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14th of December, 2022

Dr. Zeigler
OU Department of English
316 Cate Center Drive
Cate 2, Room 337
Norman OK 73019

Dear Dr. Zeigler,

I believe that Maaza Megiste’s novel, The Shadow King, will be the perfect addition to your Big
Ambitious Novel class by Women. Not only has this received a Booker prize nomination, but
this book is also a prime example of what this genre is. This book is historical, feminist, and
political. It raises questions about a woman’s place in society and how she can serve her country
during a time ruled by the patriarchy. It shows women’s suffering but also the small victories
they face.

The Shadow King brings light to the too-often forgotten history of Ethiopian Women Soldiers.
Mengiste did not learn about the women soldiers until she took a trip to Italy, where she
discovered the photos. When Mengiste told her mother about her discovery, she found that her
great-grandmother was one of these women soldiers. This history is so underrepresented that she
had no clue of her personal connection to it. This is why the book is needed for the class.
Mengiste is correcting history, which is precisely what a BAN should be doing.

The Shadow King begins with a Hiruit, who was recently orphaned and taken in as a maid by
Kidane and Aster at the time of Mussolini’s Invasion of Ethiopia. She is then forced to follow the
soldiers to care for them, but not to be in battle. However, the war tides quickly change, and she
steals her gun back to fight. There she faces battles on and off the war. The Ethiopian soldiers,
specifically Kidane, a general, hate the women soldiers. As a punishment for taking her gun
back, he rapes her. The Italian soldiers see the woman fighters as a joke. They make them into
postcards and pass them around. Noone respects the women and what they are trying to
accomplish. However, they still chose to try. The women in the book are intelligent. When Haile
Selassie abandoned Ethiopia, the women decided to have a fake emperor to keep morale up. This
story is about women in hard times who fight back against their oppressors with their creative
ideas. There is nothing more feminist out there.

Along with Hiruit’s perspective, the book showcases a large cast of characters that will appeal to
your students. There is Aster, who is often the leader of the women and married to Kidane. Haile
Selassie, the real emperor of Ethiopia, who reflects on his time as a leader and the death of his
daughter. Carlo, the general of the Italian army, has a relationship with Fifi, an Ethiopian woman.
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Finally, there is Ettore, a Jewish wartime photographer who worries about his parents in Italy. He
also has a fascination with Hiruit. It is not exactly a friendship because Hiruit views him as an
enemy, but she does allow him to live. Every man in the story has a connection to a woman who
is just trying to survive in this world. Rather than the women only being interesting because of
the men, it now men only being interesting because of the women.

It is worth mentioning that the sexual violence in the book might be triggering for some readers.
However, these scenes are handled in a way that makes them seem poetic. When the attacks
happen, the narrator focuses more on the action of it rather than the thoughts. She can show how
often victims will disassociate from the attack and are put in survivor mode. This is an accurate
representation of what some victims go through. While Kidane's abuse toward Hiruit is framed
under the idea of punishment, the narrator makes it clear that he is the villain. These instances
are always shown who the real perpetrator of violence is and never blame the victims. This book
though is like Milkman in a way that the other characters will accept this as a part of life. Sexual
assaults also are a relevant discussion point. Across the globe, female soldiers are raped by their
commanding officers. This is horrible, but sadly still a relevant and important topic to discuss in
the classroom.

Along with highlighting Ethiopian history, this book also references other historical events like
the Roman empire. Carlo is obsessed with Rome and often makes comments about Achilles and
other figures. The book also uses Chorus, which was used in Greek plays, to show actions. In the
end, Fifi informs Carlo that Ethiopia was an older civilization than Rome and had survived much
longer. This book has so many references that your class will enjoy picking up on and learning
more about.

The Shadow King also illustrates many different ways to tell its story. There are chorus,
interludes, photos, and regular chapters. Each has a specific purpose that your students can spend
time analyzing. They allow the narrative to be more compelling and create references that will
surely interest your students. The Chorus, interludes, and photos highlight the BANness of the
novel that will allow your student new ways to build off the definition.

This book is fantastic, and I hope you have the chance to read it before creating your syllabus.
The Shadow King will teach your students a history they most likely have never heard about and
provide relevant talking points for today's treatment of women soldiers. Thank you for reading
my letter, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Maggie Jensen
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Lesson Plans For Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King

Monday Reading- 1-74 and “Maaza Mengiste on Woman Pushing the Front Lines of Conflict.”

Lesson plan

● First Five minutes, discuss what they know about the war
● Show Simple history video (10)minutes and discuss it in class.
○ How does this compare to what they have previously learned
○ Note that this only mention woman following their husbands and not fighting in
the battle
○ Compare this with Maaza Mengiste's personal history revealed in the interview
○ Talk about how this history is shown at the beginning of the book

Wednesday Reading 75-147

Lesson plan

Class discussion book club style

● Discuss how Aster and Hirut are portrayed in the book. Similarities, differences.
● How is gender represented in the book? What is seen as a woman’s role in the war, and
how is it represented? What happens when they go against it?
● What does it mean to be a thief? Why are women called that when they will not give up
their own supplies?

Friday Reading 148- 216

Lesson plan

● Divide the class into pairs and have them analyze how two characters relate to each other.
Begin working on a thesis about them.
○ Ideas of pairs would be Hiruit and Aster, Ettore and Carlo, and Fifi and the cook.
Students do not have to stick with this list but must have a good reason for
comparing these characters.
● After twenty minutes, students will switch partners and discuss their findings with their
new partners. Each student will share their ideas for 5 minutes and then switch. For the
next ten minutes, students will try to build more off of their ideas.
● The final ten minutes of class will be used to share ideas that they learned.

Monday 217-294

Lesson Plan

● Split the Class into three groups and assign them Photos, Chorus, or interludes.
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○ Students have 25 minutes to create presentations to teach the class the importance
and use of these.
○ Students will present to the class during the last 20 minutes of class. Their group
must present for at least 3-4 minutes then it is opened to all of the class for
comments.

Wednesday 295-359, “Call it Misogyny”

Lesson Plan

● The class will be split into groups of three. They will find examples in Walker’s essay in
The Shadow King. Students will work on this for the first half of class.
○ Idea examples: Walker states that the key to colonialism assimilation is to conquer
the women. On pages 330-332 of The Shadow King, Fifi tells Carlo how Ethiopia
is just as amazing as the Romans and has been around for a longer time. His
response was to seduce her and then rip her skin with his bare hands so that she
would submit to him.
● After about 25 minutes have passed, the class will come back together to discuss their
findings. This will hopefully lead to more jumping-off points for conversations.

Friday 358- 423 finish the book, “The ‘Detective Work’ Behind the Novel”

Lesson Plan

● Discuss the Ending of the book

○ How is the ending like other BANS we had read this semester?
○ How is the conversation with the emperor like other supernatural qualities in other
BANS? Does this even qualify as supernatural, or would another word be better?
○ Discuss the time jump to 1974 and how that changes the novel
● Discuss the article and Mengiste difficulty writing the book
○ Why was it hard to research? Why were these women left out of history?
○ Discuss colonialism and the notion of people thinking that it was not her history
■ Should colonist powers give back photos they took and artifacts they stole
from countries they invaded?
○ Do you think Mengiste accomplished what she set off to do in this book?
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In-depth Lesson Plans for Class on the 2nd Monday

Learning Objective: Students will be able to analyze how the Interludes, Chorus, and Photos
contribute to The Shadow King. They will also be able to analyze how this fits in the BAN genre
as a whole. Students will be able to work together in a group to come up with ideas and create a
presentation for the class to explain their ideas. The presentation can only be talking points. After
their presentation, they are expected to answer any questions that the rest of the class may ask.

Lesson Overview: Students will be separated into three groups, Interludes, Chorus, and Photos.
Students will analyze how each of these affects the story. They also are encouraged to research
the history behind them. For Interludes, this means looking into Haile Selassie. For Chorus, this
could be looking into the history of its literature in general, like how it relates to the Greek
Chorus by showing actions. For Photos, this could be looking into the actual photos taken by the
Italian Army. A successful presentation will have a mix of outside knowledge and textual
evidence. The students will have about twenty minutes to research and create their presentations.
The sooner class begins, the more time the students will have for research. Presentations are
expected to be about four minutes long. Afterward, it will be open for the class to ask questions
or comment for about three minutes. Not everyone in the group has to speak, but it is
encouraged. Everyone should hopefully be able to present today, but if needed, there can be time
for next Wednesday.

Schedule:

● 10:30 Class begins. First, take attendance and then divide students into three groups. The
first group is in charge of the Chorus, the second is Interludes, and the third group is
photos.

● 10:35 Explain the assignment and have each group go to a different corner of the room.
Set a twenty-minute timer for research.

○ Go around to each group and help when needed. Listen to ideas and provide
suggestions for them that could help with their talking points.

○ 10:45 announce that there are ten minutes left

○ 10:50 five-minute warning.

● 10:55: Have the chorus group give their presentation.

● 10:59: The Chorus group should be done presenting. The class will now ask questions to
the group. If there is no one, please ask them questions to stimulate conversation.

● 11:02: Transition class over to the Interlude presentation.

● 11:06: Open the class to ask questions to the Interlude group.

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● 11:09: Transition the class to the Photos group

● 11:13: Open questions for the Photo Group

● 11:16: Have this time be a general discussion time for the class. Ask them to highlight
what they liked about a different group’s presentation. If there is something that they did
not have time to say in their presentation, then they can say it here.

● 11:20 Class dismissed

Please let me know if the class did not finish with the presentations. Inform them that they will
be expected to
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Citations
Mengiste, Maaza. The Shadow King. New York, Norton & Company,2019.

Required Readings

Mhute, Wadzanai. “The 'Detective Work' behind a War Novel.” The New York Times, The New
York Times, 12 Nov. 2020,
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/books/maaza-mengiste-the-shadow-king-photograp
hy.html.

Privett, Autumn, and Kendra Winchester. “Maaza Mengiste on Women Pushing to the Front
Lines of Conflict.” Literary Hub, 27 Nov. 2019,
https://lithub.com/maaza-mengiste-on-women-pushing-to-the-front-lines-of-conflict/.

Simple History, director. The Invasion of Abyssinia. Youtube, 10 July 2019,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlPCZ_9T490.Accessed 12 Dec. 2022

Walker, Rachel Loewen. “Call It Misogyny.” Feminist Theory, 2022, p. 146470012211199.,

https://doi.org/10.1177/14647001221119995.

Recommended Readings

Alehgn, Tseday. “Tadias Magazine.” Queens, Spies, and Servants: A History of Ethiopian Women
in Military Affairs at Tadias Magazine, Tadias, 11 Aug. 2008,
http://www.tadias.com/08/11/2008/queens-spies-and-servants-a-history-of-ethiopian-wo
men-in-military-affairs-2/.

Canongate. “The Shadow King.” The Booker Prizes, 1 July 2020,

https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/the-shadow-king.

Literanda, director. Maaza Mengiste on Her Latest Novel ‘The Shadow King.’ YouTube,
YouTube, 8 Mar. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeWuGKhQUOU&t=37s.
Accessed 12 Dec. 2022.