"A Mother in a Refugee Camp" by Chinua Achebe

Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

A Mother in a Refugee Camp

(1973)

Chinua Achebe

(November 16, 1930 – )

Notes

1 Madonna and Child: the name given to works of art (such as paintings, carvings, or sculpture) depicting the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus

6 washed-out: cf.

6–8 washed out ribs and dried up bottoms...blown empty bellies: typical symptoms of kwashiorkor, a type of malnutrition from lack of protein

Study Questions

On Google, search images for the term "Biafra." Browse through a few of the photographs of the children and women that the search returns.
Again on Google, search images for the term "Madonna" together with the term "child." Compare these Madonna and Child images with those of the Biafran mothers and children you saw earlier. Notice how the painters have represented the relationship between the Virgin Mother and the baby Jesus, and how the photographers have framed and captured the refugee women's attitudes with a child. What tenderness is conveyed? How is it expressed?
Look up the word touch in a good dictionary. What meanings of touch might Achebe be playing with here?
Why might Achebe invite the comparison between the Madonna and child and the refugee mother and her child?

Review Sheet

Sample Student Responses to Achebe's poem "A Mother in a Refugee Camp"

Response 1:

Student Name

2202234 Introduction to the Study of English Literature

Acharn Puckpan Tipayamontri

June 3, 2009

Reading Response #1

Title

Text.

Response 2:

Student Name

2202234 Introduction to the Study of English Literature

Acharn Puckpan Tipayamontri

September 6, 2011

Reading Response #1

Title

Reference

Links

Chinua Achebe

Further Reading

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart.

Last updated June 12, 2012