Harlem Renaissance Literature.
In Columbus Alive, the artist Vada Azeem discusses the poverty, police killings and overlooked potential that lend urgency to the creation of “The Boy Who Tried to Touch the Sun.”
An excerpt of the article written by Andy Downing:
“On its surface, “The Boy Who Tried to Touch the Sun” is a simple tale about the power of perseverance and the necessity of striving for unreachable goals. But, as with “Where the Wild Things Are,” which explored grown-up concepts such as alienation, learning to control one’s emotions and the parent-child bond, there are larger themes that play out as the story unfolds.
Each day, Anu (the name means “mercy” in several languages, including the Yoruba ethnic group in Nigeria), the boy in the story, ventures into the jungle and climbs the mountain in an effort to touch the sun. On one trek, Anu, who is black, comes upon a town populated with white citizens, who initially react to his presence with fear. The town’s mayor tasks Anu with three impossible challenges, including going seven moons without food, learning all the words in “The Book” and spending seven moons locked away in a cage, all of which he completes with ease.
Though purposely left open to interpretation — “Everyone who’s read it has had a slightly different take,” Azeem said — going without food or spending days in confinement can easily be related to real-life issues such as poverty and mass incarceration, both of which affect the black community at statistically higher rates.”
