Chapters VII-IX Summary and Analysis

Valentino is helping his mother when he hears the sound of airplanes. His mother grabs him and pulls him indoors as the men in the planes shoot their guns. After an hour of shooting, the planes kill 30 men. The next day, government soldiers arrive in the village and burn it down. Valentino states that it was in retribution for the acts of the SPLA soldiers, but they had long since left the village.

Valentino's father decides they must leave Marial Bai for the nearby city of Aweil. Here, he says they can live peacefully, and he can set up another shop. He takes three of his wives, but leaves Valentino's mother. In Aweil, government soldiers interrogate all the Dinka, including Valentino's father. They tell Valentino's father he has been helping the rebel soldiers by giving them food. They take...