68 pages • 2 hours read
William KamkwambaThe Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Key Figures
William Kamkwamba
William is the narrator and protagonist of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. At the beginning of the book, he believes in magic and superstition, though as he educates himself and nurtures his scientific curiosity, he comes to discover that he needn’t rely upon those elements to define his world. Instead, he’s able to build a windmill to harness the power of the wind, generating electricity that can light his house, pump his family’s well, and charge cell phones. But the windmill does more than that—it’s a beacon of hope and inspiration for all who see it.
William has to overcome many obstacles on his quest to build his windmill. At the TED conference, he becomes known for the phrase, “And I try, and I made it” (268), a phrase which came to define his outlook on life itself. For a boy who never really fit in—whether in a house of girls or in a clubhouse where he wasn’t welcome—William discovered his place in his family, in his village, in Malawi, and in the world.
Trywell Kamkwamba
Trywell is William’s father, a man of great physical strength and, in his youth, a reportedly unlimited capacity for alcohol. After getting into a number of fights, he is finally arrested and offered his freedom if he converts to Christianity. After agreeing simply to earn his freedom, he comes to find God and eschew his people’s beliefs in magic and superstition, which he didn’t put much stock in anyway.
Despite the fact that his farm will legally pass into William’s hands should he die, Trywell is supportive of William’s dreams and scientific endeavors. The reader learns that Trywell respects this law when he gives his brother’s farm land to Jeremiah, John’s son; even though he knows Jeremiah has little interest in farming. He tells William, after he has been working to make improvements to the windmill, that he’s proud of him. He also supports William by paying for his education when he can afford to do so.
Geoffrey, Gilbert, & Charity
Geoffrey is William’s cousin, and Gilbert and Charity join him to make up William’s close group of friends. They play with him as children, when they re-enact American movies, and they continue to support his imagination, ultimately helping him construct the windmill.
President Muluzi
President Muluzi represents the government, and more importantly, corruption. He has Chief Wimbe beaten when he speaks out against him, denies the existence of the famine, and through the government, fails to properly support schools, leaving William’s school without desks. By the end of the book, he has acknowledged the famine and its disastrous effects, and the government has started supporting the farmers again, but William suggests that corruption is not completely gone.
Tom Rielly
Tom becomes a fast friend of William’s at the TED conference, where he helps him put his presentation together and get funding. Tom represents professional acclaim in William’s life. Like the investors he talks to, Tom instantly takes William’s story and innovation to heart, championing him and his windmill.
Soyapi Mumba & Dr. Mchazime
Soyapi Mumba and Dr. Mchazime both discover William and his windmill, and believe in him. Not only do they get him to the TED conference, but they also help him resume his education.
