Essay about How Does Beverley Naidoo Present The Themes Of Truth THIS

Submitted By mliek
Words: 1209
Pages: 5
Open Document
How does Beverley Naidoo present the themes of truth, lies and freedom of speech in the novel The Other Side?

In the other side of truth, Naidoo presents truth, lies and freedom of speech in various ways. The book starts with nothing but the truth after Sade's father writing his article although with disagreements which relates to freedom of speech, the rest of the book spirals into lies in order to living safe. Using examples of themes, you will see how it is presented throughout.
In chapter 1, the books starts with the flashback of Sade's mum dying. This takes a huge role to the book as this was the consequent of Sade's father writing his opinion in his recent article. As Sade's father is a journalist, he writes whatever is on his mind as he is one of the most honest people in the company. As he has to write about political corruption he only wrote the truth which was his opinion, although, some people obviously didn't agree with this. 'Some people' referred to the government. Instead of killing him, they killed his wife. This made sure he would be in more pain being someone who he loved. This lead to Sade and Femi to moving to England as it was too dangerous to stay with the growing violence which they would have to lie about their fake identities. Uncle Tunde states-"You must realise that we are only doing this because those people that killed your dear mama will stop at anything". This shows that he is in no doubt and is prepared to tell the children the truth so that they realise how serious the situation is.
Nigeria was having the campaign of going against journalists, their father was targeted. This is showing there is no freedom of speech as Folarin can't write what he wants to be published for other people in Nigeria to see his perspective in 'Speak'. Father says "The truth is the truth. How can I write what's untrue?" This shows us how much writing means to him to share his opinion but now this has happened, he was mute.
There is a bunch of lies that are in the novel in order to be safe. This mostly involves Sade and Femi. "Sometimes people don't tell the truth because they are so desperate" shows us a great example. Saying people 'don’t tell the truth' could mean they are afraid of the consequences or know what would happen. They do this 'because' it is excuses for lying, often good reasons not to tell the truth. People are so 'desperate' as lies can affect people in all different ways but then telling the truth also does too. "Grandma will hide us!" shows the consequences of what would happen if they lied. The lie will lead to grandma telling fibs. It also shows desperation and dishonesty as they are hiding from the truth. There are more lies found, the meaningful quote on the front cover, “A lie has seven winding path, the truth has one straight road". This suggests a lie goes on for a while and isn't a 'easy ride' whereas one straight road has no problems. This relates to the novel as it starts off as the truth until the government disagree which leads on to the endless lies. On page 222, there is a quote, "Evil enters like a needle and spreads like oak tree". The lie enters or starts silently or maybe unnoticed but then grows rapidly.
Most of page 65 is a complete lie. This large section of the chapter is focused on a dream. We can see this as it has been written in italics. As dreams aren't real, they are classed as a lie. The smaller section of the page is about Sade's father being taken away as of the family lying about their identities. Again, in the novel Sade has to lie but this time after being pressured by her bully. She had been asked to help out in the library although Marcia, the bully, has told her to steal something from Marium's uncle's shop. Consequently, Sade lied to the librarian saying she is busy elsewhere when clearly, she isn't. She could of rejected to go ahead with stealing but she wanted the best for her brother so he wasn’t to be bullied by Marcia's cousin. This shows us the
Show More

Related Documents: Essay about How Does Beverley Naidoo Present The Themes Of Truth THIS

The Importance Of Belonging

HSC Subject Guide Belonging 2009 HSC: Area of Study – English - related material English HSC 2009 - 2012 is Belonging. What does belonging mean? From the Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus: belong, verb, 1) to be rightly put into a particular position or class; 2) fit or be acceptable in a particular place or environment; 3) belong to be a member of; 4) belong to be the property or possession of. Belonging, noun, affiliation, acceptance, association, attachment, integration, closeness, rapport,…

Words 4133 - Pages 17