Ngugi wa Thiong’o (James Ngugi)

Excerpt from Decolonization of the Mind, “Wedding at the Cross,” and “Minutes of Glory” are intense writings by Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Of these three stories I would like to discuss two of them, “Wedding at the Cross” and “Minutes of Glory.” The meaning behind the text of these stories has a personal relationship to everyone everywhere. The colonization of the mind is everywhere in our world. Here in the United States it is still alive. An example of how our lives are still being colonized is the royal wedding happening later this week. Here in the US we do not have royalty, so we look to those we broke away from to be associated with royalty.

The actual text relates to me in a different way than the royal family does, partially because I have not really been keeping up with the royalty. In “Wedding at the Cross” there are many things that I got out of it. I am in a relationship that I hope leads to marriage sometime sooner than farther down the road. If my significant other would change into a person that I did not find myself attracted to I would feel as she did, that the man she loved was dead. As every girl, we want our man to get along with our parents, but not turn into them.  Essentially this is what he did in the story, become like her father, colonized.

In “Minutes of Glory,” as everyone wants to have things they do not have, we are compatible to Beatrice. In everyone’s life we have seen someone that we looked up to and strived to be like them or maybe better than them. In the story Beatrice wanted to be just as wanted if not more than her co-worker. When she couldn’t get it she stole to achieve it. In today’s lifestyle some do the same, for example shoplifting.

Both of these text clash with my view of the world. I now see how some people are colonized so much to the point that the beliefs they have are contradicted by their words and actions. We say we want to be free and do not want to be ruled by a monarchy, but we try to connect ourselves with the lifestyle. These stories also did the same. They were Africans who let themselves be colonized in the mind while they did not realize that is what was happening.

In reading I learned more about what it meant to colonize the mind. Seeing that certain parts of the world have such a large affect on others that it makes them change to be more like the more liked country, it makes me feel as if they change for the wrong reasons.  I see this as important because the United States is the one that seems to influence many places, there are others that also influence us, but to me we need to be somewhat independent. I feel that we should not just change something because someone else says it is better.

The text explains the feelings of the characters very well. It allows the reader to connect to the story in that way. I had no idea that the English way was how many places based their lives. The texts shocked me in the way they were told. The plots were not in the traditional manner that I am used to so the resolution to “Minutes of Glory” was shocking and “Wedding at the Cross” was also shocking. I was surprised with the way she did not accept the way he had changed would not give in to the colonization. I felt like saying “Good for you!” These texts are very informative for college students and would be good for all to read and discuss.

Nadine Gordimer

In this reader response I will be talking about three readings. These include, “Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants,” “Amnesty,” and “Six Feet of the Country.” These short stories have nothing to do with me, but at the same time they have everything to do with me. I have been kept in the dark on the problems over in Africa that I never would have thought it would matter if I knew about their way of life or not. Now taking this course and reading these stories I see how wrong I am. In my schooling career I have never been taught anything about the African culture, way of life, or of any problems that are happening over there in the past or present.

                Some people seem to think that the American way is the only way, well that is fine for those who live here in America, but convincing those in Africa that the way things are done over there is where we go wrong. They need to learn the things that are important to the country not irrelevant material from another.

                All of the text seemed to clash and agreed with my view of the world. For me the first story “Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants” has one large problem that the world presents even now. The last line says, “It just shows you, a woman on her own has always got to look out; it’s not only that it’s not safe to walk about alone at night because of the natives, this whole town is full of people you can’t trust.” In other words you can be of any race, gender, area, you can’t trust anyone. This can be so true in our world today. We like to think that it is not, but it can be the truth. In the story “Amnesty” there is also a clash. The woman is left alone to raise the children while the man is out fighting for the “freedom” of his people seems to be almost heroic. To me this seems almost like in today’s world the idea of the soldiers who are fighting oversees. Here the author supports both sides. What the man is doing is important for the future of all generations, but the woman is left to suffer without having the perfect life she wishes for, being married and having the family she wants.

                The third story addresses a slight problem with me. This story showed me how some people can get so caught up in themselves that they do not even care how it affect others. The man in the story who is called Baas is a very self centered individual that needs to be taught a lesson. He doesn’t even have respect for those who are deceased and their families. I see this as a very important thing in the world. I just feel that it is morally right to respect those who have lost a loved one no matter who they may be. You would want to be treated nicely. Just like the golden rule says, “do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.”

                Overall I am glad I had the opportunity to read these stories. They were very informative on life in the African ways. These literature readings are good for everyone to read because for the knowledge of what is going on around us. I was angry with the text especially after discussing it in class. The things that others pick out of a story help me understand more in depth on what is going on in the reading. I had never realized the hard reality that people from other countries go through.

Chinua Achebe

In discussing three writings by Chinua Achebe; “An Image of Africa,”  “Girls at War,” and “The Madman” I was able to see how he felt about the treatment of the Africans. These stories relate to me in my past, present, and future. This is so because they all have to do with racism and the literature we study in schools today. Growing up I did not really pay attention to know that there are different types of literature. Where I went to school I was never exposed to African Literature that I am aware of. Now knowing that there is such a thing and how it has been put down over the years opens my eyes to the terrible racism in literature.

The racist literature clashes with my views of the world. I strive to have a peaceful world that surrounds me. I think it is wrong to tell Africans or anyone that their writings are wrong and beneath other writings, for example Europe as described in the readings. I see this as something very important in the world. If we cannot be equal and without racism in literature then how are we to be equal in every other way?

I see that Achebe is upset by the degrading of African Literature in the first writing “Am Image of Africa.” He says that a European writer by the name of Conrad can’t be considered a writer of great literature especially when he writes something like “Heart of Darkness.” He says that he is a “bloody racist” and “Heart of Darkness” is very misleading.

In the second reading “Girls at War” there was a lot of irony. The way the woman, Gladys, changes in the story from a good person, to a person she has to be, and then die trying to do a good deed. He talks about Nwankwo, a big man and a member of government, who is better off than most. He only helps those who are close to him or who he chooses like he chose Gladys.

“The Madman” was probably the easiest for me to understand. It says to me that people label others before they even know the reason for their actions. This happened when Nwibe had his clothes taken from him by the Madman and chased after him. The title Madman was them given to Nwibe for the action he had taken. To me Achebe is saying that that happens to Africans all the time and they do not appreciate the assumptions. This also goes for their literature. Just because they are ruled by another country it does not mean that the history they have created is meaningless since they were not able to write it down.

I found all of these readings very interesting. At first they were a bit confusing, but they are very informative. I also learned more about the writer and his views.