“The Bite of The Mango” by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland

One theme that was represented in the book,”The Bite of The Mango,” by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland is surival. In the story a girl named Mariatu is walking around in the woods, when all of a sudden gets ambushed by a group of rebels. She gets beat up and cut, and falls to the ground. A man sees her and runs tward her. “The man bent down and picked up a mango(Kamara and McClelland pp.48). He passed it to me, and when I didn’t raise my arms to receive the fruit, he looked down and saw the bloodied fabric,” her hands had been cut off(Kamara and McClelland pp.48). This theme represents how hard life could be and how hard it may be to survive. This symbol of the mango tree and a girl sitting next to it resembles the scene in the book where her hands were cut off, and how she needed medical treatment right away.

A theme that was represented in the book,”The Bite of The Mango,” by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland is courage. A girl named Mariatu is forced to leave the area in which she has grown up in to retreive medical attention. She is also faced with having to relocate due to vigorous acts performed by rebels, such as burning down her village. Therefor, she gets on a boat and travels away to the capital to retrieve help and find a place to live. “Fatmata led me to the pam-pam, a boat similar to the long wooden canoe men used in Magborouto fish(Kamara and McClelland pp.61). I spied a few other pam-pams in the water, sunk down with only their helms sticking out, we were the last on board,” shows how Mariatu had the courage to move somewhere distant after living in an area she has lived in her whole life(Kamara and McClelland pp.61). This theme expresses how people are able to do something that will or would be very hard on them, and have the ability to conquer it anyway.

A theme that was represented in the book,”The Bite of The Mango,” by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland is war. In the story a group of rebels are trying to take over many villages, killing and destroying many villages. The rebels come to villages and set houses and cabins on fire giving the people who live in them no other option but to fight and flee. One day while in the woods, Mariatu hears the rebels coming and run for help and to warn her village of the possible threat coming their way(Kamara and McClelland pp.42). The theme war, expresses extreme conflict going on between a group of people or an entire region that can turn out to be a mass killing and battle between two or more different clans fighting for the victor.

One theme that was represented in the book,”The Bite of The Mango,” by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland is love. Throughout the entire story there is nothing but violence and war going on. However, there is also a lot of love in this story. “One afternoon, Musa and I stopped our digging, sat down beside each other, and talked(Kamara and McClelland pp.21). We gossiped about the other kids(Kamara and McClelland pp.21). Then we went swimming in the river and splashed each other(Kamara and McClelland pp.21). Afterwards, we sat alongside the river, dangling our toes in the cool water(Kamara and McClelland pp.21). This soon became our routine: we’d stop our work early, talk, the swim, and then talk some more(Kamara and McClelland pp.21). I liked being around Musa. My entire body felt warm(Kamara and McClelland pp.21). The theme love shows how people care for each other and will do anything to be with or do anything for that person.