Reading Log-Desert Flower

Desert Flower by Waris Dirie

How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?

Throughout the novel, the text portrays on the struggle of Waris Dirie, who was one of 12 children born to nomads in Somalia’s desert to survive in her life. She only had a good life until she was five. Her terrible life started when she wanted to run away from her family. Her father wanted her to marry an old man just because he had given her father five camels. Then she decided to flee from her father’s prearranged marriage. Her journey across the Somalian desert in search of her auntie in Mogadishu began. Later, she flew to Heathrow, where she worked as a maid in her uncle’s house. Lastly, she stayed in London and became a famous model. She had a good life for a short time but problems kept hunting her. The problem was that she overstayed her visa. She had to marry a man from England to be legal to stay in England. After went through the hardship moment, she managed to a get a good life and she also spoke up about female circumcision and began to against it.

What is the main issue in the text?

The main issue in the text is about how the tradition, culture, and custom of nomadic Somali have suffered the women in the tribe since ancient times. Waris Dirie, when she was 5 years old, she was forced to go through the female circumcision as the Somalis claimed that if the girl is not circumcised, there were bad things between a girl’s legs, the woman is considered dirty, oversexed and unmarriageable. This custom is fought by Waris Dirie after she became a well-known model around the world. Most women support her but there are a few who go against her and claimed that she betrayed her own tribes, tradition and culture.

What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?

I would like to talk about the main character in the novel, Waris Dirie, who is the character I like in Desert Flower. She is valiant and daring to go against her own tradition as she spoke about female genital circumcision. She wanted that tradition to stop being practised as it torture girl. She also ran away alone without any supplies through the desert, in order to avoid marrying an old guy. Besides that, Waris was also a determined and iron-willed person. As modelling was everything to her, she put in incredible amount of effort to achieve success without giving up. Lastly, she was a loving daughter throughout the novel. After running away and finally achieving success, she went on a long search for her mother with the help of BBC. At last, her wish fulfilled as she managed to meet her old mother.

How does the text develop your understanding of the world?

Desert Flower reveals the hardship of a girl who comes from nomadic Somali tribes. As the only tribe who live in the desert, they have to obey the laws, customs, traditions and cultures. But Waris Dirie decided not to follow some of the culture. Because of that, she had to run away from the tribes, left her family, and started a dreadful journey. From this novel, life in African countries was hard because the African countries were lack of modern gadgets and technology. Waris’ mother had to go into the desert alone to give birth and cut the umbilical cord herself with something sharp. I also knew that there are tribes in this world who practice ridiculous beliefs. We have to go through a lot of hardship before we get something that we want in this life.