On the 22nd of February I went to Kings College University, to the Strand Campus, to meet Gavriel Savit, the author of the most recent book I read: 'Anna and the Swallow Man'.
Gavriel Savit was a New York actor and Anna and the Swallow Man is his first published book. I had a chance to meet with him to talk about his book and he answered any questions people had. For me the book focuses on two main themes: the theme of curiosity and the theme of language.
Gavriel Savit said, "I am really interested in the ways in which uncertainty can be fertile and magical and helpful for human beings, which is good because I don’t think it’s something that’s particularly avoidable in human life”. I think this is important as it helps us to deal with unfortunate events that we can't stop no matter how hard we try, and Gavril Savit helps us to see the beauty in this, that being uncertain is not always negative as it helps us to find and understand things we would never imagine otherwise. Because of this, we are left finishing the novel with many questions and uncertainties we have about the characters and what had happened. Savit said, "If I left the readers completely satisfied with how the story ends I wouldn’t have done my job”. This books makes us think carefully and is open to interpretation.
“Uncertainty and ambiguity are things that human beings tend to actively avoid for purposes of survival” Savit continues, and he makes us appreciate how curiosity can be useful. How will we know what more there is to life if we don’t get a chance to explore it?
Language impacts the daily lives of members of any race, religion and society of the world. Language helps us express our feelings, desires and enables us to question the world around us. Words and tone are crucial to portray these thoughts and emotions.
In 'Anna and the Swallow Man', Anna’s father is a linguistics professor who can speak many languages, and so he teaches this skill to Anna. Anna learns to associate different people with their languages, which shows how language and how people speak give them their own identity, as it represents their culture. The Swallow Man does not have one, main language and he speaks in response to everyone else's language. This supports the point that the Swallow Man has no identity, as language is part of who you are.
Every language has a personality and different characteristics, it shapes who you become and can tell us a lot about your past.
Another reason why learning different languages is so important is because if you say something in one language and translate it into another, it may have a completely different meaning. Things are lost in translation. There are a lot of phrases that cannot be translated because they only make sense in that language, and things like humour and play on words can also only be appreciated in the original language.
In the 1870s, Native American children were forced to go to American residential schools. In these schools, the children were severely punished for using their own languages instead of English. In order to ensure their children did not experience the pain that they did, parents stopped passing their languages on to their children, and as a result, numerous languages are in danger of losing their last native speakers. The children that were punished were physically and psychologically damaged, and they felt that by not being able to speak their own language, their identity was being taken away from them.
Some people don't think that there is much point to learning other languages, and that "many countries speak English anyway". However, this is not true. 4 out of 5 people do not speak English and only 7 percent of the world’s population speaks English as a first language.
Languages are the passport to exploring and enjoying the rest of the world, where there is so much to see. With a language you can get involved with another culture and communicate with a whole new range of people. When communicating with someone, it is more intimate if you can speak their language rather than using an online translator, and stronger relationships can be formed. An example of this in 'Anna and the Swallowman' is that Anna and the Swallow Man can change their language to associate and become familiar with other people. They quickly trust the Swallow Man and become friends with him, so they can help each other in their time of need.
Georgia Sheehan-Stewart
