Home for unmarried boys. Boys who are too old to live with their parents but are not yet married and starting families of their own live in a dormitory style building with other boys of the same age, though they still take meals at home. William’s cousin Charity lives in a mphala in William’s village.
Mphala Quotes in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind quotes below are all either spoken by Mphala or refer to Mphala. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6
Quotes
Several large pieces of skin remained in the pot, and I thought about my sisters and parents who were at home, probably hungry and dreaming of meat on this Christmas Day. But I didn't dare ask Charity to allow me to share. It was a well-known rule that whatever happened in mphala stayed in mphala.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Mphala Term Timeline in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The timeline below shows where the term Mphala appears in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...kills all five birds. William stuffs the birds into his pocket and heads to the mphala, the home for unmarried boys.
(full context)
William’s cousin Charity lives at the mphala, as does his friend Mizeck. The mphala is cluttered and full of the paraphernalia prized...
(full context)
...hunt has been a large enough kill that William can take his riches to the mphala. Mizeck allows William in, but forces Khamba to stay outside. William yells at Khamba for...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...Gilbert busy with their own troubles on Christmas, William goes to see Charity at the mphala. William and Charity brainstorm ways to get a good Christmas meal, eventually settling on seeing...
(full context)
William and Charity take the goat skin back to the mphala and start to burn the hair off. William is so hungry that even that smells...
(full context)
