale, a suburb created by the English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
, where the Mellower's mother, Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham, takes them into her care after they catch chickenpox
Chickenpox
Chickenpox or chicken pox is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus . It usually starts with vesicular skin rash mainly on the body and head rather than at the periphery and becomes itchy, raw pockmarks, which mostly heal without scarring...
. Tendai discovers that the Mellower's mother is holding them for ransom, and before what would have been a conflict between the woman and the children, the She Elephant captures them again and takes them to one of the Masks' secret lairs, and the Masks take the children to the Mile-High MacIlwaine, a skyscraper which houses the Gondwannan Embassy, the real headquarters of the Masks.
While the Masks attempt to sacrifice Tendai as a messenger to the gods, Arm is possessed by a mhondoro, a holy and legendary spirit of the land, who helps him to find the children. When Arm is knocked out, the mhondoro (and a group of staff and diners from the restaurant downstairs, led by Mrs Matsika) helps Tendai and his friends to temporarily destroy the Big-Head Mask, which had been going to kill Tendai. When the children's parents arrive, General Matsika crushes the mask and the mhondoro revives Arm. The gang is destroyed and their stolen wealth is redistributed among the poor; while General Matsika finally realizes that his children need more freedom.