LOVE & FATE

“Where there is love there is life; where there is life there is hope” (Stratton 192)

Chanda is one of the most determined and unyielding individuals you will ever encounter. She keeps her good attitude despite the fact that she is continually fighting an uphill struggle. She places a high value on her family and will go to great measures to protect and care for them. Her love is a constant source of inspiration for her as well as a source of optimism for the future.

"My step-papa does odd jobs, my mama keeps a few chickens and a vegetable garden, my sister is five and a half, my brother is four, and I'm in high school. Where is the money going to come from?" (Stratton 5)

This quote depicts the inevitable fate Chanda had to face because she lived in this fictional place in South Africa

“You must go, she whispered” (Stratton 3)

We know that Chanda is a person that is caring because she helped her mother, and we know that she is responsible and that she is 16.
We can also see the love that Chanda has for her loved ones because, she was able to go out so quick to do what needed to be done for her family

FATE

“Mama is curled up on the floor, rocking my sister” (Stratton 3)

This shows that she is a caring mother, and the fact that she is still holding her dead daughter shows that she had a lot of love for her. This means that her mother was very caring.
We can also see the fate that her one and a half year old daughter had to face because of the poverty that they were in

“Mr. Bateman opens one up. It’s made of pressboards, held together with a handful of finishing nails. The lining is a plastic sheet, stapled in place. Tin handles are glue to the outside; if you tried to use them, they’d fall off” (Stratton 3)

This is another example of imagery, because we are trying to picture the cheap coffin that Chanda had to settle for because she did not have a lot of money.
This is another example of the fate that Chanda had to face because of her circumstances