The sun will rise again

INDEED, the sun sets and rises again. This is a natural cycle which has been around for time immemorial and continues today. When somebody says the setting sun shall rise again tomorrow he is very hopeful. In fact by stating the obvious phenomenon, we get the impression of being definite about what is expected. Jeremiah has met with his long lost girlfriend, Sofia.

A lot of events have taken place during that time. Both Jeremiah and Sofia have been married to different partners. Coincidentally they meet when their marriages are on the rocks. Jeremiah left his wife Matilda because of infidelity. Sofia did not really love Nyati that is the reason she reconnected with her childhood sweetheart, Jeremiah. The fire of love was rekindled between the two.

Jeremiah calls it a cursed fire that resulted in the tragic death of Sofia’s husband and father, and her own subsequent arrest. But Jeremiah ponders about the future from this. After Sofia has told him that he is free to come to her place at any time he says: “Was this the love that poets describe as ‘sweet and innocent’? He says maybe the gods have better things in store for them tomorrow. His mind is so full of questions about tomorrow. What will it contain?

What Jeremiah says about tomorrow leads to the title of the book, “The Sun Will Rise Again” In both instances one senses a feeling of hope. There is optimism about the future. Jeremiah is quite frank when he says the treasures of tomorrow are unknown, but still the treasures of tomorrow are worth waiting for. People are encouraged to be positive about the future. It is plainly stated that a life without a tomorrow is not worth living.

Even in despair or desperate times people should always look forward to a better future than the present. We have clear examples of children in distress in countries like Somalia, Rwanda and the children of war-torn Bosnia. All of them are waiting for a tomorrow that is better than today. All this is called hope. This hope is likened to blood, that is if you do not have it in you, you cannot survive. We need hope to survive. Sofia, Jeremiah and Fatima, Sofia’s mother, all needed hope to survive and see the future.

All the forces of evil have to be destroyed first before the sun rises metaphorically. Naturally or literally the sun has been rising and setting. However, the impression we get in the story is that there probably have been doubts about the sun rising again. All this doubting is removed through the last sentence in the book which is emphatic about the sun rising again. “Yes, the sun will rise again!” The text therefore ends on a note of hope.

The setting sun shall rise again tomorrow implies hope for the future. It appears as if everything was dead for some time and there is hope for new life. When all the abuse was taking place everything appeared lifeless. Everything was covered in darkness. The winds were always cold. Even the vegetation had gone dry. Literature students are not surprised by such events as they know that at times nature works along with what is happening in the community. At times deaths of mighty men are preceded by turbulence in nature.

When Sofia speaks out in court and the fugitive justice is arrested there is new hope. Normal life will return or is about to return. The sun is said to be getting brighter, as if to say before justice prevailed it had been hazy. There has been total silence since nobody dared raise a voice against the abuse suffered by women as shown in the story.

Nobody stood up to fight the oppressive system but now the dark clouds of silence are fading away because somebody has spoken. Everything is clear now.

Things are warming up. A warm wind is drifting in from the horizon replacing the coldness which has been in existence when women suffered from all directions. Nothing has been going on well as we hear that the leaves shall turn green again. They had dried up showing no sign of life. But now everything is coming up and they will be full of harvest — a sign of new life.

Before Sofia broke the bricks of silence, opening up and no longer having any more bottled up emotions there was dryness, drought, and hunger. Everything was lifeless. There were suppressed feelings of love. Jeremiah is hopeful. He tells us that he looks at Sofia and she smiles. The sparkle of love is burning intensely in her eye. The light of love shines brighter than the sun and the wind shall sing softly; a song of love. It is clear that the two lovers, Jeremiah and Sofia are going to start a new live with no threats to their love.

Matilda is no longer in Jeremiah’s life. Nyati is no longer there to threaten Sofia. There is freedom of choice. Yes, the sun will rise again!

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