Reasonable Doubt

The novel Reasonable Doubt begins with a boy born to two odd couples—a male teacher and his female underage student. The teacher had statutorily raped his student, and she conceived a male child. The couple died without seeing their son. This boy, to the amazement of the people who saw him, was born without a shadow, but his shadow appeared when he turned two years old. The boy was raised by his half-atheist, maternal grandfather, who was a war veteran, and other Christian family members. The boy grew up to be a genius who, like his grandfather, started questioning popular societal beliefs on politics and religion. He later opts to become a medical doctor. As a medical intern in another town, he and his cousin, who turned out to be a corrupt police officer, robbed a corrupt politician. The politician was ultimately killed by the doctor due to the latter’s ideology and the former’s way of life. The young doctor justifies his action of killing the doctor with reasons. After killing the politician, he saves his stubborn landlady who almost died from appendicitis by operating on her at a state hospital where he works on his off shift. Later, he meets the landlady’s daughter who falls in love with him, and they eventually become a couple at the end of the story. The doctor had also met mystical beings Jesus and Satan in his flat on the day of the murder and debates with them about their existence. The young man, although he had killed another human being, strongly believe it was necessary. To him, there is no actual right or wrong, but those beliefs are all man-made. And although he had killed someone, he was never apprehended by the law because he and his corrupt police cousin defeated the cause of justice by tampering the evidence. This doctor had later helped a poor family with some of the money that they robbed from the dead politician. The title of the novel is based on the doubts that the young doctor developed because of how he was raised.The short stories are self-explanatory as they are not very long. National Natives is about the political illusions that most voters believe and not question thoroughly. A Man with No Soul deals with the question of the existence of a soul; that its religious definition makes less sense if examined. Rosa’s New Song is about a young woman who grew up in the city, and when she visited the village as an adult, she experiences a cultural clash. Not A common Human Being is about journalists whose work is not really about protecting people from danger, but simply to report matters which sometimes do not work to the interest the victim before them. With Snow White deals with the fact that some African people aspire to live like European people at a cost that is unnatural; thus making a fool out of themselves.