“the Broken Weather Machine” Book Analysis

Children’s Book Analysis

        “The Broken Weather Machine”, a children’s book, is an allegory for the country of Syria. The geographic terms that are included in the children’s book are: forced migration, push factors, pull factors, refugees and internally displaced persons. Forced migration is when a person has to involuntarily leave their home and migrate to a new land because his/her life is in immediate danger or will be soon. Push factors are factors that help a person decide whether he/she should emigrate from the region he is currently living in or not. In short, push factors “repel” a person from his homeland. Pull factors are factors that help a person decide whether he/she should migrate to a new region or not. In short, pull factors “attract” the person to the new region. Refugees are people who seek asylum in other countries because their lives are threatened in their homeland. Internally displaced persons are people who are forced out of their homes, but are still living in their own country.

Syria is currently in the midst of an ongoing civil war that started 4 ½ years ago because Bahsar al-Assad, the president of Syria, refuses to step down. Since then, out of the 11 million Syrians that have been forced out of their homes, around 7.6 million are internally displaced while over 4 million of them have left the country. More and more Syrians are leaving the country because of push factors such as poor living conditions caused by the civil war. Regardless of race, gender, religion or status, citizens who live in zones targeted by either the government or the opposition forces have to move to other areas in order to preserve their lives. Syrians are limited to two options: either stay in Syria or migrate to other countries. The majority of the Syrian refugees migrate to three neighboring countries: Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. However, the influx of refugees in these three countries strains their resources; as a result, more refugees aim for European countries such as Germany because of pull factors such as being able to live safely and more comfortably than in their homeland.

        In “The Broken Weather Machine”, the village that Karen lives in represents Syria. Just as the Weather Machine in the story gives the village “clear skies and warm sunlight”, the government of Syria unites the country and leads it. However, the Weather Machine breaks down and causes the weather to be unpredictable, just as the government stops functioning and becomes unstable. The unpredictable and therefore dangerous weather drives the cats out of the village; similarly, Syrians are forced out of their homes and even out of their country because of push factors such as political instability, armed conflict, and poor living conditions. Due to the unpredictable weather, the cats go to the shelters to seek refuge, just like the Syrian refugees that seek asylum in other countries. The “many cats huddled into little groups by the road” in the story represent internally displaced Syrians who are coerced out of their homes but cannot leave the country. When Karen departed her village to move to a shelter, she was told that the nearest three shelters were already full, and that she would have to travel further to get to a safe shelter. In reality, this represents the three neighboring countries Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan as full of Syrian refugees, so that new refugees have to travel further to countries in Europe. In the story, Karen and others “cross rivers, hike up mountains and walk in the rain for hours without a break”. This represents the hardships that some of the Syrian refugees face when migrating to a new region: crossing seas, bypassing security checkpoints, travelling in harsh conditions, etc. In the end, Karen and her group managed to reach the shelter they were looking for and settled down comfortably. However, the Syrian refugees that seek asylum in other countries cannot stop worrying, as more refugees strain the resources of the host countries and thus leads to a dwindling amount of resources to be shared by everyone.