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”Insignificant Gestures”

This story ”Insignificant Gestures” is short story, written by Jo Cannon. This short story was written in 2007. In this story the main character is also the narrator. The character is looking back at his time as an expatriate district officer in Africa. His clinical routines were not like the ones in the western world. He worked under some hard circumstances; sometimes he even had to work in the middle of the night. He became a good psychiatrist, and in a few years he would be a consultant. He didn’t enjoy much in his normal everyday life, but he did enjoy one person, that was Celia, his housekeeper. She lit up his life, especially when she sat next to him every evening while drawing. But one night she suddenly became one of his patients at the hospital. According to a woman from the village, her boyfriend had beaten her up. She was almost unrecognizable whenever he saw her, but in spite of his very good medical qualifications, there was nothing he could do at the local hospital to help her. So they transferred Celia to a bigger hospital where he went to visit her pretty often and one day he met an African nurse, he was suddenly overwhelmed by his distant memories from Africa. After she got transferred he went to the police station to give a medical statement, and the boyfriend was put behind bars. About six weeks later he found out that Celia actually didn’t die because of the boyfriend, but because of meningitis. After he realized that it was from the meningitis, he felt so bad, because he could have saved her with a single shot of penicillin. Then he tried unsuccessfully to save the boyfriend, by telling his statement to the police.

This short story is written in a first-person perspective and the narrator tells the story in past tense. The story consists of a flashback, the part where the narrator tells us about his time in Africa, and the present time where he is a psychiatrist. In this short story Jo Cannon explain herself in a personal way, she is showing the main character’s emotions and feelings throughout the whole story. All the information we receive about the narrator is limited, he is in this short story working as a psychiatrist, and it also tells us a little bit about his time in Africa, working as a district health officer. The narrator is a little emotionally enclosed, because the first time he speaks about his time in Africa, is when he meets the nurse from Africa at the hospital. Maybe if he would have dealt with his experiences a lot sooner, he would still be a doctor.

Celia the housekeeper, was more likely like a friend to Jo Cannon, they would sit down every now and then, drawing together at night. The narrator didn’t really have any contact with other people than Celia, and of course his colleagues at the hospital. Celia reminded him of the little things in life. From my point of view the connection between them got even stronger day by day. The “relationship” between Jo and Celia, was the only thing that kept him happy. But then she was a patient at his hospital and suddenly it all became weird, he felt so bad. If he would have discovered the meningitis symptoms he could have help her and he would have been able to give her the proper treatment. He also causes the imprisonment of a totally innocent boy, the boyfriend. The only thing at this time, that could make him smile, was the accent of the nurse from Africa. She brings the same joy to him as Celia did, right before she died.

The significance of time and place means a lot in this short story. A lot of people around the world can accustom you to a new place right away. This can also be the main reason why Jo and Celia got this kind of relationship. Celia is his way out of his “horrible” work at the hospital.

Jo Cannon has portrayed how some people react emotionally on the smaller insignificant gestures compared to others. These things are sometimes a little eye opener, which we need to connect with others, who are just like us.