In 30 words, begin your essay by identifying ONE problem being addressed in Bulawayo’s novel. Which character is telling you about the problem you have identified?
Children living in situations of poverty or war often have to mature quickly. In Paradise, the reader can often see the children working through adult issues in childish ways; for example, they play country-game and Find bin Laden to collectively work through issues of global power, inequality, and war.
However, traumatic situations can also cause adults to regress in some ways back to childhood, and seeing the world through Darling's childish lens can also color adult actions in this way. For example, Darling says that she knows "all this praying for Father is just people playing" (100) and that the workers at a construction site a few miles from Paradise, "look like they've been playing in dirt all their lives... they don't look the way adults always try to look" (46). These depictions of adults show that everyone is struggling to make sense of the world in similar ways to the children playing games, having childish discussions, and making wishful plans for the future.
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