Minutes of Glory

This is the story of a young African woman named Wanjiru who has been transplanted from her home in her native village in Africa to a bar in the city. Wanjiru, who quickly changes her name to Beatrice, spends much of her time pining away for acceptance from the new African "elitist" crowd. These wealthy businessmen who have profited in this impoverished country, frequent the bars that Beatrice works at as a barmaid and often pay for prostitutes that work in the bars. Furthermore, Beatrice feels insignificant and unattractive next to her peers and assumes it is due to her looks when really it may be her poor attitude. Ironically, it is the fact that Beatrice does not herself become a prostitute that makes her co-workers jealous of her. Beatrice feels that if she can just attract wealthy men who will buy her clothes and other worldly gifts, that she will find happiness. Eventually, Beatrice ends up robbing a man who has found himself stuck in the same level of social status as she. With the money she has stolen, Beatrice purchases various items which she thinks make her more attractive to the men that frequent her bar. Sadly, Beatrice does not know that her attractiveness comes from a level of confidence that these items give her and not from the items themselves. I found multiple themes within this story such as "Money can't buy happiness", "The grass is always greener on the other side", and "Don't judge a book by its cover".