Ngugi wa Thiong'o stories and the Decolonization of the mind

Reader response of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s “Minutes of Glory”, “Wedding at the Cross” and excerpts from Decolonization of the Mind.

“Minutes of Glory” is a tale of self discovery and social irony. The main character of the story is named Wanjiru, which is the name of a Goddess from old folk tales in Kenya. This Goddess was an amazing sight and a bit vain with her suitors. The Wanijiru from “Minutes…” renames herself with a British name, Beatrice, which means “blessed by God with beauty”. During the telling of this story Beatrice was invisible to men and her self confidence was dying in the darkness of her mind.  Beatrice was jealous of many of the women who attracted the attention of rich, wealthy men and that just drove her further into self loathing. Although she was constantly in an atmosphere with beautiful women, rich men and debauchery Beatrice endured, up until the point when she met a “self-made” lorry driver. This lorry driver (which is never named) used Beatrice as an ear to her all of his problems of his life and past. One night Beatrice had enough, she wanted to tell her stories, so she did. As Beatrice poured her heart and soul out to this man, he fell asleep (seems like a typical man). In a fit of rage and growing self confidence, she stole his money (a few hundred bills) and went shopping, hoping to obtain the power in which all the other women had (to gain men). She gained the stockings, heels and dresses which drew men to sultry women and she felt empowered, but there was a drawback: I don’t think her mind was just set on “sexual power”, it was set on revenge. Revenge on the society that only dealt in sex and physical attraction. Eventually Beatrice, with her new clothes, went back to the bar she worked at. As soon as she walked into the bar she was instantly looked on with lustful eyes and she danced in the glory of attraction, which, I think, she always wanted. But her past caught up on her, the lorry driver, with help from the local police caught her and arrested her. She went without a fight, but spit on the patrons of the bar, cursing them for not lifting a finger to help her when they were just all over her.
                I feel that this story shows the development of a social outcast who finally hit her breaking point and just snapped. In the “snap” of emotion she gave in to the social needs of British culture in order to gain power over men and jealousy from women, but in the process she just drove deeper into hating herself. At the end of the story, she knew she lost but still wanted the attention from the patrons of the bar (which she quickly lost). Society only wants to see the “pretty” things, not wanting to see the dirty things which live in the shadows of the glory of the privileged.

“Wedding at the Cross” is a straight-up story about colonization and the loss of self. Wariuki the town drunk, having fun and enjoying the freedom that comes with being himself, catches the eye of Miriamu. Miriamu is from a “good Christian” family and her father owned several groceries around town. Now, being from a strict household, Miriamu is infatuated with the free-spirited Wariuki, and he acknowledges the passion between them and agrees to meet her family. In the meeting with Miriamu’s father, Wariuki is humiliated and cast off into the streets.
                Now, with his pride in shambles and manhood torn down, he leaves defeated. Mirimau is still in love with him and they elope and make a living for themselves, but Wariuki never forgets the father’s words. Driven by the feeling of uselessness Wariuki re-invents himself; dubbing him Dodge W. Livingstone Jr. With this new name comes the fortune and prestige of having a British name. This leads the now Dodge Livingstone to collaborate with the British during the Mau Mau liberation to gain land, and thus power and wealth both he felt were the key to impress Mirimau’s father.  As the liberation lessened the power Dodge gained grew; he was soon the owner of a limber company, was well known in the community and on his way to become an elder in the church.
                 In all of this Mirimau found herself drifting father and father away from her love. He was obsessed with the image of a rich, wealthy man in order to impress her father and all she wanted was her free-spirited Wariuki back.
                Dodge Livingstone finally felt that he had the level of prestige needed to marry Mirimau with her father’s blessing. They were set to marry at the cross, meaning “at a church”. During the vows Dodge Livingstone was definite with his willingness to answer his vows while Mirimau waited…and said no. No to her marriage to Dodge Livingstone she just wanted her Wariuki back, but he was dead.
                I connected this story with Anakin and Padme in the Star Wars saga. Padme is torn with loving the man but loosing he love to the corruption growing within him. Anakin is torn with the visions of losing his love to death and he tries with all his power to save her, but in the process Anakin is lost to the human side of himself and is drawn into the darkness of corruption. In the end, the events are the same in “Wedding…” the husband loses his love and the wife is gone, either in freedom or in death (which is a kind of freedom).

The first three chapters of Decolonization of the Mind list language as the first step of colonization. I believe that it is true and the only way to reclaim your “self” is to reclaim your language. In Decolonization language is key, the key to control and freedom. Ngugi wa Thiong’o uses many references to support his theory of language and colonization of the self. With any culture “taking” over another less “primitive” culture language and religion is the first things to target. With those ideals taken away from those who absently give them up, colonization is much, much easier. The native culture is colonized first by their own hands (and/or minds) and then by the people who are “superior”. This practice is/was used by the Christians in the crusades, British-American’s and the Native Americans, British and all of its colonies, and so on and so forth. Language in all its forms is the foundation of any culture; you remove language the society will crumble.

The Gordimer 3

Reader response for Nadine Gordimer and her stories: “Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants,” “Amnesty,” and “Six Feet of the Country.”

“Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants” tell us of the events between three main characters (the narrator, Jack, and the “con man”). The Narrator of this story is an older white female who lives alone, away from her family, just because she doesn’t want to be a burden to anyone. She is the manager at a local service station and oversees a garage full of Beatle want-to-be greasers (who have little respect for anyone) and a group of “natives”. Jack is a “native who has been working at the service station for over 23 years and is very active in learning and “reading” the faces of people who come in. He has a form of street smarts, he knows who is lying (or scamming) and knows who is truthful. The “con man” is from out of town “just passing through” in a fancy car, but with bad tires. He says he’s in town to get money from some people but ends up losing everything and scamming the one person who needed someone in their lives: the narrator.

I believe that because the narrator was so desperate for “white male” attention she let her needs cloud her judgment of the con man. This man targets her with her smooth silver tongue and drags out the events that lead to her giving him money and a room to stay in (and a little “time together” at some points). Jack, being the outside view of the story, quickly sees the con man for what he is; a lying, poor fool. His words are met with closed ears as the narrators want for companionship supersedes her common sense. Jack often notifies the narrator about the trouble that the con man will cause. It’s not till the end of the story does the narrator finally understand the Jack was right, and she should listen to his advice more often.

“Amnesty” is the story of a family torn apart by activism and the need for understanding of the events that can free a nation. The “husband” in this story has a job in the city as a construction worker and builds skyscrapers, but is quickly enthralled with the new rights he has under a union. He is also caught up in the riots and revolts that the other men are active in. his “wife” is stuck at home raising three families (the “husbands” family, her own family and the new family growing as the “husband” is off in the city. At first the work in the city didn’t affect the family farms much because he sent money back home, but over time the visits became less and less and the money soon stopped. The daughter of the couple is named Inkululeko, which means “freedom”.

This story opens the eyes of the men who think the families (mainly the wives) do nothing to help “raise freedom” and such. But is not true, they support the movement, even when they are not seen. They raise the children, the crops and the thoughts of freedom and revolution into the children. The mothers of “freedom” place their hopes in the next generation, for the current movements can only go so far, but the actions can break the surface so the next generation can make the real changes.

“Six Feet of the Country” is the story of a body and what that body means to different people. “Six feet…” has five speaking characters and each impacts the other in different ways. The first two are the white family who owns the property that has a population of servants; the family tends to keep out the servants lives as long as they do their job. The wife (Lerice) connects with the servants and soon becomes one of them in the eyes of the husband. The husband (unnamed) is a business man who keeps his distance from the servants (and his wife). The other three characters are all related two sons and their father. Petrus (one of the sons) works for the white family and was smuggling his brother into Johannesburg, using the farm as a stopping point (like the Underground Railroad). The other son soon died after catching pneumonia while running from Rhodesia and caused the conflict in this story.

The now dead brother was taken by the health officials and was buried as “just a slave”. Petrus and his father begged the husband to get the body back. Now this is where it gets interesting; the man is suddenly powerless against the system. In the “white” world he is in a position of power, but against the greater system, he is powerless and is stuck against a wall. Petrus and the rest of the servants need the body back to prepare it for the afterlife so the soul is not stuck here on earth as a haunting spirit. The husband is a practical man and doesn’t understand the need for a dead body; it’s a waste of money and emotion. The wife respects the servants’ views and urges her husband to do something, but he cannot, even the “white man” is powerless against the opposing system.

The trio of Achebe

A reader response to Chinua Achebe’s trio of stories: “An Image of Africa”, “Girl’s at War”, and “The Madman”.

“An Image of Africa” attempts to break the notion of the ‘dark heart of Africa’ and its people (both in culture and art). This lecture is Achebe’s reader response to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and he does so quite intelligently and pulls from resources that his audience would know quite well (F.R. Lewis, Frank Willett and others). His audience in this case is the British, those who are trying to colonize the mind, body, and property of the African people. He writes, to me at least, with a hand that is superior to those that are invading his country. He shows that he is knowledgeable and quite literate, and exposes the truth about the “savage natives” to reveal a noble people that have an old and bright art community and a wealth of knowledge and languages. Just because a person cannot speak the “noble” language, doesn’t mean they are ignorant. The colonization of language is the first step to servitude, for when you forget your roots, you start forgetting yourself.

“Girls at War” is a story of irony, both in the sense of something bad happens to someone good, and something good happens to someone bad. This story is told from a third party (the main characters are not telling the story) about Reginald Nwankwo (the typical “man in charge”) and Gladys (a woman using every resource to survive). Nwankwo is the typical narcissistic military man who totes his power around like the medals he wears on his chest, both loving and hating the war and its rules. Loving that power that the battles give him and hating that he too has to be subject to the laws of the military (car checks and such). He has free reign of the ration supplies and hands them out to family and friends, never picks up people on the side of the road and keeps up the appearance of the big man on campus. Gladys embodies three different personalities during the tale; the idealist that is willing to die for the freedom of her people, the jaded businesswoman/ hooker that uses her natural resource (her body) to survive the war torn nations in the war, then the martyr that, even though he is a stranger, she sacrifices her life to try and save a wounded soldier. The good person, in this case Gladys, dies being the savior of a soldier (which also dies), and the bad person, Nwankwo, survives due to the fact he is only out for himself.

“The Madman”, again full of irony, is a tale of mental instability and what a nation of people can do to each other. The narrator, just named ‘the madman’, is a poor, naked fool who talks to the road and squats in the market stall of other people. He is subject to jeering from children, whipping from people on wagons driving down his precious road and bullies in the marketplace. If I had to put up with all those things I would go crazy too, and resort to anything to survive. Our second character, Nwibe, is a man of power. Soon to be elected into the tribe’s elder council, controls the marketplace, and has many wives. Nwibe is considered to be a man that doesn’t start something that he isn’t able to finish.

One day, Nwibe is rinsing off the sweat of a day’s work in the men’s bathing area of the river and, being watched by the Madman, is clueless to the events that will happen. The Madman swipes Nwibe’s cloth (pants) and runs away from the river into the market. Nwibe, now naked, is furious and basically foaming at the mouth because his cloth was taken. Not being smart about the situation, he runs, naked, after the madman for his cloth. During the run of the market patrons make comments about Nwibe being crazy, but he is only focused on getting his pants back. The constant scolding of the people of the marketplace eventually sinks into Nwibe, and he becomes blind to the madness building up in him. One of his wives, Udenkwo, is only one of a few that recognizes Nwibe, now naked and running around the marketplace crazy. She rescues him and takes him back to their house, but the damage is done. The constant “crazy” comments have permeated his mind and his wife called for doctors to cure his mind, the first doctor refuses, because he doesn’t believe that Nwibe is crazy, the second doctor takes the job for the money. Soon, Nwibe is “cured” of his sickness and the doctor is praised for his work, but Nwibe is never the same. The doors to madness have been opened and they can never be closed. In this case the irony is double again; a good thing (new pants) has been given to a crazy person, and a bad thing (losing pants and then his mind) happens to a ‘good’ man.

During the readings of these three stories I felt the hand of Achebe guiding my mind to the mindset of the African people of the time and the suffering they endure and the measures they go to in order to survive. Madness, prostitution, and literary knowledge are all tools that can be used to live in war-torn lands. It’s not pretty, but you will survive. The measures of the human mind can only be conquered if the person wills it to be. For if the mind falls to, in this case, colonization the body is not far off.

The Stranglehold

A reader-response to “Stranglehold of English Lit” by Felix Mnthali

The poem “Stranglehold of English Lit.” by Felix Mnthali is what seems like a rally cry for those who need/want to think for themselves. Stranglehold was read in class by our teacher, Ruth Benander, with a lot of emotion and volume, most likely not as loud or emotional as the author would read it. I believe that Felix Mnthali literary yelled as loud as he could to be heard by all in earshot. The message of this poem is to not lose your culture and lifestyle in the midst of a new culture taking over (in this case European culture vs. African culture). Jane Austin and her works glorifying the “calf-love” (line 24)of European culture is the target of “Stranglehold”.

During this time few black Africans were leaving the rural villages and moving to universities (those who were “smart enough”) and were forced to study European Literature, and eventually forgetting their own culture for a time, falling in love with the perfect European picture drawn by Jane Austin and other writers.  Mnthali calls for a return to the heritage that will soon be lost and undermined by the powerful European culture.  He calls it the heart of the alien conquest (lines 34-35), and I agree with him. The first few steps of conquest of a new government/culture are to assimilate the old ways and replace them with your own; as the Christians did with the Pagans of Europe.

When I read this aloud I put more feeling into the words. The first stanza uses line spacing to separate powerful words (stand, stab, jab, and gore) from the main lines. These words set the tone for the rest of the poem, something is dying and we must do something to rescue and protect it.