<p> Half a Life , Reading Questions: “ A Second Translation” Sec 1 and 2, 107-131</p><p>1. In her first significant appearance in the novel, what role does Willie’s sister, Sarojini, play in his life? 2. In his different, clearly unsatisfactory relationships with women at the beginning of this chapter, what do you feel Willy is looking for? 3. We see only reviews of Willy’s book, and obviously not the book itself. On the evidence of the reviews, how has his book been, to some extent, a reflection of his life so far? (In thinking about your response to this question, notice that Naipaul is using dramatic irony in this section of the novel: the reviews say something about Willy to us as readers that is not necessarily clear to Willy). 4. Interestingly, this section of the novel presents a number of alternate texts, each of which focuses on a different aspect of Willy’s existence (beginning on 105 and continuing to 123, a letter from his father, then excerpts of a letter from his sister, followed by the several reviews, then a letter from Roger, a letter from Ana, and then a return to Sarojina’s voice on 121-3). What different views of the Will’s world do they produce? 5. Consider the different ways in which writing has appeared in the story so far. Why do you think Naipaul chose writing to be his protagonist’s main occupation, and therefore a world of writing, his milieu? (In answering this question, consider his father’s story.) 6. If Ana thinks that Willie is “thinking and feeling”like her, what experience(s) do you think they share? 7. Why do you think that, with Ana, Willy is able to drop his “idea of his difference”? 8. Do you think their response to one another is reliable (or authentic)? Why or why not? 9. Characterize Ana’s story about Luisa, which she thinks Willy might use. 10. What do you think motivates Willy to go to Africa with Ana? 11. Sarojini warns him, “ You think you know what you’re going to, but you don’t know all of it” (123). Coupled with Ana’s story of Luis, what mood seems to hang over this moment in the novel as Willy is deciding to leave England? 12. How might Willy’s worry about losing his language (124-5) be significant? 13. Willy has his first contact with the real Africa on 125-6. What dominant impression is created in this intensely descriptive paragraph? 14. The first significant incident Willy narrates once he is in Africa is in fact the events leading to his departure from Africa 18 years later with his subsequent move to join his sister in Berlin. Why do you think Naipaul arranges the plot this way? 15. The word “translation” has two meanings that are relevant to this section. What are they? Are these two meanings in any way interconnected? Is “translation” a metaphor? If so, for what? Half Life: Reading Questions: "A Second Translation" Sec 3 and 9,131-end </p><p>Sec. 1 1. What different kinds of people does Willie encounter? What sorts of tensions are evident? 2. Naipaul develops a very particular sense of "African-ness" during this period of Willie's life. What do you feel are Africa's dominant characteristic(s)? 3. In what ways is Ana's grandfather significant to Willie's experience? 4. What do you feel is significant about Ana's father's experience? Comment on what he does for a living after he returns to Portugal. 5. What is significant about the apparent loss of the envelope belonging to Willy? What different things does it contain?</p><p>Sec. 2 6. What is the nature of Ana and Willie's social life? What sorts of people do they spend time with? 7. Again, in this section, Naipaul takes time to further deepen our sense of what Africa is. Comment on the paragraph on p. 155 beginning, "The news was too big to suppress." 8. What different things foreshadow the coming of potentially violent change?</p><p>Sec. 3 9. We learn for the first time that the plantation is cultivating sisal. What details does Naipaul give of this process? Why does he focus on these things? 10. What is the story of Correia's? 11. What is significant about the visit the group makes to his beach house? 12. What is "allegory"? How might the story of Jacinto Correia be considered an allegory?</p><p>Sec. 4 13. This section recounts Willie's friendship with the Correia's estate manager, Alvaro. In the unfolding of Willie's experience in Africa, why is this section important? 14. Willie says that in the warehouse he realizes that "there was something in the African heart that there was shut away from the rest of us, and beyond politics" (173). Considering both Willie's experiences in this section, and his characterization of Africa in earlier sections of this chapter (see 2 and 7, above; as well as 13 in the first set of questions for this chapter), what do you feel is "the something in the African heart"? Try to be as thorough as possible.</p><p>Sec. 5 15. Why is the exposure of Alvaro's dealings with the estate significant?</p><p>Sec. 6 16. Comment on the description of the "little governor's house" (185) 17. Comment on the description of the "German Castle", where Willie begins his affair with Graça.. 18. The story of the merchant who seeks his father's advice appalls the ten-year-old Willie with its shamelessness and falsity. Why does Naipaul have Willie remember this story now, and in what ways is Willie's experience of his affair with Graça balanced against his childish judgment? Does his current situation in the narrative confirm or correct his earlier judgment? 19. How is Graça 's life story typical of the experiences of the other non-African? Clearly Willie's relationships reflect his development. Why Graça? Why now? 20. Comment on Ana 's half-brother. He keeps a spitting snake. With what does it connect in Willie's relationship with Graça? 21. How is the changing political landscape of Willie's world a reflection of Willie's own development? 22. Why does Willie have to leave?</p>