From West with the Night by Beryl Markham

 3/20

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From West with the Night by Beryl Markham

“Edible game is scarce on the Yatta, and the swollen rivers would hardly subside within a week. Given time, I knew Blix would be resourceful enough to figure a way out– possibly on rafts built of thorn trees. But, in order to work, men must eat. I nosed the Avian down toward the endless canopy of bush and zigzagged like a homeless bee” (519). In this quote, it seems as if Markham is talking in a completely different language. She is so in her element, even under immense pressure. She knows the wilderness of Africa like the back of her hand. She knows how to survive, and worries that these men who thought they were well equipped may not be able to survive as she could. Africa is such a wild place: the elephants, the hunting, the floods, the unending canopy and landscape. Although these stories of Africa seem so foreign and almost fictional to me, they are real life and home to Markham. If Africa is wilderness, then Markham has tamed it and made it her own. 

During this exciting story of Markham rescuing these men, she remembers an old Swahili phrase: “A wise man is not more than a woman– unless he is also brave” (524). This quote appears to assume that women, although highly intelligent, are not brave. I think Markham must have thought this quote to be humorous, but perhaps she did not think of herself as brave. She talks of all her deep knowledge of Africa so casually. This brave act of saving two men may seem like “another day on the job” for Markham who is an experienced pilot who knows her environment too well. It is fascinating to see how brave and knowledgeable she is.