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Book Review: The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

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For my choice book, I read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. The book is about William Kamkwamba, who is from Malawi. He lived in a society that believes in magic, which caused him some trouble when he was young. He was also very curious and wanted to learn how everything works. One day he found a book about windmills and wanted to build one himself. This book has lots of window and mirror because there are things in the book that show me new perspectives and other things that are relatable. The reason this book is a window is that it shows a town that is doing through a tough time. “We call this period ‘the hungry season.’ In the countryside, people are working the hardest they work all year to prepare their fields, but doing so with the least …show more content…

When I was a kid I was very curious, at the age of six, I stuck a fork inside the wall outlet because I wanted to know what was inside the outlet. “My first and only experience with magic had left me with a sore eye and hands that throbbed from bad medicine. With my luck, I thought, they'll probably become infected and fall off.” (Kamkwamba, 48) Someone in his village said that he would get super powers if they poured a “magic water” in their slit knuckles and out of curiosity William tried it. I am able to relate because I wanted to know what was inside the power outlet and ended up getting shocked. Later in William’s life, he learned magic was a lie and science was the domination the world. “What is this? I thought. Pulling it out, I saw it was an American textbook called Using Energy, and this book has since changed my life” (Kamkwamba, 167). Reading this book he learned how to generate electricity from the wind and wanted to build one himself. I have watched many videos on how a computer works and how to build one and just like William this experience helped me get a grasp on how current things work. “Within a few meters, I entered the scrapyard and stopped. Behold! Now that I had an actual purpose and a plan, I realized how much bounty lay before me. There were so many things: old water pumps, tractor rims half the size of my body, filters, hoses, pipes, and plows”(Kamkwamba, 176). William was able

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Works Cited Broida, Rick. “Does it still make sense to build your own computer?” C Net. C Net, 13 May 2013. Web.

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As Geyh argues in her essay, the window is the boundary of the house, which simultaneously separates and connects the inside and the outside (111). By turning the light on, it goes dark; “[f]unctioning as a mirror, it creates a circle of inwardness” (111). It sustains the illusion that what is inside is the only reality that exists, since the outside is no longer visible. The window then emerges as a separation tool from nature outside rather than a means of

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The Importance of Understanding Everyone sees the world through different eyes. Richard Wilbur, the author of “Boy at the Window,” uses many literary devices such as point of view and connotation to make an impact on the reader’s mood and understanding of the poem. Wilbur’s use of point of view and connotation helps the reader grasp the concept of the poem which is misconception can cause unnecessary suffering. Noticing point of view is key to understanding this poem.

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