2) Leaving: Aloo's Mother As An Admirable Character

QUESTION

From the short story that you have studied, write about one character that you admire. Give reasons for your answer with close reference to the text.

Paragraph 1	i. State the name of the story ii. State the character that you have chosen.	The story that I have studied is Leaving by M.G. Vassanji. The character that I admire in the story is Aloo’s mother. There are several reasons why I think she is an admirable character.
Paragraph 2	Synopsis of the story	The story is about a family that lives in Tanzania. The family comprises of Mother and her five children, Firoz, the Narrator, Aloo, Razia and Mehroon. The main character, Aloo, has just completed his secondary studies. He obtained straight As in his examination and and he has a dream to study in America.  He applied to various universities there and he was offered a scholarship to further his studies in Medicine at the California Institute of Technology in America. Since Aloo’s mother is a poor single parent, she had to face some challenges in fulfilling her son’s dream.
Paragraph  3	· Reason 1 foresight	Aloo’s mother has foresight in raising her children well. She had a store at the busy Uhuru Street. She sold the store and moved to Upanga, a much quieter part of Dar es Salaams city. She did this to avoid her children spending time working in the family store. Instead, she wanted them to concentrate on her studies. Her plan has paid off when Aloo succeeded in obtaining straight As in his school’s final examination. This makes her an admirable character.
Paragraph 4	· Reason 2 selflessness	Another trait that is to be admired in Aloo’s mother is selflessness. She lost her husband when she was only 33 years old. Since then, she had a few marriage proposals but she turned all of them down. The tradition was that she would have to send her five children to a children’s home once she remarries. Aloo’s mother did not want to lose her children so she sacrificed her own happiness. Because of her selflessness, she was able to raise her children well. Aloo scored straight As in his final examination, the Narrator is studying at a university, Mehroon and Razia are already married, and her eldest son, Firoz, is working in the office in a big shop.
Paragraph 5	· Reason 3 overcome her inner fear	The last trait in Aloo’s mother that makes her admirable is her ability to overcome her inner fear. From the story, Mother was initially adamant not to let Aloo further his studies in America, a place which is very far from where they live.  As a single mother, she was scared that Aloo will leave and not to return. As they are poor, she also feared that she was unable to face the challenge of raising the money for Aloo’s ticket and some expenses for him to go to America. However, when she realised that Aloo was very determined with his plan, she managed to overcome her fear and changed her mind. As the result, she decided to let him go and helped him pursue his dreams. At the end of the story, Aloo was on his way to America.
Paragraph 6	Conclusion	From the reasons stated above, one cannot help but conclude that Aloo’s mother is a truly admirable character.