'No-Place' Like Home: Utopia and Dystopia in 'The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm'
Eye, and The Arm is guilty of the notion that any foreign culture is inferior to one's own--surely, the children's experiences in Resthaven and Dead Man's Vlei substantiate that claim. However, the children are clearly not at-home in any culture, be it the techno-militaristic republic of Harare, the poverty and despair of the Vlei, or Resthaven's atavistic way of life--Sekai would have perished were it not for the detectives' ploy. The relative 'normalcy' of Harare is strange to the children because they were overprotected; in the city, they don't realise that they paid too much for food, or even know how to take the bus.
Of the Vlei, Resthaven, and Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham's house, not one is an ideal home for the children; none can claim to be a better place to raise a child than the strict household in Mazoe. In the tradition of coming-of-age narratives, the children journey through hardship and adventure, until they return home with a better understanding of their world, and themselves. What made the Vlei, Resthaven, and Borrowdale inadequate homes were mainly social conditions, and their treatment of the lowest classes of people--children, women, the poor. Notably, none of the homes, including their own Mazoe, had conventional family structures; the children spent more time with Mellower than with their parents. General Matsika regrets the way he brought up his children; after their ordeal, he lets them grow up and follow their own paths. The Mellower is still a chaperone, but he is barred from Praise Singing for the family because it "made them blind to real problems". Arm, Eye, and Ear have economic security as a result of the high-profile Matsika case, but more significantly, with baby Sekai they form an odd family. In the end, there is no utopia, but the best place is where one is happy, and can be true to oneself.
Notes
* "In 1516 Sir Thomas More, the English humanist, published his book Utopia, in which the social and economic conditions of Europe are compared with those of an ideal society. That such an ideal state is unattainable in reality is implied by the name Utopia, which literally means 'no place', from Greek ou, 'not, no', plus topos, 'place'. In Modern English utopia has become a generic term for any place of ideal perfection, especially in laws, government, and social conditions." (from Etymology: The Science of Word Histories) Back up
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