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A POST COLONIAL READING OF NGUGI WA THIONG’O’S THE BLACK HERMIT 

AYOOLA AKINKUNMI OLAMIDE   

mide_ayoola2002@yahoo.com

Just like every other theory, Postcolonialism is western because it was developed before post-colonial era. It is a political project about the subversion and deconstruction of colonialism. It concentrates on Eurocentrism by reacting against the imposition of European culture on other cultures. It aims at putting an end to colonialism, imperialism and cultural hegemony.

Postcolonial writers usually attempt to form a postcolonial version of their own countries, rejecting the modern and the contemporary, which is tainted with the colonial status of their nations. This is the awareness of representations of the non-European as exotic or immoral “other”. Postcolonialism therefore examines the representation of cultural diversity and its treatment in literary texts.

Postcolonial literary theory is applicable to the understanding of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s The Black Hermit, especially the phase of protest and cultural self-assertion. It is the phase of western criticism and agitation of cultural, economic and socio-political independence.

As an African play, the Black Hermit dwells on the problem of the postcolonial Kenyan society. The theme of the play centres on the conflict between an African culture and the Western culture as well as the conflict between the Christian ideology and the Traditional religious doctrine. In the play, Remi, the archetypal educated elite, embraces alien culture and becomes alienated. He allowed himself to be assimilated and he “assimilated”. He is forced to look down on his own people. Being the first university graduate in his village, he now considers the tradition of husbanding his late brother’s wife as barbaric. What he prefers is to marry a white lady, Jane, in the city.

The concept of hybridity is also foregrounded in the play. In order to call Remi back home for political leadership, the village elders devise the means of traditional magic power, while his mother, Nyobi, consults the pastor to use the power of the Bible. The pastor represents the Christian ideology. The missionaries champion Western education by teaching religion alongside education – the three Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic).

Ngugi also reacts against the established authorities/value of the colonists in the play. The problems of taxation, oppression, forced labour and abuse of power become the bane of national development in postcolonial African society. It is emphasized in the play that tribalism always prevents people from advocating societal development.

In the play, Ngugi as a postcolonial writer per excellence hammers the question of what Uhuru (independence) has brought to the people. Although politically free, the people are still in social bondage – of tribalism, culture, economy and religion as patterned by the colonialists.

Like other postcolonial writers, Ngugi uses the play, The Black Hermit, to reclaim the African past and erode colonial ideology by which the past has been devalued. In the play, Remi goes into self-exile in the city. He later claims to be tired of the city. This suggests a sense of nostalgia or homesickness.

Such other postcolonial issues as disillusionment, tribalism and racism versus nationalism are portrayed in the play. The two sides involved in this conflict are the family, tribe and race on the other hand and the whole nation on the other. The playwright condemns factionalism at various levels of society in the interest of overall harmony and progress.?

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

          Ngugi Wa Thiong?o, the author of, Weep Not Child(1964), The River Between(1965), A Grain of Wheat(1967),The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976),Petals of Blood (1977) Devil on the Cross (1982), and so many other novels and plays was born into a polygamous family in Limuru, Central Province near Nairobi Kenya in 1938.. In 1946, his mother sent him to a mission school and in 1947 to a Kikuyu School at Karinga where he stayed until 1954. There was however a break in his education between 1948-1950 because of the Mau Mau insurrection in Kenya. He was at the Alliance High School between 1955 and 1958.He was at the Makerere University College in Kampala Uganda where he studied English. He was a Lecturer, Makerere University till 1970. Visiting Lecturer North-western University, Evanston, Illinois, 1970-71; Lecturer, University of Nairobi 1971; Associate Professor 1976. It was in October 1977 that he came out with the play Ngaahika Ndenda which when it was translated and published by Heinemann as I Will Marry When I Want, It was written in conjunction with Ngugi Wa Mirii. After only a month’s performance, the government revoked the license to stage the play. By December 1977, Ngugi was in jail.

Ngugi now lives and works in the United States of America where he believes he would get the freedom he needs to concentrate on his writing. He is happily married to Nyambura.

References:

Barry, Peter (1995), Beginning Theory, Manchester University Press.

Ngugi Wa Thiong?o, (1963), The Black Hermit: Makerere University

Press.

Webster, Roger, (1996), Studying Literary Theory: An Introduction to Second Edition. London: Arnold.

Ayoola Akinkunmi Olamide, Born September 16, 1977 is a graduate of English and Literature from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in Nigeria.He is currently teaching Literature in English.

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