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.