Death in T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland and Maddy's No Past, No Present, No Future

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Death in T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland and Maddy's No Past, No Present, No Future

Death is an inevitable fact that everyone experiences at some point in their lives. Whether it is losing a friend, family member, someone famous and well known, or finally themselves, everyone knows what it's like to deal with the topic of death. In The Wasteland T. S Eliot is describing death with a very different approach which makes death seem poetic yet very dreary and uninviting. On the other hand, in Yulisa Amadu Maddy's book No Past, No Present, No Future death is not poetic at all but very cold and melancholy.

In No Past, No Present, No Future three boys become best friends and later their friendship is torn apart from the inside out until it finally dies. It began when Joe Bengoh came to live with Ade John and Santigie Bombalai after his parents died. That was the first death that Joe experienced. The second death affected both Joe and Ade when a girl Mary died. Mary was a prostitute who Joe lost his virginity to, and then afterwards Ade had sex with her. Mary claimed to be pregnant with Ade's child, and she committed suicide trying to abort the baby. Since Ade came from an elite and prestigious family his parents took him out of school and practically disowned him for disgracing their family name. That changed Ade's life from there on out because he was now alone and he wasn't going to let that mistake ruin all his dreams of becoming powerful and rich and wealthy. Joe was affected also by Mary's death because he held a deep sense of anger towards Ade for even having sex with the girl in front of him and later on down the road Mary's death has some part in tearing Joe and Ade apart.

Santigie also experienced death, and that was the death of his father who was the chief of his tribe. That death hurt him deeply because when his father died, he left the position of chief not to Santigie but to his uncle. Also, when his father died, he had to quit school at the Mission and begin working like Ade had, because his mother couldn't afford to keep him in school anymore. When Santigie left the Mission Joe Bengoh was all alone and turned to things that shaped his future.

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