Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of the most prolific of the contemporary Kenyan writers. He has been an outspoken critic of colonial rule, Christianity and neo-colonial abuses of Kenyan authorities. Ngugi wa Thiong’o began his literary career in English, but then he decided to reject English and write solely in Gikuyu, his mother tongue. His work, Decolonizing the Mind, explains how he came to write in Gikuyu and is also an exhortation for the African writers to write in their native tongues instead of paying tribute to the foreign languages. Ngugi and his supporters were opposed by several African writers like Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka among others. But Ngugi is of the view that by writing in foreign languages like English, French, and Portuguese, …show more content…
For Ngugi, attacking language means attacking or ruining people’s memory bank. Ngugi highlights importance of language, as a means of communication as well as an agent that carries the weight of civilization. Dismemberment of Africans is made possible solely through the weapons of language, religion and education. He writes well:
The bullet was the means of physical subjugation. Language was the means of the spiritual subjugation… the physical violence of the battlefield was followed by the psychological violence of the classroom. But where the former was visibly brutal, the latter was visibly gentle. (Ngugi, Decolonizing 9)
Ngugi emphasizes that language is the carrier of culture and culture cannot be separated from language. It is through language that culture develops, articulates and transmits itself from one generation to another. Language carries the images of the world contained in the culture by written literature or orature. Ngugi
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Practitioners of this Euro-African literature claimed that European languages were really African languages and that they were trying to Africanize English or French or Portuguese. The works of these writers have highlighted Africans struggle against colonialism and neo-colonialism, but this is also true that their works belong to “Afro-European literary tradition” or “hybrid tradition” or “a minority tradition” which will last as long as Africa is under the rule of European capital in a neo-colonial set up (27). Due to language choice, African elite is completely uprooted from the people of Africa and tied to the West. For Ngugi, writing in African languages is the only means of liberation from colonialism and its hangover for the Africans: African literature can only be written in African languages, that is, the languages of the African peasantry and working class, the major alliance of classes in each of our nationalities and the agency for the coming inevitable revolutionary break with neo- colonialism. (Ngugi, Decolonizing
Mazrui, Ali A. "The Re-Invention of Africa: Edward Said, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Beyond." Research in African Literatures 36, no. 3 (Autumn 2005): 68-82.
Amy Tan talks of the English she grew up with. Tan describes an English her mother uses and an English she shares with her husband. Tan sprinkles in the emotional intricacies of a personalized language that is burdened by misconceptions and apprehensively describes this language as “broken,” but expression through the use of a “broken language doesn’t invalidate what is being said, it doesn’t devoid passion, intention or imagination it simply differs from a normality. Envisage expression as ubiquitous. The differences rest in the vessels used to express. Here, I am using the English language, a grandiose entangling of words and a structured system, to indite my thoughts.
In the novel a Grain of Wheat written by Nugugi we explore in-depth the hardships and courage of African men and women who were forced to fight for their independence in the War of Independence. This book reveals to us the life of a man named Gikonyo. As a reader we learn that Gikonyo was through into a detention camp a poor and confused man. When released, Gikonyo is a new man with motivational and leadership abilities. Finding his true self in the camp and proving to be a true leader among his people. Although he is a new man after the camps, Gikonyo finds himself falling further apart from his beloved wife then he had ever been before.
• AW’s work is deeply rooted in oral tradition; in the passing on of stories from generation to generation in the language of the people. To AW the language had a great importance. She uses the “Slave language”, which by others is seen as “not correct language”, but this is because of the effect she wants the reader to understand.
The Fantasy of Out of Africa vs. the Reality of Ngugi's A Grain of Wheat
Hidoo, Rose. Culture in Chains: Abandonment in the Work of Selected West African Writers. Owerri, Nigeria: Black Academy, 1994.
Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart is a narrative story that follows the life of an African man called Okonkwo. The setting of the book is in eastern Nigeria, on the eve of British colonialism in Africa. The novel illustrates Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs, and his eventual downfall, all of which basically coincide with the Igbo?s society?s struggle with the Christian religion and British government. In this essay I will give a biographical account of Okonwo, which will serve to help understand that social, political, and economic institutions of the Igbos.
William James, a famous American philosopher, once stated, “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives”. This quotation effectively illustrates how change in one’s attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can alter the environment in which one lives. This concept is clearly demonstrated throughout the novel Things Fall Apart, authored by Chinua Achebe, by establishing a connection through the development of its characters and the change in traditional African tribal villages seen in the Nineteenth Century. It will be established how various characters demonstrated by the author throughout the novel exemplify how change in one’s attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can alter the environment in which one lives addressed by William James’s quote above. First, by analyzing Achebe’s development of Okonkwo’s character through his initial character description and the emergence of outsiders, it is evident that he is portrayed as an old fashioned character that is less responsive to change. Secondly, through examining Nwoye’s character, Okonkwo’s son, it becomes apparent that the youth in the novel are more open-minded, easily persuadable and more adaptive to societal changes. Lastly, uncovering the meaning behind the arrival of European missionaries, it becomes apparent that Achebe defines this group as being a “disease”, poisoning the society in which Okonkwo lives. The author look’s at individuals as being critical and influential figures in shaping the environment to which they belong, beginning with Okonkwo.
History has been told through various forms for decades. In the past, history was more commonly expressed through word of mouth, but more recently in the past century, through written text. While textbooks and articles give formal information with little to no bias, novels give a completely new perspective from the people who experienced it themselves. The Novels, God’s Bits of Wood, written by Sembene Ousmane, and No Longer at Ease, by Chinua Achebe give a more personal account of the effects of colonization. These two novels tackle the British and French method of colonization. God’s Bits of Wood takes place in the late 1940s and sheds light on the story of the railroad strike in colonial Senegal. The book deals with different ways that the Senegalese and Malians respond to colonialism during that time. No Longer at Ease is set in the 1950s and tells the early story of British colonialism and how the Nigerians responded to colonization. Comparing the two novels, there are obvious similarities and differences in the British and French ways of rule. African authors are able to write these novels in a way that gives a voice to the people that are most commonly silenced during colonialism. This perspective allows readers to understand the negative ways that colonization affects the colonized. Historical fiction like God’s Bits of Wood and No Longer at Ease are good educational tools to shed light on the history and effects of colonization, but they do not provide a completely reliable source for completely factual information.
The white man considered Africans to be primitive savages. They were seen as inferior, second-class citizens. Chinua Achebe was an African novelist who sought to give the African people a voice. Achebe gave a prospective of African culture that had been missing from the literature. The white man primarily composed works of literature, therefore there was a skewed representation of African culture. Achebe conveyed a greater understanding of African culture through his first novel Things Fall Apart. This analysis will examine Okonkwo’s power and lack of freedom through his wealth, property, and actions.
Ngugi Wa Thingó. Writers in Politic: A Re-engagement with Issues in Literature and Society. Revised and enlarged ed. Nairobi, Oxford and Portsmouth: James Currey,East African Educational Publishers and Heinemann, 1981.
Thus, Ngugi attempts to recover the suppressed history of Africa, he insists on the importance of history as says: ‘‘History is very important in any people. How we look at our past is very important in determining how we look at and how we evaluate the present.'' (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, 1978) Thus, Thiong’o repeatedly insists the necessary to rewrite and portray true history. For this reason, Ngugi in his novel explicitly reveals the historical truth and resort to quoting significant historical characters, such as Waiyaki Wa Hinga, Jomo Kenyatta or Harry Thuku
...econd African Writers Conference, Stockholm, 1986. Ed. Kirsten Holst Petersen. Upsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1998. 173-202.
Having done the above analysis on my favourite text, “Anowa” by Ama Ataa Aidoo, I realise that my like for the text has heightened because the analysis of Anowa has given me a deeper understanding of Africa’s colonialism. I now know what actually led to our colonialisation (the betrayal) and how it began (the bond of 1844) through the personal lives of Anowa and Kofi.
Nobles, Dr. Wade. Seeking the Sakhu: Foundational Writings for An African Psychology. 1st. Third World Press, 2006. Print.