51i' Unit 6
A tuKfld Acack
of Eocusts
by Doris Lessitrg
Tn" rains that year were good; thev thing like the weather needs experience.
were coming nicely just as the croPs \\hich Margaret had not got. The mer-t
needed them-or so Margaret gathered \\-ere Richard her husband, and old Ste-
when the men said they were not too phen, Richard's father, a farmer trom
bad. She never had an opinion of her \va\, back; and these two might argtte ftrr
own on matters like the weather, because hours whether the rains were rttit-tol-ts r=,r
even to know about what seems a simple just ordinarily exasPerating. \larqaret
51S Unit 6
where the new mealies were just show- only fair to warn each t-r:--;: --:-.=:'-'tst
ing, making a film of bright green; and play fair. Everywhere, fiftr ::-.--== ---. : :re
around each drifted up thick clouds of countryside, the smoke ',',-:a :.:-:- i ::.-ni
smoke. Th"y were throwing wet leaves on myriads of fires. Margaret tr.-<-". =rj ::re
to the fires now to make it acrid and telephone cal1s, and L.et-,'.':-. -:--s sire
black. Margaret was watching the hills. stood watching the locus:= ^:-= : : ',r'as
Now there was a long, lort'cloud advanc- darkening. A strange cl:-.':'.==s :: the
ing, rust-color still, sr.t'elling forward and sun was blazing-it rr-as -i= ::-r ;ark-
out as she looked. The telephone was ness of a veld fire, r',-i'.c:-. ::-. :-: gets
ringing. Neighbors-quick, quick, there thick with smoke. The =-:-.--::.: itarrls
come the locusts. Old Smith had had his down distorted, a tirtck l-.t-t i:::'.*e. Op-
crop eaten to the ground. Quick, get your pressive it was, , ',r--:i'. ::'.- :-.ear iness
fires started. For of course, while every of a storm. The locnsts ',.'-e:e .:nilrq fast.
farmer hoped the locusts would overlook Now half the skr- rr-as .larkerre.i. Behind
his farm and go on to the next, it was the reddish r-eils in frrrnt, ir'hlci-r rr-ere the
serrated(SER ayt id) having notches lke the teeth of a saw along the edge
reverberating (rh VUR buh rayt ing) echoing
520 W Unit 6
clinging all over him; he was cursing and coming down from the North non- one
swearing, banging with his old hat at the after another. And then there are the
air. At the doorway he stopped briefly, hoppers-it might go on for tn'o or three
hastily pulling at the clinging insects and years."
throwing them off, then he plunged into Margaret sat down helplesslr-, anrl
the locust-free living-room. thought: Well, if it's the end, it's the r-rr1.
"A11 the crops finished. Nothingleft," \Alhat now? We'll all three hat'e to S..
he said. back to town. . . . But at this, she took a
But the gongs were still beating, the quick look at Stephen, the old man n-hc-r
men still shouting, and Margaret asked had farmed forty years in this countn-,
"Why do you go on with it, then?" been bankrupt twice, and she knerr-
"The main swarm isn't settling. They nothing u'ould make him go and become
are heavy with eggs. Th"y are looking for a clerk in the city. Yet her heart ached for
a place to settle and lay. If we can stop him, he looked so tired, the worry lines
the main body settling on our farm, that's deep-r from nose to mouth. Poor old
everything. If they get a chance to lay mar-r. . . . He had lifted tP a locust that
their eBBs, we are going to have every- had got itself somehow into his pocket,
thing eaten flat with hoppers later on." holding it in the air by one leg. "You've
He picked up a stray locust off his shirt got the strength of a steel-spring in those
and split it down with his thumbnail-it legs of \-oLlrs," he was telling the locust,
was clotted inside with eggs. "Imagine good-humoredly. Then, although he had
that multiplied by millions. You ever seen been fighting locusts, squashing locusts,
a hopper swarm on the march? Well, yelling at locusts, sweePing them in great
you're Iucky." moturds into the fires to burn for the last
Margaret thought an adult swarm three hours, nevertheless he took this one
was bad enough. Outside now the light to the door and carefully threw it out to
on the earth was a pale, thin yellow, clot- join its fellor,r's, as if he would rather not
ted with moving shadows; the clouds of harm a hair of its head. This comforted
moving insects thickened and lightened Margare| ail at once she felt irrationallr-
like driving rain. Old Stephen said, cheered. She remembered it was not the
"They've got the wind behind them, first time in the last three years the man
that's something." had announced their final and irremedia-
"Is it very bad?" said Margaret fear- ble ruin.
fully, and the old man said emphatically: "Get me a drink, Iass," he then said,
"We're finished. This swarm may pass and she set the bottle of whisky bv him.
over, but once they've started, they'll be In the meantime, out in the peltirLg
army-worms (AHR mee WURMZ) the larvae of certain moths that travel in large groups, ruining
crops and grass
521 Unit 6
Through the fog of insects she saw fig- There is not one maize plant left, sire
ures approach. First old Stephen, march- heard. Not one. The men r,t'otrlcl get tire
i^g bravely along, then her husband, planters out the moment the locr-rsts ir.:;
drawn and haggarcl with weariness. Be- gone. They must start all over agairr.
hind them the servants. All were crawl- But what's the use of that, lVlargarc:
ing all over with insects. The sound of wondered, if the whole farm vvas goir-.{
the gongs had stopped. She could hear to be crawling with hoppers? But she lis-
nothing but the ceaseless rustle of a myr- tened while they discussed the ne\\- gr)\'-
iad wings. ernment pamphlet that said horr- ttl
The two men slapped off the insects defeat the hoppers. You must have men
and came in. out all the time, moving over the farm tt-r
"WelI," said Richard, kissing her on watch for movement in the grass. Wherr
the cheek, "the main swarm has gone you find a patch of hoppers, small livelr-
OVCT.,, black things, like crickets, then you dig
"Fo tire Lord's sake," said Margaret trenches around the patch or spray then'r
angrily, still half-crying, "what's here is with poison from pumps supplied by the
bad enough, isn't it?" For although the Government. The Covernment wantecl
evening air \\'as no longer black and them to cooperate in a world plan for
thick, but a clear blue, with a pattern of eliminating this plague forever. Yotr
insects w'hizzit'e this way and that across should attack locusts at the source. Hop-
it, everything else-trees, buildings, pers,, in short. The men were talking as if
bushes, earth, \\'as gone under the mov- they were planning a wa, and Margaret
ing bror,r'n masses. listened, amazed.
"If it doesn't rain in the night and In the night it was quiet; no sign of
keep them here-if it doesn't rain and the settled armies outside, except some-
weight them don'n u'ith water, they'll be times a branch snapped, o a tree coulcl
off in the morning at sunrise." be heard crashing down.
"We're bound to have some hoppers. Margaret slept badly in the bed besicle
But not the main s\\'arm-that's some- Richard, who was sleeping like the deacl,
thing." exhausted with the afternoon's fight. Irr
Margaret roused herself, wiped her the morning she woke to yellolv slul-
eyes, pretended she had not been crying, shine lying across the bed-clear surr-
and fetched them some sllpper, for the shine, with an occasional blotch t :
servants were too exhar-rsted to move. shadow moving over it. She went to tl-,e
She sent them dor,r'n to tire compound to window. Old Stephen was ahead of her.
rest. There he stood outside, gazing t1tr.,i r-.
She served the supper and sat listening. over the bush. And she gazed, asttrrLn.ic.r
324 # Unit 6
AurnoR BrocnAPF{':
experiences in Rhodesia that a middle- the problems of tl-.e -.'. .-.: . ---
class girl in England could never have what can be r-irrne r :,- -.,- - - . - .- -- : ---
had. She described the setting of her has spent a lifet-r:'= -;
upbringing in the first two volumes of aboutherpolitr:.- --,.-------' -,'. -
Children of Violence. These books repre- role of \\-on-ren -:' :-- -
sent her greatest literary achievement. of nuclear e-irs:::=:
Th"y describe a woman's struggle against In the Sir::- -- - ' i - :.- -- -'-rt
political and racial issues. is set ori J. :.:::t- .- : '-- - , :. - -.r':''. tri
.
One of her strongest themes is that of a Rhocle.i: :-'= :.-- .- -t = . .: "- 't- .- J qtt r tire
person's relationship to and breaking hop-tg oi ^--. :-: - . ..-: J.:rLi .'''f livirrs.
away from society. Her hope is to focus Think l:,---.: -- :.--. :c'iectttrtr ret-lects
public attention on the problems of the Lessuri : :-'c-r.-: ,--- :'.n',e ant-l harultll\ ir',
world as a call to action. Although Lessing tlte',.,. r'.r.-1
.
5. What did Margaret learn about Prewriting Freewrite for a few minutes
farmers from the locust attack? about what kind of natural disaster
might produce moments of incredible
7. What was seen in the midst of the beauty. Think about what it would look
devastation the locusts brought? like, what colors you would see, what
sounds you might hear.
Apply
8. Would you like to meet Stephen?
Writing Use your f reewriting as the
basis for a descriptive paragraph in which
whv?
you tell how a natural occurrence of
9. After all she had been through, do nature that had the potential for disaster
you think Margaret will stay on the still looked beautiful to you.
farm? Why or why not?
Revising Be sure to use vivid sensory
10. Describe what the farmland might words to describe what you saw. lf you
have looked like after the attack. have not used such words, include them
in your revision.
2. What are the two forces in the conflict? 3. The damage to the nearby forest
was irremediable,' it could never be
3. What is Margaret's inner conflict? corrected.
4. As a result of Margaret's inner con-
flict, do you think she might at some
future time have an external conflict
with another character in the story?
whv?
5. Are the conflicts in this story resolved?
Rn,Ennc Focus
Recognize Flctional Details Explain the
difference between a fact and a fictional
detail, using one example of each from
the story.
Rettiezt, tlte Selectiott 527