Left in thought

• Choose a representative passage from this novel that holds particular significence to you. Type it in and comment on its significance.

Chapter 2, Page 34

“Why would anyone want to eat human flesh?”

“Eventually all would overcome their feeling of kerkeriyap and partake, if not on this occasion, then on some other. But no sawi could ever forget the dread of that first eating of human flesh. It marked one of the major thresholds each of them must cross in order to know the ultimate essence of Sawi existence. In the day each individual ate of that flesh, it seemed to him that his eyes were opened to know both good and evil.”

Why is this passage so intriguing? It is the fact that this one statement verifies the fact that the Sawi are indeed human beings. The Sawi without doubt does not have a overwhelming craziness for human flesh, and are no different from us. Despite the fact that the Sawi and we have different environments and beliefs, their innate human traits are similar to those of ours. It was with great pleasure to see that the Sawi did not enjoy human flesh from the beginning. The fact that they have fear during their first encounter with human flesh suggests that God has not created an alienated race of people. The fear of consuming the same genus was after all, innate in the Sawi as well. With constant repeated actions of consuming human flesh, the Sawi are able to restrain their instincts of rejection. It is said that a human being may be able to adapt to any aspect when constantly acted upon, even murder. This is the case for the Sawi. Although they do not have the intrinsic love for human flesh, the Sawi are able to eat human flesh because they eventually become accustomed to it. As a result, the Sawi are human beings not special but similar to everyone around the world (in a instinctive manner that is).