The Story Of The Big One

About the Book

The Big One stands for the quest of freedom. All living things which breathe whether human beings, animals or plants need a certain level of freedom. Freedom to eat, forage, move, associate, live and enjoy life.

In the story, human weakness overtakes common sense and the posterity is robbed of a jewel.

The metamorphosis of Captain James Wattson when he meets the Big One is quite amazing. He comes out as a case study of a man who could have done a good deed but chose wrong. From a reputable hunter, to a student of nature and back to the hunter and a killer.

Are we not all of us indicted by this wavering human behaviour?

If the Captain had not killed the Big One then he would have redeemed himself and indeed exonerated all of us - from a common feeling of guilt. But he went ahead and bowed to the strong pull of a vice.

Ole Kankai the African Chief shares in a similar blame. He hosts two festivals. The first one to celebrate the hunting of the Big One. The second in the aftermath. He exploits the Big One for political gains. He makes sure the Captain is kept abreast the news of the direction and movement of the Big One.

His motive here cannot be concealed, and is opportunistic - in every conceivable sense. He prides himself in being the eye and the ear of the Revolution and finally he leads the Captain to the intended target.

His act of throwing the knife to the ground was intended to wistfully and magically influence the death of the Big One. In this he finds solid support from amongst his people. The Two Night Festivals he organizes clearly points out to this.

The Big One had nowhere to hide or escape. There is no one at hand to give him a home and a refugee status. For sixty years he has wondered over the plains of the Great Rift Valley trusting to his intuition but as old age catches up with him, he cannot escape his fate. Apart from the voiceless cry of his six sons, there is none to amplify their cry and rally support from elsewhere.

While the story of the Big One speaks volumes of one particular animal, the reader cannot fail to notice the wider implications; the Big One is a reference to all endangered species of both animals and plants- at sea and on land.

About the Author

Rachael Wnagui Muniu is currently a second year student at Wichita State University, Kansas, U.S.A.

Formerly she was the chairlady of the Wild-Life club in her secondary school and an active member of the Historical club. She was born in 1985 May 2nd in Kenya on the slopes of the Aberdare Ranges.

Human-Animal conflict is a daily occurrence in her part of the world. Parliamentary or civic Elections are won or lost due to this FACT alone. Politics take a central role. The press has a field day. Expanding human population encroach on the animal territory. The latter fight back by forcefully taking what they believe rightfully belongs to them. A death is reported here and there. Reprisals take place; the wild life taking the blunt end.

Attorneys are involved. Upgoes an outcry from the Kenya Wild-Life Services, the East African Wild-Life Society, the Youth for Conservation, the Centre for Environmental Legal Research and Education, and finally the Born Free Foundation.

Rachael is fully aware of these conflicting forces and in writing The Story of the Big One she is much influenced by what she sees all around her.