Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard

The narrative voice in Chapter 11 shifts from the first-person perspective of Mawi into a third-person voice. Referencing Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Chapter 11 opens with Haileab magically transformed into an actual beetle: “One day, upon awakening, Haileab Asgedom found himself, in America, transformed into a monstrous black beetle” (95). 

Returning to first person realistic narration, Mawi explains that, in Ethiopia, his father had been an esteemed physician, but in America he is reduced to a lowly janitor at Wheaton College. To make matters worse, Haileab begins losing his eyesight, which prevents him from even doing his menial work properly: “His eyesight departed slowly, and his work errors multiplied—a lost key here, an unlocked door there–until his employers had no choice” (96). Wheaton College fires Haileab from his position as janitor.

As Haileab’s eyesight continues to worsen, so does his emotional state. Without a job, his energies are turned to his family, and Haileab begins forcing his children to wake up at five in the morning to do aerobics and other calisthenics. Around this time, Mawi is in eighth grade. The rent is raised on his family’s apartment in Wheaton, and they are forced to move elsewhere. Luckily, Haileab is able to secure a place in nearby Marian Park, in large part because the family’s neighbors testify to the Marian Park housing board about the Asgedom family’s good character. 

Nonetheless, Haileab is not the man he used to be. To further this point, Mawi tells another anecdote about Haileab: The habesha used to have community conventions in nearby Chicago and, at these meetings, Haileab would often seize the microphone to tell geetme, which are traditional rhyming poems. On one of these occasions, when Haileab was telling a particularly lengthy geetme, Mawi overhears someone ask, “Does anyone know where that crazy old man came from?” (102). Mawi is overcome with embarrassment. Ultimately, many years later, Mawi is able to appreciate his father’s considerable talents and intelligence: “All that time, the thought had never occurred to me that my father had once been a hero. Or that he might still be a hero, tragic and flawed though he might be” (106). 

In this chapter, the narrative returns to the present, with Mawi entering high school, just before Tewolde’s death. As he becomes older, Mawi realizes the unique values instilled by his refugee parents, one of the most important being the ability to see worth in everyone. 

He also realizes that academic success will ensure he is able to take care of both himself and his family in the long run. Mawi begins to devote himself entirely to school, taking the most advanced courses possible: “The hard work paid off. I often got the highest grade in the class, and I carried an A through the entire first semester” (112). However, when Tewolde is killed by a drunk driver, Mawi is stricken with grief and almost forced to abandon his dream of securing an academic scholarship. Eventually, he decides the best way to honor his brother’s memory is to press on with his academic pursuits. He continues to study hard, and secures good grades.

In addition to academic achievements, Mawi also becomes one of his high school’s top track athletes, and the student body president. When it comes time to apply for colleges, Mawi sends applications to eight competitive schools, knowing he must gain a scholarship in order to attend. Thankfully, his hard work and well-roundedness pay off and, not only is he admitted to the majority of the schools, he is also offered a full-tuition scholarship to Harvard University.