Treason

Feedback for songs of the soul;  Treason

Make reference to a passage that surprised you.

Mention what you learned from the story.

What did the writer want us to think about. 

In Treason, a young girl Kanna, tells us that she will visit her grandmother: “We were going to my grandmother’s house, he told me.  I haven’t heard of her before.  Why do we have to go now?” Her hair was washed and she was made to look like ‘a very special girl’.  As I read this, I felt surprised but also suspicious. In the end, Kanna is abandoned and we can guess that her childhood is also over.  While it is common in some poor parts of the world to sell children, decent people—and Kanna believed her father to be a brave man—don’t abandon their children.  Even though Kanna obviously cared for and trusted her father, he betrayed her.  We are reminded that a society that allows this to happen is flawed in character, as was her father.  The writer wanted to show us how children can be victims and treated terribly in an adult controlled world.

The butterfly motif

Kanna is very young and her mind is not yet realistic or developed.  For example she believed the butterfly followed her across the city.  She doesn’t imagine what is happening to her.  She doesn’t realize she is being taken away.  When the butterfly leaves through the gate, it is a symbol of the loss of her childhood.