Unit 2

The Street-Sweeping Show

Feng Jicai

In China, the mayor mandated a National Cleanup Week in order to put the top public figures to work. Everyone was to use brooms to sweep the streets of the city. Secretary Zhao, a meticulous man, was in charge of organizing the event. "He looked like a typical upper-echelon secretary...His gentle, deferential manner and pleasantly modulated voice concealed a shrewd, hard-driving personality" (246). Secretary Zhao did a nearly perfect job in organizing the groups who were to participate, except that he gorgot the Women's Federation, which the mayor was quick to point out. When he reminded Zhao that women were important to soiety and needed to be represented, "The mayor sounded smug rather than reproachful. Only a leader could think of everything" (247). This was the first introduction of the mayor's true personality. Zhao then thought back to another instance in which the mayor had fixed a small error. The mayor let it be known that he would be attending the street sweep, because "As mayor of the city, I have to set an example" (247). The "example" he set was showing up in a limousine with police guards stationed all around. "Everyone knew him and hoped to be first to shake his hand" (247). All of the people Zhao included, were star-struck at being in the presence of such important people, and they felt honored that the mayor himself would help. "How extraordinary for a mayor to be sweeping the streets, thought Secretary Zhao, swelling with unconscious pride as he strutted along beside the mayor with his broom on his shoulder" (247). When they got to their spot, there was barely anything to sweep. The television station came by, and they staged the entire scene. The camera man came to Zhao and said, "Would you please ask them to line up single file so they'll look neat on camera?" (248). He then made them turn around to face the other direction for a better shot. After they had only been sweeping for a moment, "He stopped the camera, shook the mayor's hand, and thanked him for helping an ordinary reporter carry out his assignment" (248). The people were thrilled at this great act of service, which lasted less than a minute. When it appeared on the mayor's television, "There he was on the television screen, like an actor, putting on a show of sweeping the street" (249). The people of the city idolized this smug man who did not even sweep for an hour. He lived excessively and acts like a man of the people, but he didn't seem to do much to help the people. His service project was merely a publicity stunt, yet even his own secretary is blind to it. This story shows how people can trust a corrupt government.

And We Sold the Rain

Carmen Naranjo

Taking place in Costa Rica, this story was an illusration of what happens when an inept government has total control over the lives of the poor. The country was an excellent source of water, though the country had not a dime, and was in serious debt. The poor could barely eat, and "they raise our water bills but don't give us any water even though it rains every day," (667). On top of that, the socioeconomic gap was more vast than ever. "The sea of poverty that was engulfing cities and villages contrasted with the growing number of Mercedes Benzes, BMWs, and a whole alphabet of trade names with gleaming new cars" (668). The minister of the country thought of a potential solution. "If only we could export the rain," (668). The seemingly ridiculous solution became an option when during Costa Rica's Miss Underdeveloped contest, the girl from the Emirate of the Emirs won. When she returned to her country, she informed the Sultan of the new country she had experienced. "It rains day and night. Everything is green, even the people; they are green people, innocent and trusting, who probably have never even thought about selling their most important resource, the rain" (669). The Costa Rican government agreed to sell their rain. "We will sell rain at ten dolars per cc" (670). The people were thrilled! "The president added with demented glee, his face garlanded in sappy smiles, that French technicians, those guards of European meritocracy, would build the rain funnels and the acqueduct a guarantee of honesty, efficiency, and effective transfer of technology" (670). Soon, everyone moved to the Emirate of Emirs, because they had the funds and the greenery. Costa Rica had nobody left except for the president and cabinet. The same debt then began to happen in the new country, and the IMF took the aqueducts. "They have cut off the water because of a default in payments and because the sultan had the bright idea of receiving as a guest of honor a representative of that country that is a neighbor of ours" (671). The people blindly followed the government's idea to get rid of their only resource only to have to immigrate to another country. Because they did not actually fix their financial problems, they just happened again once oil prices dropped. They could not go back to their own country, because the lack of rain had destroyed the food and coffee and was dangerous to humans. They were forced to relive that poverty in another country.

Girls at War

Chinua Achebe

In this unit, the stories were written about times of war and poverty. A unifying theme in these stories is that people depend on a flawed government.