Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Rebirth, Recycling, and Reinvention
The Business of Survival
Malawian Culture and African Community
Education and Entrepreneurship
Science vs. Superstition and Magic
Summary
Analysis
In June 2008, William travels to Cape Town, South Africa and speaks about technology in emerging countries at the World Economic Forum on Africa. He explains about his windmill, and even gets the chance to inform President Mutharika about the amazing things that he, Geoffrey, and Gilbert did in their little village – just as Mutharika provided government aid to farmers. A picture of William and President Mutharika now hangs on William’s family’s wall.
Rather than waiting around for the government to improve conditions for his village, William works on his own to improve his village from the ground up. William then has the chance to be recognized for his contributions by the government, showing how important individual action is for the betterment of the country as a whole.
Themes
William leaves Cape Town for Chicago, where he is part of an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry that honors innovative technology that shapes the world for the better. William finally returns to Malawi to rest and relax with his family and friends as well as do some much needed maintenance on the recycled materials of his windmill.
Even with all the amazing things that William experiences around the world, he still focuses on the ways that he can bring improvements to his village. Helping his community grounds William and reminds him why advances in technology are so important in the first place.
Themes
William then goes to a language class in Cambridge, England, working on his English in preparation for attending the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa. The old buildings in England, built without modern technology, give William hope that African countries can also improve their infrastructure through hard work and the intelligent use of Africa’s many resources.
William finds similarities between the beginning of England’s technological advances and the first stages of improving conditions that African countries now face. William advocates for better use of Africa’s resources, reinventing how African governments function to give African villages a leg up.
Themes
At the African Leadership Academy, William enjoys being surrounded by committed students who share his same dream of improving Africa and come from the same hard backgrounds that William grew up in. His classmates’ stories of struggle and achievement inspire William to keep going when classes get tough or he feels discouraged. William hopes that his own story will help people who are still in the midst of striving towards their dreams to stay hopeful and elevate themselves and their communities. Together, William and his classmates imagine a future for Africa that erases all the bad luck of the past and looks toward a better tomorrow.
William finds a common ground with the other students of the African Leadership Academy from all over Africa because they share the same motivations to build up African communities through technology, hard work, and innovation. As William has been inspired throughout the book by stories of struggle and success, he now hopes that the journey in this book will offer that same encouragement to others. He has an extremely hopeful vision for the future of Africa that he believes can be achieved through collaboration and improved education for the new generation in Africa.
Themes
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