The Setting Sun and the Rolling World

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1987

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Symbols & Motifs

The Sun

The sun figures as a symbol in multiple stories, though most prominently in the title entry, “The Setting Sun and the Rolling World.” As Nhamo leaves his rural family homestead to pursue opportunities in the city, he likens himself to “the sun, burning itself out every second and shedding tons of energy which it held in its power, giving it the thrust to drag its brood wherever it wanted to” (102). Taken on its own, the metaphor is strikingly vivid, positioning Nhamo as a source of both boundless energy and generational wealth for his descendants. Yet just as vivid is the juxtaposition between the sun and the “rolling world,” which clarifies the vastly different perspectives of Nhamo and Old Musoni. As Nhamo flies through the air as the sun, the world rolls underneath him as he leaves it and its inhabitants behind in triumph. Yet to Old Musoni, who is fixed to the ground, the sun-as-Nhamo is in descent, leaving “a chilly wind” and “the cold cloudless sky” in his wake (102).

The sun makes another appearance as an evocative symbol in “The Brother,” when Tendai observes that “the sun was very friendly and lovely as it rose, it only got angry as it grew older and climbed higher in the sky. He felt sorry for it. It couldn’t help it” (61). This is likely a metaphor for his brother Magufu who, despite his ascent in status as a marginally successful city professional, became a malevolent force that is toxic to himself and others.

The Scent of Home

In multiple stories a character reconnects with his home after a long time away because of a particular scent. This first happens in “White Stones and Red Earth” when Bishi, having struggled to grieve over his recently deceased brother, is suddenly overwhelmed with emotion by the scent of the dirt at his ancestral home. Given that Bishi was away at boarding school, he found it difficult to emotionally reconnect with his family, even after his brother’s death. The powerful sense-memory that comes with the scent of the dirt vaults him back onto the same spiritual plane as his family and ancestors, allowing him to grieve for his brother.

Placed later in the collection, “Coming of the Dry Season” is a companion piece to “White Stones and Red Earth.” Both stories feature protagonists who left home and must deal with the death of a loved one. Moreover, both protagonists are mentally and spiritually rejoined with their home village by a particular scent. In the case of Moab, that scent is the “[d]ry, harvest-time smoke of burning maize-leaves” (115). Yet while the scent of dirt causes Bishi to engage with intense yet healthy emotions of grief, the smell of smoke only creates more resentment in Moab, who shivers at the memory of his home and his dying mother. Unlike Bishi, Moab is too old and has been away too long to be able to reconcile his complicated feelings about home through a single sensation of smell, powerful though it may be.

The Lion Skin Belt

In the final story, “The Flood,” a young Mhondiwa is given a lion skin belt for protection by a medicine man who, in an effort to exorcise the spirit of a hyena, subjects the boy to horrifying mutilation and abuse. Perhaps because of his association between the belt and an intense period of trauma, Mhondiwa keeps the lion skin belt as a charm to preserve his strength and courage. So when his wife leaves him and takes the belt, he is as animated by the loss of the belt as by the loss of his wife. This tendency to cling to superstition is also represented during Chitauro’s attempted reconciliation with Mhondiwa, as the latter’s attitude grows more and more angry, mirroring the ominous and elemental storm outside. Thus, the belt represents a continued belief in superstition that afflicts most of the collection’s protagonists to varying degrees.