Question

character sketch of mikali in the story maternity

Answer 1

Theme

For love and sympathy, there is no boundary. Love crosses barriers and boarders. It is not necessary that you will get love from your own people. You will get it unexpectedly from strangers as well. Do not despise/hate anyone of your prejudices. Love all and expect love from all.

Mikali and his Brother

Mikali was one of the refugees in a camp in Marseilles, France. He had fled from his native land of Armenia. While everyone managed to find a work and live better, Mikali alone could not. He had his baby brother to look after.

Mikali lost his mother when the little baby was born. Since then, Mikali carried the baby on his back, in a rug. The problem was, the baby screamed of hunger and this disturbed the other refugees. They were too much disturbed by the screams that they wished the baby to die.

Questions

Describe the miserable existence of the refugees.
The refugees had fled from their mother land Armenia due to conflicts and settled down on the outskirts of Marseilles, France. They lived in camps made up of tents and sheds. Some refugees lived in tents while many unfortunate ones slept in sheds – all shabby and pathetic. Still others, the majority of them, having found nothing better, were sheltered under carpets held up at the four corners by poles. They thought themselves lucky if they could find a sheet to hang up at the sides and to give them a little privacy from peering eyes. When men found work and hunger was brought down, they felt almost at home.
Who was Mikali? Why was he different from all the others in the camp?
Mikali was one of the Armenian refugees in the Marseilles camp. While everyone could earn a living in and around Marseilles, Mikali alone could do nothing. He ate the bread which his neighbors cared to offer but he was already conscious of the trouble he was causing them. Although he was a big lad of fourteen, healthy and robust, Mikali could not find a work because he had to carry his own little brother – a baby whose mother died at the time of its birth. He had to carry his brother all the while.
How did the baby’s persistent cries add weight to Mikali’s existence?
Since its birth, which had caused his mother’s death, Mikali’s little brother cried continuously. It was hungry, it was a motherless baby so it needed breast-milk. Although Mikali was able to do work for a living for the two of them, no one gave him any work because of the baby. Even the other Armenians chased the two of them away. They were unable to bear the uninterrupted howls which kept them awake at night. Mikali himself was dazed by these cries. His head was empty and he wandered about like a lost soul, dying from lack of sleep and weariness, always dragging about with him the deafening burden that had been born for his misfortune.

Answer 2

Mikali is one of the refugees staying in France who ran away from America fearing racism.

He loves his baby brother a lot which brings the care and affection out of him.

He feeds the baby brother carried on rug which he always carries on his back.

He is an admirable teenager who acts as a mother to save the child.