Throughout the novel, there has been evidence that the authorities are corrupt. Such as how Folarin's article, 'Our Children's Future', the truth, are "sending their children to the most expensive schools and colleges of England and America" (Naidoo 58), while Folarin's children and many others don't have this luxurious education and money. This is an example of the authorities being corrupt because the authorities are only thinking of their own children, not the children of Nigeria. Another example of the authorities being corrupt is how the police would take money from drivers in order to let them pass, although "mostly taxi drivers with minibuses full of passengers had to pay up" (Naidoo 58). This is being corrupt because the police is taking advantage of the taxi drivers who have to pay to go past since the passengers would be exceptionally angry if the taxi driver didn't take them to their destination because of police who won't let them through since they haven't paid.
I believe the feeling Sade felt in the paragraph, which begins with "Soon they were traveling…", were depression and how unrealistic her situation is. The type of depression Sade was feeling at that moment was home-sick. I believe this because at that moment Sade was thinking about how she was separated from her family, how she was "thousands of miles away from home… Grandma and all the family… and, most terrible of all, Mama… forever and ever" (Naidoo 58). Beverley Naidoo was able to express Sade's thoughts on this by using "…", making you pause when you read. Alike to when you are extremely sad, and attempting to get your words out. Although being home-sick can happen to anyone, when I think of someone being home-sick, I think of a depressed small child. I believe that this concept connects to Sade's home-sickness because of the phrase "forever and ever". In this context, it is the sort of phrase a child would use. To enhance the feeling of Sade feeling homesick, Beverley Naidoo included a flash back to a routine they would go through in the morning; "…Papa listened every morning at breakfast to the BBC World Service broadcasting from London" (Naidoo 58) and how "Mama would put her finger to her lips if Sade or Femi started to talk. It had been like that only yesterday morning" (Naidoo 58). Beverley Naidoo included this flash back to enhance this emotion because that routine that they had gone through all their life, was gone, after 1 day, that routine, was no longer possible.
Sade also felt that her situation is unrealistic because there were many sentences that suggested unreal items. Such as the phrase "a postcard view of London up the river. Like the one Uncle Dele had sent them" (Naidoo 58). When you receive a post card, on the front there is a perfect view, a view of where you are not, since you are the one receiving it, and in many cases, a view that may not be captured again, due to the lingering people. But they are seeing this view, that used to be just a piece of paper. So it was unrealistic, since it was as if Sade had entered the postcard itself. Connecting to how Sade felt that the things they saw might just as well be cardboard cutouts on a film set they had entered by mistake" (Naidoo 58). This sentence is useful in this context since movies easily give away to the audience that their situation looks real, but it isn't real, since that's what movies are.
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