The shadow king - Maaza Mengiste

 The shadow king 

-Maaza Mengiste

Introduction

In "Prologue: Waiting", it is 1974 and Hirut waits on the Addis Ababa train platform with a box of letters and photographs, spanning from 1935 through 1941. Recalling the letters Ettore sent contacting her, Hirut grows nervous to see him again. Meanwhile a crowd of protests the emperor's rule. To calm her nerves, Hirut repeats her story to herself.

 Book 01: "Invasion", it is 1935 and Hirut is working for her master and mistress, Kidane and Aster. She and the cook, share a small hut. Aster calls frantically for Hirut, demanding to know where her necklace is. Hirut does not know. Aster does not believe her. She storms into Hirut's hut and searches everywhere. She finds Hirut's rifle, a Wujigra, given to her by her father before he died. Her husband Kidane enters. Seeing the rifle, he insists on taking it for his army. Kidane establishes his camp near Kossoye. He knows the Italians will rush into the no-man's land territory. A messenger, Forres, brings word that the Italians took Adua. Kidane strategizes with his men. In "Photo", the narrator describes photograph of the Cook, men crouching behind her as she works. Aster and her band of women march towards Kidane's camp. As the Italians approach, she encourages her fellow soldiers not to be afraid of. In "Chorus", years prior, men came to Aster's childhood home and dragged the Cook away. Aster begged them to stop. Though she knew she could have done more to save her, Aster did not. An Italian Officer, Jacques Corat arrives at the camp. He admires Hirut and insists Aster and Kidane to allow him to take her. When they refuse, he becomes adamant.

Book 02: "Resistance", Kidane observes. Hirut and Aklilu were working together. He mourns the close friendship he had with his men before the war. After receiving a message reporting his leader's abandonment, the emperor's failure to stop Mussolini's invasion, Kidane feels even more despairing. He knows he must continue fighting Fucelli. In "Chorus", the narrator flashes back to Aster and Kidane's wedding night. After they have sex, Aster flees to her other man. Kidane is left alone. Back in the present at the camp, Hirut and Aklilu grow closer. Minim joins and plays a song. They sing: Hirut feels free. In "Chorus", in the second and first person, the narrator sings of Hirut and her people's coming struggles, a prophetic Chorus that urges Hirut to become a soldier. Kidane insists Hirut come to him. When she resists, he becomes aggressive. He holds her down and rapes. Fucelli shows Ettore the new prison's progress. He shows him the angles at which he wants him to take the cliff photographs. Ettoreremembers his father's words to build what he wants to carry in his heart. Word spreads of Italian and Ethiopian battles across the land. The Italians are eager to leave Africa. In "Interlude", the emperor hides in Bath, England. Though he is far removed from the horrors of war, he cannot stop thinking about the Italians burning his people alive. He knows they are wondering where he is. Hirut continues coaxing Minim. So that he can become 'The Shadow King.' The more she practices killing, the more ready she feels to kill Kidane.

Book 03: "Returns", a photo images a wooden prison surrounded by barbed wire, a prisoner's body falling in front of it. Fucelli instructs Ettore to fill out his census paperwork. Though Ettore feels no tie to his Jewish heritage, he does not know how to tie it on paper. He tells Fucelli he knows little about his father. Fucelli sends him to a bar. Ettore sleeps with a prostitute. Fucelli copies and distributes the photos of Aster and Hirut to his men. They laugh and jeer. Eventually, Kidane receives copies. He is troubled by the images. His wife looks fearful as she did on their wedding night. He and his men devise a plan to conquer Fucelli. They stay hidden in their caves, sending spies out to locate Fucelli. One day, Fucelli brings two prisoner priests to see the women. The priests think Aster and Hirut have lost their minds. The men kill the priests. Ettore photographs the women again.

An Outline Of the Story

The novel begins in 1974

            Maaza Mengiste's novel "The Shadow King" tells the story of the female Abyssinian warriors, whose involvement in the Ethiopian battles against their Italian invaders, were omitted from historical documentation. The novel begins in 1974, 40 years after the war has ended. Hirut, a former soldier, waits at the Addis Ababa train station with a box of Ettore Navarra's photographs. Holding the box, she hears the voices of the dead calling out to her. She opens the box and looks through the horrifying mages it contains. The narrative shifts back to 1935 and depicts the defining battles of the Ethiopian and Italian conflict.

Hirut begins stealing innumerable valuables from Kidane and Aster's home

             As a young orphaned woman, Hirut's life is defined by her duty to her masters, Kidane and Aster. She believes Kidane's former affection for her late mother will guarantee her safety and protection. However, Aster grows jealousof Kidane's obvious interest in Hirut, and begins abusing her in any way possible. She blames Hirut when her necklace goes missing. While searching for the pendant, Aster uncovers Hirut's rifle, a gift from her father. When Kidane sees the gun, he seizes it, insisting his men need as many weapons as possible before the Italians invade. Distressed by the theft of her rifle, Hirut begins stealing innumerable valuables from Kidane and Aster's home. When Aster discovers the loot, she abuses and punishes Hirut. These dynamics shift dramatically when the Abyssinians learn that the Italians have arrived at the Port of Massawa.

The emperor Haile Selassi hides himself in his chambers

             Immediately Kidane gathers his men and begins preparations for battle. At the same time, Aster becomes determined to join the fight herself. She mobilizes dozens of women and encourages them to meet Kidane and his men on the battlegrounds. Kidane reluctantly agrees to allow their participation. Meanwhile, the emperor Haile Selassi hides himself away in his chambers. His failure to stop the Italian invasion overwhelms him. This sense of impending doom compounded with his continued grief over the recent death of his young daughter, Zenebwork, cause the emperor to begin unraveling.

Word of the slaughter disturbs Haile Selassi

             On the outskirts of Debark, Kidane and his men set up a camp. Their opponent, Carlo Fucelli, establishes his own camp not far away. While the Abyssinians succeed in ambushing the Italians during their first encounter, the Italians quickly massacre the Ethiopians using gas and tanks. Word of the slaughter disturbs Haile Selassi so greatly that he begins communing with the ghost of Zenebwork and the hallucinations of the Aida characters, the specters who convince him to abandon his people and flee to Bath.

Ettore's involvement with Fucelli

              On the battle lines, Fucelli and Kidane's armies lie in wait of one another. Fucelli begins building a prison for Abyssinian captives, and designs for a series of disturbing deaths for them, all of which he demands his photographer, Ettore, capture on film. Ettore's involvement with Fucelli grows increasingly complicated. He feels he must remain loyal to the man, or risk his expulsion and murdered by Mussolini's men. As a Jew, he is in constant fear of his life. However, Fucelli's orders compromise Ettore's morals, and call him to question the entirety of his identity.

Hirut and Kidane crafting Minim into their Shadow King

        Meanwhile, in Kidane's camp, Hirut notices that one in order to soldier, Minim looks uncannily like Haile Selassi. Together, Kidane's fo Hirut and Kidane begin crafting Minim into their Shadow her to mee King, a twin double of their emperor who will mobilize and arrives at t encourage their troops. Hirut then appoints herself as The ignores Shadow King's protector. Together they train and craft themselves into fierce soldiers. During their work. Hirut decides to kill Kidane as soon as she gets the chance, as a means of avenging all his abuses against her and her family.

Kidane and his men wait for time to destroy Fucelli

During another battle with the Italians, Fucelli and his men capture Aster and Hirut. When the women refuse to reveal the location of Kidane's camp, the soldiers strip, taunt, and rape the women. Fucelli holds them in his prison endlessly, facing Ettore to photograph them. He distributes the photos to his men, one of which reaches Kidane. Kidane and his men wait for the opportune time to attack and destroy Fucelli. One night they sneak into the camp and release the women. Shortly thereafter, they ambush Fucelli's men, killing him. Kidane is also killed in battle.

Ettore begs for Hirut's forgiveness

        Forty years after the war, Ettore remains in Addis Ababa, having taken his father's advice and stayed in Africa in order to protect himself from Mussolini. Though one of Kidane's former soldiers, Ettore gets word to Hirut, asking her to meet him with his box of photographs. When Ettore arrives at the station, he begs for Hirut's forgiveness. Hirut ignores his pleas, and demands he should leave her country and never return.