the decolonisation of english in and through - Pondicherry University ...

THE DECOLONISATION OF ENGLISH IN AND THROUGH
POSTCOLONIAL FICTION: A SELECT STUDY
Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the award ofthe degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN
ENGLISH
BY
SOLOMON REES. N
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY
PONDICHERRY - 605 014
NOVEMBER 2005

Dr. Sujatha Vijayaraghavan Department of English
Reader in English Pondicheny University
Pondicheny - 605 014.
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the dissertation entitled 'THE DECOLONISATION
OF ENGLISH IN AND THROUGH POSTCOLONIAL FICTION: A
SELECT STUDY," submitted to Pondicheny University in partial fukilrnent
of the requirements for the award of the degree of DOCTOR OF
PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH, is a record of the original research work done
by Mr. N. SOLOMON REES during the period of his study 2002-2005 in the
Department of English, Pondicheny University, under my supervision and
guidance, and that the dissertation has not formed before the basis for the
award of any Degree. Diploma, Associateship. Fellowship, or any other
similar titles.
Pondicheny
Date: 2< /I or (Dr. SUJATHA VUAYARACHAVAN)
Rofessor 6 Head
Department of Engiish.
Pondicheny University.
605 014, Indu
WUTIIA VUAYALAOWVb.
BWmFR IY ENGLISH
?ONBICHERRY UY~VERSIR
IOHDICHFIllV .a5014

N. SOLOMON REES
Research Scholar
DECLARATION
Department of English
Pondicherry University
Pondicheny - 605 014.
I herehy declare that the dissertation entitled "THE DECOLONISATION
OF ENGLISH IN AND THROUGH POSTCOLONIAL FICTION: A
SELECT STUDY," submitted to Pondicherry University in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of DOCTOR OF
PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH, is a record of the original research
work done by me under the supervision and guidance of Dr. SUJATHA
VLJAYARAGHAVAN. Reader. Department of English, Pondicheny
University, and that it has not formed before the basis for the award of any
Degree, Diploma, Associateship. Fellowship, or any other similar titles.
I
Countersigned
(Dr. SUJATHA VIJAYARAGHAVAN) (N. SOLOMON REES)
SUJATHA VllAYAMGWVAl
ICABCI IY ENGLISH
MNDICHERRY UHIVERSI'II
PONDICH~RIV . *I3 014

For My
Mom and Dad

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
NOTE ON DOCUMENTATION
CHAITER PAGE
I INTRODUCTION 1
11 THE NATlVlSATlON OF ENGLISH 65
111 RE-POSITIONING THE CENTRE:
ASSERTING THE COLONISED CULTURE 138
IV INTERROGATING COLONIAL DISCOURSES 217
V SUMMING-UP 304
WORKS CITED 313

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There has been many a loving heart whose heartbeat has helped me
march along the dreary paths to see the completion of this work. As I keep
trudging on the uncertain terrain of life, I wish to pause and look back to
remind me that "I haven't made it all by myself," but scores of people have
come along to lend a helping hand and whisper an encouraging thought.
Though I realize that my sense of gratitude is too deep for words, I wish to
place on record my hearty thanks to all those dear ones who mean so much to
me.
Firstly, I thank God for being a faithful friend all through my life. His
Grace has been sufficient for me indeed.
My sincere gratitude to my parents who have been .everytIung to me. I
feel privileged and thank God for giving such parents in them.
1 am immensely indebted to my supervisor, Dr. Sujatha
Vijayaraghavan who introduced me to the field of postcolonial studies,
initiated this field of research and saw to it that I completed this work. She
stood by me during tough situations and has constantly encouraged me. My
thanks to her.
I also thank Dr. P. Balaswamy, Head, Department of English and other
members of the faculty- Dr. N. Natarajan. Dr. Clement Lourdes, Dr. Murali,
Dr. H. Kalpana and Dr. Nikhila for their words of encouragement and
suggestions. I thank the office staff and other Research Scholars of the
Department for their support.
I am also thankful to the late Prof. C.D. Narasirniah, Prof. Paul Shanad,
Prof. Eugene Pinto, Prof. P. Marudanayagam. Fr. Peter Francis, Dr. Lingaraj

Gandhi, Prof. C.T. Indira and Dr. Azhagarasan whose comments and
suggestions influenced my work.
I thank the staff of the Pondicheny University Central Library, Centre
for Australian Studies Programme, University of Madras, IACIS, Hyderabad,
CIEFL, Hyderabad Central University Library. SCILLET, Madurai, CUL,
Mysore and Dhvanyaloka. Mysore.
I thank Mr. Moses Charles and Mrs. Chandra Moses for their love and
affection. My thanks to Mr. John Irnmanuel and Ms. Julia Persis who have
come to mean a lot in my life. I am also indebted to Mr. Daniel Muthuvel,
Mr. Joshua Muthuchand and Dina and for their love and support.
I also wish to acknowledge the significant contribution of my friends
who have prayed. wished and helped me in many ways during the course of
my research. My sincere thanks to Joe Varghese for his help and to Lis Marie
for proof reading my thesis. I thank Jonathan, Vijay Palavay, Victor and Delcy
and the Pueu 'gang' for all the good times I shared in their company and for
making my slay memorable.

ABSTRACT
This thesis is a study on the strategic use of English by postcolonial
writers where the language becomes an area of contestation and is handled
creatively to funher the cause of decolonisation. An attempt has been made to
foreground this claim in the following novels that have been chosen for study:
Gabriel Okara's The Voire (1964). Ngugi's A Grain of Whear (1%7), Sam
Selvon's Moses Ascending (1984). Wilson Harris's Palace of the Peacock
(1960). Mudroom's Doin Wildcar: A Novel Koori Scrip1 (1988) and Kim
Scott's True Counr~ ( 1993).
Chapter I surveys the hisloricily of English in the colonised countries
of Africa. Caribbean and Australia. and highlights the need to examine the role
of English in postcolonial fiction. The role of English in the process of
colonisation is examined and the reasons for a postcolonial writer's critical
engagement with it are analysed. It also seeks to foreground the fact that
English does become a bone of contention in postcolonial writing and is used
creatively for political purposes by these writers. The various ways in which
English is appropriated and nativised in the project of decolonisation are also
analysed. The choice of novels. writers and the field of study are justified. The
objective and the contents of the following chapters are outlined in this
introductory chapter.
Chapter I1 analyses the appropriation of the English language by these
writers who include it as part of the thematic structure of their novels. They
not only write in English but also write about it. Each writer according to his
cultural background experiments with the language by incorporating the native

idioms and structure of their local languages. In the process, the conventional
form of the standard variety of English is altered to make it more culturally
relevant to their societies. The second chapter scrutinizes how each writer
works his way towards nativisation of English as he captures the local variety
and fuses it with the conventional form. The will to violate the standard
variety marks the postcolonial resistance in using the language of the
colonisers for clear political ends.
Chapter 111 is a study on the strakgic use of English for the
valorisation of the writer's own culture. Since language is an embodiment of
culture, English king a non-native variety, is deliberately used to carry the
cultural experience of his life. Given the fact that during the colonial process,
the culture of the colonised was often dismissed a. inferior, it becomes a
political act when these writers use the English language to assert and
celebrate their own culture. The oral literary forms and cultural practices are
not only given expression hut also validated as essential components in the
assertion of writer's native life. The novels are analysed in this chapter to
highlight thc use of English by these writers for the purpose of cultural
assertion.
Chapter IV analyses thc postcolonial writers' use of English for
confronting colonial discourses with their counter-discourses. Histories are
rewritten from the colonised point of view. binaries are suhverted and racist
ideologies are investigated. Since colonial discourses had far reaching
consequences in the process of colonisation, postcolonial writers take it upon
themselves to write back in the same language that was used by the colonisen.
The English language is used against the colonisers questioning their
ideologies and assumed superiority over the 'other'. Though each writer is

varied in his thematic concerns, this chapter highlights the shared interest of
the novelists who use English for counter-discursive purposes, which forms a
part of the more complex challenge of decolonisation.
Chapter V is the conclusion. This chapter seeks to draw together the
arguments of the preceding chapters. Though the novelists studied here are
varied in their thematic concerns and fictional strategies, the study confi
the nativisation of English and its deployment to valorise the writer's native
culture and to offer counter discourses form the matrix of decolonisation in
these novels. It also confirms that English is indeed an area of contestation and
postcolonial writers, in various ways, decolonise the language and use it for
ideological purposes.

NOTE ON DOCUMENTATION
For quotations from the primary sources, the following editions are
used and references to pages have been incorporated parenthetically with the
abbreviations against the titles:
Okara. Gabriel. The Voice. London: Heinemann, 1964.
Ngugi. James. A Grain of Wheat. London: Heinemann, 1967.
Selvon. Sam. Moses Ascending. 1975. Introd. Mervyn Moms.
London: Heinemann. 1984. MA
Harris. Wilson. Palace ($the Peacock. London: Faber and
Faber. 1960. PP
Mudrtx)roo. Namgin Doin Wildcar: A Novel Kmri Script.
Vicroria: Hyland House. 1988. DWC
Scott. Kim. Trur Country. Western Australia: Fermantle Arts
Centre Press, 1993. TC
References to secondary sources are also given parenthetically within
the body of the text. The lisl of works cited is placed at the end of the text
The style sheet recommended by Gibaldi, Joseph in MLA Handbook
for Writers of Research Papers, Sixth Edition (New York: The Modem
Language Association, 2003) is followed.

CHAPTER - 1
INTRODUCTION
For nearly six centuries now western Europe and its diaspora have
been disturbing the peace of the world. Enlightened, through their
Renaissance by the learning of the ancient Mediterranean; armed
with the gun. the making of whose powder they had learned from
Chinese firecrackers; equipping their ships with lateen sails.
astrolabes and nautical compasses, all invented by the Chinese and
transmitted to them by Arabs; fortified in aggressive spirit by an
arrogant, messianic Chnstianity of both the popish and protestant
varieties; and motivated by the lure of enriching plunder. white
hordes have sallied forth from their western European homelands to
explore. assault. loot. occupy. rule and exploit the rest of the world.
And even now. the fury of their expansionist assault upon the rest
of us has not abated. (Chinweizu 3)
The casualties of colonisation are far too great to be assessed in its
entirety. The explorers who assumed to have discovered the colonies not only
charted new sea routes but alw changed the course of history for these
colonies. The desire to know and to report details of their discoveries of land
and people often proved to he an exercise in imaginative discourse that was
grounded on their fears. prejudices and selfish motives. Hence savages.
barbarians and cannibals were constructed which made a fascinating reading
to the then reading elite of the west. Also these narratives gave colonisers the
moral edge to justify their acts of violence that were unleashed on the natives
of the colonies. While it is difficult to come to consensus as to who suffered

the most during the colonid excesses, the singular experience that b i
Africans, West Indians and Australian Aborigines is the victimisation made
possible by guns and texts. Any sign of resistance on the part of the
indigenous people was met with brute force of bullets. Equally destructive
were the denigrating discourses of textual violence that denied recognition of
these colonised as human beings and thereby enhanced the process of
colonisation.
It is also worthwhile to note that postcolonial literature does not consist of
writings about the indigenous people by sympathetic western writers but by
the natives themselves who speak for their cause. It is the voices of the
suppressed people which break the shackles of stifling forces and express the
felt experiences as an act of self-assertion. Therefore the contestation of
postcolonial writing is the contestation of the politics of representation while
exposing the scribal power of Eumpe in the construction of colonial
discourses. Because the postcolonial writer writes from an alternate viewpoint
as he addresses the colonial discourses and the discriminating binary
constructions. postcolonial writing stands in direct conflict with colonial
writings and stereotypical representations by the west. As the writer is socially
committed. he acts as the spokesperson for his tribe and community and hence
his conflicting view is the voice of the community which he represents. A
postcolonial writer is therefore more than a creative writer as he is drawn
voluntarily into the political ramifications of his concerns. Ken Sam Wiva's
trial and execution in Nigeria and Ngugi's detention in Kenya are cases in
point which would supplement this line of thought.
The present study is an attempt to examine the nature of English usage
in postcolonial fiction. Even as the novelists indulge in creative writing, their

involvement with language is crucial to the analysis of postcolonial fiction
since they use various strategies to appropriate the language so as to suit their
ideological intentions. Given the fact that English came to the colonies along
with the colonisers. it has the dubious distinction of being the coloniser's
language. It was used as a powerful tool in the process of colonisation and
thnved in the colonies at the expense of indigenous languages. As language
and culture are inextricably intertwined, the induction of English brought
cultural alienation in the colonies. English was effectively used in the
construction of colonial discourses which furthered the cause of colonisation.
Therefore a postcolonial writer's engagement with the English language is
also simultaneously an exercise that reassesses. through the grid of fiction, the
cultural and linguistic positioning of the ex-colonised. which are inexmcably
embedded in the political history of the colony and its own recurrent
consequences. In the present study. an attempt is made to place in critical
perspective the role of English in postcolonial fiction with specific reference
to African. Carihhean and Australian Aboriginal writings. The postcolonial
novelists express their unflinching involvement not just with the experiential
content of their writing but also with the medium through which it is
conveyed. As English, in the historical context. happens to be the coloniser's
language. it becomes paramount in the postcolonial mponse of these writers.
Therefore this study examines the ideological purpose of new English usages
in poslcolonial fiction as the most powerful postcolonial usage of English. As
English language is the field of contention of the cultural politics of these
writers, fiction becomes a means in which history is the content.
In this chapter, an attempt is made to place English in its historical
context and its role in the colonial enterprise, which would explain the need to

eview the English language in a postcolonial setting of Africa, Caribbean
and Australian Aboriginal societies.
English and the Construction of C old Discoumes
As the coloniser's language, English was used in the construction of
colonial discourses. Everything that pertained to the colonised was dismissed
as barbaric and wild. Damaging discourses and negative images were created
which had far reaching consequences on the natives. Racism was manifested
through the power of language, as the colour 'black' was associated with
negative connotations. Being the oppressor's language, English became the
language of oppression. Since the colonisen considered themselves as a
superior race, English naturally became the elitist language and was placed
above all other indigenous languages. It was an accomplice in the civilising
mission of the colonisen. The colonisen realised the power of language to
transform the lives of the natives. To teach the language of Shakespeare,
Milton and Pope was also to teach their values, morals and systems of belief.
Therefore English was used in a very calculated and systematic way to civilise
the presumed barbaric societies. The linguistic colonisation of English paid
dividends in consolidating the colonial rule.
The early colonialist writings such as the diaries and reports from the
colonies provided the spark for English literary writers to romanticise the
theme of colonisation in Defw's Robinson Cwoe. Shakespeare's The
Tempest, Conrad's Hean of Darkness, texts that have been widely discussed
as synoptic of colonisation through the textual space. Though these texts are
imaginary voyages written for reasons other than political, the images,
metaphors and tropes created by them have had a major share in the
perpetration of textual violence. In this context, Paul Longley Arthur opines:

This new form of fiction simulated contemporary accounts of
discovery voyages by incorporating the latest knowledge of the
world in painstaking detail, and adopting the same matter-of-fact
rhetoric used in genuine voyage accounts. Despite their high levels
of realism . . . writers of imaginary voyages in the setting of the
antipodes helped to create a social acceptance of colonial expansion
by imagining environments in which a European presence was
constructed as natural, beneficial and welcomed. (208)
Texts, therefore, played a crucial role in the construction of colonial
tropes which supponed colonisation by stining up the imagination to conquer
and control. As Edward Said observes in his Culture and Imperialism,
"imperialism and the novel fortified each other to such a degree that it is
impossible . . . to read one without in some way dealing with the other" (84).
Since representations and constructions of tropes and images masqueraded as
truths. colonisers assumed a moral responsibility and considered themselves as
apostles of truth on a civilising mission who have placed their lives at great
risk to redeem the indigenous tribes. Therefore even the economic exploitation
of looting and plundering of the natural resources was swept under the carpet
of these writings, which provided a falsified facade to the colonial motives.
Also the desire to know and to interpellate culminated in the desire to control
and to rule. The colonial discourses that supported colonisation and the
veracity of these representations were never threatened as they were readily
accepted by the west and returned with the .sanction of power. The text became
a site of power constructed by the coloniser's selfish motives, a site whose
empowerment came from outside the realms of literary creativity. As Edward
Said observes in his Orien~alism:

What they shared, however, was not only land or profit or rule; it
was the kind of intellechlal power I have been calling Orientalism.
In a sense Orientalism was a library or archive of information
commonly and. in some of its aspects, unanimously held. What
bound the archive together was a family of ideas and a unifying set
of values proven in various ways to be effective. (41-42)
The atrocities of colonisation were committed in an age when Europe
had given itself to learning and enlightenment. It is ironical to find that their
pursuit of knowledge ultimately led them to the experiences of the darker side
of humanity such as greed, materialism. violence and cruelty. The
advanceH' In the field of science and technology widened the gulf and
enabled the Europeans to assume a superior position and understand
themselve\ in relation to the inferior other. Social theories such as Darwin's
theory of evolution fuelled the fire of imperialism and instigated the west to
helieve that they were indeed a superior race. According to Michael Adas:
Those who held to the social evolutionist dogmas interpolated from
rather dubious readings of Darwin's writings were convinced that
the most benighted of the savage races were doomed to extinction.
Some observers, such as the Reverend Frederick Farnu, thought the
demise of these lowly peoples who had "not added one iota to the
knowledge. the arts, the sciences, the manufacturers. the morals of
the world," quite consistent with the workings of name and God.
(33)
Christianity was used as one of the effective weapons of colonisation.
Although the Christian missionaries were not always supported by the colonial
officials, the Bible certainly was used as one of the tools of colonisation.

Though Bibles were translated into indigenous languaga, the missionaries
used English as the administrative language. English hymns and choruses
were taught to the new converts. The Great Commission given in Mark 16:15
of the Bible to preach the Gospel was misinterpreted for selfish gains and
there was an organised suppression of the native religious systems. As
religious schism ravaged closely-knit societies, the colonisers capitalised on
the situation with their divide and rule policies. Achebe in his novels Things
Full Apart and Arrow of God, Ngugi wa Thiong'o in his novel The River
Betwmeen, highlight this issue where the traditional society breaks up because
of the difference in religious beliefs.
However. there is another school of thought. which believes that
Christianity helped the Africans in their struggle for freedom. The Bible was
inspirational to young African individuals in shaping their revolutionary
ideals. As Wauthier points out in 7Xe Literature ond Thoughr of Modern
Africu:
When the Europeans took ow country. we fought them with our
spar. but they defeated us because they had 'better' weapons. And
so colonial power was set up much against our wish, but lo, the
missionary came in time and laid explosives under colonialism. The
bible is now doing wha~ we could not do with ow spears. (2 18-219)
While there is an ambivalent response on the pan of the colonised to the
introduction of Christianity, it is ironic to observe that a religion that is
grounded on love and unity was used to perpetuate violence and division
among the natives.
Colonisation, therefore, is an enterprise that was supported by various
factors and ideologies of that time. resulting in the construction of colonial

discourses that salved the consciousness of the colonialists. The induction of
western scientific achievements in the colonies was yet another instance that
enhanced the west in self-aggrandisement of its utilitarian service to the
colonised. But the loss of C U ~ and N lraditional ~ systems was ignored under
the onslaught of western modernisation. Aime Cesaire in "Between Colonizer
and Colonized highlights this poetically thus:
1 hear the storm. They talk to me about progress, about
"achievements", diseases cured. improved standards of living.
I am talking about societies drained of their essence, cultures
trampled under foot. institutions undermined, lands confiscated,
religions mashed, magnificent anistic creations destroyed,
extraordinary po.ssibiliries wiped out.
They throw facts at my head, statistics, mileages of roads, canals,
and railroad tracks.
I am talking about thousands of men sacrificed to the Congo-
Ocean.
I am talking about those who, as I write this. are digging the
harbour of Abidjan hy hand. I am talking about millions of men
torn from their gods, their land. their habits, their life-hm life,
from the dance, from wisdom.
I am talking about millions of men in whom fear has been
cunningly instilled, who have been taught to have an inferiority
complex. to tremble, kneel, despair, and believe like flunkeys.
(340-341)
Colonisation was backed up by various ideologies and colonial
discourses. It was not just a straightforward political and military aggression to

invade the land and take conwl by force, though this was the physical mode
of operation. Physical violence was ably assisted by crafty ideologies and
textual violence which furthered colonisation that operated at different levels
in fields such as culture, religion, language, education, economy and
administration. affecevery nerve of life. Arguing against the metaphor that
colonisation was a simple journey towards the centre of power, Bill Ashcroft
in Posr-Cr)lonial Transformation brings in the concept of rhizome where there
is a smng network of power relations intertwined to smother any resistance.
He says:
The rhizome describes a root system which spreads out laterally
rather than vertically, as in bamboo, which has no central mot but
which propagates itself in a fragmented, discontinuous,
multidirectional way. . . . There is no 'master-plan' of imperialism:
the greatest advancement of cultural hegemony occurs when it
operates through an invisible network of tiliative connections,
psychological internalisations and unconsciously complicit
asswiations. (50)
Since the colonial enterprise is a complex process, postcolonial writing
engages itself with a host of issues that needs to be addressed. Though the
painful pmcess of colonisation is not central to all post-colonial novels, it is
nevertheless a watershed in the history of the colonies which had far-reaching
consequences and hence needs to be addressed. As the effects of colonisation
are felt in the psychological internalisations of the colonised, a postcolonial
writer does not write just back to the centre but in a more intense sense to
himself, sometimes addressing the comprador in himself, sometimes the
insurgent, sometimes the hybrid product of the colonial aftermath, but in any

case addresses himself as constructed by the episteme of colonisation. As
English was involved in the creation and proliferation of such discourses, it
becomes imperative to examine the postcolonial writer's use of the same
language in his project of decolonisation.
History: Emsure, Retrieval and Rewritings
Pre-colonial life is a compelling issue, which is recurrently addressed in
post-colonial writings. Since there can be no present without the past, these
writers often hark back to their cultural past to interrogate their present social
structures. As colonisation has effected a fracture in their history, the desire to
go back to their roots for recuperative purposes is one of the projects of
postcoloniality although at all times there is an awareness that the pre-colonial
past can never be recovered unaffected by the experience of colonisation.
Though the past is not always present as a pristine commodity, there are
elements that withstood the onslaught of colonisation which can be retraced.
Thus Achebe in Things Fall Apan, one of the earliest writings of
African literature: stresses the significance of various cultural components of
traditional life. which form the backbone of an African individual and
community as a whole. Since modemisation/westernisation, which came along
with colonisation, threatens the very fabric of indigenous patterns,
postcolonial writes incorporate the~r cultural artefacts as a vital part of their
narratives. Since colonisation has rendered a fracture in the traditional way of
life, the desire for the pre-colonial past is quite understandable. But given the
historical experiences of the colonised, such a retrieval of the absolute pre-
colonial past cannot be achieved. This simultaneous retrieval of past culture
indelibly overwritten by the colonial experience and of enduring traces of past
culture, such as the oratures for example, as meaningful for the present can be

found in postcolonial writings. In The Empire Writes Back Ashcroft et al. are
of the view:
Post-colonial culture is inevitably a hybridised phenomenon
involving a dialectical relationship between the 'grafted' European
cultural systems and an indigenous ontology, with its impulse to
create or recreate an independent local identity. Such construction
or reconstruction only occurs as a dynamic interaction between
European hegemonic systems and 'peripheral' subversions of them.
It is not possible to return to or to rediscover an absolute pre-
colonial cultural purity, nor is it possible to create national or
regional formations entirely independent of their historical
implication in the European colonial enterprise. (195-196)
In the African scenario, the closely-knit traditional life was disrupted.
Their traditional values that were largely based on oral heritage were
demonised and denounced barbaric and wild. Their songs, dances music and
ceremonies were considered acts of savagery. African languages were
misconstrued and were considered as brutal sounds close to that of the
animals. Colonisation had its impact on all these issues as their culture was
over-written by the western influence of the colonisers. The effects of
colonisation linger even after the period of active colonisation seen in the
overwhelming surge of modernisation/westernisation. Traditional societies are
never the same as their culture gets transformed by the ~nfluence of the
metropolitan culture. Churches are built to implant new religious beliefs and
the sacred symbols of the past lose their earlier significance. Societies stand
divided over their conflicting views on festivals and religious observances
which bound the earlier societies together. Native gods and clan deities

ecome demons and evil spirits for the new converts whose implanted
religious beliefs lay the foundation for Later religious divisions. Western
English education in local schools completes the cultural invasion as English
manners, customs, values and culture imposed on the native child, effects a
systematic erasure of native cultural values.
An African writer is aware of the impossibility of the negation of his
past and is also wary of the problems in retrieving his past. Neither is it
possible to create a pre-colonial past in the post-colonial scenario. On the
other hand he also realises the importance of his past cultural values for an
African individual. Therefore he draws inspiration from his oral heritage even
as he alters it to suit the present cultural need. Wisdom in riddles, proverbs and
stories are reworked and incorporated in their writings. The end of
colonisation in Africa saw the transfer of power to rulers who exercised their
dictatorial powers over the new independent countries. Postcolonial African
writers lake it upon themselves to challenge the corrupt political leaders and
work towards their project of decolonisation and hence the recourse to
indigenous native traditions through various strategies.
If the past. in Africa, was threatened and forcefully subjected to change,
in Caribbean islands it was entirely obliterated. The indigenous tribes such as
the Arawaks, Tainos and Caribs, sparing a few survivors, were wiped off from
the face of the earth. Along with them, their language and culture were also
destroyed. lnstead the slaves brought from the shores of Africa to work in the
plantations of the European colonisers peopled the islands. It was not just a
transplantation of Africans alone. There were also the East Indians who were
brought from India as indentured labourers. As a result Creole languages and
cultures evolved in the islands giving a distinct identity to the islanders. Since
they are completely removed from 'home' they remain outsiders' to their

traditional culture even as they struggle to identify with the present. Hence the
desire to migrate to London instead of Africa or India is a common trait found
in the West Indian society. As Claudia Jones points out the statistical details in
"The Caribbean Community in Britain":
This new situation in Britain, has been inimitably described in the
discerning verse of Louise Bennett, noted Jamaican folklorist, as
'Colonization in Reverse'.
Immigration statistics, which are approximate estimates
compiled by the one-time functional West Indian Federation office
(Migrant Services Division) in Britain, placed the total number of
West lndians entering the United Kingdom as 238,000 persons by
the year 1961. . . . Distribution of the West Indian population in the
United Kingdom indicates that, by mid-1962, over three hundred
thousand West lndians were settled in Britain. (49)
The mishap of Columbus's discovery resulted in the decimation of
native Amerindian tribes who were the indigenous people of the islands. The
term 'West Indies' itself is a misnomer as Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados and
British Guyana form part of the South American continent. However, the term
serves as a useful nomenclature of classification since all of these islands share
the common heritage of colonisation, slavery and indentureship. With regards
to the ironies that go with the term 'West Indian'. Michael Gilkes is of the
view:
Even the term "West Indian" contains certain ironies. A misnomer
to begin with-Columbus in 1492 thought he had discovered the
fabled Indies of Marcopolo--it was first used to identify the white

Creole plantation owners who had investments in the British
colonies within and around the Caribbean sea. In an eighteenth
century English play, the servants in a well-to-do London home are
making preparations for the arrival of the hero, the "West Indian".
(9)
The indigenous tribes were almost wiped out and African slaves were
shipped in to work in the plantations. The civilised white indulged in one of
the most inhuman and cruel practices of all time when African men, women
and children were chained and dragged to the markets to be sold and bought
like cattle. Rendered rootless and homeless, the African slaves in Caribbean
i\lands had to start their life afresh. Their past became a distant memory as it
had very little to do with the present Creole society. As Edouard Glissant
observes in Ccrribhmn Discourse:
Slavery was accompanied by reification: all history seemed to come
to a halt in the Caribbean. and the peoples transplanted there had no
alternative but to subject themselves to History with a capital H, all
equally subjected to the hegemony of Europe. Reification was
syslematized in racism: "All blacks look alike; the only good Indian
is a dead Indian". (248)
However. the West Indians who were mostly blacks and coloured folks
formed along with the East Indians, a hybrid society in the Caribbean islands.
The polyphonic setting of the ~slands saw the emergence of Creole. The
African culture and the Indian culture mostly influenced the new hybrid
Creole society. Therefore the Caribbean identity did nor arise out of a vacuum
but out of a heavy cultural baggage of each group. Ken Parmasad is of the
same view:

The colonial and post-colonial experience represents an important
phase of cultural sedimentation, but only one phase. Caribbean
peoples were not constituted by this experience out of nothing. We
bring with us thousands of years of other layers of sedimentation
which we access even when we do not recognise it. (22)
Therefore a West lndian writer is concerned with the experiences and
forces that are at work in the islands. Slavery. migration, racism search for
roots. identity crisis, nostalgic memories of home are some of the major
themes that are found in West lndian literature. Postcolonial Caribbean writers
are concerned with their past history and various colonial discourses that made
colonisation possible. One of the damaging discourses about the Caribbeans is
the duhhing of the Caribs as cannibals. During the early period, the colonisers
had to meet the stlff resistance of the indigenous tribes who fought hard to
preserve their land from foreign invasion. In the process. textual violence
proved to be very useful in physical invasion as certain tribes were obliterated
hy simply denouncing them as cannibals. Hilary McD. Beckles points this out
in "Klinago(Carib) Resistance to European Colonisation of the Caribbean":
Primarily because of their irrepressible war of resistance. which
intimated all Europeans m the region. Kalinago were targeted first
for an ~deological campaign in which they were established within
the European mind. not as 'noble savages', as was the case with
less effective Tainos. bul as 'vicious cannibals' worthy of
extermination within the context of genocidal military expedrtions.
(4)

As the past continues to haunt, postcolonial writem interrogate tbe
European versions of Caribbean history of land and people. The politics of
representation come to the fore as the writers investigate various colonial
discourses that operated as a powerful tool in the process of colonisation. The
myth of cannibal is punctured when the postcolonial writers confront the
European versions of truth. The writers take it upon themselves as a
responsibility to counter these falsifying images of their past and expose the
colonial designs that lurk beneath such constructions. Basil Reid in "Arawak
Archaeology in Jamaica: New Approaches. New Perspectives" points out:
. . . it is common knowledge that the pre-historic Caribs who settled
in the Lesser Antilles are still being dubbed as cannibals by modem
day Historians. To date. no archaeological proof has been found to
substantlate this claim and it is quite possible that the Caribs got
this infamous title because of Spanish and English propaganda
peddling. This issue is indicative of the need to explore aspects of
our Caribbean pre-history rather than accepting ideas at face-value.
(18)
Since texts were instrumental in the circulation of these discourses,
writers like George Lamming. Derek Walcon Sam Selvon and Jean Rhp
reson to the re-reading and re-writlng of western master narratives like The
Tempesr. Robinson Cmsoe and lane Eve. This is a recuperative strategy used
effectively by West Indian writers as they assen themselves through their
writings. Though the Caribbean islands are scanered and each h axa specific
identity of thh own, the colonial experience is common to all of them and so
arc their postcolonial concerns. As P.S Chauhan points out in 'Caribbean
Writing in English: Intimations of a Historical Nightmare":

Individual differences between works, marks of a mature
community of artists. would under normal circumstances subvert
any categorical or general remarks about the entire body of the
West Indian fiction. But neither the West lndian communities nor
their fictions developed under normal human political
circumstances. Though separated by distances and distinguished by
differing demographics, they were presided over by similar
histories of cruelty and exploitation. Whatever the size of their
economies, they were like wards of absentee landlords whose
affairs were managed by self-serving overseers accountable to no
local authorities in particular. (46)
As the Caribbean5 were thus textually constructed by the representations and
diwourws of colonirat~on, postcolonial writers seek to efface the perverted
narratives hy rewriting their past and present social conditions.
In Australia, Aboriginal writers are preoccupied with the history of the
land, people and experiences of colonisation. Though the native Australians
are people belonging to different tribes, the term 'Aborigines' is used as a
categorical classification for convenience to represent all Aboriginal mbes and
Torres Svait islanders. Also the present Australian Aboriginal society is
categorised as postcolonial a5 an ideological term rather than in the historical
sense of post-colonial. Almost all Black Ausmlian literature. irrespective of
the genre of expression concerns itself with the pas1 iu the Aborigines hy to
come to grips with the present. As the past is not readily available for the
Aborigines. there is a constant negotiation between the present modernity and
the remnants of their past culture. Since Aboriginal history runs counter to the
European versions of truth with regards to land and people. Aboriginal writers

attempt to rewrite history from the Aboriginal viewpoint. As Jack Davis and
Bob Hodge put it in the introduction of Aboriginal Writing Today:
For all the Aboriginal writers, history is more important, more
inseparable from literature. than would be the case for white writers
as a whole. After all, for white writers. history is in safe hands,
white hands, and they can take it or leave it alone. Aboriginal
people have been excluded from the pages of white history, and
denied access to the records of their own people. Aboriginal writers
cannot rely on anyone else to do the work for them. (5)
The colonial experience of native black Australians is different from
that of the African and Caribbean islands in that, the white colonisers came not
,just for exploitative reasons but to stay as permanent settlers and monopolise
the nghts of the land. Though the founding population of white civilisation in
Australia were criminals and outlawed citizens commandeered by colonial
officials, once they landed in Australia. they assumed a moral superiority to
that of the natives and by the power of guns gained control over the
indigenous uibes. Ever since James Cook landed in 1788. the native
Aborigines were subjected to cruelty and oppression, and became slaves in
their own land. The land that was sacred for the Aborigines was confiscated
for the construction of white mission settlements. The natives were captured
and forcibly brought to live in the mission settlements where systematic
measures were taken for cultural indoctrination. The Aborigines had an
experience similar to that of the African slaves when their family life was
disrupted as children were taken away from their mothers and sent to mission
schools. Having rrmovad from their families and alienated from their

traditional life, the natives were confined to the missions. As Kevin Gilbcvt
points out in his "Black Policies":
The 'reserves' and 'missions' became a refuge, as well as a prison.
The 'kamp Commandant'. the white manager, and the police kept
the worst of the barbarians away. Then these concentration areas
became 'home', offering the security of institutionalisation,
dependency on food supply, a little medical attention and above
all, peace from the madness and predictable hatred and unhappiness
of white society.
Night time curfews. separate compounds for boys and girls,
forced removal of family heads and husbands and mothen from the
family for work 'in service' or expulsion for being 'troublemakers'
were an acceptable alternative to imprisonment, death or burning
on the 'cheeky blackfella hoong fires' that profaned the landscape.
(36)
The white settlers completely ignored the fact that the land belonged to
the Aborigines before their anival and that the natives had a tradition of Life
that was as old as life itself. The native Aborigines are very much conscious of
their history and they have it recorded on their various cultural artefacts which
are passed on from one generation to the next. Jack Davis points this out in
"Aboriginal Writing: a personal view":
We, the Aboriginal people. have heen recording our history for
thousands of years. Our medium has been stone. hair, wood, the
walls of caves; and the flat surface of rock has been the canvas of

our ancestors. Hair string manipulated by fingers caa tell a rnynad
of stories and the land was our drawing board. (I I)
But the whites were ignorant of Aboriginal life and culture and they
called the land 'Terra Nullius', forgetting the Aboriginal presence and
literature. As Eleanor Bourke points out in "Images and Realities":
The land was declared desen and uninhabited later represented as
terra nullius and the various Aboriginal nations declared
uncivilised, . . . This seemed to justify the 'extinction' of a 'Stone
Age race' inevitably 'doomed' to extinction. Subsequently the half-
caste problem' would be solved by 'breeding out the colour', a
policy congruent with the idea of a White Australia". . . . (1 )
The settlers consciously ignored the presence of the Aborigines even as
they grappled to assert their control over the newly inherited land. They
considered the Aborigines also as immigrants and therefore felt justified of
their control over the land and people. But they could never come to grips with
the fact that the land helongs to the Aborigines.
The Aborigines had a spiritual relationship to the land and environment
as their consciousness was greatly influenced by The Dreaming. W.H Edwards
in An Inrroducrion ro Ah)riginal Scniefres explains the term as follows:
This is thought of by Aboriginal people as the beginning of their
existence. of their heritage and of their cultural life. The Dreaming
was the period in which dramatic events took place which shaped
the environment, its inhabitants and their life. Aboriginal people
trace their ancestry to the beings which participated in these events.
(12)

Contrary to the European belief that the Aborigines are migrants and
senlen of Ausvalia the native tradition asserts that they belong to the land
which they have inherited from their ancestors. They consider themselves as
people who live in Australia not for a few thousands of years but from time
immemorial. Since the Aborigines have a strong traditional background and
rich cultural forms. assimilation into the white stream of life is not easy.
Though many tribes have become extinct and languages disappeared.
colonialism could not erase Aboriginal culture completely. The Aborigmal
writers who write in the modern world still look back to their past oral heritage
and cultural forms and try to incorporate it in their writings.
Therefore the Aboriginal writers feel that it is their responsibility to
explain the past Aboriginal culture to the non-aborigines. The early white
anthropologists, missionaries and others who recorded the Aboriginal myths
rnisunders~ood and misinterpreted the cultural nuances and significance of
thew stories. Hence Aboriginal novelists seek to explain their cultural forms in
order to emphasise the richness of their oral heritage. Moreover when the
Ahoriginal writers tap the huge wellspring of their oral eadition, Aboriginal
writing becomes more culturally authentic and independent of white
Australian literature.
The coming of the whites saw the extinction of most Aboriginal tribes.
The Aborigines who were traditionally hunters and gatherers were forced to
live in Mission settlements and thus were forcibly estranged from their
cultural practices. Modern Australia witnesses Aborigines as fringedwellers
living on the fringes of white cities unable either to integrate into the white
mainstream or to go back to their traditional past. Though efforts are made to
record and preserve the few surviving cultural practices of the Aborigines,
what is lost is lost forever. Therefore postcolonial writers are wary of the term

'history', that Was affected by the experiences of colonisation, as they
constantly negotiate with their past to retrieve the existing structures. The
history of the society and race signifies more than the historical r e d of the
colonisen. It is a series of events and experiences, with gaps, fissures,
suppressed silence, and resistance. Hence they interrogate with the official
version of history, the grand narrative of the western panoply of knowledge
and attempt to rewrite it from a perspective that offers an alternative point of
view. But it would be grossly unfair to brand these writings as mere 'protest'
literature, for it seeks to scale above the realms of resistance. Though there is
distinct uncompromising resentment towards the experience of colonisation,
these novels move forward in trying to explain the historical and cultural
nuances that are unique to their society and to the world at large. Therefore the
novel. more than the mere unfolding of plot, with its multifarious role takes an
Important place in postcolonial writing. The Aboriginal writers are also
concerned with the history of the colonial contact with the white settlers. They
?j
de\ire to write the Ahoriginal version of it. which invariably standszpolemical
' ,",t'* to
to the European versions. The early contact with the whites was marked with
v~olence and brutality as the resistant natives were hunted down mercilessly.
Kevin Gilbert records of this colonial violence in "Black Policies":
When colonisation of thls, our land. hegan with Cook. Aboriginal
policies were based upon tradition: the immutable, the unchanging
social and spiritual laws of behaviour that had continued from the
time before time began, the creation. When the whites attempted to
land. to invade this tribal country, the appropriate signs were made,
'Go away!' You are entering our eribal grounds. To enter means

war'. And the annals of the whites tell us that this was iodeed the
cw.
The first spears were thrown. Then the first floggings ever
witnessed in this land occurred, then the first tortures, the first
hangings. the first shootings. the first invasion and occupation of
the land by aliens. A cruel, inhumane. barbaric alien. (35)
Since there are a lot of suppression of facts and distortion of details
regarding the early contact period, Aboriginal writers offer a counter
perspective of the Aboriginal history in their novels. They confront the various
colonial discourses that operated in the justification of colonisation and expose
the exploitative nature of the colonisers. As Shane Howard, a song writer, puts
ir in his song 'Solid Rock (Sacred Ground)':
They were standin' on the shore one day
Saw the white sails in the sun.
Wahn't long before they felt the sting
White man- White laws-White gun
Don't tell me that it's justified
'Cause somewhere-
Someone lied.'
Aboriginal writers act as a spokesperson for their community recording
their cry of protest and desire for recognition of their rights. Postcolonial
writers confront the discursive violence that was perpetrated by the colonisers
as they expose the racial and political underpinnings. which operate as the
fulcrum of colonial discourses. Grand narratives of the west are taken to task
as new narratives of the colonies stand in direct conflict with the old. Histories

are re-constructed from the native's point of view. Western canonical texts
that deal with colonies and the them of imperialism are reread and rewritten
from the counterdiscursive position. As Helen Tiffin observes in
"Recuperative Strategies In The Post-Colonial Novel":
The rereading and rewriting of the European historical and fictional
record thus characterises the post-colonial enterprise. Such
rereading and rewritings involve questions about ways of knowing,
how cultures are constructed and how signs mean. An examination
of European tropes, forms, themes. myths and the ways in which
these operate, not as cultural expression but as cultural control in
other environments, precedes their potential dismantling or
deconstruction. These subversive manoeuvres, rather than the
construction of the essentially national or regional, are
characteristic of the post-European text. (28)
Using English as a Political Exercise
As English was used as a powerful force in the textual violence that
was unleashed on the former British colonies it is significant to observe that in
postcolonial space, texts have always operated with great success along with
the physical resistance against the colonisers. When the swords and matchets
were met with the coloniser's gun, the native's power of pen became a potent
force to reckon with. Just as texts were used in the interpellative exercise of
colonisation, postcolonial writen use texts in their anti-colonial rants. As
Chris Tiffin and Alan Lawson observe:
Just as fire can be fought by fire, textual control can be fought by
textuality. . . . The post-colonial is especially and pressingly

concerned with the power that resides in discourse and textuality;
its resistance, then, quite appropriately takes place in- and from- the
domain of textuality, in (among other thing) motivated acts of
reading. ( 10)
Considering the fact that the pre-colonial societies in Africa and
Australia had its literary forms predominantly in oratures and the writing of
literary texts had its beginning in colonisation, the very act of writing by
postcolonial writers is conditioned by many factors. Colonisation suppressed
the voices of the colonised for many centuries and a whole tradition of native
culture was dismisd as barbaric. But when the natives mastered the master's
tools it gave them the leverage to express the raging voice of their community.
Therefore writing becomes an exercise in self-empowerment. As Bill Ashcroft
and Pal Ahluwalia point out in Edward Said: The Parndox of Identify:
Clearly, in societies with no tradition of literary writing, the desire
to write can become a highly charged and highly mediated political
act. sometimes issuing out of a very conscious affiliative tension.
Why one form of writing and not another? Why at that moment and
not another? The fulfilment of the post-colonial desire often occurs
as a function of that ambivalence instituted by the dis-articulation
of colonialism itself. (36-37)
Therefore when spears and matcheh had failed before the power of
guns and bullets, the new elite seem to have recognised the power of pen
which they wield not only to question colonial presumptions but also in
furthering the self-assertive voices of their community. As Jack Davis puts it
in "Aboriginal Writing: a personal view":

The pen can girdle
The world and hurdle
The sword that kills
And the grave it fills
So black sisters and brothers
Remind the white others
That the pen
Lives forever. (1 1)
X
If writing itself is a political exercise, then the language fheypmploy is
an issue that needs a thorough scrutiny. When a writer uses English in a post-
colonial bociety, he is forced to negotiate a lot of issues that pertain to his
choice and use of the language. First and foremost is the historicity of the
English language. English came to the colonies along with the colonisers. and
being the coloniser's language it war the language of the people of power and
thus became the official language in the colonies. If a native had to interact
with the white man he had to learn the white man's language fist. Therefore
English. along with many other factors. extended the rift between colonisers
and the colonised. It also created a schism within the coionised as it divided
the natives over their ability to communicate in the master's tongue. To speak
the language of power was a step towards self-empowerment and hence the
natives had a fascination for the white man's language.
Since English enjoyed the privileged position in the colonies, the native
languages were deprived of the space that is needed for existence. In A usda
and West Indies. many languages became extinct when its speakers were
killed in the colonial encounter. At school the native children were forced to
speak in English and were forbidden from using their mother tongue. Ngugi

wa Thiong'o records his painful experiences at school in 'The Language of
African Literature":
Thus one of the most humiliating experiences was to be caught
speaking in Gikuyu in the vicinity of the school. The culprit was
given corporal punishment--three to five strokes of the cane on bare
buttocks--or was made to cany a metal plate around the neck with
inscriptions such as I AM STUPID or I Am A Donkey. . . .
The attitude to English was the exact opposite: any achievement
in spoken or written English was highly rewarded; prizes, prestige,
applause: the ticket to higher realms. (288)
English was used as the touchstone for one's mental prowess. It opened
up avenues for a native child's advancement in intellectual and material
pursuits. The whole system was tuned in such a way that English became
indispensable in the colonies. Through lhese systematic measures, English
thrived often at the expense of other indigenous languages.
Since language is a canier of culture, those who learned the coloniser's
language swaddled between two cultures and in most cases the white man's
culture which was the dominant, had a strong influence on the colonised world
view. The colonial educational system which had a key role in the diffusion of
English and cultural imperialism widened this cultural divide among the
natives. The curriculum in the schools was designed to inculcate English
history, culture and values to the children in the colonies. Edward Kamau
Brathwaite points out the poor educational planning in "Nation Language":

. . . Shakespeare, George Eliot, Jane Austen--British literature and
literary fonns, the models which had very little to do, really, with
the environment and the reality of non-Europe--were dominant in
the Caribbean educational system. It was a very surprising
situation. People were forced to learn things which had no
relevance to themselves. Paradoxically, in the Caribbean (as in
many other 'cultural disaster' areas), the people educated in this
system came to know more, even today, about English kings and
queens than they do about our own national heroes, our own slave
rebels, the people who helped to build and to destroy ow society.
(310)
The children who studied these subjects were totally cut off from their
tradibonal values. They no longer could integrate fully into their cultural
practices as they strove to become like the colonisers. As a result, traditional
society was littered with mimic men who could no longer fully identify
themselve, with their native tradition nor were able to assimilate into the white
main stream. The induction of English brought cultural alienation in the
colonies. As Ngugi observes in Uemlonising the mind:
African children who encountered literature in colonial schools and
universities were thus experiencing the world as defined and
reflected in the European experience of history. Their entire way of
looking at the world, even the world of the inwehate envhnment.
was Eurocenmc. Europe was the centre of the universe. The earth
moved around the European intellectual scholarly axis. The images
children encountered in literature were reinforced by their study of

geography and history, and science and technology when Europe
was, once again. the centre. This in turn fitted well with the cultural
imperatives of British imperialism. (1 142)
The induction of English in the British colonies through various
Educational Acts and Policies throw light on the underlying colonial motives
of the colonisers. English was never meant to coexist on equal terns with
other indigenous languages. It was always scored high above the native
languages.
In Africa. English was just a contact language between the coast blacks
and the British sailon and traders in the early sixteenth century. But after the
Berlin conference in 1884, formal imperial rule was established in Africa
which meant a superstructure of colonial administration was imposed with
English becoming the official language. English medium education was
formally introduced with special government grants. Josef J. Schmied in
English m Afriru: An Introduction records a repon of a commission sponsored
by Phelps-Stokes Fund as follows:
. . . It is clear that there is comparatively linle, if any advantage, in
the continuation of a crude dialect with practically no powers of
expression. It is also evident that the need for a common language
is not essential to a large group of people speaking the same
language and living under conditions that do not require much
intercommunication. It may even be me that some one of the
Native languages may be so highly developed as to make possible
the translation of the great works of civilization into that language.
With due consideration for all of these elements and the modifying

circumstances, the following recommendations are offered as
suggestions to guide governments and educators in determining the
usual procedure in most African colonies:
I. The tribal language should be used in the lower elementary
standards or grades.
2. A lingua franca of African origin should be induced in the
middle classes of the school if the area is occupied by large
Native groups spealung diverse languages.
3. The language of the European nation in control should be
taught in the upper standards. (15)
?++
African dialects were always pushed to the periphery as&]functions
were greatly restricted by colonial enforcements. Since English was placed in
a privileged position, the Africans were made to realise the usefulness of
English in their personal self-aggrandisement. There was a systematic
suppression of local languages when English was considered synonymous
with education. English became mandatory if ever an African wanted to enter
into Government service. According to Josef J. Schmied:
There is a school of thought that argues that English was imposed
on Africans. for example through a system of 'certification'.
English . . . was not really made compulsory, but to obtain
government employment Africans had to have a certificate--and in
order to obtain a certificate a candidate was expected to be
reasonably proficient in English. (14-15)
The Anglican Church Missionary Society. along with other Catholic
missions also had its share in the expansion of English. Although they made a

significant contribution in studying and expanding African languages, they
used English in church organisation. Though Bibles were translated into local
languages they mostly used English in their sermons. The educational
programme in the schools that were run by the missionaries was also no
different from the colonial educational policies. Therefore, even though
overtly there was no forcible teaching of the English language at gunpoint. the
colonial strategies operated in a subtle manner that made English
indispensable in the colonies. Achebe in "African Literature as Restoration of
Celebration'' is of the view that.
It is simply not true that the English forced us to learn their
language. On the contrary British colonial policy in Africa and
elsewhere emphasised again and again its preference for native
languages. . . . We chose English not because the British desired it
but hecause having tacitly accepted the new nationalities into which
colonialism had grouped us. we needed its language to transact our
business. including the business of overthrowing colonialism itself
in the fullness of time. (8)
In the Caribbean islands, English was introduced in the schools when
the Act of Emancipation (1833) included measure to imw religious and
moral education to the Blacks. The Negro Education Grant provided financial
assistance to various missionary organisations which were more interested in
evangelisation than education. As Kenneth Ramchand in 7'hc Wesr Indim
Novel and its B&mund points out:
The different denominations did not have a system of systems, nor
was there ever in the ni-wteenth cenhuy a coherent set of objectives
for West Indian education. The Colonial Office advocated religious

education, the requirements of small farmers, and a gnunmatical
knowledge of the English Language 'as the most important agent of
civilisation for the coloured population of the colonies', and felt
that 'the lesson books of the colonial schools should also teach the
mutual interests of the mother-country and her dependencies; the
rational basis of their connection, and the domestic and social
duties of the coloured races'. (20)
Given the fact that African slaves who were brought to the Caribbean
islands were not even given the status of a human being, education of any kind
was denied to the slaves. Even in the nineteenth century, when the movement
for the emancipation of the slaves gained momentum, popular education in the
irlands was only the elementary education which hardly helped the West
Indian ~ndiv~duals to read and write. Due to the lack of funds the educational
programmes were carried out in adverse conditions. The schools. teachers and
the curriculum were of poor quality. Ln The West Indh Novel and its
Buc,kgmund Kenneth Ramchand goes on to add that,
But if the school places was low. the quality of education provided
was not correspondingly high. 'Existing accommodation is
frequently badly planned. and in a chronic state of disrepair and
insanitation. Teachers. are inadequate in number and are in most
colonies not well paid. Their training is largely defective or non-
existent. and far too great reliance is placed on the pupil-teacher
system. . . . Curricula are on the whole ill-adapted to the needs of
the large mass of the population and adhere far too closely to
models which have become out of date in the British practice from
which they were blindly copied! These remarks come from the

eport of the Moyne Commission on education in the islands. 1938-
9. In the dark days of the nineteenth century matters were even
worse. (21-22)
The negligence on the part of colonial policy makers had adverse
effects on the children who were the victims. Though they learnt English as
their first language at school, the European culture that was uansported
through these language policies made matters worse as their creative acumen
was stifled. Because of the poor teaching standards and cuniculum, the painful
process of learning did more harm than good. Slinger Francisco captures this
quite forcefully in his poem "Dan is the Man" which lengthy as it may be is
appropriate to quote fully:
1
According to the education you get when you small
You'll grow up with true ambition and respect from one an all
But in days in school they teach me like a fool
The things they teach me I should be block-headed mule.
Pussy has finished his work long ago
And now he resting and thing
Solomon Agundy was born on a Monday
The Ass in the Lion skin
Winkin Blinkin and Nod
Sail off in a wooden shoe
How the Agouti lose he tail and Alligator trying to get
Monkey liver soup.
I1

The poems and the lessons they write and send from England
Impress me they were trying to cultivate comedians
Comic books made more sense
You know it was fictitious without pretence
But like Cutteridge wanted to keep us in ignorance.
Humpty Dumpry sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty did fall
Gwsey Goosey Gander
Where shall I wander
Ding dong dell.. .Pussy in the well
Rikki . . . Tiklu Tavi.
Riklu Tikki Tavi
Well Cutteridge he was plenty times more advanced than
them scientisls
I aint believe that no one man could write so much foolishness
Aeroplane and rockets didn't come too soon
Scientists used to make the grade in balloon
This time Cutteridge done make a cow jump over the moon.
Tom Tom the plper son
Stole the pig and away he ran
Once there was a woman who lived in a shoe
She had so many children she didn't know what to do
Dickery Dickery Dock

The mouse mn up the Clock
The lion and the mouse
A woman pushing a cow up a ladder to eat grass on top a House.
1v
How I happen to get some education my friends I don't
know
All they teach me is about Brer Rabbit and Rumplestilskin
... 0
They wanted to keep me down indeed
They tried their best but didn't succeed
You see I was dunce and up to now I can't read.
Peter Peter was a pumpkin eater
And the Lilliput people tie Gulliver
When I was sick and lay abed
I had two pillows at my head
I see the Goose that lay the golden egg
The Spider and the Fly
Morocoy with wings flying in the sky
They heat me like a dog to learn that in school
If me head was bright I woulda be a damn fool. (161-162)
The biting satire in the poem voices the suspicion that colonial
education was never meant to bring excellence out of a native child. The
natives were given education only to make them better colonial subjects who
would cooperate with their colonial masters. No thought was given to improve
the curriculum that was taught at school to make it culturally relevant. Since

the administrators borrowed it from England, they were convinced that it must
hold good to the West Mian scenario. George Lamming in ntefleatures of
Exile offers his critique on West Indian school education:
The West Indian's education was imported in much the same way
that flour and butter are imported from Canada. Since the cultud
negotiation was svictly between England and the natives, and
England had acquired, somehow, the divine right to organise the
native's reading, it is to be expected that England's export of
literature would be English. Deliberately and exclusively English.
And the further back in time England went for these measures, the
safer was the English commodity. So the examinations, which
would determine that Trinidadian's future in the Civil Service,
imposed Shakespeare. and Wordsworth, and Jane Austen and
George Eli01 and the whole tabernacle of dead names, now come
alive at the world's greatest summit of literary expression. (27)
On the other hand, because there was no formal education for the
slaves. they picked up English as a contact language from their masters,
though this variety was often faulty according to the European standards.
According to Edward Long in The Hisron ofJamaica:
The Africans speak their respective dialects with some mixture of
broken English. The language of the Creoles is bad English, larded
with Guiney dialect owing to their adopting African words in order
to make themselves understood by the imponed slaves: which they
find easier than teaching these strangers to learn English. The bettex
sort an very fond of improving their language by catching at any
hard word that the whites happen to let fall in their hearing: and

they alter and misapply it in a strange manner; but a tolerable
collection of them gives an air ot knowledge and importance in the
eyes of their brethren. which tickles their vanity and makes them
more assiduous in stocking themselves with this unintelligible
jargon. (qtd. In Rarnchand 82)
Since English was the language of their colonial masters, and because it was
the official variety. the West Indians had little choice in deciding which
language to use. as they needed English for survival.
In Australia the colonial policy is not very different from that of Africa
and the Caribbean. English was placed high above the Aboriginal languages.
Though the invaden did not care to acknowledge the richness and complexity
of the indigenous languages. they were convinced of the superiority of the
English language. English was taught in the mission schools as an integral pan
of their assimilation policies. It was left to the Christian missionaries to impart
western education to the Aborigines. Mudroom Narogin in Writing From the
f'nn~r traces out the introduction of English in Aboriginal Australia:
Throughout Australia. as the weakened and demoralised tribes went
down or fell back before the guns of the colonists, a more
compassionate invader came to soothe the pillows of a dying race.
These were the Christian missionaries who although they saw
Aboriginal culture as inmnsicaily pagan and thus evil, did bring
with them a policy of education which in effect helped to foster the
first Aboriginal writings in English. . . . The missionaries laboured
to soften the coarse pioneering spirit of the first settlers, who ofte-n
considered the Aborigines vermin to be desmyed. They accepted

the Aborigines as human beings and educated them and eventually
christianised them so that today there is a strong current of
Christianity running through much of Aboriginal writing. (8-9)
Discourses on the Aborigines were so strong that white Australia
religiously believed that Aborigines did not possess the needed intellectual
abilities to master the English language and its literature. The mission schools
were herded with Aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from their
families. The teachers who taught in these schools were prejudiced because of
their racist ideologies. Neither were they competent to teach Aboriginal
children. However the mission schools had an important role in the expansion
of the English language. Jack Davis in "Aboriginal Writing: a personal view"
points this out:
At least on these missions and settlements, some of our people
learned to read and write in English. Outside these institutions it
was considered improper for Aboriginal children to attend school.
They thrust pencils and paper before us and told us to write. and
write we did. . . . also. it was believed that we had the intelligence
of children and we were members of a dying race. Even when our
modem day authon appeared in the sixties, the progress was not
accepted by the general white Australian public. (1 2)
When the white settlers assumed power over all social institutions, English
became the administrative language. Since colonisation, the Aborigines were
relegated to the position where they were at the mercy of the white settlers.
The Aborigines were forced to communicate in English if they wanted to
interact with whites. Therefore the Aborigines learnt the English language as a

matter of survival. As English became the official language and a prestige
variety, the native indigenous languages were systematically suppressed which
led to their near extinction. Mudrooroo in Writing From the Fringe addresses
this issue:
This signifier reveals the subordinate position of Aboriginal
languages and Kriol. They may be taught in a few schools, heard on
a few radio programs. but possession of them is not enough in
Aus~ralia. If an Aboriginal person wants a job, wants to secure
some son of position, Standard English must be mastered.
Everyone knows this. and so it is the aborigines themselves,
especially the young, who are discarding their languages. They feel
ashamed of them. declare that they know them not hang their heads
as they mumble that they talk like everybody else. (146)
Therefore. the modem Aborigine youth hardly speak their native
Aboriginal language. But however. even during the process when Aboriginal
languages were on the decline, a new variety called knol or Aboriginal
English evolved which 1s mostly at vogue in the Aboriginal communities.
Therefore when a postcolon~al writer uses English as the medium of his
creative and intellectual expression, it is a deliberate choice that foregrounds
his political stance. In sociehes like the Caribbean and Australia the post-
colonial scenario does not offer a choice for the writer as the indigenous
languages have only resvrcted use in the society. Though efforts are taken to
preserve these languages the people who use these languages are few. It is also
worthwhile to note that these languages are predominantly oral in nature and
hence it is debatable how far a book published in a native language will gain
cmncy among them. In Africa, the precolonial states consisted of different

vibes that had their distinct languages. The nation formation that was effected
through colonisation poses problem when different tribes are brought together
to have a common identity. For example. Nigeria, in the early period of
colonisation was conceived of as three distinct colonial territories namely
Lagos. the North and the South. Even in 1914, when Lugard united these three
provinces as Nigeria. it still maintained distinct administration for each
province. There are a few hundred tribal languages that are used in Nigeria. As
it is the case in India. it is English that serves as the common lingua franca of
Nigeria. Therefore if a writer chooses any particular African language, he
limits himself to a narrow section of his society. Unlike the storyteller of the
past who had restricted audience. the postcolonial novelist, through the scope
of English. chooses to address a wide range of audience. It also gives him the
leverage to reach out to the international audience to whom he likes to tell his
story of his land and people, his version of what happened to his land and
people during and after colonisation.
However postcolonial writers are not united in their choice of English
as the medium of writing. Some writers subscribe to the school of thought that
only indigenous languages can fully serve the purposes of the cultural and
social issues of the natives. As early as in the 1960's. Obiajunwa Wali in 'The
Dead End of African Literature?" feels that "any true African literature must
be written in African languages", and those who fail to comply with this are
"merely pursuing a dead end. which can only lead to sterility, uncreativity, and
frustration'' (14). They also believe that writing in English naturally has a
detrimental effect on the vernacular languages as they still remain in an
impoverished state. Instead effons should be made to enrich the native
languages which also assert the fact that the native languages are rich enough

J5yJr:
to be used as a literary language even in modern times such as this. ~hihg'o
in 'The Language of African Literature" passionately puts forward his claim:
How did we arrive at this acceptance of 'the fatalistic logic of the
unassailable position of English in our literature', in our culture and
in our politics? . . . How did we, as African writers, come to be so
feeble towards the claims of our languages on us and so aggnssive
in our claims on other languages, particularly the languages of our
colonisation? (287)
Therefore Ngugi who had wrinen in English for most pan of his literary
career, switched over to writing in Gikuyu and has written and published three
novels: Devil on rh~ cross. Marigan and The Wizard of rhe Crow. To choose a
language is also to choose one's audience and Ngugi seeks to address the
peasants of his society. In Derolonrsing rhe Mind: The Politics of Language in
English lirercrrurr. Ngugi addresses this issue:
An African writer should write in a language that will allow him to
communicate effectively with the peasants and workers in Africa-
in other words, he should write in an African language. As far as
publishing is concerned, 1 have no doubt that writing in an African
language is a\ commercially viable as writing in any language.
Market forces might even have the added advantage of forcing
those who express themselves in African languages to strive for
local relevance in their writing because no peasant or worker is
going to buy novels. plays, or books of poetry that are totally
irrelevant to his situation. Literature published in African languages

will have to be meaningful to the masses and therefore much closer
to the realities of their situation. ( 153)
On the other hand the writers who use English as their medium do not
meekly embrace the language, they use English for clear political ends as they
are aware of the colonial moorings of the language. Chinua Achebe in his
Morning Yrr on Crearion Day, defiantly puts it: "Let no one be fooled by the
fact that we may write in English for we intend to do unheard of things with
it" (7).
Therefore it is not without resentment that these writers take to English.
Given the historicity of English in the colonies and its complicity in the
process of colonisation. it is ironic that English serves the postcolonial writer
in a way that no other language can. The present global situation compels the
use of English language. As Jamaica Kincaid puts it in A Small Plnre:
What I see is the millions of people of whom I am just one, made
orphans: no motherland. no fatherland, no god . . . and worst and
most painful of all. no tongue. . . . For isn't it odd that the only
language I have in which to speak of this crime is the language of
the criminal who committed this crime? (43)
Decolonisation and English: Its Significance in P donid Fiction:
One of the primary concerns of postcolonial writers ib to contribute towards
the project of decolonisation which is at the h a of postcolonial writings.
Colonisation has had its indelible impression not only on the structures of
traditional societies and on the lives of the indigenes but also on the minds of
the natives who have intemalised the colonial constructions and have accepted
their roles that have been assigned hy their colonisers. Therefore

&colonisation involves the arduous task of unlearning the prejudid western
assumptions and the received misinlerpretations of the cultural identity of the
colonised that would ultimately restore the dignity and individuality of the
natives. Decolonising fictions are written to interrogate the various colonial
discounes and to present a counter-perspective of the colonised which
contests the absolutist nature of colonial constructs and the veracity of such
statements. In the process. what has been suppressed is given expression; the
exaggerated and distorted facts are straightened out; colonial myths are
deflated; colonial texts are rewritten; tropes and stereotypes are subverted and
the historical continuity, however fragmented it might be, is re-established.
While the suppressed identity of the marginalized is given its due recognition,
the native culture of the colonised is assened as being no way inferior to the
coloniwr's culture.
It is not simply that a postcolonial writer contests the claims of
colonisation by spaking back to the enemy after he has retreated or has
ceawd to be an enemy. The impacts of colonisation have been so severe that
these writers feel that there has not been enough literature written on all the
akpects of colonisation. These writings are aimed not only at the western
world which is incriminated in the whole process of colonisation but also to
their fellow counlry men to restore their honour and dignity by making their
voices heard. In his interview with Maya Jaggi. Caryl Phillips. when asked
why he was writing about slavery in 1990's, retorted quite forcefully thus:
If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where
you're going to. . . . Look at the work that's been produced out of
the Second World War. which lasted six years- the novels, films.
non-fiction. Slavery as an institution lasted from 1572 until 1834.

We're talking about a huge period of history, and I'll bet you could
fill more shelves with books about the Second World War than over
the whole two-and-a-half-centuries span of slavery. British people
forget they know very little about history. Why? Because most of
their history took place in India and Africa and the Caribbean,
where they could pretend it didn't happen. (1 16)
Therefore the postcolonial writer addresses the western audience as
much as his own community to expose the nefarious designs of colonisation
and its detrimental effects on the indigenous society. Even after much has
becn sad and done. the construction of discourses on the wlonised still
operates in a very subtle manner. In Australia, though the Aborigines have
been recognised ELS people who belong to that land, and efforts are taken to
assimilate them to enable life on peaceful terms with the European settlers,
disourses are created even in the present situation to denounce them as
5avages and cannibals. Ah Alan Lawson points out in his 'The Anxious
Roxirnides of Settler (PoslKolonial Relations":
During and af~er the 1996 election in Australia. an extraordinarily
uninformed populist poliucian called Pauline Hanson drew
apparently substanual popular support for some ugly racist views.
In 1997 she established a new political p q , called "Pauline
Hanson One Nauon" and to mark its launch. her support movement
published an oddly anonymous book called The Truth. The
circulation of the book was largely restricted to party supporten but
it was designed to be quotad by them. . . . The book then presents a
numbw of 'sources, some of which include eyewitness accounts of

Aboriginal cannibalism' . . . it concentrates especially on tales of
Aborigines eating their own chldren. (1 120)
The western epistemological attitude that is complicit with oppression
and domination is contested in anti-colonial polemics of postcolonial writings.
Colonial tropes. metaphors, images, and paradigms are reversed with the
consuuction of counter-discourses. Given the nature and impact of
colonisalion on the colonised culture and experience it becomes imperative
that postcolonial writers seek to decolonise the colonial ramifications that exist
in post-colonial societies. Hence decolonisation involves dismantling and
subverting the European codes that were used for cultural oppression. It also
alters the binary relationship between the coloniser and the colonised as
dorninanl Eumpean discourses are appropriated and subverted. Helen Tiffin in
"Post-Colonial Literatures and Counter-Discourse" points out the significance
of decolonisation in postcolonial writing:
Decolonisation is process, not arrival: it invokes an ongoing
dialectic between hegemonic cenuist systems and peripheral
subversion of them: between European or British discourses and
their post-colonial dis/mantling. Since it is not possible lo create or
recreate national or regional formations independent of their
historical implication in the European colonial enterprise, it has
heen the project of post-colonial writing to interngate European
discourses and discursive strategies from a privileged position
within (and between) two worlds; to investigate the means by
which Europe imposed and maintained its codes in the colonial
domination of so much of the rest of the world. (17-18)

Hence post-colonial writing does not merely stop with the interngation of
colonial discourses and cultural oppression. Though there is a modicum of
mth that the colonies inherited 'novel' as a genre. English language and
ciassical stavotyped art forms as colonial legacies, postcolonial writers
appropriate these forms and re-work it to suit their native experience.
Therefore. it is not always the European conventional forms that exist in
postcolonial writing, rather the form, structure and language is constantly
worked upon to create new art forms giving expression to the creativity of the
postcolonial writers. Karen Mcintyre. defines the desire to create new forms of
writing as creative decolonisation:
One of the aims of creative decolonisation is to establish a new
form of creativity that is quite distinct from Western canonical
writing. and which is imaginative and exploratory rather than
predicated on an atavistic desire for the revival of precolonial
creative traditions. (23)
It is significant to ohserve !hat English is reused by the postcolonial writers in
their project of decolonisation. Not only decolonising fictions are written but
they also use decoloniswl englishes as a medium of their writings. As English
is appropriated. it no longer remains as a foreign tongue, and the postcolonial
writer experiments by imprinung his native image on it in order to express the
resonance of the finer nuances that are naturally and effortlessly achieved in
one's own language. The English language itself a decolonised as it is
stripped of its colonial residues and simultaneously refashioned to suit the
specific needs by incorporating native cultural forms to validate its expression.
Since language is the repository of culture and the social fabric of a society, it
is imperative that the postcolonial writer incorporates his cultural forms and

authenticates his cultural expression. The problem of s m g for himself and
his people through another man's tongue 1s resolved to some extent by the
nativisation of English where the local idioms, images and metaphors are
given expression. The incorporation of indigenous cultural forms with the
coloniser's language is a political exercise given the fact that it was written off
by the colonial discourses. Postcolonial writers deliberately experiment with
the cultural forms that were suppressed and incorporate it with the English
models and validate the culture of the colonised. The colonial residues in the
English language are subjected to erasure as the writers' native culture is
valorid.
While the postcolonial writer reworks the English language by
incorporating his cultural forms, he is also concerned about the form of the
language. Nativisation takes place not only at the content level but even the
form 1s altered to reflect the local conditions. The conventional structwes of
the English lmguage are replaced with the structures of the native language.
As the influence of the native language is allowed to prey upon the standard
forms of the English language, the variety that the postcolonial writer uses is
closer to his native culture. While addressing the varied uses of English in
poslcolonial writing, Salman Rushdie goes on to say:
Those of us who do use English do so in spite of our ambiguity
towards it. or perhaps because of that. perhaps because we can
find in that linguistic strumle a reflection of other struggles
ralung place in the real world. struggles between cultures, within
ourselves and the influences at work upon our societies. To
conquer English may be to mmplete the process of making
ourselves free. (17)

The issue of handling the English language by postcolonial writers
becomes a political activity that reflects the ongoing smggle in dK dialectics
of the colonised. The new cnglishes of the postcolonial writers cannot be
simply dismissed as faultylsub-standard English without analysing the
historical experiences of the writer. The whole exercise of writing is a
continuous process of negotiation between the writer's native language and the
coloniser's language. It should also be noted that, in some cases, this is the
only variety available for the writer in the given situation and he intends to use
it. More often than not. his creative use of it will be fashioned in such a way
that it becomes distinct from the conventional standards of English. He writes
in a variety that expresses his local conditions and captures the idiom of his
people whom he is representing. Therefore he writes in a variety of English
that is distinctly his own which is closer to his native culture. Edward Kamau
Brathwaite in "Nation Language" records his Caribbean experience:
I think, however. that language does really have a role to play here-
cenainly in the Caribbean. But it is an English which is not the
standard, imported, educated English, but that of the submerged,
surrealist experience and sensibility. which has always been there
and which is nou increasingly coming to the surface and
influencing the ptrception of contemporary Caribbean people. . . .
It may be in English: hut often it is in an English which is like a
howl, or a shout or a machine-gun or the wind or a wave. It is also
like the blues. And sometimes it is English and African at the same
time. (31 1)
The use of Caribbean Creole and Aboriginal English in postcolonial
writing proves that the native writer uses the variety of language that he is

acquainted with. Also, it should not be forgotten that these varieties have a
social stigma of being inferior in societies which they operate. Despite this,
when a writer uses this variety, it goes to affirm the political and ideological
stand of the writer in postcolonial writing. Though the term 'Standard English'
itself has many contradictions. the poslcolonial writer dismisses the notion of
'standard' as he thwarts the centrelperiphery binary. As W.D Ashcroft puts it
in "Constitutive Graphonomy: A Post-Colonial Theory of Literary Writing":
Constitutive Graphonomy raises the question of language to
prominence because language that exists in complexity, hybridity
and constant change inevitably rejects the assumption of a linguistic
structure of code which can be characterised by the colonial
distinction of 'standard' and 'variant'; all languages emerge out of
the conflict and struggle. The post-colonial text brings language
and meaning to a discursive site in which they are mutually
constituted. and at this site the importance of usage is inescapable.
(64)
At another level, English becomes a plaything at the hands of the
postcolonial writem. Without any qualms, or regret they subvert and alter the
structures by way of experimentation. They deliberately distort the Language
and render it rid~culous to polnt out the irrelevancy of standard form in that
particular social setting. As they are writing with vengeance, writers like Ken
Sam- Wiva wilfully break the conventions of the English language in their
writing. Helen Gilbert in "De-Scribing Orality: Performance and the
recuperation of voice". points out the mawr in which Kevin Gilbert uses the
English language:

Kevin Gilbert's 77te Cherry Pickers(l988). initially performed in
1971 and regarded as the 'first Aboriginal play' in the European
sense, makes a point of 'bastardizing' (Gilbert's own term)
conventional English beyond the limits of the purely colloquial by
using words like 'tremendaciously' and 'rememberising', as well as
neologisms such as 'kunstidonus' or 'amphiskkulus', to satirize the
pretentiousness of white s-h and signal its inappropriateness to
an aboriginal context. ( 100)
These writers even though they use the coloniser's language. write with
a vengeance to mark their antlrolonial sentiments through their writings.
They belong to a class of people who have not forgotten the colonial atrocities
meted ou~ to their people. land and culture. They are also aware of the politics
of English under the colonial rule which saw the extinction of many of their
native languages. Truths were suppressed, histories were distorted and lies
were promulgated through the use of English language. Therefore taking these
inlo consideration. postcolonial writers wreak their vengeance on the much-
celebrated English language by breaking the set conventions of the language.
In the postcolonial scenario, when all the colonial srmctures are subverted and
bulldozed. the coloniser's language is no exception as its rules and grammar
are wilfully violated by the colonised. David Punter in Posrcolonial
Imaginings. points out the rage that marks postcolonial writings:
There is the mutual rage of incomprehension, the rape that stems
from the tearing out of the tongue, the tearing out by the tongue, the
'tonguelessness' that lies behind the most soptusticated of
narratives, that renders the gesture of writing in the language of the

conqueror forever an activity of pollution. There is the mutual
had of hat same incomprehension, the sense of a wilful
withholding of secrets, the exasperation of the meeting that is
denied common ground and instead takes place only under
prescribed conditions. There is the sense of ruin at the origin that
attends these aftermaths of empire. the awareness that what was
destroyed can never be reconstructed. (55)
As Caliban breaks free from the prison house of language that had held
him in shackles. he designs a new abode that thwarts the authority of Prospero.
The calibanic response of the postcolonial writer, however, does not stop with
cursing the master in his own language. It rather makes a compelling hearing
when he talks for himself. asserting his native conditions and life. He also sets
out to dismantle the various colonial discourses constructed at his expense and
pu~s forward a counter-discourse that is at loggerheads with the colonial
version of truth. The postcolonial writer is conscious of the fact that the
colonial discourses have affected his traditional life greatly. and have intruded
into almost all of his social institutions. The indigenous languages have
become extinct; the traditional system of education has been altered and
replaced with English schools: the extended family system is lost: the loss of
indigenous religious forms where sacred symbols have been desecrated; the
loss of one's identity and honour: to name only a few. justifies the resentment
that is expressed against the colonisers. As the cdoniser is held accountable
for the loss that wadis suffered during and after colonisation, postcolonial
writings are aimed at expressing this rage that was pent up for centuries.
Mudrooroo in Wriring fmm rhe Fringe points out the way in which Aboriginal
writers write against the whites:

Wonder has been expressed at the rancow in Kevin Gilbeds
books. They have 'gifted' him their language and here he is using it
to attack them, and they turn to the gentler Oodgeroo Noonuccal
who accepts a common humanity; but the wonder is that any
Aboriginal writer can write without the feelings of a Kevin Gilbert.
Can words of peace or thoughts of gratitude be expected from
someone who has had their own language stolen from them? They
feel this tragedy in each and every word they write, but there is no
going hack, no return. (148)
English is also used to re-inscribe the white coloniser in his own
language. Dunnp the process of colonisation, the colonisers misrepresented
the natrves partly because of their biased perception and also because of the
des~re to further their selfish interests. Hence they looked at the African as if
he were an animal: Carihs as cannibals and Aborigines as inferior creatures.
The land of the colonres wa5 considered as a wild. savage place but
nevenheless a thing to be possessed and exploited. The whites looked down
upon the native's culture and denounced it as barbaric and uncivilised.
Therefore in postcolonial writing the colonised reverses the gaze on the
coloniser and determines himself as the pint of reference. The Eurocenmc
notion is thwarted when the colonised alters the point of reference. Ngugi calls
it 'moving the cenler'. In his intervrew. "A Conversation with Ngugi wa
Thiong'o". Npugi wa Thiong'o explains what he means by it:
I use the phrase "moving the center" in the context of moving the
center from its assumed cenmlity in the West to where it should be
in a multiplicity of centers all over the world. Because each of our
own experiences can be a center from which you look at the world-

our language, ow social situations become very important as bases
of looking at the world. (164)
The colonised redefines his 'self as he affirms himself by relocating the
center and constructs the subjectivity of the otherness of the white coloniser.
He uis to come to terms with the understadmg of the coloniser from his
viewpoint. Hence in Achebe's Things FUN Apan, the natives tie a bicycle to
the tree caking it to be a new. wild kind of an animal: "And so they killed the
white man and tied his iron horse to their sacred tree because it looked as if it
would run away to call the man's friends" ( 125).
As a powerful recuperative strategy, the postcolonial writer re-inscribes the
coloniser in the alterlnative perspective. As the master-codes of the dominant
narrative are subverted, the postcolonial writer also seeks to explain his view
of the land and culture with which he shares a spiritual relationship. Hence the
African reveres the earth goddess and an Aboripne venerates every rock, tree
and waterhole. Therefore for the postcolonial writer. nature is inseparable
from his culture. As this view stands opposed to the west's relationship with
nature, the white systems of representation and the native's subversion of it
posit a conflicting relationship between the coloniser and the colonised.
Since English provide\ the scope to write back to the centre. language
becomes paramount in postcolonial writing by way of articulating the
suppressed voices of the colonised. While postcolon~al writers address the
discursive violence of colonisation. they use English for clear political ends.
As W.D Ashcroft points out:
The use of English inserts itself into a political discourse in post-
colonial writing, and the transcription of English variants of all

kinds captures that moment between the culture affmed on the one
hand as 'indigenous', or 'national', and that on the other as
'imperialist'. colonialist, or 'metropolitan'. (7 1 )
Therefore in postcolonial texts English operates as more than a medium of
communication when it is used as a tool by the postcolonial writers in their
project of decolonisation. Among various issues that concern a postcolonial
writer. English becomes a predominant theme at the content and formal level.
The political usage of English is the most powerful strategy used in the
cultural politics of postcolonial writing. As English is decolonised it is
reworked to valorise local culture and to offer counter discourses. Hence this
study aims to examine the role of English which is creatively used to further
he cause of decolonisation.
Methodology
The texts selected for study include Gabriel Okara's The Voice, James
Ngugi's A (;ruin o/ Whear,(Africa): Sam Selvon's Moses Ascending, Wilson
Hams's Pulurc of rhr Peacock, ,(Cari bbean); Mudrooroo's Doin Wildcat: A
Novel Koori Scnpi. and Kim Scott's True Counrr?,(Ausualia).
Keeping the intention of the study in mind, six novelists have been
chosen from across the glohe. whose themes, techniques and contributions,
smngly validate the claim of th~s thesis. Firstly. they are socially committed
writers who feel that. as writers, it is their responsibility to address the various
issues that concern their society in the post-colonial scenario. They are also
sensitive to the impact of colonisation and hence lry to experiment with
various forms in their writing to make it more appropriate to their respective
Societies. These writers are also aware of the problems that are conceme-d with

English language and its role in postcolonial writing and have been quite
loquacious in expressing their views.
In the African scenario, Gabriel Okara and James Ngugi have been
chosen, as they are prominent literary figures and have contributed much to
the gmwth of the body of their national literature. While Ngugi has become a
controversial figure with his radical views on the use of English, Okara is
generally known for his creative use of the coloniser's language. If Okara's
The Voice deals with the post-independent scene, Ngugi's A Grain of Whear is
primarily concerned with the pre-independent state of African society. As
Okara is fmm Nigeria and Ngugi from Kenya, they lend a fair degree of
balance of representation for the body of African literature.
Similarly to represent Caribbean literature, Sam Selvon fmm Trinidad
and Wilson Harris, a Guyanese have been chosen as champions of West
Indian Literature hecause of their prolific writing. Without undermining the
achievements and convihutions of George Lamming, Claude Mckay. V.S
Naipaul and others. Selvon and Hanis have been chosen as they lend variety
in their themes of concern su~ted to the scope of this study. While Selvon's
Moses Ascending deals with the subjugation of black experience and the
pmblems of assimilation 01 black immigrana in a white society. Hams in
Palace o j rhe Peactrk is precxlcupied with the polyphonic nature of West
Indian society and their confrontation with the indigenous presence in the
islands. They also experiment with forms of Creole and in their own way and
address the issue of language in Poslcolonial writing.
In Ahoriginal writing. the choice ha% been narrowed down to
~Udroom and Kim Scott. Mudroom has heen championing the cause of

~borigid literature for more than thm decades and is a much respected
figure not only in the Australian literary scene but also elsewhere. Mudroom
is constantly given IO experimentation with forms and content and negotiates
to express the Aboriginal experience. Though Kim Scott has only two novels
to his credit. his writings explore the delicate nuances of relations between the
Aborigines and white Australia. Even as he traces the cultural history of the
Aborigines he captures the poetic cadences of tribal idiom and authenticates
Ahoriginal writing. While Mudrooroo's Doin Wildcat: A Novel Koori Script
deals with he Aboriginal life in a white society. Kim Scott in True Counrv is
more concerned about the disintegration of native culture of traditional life
and ahout the future generation of Aboriginal Australia.
The above six novels have been chosen on the merits of their concern
pertaining to the purpose of this study. Though these novels have been written
from different social milieu. all of them share the common experiences of
colonisation. Each of the six novels concerns itself with the problem of
language and addresses it in its own way. Loss of native language and the
substitution of English is a matter of reality in the post-colonial scenario, and
hence the creative use of English for political purposes is a ploy that these
writers adopt in their project of decolonisation. These novels are also deeply
rooted in their culm ac the novelists experiment with their native literary and
cultural forms by fusing it with the borrowed literary traditions of the west.
The native culture is venerated to highhght the importance of the inseparable
name of cultum and the physical environment in their life. The novels also
deal with the interrogation of 'history' as they are seen as an extension of
Colonial namuives. The novels offer a counter perspective of history exposing
the undulying motives of such constructions. The novels are concerned with

native experiences like subjugation. slavery, loss of wcalth, land. family
culture. issues relating ta their past and exploitation. They also undertake the
project of spealungIwriting back to the colonisers and their colonial
discourses. Therefore these novels, while maintaining their distimct socio-
political concerns, they share a commonality in their anti-colonial rants against
the British colonisation and its ramifications.
The approach of this study is to undertake individual studies of writers
and examine the plitical purpose of English in their chosen works. Since the
writers are from different social backgrounds, placing them within their
specific literary and cultural traditions offer insights not perceivable in a
comparative study. The choice of novels from African, Caribbean and
Australian Aboriginal writing is deliberate since they are strongly linked to
each other as they share the socio-cultural aftermath of colonisation in some
measurably similar ways although the individual experience of each colony is
distinct from that of the others. Though the colonisers operated at different
times with different strategies, these ex-colonies shared a similar kind of
experience under the common yoke of colonisation. Loss of native land and
culture, disruption of traditional familial system, slavery. racism loss of native
languages and imposition of English are some of the experiences that are
common tn them. While the nexus between Africa and the Caribbean is smng
as they share the same bio-geographic roots. Aboriginal Australia shares a
close affinity with the Caribbean experience. The emergence of Creole,
transplantation. dismembered society and rootlessness are experiences that are
common to both the colonies. Aboriginal music which is a strong expression
of native identity is highly influenced by the West Indian reggae. Mudrooroo
points this out in Writing From the Fringe:

CAAMA has begun mrding Aboriginal musicians and so has
Abmusic in Western Australia. Aboriginality is to the fore in that
some Aboriginal languages provide the vehicle of communication
and there is little aping of American or British speech patterns in
the song texts in English. Many are in the genre termed country and
western but a rhythm akin to Jamaican reggae is employed by some
bands such as Coloured Stone and Modem Tribe. (26-27)
Since African, Caribbean and Aboriginal Australia are strongly linked
to each other with regards to their colonial experiences, the present study
includes six novelists. two from each colony to represent the growing body of
their respective literature. While this study involves six novels from across the
globe. it narrows down on the focus of the singular purpose of the usage of
English in these novels. The study examines the use of English as a tool by the
pstcolonial writers in their project of decolonisation. The choice of male
writers is not hecause of any anti-feminist bias. The purpose of the study is not
to make a gender based study of these issues. All these writers do record the
indignity heaped on the women of their society, but they do not speak for their
women. There are women writers like Bessie Head, Jean Rhys. Jamaica
Kincaid. Oodgcru Noo~uccal. Sally Morgan, Nadine Gordimer, Flora
Nwapa. Micere Githae Mugo. Sindiwe Magona and others who spearhead the
gender related issues of these nations.
h Introduction to tbe Writers
Since writers are products of their society and their personal and social
experiences go a long way in helping them fonn their ideologies and world

view. a study of their life history would cenainly be helpful for a beam
wmprchension of their works.
Gabriel lmrnotimi Gbaingbain Okara was born on April 1921 in
Bumoundi, in Southeastern Nigeria. to Prince Sampson G. O h and Martha
Olodiama Okara. Gabriel O h received his secondary schooling in Umuahia
and Lagos. He went on to join the Government College in Umuahia. When the
Second World War broke out he had to leave the college and was transferred
to Yaba Higher College. After the Second World War, Okara worked as a
hook binder and a journalist. He edited a newspaper called Nigerian Tide and
in 1975 was w ~nted as the writer-in-residence of the Rivers State Council
for Arrs and Culture.
Okara ha\ won many d~st~nctions as a writer. He is the first significant
African poet to write in English, and is also the first Nigerian writer to publish
in and join the editorial staff of the influential literary journal, Black Orpheus
which was started in 1957. Better known as a poet, Okara has published his
collection of poems in The Fi'ishemn's ln~~c~carion (1978) which won the
Commonwealth Poetry Pnze. Apan from his novel 7'he Voice (1964). Okara
has also written children's books such as Urrle Snakt and Linle Frog (1981)
and An Advenrure ro Juju Islund ( 198 1 ).
Okara's Thr Voice ( 1964) is an experimental novel published in 1960's
when Nigerian literature as a forerunner. provided the leadership for other
black African and Third World literatures. 11 is a self-conscious linguistic
experiment when Okara experiments with his native Ijaw and infuses it with
the English language. The novel testifies to his disillusionment with the post-
independent scenario of Nigeria.

The other African writer chosen is James Ngugi. Ngugi was born in
Kamiriithu, near Limuru. Kiambu District. He is the fifth child of the third of
his father, Thiong'o wa Nducu's four wives and belongs to the Gikuyu tribe.
Ngugi began his fonnal education in the mission run school at Kamaanduru in
Limuru. Karinga school in Maanguu, and Alliance High School in Kikuyu. He
received his B.A in English at Makerere University college in Kampala
(Uganda) and did his graduate studies at the Leeds University in England. He
started off as a devout Christian and later on rejected Christianity and changed
his original name in 1976 from James Ngugi to Ngugi wa Thiong'o.
Ngugi grew up during the turbulent period of 1950's Mau Mau struggle
for independence. His elder brother had joined the movement, his stepbrother
was killed. his mother was tortured and his village was badly affected during
the parry's struggle. This made an indelible impression on young Ngugi's
mind which later manifested itself in his novel A Gmin of War (1967). As a
novelist. Ngugi marked his enuy with the publication of Weep Nor Child
(1964). which was the first novel in English to be published by an East
Afncan. It was followed by The River Between (1965). In 1977, December,
Ngugi was imprisoned for a year without a trial for his involvement with a
communal theatre in his village and also partly because of the uncensored
political message of his play N~anhika Ndeenda (1977). In 1980 he published
Cairaani murhamba-In in Gikuyu which was translated as Dcvil on the Cmss,
and argued that African writers should use only African languages for writing
to help build an authentic African literature. Ngugi's other major works
include: Petals of Blwd(1978). Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of
Language in Ahcan tilcrarure (1986). Morigari (1987). Moving the Centre:
The Struggle for Cultuml Freedom (1993). Penfwinu. Gunpoints and

Dream: The pe~ofonnance on Literature and Power in Posrcolonial Africa
( 1998).
Sam Selvon and Wilson Hanis have been chosen to represent the West
lndian literature. Samuel Dickinson Selvon was born in 1923 to East lndian
parents in San Fernando, Trinidad. While his father is an Indian, his mother is
half-Indian and half-Scottish. He graduated in 1938 with a Senior Cambridge
Certificate from Naparima College, Trinidad. Selvon considered himself a
creolised West lndian as he grew up in Trinidad's multiracial society. During
the World War 11, he worked as a wireless operator for the Royal Navy
Reserve. After the War, he worked as the fiction editor of the literary
magazine of the Trinidad G- Newspaper. In 1950, he left for England in
search of employment and became a free-lance writer. Apart from his novels,
he has written two screenplays. several short stories, radio and television
plays. Selvon gained international recognition as a novelist with his fmt novel
A Brighrer Sun published in 1952. The novel is set in Trinidad and explores
the pea.sant experience during the socio-economic change in the Caribbean
islands. Selvon's 7he Lonely Londoner (1956) portrays in humorous manner.
the plight of the expatriate West Indians in London. As a sequel to it. he
published Moses Ascending (1975). in which Selvon's most trenchant social
criticism of racism is brought to the fore. In Moses Migrating (1983). Moses.
the principal character. returns to Trinidad as an ambassador of British cultural
pride.
Theodre Wilson Harris was born on March 24*, 1921 in New
Amsterdam, British Guyana. He hails from a mixed descent of Ewpean,
African and Amerindian. Hanis attended Queen's College in Georgetowa,
British Guyana. He worked as a Government surveyor from 1942 to 1958. He

moved to Lo& in 1959 and began to write his novels. HMis beg- his
writing carea with the publication of his poetry collections: Feriah (1951). and
77te Well and flu Lond (1952). However Harris made his mark as a novelist
with the publication of The Guyana Quaner composed of Polace of rht
Peacock (IY60). The Fur Journey of Oudin (1%1). The Whole A m r (1962).
and The Secrer Mder (1963). The most popular of Harris' novels are
~ncluded In two trilogies. The first trilogy is composed of Do silvu do silva's
C'ulri~~urrd Wildernrss t 1977). The Tree of rhe Sun ( 1978) and The Angel ar flu
Garr (1982). The wcond uilogy consists of Carni~lal 1985. The InJinire
Rrheursul (1987) and The Four Bunks of rhr Rivrr r,fSpoce (1990). Apart
from his novels he has alw wrinen many *on stories and essays.
Harris pot well acqwntcd with the savannahs and rain forests of the
Ciuyma heanland when he worked a\ a surveyor. This knowledge provided
thc rttinp for many of his novels where landrapc becomes a living presence.
'hc Canthean experience of dismembennenl and slavery stirnulaled him to
u-c tk inter-relatedness of all creatures and rhe power of imagination to
vansform realitin. Palace of rhe Pemcr-l. is the first novel of Wilson Harris
which contains all h~s kic them that are explored in his later novels. It is a
recrealton of the colonial conqw and confltct with the natives of the land.
To repr?snl Australian Ahoriginal writing. Mudnxmw, and Kim Scott
have hcen chosen. Mudnnroo (Colin Thomas Johnson, was horn on August
21. 1938 in Narrogin. Waern Ausvalia. According to the records. his mother
Eliznbclh Johnson was of IrisNEnglish descent and his father Thornkc was
from IrishlAfrican-American. In 1988. Mudrmmo changed his name Colin
Johnson to Mudmanw, Nyoongah as a political protest. He believed that he
shved matrilineal links with he Bihbulmum people of the Nyoongah aibe.

Lavr he added Namgin IO his name that refem to his plw of bid. But he is
popularly known as Mudrooroo. which means 'papew (an Australiao aee)
in the language of the Bibbulmum people.
In 1947. Mudroom was taken into lnstirutional care when he was just
nine yean old. At the age of sixteen. he left the Christian Brothers' orphanage,
Clontad Boys' Town but won was imprisoned for twelve months in
Fermanlle priubn for the charges of robbery and assault. Ln 1957. after the
tmpnsonmnt. Mudroonu) got acquainted with Mary Durack who was a
ppular literary wnrer of the time. It was with her assistance, Mudrooroo
puhlt\hed his W11d Cur Fulling in 1965. He also spent a nwnbcr of years in
Indta studytng Buddh~sm.
Mudnmroo has uun m y
accolade\ for h~s Ilterar). achtevemen~s In
1%. he un\ awarded the pe\ugtou\ Ruth Adeney Koon Award for h s
conmhuuon !ci Ahonglnal unung He uas also the Head of Abongnal
Studte\ at Murdoch Unt\entt) At present. Mudroom res~dec In Kathmandu
u hem he ha\ ptren htrnself to the \!udy and pracuce of Buddhism
Mudrwmw's orher major works are: I~ng b\v Sandwm (1979).
&*.for Wm~redd>'s Presrrtprion 41r Enduring rhe Ending of rhr World
I 198.3). Ik~tn Wildr.ar: A Nr~vrl Km~ri Scnpr (1988). Writing Fmn rhe Fringe:
A .'~II$\ of Mtulm, .4honpinal Oremrure in Ausrml~u (1990). Master of rhe
C;ho.rf Drraming ( 1991 ). WiWca Scwoming (1992). Tlu Kwinhn (1993). Us
Mob- Hinop. Culrurr. Srrvgglt: An Introdirc-tion to Indigcno~t Austmlia
11995). He has also published his poetry mhlogies entitled. Puific High-
B~Bloo: (1996). Thr Song Circle of loch (19%). Dalw~um: 7hc Bkk
Birrern ( 1988)

Kim ScoU was born in 1957 in Western Australia and is a descendent
of the Nyoongar vibe. He became a secondary school teach of Englrsh in a
village in the northwest of Western Australia. He published his fmt novel,
True Country in 1993. Kim Swtt published his second novel. Bemg: From
the Hcan in 1999. which won both the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the
Western Australian Premier's Book Award. It alsa won the Kate Challis Raka
Award in 2001. At present he livm in Cmlbellup. a suburb of Perth with his
wife and two sons.
Map d tbe limb:
Th~s dissertation is organied as hereunder. The first chapter traces the
h~wicity of the Engl~sh language in Africa Caribbean islands and Australia.
It pmhlematiws the pillon of English in these ex-colonies and highlights the
ncxl to cxarnlnc the n)le of English in pstcolonial fiction. It also seeks to
explain the role of Enpl~sh in the pmcess of decolonisation and the various
wnp in which it 1s used hy postcolonial writers for their ideological purposes.
The chapter Illw ind~cates the organisation of the thesis.
The wcond chaper wmtinises the various strategies used by Ihese
writen to appmpnate the language and nativise it. The language is
decoloniscd a\ it is fused with the local varieties.
The third chPpler analyses the strategic use of English for the
valcmsation of the coloniud culture. the founh chapter examines the use of
Enpl~sh for interrogating colonial discom and to oflu counter-discourses as
pan of the ~ JCCI of koloniseuon. The fifth and final chapter sums up the
arguments of the earlier chapters arid points to areas of funher research
supgated by k pmcnl study.

CHAPTER - 2
THE NATIVISATION OF ENGLISH
The study of Postcolonial fiction in English gains significance in the
fact that the language in which it is written is the same language that was
introduced in the native shores through the experience of colonisation. Taking
into account the significant role played by the English language in the process
of colonisation. postcolonial writers appropriate the language and re-fashion it
to suit their own purpose. The attitude towards English in postcolonial writers
cannot be defined in a simple and all encornpasing fashion. While at the one
end of the continuum, a writer like Thiong'o rejects English as cultwally and
politically alien and reverts back to Gikuyu, to many postcolonial writers it is
English that is the language they are most comfortable in. Many can write only
in English as their mother tongue does not serve their artistic needs because of
various reasons. So while the position of English itself is ambivalent in
kc 5 r! .*e
postcolonial urite@ife.%eir altitud&owards it ig also equally complex. This
complex and ambivalent attitude towards the coloniser's language expresses
itself in the way the writer handles it in his work. He not only talks through the
medium of language but also talks about it. Therefore the issue of language in
postcolonial writing is vital for it redefines not only the English usages but
also the writer's relationship with it.
Postcolonial writers appropriate the English language to suit their
specific purpose. As they are conscious of the historicity of the language that
is incriminated with British colonisation they nativise the language to make it
c~lturally relevant to their society. ln the process, English no longer remains
as the coloniser's language for it becomes a tool in the hands of postcolonial
-.

writers as they ~ se it creatively in the project of decolonisation. In The Post-
~olonial Studies Reader. Bill Ashcroft et al. are of the view that:
Language is a fundamental site of struggle for post-colonid
discourse because the colonial process itself begins in language.
The control over language by the imperial center- whether achieved
by dsplacing native languages, by installing itself as a 'standard'
against other variants which are constituted as 'impurities', or by
planting the language of empire in a new place- remains the most
potent instrument of cultural control. (283)
As the laneuape is appmpriated, the use and function of English in
postcolonial fiction stretches beyond its artistic boundaries to define the
author's complex sociopolitical and linguistic identity. English, thus, is more
than a medium in their writing. as it becomes one of the shards of theme in
these novels. Postcolonial writers destabilise the supremacy of English by
experimenting with the variant forms of English and by incorporating their
indigenous language forms into the English language. Therefore it is not the
standard variety of English of the colonisers that these writers strive to write
in, but various forms of 'englishes' with its idiosyncrasies of regional and
specific sociohistoric features. The tinkering of English as a volitional activity
insens itself into the gamut of politics that concern postcolonial writers. As
English is reworked to reflect the life of the colonised, the language is
decolonised not only at the content level but also the form of the language is
brought closer to the native experience of the writers. Different writers have
taken different stances 10 bring in this effect and this chapter seeks to examine
the ways in which English is nativised in the works of the selected writers as
they work towards decolonisation.

English Af*
The intellectual response to the agonizing experience of colonisation
and its aftermath has resulted in the growth of modern 'African Literature'. It
is admitted that a broad term like African Literature does not suggest the
varied differences in English usage in the African countries. But a generalised
term such as this has k n used for the convenience of argument. The
emergence of this body of imaginative discourse tries to address and redress
the socio-political and cultural issues of Africa, many of which are seen as the
consequence of the western intrusion into the traditional system of life. It is
concerned with modes of resistance to the hegemonic influences of the west
that are manifested at various levels in the contemporary African society. At
the same time it is also concerned with critiquing the internal social afflictions
of the writer's own land.
It can be argued that the craft of writing is in itself a colonial product,
as the traditional African literature predominantly existed in oratures. It is not
possible for postcolonial African literature to revert back to its oral form, nor
is it possible to go backwards in an attempr to resuscitate the pre-colonial
African consciousness. However, many writers present through their fiction
the indelible effect of English and the impact of written mode upon the
indigenous oral traditions of literature. It should also be noted that it was
Ihrough various colonial writings that the African lost his identity. The various
reports. fictions and bills of the west denounced and denigrated the Africans as
savages and brutes, predating the Dark Continent. The imagination of the
creative writers of the west took its flight of fancy associating everything evil
and negative with 'black' and 'Africa'. By interpellating the blacks, the west
consciously consuucted various discourses, which had its ultimate end in the

wlonisation and exploitation of Africa for its gold and minerals and forcefully
uansplanting the African into slavery.
Therefore an African writer who bean the scar of his race, takes to
writing. though a new modality of expression, to re-create an identity for
himself and his race. As the western assumptions and constructions that negate
the identity of an African are questioned there is also an effort to reconstruct
the identity of an African and to restore the sense of solidarity with his
community. It is a scramble for the erasure of the images created by the west
as well as offering alternative frames of reference for the ameliorative purpose
of the black consciousness.
The colonial impact has been so severe that the native has learnt to
revere the west and accept its autonomy of power without questioning the
legitimacy of its authority. The black individual was reprimanded if he
followed his traditional cultural practices, ushich were seen as monstrous and
barbaric by his colonial authorities. Instead he was forced to learn the ways of
the west. which resulted in the negation of his identity and effacement of his
self-respect. Therefore the African writer. ar a recuperative measure, anempts
to create a society, which will be free "without chains on his legs, without
chains on his mind. without chains in his boul" (Thiong'o. Petals of Bld
236).
Therefore, however creative and imaginative a writer be, in the African
literary scenario. the writer finds himself shouldering a responsibility to
address the evil impacts of colonisation. Unlike his western counterpart, he is
not an outsider who is alienated from the society. He is not a man who lives in
the attic and takes a solitary walk when the city is asleep. Rather he is an

integral pail of the main stream of his closely-knit society. He has a
commitment to the society he lives in and his work is concerned with forces
that are at play in his social ambience. It goes to explain the thematic
differences among various literatures of the different regions, which form the
complex fabric of African literature. But however committed and responsible
the writer be. the debate over the language-choice is a moot point on which the
~frican writers stand divided. With the disintegration of the traditional society
and its culture. the traditional means of interaction within the community had
to be substituted with the written mode. It is not the old storytellers of the past
but the young intellectuals who have been educated in the coloniser's
language have taken the center stage. Therefore the choice of novel as form
becomes the natural choice as the new form of story-telling in which many
tales of the past are interwoven with the realities of the present.
Since English was used as a tool by the colonisers for the cultural
indoctrination, critics like Ngugi, Obi Wali and Anthony Appaiah call for the
linguistic indigenisation of African literature. While the language issue is
articulated at an emotional level, writers like Achebe are alive to the
indispensability of English that has been left as a colonial legacy in Africa. He
discusses the issue of language-choice with all its practical concerns in Hopes
und Impedimenls: Selecred Essu.v.\.:
To those colleagues who might be tempted to hasty switch of
genres I will say this: consider a hypothetical case: A master singer
arrives to perform in a large auditorium and finds at the last
moment three quarter of his audience are totally deaf. His sponsors
then put the proposition to him that he should dance instead of
because even the deaf can see a dancer. Now although our

performer had the voice of an angel his feet are as heavy as
concrete. What should he do? Should he proceed to sing beautifully
to only a quarter or less of the auditorium or dance atrociously to a
full house?
I guess it is clear where my stand would be! The singer should
sing well even if it is merely to himself, rather than dance badly for
the whole world. (60-61)
Though a novel written in English will not gain much currency with the
peasants of Africa Achebe prefers to write in English, as it is the language
that he is proficient in and which also suits his creative expression. Therefore
writers like Achebe are more concerned with immediate issues that need to
be addressed in a neo-colonial situation rather than rejecting or redefining the
position of English in the African scenario. Chidi Amuta is of the view that,
Even if all of African literature were suddenly to be created in
African languages without due attention to the ideological
content of the literature and its relationship with its audience, the
revolutionary dreams of the advocates of linguistic
indigenization would be thwarted. (1 13)
Choosing a medium and mode of expression is also to choose one's
audience. While the problem of readership is something an African writer
has to contend with, the shift in the mode of expression and the transition in
the strategies of cultural communication are issues that cannot be sidelined.
Fixing the problem in its current historical perspective, Chinweizu et al.
point out:

Ideally, African literature should be written in African languages.
But the same historical circumstances that presently compel
African nations to use Western languages as their official languages
also compel African writers to write in them. (242)
However when an African writer uses the English language as his mode
of expression, it is no1 the same standard variety of the British English, but a
new form of English in essence is brewed with an unmistakably distinct
African flavour enriched with African cultural terms.
Achebe, in his effon to recreate a pre-westernized African reality.
bends the English language to express his lgbo proverbs and idioms. Tutuola
has developed a style, where he experiments with his Yoruba forms and
insens traditional oral forms with the English language. Ken Saro-Wiva has
been brave to call his novel So:ahoy: A novel in rotten English. Incidentally, it
is a war novel, which highlights the gruesome nature of war that can annihilate
people, relationships, dreams. desires. families and societies. 'War' is a major
motif in the novel and is fought at various levels between different people and
ideologies. It is also a war against British Standard English as the novelist has
broken every possible grammatical rule and strucnue. To cite a passage from
the novel Sozahoy:
So that night, 1 was in the Upwine Bar. No plenty people at first. I
order one bottle of palmy from the service. This service is young
girl. Him bottom dey shake as she walk. Him breast na proper J.J.C.
Johnny Just Come- dey stand like hill. As 1 look am, my man begin
to stand small small. I beg am make 'e no disgrace me especially as
I no wear pant that night. I begin to drink my palmy. The service sit

near my table &y look me from the comer of him eye. Me I dey
look am too with the comer of my eye. I want to see how him
breast dey. As I dey look, the baby catch me". (13)
Even as it is a conscious and deliberate reworking of the language, it is a
mixture of Nigerian Pidgin English with local varieties, written as if spoken.
Commenting on the language, the novelist himself has stated in his author's
note of the novel that,
To its speakers, it has the advantage of having no rules and no
syntax. It thrives on lawlessness, and is pan of the dislocated and
discordant society in which Sozaboy must live, move and have not
his being.
By carving out a new identity for himself, an African writer is concerned, at
the content level, not only with the cultural values of his society but also with
the English language as he includes it as part of the thematic structure of his
novel. 11 is also a part of the higger project of decolonisation where the
language is forcefully made to hear the cultural e=me::that %unique to
Africa. As English is a foreign language in a foreign soil, the writer who
employs it has to be sensitive to the untranslatability of his cultural
components which the language has to confront.
It was in English that the history of Africa was conshucted, and its pre-
colonial past was effaced and denounced. English functions to generate racism
as it expresses the whole negativeness of the idea of blackness in its imagery
and vocabulary. Therefore the African writer posits, in English, a counter
narrative and tries to rewrite the history of his past, race and injustices from the
African perspective. While doing so, the writer dons the mantle of a historian

who intermgatCs the European versions of truth and presents an alternate
history of the people that comprises of legends, myths stories and songs.
Okara's Experiments with English
When Okara writes his first novel The Voice in English, he is confronted
with the predicament of using a non-African language to give voice to his local
culture and rural life. Therefore he experiments with it by incorporating
patterns from his native language, Ijaw. As he deals with the rural life of a
village called Amatu. Okara sheds all pretensions to use the nonnative variety
and instead chooses to use the language of their everyday experience. He
wilfully breaks the conventional patterns of English and employs relexification
as a strategy to express his postcolonial experience.
Though it can be argued that the authenticity of feeling and expression
can be achieved only in one's mother tongue, the post-colonial setting of
Nigeria gives little choice for Okara as he wishes to address not only his fellow
Nigerians but also the entire English-speaking world. Peter Nazareth puts
forward the problem of language-choice faced by an African writer:
So the writer discovers that he has no choice but to use English, the
same English that he may feel rebellious against as an imposed
language. His next problem is how he is to transmute his
experience in order to make it relevant to the nation as a whole.
To put it another way: as the imperial powers had arbitrarily
drawn borders on the atlas and thus lumped diverse groups of
people together, how is the writer to deal with the ethnic group or
race of his origin and yet be relevant to the nation as a whole? (6)

As English is tribally-neutral in a country like Nigeria, an African writer
chooses English as his vehicle for expression to widen the readership. As
Okara's mother tongue. Ijaw, does not feature in the six major language
groups in Nigeria, the cup of problems is full as he has to translate his mother
tongue or find its near equivalent phrase in order to provide intelligibility for
his readers. When Okara published an essay, "African speech ... English
Words." in 1963. he is of the view that,
As a writer who believes in the utilization of African ideas, African
philosophy, and African folklore and imagery to the fullest extant
possible. I am of the op~nion the only way to use them effectively is
to translate them almost literally from the African language native
to the writer into whatever European language he is using as his
medium of expression. (15)
Okara undertakes this fascinating exercise as he stretches, bends breaks and
moulds the English language, to suit his Nigerian idiom and African
experience. As this exercise is understood by postcolonial critics as
'indigenisation', 'nativisation' or 'abrogation and appropriation', Okara is
conscious of the task that is cut out before him: to handle a theme which is
universal while the action unfolds itself in a particular Nigerian semng (two
villages). expressing the varied emotions, ideas. philosophy and local culture
that have to be handled in deft narrative strategies in a language that is not his
own. To achieve this end. he experiments with the mode of English language
that has been appropriated in the Nigerian setting. While describing about the
use of English by an African writer, Okara in his essay. "Towards the
Evolution of an African Language for African Literature" opines:

It will nol k African English like Americao English, Canadian
English or Australian English. These are possible only because the
nationals of these countries have the metropolitan culture as their
reference culture. An African cannot claim such a reference. His
culture is different. His culture is rooted nowhere else but in Africa.
If. therefore. an African wishes to use English as an effective
medium of literary expression, he has to emulsify it with the
patterns, modes and idioms of African speech until it becomes so
attenuated that it bears little resemblance to the original. (16-17)
When Okara appropriates the language, there is nothing sacrosanct
ahout the English language that he wishes to retain. as he dishes out a step
motherly treatment to the English language. As English was a component of
the colonial package and remains as a remnant of colonialism. it reminds him
of the bitter experiences of the past. and the African writer uses the English
language to give vent to h~s feelings. As Chantal Zabus points out in
"Language. Orality. and Literature":
When 'the Empire writes back to the centre', it does so not so much
with a vengeance as 'w~th an accent' by using a language that
topples conventions of the so-called 'centre' and inscribing post-
colonial language variants from the 'margin' or 'the periphery' in
the text. (34)
Thc Voice is a novel in which the English language is twisted,
stretched, pulled out. mangled and made pregnant with connotations that are
very different fmm the standard variety. Okara defies the rules of English by
altering the syntactical structures and tense forms. He uses the main verbs and

adjectives in quite an unexpmd manna and radically too. Few English words
rye stripped of its conventional meaning and instcad dressed up to denote a
new meaning wmpietely out of the way. Comparisons, metaphors, images and
similes are throbbing and full of life with African blood pumped up in its veins.
By doing so, the English language of the coloniser is given the privilege to don
the African spirit and is sent back flaunting the richness of the African culture.
The adoption of English by the third world writer makes David Crystal to
remark. 'The loss of ownership is of course uncomfortable to those, especially
in Britain, who feel that the language is theirs by historical right; but they have
no alternative" (1 30). The adopted language undergoes a world of change and
is forced to carry the local cultural elements to denote the libeny with which it
i\ ued in the present social envimnment. Alan Davies is of the view that.
And since for English there is no official Academy, as there is in
France. the role of language arbiter is taken by unofficial bodies:
the standards of Standard English are determined and preserved to a
far greater extent than most people realise by the great Publishing
houses. (172)
Therefore it is apt that Okara, as a third world writer who deliberately subverts
the standards of English language so as to make it appropriate to his local
conditions, marks his sweet revenge by getting his novel published.
In Tire Voice, incidentnlly. the first occurrence of deviation from the
standard variety is. "Your nonsense words stop" (N: 24). All those who raise a
hue and cry against the liberty of language-style adopted by O h may better
stop their 'nonsensical words', as his style is shaped by the pmsent and past
historical experiences of Africa and the language he writes in, is a variety of

his own. The conventional form of the sentmce pattern in the standard variety
of English is SVO. But O h has been very careful to alter this syntactical
form in The Voice, wherever he felt he should. In the novel, when the boat
uavelling to Sologa is caught in a storm, a woman prays to her clan's deity,
"Will you in he river take m? A sign show. Blow, blow, the sky's eye blow
open.. ."(TV: 62). In another incident. when asked whether he seduced
Ebiere. Okolo answers, "'No. I did not her body touch. You ask her. She will
tell you if any pat7 of her body 1 touched.' he said with a strong voice" (7V
108 1.
In the above passages. it can be noted that the inversion of syntax is a
deliberate and a calculated effort. It is not that Okara cannot write in 'good',
grammatically correct standard variety of English. The style that he has
employed in th~s novel is deliberate, intentional and experimental. Writing
about Okara's style. O.P. Jonejn observes:
He. therefore, makes experimental use of language: semantically.
syntactically and even grammatically. By making a frequent
departure fmm the normal English sentence panern and also by
changing its syntax. Okara introduces the linguistic characteristics
of ljaw Into English. Moreover. it brings a kind of freshness to a
rather hackneyed theme of the courage of a man pitted against
national thuggery. ( 196)
Not only does he invert the 'stntence pattern' but also sometimes the
positioning of 'verbs' and a characteristic placement of 'be' towards the end of
a sentence s pk for themselves. To cite an example from the novel:

Shuffling feet turned Okolo's head to the door. He saw three men
standing silent, opening not their mouths.
'Who are you people be?' Okolo asked. The people opened IKM
their mouths. 'If you are corning-in people be, then come in.' the
people opened not their mouths. 'Who are you?' Okolo again
asked, walking to the men. As Okolo closer to the men walked the
men quickly turned and ran out. (7V 26-27)
Okara's style may be a violation of the standard English usage, but
interestingly it is precisely what O h is manoeuvring to do. The Voice is the
voice that has been suppressed and hampered due to the colonial designs. But
ever since the colonised took to writing, by deploying this exotic style and
defy~ng all logic and rules of the coloniser's language they assert tbeir
presence and force their voices to be heard. Commenting on Okara's style,
Kwaku Larbi Korang and Stephen Slernon is of the view tha~
Okara is after a distinct 'African' style that is capable of expressing
a specifically 'African' philosophy. a\ well as the cadences of his
own native Ijaw language. through English. He is also attempting
to render an idea of 'Africa' as a territory in the world: a territory
that comes ajer the ccllonial moment and which remains 'without a
name'. (252)
As it is the voice from the periphery, which has been neglected and sidelined.
Okara, by disrorring the language of the colonisers carves out a place for
himself as a postcolonial writer who not only wreaks vengeance on the English
lmguage for its complicity in the colonial amities hut also expresses his
African experience in a language that is alien to his land and culture.

Thc Voice deals with the post-Independent scenario of Nigeria, which
is gnawed, especially after being mauled by the colonisem, by the selfish and
cormpt politicians. The anti-colonial rant was used as a mask by the privileged
few to further their ends at the expense of the masses. Though Okara does not
take side with any particular political ideology. it can be seen that it is a novel
of protest against the existing systems. against superior powers and against
moral degradation. It is a novel of protest in theme, spirit and language.
Okolo. the central figure in the novel is shown as a rebel who is a
misfit in the town of Amatu simply because of his moral conviction and
~nieprity, which is seen a\ a threat to the very existence of the debased chief
Izonpo, who rule* the most and the elders who sing his praises. Even when he
lands In Sologo after being oslraclLed from Amatu. he discoven to his great
dismay that the dismal condition is the same everywhere and with everybody.
In Ijaw. Okolo mean\ 'voice', and it is the voice of Okolo that haunts and
taunt* everybody and hence a ploy 15 conceived by the cormpt leaders to
sllence him forever.
Even whik the story unfoldsSlulf Okara conwiously coins new
vocabularies and attributes a meaning that is entirely different from the
conventional mode. Okara repeatedly urn & word
'inside' which is pregnant with meanings. Arthur Ravenscroft in his
inlruduction lo the novel is of the view that. "In many Afncan languages the
words for what we call the spirit or the soul, or the inner life of a human being.
can be literally translated into English as 'inside"'(7V: 15).

Okm knows the problem of words Wre 'spirit' or 'soul', which carry
with them a strong odour of their moral and religious associations and therefore
he resorts to the direct translation of its African equivalents. According m
Pushpinder Syal.
We find a tension between text and social context. because of
gaps and fissures between the felt experience of the community
and culture. and the transmutation of it into a literary text in
English. since English is not the language in which the
community and culture by and large expresses itself. (18)
Okara indulges in relexification when he rips the conventional meaning away
from the word. and uses the word 'inside' to mean severally based on its
context and desists from attributing any specific meaning 10 it. The word
'~nside' has vanous meanings like spint. hem!. mind. conscience. conviction
and so on.
Similarly the word 'shadow' is used to mean strength, courage.
penon. power and so on. To cite an example. "Okolo twisted. shuggled and
kicked with all his shadow. with all his life . . ." (N: 28). Though words like
'inside' and 'shadow' appear lo be English. Okara deliberately uses these
words in an unconventional manner by attributing different meanings to it.
Ezenwa-Ohaeto remads about Okara's style of English in his essay "Gabriel
~kalif as follows:
Okara has not just vemrularisal the English language for the
language possesses numerous versions. but he has added v@ur to
it. His expimentation is not as restrained as that of Chinua
Achrbe who sumptitiously manipulates the language. In The

Voice, Okara rather uses the idioms of his own Ijaw language in a
manner that is less understandable in English. He does oot use
equivalenrs. (80)
Okara has a specific purpose in the rendering of these terms as he finds the
English language to be incompetent to cany out his intended meaning. As his
cultural experience is different from that of the language that he uses, it
hecomes inevitable that Okara has to grapple with terms that have a different
connotation from his intended meaning. Arthur Ravenscroft opines that,
Okara uses 'inside' and 'shadow' very frequently. so as to establish
as soon as possible a new set of reactions to them in the English
reader. while the speakers of most African languages will probably
gather the 'soul' or 'spirit' connotations of the words immediately.
At the same time 'inside' in English is a much less abstract word
than 'soul' and 'spirit' are, which enables Okara to write with more
intensity and a greater sense of the reality of man's inner. spiritual
life. (7V: 16)
African wrim use relexification and transliteration as a straregy to impose
their native cultural connotations on a foreign language. Since English, in the
historical sense, is not an African tongue. it docs not have it in itself to cany
the African experience. In the essay. "Under the Palimpsest and Beyond: The
"Original" in the West African Emphone Novel". Chantal Zabus opines:
As a method, relexification sterns from a need to solve an
immediate artistic problem: that of rendering African concepts,
thought-patterns and linguistic features in the Europesn language.
As a saategy in potenria, relexification seeks to affi the hidden

or npressed original behind what is construed as the original
language text. ( 106)
Okara finds the English language similarly crippled when it wrnes to
the description of qualitative nouns. He dismisses the usual technique of using
adjectives to qualify the said nouns. Okara feels that the adjectives in the
English language are quite inadequate to express the intensity of meaning that
he wishes lo convey as his narrative is inspired by the traditional oral forms.
Emmanuel Oblechina is of the view that:
The most striking feature of Okara's art is the repetition of single
words, phmws, sentences. images or symbols. a feature highly
developed in traditional narrative, especially the folk-tale with its
scope for dramatic pau.ses. facial contortions and gestures. (173)
As Okara incorporates the folkloric elements into the novel form he desists
from using adjectival usages to achieve his desired effect. In the oral tradition.
the speakers rely not merely on words but a whole range of non-verbal
elements that partake in the communication. Okara experiments with the oral
tradition to achieve this effect in his written narrative. To cite an example:
"Your hair was black black be, hen it became while like a white cloth and now
it is black black be more than blackness" (N: 25).
English is considered to be the language of the elite which has the
ability to convey the feelings nnd expressions of any given situation. One of
the greatest claims of the English language is the profundity of its rich
vocabulary. As Claiborne puts it. "Like the wandering minstrel in the Mikado,
with songs for any and every occasion, English has the right word for it-
whatever 'it' may be. (4).

But O h denies this claim and exposes its inefficiency to cater IO his
cultural need, as he is unable to find the right English equivalent for words in
his mother tongue which would be appropriate to capture the mood of the
setting. Due to the inadequacy of the English language, Okara opts to win
new phrases a. he dovetails two or more words together such as, "wrong-
doing-filled inside" (7V: 31). "know-God people" (7Y 32). "surface-water-
things" (W: 34). Okara preys on the pliability of the English language even
as he reveals its limitations when it crosses its shore.
Another characteristic feature of Okara's style is his use of the word
'it'. Beuer known as a poet. Okara employs his poetic strategy to suggest
thtngs and never reveals what 'it' exactly means. Arthur Ravenxroft says in
his ~nvoduction to the novel,
In fact Okwd makes Okolo at one point dehate in these terms with
himself: 'Names bring divisions and divisions strife. So let it be
without a name: let it be nameless . . .' (p.1 12). And we are never
told in so many words what 'it' means". (W: 6-7)
The novel opens with Okolo going about in search of 'it'. He questions
everybody whether they have got 'it'. Nothing is said about what 'it' means.
But the readers can infer from the ripples it creales in the society, when Okolo
asks for 'it'. that it has once existed but no longer does in the present world.
Okolo is treated with derision. hawed. and later killed for asking 'it'. Acwrding
to Tuere, "You do not want to rae him for his merely asking if you have got
'it"' (7Y 121). Throughout the novel Okolo is seen searching for 'it' hut of no
avail. Except the reader everyone else in the novel seems to understand what
'it' means. To the reader 'it' has a plurality of meanings but the characters

seem to know precisely what 'it' means as it haunts them even in their sleep.
Chief lwngo says.
Only a mad man looks for 'it' in this turned world. Let him look for
'it' in this wide world if he can find 'it'. But we don't want him to
stay here asking, "Have you it? Have you it? Have you it?" Even in
our sleep we hear him asking. (TV: 72)
Even when Okara &scusses about 'it' in the novel, he is careful not to give any
categorical or dogmatic meaning. From the various inferences, we assume that
it is something related to an ethical issue. Okolo comes close to explaining it as
'meaning of life'. He feels that apart from bringing forth children, everyone has
a purpose in life and one's life hecomes meaningful only if that purpose is
fulfilled (TV: 112).
observes that:
On the pssihility of what 'it' could mean in the novel. Ravenscroft
To begin with. we have no idea what Okolo's 'it' can possibly
mean. but gradually a. he finds himself having to explain his quest
not only to those who would persecute him but also to the few
individuals who sense what he is striving after. we begin to find
certain associations of meaning forming around the word 'it'. and
steadily being added to. until the vagueness disperses. (W 7)
Critics have tried to decipher what 'it' could possibly mean. Starting
from communal wisdom. 'it' has been interpreted in various ways. Whatever
be it, all the meanings that are associated with 'it' are only assumptions and
conjecnrrrs, and by doing so they only, as Bill Ashcrofi et al. in The Empire

Writes Bark put it, "contain them rather than allow thcw meaning to be
determined by heir place in the discourse." (43).
Okara's The Voice, is a linguistic experiment undertaken with a
calculated risk. He does not hesitate to violate the grammatical and structural
codes of the Englrsh language. His deviant form should not be construed as a
blot on the African English usage. As Chinweizu et al. have noted:
We would like to poinl out that the King's English, or the English
of ~hoolmen. is not the only kind of English. Writing in an English
different from standard English should not be construed as "letting
Africa down." Africans have no business speaking the King's
Engl~sh ~ndistinguishably from an English don: and they have no
business vyrng to prove to Europeans that Africans can speak or
wntc European languages indistinguishably from Europeans.
Therefore. no sense of embarrassment is warranted when an
African deviates from standard English by spealung or writing an
African variant of it. (264)
Afler centuries of colonial oppression. the African writer talks back to
them in their own language and while doing so Okara cares little for the
respectability and sanctity of the coloniser's language. Okara knows that the
language that he uses has heen handed down forcibly by the colonisers. But
now the language is at his mercy and O h toys with it. All the inverted
slructures, aberrations. contortions and violations that have haen rendered to
the English language by Okara refer symbolically to the violations and
aberrations tha~ have been rendered to Nigeria and its culture. The Voice
might not be the voice of an angry young man but certainly it is the voice that

has hacked its way through and has caused a forcible hearing. Okara
with the English language using different strategies to
appropriate the language to suit his Nigerian setting.
Ngugi's Africnnfsatioo of the English Language
Ngugi wa Thiong'o. though, takes the radical stand to switch over to
his African mother tongue. Gihyu, in his effort to work towards
decolonisation, his novel A Gmin of Whear, was written in English. In the
novel, although Ngugi's ~mmcdiale concern was to deal with the Kenya's
emergency or the Mau Mau war and come to terms with his encounter with
h~s nation's and people's history. his novel does not escape the cultural
rnterferences which are manifested in his use of English as the medium. He
does not subscribe to the school of thought which believes in experimenting
with the Engl~sh forms to adapt it to suit the African cultural idiom. However
ir IS evident from h15 writing that the present social milieu does affect his use
of the language and consciously or unconsciously. he reworks the coloniser's
language to cater to his African needs. Ngugi uses simple prose and diction
hat would he comprehensible to any average African senior school student.
In Ngugi Wu 771iong'o: An Erpk~rurion of His Writing. David Cook and
Michael Okenimkpe observe that.
Thus. throughou~ Ngugi's apparent simplicity is in a sense
deceptive. He is simple in that he writes pmse which is easy to
md, but not in the sense of avoiding the full range and variety of
the English language. If ever an author has worked hard and
successfully to have the besr of both worlds. Ngugi has done so.
(181)

~t a cursory glance. it appears as though Ngugi has employed the nonnative
variety of the English language without any violations. Since there is nothing
as East African English as such, Ngugi has been content to capture the
everyday speech forms of his setting. In 'Tolstoy in Africa: An Interview
with Ngugi wa Thiong'o". Ngugi has expressed his views on this issue:
We don't. on the whole. have an East African English yet. although
it may come into being. So the kind of English we have in East
Africa is very much the son of school English with correct
grammar, etc. But may be in a few years' time in East Africa there
will be a variation of English that can be used as a form of method
of characterization. Meanwhile we shall be content merely to
capture everylhing of ordinary life and speech. using the so-called
Standard English. (4849)
As the novel unfolds in a rural setting of a remote village called Thabai. Ngugi
has captured the everyday speech of the people. The mstic setting and the
simple life that the people lead are expressed in the language that they use.
Since the people of Thabai are primarily agriculturists. they till their land to
cultivate crops. While referring to their tools and land, Ngugi has retained
their original forms instead of the~r English equivalents. "He took a jembe and
a panga to repeat the daily pattern of his life had now fallen into since he left
Maguita, his last detention camp. To reach his new ship of shamba which lay
the other side of Thahai" (GW: 3).
The crops that are grown by Mugo are also left without being
translated. Nor does he attempt to explain what they are like: "In the shamba
he felt hollow. There were no crops on the land and what with the dried-up

weeds, galraraku. micege. mikengeria, bangi- and the sun, the country
appeared sick and dull" (GW 7).
As the twls and crops are rendered in their original names. Ngugi
translates the morning greeting. When Mugo goes early in the morning to his
shamha, he meels Warui. who greets him. "'How is it with you, this morning?'
Warui called out to him, emerging from one of the huts" (GW 4).
It should be noted that it is not the standard greeting of 'Good Morning'
that is used by Ngugi. Instead he Africanises the English greeting. Ngugi
undertakes relexification as he appropriates the English language and renders
it with meanings that are grounded in African culture. He manipulates the
English words to carry the cultural experience of his native land. Thus he
challenges the conventional structures of English and extends the horizon of
Engl~sh wmanlic system to accommodate his African experience.
In the novel. the vain is referred to "iron snake" (GW: 62); the guns of
the colonialists are described as 'bamboo poles that vomited fire and smoke"
(GW: 12): human excreta is referred to "small loads" (GW: 170); to urinate is
reworked as "the desire to pass water" (GW: 7): the chain of concentration
camps are called 'pipe-line" (GW: 51 ): a man doing a woman's job is referred
10 "Brushing sides with women's skins" (GW. 52).
True to the rustic setting of his novel. Ngugi employs the imagery to
reflect the actual condition of the society that he pomays. In the novel, the
description of Gitogo's mother, who is referred as 'old woman' has an
unmistakably African identity:

She had a small face grooved with wrinkles. Hu eyes were small
but occasionally flashed with life. Otherwise they I d dead. She
wore beads around her elbows, several copper chains around ber
neck. and cowrie-like tins around the ankles. When she moved she
made jingling noises like a belled goat. (GW: 6)
Ngugi, also translates African sayings into the English language. As his
vernacular is replete with such sayings and quipping, Ngugi renders a literal
translation w) a% to bring out a realistic effect to his writing. In the novel, when
Kwanja joins the white man betraying his fellow men, his mother reprimands
him but does not disown him: "Although ashamed of his activities, she stuck
by him. for. as she said, a child from your own womb is never thrown away"
(GW: 196).
y&i, & experimenting with the English
African experience in a non-African language. By doing so. he negotiates with
the problem of language-choice and works towards bringing English closer to
the African life. Therefore though the expressions appear to be in English. it
carries quite a different meaning altogether in the given context. These new
uuges might be baffling to#on-~frican English speakers but an African
~ndividual can identify his cultural experience which has been manifested
through the language. In the novel. Wambui. an activisl. leads a pup of
women to join the strike that has been wganised by the party against the white
rulers. She walks to the platform, grabs the microphone and gives a stunning
speech. In her oration, she hluns out: "Was there any circumcised man who
felt water in the stomach at the sight of a white man? Women, she said had
brought their Mithuru and Miengu to the platform'' (GW: 157).

In the above passage, the expression, 'feel water in the stomach' has a
connotation that eludes a non-African reader. Even the terms Wrc 'Mithm'
and 'Miengu' will not be undmtood if the reader were not an African because
Ngugi does not care to explain what these terms really mean in the present
discourse. Ngugi. in his effon to &-centralize the language so as to make it
suitable for his rural setting. manipulates the English language by infusing
African words. translation equivalents and coinages. While discussing about
the prohlems that the African writer faces. Ngugi, in his interview with Arninu
Ahdullahi. opines:
. . . the African writer in fact has got this added problem, you've
just reminded me of it. whereas people like George Lamming or an
English English writer can get narrative value from the 'slang',
from the twists of language from his community: we have to get the
slangs and the twist* of language in a different language and then
try to put that into English. ( 130)
Ngugi, a* a postcolonial writer. cannot but grapple with the coloniser's
language as he appropriates it and subvens its normative grammar. This is a
ueful discursive strategy used by postcolonial writen as it gives them the
potential not only to appropriate the coloniser's language but also gives the
scope to alter the dominant images hy representing the colonisen through the
eyes of the colonised. In the novel. Ngugi, exercises the rights of
representation of the whites from a black perspective:
The whiteman told of another country beyond the sea where a
powerful woman sat on a throne while men and women danced
under the shadow of her authority and benevolence. She was ready

to spread the shadow to cover the Agikuyu. They Laughed at this
eccentric man whose skin had been so scalded that the black
oulside had peeled off. The hot water must have gone into his head
(GW: 11)
Ngugi thus uses the coloniser's language as a tool to invade and
reposition himself at the center as the standard form is rnarginalised. It should
be noted that even a writer like Ngugi, who does not believe in
cxprimentation of the coloniser's language as a step towards decolonisation,
has deliberalely manipulated the English language so as to showcase his
Al'rocentricity. Edmund 0. Bamiro is of the same view in his article entitled,
"Recasting the center: Ngugi wa Thiong'o and the Africanization of English:
It is thus douhtful whether any post-colonial writer using English as
a second or fore~gn language can escape nativizing or indigenizing
the language altogether. Consequendy. although Ngugi has
successfully moved the center of his creative writing from the code
of 'standard' British English to that of his mother tongue, Gikuyu,
this movement ha\ not occurred without his prior reterritorialization
of Ihe English language. (74-75)
Ngugi. as a postcolonial writer appropriates the English language by his
creative use of it and makes it relevant to the setting of his novel. Even as his
novel offers a counter perspective of Kenyan freedom shuggle. Ngugi, in the
first place, Africanises the English language to suit his political purpose.
Thus both Okara and Ngugi experiment with the English language to
expmss the African identity and sensibility through the ianguage. As
Poslcolonial miters they decolonise the English language by breaking it free

from its fixity of referential meaning. As they use the language in a social
milieu that is different from its historicity, O h and Ngugi experimnt with
he language lo make it closer to the lives of their characters. Hence the &sire
to appropritue the language by mixing it with local forms of language and
thereby making it closer to the reality of life is preferred than to preserve the
standards of the language which is governed by a system of rules and
conventions. Therefore even as these writers express their resentment towards
[he western ideologies that supported colonisation they appropriate the
coloniser's language but not before breaking their rules that govern the
language.
Caribbean Creole and Mvon's Language Gnme
Sam Selvon, though a Trinidadian. sets Moses Ascending in London
and chtwses English to be the vehicle of communication for his novel. But
Selvon does not comply with the traditional forms; on the other hand he
danngly undertakes experimentation in his usage of the English language. He
knows well that he cannot. as a writer. write like an English novelist for whom
English is his mother tongue. 'lhrs IS not his aim either. Neither does he want
lo write in a style that complies with the traditional forms of English. On the
other hand. Selvon incorporates 'Creole' and fuses it with English without
sacrificing its intelligibility. As the plot centers on the blacks who are
immigrants in London. the novel deals with the problems they face with the
contact culture and their assimilation into the main stream which are deftly
ponrayed by Selvon. The language they pick up is a variety in its own as it is
constantly influenced by their native dialects. As Bill Ashcroft el al. in The
Empire Writes Bark put it:

'Ihis literature is therefore always wriuen out of the tension
between the abrogation of the received English which speaks from
the centre, and the act of appropriation which brings it under the
influence of a vernacular tongue, the complex speech habits which
characterize the local language. or even the evolving and
distinguishing local English of a monolingual society trying 10
establrsh its link with place. (39)
There i\ an inherent tension between the blacks and the English language,
uhich they are forced to speak in a foreign land. All the characters in the novel
arc nun-natlve'i of London as they come and settle in London for various
rt.a\on\. By depictrng the chiuacten who speak in their own Creole English,
Scluon has broughk a touch of realibm to his fiction.
Sam Selton \ handlrng of the Engl~\h language 1s unlque. as he uses
Creole c\en In the nmiuon of h~s nobel. Moses Asi e~tdtng Not only do the
chdractcn \peak Cret)lc hut alul the entlre nokel. whrch 1s the jotting\ of
Mo\e\. the narrator. I\ rendered In Creole As Isma11 S Talrb points out.
Selvon'h novel doe\ appear to be panicularly successful in its
language use. Other Caribbean writers. such as Wilson Harris and
Roy Heath, have expressed their admiration of Selvon's language
in his work. Wilson Harris specifically commends Selvon for
making 'dialect pan of the consciousness of the narrator'. . . . (1 39)
When Selvon unploys the Caribbean Creole. he does nol ~nde.r as it is spoken
In the islands. On the other hand, Selvon dfies the Creok to make it
cOmmunicablc to the speakers of the English language. Ismail S. Talib points
out that,

Comprehension may be difficult not only a~ the intcmational level
but, occasionally, it may also be difficult for people from different
regions of the same country, even if they belong to the same ethnic
group. ( 124)
Not only is the language difficult to comprehend, even in the Caribbean
islands, it bears the stamp of being depraved and uncivilised. Therefore Selvon
attempts to reposition the view that indigenous languages are primitive and
animalistic. He exposes the racist ideologies that are operating behind these
d~\coune\. As Sarah Lawson Welsh observes.
In many Eumpan travelen' account of visits or residence in the
West Indie\ fmm the eighteenth century onwards. Creole languages
are figured as 'bmken English'. 'degenerate' linguistic forms which
were though! to reflect the alleged 'depravity' and ' uncivilized' or
'childlike' status of their speakers. (416)
Thew i~\sumpiions are found not only outside the Caribbean islands but also
wtlhtn. There is an illconceived notion ahout the Creole continuum among the
elite of the society. Jean D' Costa states in the Encyclopedia of par-cold
li~rrarures in English: "W~thin thae cultures, the educated assumed iha~
Creole language signified ignorance. backwanimss. and distance from the
metropole" (810). Therefore lalung into account the many difficulties of
employing a Cmle in writing a novel. it calls for a great amount of courage to
indulge in experimenting with the Creole. It also attests that the decolonisation
process calls for a cmtive handling of the language and genre which will be
quite distinct from that of the westem rnodcls. At the same tim the hew
imaginative work must be exploratory in naw rather than be propelled by the

aim to revive the pre-colonial models that have been relegated to the
margin during the onslaught of colonisation. Selvon'b novel, though deals with
a pdcular set of people, it is not written for any particular community. The
of Creole may restrict wide readership of the novel, and the problem of
comprehension of the language will be not only at the national but also at the
international level. Therefore, bearing this in mind, different Caribbean writers
have taken different stances when it comes to the use of language. Selvon
points out the reason why he expenmen& with the dialect in his novel,
I could [not] have wtd what I wanted to say without modifying the
dialect . . . the pure dialect would have been obscure and difficult to
undentmd . . . Greek to a lot of people. . . . (qtd. in Talib 126)
Sam Sclvon. as a pstcolontal wnter assens his right to use a language to suit
h~\ stylc by subverung the language of the coloniser. As language and culture
arc inseparably tntenwtned. the Afncans who were transpod and
transplanted in the Carihheru, ihlands were deprived of both and hence the
tnhcrent resistance to the colonisen and their systems are made manifest when
thc buppreslied voice took to writing in the masler's language subverting the
~deologies through which the whole colonial enterprise was made possible.
Underscoring the power politics tha~ are at play in the recognition of a
language. Derek Atvidge points out:
Why does the culture privilege certain kinds of language and
certain modes of reading? Such a question can receive an answer
only when we reach the redm of political and economic relations,
the structures of power. dominance, and mistance which determine
the pancrns and privileges of cultural formations. ( 15)

When compand to the main stream of writers who use standard variety of
English. the use of &?ole by Selvon is a classic example of postcoloniaiity
where the COIICept of language and practice takes center stage as opposed to
the concept of 'center' and 'marginal'. It highlights the problems and
complexities at the performance level of the speaker, and also affm that
language thrives not in concept.. and theories but by its spaken. As Bill
Ashcroft cl al. in 7he Empire Wnres Bark put it:
The theory of the Creole Continuum, undermining. as it does, the static
mtxlels of language formation. ovenurns 'concentric' notions of
language whlch regard 'Standard English' as a 'core'. Creole need no
longer be wen as a peripheral variation of English. (47)
Therefore when Sehon nfnte\ In the Creole Conunuum. he glves volce
to the \uppre\wd thought\, feel~ng\ and emotion\ that had been kept under the
\hackle\ of \~lence for age\ The much-celebrated plasuc~ty of the Engl~sh
language. uhlch I\ II\ fone, ha\ been exploited and I\ forced to accommodate
Ihe \mous projection\ and d~\tort~on\, whlch has ulumately extended the
nm)w confiw of the Engltsh language
Language dons the mle of being more than a means of communication.
ah it IS raised and nurtured in the social. polibcal and cultural climate of a
pmicular place. Colonial masters presumed that the slaves who were brought
in were incapable of having any human baits such as inter-personal
relationships based on the natural instinct to communicate. Therefore they
wen allowed to herd and h d togethu withour any distinction. Therefore
Gerald Moon observes in "Use Men Language". 'The most important of the
discoveries made . . . is that the West lndics has languages of its own" (331 ).

But the discovery of the fact that there is a distinct West Indian variety
speech is not as pleasant as the discovery of Columbus when they had a
whole stretch of islands to inherit. Rather it is a much disconcerting and
disturbing fact. as it is a matlcr of accommodating the periphery into the main
stream. The accommodation, in ils initial stages would have raised a few
eyebrows if not any severe opposition. But after the painful realisation that it
I\ just a backlash of the colonial excesses. the accommodation needs to be
wen ah its rightful place rather than an exemplary action of tolerance on the
pan of the west. who till then were maintaining a sympathetic attitude towards
the literature of the colonised countries. It is a like-it-or-lurnpit affair for the
west when it comes to the third world literature however substandard it may
appear to he. Mcwxe puts it quite succinctly in "Use Men Language" when he
\ay\.
Gone is the comic tnuusron of the Creole-speaker into the polite
crrcle of the educated - suictly comparable with the comic cockney
housemaid or man servant in a pre-war West End play. How can
what is indigenous and natural to the vast body of people in a
society be presented to them in a comic or eccenlric lighl excepc by
a kind of cultural confidence trick? (33 1-33?)
Therefore. Selvon's experimentation of the Creole poes to show the
arwtion of the marginal voices. which were hithato suppsd. Neither can
11 be viewed as a comic intrusion used to evoke humour in the novel which
abounds in the portrayal of the black immigrants who sre misfits in Loadon.
On the contrary, using a language such as Creole becomes a political exercise
given the fact that the writer is using it as a part of his cultural assenion. As he

is cornered with the problem of unintelligibility, he thmfon has to constantly
modify and reshape the language to suit his purposes. To cite an example
from Selvon's Moses Ascending:
Who you think was at Marble Arch at the stroke of six precisely
next evening, with notebook and pencil poised? Who you think
wait there like a poor-me-one till seven o' clock, then had was to
catch the rube and come home in a fiery mood of destruction? (MA:
62)
Though 11 snund\ like English, it is not easy to ignore the influence of the
Iwal dialect in the above passage. which can be seen in its grammar and
phrases like 'poor-me-one'. These are not simply examples of the Substratum
theory where the irnrmgranth learn their contact language imperfectly. After
seducing Brenda. Moses says, "Afur that glorious salutatory stroke with
Brenda. I got to think~ng that In for a penny. in for a pound. and that might not
he a bad idea to have she available on the spot" (MA: 26). The violations and
aherrations of grammar found in the above passage are not the mistakes of a
rhmlboy In his second language acquisition nor are they 'bsckslidmgs' due
lo the mother tongue influence. Jean Aitchison in Longrcage Clurnge: Progress
nrdecav? is of the view t ha~
Faced with such supeficially hilarious adaptations of the English
language. some people have condemned pidgrns as 'crudely
distorted by false ideas of simplifmtion' and dismissal them as
'broken language' or a 'bastard blend', unworthy of serious sady.
(220)

The variety of hguage found in the above passages can neither be criticized
for bndring the conventional rules of the language nor be wished away as
sheer ignorance of the hguage principles. On the other hand it is a deliberate
effort to modify the English Grammar and forcing it to cam to his purposes.
AS Bill Ashcroft el al. state in The Empire Writes Back:
Writers in this continuum employ highly developed strategies of
Code-Switching and Vernacular transcriptions. which achieve the
dual mult of abrogating an English as a culnvally siNcant
discourse. (46)
Sam Sclvon'b Mr~sr.\ .4.\(.endin~ is in a sense a melafiction where the
principal character Moses, attempts to compose his memoirs by jotting down
rhc cxpenences of his life. A black man who has no reputation of a writer.
altcmpting to wnte is a theme in it.self. The content of the writing and the
language in which he expresses h~mself are the prohlems. which Selvon mes
lo highlight in the novel. In spite of all he problems that Moses has to face,
the desire to wnte and his wanting to prove a point to the whtes that even the
blacks are capable of writing seem to be the propelling force W nd his effotts
to write. To quote Moses: " 1 longed to get hack to my ptulosopluzing and my
analyzing and my rhapsod~zing. decorating my thoughts with gme-notes and
showing the white people hat we. too, could write a boor (MA: 100-101 ).
As a writer from the Caribbean. Selvon's is a quest to show his stamp of
clau as a writer, giving voice to all the pent up feelings and emotions of his
race, people and nation that have hecn suppressed for ages. It is the white-
skinned writer. who. all this while, has remted the blacks, interpellating,
inlerpmting and aying to undwstand their peculiar ways. This exafise of

misinterpretdon hss only resulted in the formation of a c o M discounr,
which has been responsible to keep the voice of an entire rece buried aad
unheard. Thmfom when Moses takes lo writing, he knows well that the
intellectual community would raise meaningless questions like, "Ln any case,
who tell you you could write" (MA: 42)? Since writing needs an amount of
scholarship, people deride him saying, "'You think writing book is like kissing
hand? You should leave that to people like Lamming and Salkey"' (MA: 42).
Withou! expecting any encouragement from any q m n Selvon knows
that his work will hreak a new ground in the great literary canon, though there
are es~ahlished writen like Lamming and Salkey who are associated with
Black Literature with wme powerful books to their credit. But Moses knows
h~\ work, with its radical techniques and strategies will stand out: "So? Well.
my memoin will create a new dimension" (MA: 43).
In the novel we see Moses as a man bylng to enjoy his post-retirement
ape. As a black imrmgrant he has started off from the scratch. stomached all
the unmentionable suffering that 'helongs' to his race but through h s hardship
and toil. he is now propertied and wants to eat Ihe fruit of his yean of labour.
He wants to makc a sense out of his life and ultimately find his self-image and
identity. Though he desires lo be leA alone in peace. there is an inherent desire
lo compose his memoirs for which he jots down his expmicnccs and hunts for
materials. Edward Baugh in "Friday in Crusw's City: 'lhe Question of
lmguage in Two West Indian Novels of Exile". points out the sienificaace of
mnoin and the very act of writing by a West Lndran individual:
To complete his ascenl Moses is writing his memoirs (with capital
M, of course). This work is imp-t to him not d y as the act of

sclf-ddinition which mh lend to be. but even mm so because
it will display his supposed mastery of English. To have arrived is,
in its ultimate expression. to have arrived linguistically. (9)
We see Mow a~cending up the social ladder against all odds, but his
desire to write invites criticism from one and all, even lo the extent of telling
suaight in his face that, "you are heading straight for the mad house" (MA: 43)
and ir warned that he will be seen. 'Wking to yourself in the streets as you
head for the Arches in Charring Cross to join the vamp and dropouts" (MA:
43 1,
For Mows. insult~ng his work "was a hard thing to bear" and it is worse
than calling him "a hlack barlard", or "refuse to be served in the pub. or
"even plsh on me 11ke hem pigs ptss on hat poor African chap" (MA: 45).
Wntlng IS something that is dear to his hean. But Moses is prepared to grow a
rh~ck skin to weather all criticisms. Therefore when people around him make
lun hy calling him Brit~bh Baldwin. he only retorts to them in anguish. "'You
uun't undenland'. I say. 'What do you know of the deep maelstroms churning
inside an author. or how touchous he could be concerning his work"' (MA:
/OX)? Writing is ~rrcsistible and unavoidable for Moses. though he is faced
with a legion of problems. The content of his memoirs deals with the
harrowing experiences of the neglected sect of people. which has to have an
appal to the lasics of his readers and his use of language that belongs to a
pculiar style, has to find a publisher who will ha
Mows is unfazed by these hurdles even when
slinging words. "Of course, it will neva scc
npulable English publisher" (MA: 137). He cares
and continues to compose his memoirs tinldy.

are engaged in the gnm struggle of Life. As Rose C. Acholoau observed in
'The West Indian Novelist and Cultural Assenion: Samuel Selvon's Artistic
Vision":
The socio-cultural evolution of the West Indian masses naturally
resulted in the emergence of a language or dialect which is special
to he community. The West Indian English or Creole is the hall
mark of the Caribbean cultural heritage. This special English, like
any other language. serves to reinforce the people's cultural
identity. To individual characters the language becomes a means of
conformity and a vital way of assening their existence and self-
image. (80)
Therefore Selvon employ\ Creole and put\ dralectal forms Into the mouth of
h~r charac~en He not only employ language to communicate hts vlews but
.II\I) uws 11 ~LS a tcx,l to aswn the We\[ In&an ldentlty.
Selvon IS unapologet~c in h~s use of language and experiments with it.
He plays ufith the Englixh language and preys upon iLs pliability. He uses
archaic words, local dialect. and Creole continuum and yokes it with the
\tandard variety of English. Brenda's BBC English is mixed with the dialectal
forms and Moses's archaisms. As Menyn Moms points out in his
Introduction to the novel:
The characteristic effects of Mosrs Asccding as of (Moses
Migrating) derive from the surprising combination of styles:
archaic and modem; formal, often stilted, Standard English and
casual Trinidad slang, academic phraseology and non-standard
grammar; pseudo- litrrary affectations clichts, foreign expressions

all tumbled together with splendid indeumun. and the detail often
wrong. (MA: xi)
Selvon creatively uses he English language. It is stncchcd, broken. and
its grammatical structures are left mangled. Adding to its woe. it is yoked with
he local slang and its phrases are subverted. It is not seen as a system of
meaning hut becomes a plaything in the hands of a third world writer who
loves to play with his master's tongue. In the novel Moses Ascending, it can be
wen in the caw of Galahad who says. "We is we . . . and after we is, we
lwill]". But Selvon plays with the language and shows Moses as having
underbtood it as "weevil" (MA: 13).
There are also instances of the writer indulging in a deliberate play of
malaprop~sms. He interchanges the spelling and produces a beautiful
\ymposiurn of twin meanings. For example, as Moms points out in his
~ntrtrtucuon to the novel.
When. for example, he says 'I had to peddle my own canoe for
survival' (39). Moses no doubt means 'paddle'. There is a glance at
Mr. Biswas. 'the paddler'. 'Peddle' suggests that the writer,
however independent he pretends to be, will need people to buy his
work. It may also signal an upper class English pronunciation of
'paddle'. Similarly. when Moses says, 'In this world you must not
heng your hat too high' (3). 'heng' simultaneously represents a
version of upper class English speech and a West Indian Creole
usage: thus neatly fusing dram and reality". (MA: xv)
It is the pleasure-principle that governs the language of Selvon when he
handles the former master's language with utter playfulness. Deborah

Cameron is of the same view when she talks of the deliberate play with the
nonnative variety of language in her essay, "Mixing it: The poetry and politics
of bad English. "Language used 'badly' offers pleasures which are not
always to he had from language used more 'appropriately' . . . " (108).
Selvon. though a contemporary of Lamming and Baldwin who write in
elegant English and have created a reputation for themselves, refuses to budge
and breaks free with his experimental language use. He has not forgotten that
English language was a powerful imperial tool in the hands of the colonisers.
Therefore he wants to face the challenge and deliver the counter punch using
the m e weapon of language. As Moses proclaims defiantly. "'I will knock
them In the Old Kent Road w~th my language alone'. 1 boast. 'My very usage
of English will have them rolling in the aisles"' (MA: 78).
True to h~s clalm. his English is as sensational as it is startling. His
dcllherate play with spelling ~nterestingly does not confuse the reader. as the
mended meaning is well within the grasp. For instance in the novel when Bob
comes unexpectedly when Moses is scrubbing the back of Jeannie. Moses is
caught red handed and to quote his own words, ". . . I was rrimbling with
shtrk and fear" (133). The letter 'e' in 'tremble' is substituted with 'i' for
ohvious reasons, Similarly. when Moses recollect. his nostalgic memories of
his clandestine affair with a Dutch girl. he 'misspells' paradox as parabox. We
do not know whether he had 'Pandora's box' or 'skeleton in the cuphoard' in
mind when he altered the spelling. hut what we know for sure is his intention
to topple the conventional fonn of English. Also he changes the spelling of the
words like 'loin' into "lion" (MA: 63). 'choke' into "chook (MA: 28), to name
a few, and shows a fancy for coining new words like %nbeknownst" (MA:

27). "grudgedity" (MA: 117). "onlyest" (MA: 41). "ingrate" (MA: 123) and so
on. He takes spacial delight in breaking the grammatical smuures as it can be
heen in the f0ll0~ing passage:
Now. I know. though Bob don't know that I know, that white men
feel they only have to wag their fingers and a black woman would
a-running and spread sheself wide anytime, anyplace, any old how,
and deliver the goodies. (MA: 22)
The rnteresting aspect of Selvon's style is that he mixes his
grammatical violations with fonnal language and archaisms as it can be found
In the following passages: "'Glad to be of service, Robert', I say humbly.
'Speak your piece and depart before you become contaminated"' (MA: 139).
And when a policeman arrests Moses. he says. "lf I had had time I would of
said. 'Unhand me, knave'. but instead I say. 'let me go man. I ain't done
nothing"' (MA: 36).
From Selvon's free play with language. it is quite clear that he is in the
process of decolonis~ng the English language by altering the grammar and
suhverting its suuctures. It is an intellectual response to his emotional
grievance as the coloniser's language lakes a severe beating in Selvon's usage.
As the language is rendered odd and quixotic. Brenda drubs it as "ignorant
unschooled piece of work" (105). Selvon is full of mischief when he says
ironically that his style of language is similar to the 'usage of the Queen's
language, which had always been my forte. . ." (105).
Several critics may say several things like Brenda who takes a
formalistic approach when she says:

'The only sentence you know . . . is what criminals get. Your
conjunctions and your hyperboles are all mixed up with your
syntax. and your figures of speech only fall between 10 and 20.
Where you have punctuation you should have allegory and
predicates, so that the pronouns appear in the correct context. In
other words, you should stick to oral communication and leave the
written word to them what knows their business'. (MA: 105)
Ohviously the reference here is to leave the business of writing to
writers like James Baldwin. George Lamming and Andrew Salkey who write
In elegant English conforming to all the rules and regulations of the language.
But it is precisely what Selvon is against, as he attempts to topple the applecari
of the notion of standard Engl~sh. He not only topples it but also does it in
style when his pmtagonist Licks aside Lamming's Worer umirh Berries that was
In his way and pet5 it name comically wrong as "Water for Berries" (MA:
1.38).
Selvon tampers with the normative variety of English and underscores
his postcolonial response to the colonial affiliations of the language. As
Sivanandan puts it in 'The Liberation of the Black Intellectual":
It is not just the literature of the language. however, that ensnares
the native into 'whititude'. hut its grammar, its syntax, its
vocabulary. They are all pan of the trap. Only by destroying the
trap can he escape it. 'He has'. as Genet puts it, 'only one recourse:
to accept this language but to corrupt it so skiifully that the white
men arc caught in his trap.' He must blacken the language, suffuse

it with his o m darkness, and liberate it from the presence of the
oppressor. (74)
~5 Selvon decolonises the English language, he does not stop with just
playing with words but also takes a great deal of pleasure in subverting the
popular phrases. He alters and subvens the phrases in a way that it sounds
comic and is bereft of its original grandeur and dignity. For example when
hloses describes his extraordinary success in his sexual exploits with various
kinds of women. he bormws the popular phmse, 'He came, He saw, he
conquered', and alters it as, "Blonde blue-eyed Scandinavian, fair English
row, vivacious Latin - all have come, and see, and I conquered" (MA:25).
Al\o the phrase. 'to earn one's bread with toil'. suffers a severe damage when
Mows change\ it as. "I would not know about that; in my heyday I earned my
piece of cunt hy the sweat of my hrow . . ." (MA:98).
Wh~le there is racy imny and rihald humour dressed up in the language
of Mows, it does no1 tolally mitigate the fierceness and anger that is lurking
hch~nd these thoughts. As a person who belongs to the oppressed class and
hohnohs with similar sect of suffering people. he is an angry old man who
d0eh not try lo conceal his bottled up feelings. His language is quite abusive
and he makes no bones of it bul flaunts it audaciously as it can be seen in the
novel wh~ch is replete with tabooed words like. 'fuck', 'shit', 'arse'. 'cunt',
'pussy'. 'stroke' and the like. Whenever things get emotionally charged,
Moses spares no thought and quite liberally uses such brash and offensive
terms. For example. when Moses gets the bail and comes out of prison he fires
at Bob saying. "'Fuck you. fuck Galahad. and fuck the parry,' I say bitterly"
(MA: 38).

Selvon also employs Rasta English, which is popular among the
younger generation of the West Indians. Because of his harrowing encounters
with white policemen and their off handed treatment towards the Blacks,
Mows prefers to call them 'pigs from Babylon':
Are we really making any headway against the fuzz and the pigs
from Babylon?'
Brenda look up and smile pitifully. 'You mean the police?'
'Yes. Why call you them Bahylon?'
'Read your bible and you'll find out'. (MA: 82)
Because the police suhjected the black into unspeakable and inhuman
treatment. it is quite understandable. why Moses calls them pips. Also the
rcl'ercnce to 'Bahylon' can he traced hack to the Bible where it stands for
oppression and davery. As Christopher OSReilly points out.
Bahylon is the Rastafarian term for the corrupt, oppressive world
that Rastafarians helieve they will he delivered from when they
return lo Ethiopia, Africa. Bahylon was a place of slavery for the
Jews of the Old Testament. (100)
Selvon's use of Rasta English is very appropriate as it is marked with
\trial pmtest as Rastafarianism itself is concerned with the rejection of many
traditional western values and aims at branching off from the main stream of
\ociety. Peter A. Roberts describes ahout Rasta English in his book. West
Indians and their Language:
Within recent times this same biblical language has become
enmeshed with the language of harsh urban ghetto life, a context in

which Rasta language flourished. Familiar biblical terms, which in
their history had already been subject to reinterpretations and
extensions in meaning, were again re-interpreted in the context of
Jamaican ghetto life and the Jamaican society at large. For the
Rastafarian. well-known proper names like Babylon. Zion,
Isruelites, and the title Pharoah were given new meaning. . . . many
words therefore took on double significance- eg. Brethren
judgement day, cupriviry, redemption, freedom, war, hnkwss,
enemy, pcrradise - and words like love, hare, bum, wail, dread,
\iolencr. came to characterize Rasta speech. (38)
There are also numerous references and allusions taken from English
hallads, h~story and classical Greek literature. It has always been a matter of
pnde. for any writer, to quote from ancient Greek literature so as to show off
the~r wide scholarsh~p. But it is not so for Selvon as it can be found in the
following passage:
Then Fxouk lalie off the head and wrap it up. like that Greek hem
do with a worn head. I forget the whole story at the momenl but
you know the one I mean, about the chap who had wings on his
foot, and he slash off this woman head: she was so ugly he had was
to look in a rnimr to do it, else she turn turn into stone- you
remember? (MA: 56)
As it can be understood. the ahove reference is to Medusa, but the author does
not mention it specifically and he makes no effort to do so as he does not feel
the necessity to do it. He leaves it to his readers to decide upon the fate of his
allusion. Though he claims to have forgotten the whole story, he proceeds to

narrate the allusion in its entirety. His alleged forgetfulness is only a proof of
his not wanting to remember. as he attaches no imporlance to it. While
commenting on Selvon's use of language, Curdella Forbes, is of the view:
In the fml analysis, the insertion of the Creole narrative voice aod
Moses' powerful malapropisms into literary discourse becomes not
merely a Manichean opposition to British colonizing projects, but
more primarily the assertion of a creative essence in the speech of
West Indians. It expresses faith in the ability of the language to
carry the burden of their searches through to acceptable resolution,
and becomes a ground of possibility for the discovery and creation
of psychic and wial order and therefore of a liveable relation to
constructs of identity which are essentially gendered. (60)
Beneath the playfulness of Selvon lies his misuy to command the
language for his ideological purpose. As he deals with the life of the
marginalized community, he chooses to capture the real life language of the
people. Through the character of Moses, Selvon d~srupts the myth of standard
English and its role in the West lndian society. As Edward Baugh observes:
For the moment. we laugh at English as much as we laugh at
Moses' misadventures with it. The sense of subversion is conveyed
partly through the many levels of parody on which the story moves.
as well as thmugh the fact that the hybrid or non-language which
Moses produces is the result not just of a failure to cope with
Standard English, but also of a positive, if largely instinctual
manipulation of Trinidadian speech, with its own distinctive
rhetorical patterns. In Moses' unconscious blunders with English is

Selvon's conscious artistry. as, for instance, in the congruous but
pointed juxtapositions of a clichlridden, allusive literary style with
the earthiness of an oral tradition. (10)
Therefore, in Sam Selvon's Moses Ascending, the life of the West
Indians, racial conflicts. and their struggle for emancipation and empowerment
are dealt in a language that itself is under the process of decolonisation as it is
not only the artistic medium but also becomes the subject matter. It should
alw he noled that Selvon appropriates the English language by experimenting
w~th it. He does not strive to retain the normative variety of English which will
be far removed from the every day reality of the characters that he deals with.
Selvon use\ a range of linguislic registers that reflect the rich cultural
resources that are available for a West lndian writer. By deploying various
varieties of English Lhat are at vogue in the Caribbean islands. Selvon achieves
an unmistakably West lndian variety of English and brings in a touch of
authenticity to his novel.
Hams's Fusion of English Pnd Creole
Wilson Harris, faithful to his Guyanese setting, employs the Creole
language in his novel. Palure of the peaccrk. The use of Creole continuum is
one of the ways in which post colonial texts de-centers the myth of standard
English by abmgating the center and extends the frontiers of the marginal and
periphery. The emergence of postcolonial fiction with a deliberate use of
'englishes' rather than 'English' constitutes to the widening of the mainstream
of the canon of English Literature.
The ambivalence that clouds the problem of using English language is a
double-edged sword. Ever since the third world writers took to writing. they

have been dogged by the problem of language-choice that is to be employed as
a means of their communication. If English is a foreign tongue in which the
native writer's emotions and sensibilities cannot be best expressed, the
predicament is that the colonial impediments have left them with a legacy of
the English language from which there stems to be no way out. No matter
how broken their language is, they cannot but communicate in English. The
prttblem just does not slop here. Now that the third world writers have begun
ro write in various forms of English. with its distortions and deviations. it
backfires on the English as the concept of center is questioned and negated.
However to a postcolonial writer. it marks a sweet revenge on the master's
language as they appropriate the language to yoke it with their native
experience. It also furthen the cause of decolonisation by interngating and
divnantlinp the exibting di~ows that were perpetuated through the power of
language.
Wilson Harris employs the Creole Continuum interspersed with
arandard variety of English. As Bill Ashcroft et al. in The Empire Writes Back
point out. ". . . the most distinctive feature of the Caribbean novel is the
narrator who 'reports' in Standard English. but moves along the continuum in
the dialogue of the characters."(72)
True to the ahove statement. Harris uses Code-switching and Code-
mixing to facilitate the reading experience. The narrator, who is the broher of
Donne, uses standard English whereas the other characters use different
varieties of the Creole continuum ac it can be seen in he following passage:
Cameron sobend a little. "Where thue's life there's hope. Boy."
He tried to jeer daSilva by giving his wwds a ribald drawling twist.

"You lucky bastard-you." He poked daSilva in the chest. "What's
in hell's name keeping you from settling right here for good'?"
"You don't know what?"
"Naw Boy. I don't."
"I ain't many to she." daSilva confessed.
"Ah see," Cameron laughed like a man who had at last dismissed
his fool.
"Pon this mission," daSilva explained in a nettled voice, "you know
as well as I the law say you must many the Bucks you breed.
Nobody know is me chile."
"I* it a secret?'Cameron roared and laughed again. (PP: 50-51)
The characters. the novel Poke of the Peacock,
helong to vanous tribes and regions. Cameron is a Negro. Schomburgh is a
Mulatto, and Donne is a whiv Creole who claims to have gone native. The
coming together of people from different races to form a crew is so typical of
the West Indian scenario which is a melting pot of various cultures. The
people who are bred in the Caribbean islands were once shipped in from
various pans of the colonised countries and were yoked under the system of
\lavery. It was a post-Babel situation where everyone spoke in a different
tongue resulting in mutual unintelligibility. To keep them under linguistic
shackles was a ploy adopted by the colonisers to keep the slaves under control.
Any son of rebellion or coup will he taken care of by their own semiotic
confusion.
Therefore rhe emergence of Creole in the Canihbean islands was
~nevitable. It is through this Creole Continuum. every individual tries to
redefine himself and carves out an identity for oneself. As this happens to be

the actuality in the real life of a West Indian. Harris Qcs not desist from
making his characters speak in their own Creole language, while the narrator
ia at home with the standard English.
In the novel Poke of the Peacock, the crew is mixed and varied in
nationality and language. Yet their coming together as one man with a &mite
purpose is precisely what the West Indian character is made of. The language
that they have learnt and communicate is the language of oppression, which
has kept their voices suppressed. When old Schomburgh tries to soothen the
nerves of the narrator, words tumble out with "grave difficulty" (PP: 28). He is
not very articulate in communicating his thoughts and feelings. Though he is
the oldest member of the crew, he speaks only if there is a necessity. He says,
"Is a r~sk everyman teklung in this bush, he champed his mouth a little,
rasping and cough~ng out his lungs the old scarred broken words of his life. I
thought of the sound a boat makes grating against a rock" (PP: 28-29).
The lingu~stic inefficiency of the West Indian individual can be seen in
the above passage. It is not the sweet rhynung with its mellifluous intonation
that Schomburgh speaks in. English might be the language of Milton and
Shakespeare who have enriched the language with theu profound thoughts and
linguistic artistry. English was like a musical instrument in theu hands, which
mesmerized its hearers. It might be the glorious language with all its
weetness and grandeur. Harris hints at the irrelevancy of the history of the
language once it crosses its native shores. In the Caribbean islands, the
Position of English is different from what it is in England. For Schomburgh, it
is the coloniser's language, the language of oppression and he cannot help but
croak the foreign tongue. All that he can manage is only a few " s c d broken
words", which sounds like a b at grating against a rock. Cameron. who is of

an African descent. shares the same feeling of antipathy towards the
coloniser's language:
Fact is we don't speak the same language that is God's truth. They
speak shy and tricky-the mission folk. I speak them hard bitter style
of words I been picking up all me life. . . . I got to keep making
these brutal sounds to live. (PP: 43)
While he acknowledges that he does not speak the way the English men speak,
he also realises that it is the "hard bitter style". which he has managed to pick
up. He goes a step ahead to denounce the English language as brutal. The
cycle of time comes round when a black complains about the English language
of having b ~tal sounds. It is a matter of survival that forces these characters to
\peak in English. A\ English has taken the centre stage in the islands, the
socco-political condition offers little choice for these characters to speak any
other language. It was the crime of the colonisem who denounced the
~ndigenouh language* as barbaric and nothing more than animal cries. Now
that the colonised have picked up English. they express their antipathy towards
the language and the predicament that forces them to use it. The colonial
discoune that was built on the premises of language is bulldozed when the
\ame language ib used as a site for confmntaoon with the colonial past. The
\(xi(>-cultural displacement of the West lndians has forcal them to struggle
with creolization and miscegenation, the two elements they have to contend
with. Elucidating on this, Femi Abodunrin, in Blackuss- Culxun. Ideology
clod Disrr~urse, is of the view:
The results of miscegenation and cmlization have created one
might say, a divided alliance to two world views, in which the

'mulatto of style' becomes a man or woman committed to writing
in the oppressor's language while looking with a keen eye on
acipects of hisher ancestral African culture to endow himher with a
cultural framework that will rescue the imagination. (31)
Wilson Harris through his varied characters has tried to capture the
tension that arises out of living between two worlds. Since the characters are
already loaded with the baggage of their past cultural sediments, any means of
escape is possible only through their power of imagination to posit a
worldview for them.selves. Though they are on a civilising mission exercising
their power over the Arawaks, they feel that they do not belong to that place
and realise that "We're all outside of the folk (PP: 59). The West Indians.
though hail from different places they share the common experience of
colonisation and its effects on the society as a whole. They have found their
unifying force in the chords of misery that hinds them through the experience
of creolisation that gives them a distinct identity and solidifies the society. In
the novel. the narrator points out to this fact:
After a wh~le this horrifying exchange of soul and this
identification of themselves with each other brought them a partial
return and renewal of confidence. a neighbourly wishful fulfillment
and a hasking in each other's degradation and misery that they had
always loved and respected. It w= a partial rehabilitation of
themselves. the partial rehahilitation of a tradition of empty names
and dead letters, dead as the buttons on their shin. (PP: 100)
Another characteristic feature of Palace of the Peacock is its musicality.
Words are used to evoke sound panerns that delve deep into the traditional

~ystem of life in the Caribbean islands. The music that pervades in the natural
rxample from the novel:
of the islands is captured and fused into the novel. To cite an
The voice of roaring water declined a little. We were skirting a high
oulcrop of rock that forced us into the bush. A sigh swept out of the
gloom of the trees. unlike any human sound as a mask is unlike
flesh and blood. The unearthly, half-gentle, half-shuddering
whisper ran along the tipr of graven leaves. Nothing happened to
stir. And then the whole forest quivered and sighed and shook with
violent instantaneous relief in a throaty clamour of waters as we
approached the river again. (PP: 26-27)
Harris's u.w ol' the adjectival insistence in the above passage highlights
h~r effort to use the language to translate the musical pattern to evoke the
v~sual effects of the Caribbean setting. When there is a scuffle between the
urru Carmll breaks out into an uncontrollable laughter which is captured in
Harns's anistic uw of language:
The laugh smck them as the slyest music coming clear out of the
stream. It was like a hell and it startled away for one instant every
imagined revolution of miwry and fear and guile. It was an
ingenuous sound like the homely crackle of gossiping parrots or of
inspired branches in the leaves, or the slicing ecstasy and
abandonment of the laughing wood when the hunter loses and finds
his game in the footmark he has himself left and made. (PP: 63)
The novel abounds with such passages. The everyday experiences are captured
along with the musicality that is manifested at various levels in the West

Indian setting. Commenting on this issue, Russel Mc Dougall is of the view
that.
The musical motifs of what Harris calls in Conrad 'an orchestra of
the heart of the Bush' could be traced throughout Palace of rhe
Peacock to the 'final' cadenza of coniuncrio- the cry of the
peacock- which the singing here anticipates. Indeed, the novel is
well considered as a sound poem, since it operates on a symphonic
scale and yet remains free of the structural restraints of the 'pure'
genre- and because it is 'programmatic' rather than 'absolute' in its
musicality: an orchestration of the rdmemberment of the eclipsed
body of subjective community. (98)
Harris uses the language 10 depict the distinct West Indian scenario
which is deeply rooted in their colonial experience. There is an eerie
atmosphere that pervades the place as people dialogue with their
consciousness, which is reflected in the perception of their natural
\urroundinp. As Bill Ashcroft el al. in The Empire Writes Back observe:
. . . Harris sees language as the key to these transformations.
Language must be altered, its power to lock in fixed beliefs and
attitudes must be exposed. and words and concepts 'freed' to
associate in new ways. (151)
Therefore, Harris appropriates English to suit his Guyana's setting. The
natural environment of the land is pictorially captured through the deft
handling of words and sound patterns. As the members of the crew hail from
different social backgrounds, their marked diversity is expressed through their
various usages of English. Harris portrays the polyphonic setling of the

Caribbean islands through his experimentation of the language. While he
captures the Creole and fuses it with the nonnative variety of English, Hanis,
as a postcolonial writer affums and validates the native expression of the
\peakers.
It should be noted that in the Caribbean islands, though there are a few
~merindian languages spoken in the interior parts, it is mostly English and
Creole that are commonly used. As English serves as the official variety, the
compelling issues that make English indispensable have resulted in the
emergence of Creole. Though the transplanted individuals mostly belong to
the African descent. there are no African dialects spoken in the islands. F.G.
Cassiday affirms this point in Jumaica Talk:
There is no real evidence . . . that any articulate African speech
survives in any community in the island today, and it is doubtful
whether any has been spoken at all within the twentieth century. A
few snatches of African or African-lie words are preserved in
some songs and some of the revivalist cults keep up a terminology
among themselves that has African elements, but these are all
vestiges in a structure that is not genuinely African but Jamaican. . .
. (86)
Since the individuals are bereft of their native languages. they adopt varieties
of Creole to forge their identity. The loss of one's language and learning
another language are issues that affect West Indian individuals who grapple
with these problems in their every day life. They are wary of this problem of
linguistic slavery and therefore attempt to liberate themselves linguistically by
learning and using the language in one's own way as a sequential course to

colonisation. The ~riters, in this context, Selvon and Harris record these
experiences in their novels and handle the issue of language by appropriating
it for their purpose of decolonisation.
English in Australia
Though English is the national language and lingua franca of Australia,
it is not the language of Australia. It came along with the colonisers/senlers
and is responsible for the extinction of many indigenous languages in
Australia. Before the conquest, Australia was a multilingual society where the
Aborigines spoke different languages depending on the uibe they belonged to.
W.H. Edwards observes that:
It is estimated that there were approximately 270 different
languages in Australia at the time of colonization. If we take into
account dialect variations within these language groups. the number
is expanded to approximately 600. Each dialect had about 500
speakers although those in more highly productive regions may
have had many more than this number. (78)
Many languages that had existed for thousands of years have
disappeared in the last 200 years of white conquest. Modem researchers and
linguists believe that all the Australian languages can be traced back to a
hingle source called Macrophylum, which was divided into twenty seven
language families. However, the Aborigines have a concept of language which
has a degree of divinity attached to it. They believe that their ancestral spirits
gave the languages to their forefathers. In "Living the Dreaming", Bill
Edwards throws more light on this:

The stories record that the Ancestral Spirit Beings gave their first
descendents the various languages in which the stories have been
related. For example, the Kangaroo-men left the. dialects of the
Weslern Desert groups and the first mother, Waramurungundji,
emerged from the sea and as she gave birth to the first children of
Arnhem Land, she gave them the languages they were to speak.
(83)
Therefore. languages, for the Aborigines were more than just a mode of
communication. TO speak their native language is to be in communion with
[he heritage of their ancestors and to feel the solidarity of their respective tribe.
But the early settlers had a prejudiced perception regarding everything
that was Aboriginal. Therefore the indigenous languages, which include a
wide range of nasal sounds, were simply dismissed as nothing more than the
grunrs and shrieks of animals. The complexity and the richness of their
languages remained hidden until the missionaries introduced the written script
to the Aboriginal languages. As Rob Amery and Colin Bourke observe in their
"Australian Languages: Our Heritage":
Prior to the invasion in 1788. Australian languages were not
written, though the precursors of writing existed in the symbols
used in message sticks. drawings or bark and sand paintings. The
writing systems used today were first developed by missionaries
and linguists. . . . In Central Australia and, undoubtedly, in other
areas as well, sand paintings or group drawings were used to
reinforce verbal communication. They were used to illusnate

stories told to children, stories related to the group's activities.
Dreaming stories and ceremonies. ( 136)
Though the writing systems were a later introduction, the Aboriginal
verbal communication was assisted by various other modes such as drawings
and paintings. The Aboriginal societies had another unique way of
communication called the Gesture Language. Without uttering a single word
an entire conversation was made possible by use of hand signs. As W.H.
Edwards observes:
However in Aboriginal societies gestures were formalized and
conveyed a wide range of ideas. They were capable of conveying a
sequence of ideas. Gestures covered such parts of speech as nouns,
pronouns. interrogatives, verbs. adverbs, adjectives and number.
They could be joined together to make a sentence. This meant that
two men hunting together could carry on a silent conversation at a
distance without alarming their prey. If there was some urgent need
for communication between a man and his mother-in-law he could
convey a message by signs. Messages could be passed during times
of ritual and mourning. Gossip and secret messages could be
conveyed without others overhearing the message. (86)
Contrary to the common assumption that primitive societies have
limited range of vocabulary, Aboriginal languages have a rich repertoire of
vocabulary specific to their cultural and religious needs. Ritual ceremonies
have their own sacred language which is limited to particular audiences.
Talking about their lexical competence, Rob Amery and Colin Bourke, point
out:

The lexical competence of the average speaker of ao Aboriginal
language is equivalent to that of the average speaker of other
languages. The vocabularies of Aboriginal language allow their
speakers to express their mythology, culture, thoughts and feeliigs.
Working vocabularies in excess of 10,000 words are common.
(1 32)
But with the advent of colonisation. Aborigines were slaughtered and
tribes were wiped off from the face of the earth. Along with them most of the
indigenous languages became extinct. Even the few surviving languages are
not the same as it were before colonisation but a mere conglomeration of
different languages. As Jack Davis points this out in his "Aboriginal Writing:
a personal view":
D~spersed and dispossessed, tribes dwindled and many of our
people vanished from the face of our land which was no longer
theirs. Driven by the natural human instinct to survive, groups
merged and became part of the group which was largest in number.
Where the white man had turned the soil whole tribes were
completely obliterated. and the dialects of various groups became
as one. An example of this i\ the fourteen tribes which inhabited the
South-West of Western Australia, only one language remains, a
composite of the fourteen languages. and that is the Nyoongah
tongue, and I regret to say that if by some miraculous means ow
people of the eighteen-thirties were to return, they would find it
difficult to understand and speak the Nyoongah language of today.
(11)

However. the intrusion of English made things worse. Pwple were
caught up between the two languages and two cultures. As in the Caribbean
the emergence of Creole became inevitable in Australia, as the
Aborigines were forced to interact with the white settlers. The onslaught of
modernism saw the Aborigines settling down in urban cities and develop a
unique language called Aboriginal English. While most of them are ignorant
of their ancestral languages. they use a variety of English in their family
settings and social networks, which is distinct and different from Australian
English. As Rob Amery and Colin Bourke discuss in their "Australian
f.anguages: Our Heritage",
Aboriginal English varieties spoken in urban senings are social
dialects and are linguistically distinct from standard Australian
English. They may reflect grammatical structures and features of
the sound systems of their ancestral languages which have long
ceased to be spoken. They may also incorporate words from those
ancestral languages or use English words in different ways or with
changed meanings. In some places Aboriginal English varieties are
diverging from Australian English spoken in the same urban centre.
The speech of urban Aboriginal people may range from standard
English through to varieues of Aboriginal English which on
occasion may not be understood by non-Aboriginal Australians.
(138)
The emergence of Creole is a classic example of abrogation and
"propriation of the postcolonial experience of the colonised. Especially when
the native languages are systematically suppressed and denigrating discourses
are built around the indigenous languages, the colonised attCtt'IPt to appropriate

the coloniser's language. though not without resentment. In Australia, to speak
the Aboriginal language was to express resistance to budge and assimilate. In
,ome cases, children who were caught speaktng in their native languages were
separated from their families and sent to Welfare Homes by the white
authorities. Thus the systematic suppression of native Aboriginal languages
\aw the flowering of Aboriginal English which in turn gave them their
Aboriginal identity.
Another significance of the Creole is that it is closer to the native
culture than the foreign language. Since the inevitable historical experiences
have obliterated the native languages, the emergence of Creole serves as a
hr~dge between the two worlds and their differing cultures.
Mudrooroo's Experimentation with Aboriginal English
Mudrooroo, who writes in the postcolonial space, is aware of the
irnhroglio that clouds the Aboriginal writer in his choice of the medium of
communication. As a writer who strives to be closer to reality in the depiction
of Aboriginal life in a white community. he experiments with the language
and uses the dialect as a positive force for productive purposes. In Writing
From rhe Fringe. Mudmoroo opines:
Aborigines are usually fluent either in their language or in their
Aboriginal English dialect and they use these in communication
with other Aborigines. I bring this up as an example because if it is
possible for us to do this in oral discourse there is nothing to
prevent us from so doing in our wrinen discourse. (97)

To break the western standards and to resort to the speech p am of
Aboriginal communities is to affirm the spirit of non-conformity and oon-
dependency on the patronizing attitude of the colonisers.
Five yean before publishing the novel Doin Wildcat: A Novel Koon
Scripr. Mudrooroo (Colin Johnson) presented a paper entitled "White forms,
Aboriginal Content" at the first National Aboriginal Writers' Conference,
which was held a1 Murdoch University in February 1983. During the
discussion, when asked whether he would experiment with dialects in his next
novels. Mudmroo answered,
I don't know. The problem is that you get set in your ways. I
mightn't be good enough as a writer to do that, to tell you the truth.
It depends. Possibly, the younger generation of writers can do it
much better than I can, because I've got fixed in my ways now. It
takes a hell of a lot of work and effon to write a sentence in
Standard English and this is what I've done for so long now. It
depends, I would have to work at it. (30- 3 1)
Five years later, in 1988, Mudrooroo published his Doin WiMcar where
he has experimented with the dialects of his community and authenticates his
cultural forms. It should be observed that most Aborigines live on the fringes
of the white community. Therefore by writing a novel in a language of the
marginalised, Mudroom erases the boundaries of the 'center' and the
'periphery'. In Doin Wildcar. the narrator seems to highlight the need to be
true to oneself without any artificiality.
Yuh know. yuh ave to be like a chameleon in yer speech. Mimic
their style of talking, but when yer ad too much yuh find ywself

usin yer own language. Yuh stop pretendin an be yer oatural self
when yuh want out, an there's nuthin to be gained sucking up to
em. That's ow I writ the dialogue, an that's ow Ernie is spealun it.
Must come natural to im just a. it comes natural to all of us.
(DWC: 79)
Therefore Mudrooroo has employed the real life language of the Aborigines to
portray the Aboriginal experience in Australia. Not only the characters of the
novel speak in Aboriginal English but also the novelist's narrative voice is
unmistakably Aboriginal. The entire novel is written in a variety of Aboriginal
English which gives an Aboriginal identity to the language they use. It also
goes to show that the choice to use a specific dialect as a mode of discourse is
a political exercise undertaken by Mudrooroo to prove +xa.e-+ that the
Aborigines are capable of producing written forms of literature and more
importantly, they can do it in a language that is unique to them. When
Mudroom writes in Aboriginal English, he not only writes for his fellow
literate Aboriginals hut also has the white audience in mind. Therefore, the
desire to experiment does not cross the borders of intelligibility. The change in
spelling, definitely. slows down the pace of reading without renMg a
grinding halt. To cite a passage from the novel:
'Yuh know, there's swimming ole on the Murmmbidgee river, right
near to Canberra an they all go to swim there. Well, this Koori, this
Aborigine. ee's taken there. Come to Canberra on some business an
ad a day off, an some of the people ee met took im along. Well,
ee's there, an ee sees this absolutely beautiful woman in a very
spunky bikini. Well, ee looks , yuh know is eyes just about poking
outa is ead, an ee pushes it all down an goes up to er, very cool-

like, an ee sez: "Excuse me, miss, you got any Aboriginal in you?"
Well. she was brown from the sun an all that she could of bin a
Kwri. Ee was new in Canberra an didn't know the local mob. Well,
the woman was taken aback by is question, yuh know ow it is, but
then she decided to be friendly an answered: "No!" Well, our Kwri
chap, ee thought ee ada toe in the door, so ee put on is chann, an is
best accent an replied: "Well, how would you, like a little bit of
Aboriginal in you?" (DWC: 5-6)
Though the novel is predominantly written in Aboriginal English there
are instances where the non-Aborigines are endowed with normative variety of
English. The director, Al Wmthbeq who has come from America speaks quite
differently from other Aborigines. To cite an example:
AL: Cut, cut, that's getting near to how I want it. Now we'll go
straight to the same shot of Ernie. I want those mouths to be
emphasised. Emie, kid. don't look mean, just bewildered, make it
show in the mouth, but with a twist of toughness. You're a kid of
seventeen. but you've seen it all. Right, that's good. This is it-
cameras. action! (DWC: 13)
As Doin Wildrat deals with the filming of a play. not only the white
director, but even the play that he directs is written in the normative variety of
English. Except for the dialogues of Aboriginal characters like Ernie, Clarissa
and Winjee who speak in Aboriginal English, the other characters and the
narrative voice speak the normative variety. Mudrooroo freely mixes
Aboriginal English with standard English as both the varieties have a specific
role in contributing towards the fabric of the novel. The myth of superiority of

~tandsrd English is taken to task as Mudrooroo fuses kth the varieties without
any distinction.
Since standard English has become mandatory for progress in the
white-dominated Australia. it holds the key for the future of Aborigines as
well. Its dominance has relegated Aboriginal languages to the defensive, and
even a Creole language such as the Aboriginal English is far from being
accepted. It is under these circumstances, Mudroom uses Aboriginal English
predominantly in his novel. Any deviation fmm standard English was thought
of as ignorance and incompetence in handling the language. But Mudroom,
who has already established himself as a writer and won accolades from his
western counterpans for his efficacy in handling the language and genre, is
fully aware of his political stand in using Aboriginal English.
In the novel. Lkin Wildcar. Kevin, the vainee director narrates an
~ncident where an Aboriginal lady fmm Queensland is gang raped by three
white blokes. She meets a lawyer, a white, and narrates the incident in her
Ahonginal English. The lawyer who is appalled by her natural lingo, tries to
teach her some polite words that should be used before the judge.
The lawyer listens, then shakes is ead. "Mary, yuh know yuh tellim
me that story, bout what append. Now if yuh come before the
judge an yuh tellim like that. well the judge won't Like it. Yuh
tellim different way. Now instead of 'cock' yuh say 'penis' an
instead of 'cunt' yuh say 'vagina' an instead of 'fuclung' yuh say
'intercourse'. Yuh tellirn like that in wwt. yuh sawy?" (DWC: 81)
The setting is a white man's cow and the officials are white officers.
The COW etiquette demands that the language used should be one that would

e pleasing to the judge. The insolence and the natural lingo of an Aborigine is
something the white man resents. Therefore the lawyer tries to teach his client
how to speak politely to the white officials. But the whole exercise turns out to
he a farce when the lady gets everything muddled up on the day of trial.
I was walking ome when these three white fellas gin following me.
I run, but they catch me up an fling me on the ground. I lyin on
ground an one of them takes out his penis an begins to ave, ave
intercourse with me. You know ee puts his penis in me, in me"- an
she looks across at the lawyer an call out, "Ey, what was that word
yuh toldim me to call me cunt?'(DWC: 81)
Mudrooroo ridicules the artificiality of the language that is imposed on
the Ahoriginea. Therefore, he chooses to employ the natural lingo of the
Aborigines, though it is considered insolent and uncouth, as the vehicle of
communication. The educational system which promotes standard English is
controlled by the colonisen and the Aboriginal children are forced to learn a
foreign language and an alien culture. At the same time, they are also taught to
devalue their Aboriginal forms of practices. Therefore in his novel Doin
W~ldcur. when Mudrooroo prefers Aboriginal English and fuses it with
standard English it is a shot in the arm in asserting their Aboriginal identity.
As a postcolonial writer it is a useful exercise in decolonising the English
language, which was compliant with the colonisen in the colonial policies and
Practices. The gift of English is used to wreak vengeance on the colonisers for
their role in the extinction of Aboriginal languages. The Aborigines lost their
identity in the writings of anthropologists, biographers and creative writers
who misrepresented and falsified the Aboriginal systems of living. Discourses

were built around the Aborigines to support and justify the white settlement in
Australia. Any resistance was seen as a rebellion which mulled in the killing
of countless Aborigines. White laws were promulgated to subjugate the local
Aborigines. and favour the white settlers. The Aboriginal oraturrs were
dcsecraud, simplificd and rewritten as children's stories for the wtute
community. The language polici~ favoured the spread of standard English
and the suppression of Ahoriginal languages. Taking all this into account, the
prewncc of hglibh language and 11s role in the colonial enterprise cannot be
\tdel1nM1. Therefore as a postcolomal u,ri[er. Muhroo's effort to write in
hhongtnal hgllsh 1s an ovedy partlran exercise in lhe regeneralion of
Atn)nglnal volcc und way\ of Ilfe.
Kim Scxtt'~ Expcrlmmtntion with Aboriginal English
K~rn Scott. In h~s nwel 7me Ci~unrn. explores the cultural h~story of
III\ Ahonglnal yst He uses the K~mherley topography to form the backdrop
OI hl\ nwrl He also hom~us the d~alect of he Ahonginal communtty and
u\r.\ the prwtic cadcnfm of tnhal ~dlom that 1s ~nterspetud w~th vanous forms
of Lngltsh In the novcl The mvel deals u~th the mscton settlement In
Kmma and the tenrton that evolres hct*een the msaon folks and the
Ahong~ml community It 1s also concerned u ~th Billy'\ coming to terms u ~th
hl\ Ahlnglnal past The misston 1s populated mfferent people from
dlffcrent hackground uho speak dlffcrent language as stated In the novel
There's all som of language spoken in Kamama. Spnnish. Spanish
English. Philippine Spanish. Philippine English. Aboripnal
Iangucrgn;. Ahoriginal English. Au*ralian English. Government
English. Politician English. And m. Gor them all neatly. (TC:
122)

~hough the point of view shifts between omniscient narration and Billy's fmt-
person narrative, an unmistakable Aboriginal authorial voice cao be
dslphered. Rendered in short, pithy sentences, the straightforward prose
creates a story-telling poise that communicates with the reader almost
~mmediately. The novel opens with the description of the topography of the
land as follows:
And it is a beautiful place, this place. Call it our country, our
country all 'round here. We got river, we got sea. Got creek, rock,
hill. waterfall. We got bush tucker: apple, potato, sugarbag, bush
turkey, kangaroo, barramundi, dugong, turtle . . . every kind. Sweet
mangoes and coconuts too.
There is a store. school for our kids and that mission here still.
That's alright. Yes, you might never see a better place. Our home.
When it's rainy season rivers fill up and flood surround us. Is
like we are a forgotten people then, on a maybe shrinlung island; a
special place for us alone.
You might fly in many times, high up and like reading river, hill,
tree, rocks. Coming from upriver and the east, you flying flying fly
in looking all the time and remembering; you flying quiet and then
you see this place. You see the river. You see the water here, this
great blue pool by High Diving when the kids swim. You see the
mission grounds all green, and the.houses all quiet and tiny from up
in the air. You notice the dark mango uees, and the coconut trees
standing tall along that airstrip road. (TC: 13-14)

As the novel unfolds in a rural setting surrounded by the wealth of
natural resources, Kim Scott true to his Aboriginal culture uses the language to
reflect the life it represents. He desists from any extraneous use of diction and
imagery that would sound irrelevant to Aboriginal life. While describing about
the appearance of people in the mission, Kim Scott uses the imagery of tbat of
a tree: "One was tall like a tree, the other one shon with a round gut" (TC: 15).
Karnama, the mission field, is not just a particular settlement but
metaphorically stands for any Aboriginal settlement that came under the
patronage of the white settlers. Kim Scott has faithfully captured the various
forms of English that operate in an Aboriginal settlement. The white teachers
who come to teach in the mission schwl find it difficult to interact with the
local mob as they find it difficult to understand their English. In the novel,
Billy expresses this: "Few of the adults could read and write, and the students
had very low levels of education. We had trouble pronouncing their surnames,
and understanding their English" (TC: 20).
Though the language that they speak is apparently English, it is adapted
and localized to the extent that the native speakers of English are baffled at
their inability to comprehend a language that sounds familiar but still is very
different from theirs in many ways. Even within the Aboriginal community
there are variations in their use of English depending upon their interaction
with the settler community. In the novel, Sebastian, one of the oldest men of
the community and hence not influenced much by the whites uses English that
15 completely broken and closer to the vernacular:
'Early days this lot gardiya been shwt 'em Aborigine, you know
blackfella? They been shoot 'im and see 'im. Ah, that man drop.

White bloke see 'nother one, 'nother Aborigine, and he go to shoot
him too. He running running and the white bloke go to shoot.
'Bang! Bang! Not the gun shooting, a bang like a big bomb, and
that Aborigine bloke disappeared. Gone! That was Walanguh that
one, Walanguh when he was young, eh? . . . He had the power that
fella. That dead one, Dada that was, nothing. He had no power.
With power, they can disappear, fly, you know. Sing things.' (TC:
48)
If Sehastian's English is closer to the vernacular, Fatima's is much
closer-to the normative variety. As Fatima was born in the mission and was
&$' hy the Spanish monks. she has had her schooling in Beagle Bay
school. Though her English is not without the local colour, when compared to
Sehastian, she is much closer to the main stream:
'The lady told us. "You are going out now, with this man here". We
said "No!" many times. We didn't know he was Bishop, Bishop
Somebody. He told us, "1'11 take you". We used to say "No!" We
used to say no.'
'After all he took us for a train, from the jetty you know. We
went on the train, we get out, and one of the nuns was working in
the garden just watering the place. Stop us. Then she take us to the
girls. We take two, three days in Broome. Then after Brother took
us to Beagle Bay Mission.' (TC: 32)
Pitted against these two varieties is Gabriella's English. She is an Aboriginal
girl who has gone to university in Melbourne. Whenever she comes to

Karnama, she teaches the kids in the mission school. She has also composed
poems and she has written a lot of poems about Karnama. She is quite
proficient with the normative variety of English. She converses with Billy and
there is little difference between the two in their use of the language:
'Gabriella, I think . . . Yes. A breakdown may be. Could be an
evolution of sorts, there's something in common that must be
offered . . .'
'You think? What we can do? Look at it. Put the little bits
together like one of the paintings? You know, how I've been
brought up, I don't know anything of the old ways; a few words,
this and that. But there's something there, that's what I reckon.
Should we uy and put it all together and believe in it? Or try and
rediscover things, like that Renaissance thing? Do like they say
Walanguh could, you know, sing for this new world.' (TC: 82)
One of the remarkable achievements of Kim Scott as a novelist is his ability to
capture the various forms of English that are true to the characters that he is
dealing with. He does not uy to alter it and help join the grand canon of
English language. Even as he captures various forms of English as it is spoken
in the Aboriginal settlement, he places it on equal footing without any
discrimination. The myth of the superiority of the purity of the English
language is broken as the Aboriginals constantly interrogate with the grand
tradition and extend its boundaries so that the divi&ng line between
centerlmargin gets blurred. Margaret Bowden stresses the importance of the
theme of English in Aboriginal works in her essay, "Australian Language
issues Depicted in Literary Works by Aboriginal Authors":

When studying the works of Aboriginal authors, it is important to
focus on the language as well as the content, in an informed way,
since Aboriginal English contains a grammatical, phonological and
lexicosemantic history of language colonization in Australia. (15 1)
Kim Scott, in his employment of English, experiments by writing it
phonetically to effect a touch of reality. Not only the English grammar and
words are altered but also the pronunciation is marked with their Aboriginal
~n~erference. In the novel. words like "sittin", "lookin", "watchin" (TC: 115-
116) are used by the novelist. It is the local influence of Australian languages
that govern the grammatical, phonological. lexical and semantic rules of
Ahoriginal writing instead of he Standard Australian English.
Kim Scott. along with his various forms of English, fuses a few
Ahoriginal words as well. Since the characters are predominantly Aboriginal.
the presence of Aboriginal words only asserts their identity and provides for
their cultural authenticity. When he uses the Aboriginal words, he also gives
~ts English equivalent to ensure intelligibility to non-Aboriginal readers: "'But
these books, these journals. I see things a little bit like they do, I can
understand it a bit. But they are like devils. djimi. like the old people say when
they first saw gardiya, white people"' (TC: 82).
By incorporating Aboriginal words into the main stream of English
Kim Scott, destroys the myth that surrounds the speaker of Aboriginal
language that he is either lazy or stupid or both. As language and culture are
Inextricably intertwined, the use of Aborigind words highlights the fact that it
is an attempt to decolonise the English language and make it bear the burden
of an opposing culture.

Postcolonial writing in English, therefore, assumes immense
,ignificance when it becomes a site for confrontation with the language of the
,,oionisers and its stereotyped assumptions. Not only the language is altered
~nd subverted, it is handled as a plaything and rendered ridiculous. It is the
desire to wreak vengeance that is expressed in destroying the existing myths
,urrounding standard English that was complicit in destroying their various
~nstitutions and culture. The language is thus appropriated to invade the center
and conquer its dominant discourses and images. Though the six writers
discussed above vary in their strategies of handling the English language they
\hare similar interest in appropriating the language. They do not strive to
reproduce a novel in a language that conforms to the rules of conventional
standards. Instead, they experiment with the language forms that are available
to them and nativiw the language so as to make it relevant to the societies they
deal with. They also incorporate various components of their indigenous
languages and destahilise the centrality of standard English. The will to violate
the standard variety marks the political overtones and their postcolonial
resistance in using the language of the colonisen, who often considered the
variant forms as degenerate and broken English which reflected the depravity
and uncivilised nature of the colonised. As postcolonial writers, the fusion of
indigenous language varieties with the nonnative variety of English is also an
exercise in the assertion of the writer and his community's identity which had
heen denied recognition due to the colonial excesses. As the writers
investigate various colonial assumptions and assert their native forms, the
English language is decolonised in the first place as it serves the ideological
interests of the writers in their bigger project of decolonisation.

CHAPTER - 3
RE-POSITIONING THE CENTRE:
ASSERTING THE COLONISED CULTURE
One of the significant aspects of postcolonial writing is its attempt to
assert and valorise the local culture. Colonial history consists of representations
of' the life of the colonies, both officially documented and fictionally
constructed, both enabled by the monopoly of the right to represent. In most
ca\es, the depiction was slanted towards the Euro-centric interests where the
colonies were portrayed as an unhealthy place teeming with gullible, wild,
uncouth, and devious people. The local culture was condemned as something
that was marked with monstrous superstitions that had a spell over the natives.
Such depictions. implicitly and explicitly, highlighted the nobility of the
whites, which paved way for the binary constructions of self and the other. On
the other hand. these colonial discourses had far-reaching consequences on the
natives as well. as they internalised these constructions. The colonised were
forced to form their worldview hased on the images and tropes that they
~nternalised through the colonial writings and policies that were circulated by
the colonisers.
However, when postcolonial writers begin to find their voice, they
attempt to re-evaluate and re-position the concept of centre as they interrogate
the colonial assumptions of the binary--centre and periphery. The marginalised
and the periphery, which were formerly sidelined, take the centre stage. The
hitherto insignificant details of the local culture and the lives of the oppressed
lonn the thematic pattern of these writings. Life, in all its crude oddities is
iooked at from the colonised point of view. The indigenous culhve that was

affected due to the colonial excesses is valorised and attempts are made to re-
unite the natives to their land and culture. While colonial writings dismissed all
[hat was local through denigrating discourses, postcolonial writing attempts to
rfface these negative images and rehieve its significance to the lives of the
pople. Therefore the act of rewriting is also an act of removing these
lnternalised concepts that were accepted earlier. The native life and its cultural
artefacts are given the fullest expression to drive home the point that they are
issues worth discussing. It is also a step towards affirming and celebrating the
~ndigenous culture which is an integral part of the life of the writer and his
community.
The use of English to celebrate the native culture of the colonised inserts
itself into the political discourse given the fact that it is through the same
medium the colonisers denounced the colonised culture. As the coloniser's
language is appropriated and nativised, it is used not only to cany the cultural
connotations of the indigenous experience but also to celebrate the significance
of their culture which is a step towards the bigger project of decolonisation.
This chapter aims to analyse the use of English by the selected writers for
cultural assertion as part of their decolonising exercise.
Okara's Use of Imagery and Oral Tradition
Okara's novel The Voice deals with life in a village called Amatu in
Nigeria. Colonisation has left the society in shambles asmost of the people live
helow the poverty line. Even as the novel deals with the post-Independent
Wting of Amatu, Okara has pumped Africanness in the veins of English as the
local colow of the native culture can be seed in the language that is employed.
As Okara reworks the form of English and nativises it he incorporates
Proverbs, praise-names, images and metaphors that are African in essence and

his African identity. All the comparisons, images, metaphors, and
\imiles are African in spirit and essence. In the novel the description of palm
trees is a classic example of the reflection of local culture: "Okolo at the palm
trees looked. They were like women with hair hanging down, dancing
possessed" (W: 26). The way in which the Chief Izongo's men canied Okolo
away is described as, 'They carried him in silence like the silence of ants
carrying a crumb of yam or fish bone" (TV: 38). When Okolo travels to Sologa,
the appearance of a sleeping man on the boat is portrayed as, "A man was
\noring. and saliva flowing like an okra soup out of his mouth's comer" (TV:
58).
In the above examples, the experiences of rural life in all its reality have
heen pictured and given expression as Okara depicts the rustic surrounding of a
remote Nigerian village. To talk of the land is to talk of the people who live in
it and their culture. As Kirpal Singh puts it,
No landscape is detached from history. . . . But the history of a
landscape is also the history of its recipient, the history of its
people. The conjunction between landscape and people provides,
frequently, a vital index to the psyche of the culture that we are
writing about. ( 109-1 10)
To an African mind these experiences are matters of everyday reality and
hcnce the comparisons are felt in their veins and therefore easily understood.
On another level, the colonisers have always viewed the land of the other as a
rhing to be desired and possessed or it was considered detestable and infested
In order to be able to assert their own superiority. Though the land is the
ultimate bone of contention, the coloniser's gaze is different from that of the

native to whom the landscape is much more than mere land and vegetation.
'rhe former sees himself extended and empowered in the land. But the latter
fjnds it as an expression of himself, his life and all that is precious and
meaningful to him.
Okara has been very careful in employing his imagery. He sheds all
fancy for extravagant images. Instead, he chooses it from real life situations,
which are very much a part of the African life.
When Tuere goes out to meet Chief Izongo in order to defend Okolo
who has taken refuge in her house, Okara describes her as standing "straight
like a hamboo pole in front of the crowd" (W. 35). The entire town is gathered
in lront of Tuere's house wondering what is going to happen. Besides, there are
men who partly in fear and anger, waiting to grab Okolo, and there is Chief
Izongo who threatens to bum down Tuere's hut. Okara describes her to be calm
and collected and as she stands her ground and addresses the crowd, he
compares her to a 'bamboo pole'.
While the conversation takes place between Tuere and lzongo, the
people are at a loss of opinion and even if they had any, it can hold no water in
front of Izongo's authority of power and Okara describes them. "Izongo
laughed a laugh that did not reach his inside and the crowd swayed this way
and that way like tall grass being swayed by a gust of wind (n/: 35).
Earlier, before lzongo's messengers come to meet Okolo, he is looking
out of his window and catches sight of a girl, who is described as. "A girl with
only a cloth tied around her waist and the half-ripe mango breasts, paddled,
driving her paddle into the river with a sweet inside" (77': 26).

Okara has picked up the images from Africa's everyday life experiences
and they throw sub~(antial light on the rural and rustic life, which forms the
backdrop for the temp0 of action. He identifies himself with the setting and
ensures the social authenticity of the novel as he expresses his felt reality of the
habits. customs and attitudes. The language might be alien but the experiences
from which these images are culled are very much real to Okara as he
manoeuvres to describe his native experience.
Though Chief Izongo wields the power and keeps Amatu under his
control. the messengers feel that he will, one day, lose his power and fall like a
sugar cane: "1 will speak when the time is correct and others will follow and
our spoken words will gather power like the power of a hurricane and Izongo
will sway and fall like sugar cane" (W. 94-95).
The reference5 to 'hurricane' and 'sugarcane' by the two messengers
are SO apt as these are men who run errands for Izongo, and Okara has
endowed them with real-life experiences and their language expresses their
rural background. Emmanuel Oblechina is of the view that:
The treatment of setting both in the rural and the urban novels
affect the domestication of the novel in West Africa. One can no
more think of West African novels apan from traditional West
African village environment and the new urban settlements than
one could think of Hardy's novels or Fielding's prose- fiction
without thinking of the Wessex countryside and the eighteenth-
century England of country estates, inn-keepers and post-boys.
(140)

Okara while writing the novel has taken care not to indulge in boring
and monotonous description of social systems, physical details of Amatu, and
[he place of action. But he provides sufficient details for the reader to infer the
.;ocial systems and the quality of life in which the plot unfolds. He deftly
llandles the narrative strategies and uses language as his tool to achieve this.
The metaphors, similes, and images are replete with local culture, which
~ltquently picturises the quality of life of these places. The use of imagery
reveals the life style of the people of Amatu. When Okolo is brought out from
Tucre's house he is dragged by Izongo's men through the streets. 'Then they
put him down and dragged him past thatch houses that in the dark looked like
pigs with their snouts in the ground" (W: 38). The reference to thatch houses
and pigs portray the adverse condition of the people who suffer at the hands of
the cruel political powers in the post-colonial society of Nigeria. Okara does
not .;top with describing the quality of life but also goes on to hint about the
qual~ty of hems of people who live in these houses: ". . . pushed and dragged
him past mud walls with pitying eyes: pushed and dragged him past concrete
walls with concrete eyes" (W: 38).
When Okolo is dragged mercilessly on the streets, the people who live
in these houses with mud walls look at him with pitying eyes. These are the
people who belong to the lowest strata of the society to which Okolo belongs.
Though they look at him with pitying eyes, they are quite helpless; almost as
helpless as Okolo is. and any act in support of Okolo will see them end up like
Okolo. These are the people who know Okolo has a point to prove, but live in
fear of Izongo.
On the contrary, we see Okolo being dragged past concrete walls with
concrete eyes. These are the elites of Amatu who see Okolo as a threat to their

existence. The pcople have to be kept in constant ignorance and once they get
enlightened and hegin to ask questions then it will be the end of their thriving
prosperity. Since Okolo goes about questioning and educating everybody he is
a threat and has to be done away with. So they look at him with concrete eyes
[hat have no feelings and wish him a speedy death.
Okara is sensitive to the locale of the novel and employs his language to
reflect his Nigerian setting. He uses images and descriptions taken from the
immediate landscape of the setting of the novel. According to Godfrey C.
Aniche.
Differences in flora and fauna, customs and conventions, features
of climate and topography, new needs and living conditions- all
these call for new linguistic uses and. therefore, variations in the
way words are used. The story of the English language in Nigeria
hears out. to a very great extent, the truth of these assertions. (71)
Okara's use of language is highly suggestive and it requires only a little careful
ohservation to notice the layers of meaning that is beautifully camouflaged in
his dexterous handling of language. The Voice is poetic in conception and
scope. The novelist does not spell out details instead he relies heavily on
\uggestions. Throughout the novel, the house of Tuere is associated with
darkness. Every time Okolo enters her house, Tuere can be heard and not be
wen.
Presently. Tuere stepped silently in and put the mat over the door.
And the hut became dark with darkness exceeding darkness.
Though they were only a few paces apart, Okolo could not see her.

They stood thus silent without each other seeing, listening to their
insides, listening to the darkness. (TV: 32-33)
Her house is always shown to be dark and gloomy. But interestingly, it is in
[his darkness. people with clear vision of life begin their daunting task of
lighting up the torches of the minds of the people. It is in Tuere's house, Okolo
and Ukule discuss their onerous task and decide upon their daring decisions.
Tuere's dark room becomes the seat of knowledge and though they cannot see
each other, they can perceive the uuth and foresee the future. Before Okolo's
last judgment. Tuere perceives the impending danger to Okolo's life and
therefore decides to join forces with him. She symbolically tells Ukule to carry
on the fight. 'Tuere did not hear him. She just stood and then suddenly turned
and looking at Ukule said: 'Make the fire and tend it. I am coming' and with
this she left" (W 1 17).
Later in the night when Okolo makes his second coming known to his
partying town folks. Okolo and Tuere seem to know that their fate has been
destined and Tuere's parting words to Ukule is one that of advice and
encouragement: 'Then turning to Ukule she said, 'you go and leave US. YOU
stay in the town and in the days to come, tell our story and tend our spoken
words"' (W: 127). The fire has been lit in the minds of the people, at the cost
of their lives, and therefore has to be tended and Ukule has been assigned the
responsibility to keep the fire burning.
Okara has been very careful in his use of language. He has picked up
Images and figures of speech from his African experience and asserts the
Identity of African life. It should be noted that the description of these details
dttesi the significance of African experience that Okara wishes to portray

through his writing. He captures different aspects of African landscape and
experiences through his creative use of language and affi the African
,denlily of the tI0vel. O h incorporates certain characteristics of his oral
heritage in his writing and validates the cultural nuances of African life.
One of the chief characteristics of African identity is its culture
grounded in its rich oratures. The ancestral communal wisdom is passed down
from one generation to the next by means of myths, stories, legends, proverbs,
riddles, folklore and songs--all oral in form. But when the written mode began
co replace the traditional fonns in the African soil, the African writers drew
their inspiration from the past and expressed their rich oral culture in their
literary works. Even as they borrow the western models of writing they look to
their past and draw inspiration from the rich repertoire of their cultural
heritage. As Gerald Moore observes in Twelve African Writers, 'The 'novel',
as Ian Watt has argued. is so called precisely because it is something new; a
substantial departure from the rehandling of already familiar oral namtives
which preceded its emergence" ( 123).
So if the African writer is writing a novel in this sense. he is literally
telling a story. He narrates the story of his mythical pre-colonial past, his
memories of colonisation, his present history and his hopes and fears for the
future. Okara's The Voice is one such complex novel that portrays the socio-
cultural aftermath of colonisation and its impact on language usage in the
African community; the cultural displacement of a man of values in a
Corruption ridden society and a satire on the enlightenment left behind by the
coloniser's mission of enlightenment.

In Nigeria literature existed in their rich oratures. Only with the advent
colonialism, the written form came into vogue. Therefore the early Nigerian
wciety understood, preserved and passed on the legacy of its culture through
,,raI language. For them, language was not just a mode of communication but
;Il~o served as a carrier of culture. In the present literary scenario, the African
writer uses the newly appropriated language to reflect his past oral heritage.
The African writer uses the written mode to communicate the cultural
inferences of his past that were orally transmitted down the ages.
The African oral tradition has a great influence on African fiction. By
incorporating traditional forms of oratures, postcolonial African writers
Africanise the new narratives and bring in a cultural authenticity to the new
mode of writing. Oral literature is strongly rooted in the local culture and it is a
carrier of communal wisdom gained from a wealth of experiences. Folk tales,
\ongs, riddles and proverbs go to make the ingredients of oral literature.
Proverbs, which arise from communal wisdom, form the central part of oral
literature in African societies. The cultural habits, customs and human
emotions are carried across through the effective use of proverbs, pointing out
the significance of proverbs. In African societies, proverbs have a significant
role in the communicative discourse as it not only adds vigour to the argument
hut also goes to explain the wealth of experience and inheritance of communal
wisdom which every individual desires to obtain. In Things Fall Apart Achebe
describes proverbs as, "palm oil with which words are eaten" (6). Okara's use
of proverbs is so apt and suggestive that it effectively drives home the message
and sometimes hold the shards of themes together.
In the novel The Voice, Okolo, who has been branded mad, is looked
upon as someone from whom people maintain a healthy distance. They flee at

e very sight of him. Once when Okolo walks toward the crowd, Okara uses
the proverb: "lf the saliva from the mouth of one whose head is not correct
enters one's mouth one's head also becomes not correct" (TV: 27).
The use of the proverb explains the reason why people flee from him. It
also shows how people are scared and run from the presence of Okolo.
Therefore it is understandable why the women grab their children and flee. But
the flight of the people from Okoio is really their flight from disturbing truths.
Okolo disturbs his community with his heritage of wisdom which is also really
their heritage. which they disown. The use of proverbs allows a general
comment or perspective on the situation while avoiding a clumsy authorial
intrusion. Since proverbs are an extension of communal wisdom. every time a
proverb is used. it is an assertion of the African social structure and solidarity
of thew community. One of the vital damages effected by colonisation was the
hreakup of the traditional communal societies in the colonised states. Therefore
postcolonial writers attempt to re-affirm the social bond by inserting aspects of
their cultural tradition as an ameliorative strategy.
Since proverbs spring from a wealth of experience and wisdom gained
from life's experiences, the use of proverbs brings flair and style to the user's
language and also a certain degree of prestige goes with it. In the novel, Abadi,
the most educated man in Amatu who is the moral and legal advisor to Izongo
uses the proverb, "If an egg rolls against a stone the egg breaks and if a stone
rolls against an egg, the egg breaks--so we shall talk. We are the stone be" (TV:
12 1 )! It is a well-calculated and tactical move which Abadi is trying to explain
by employing this proverb. At any cost, Okolo and Tuere have to be done away
with and after being rendered weak, Abadi knows, they cannot hold out longer.
Just like an egg that will crumble if it hits a stone or is hit by a stone, Tuere and

okolo will be crushed, and with them their project of enlightening the people
will also come to nothing.
Okara's use of proverbs has more than one reason. The use of proverbs
,101 only gives insight to the reader by way of explaining the implications but
alao affirms the Africanness in the use of the English language. As the African
writer makes recourse to his past, the rich oral heritage stands out as an
epitome of African culture. Since there is a shift from the oral to the written
mtde in the present literary scenario, the writer looks for ways to incorporate
thc old with the new. As Chinweizu el al. point out,
If African literature is not to become a transplanted fossil of
European literature. it needs to burst out of the straight-jacket of
anglomodernist poetry and of the "well-made novel" and it needs to
find more ways of incorporating forms, treatments and devices
taken from the African oral tradition. (239-240)
Modem African literature witnesses the written form of African orahues as
writers venture to extend the horizons of western conventional standards of
writing. The incorporation of African oral literature into the present body of
African writing is not just an attempt to exoticize the past. But it is an
aflirmation that though African literature is wntten in a non-African language,
11 is so adapted to the local culture that it reflects the local setting and
experiences which have heen sidelined in the colonial process.
One of the characteristic features of the oral language is the aspect of
'call and response'. The leader of a clan utters a statement and the entire clan
jhouts back as a response to it. The meaning of the whole discwrse is attained
through the rrletionship shad between the speaker and the audience. It is

~nteractive in nature and thrives upon the audience performance which is
functional to the community. In the novel The Voice, this can be seen when
Irongo addresses the people of Amatu.
'H an... Amatu!'
'Hee!' the people answered shaking the ground.
'Han . . .Amatu! In the town are there people or not?'
'There are people!' Cried the people at the top of their voices and
shaking their fists. (7V 114)
11 i\ always the voice of an entire clan and not just an individual's. It is the
collective voice of the entire town of Amatu and there are no dissenting voices
in decis~on-makings. Whatever the leader said, the elders and the people said
amcn to il.
When lzongo wants to do away once and for all with Okolo, he
convenes a meeting with the elders. According to the custom. he calls each of
them hy their praise-names, and they respond to his call. Before an imponant
decision is to be made. this praise-name ritual serves as a pep talk. which
\t~mulates the spirit of oneness among the group. It also recollects the past
achievements of the individual in contributing to the welfare of the community.
The metaphors of these praise-names are highly suggestive and prove to be one
of the recurring images found in the novel. and lend themselves to various
Interpretations.
Second Elder: 'You are asking me? l am water'.
Izongo: 'Water!'
Second Elder: 'Yes! I am water. Water is the softest and the
strongest thing be. What is yours?' (TV: 98)

Water is a recurrent symbol in the novel, particularly with regards to Okolo.
After he is ostracized from Amatu, Okolo prefers to sail on the waters to reach
sologa. During the journey, severe rainstorm creates havoc and puts him in
d~scomfort and not to forget the bitter experiences he has when trying to shelter
a girl, Ebiere, from the rain. The man who stood for moral integrity is now
charged with a licentious act. He learns the lesson of "not to touch anybody's
hody" (W: 1 lo), in the hardest way possible. And finally when Okolo returns
10 Amatu. he. instigated by Izongo, along with Tuere is left to the mercy of the
river. tied and left adrift in a canoe which finds a whirlpool that graciously
'welcomeh' them in: "And the water rolled over the top and river flowed
\rnc~)thly over it as if nothing had happened" (W 127).
Similarly lzongo calls himself an 'ant':
Izongo: 'You are asking me? I am an ant.
Fourth Elder: 'Ant!'
Iznngo: 'Many ants gather together and crumb bigger than
themselves they carry.'
All Elders: 'Correct! Correct!'
Izongo chooses the metaphor of ant for himself. Apparently an ant may look
insignificant and tiny, but as lzongo himself justifies his stand, it "can crumb
bigger than themselves they carry". Though Abadi has degrees bigger than his
name, lzongo is the chief of the village. He commands obedience and has a
Wong hold over Amatu. He has the knack of pumng across his ideas
effectively, though some are shocking, and gets the nod from his elders and
masses. He decides the destiny of Okolo and Turn and at his will executes his
command. When lzongo forces Okolo to come out of his hiding place in

Tuere's house, the people. at his command cany Okolo "in sil- LiLe the
ulence of ants canying a cmrnb of yam or fish bone" (N: 38).
The use of praise-names role in the communicative
discourse of the traditional African society. Commenting on the use of praise-
names, Emmanuel Oblechina is of the view that:
Apan from proper names which strictly express the individual
personality. there are praise-names which people acquire for social
purposes. Praise-names sometimes describe the temperament of
their bearers, so that Thunder implies a tempestuous temperament,
or Rain . . . a phlegmatic temperament, and so on. (82)
Pra~\e-names preserve the individual's identity in spite of his being a part of a
community. It recogniseb the individual traits of the person. For example a
person who calls himself "lightning" (N: 98) is subordinate to his leader and
community. This halance hetween individual and group identities is peculiar to
old civilisations where no individual has the liberty to transgress communal
ctdes. In the novel a variety of names is used by the elders--"One-man-one-
/crc.r". "lighrning". "wafer". "he-u,ho-keeps-myhead-under-n*afer", '%re'',
"pepprr", "bud u~urerside", "ant". "if-if-were-me" and "unless-you-provoke-
~ n c " (TV: 98-99). The elders also justify their selection of names which
highlight their personal traits. Towards the end of the novel when the Chief
lzongo throws a party to celebrate his achievement of puning an end to Okolo,
the people compose a praise song using the praise-names for lzongo. As people
drink palm wine and other drinks, men and women dance and sing a praise
for lzongo (N: 118). The praise-name ritual in the novel also
~Omplemcnts the descriptive dimension of the narrative of the African odity.

challenging the borrowed elements of the genre, the African writer breaks new
for his posterity by introducing the written mode of their orality.
~dward Sackey asserts this in his article "Oral Tradition And The African
Novel":
Also. by incorporating the oral literary structures into the novel
form. these innovative writers of the novel are gradually working
toward the Africanization of the novel form and evolving a poetics
of the African novel. They depend on the oral tradition of Africa to
deform the received Western novelistic pattern in order to challenge
our received notions while our African identity is also affirmed,
thereby freeing Africans from the negative image in which others
have created us. (390)
Okara. therefore translates and projects the roots of ljaw culture as he
untes from his experience of his native land. Through his creative use of the
language. Okara captures the life and landscape of the people of a remote
village in N~gena. It is the expression of the native from his own perspective
wh~ch effects a reaffirmadon of his cultural bond with his land, people and
ap~rit. Okara uses the figures of speech that are African in essence and
incorporates certain characteristics of his oral tradition and validates his
African culture.
Ngugi's Assertion of African Culture
Ngugi affirms his African identity by situating his novel in a village
called Thabai. He takes pain to depict the issues that concern the life of that
jection of people in a detailed manner. Even as he focuses on the Mau Mau
\hggle he takes effort to validate and celebrate the local culture which is as

significant as life itself. Ngugi n-positions the focus on the life and man-
of the villagers of Thabai who were targeted for wrong reasons during the
British colonisation. As the colonid administrators suspected the entire village
as a party to the rebellious activities of Mau Mau, they wanted to annihilate all
the suspects and therefore the whole village was rounded up and subjected to
innumerable sufferings. Dunng the colonial period the identity of the village
was closely associated with the activities of the Mau Mau. But Ngugi, who
writes in the post-colonial scenario and attempts to re-dehe the party's role in
Kenyan freedom smggle, also affirms life and manners of the people of
Thabal who lived in those turbulent times.
A Gruin of Wheur is a situational novel where there is no central
character around whom the plot revolves. The focus is on the Uhuru
celebrations of Kenya in Thabai. By writing about the internal affairs of a
remote village in Kenya. Ngugi re-defines the notion of centre, as the
marginalised takes the centre stage. Even as Ngugi focuses on the Emergency
period and the Mau Mau movement he does not desist from describing life in
Thabai, and the personal and social life of the Africans. Before Ngugi
published his novel A Grain of Wheat, in his interview with Aminu Abdullahi,
Ngugi expressed his desire to write on the Emergency in Kenya:
If I write another one--I'm not doing it now--but if 1 write another
one it is going to be set against the emergency because the Kenyan
emergency or the Mau Mau war in Kenya is a very important factor
in the creation of the present individuals in Kenya. It was a very
formative factor in nation building. (1 24)

BY choosing to write on Mau Mau, Ngugi braves to bring in one of the most
frightening experience, both for the colonisers and for the native Africans, into
[he them& structure of his novel. Ngugi contextualises the issue within
Kenya's independent struggle and offers the natives' perspective of it.
Therefore, it is significant to note that, what is 'rebellion' for the white
colonisers is 'war' for the Africans. As Ngugi is aware of his role in
decolonisation and reinstalling of African literature in its native oral tradition
of style and content, he subverts the centrist notion of white coloniser's culture
a\ being the normative, and instead valorises the indigenous culture. The
presence and experiences of the Africans. however crude it may appear for the
non-Africans, assume significance and prominence in Ngugi's A Grain of
Wheat.
As the novel unfolds. the narrative shifts back and forth in which the
lives of characters like Mugo. Kihika, Mumbi. Gikonyo and Karanja revolve
around the celebrations of Uhw which is pivotal to the theme of the novel.
Ngugi focuses on the lives of ordinary people of Thabai. He gives expression
to their life experiences--occupation. love affairs, recreation, family squabbles,
\exual encounter, desires, failures and successes. The bravery of Kihika as the
leader of Mau Mau and his exploits at Mahee and killing of Robson; the love
affair and the family feud between Mumbi and Gikonyo: the rise and fall of
Kuanja--all form the different strands of the complex fabric of the novel. In
the novel. Kihika is hanged after he is betrayed and caught by the colonial
government; Mugo, who lives a large part of his life haunted by his guilt of
betraying Kihika, is taken by General R. for his mortal mal: Waiyaki and
Wambui, who belong to the older generation, towards the end of the novel, is
keen listless, waiting for a change for betterment. Since their active day; are

over they look forward to the younger generation to rise to the occasion and
live the ideals of the bygone generation. Gikonyo and Mumbi, who belong to
the working class, have to settle their domestic squabbles and come together to
contribute to the progress of post-Independent Kenya. The novel focuses on
[he personal. social and political life of the people of Kenya. Even as the
preparations for Uhuru celebrations are under way, the role of Mau Mau and
11s achievements in working towards freedom, the culture and the every day
experiences of Thabai are highlighted. As Kenya got her Independence on the
twelfth of December 1963, the novel depicts the midnight celebrations that
marked the event. People pow into the streeb to dance and sing and contribute
then share to the festive mood. They remember their heroes of the past and
thelr brave deeds and sing their praises:
People moved from street to street singing. They praised Jomo and
Kaggia and Oginga. They recalled Waiyaki, who even before 1900
had challenged the white people who had come to Dagoreti in the
wake of Lugard. They remembered heroes from our village, too.
They created words to describe the deeds of Kihika in the forest,
deeds matched only by those of Mugo in the trench and detention
camps. They mixed Christian hymns with songs and dances only
performed during initiation rite!, when boys and girls are
circumcised into responsibility as men and women. (GW: 177)
The event of singing and dancing has rich undertones in the signification of
African culture. It is a social activity that binds the natives with a sense of
togetherness as they share the feeling of kinship with each other. People from
neighbouring villages like "Ndeiya, Lari, Limuru, Ngeca. Kabete, Kerarapon"
[CW: 187) begin to flock Rung'ei, where the celebrations take place. The

communal feeling is asserted on occasions such as this as people from all over
[he neighbouring villages come together with a common purpose and affm
[heir solidarity and togetherness. It should not be forgotten that during the
F;mergency period villages like Thabai were isolated for security reasons and
colonial authorities maintained a strict watch over them. No gathering was
allowed and people were scared to leave their houses. Colonisation threatened
the communal feeling--the very fabric of life that bound the African societies
together. But as the villagers gear up to celebrate the independence from
colonial subjugation. they once again bring back what has been suppressed
during colonisation. They join together. sing and dance to assen their cultural
identity. They even create new words to meet the needs of the present
requirements which highlight the linguistic freedom in one's language to suit
one'\ cultural needs. Even Christianity is appropriated as people mix Christian
hymns with their traditional songs. The cultural hybridity. which prevails in
pw-colonial societies, is highlighted as there are western intrusions into the
traditional culture. As culture is dynamic in nature. the native African identity
I\ asserted ah people reson 10 their traditional ways of celebration with songs,
dances and uaditional attires. As there is a lot of music in the air because of
the two bands of the youth-wing of the party, people break out into their
traditional dancing:
Uncircumcised boys and girls delighted the crowd with vigorous
Muthuo; they had painted their faces with chalk and red-ochre and
tied jingles to their knees; younger men and women did
Mucung'wa: older women, in Mithuru. Miengu and layers of beads,
danced Ndumo. (GW: 179)

Tne mirth and happiness was a forgotten lore under the imperial regime. The
traditional music with its thumping drumbeats was looked upon as a savage
noise and their dances were considered to be an expression of wildness. But
Ngugi decolonises the colonial myth, by asserting the cultural forms of Africa
dr significant part of the lives of Africans. The natives, not only sing and
dance, but also are traditionally attired with beads and jmgles, and have
- k(
soloured themselves with chalk and red-ochre. Th5+trid&ional attire kith'
-- ,
headb'and jingles'and body paintings are their pdiiional cultural symbols
\.- - c_
which have their significant meaning in the social event and in its respective
context. By expressing the significance of the cultural artefacts. Ngugi
balidates the African cultural symbols to the Africans which they pride
hemse elves in.
Ngugi, in his novel A Grain of Wheat, also seeks to highlight the
lcnslon that exists in the possession of the land. The white colonisers, with
their power of the law and gun. have confiscated most of the land of the
nalives. Though the natives look at the colo~ser as a symbol of power and
authority, the feeling of resentment and resistance is never found wanting.
They are aware of the fact that the land belongs to them and the white
colonlser is nothing less than a usurper and an intruder into their system of
Irfe. In the novel Kihika expresses his feeling of resentment against the
exploitation of the natives:
'My father's ten acres? That is not the important thing. Kenya
belongs to black people. Can't you see that &n was wrong? 1 am
my brother's keeper. In any case, whether the land was stolen from
Gikuyu, Ubabi or Nandi, it does not belong to the whiteman. And
even if it did, shouldn't everybody have a share in the common

shamba, our Kenya? Take your whiteman, anywhere, in the sealed
area. He owns hundreds and hundreds of acres of land. What about
the black men who squat there, who sweat dry on the farms IO grow
coffee, tea, sid, wheat and yet only get ten shillings a month?'
(GW: 85)
Though Kihika borrows the image of Cain from the Bible, he asserts the
African spirit of communal solidarity and the need to transcend beyond one's
\cllish possession. As they recognise their rights over the land which has been
rhe~r inheritance from their ancestors, they do not fail to see their
re\ponsihility to retrieve their lost land. Though the Africans are ruled by the
~hlle colonisen, the natives are aware of their rights that are denied to them
and are constantly conscious of their exploitation. While people like Kihika
run to the forest to take up arms and fight the colonisers, there are people like
Galu who indulge in wild fantasies and passively express their disapproval of
the colonisation. The white man might have imprisoned and curbed his
freedom by keeping him behind bars. But Gatu defies the white colonial
power by his power of imagination. He does not restrict his flight of fancy to
himself but shares it with the fellow prisoners and cheers their sagging spirits:
'Forget these people. They are thick, thick like darkness. Instead
I'll tell you the full story of my life. I was born in a valley. The
grass in the valley--man, it was big and green-rich. The sun shone
daily. And the rain also fell and fruit trees sprung from the earth. 1
often lay in the sun on the grass, a piece of fruit in my hand, and
listened to the running stream and the wild animals. Nobody knew
of this valley and I knew no fears. Then one day I was surprised to
get an unexpected visitor. Can you guess who? Anyway, you can

imagine my surprise when I saw the famous queen-queen of
England. She said (mimicks her voice): "Why are you living in this
dark place? It is like a cold. dark cell in prison." I lay there on the
grass. I could see she was quite surprised, naturally, because I was
not impressed with her blood-stained lips. "I like it where I am," I
told her and went on lying on the ground. She said (rnimicks her):
"If you sell me your valley, I'll let you . . . once" women are
women you know. "In my country," I told her. "we do not buy that
thing from our women. We get it free." But man, my own thing
troubled me. I had not seen a woman for many years. However.
before I could even say anything more, she had called in her
soldiers and bound my hands and feet and drew me out of the
valley. I have just come from there, and that's why, gentlemen, I
am back with you here in case you are surprised.' (GW: 94)
Ngugi captures the oral tradition of story telling with sho~ sentences, dramatic
pauses, variety of intonations, repetitions to stress the core ideas and the
unmlstakahle identity of listeners. Though this may appear to be a wild fantasy
and wishful thinking from one of the underprivileged men, there is an
unmistakable feeling of being wronged and victimised by the colonial powers.
A\ possession of the land becomes the ultimate bone of contention he reverses
h~+ attack on the English Queen who is shown to be quite willing to stoop to
any level in order to take control of the African land and caricatures her in the
most demeaning way that satisfies him. He depicts the land as green and fertile
and also highlights the affinity that he shared with the land. The colonial
iil grab and possess which resulted in bloodshed is explained by depicting the
clueen with "blood-stained lips". It is also quite significant that Gatu calls his

motley audience--fellow prisoners--"gentlemen". Gatu's remark stands in
\harp contrast to the colonisa's view, as he can only see a rebel, brute and a
9avage in an African. Mugo. reiterates this conflict in his speech for The Party:
They took us to the roads and to the quarries even those who had
never done anything. They called us criminals. But not because we
had stolen anything or killed anyone. We had only asked for the
thing that belonged to us from the time of Agu and Agu. (GW: 58)
Hav~ng remained at the receiving end for these many years. Ngugi gives the
!nuder'\ perspective on the whole issue and underscores the significance of
land which is an extension of their lives.
In this novel, while Ngugi writes about the political history centring on
colonisation, he also gives expression to the pre-colonial times of the Kenyans
and assens their historicity. He refen to the time when women ruled the land
of Agikuyu where men played a subservient role to their women. He narrates
[he plot schemed by men to usurp the power from women:
So they waited for women to go to war, they plotted a revolt, taking
an oath of secrecy to keep them bound each to each in the common
pursuit of freedom. They would sleep with all the women at once,
for didn't they know the heroines would r em hungry for love and
relaxation? Fate did the rest; women were pregnant; the take over
met with little resistance. (GW: 11)
Ngugi, also refers to Wangu Makeri, the last woman to rule the land. With her
\eductive beauty and alluring dance, she had men, both young and old alike,

under a spell and wielded her ntrol over them. Her fall and removal from the
'34
thronefiso mentio f n the novel:
Came a night when. no doubt goaded by the admiration she
aroused, or maybe wanting to gratify their shameless longing,
Wangu Makeri overreached herself. Removing all her clothes, she
danced naked in the moonlight. For a moment, men were moved by
the power of a woman's naked body. The moon played on her: an
ecstasy, a mixture of agony and joy hovered on the woman's face.
Perhaps she. too, knew this was the end: a woman never wailred or
danced naked in public. Wangu Makeri. the last of the great Gikuyu
women, was removed from the throne. (GW. 12)
Ngugt, vaces the pre-colonial history of Gikuyu. in an attempt to assen 3
ens of htstory. The natives' desire for their own land is much morr than the
coloniser's as the history of the people is inseparable from the history of the
land. It is the land of their anmrors that is favoured by their ancestral gods.
The sunshine. rain. water and all the natural resources that they enpy, they
believe, are blessings from their ancestral gods:
Mu~ngu on high never slept: he always kr his tears fall to this, our
land. from Agu and Agu. As we the children, used to sing:
Ngai has given Ghyu a beautiful country,
Never without food or warn or grazing fields.
It is good so Oiuyu should paise Ngai d the tim,
For he has ewr bcen genuous to thun. (GW: 155)

-1. b Gmin of War) wtten from the insider's viewpoint
records the various songs that circulavd among the villagers during t)d
colonial rule. Songs are tnseparable from oral traditton and people compose
mngs depending on the requirements. It is a social activity which allows space
for pcnonal ~denlity. In the prison, when the detainees heard of Jomo losing
the caw at Kapenguria. they broke out Into a song that marked their
frwtratton, angutsh and defiance:
When human l~fe was at ru, most mtserable form In the pnsons, these songs
hclped the Afncan pnwnen to reaffum the~r \totclrm and endurance. The 111-
treatment ua\ at it\ cruelle\t form that the delatnees spoke very llnle about
thetr tlew\ on freedom Bur wng\ \uch a\ thew kept the~r \aggtng splnts high
and incread thetr determtnat~on to maintaln thetr alleg~ance to the parry:
Then the dewnees used to \trip defiantly at night and In the day.
and laughed srornfully into the face of the whtternan. Some
detunees were beaten, all of them were ngomusly questtoned by
the government agents whose might lay in the very mystery of their
title--Specla1 Branch. The detainees had agreed nor to confess the
oath. or gtve any details about Mau Mau: how could anybody
reveal the binding force of the Agikuyu in their call for African
freedom? Thcy bore all he ills of the whiteman, believing

somehow that he who would endure unto the end would receive
leaves of victory. (GW: 91)
Apm from the ritualistic songs, there are songs sung as a sign of pain that is
ventilated by the suffering Africans. There were songs composed outside the
prison too. Mugo displayed his gnt and courage to step forward and stop the
soldien when they tried whipping Wambuku, a pregnant woman, while
working in the trench. Though Mugo was severely whipped and imprisoned
for this, the villagers remembered his heroic deed and composed a song as a
tnhute to his bravery. While Mugo became a living legend in his village, the
u~ng that was composed on him became the village anthem:
And he jumped into the wench,
The words he told the sold~er pierced my hean like a spear:
You will nor beat the woman. he said.
You will not beat a pregnant woman. he told the soldier
Work stood still in the trench
The e ah too was silent.
When they took him away
Tears. red as blood. mckled down my face. (GW: 156)
Nyugi incorporates characteristics of African oral tradition and affums the
African identity of the novel. He focuses on the life and culture of the Africans
and negotiates a space for their identity and affumation. Not only the social
and political life but also the private life of the villagers is given expression in
the novel. The love life of Mumbi and Gikonyo; the disillusioned love affair of
Karanja; the love escspades of Kihika; the secluded life of Mugo. the humit;
the solitary life of Gitogo's mother are dealt in detail in the novel. When

Kihika. was caught and hanged, his father who was a great warrior in his time,
urinated on his legs:
Do you know that my father, once a warrior whose name spread
from Nyeri to Kabete, urinated on his legs? He wept the night long,
like a child. while Wanjiku, my real mother, comforted him. (GW:
125)
Ngugi, goes lo such minute details in his description of the lives of his
characten that he is writing about, and validates the African life. He
repositions the fwu\ on the lives and culture of Africans who were sidelined
during the colonial pmcess. He authenticates the African experience by giving
expression to songs. dances and stories which form an essential part in living
a\ a community. He fuses characteristic\ of his oral tradition with the written
form cmd works towards the cultural assertion of his land and people.
The colonial wnrings produced narratives that defamed the life and
culture of the colonised for selfish pains. The rich cultural heritage of Africa
u-a. either misunderstood or misinterpreted to make way for the whole process
of colonisation. Therefore postcolonial African writers take it as their
responsibility to give voice to their tradition of rich cultural heritage and
\,alidate the experiences of African life. The incorporation of the oral tradition.
which includes stories. songs. dances and proverbs and the effort to validate
traditional cultural symbols. mark the writus' postcolonial exercise to assert
their African identity and their project of decolonisation. As language and
culture arc closely linked they creatively use the English language to carry the
cultural experiences in the affirmation of African culture. Since both Ngugi
and Okara share the experiences of the culture that they are working with, they

give tbe fullest dculation of African life. values and culture. and negotiate
not only a textual space but also a space within the literary text for the
celebration of African life and culture..
Hh'r Use of Lpadrcope Pod tbe Inward Didogut
Wilson Hanis. in his Pabce of the Peacock. uses the 'novel' as a tool
to regnin his identity and in his reification of the West Indian experience and
manages to revive the hnship he shares with his wnsciousness. which in turn
gives him Ihc fresh lease of knowledge about himself and his place in this
universe. There IS a reconciliation of his fractured self and its broken
relationsh~p with the land. It would not he an exaggeration to say that English
uas one of the mighty tooh in the hands of the west, which was employed
with great efficacy to justify their act of colonisadon. It served as a handy tool
In the production of colonial discourxs. which enabled the west to colonise
not only the geography of the land hut also the psyche of the native's mind.
Therefore Wilson Harris, as a postcolonial writer who is conscious of the
imbroglio lhat clouds in using the language. deftly handles it not only to
confront the colonial images by suhverting the existing d~scourses but also as a
\tte to regain the historical. cultural, spiritual elements that go into shaping the
character of a West lndian individual.
If an African idvidual ha. been subjected to cruelties such as loss of
identity and has suffered a fracture of his cul~n due to the colonial rule and
educational system. the West Indians, have also suffered the same problems
with a greater intensity. If the African was colonised. the West lndian was
plucked from his native tree and transplanted in a foreign country that
rendered him rootless. He was enslaved and was housed with people who had

nothing in common but slavery. Despite their racial differences, they were
united in their shared want of any serious meaning in life. Having removed
from his past cultural heritage, a West lndian has nothing to boast of but
himself. Tkfore he reverts to his own consciousness and uies to assert his
individuality. So much so. the West lndian individual struggles to carve out an
identity for himself. Therefore the smgglc to understand and define himself in
he world he liver and the journey he undertakes into his consciousness to
achieve 11. form the major theme in Hams's fictions and of West lndian in
general. By doing so. the West lndian writer tries to redefine and create a
distinctive culture as opposed to he African writer who recovers and
rcvitalises his own native culture of the past.
Since Hanis was well acquninted with Greek and Latin. because of the
educntion In Cla\sical languages he had at school. he was well aware of the
tradttconalcst literary art to which English Literature is greatly indebted. As a
shrewd ohserver. Harris felt the conventional traditionalist novel was
cncapahie of capturing the modem sensibility and particularly the West lndian
experience. ln 'Tradition and the West lndian Novel" Harris sees the
rnvtronnwnt of West lndian to he "broken into many stages in the way in
uh~ch one surveys an existing river in its present bed while plotting at the
wme time ancient and ahandoned, indeterminate courses the river once
lollowed (141). and hence thc conventional techniques such as the symmetry
of time and place. which gives the plot coherence in its linear movement is
insufficient for him.
Therefore it is not quite surprising to find that Harris, in his novel
Palace of rhc Peacock uses innovative strategies and ttchniques to describe
the aftermath of he colon~al scenario of the Caribbean islands. Thrwghout the

novel. the pat mingles with the present and reality with dream and
hallucina4ions as the characters are haunted by their painful memories and
traumatic experiences as they journey into their consciousness. Death and Me,
blindness and vision. fall and ascent do not have any finality about themselves
as the characten journey forward in their pursuit of the fulfilment of realities.
Though each chapter lies suspended with gaps in the sequence of thought,
Harris leaves il to the imaginative powers of the readen to journey along to
we the correlation of the chapters which are Lvided into four books.
As the novel deals with a motley crowd of men from diverse cultural
hackpmunds who form the crew, they represent the polyphonic nature of the
C'anhhean irlandr which IS marlred by the sedimentation of various cultural
and h~storical heritages. Each individual grapples with his past and tries to
L.nmc to [ems with it in hls own way. In the novel, Palme of the Peacock
Wlhhrop, a man of forty, who has lived on the borderj of Venezuela and
(;u~ana for many years, is tongue-tied. Though he wants to communicate with
*I.?&:
the crew. his inef ICI cy to miculate his thoughts and feelings makes him
-- -.
th~nk twlce before he uuen a word.
HIS desire for communication was so profound it had broken itself
into two pans. One pan was a congealed question mark of identity-
-around which a staccato inner dialogue and labouring monologues
was in perpetual evolution and process. The other half was he fluid
fascination that everyone and everything exercised upon him--
creatures who moved in his consciousness full of the primitive
feeling of love purged of all murderous hate and treachery. (PP: 64)

Wishrop is constantly haunted by his past experiences and his feeling of guilt.
He sees himself as a fugitive and his inability to identify himself in an alim
surrounding serves as a block in his flow of communication. He excuses
himself claiming that he is better off with Spanish than English and resorts to
the language of silence suppressing his welling emotions that crave for
cxprersions. In the entire course of action. we only hear of Wishrop but never
hear from him. We hear the narrator's comment on Wishrop's character and
hi* role as a part of the crew. But we never hear him speak in the entire novel.
Without uttering a word he vanishes into the water and away from the novel.
As Hams opines in 'Trad~uon and the West Indian Novel".
The creative human consolation--if one dwells upon it
mcaninpfully today--lies in the \earch for a kind of inward dialogue
and space when one I\ deprived of a ready conversational tongue
and hackneyed comfortable approach. ( 143)
Wl\hrop. all thc while. dialogue* w~th htm\elf in monologues vylng to answer
thc questions concerning his past. identity and suikes reconciliation with his
language of consciousnes~. As he is in conflict with himself his harmonious
relationship with others trikes a severe heating. The more he uies to interact
and pet socialized. the mom he is confused of hi> understanding of himself.
The wall that had divided him from his true otherness and
possession was a weh of dreams . . . it was a prodigal web and
ladder he held out to him that he climbed again and again in the
world's longing voice and soul with his muted steps and stops. (PP:
149- 150)

Wishrop's might be a shadowy existence stuck in his web of dreams trying to
locate himself in this world of maze and striking a harmony between his
existence and rootlessness. Bur significantly, this is so typical of the West
Indian experience and we see the characters indulge in a dialogw with their
pas1 hugh the language of their consciousness. "It was as if something had
snapped again. a prison door. a chain. and a rush and flight of appearances
jostled each other--past. present and future in one constantly vanishing and
reappearing cloud and mist" (PP: 48). The past interacts with the present and
shapes the sensibility of an individual to face the future. Therefore as there is
an Inner dialogue that goes on within the characters as they grapple with
tssue* concerning the~r present and the past they begin to communicate with
thelr surrounding in an effort to reify their identity. As Hanis points out in
"Tradltlon and the We\t Indian Novel".
And thls vision of consciousness is the peculiar reality of language
hccause the concept of language is one which continuously
msforms inner and outer formal categories of experience . . . the
pccul~ar reality of language provides a medium to see in
consciousness the 'free' motion and to hear with consciousness the
'silent' flood of sound by a continuous inward revisionary and
momentous logic of potent explosive Images evoked in mind. (142)
Therefore we see the characters interacting not only with each other but also
with their surrounding. Even as they journey up the river surrounded by thick
vegetation, they journey into their web of consciousness, which Lies in
crystallized layers, by the individual's historical ellpenem. Hence the
characters in the novel find an affinity with the surrounding as they listen to
the whispers of oees and the ~mble of waters.

The voice of roaring wakr declined a little. We were skirting a high
outcrq, of rock that forced us into the bush. A sigh swept out of the
gloom of the trees, unlike any human sound as a mask is unlike
flesh and bld. The unearthly. half-gentle. half-shuddering
whisper ran along the tips of graven leaves. (PP: 26)
The trees. leaves, waters and the entire forest seem to communicate to the
West Indian individual reminding him of the past which enlivens the
memories that lies buried in his unconscious mind. Every individual has his
own way of relating to the surrounding as his experience with the nature is
pcruonal and unique and he dialogues with the past in his own peculiar way.
A\ Wilson Harris p)inls out in his "Profiles of Myrh and the New World,
Thi\ is the mystery of one's peculiar dialogue with the past and it
proves or validates what C.G. Jung calls the 'collective
unconscious' and its eruption within processes of hard work.
concentriation and creativity. into the subconscious and conscious.
( '01)
The pre-colonial consciousness is still kept alive in their minds and a West
Indian communicates with his surrounding. S~nce the language with which
they communicate with nature is different from the language they use to
communicate with each other. there is a comniunication block that the
characters in the novel Palacc of rhc Pearock are faced with. Hence we see
old Schomburgh uttering "scamd broken words" (PP: 28). Cameron speaks it
in the "hard bittu style" (PP: 43) and curses the language even while he
speaks it. and Wishrry, withdraws into himself partly hecause of his language
incompetence. To these men, the English language daes not facilitate their

communication but rather gives a lump in their throat. Postcolonial writers, in
the process of decolonisation, use the English language as a tool to pull down
the colonial discourses and use it as a site to confront the west and force them
on a cultural voyage to present the facts about the native land and their
affiliations with it. Hence, African writers glorify their past cultural heritage
and revitah the richness of their oral literature such as proverbs. riddles and
parables. But the West lndian scenario is quite different from that of the
African. The only history that is available for a West lndian is his disjointed
past and h~s painful memories of slavery. As Gareth Griffiths points out in A
I)r~uhlr Erilr:
Thus from a European view pin1 the history of the West lndies
dunng the colonial period is simply a succession of balance sheets
punct~liltrd by bloody and unsuccessful slave insurrections. West
lnhans themselves were led to accept this view, and to conclude
that they had no history. (83)
The West lndian h~story that was consuucted by the west dws not record he
h~story of the nattves of the land. Nor do they explain the history of slavery
and its effcct on the blacks, and is silent abut the native religions, native
xystems of social order. politics. arl and crafi except where it frames them as
objects of exotic study in anthropology, ethnology and its own explorative
narratives. Thus the West Indians tramp across the land as pilfims and
sojourners without any sense of belonging to the land. The traumatic
experiences of the pact and their collective unconscious influence thew
cognitive faculties, which in turn influence the pcrspeftive of their
surrounding. In the novel Pahe of rhc Peacock the narrator describes his
swrounding as follows:

And we looked through the window of the room together as though
through his dead seeing material eye, rather than through my living
closed spiritual eye, upon the primitive road and the savannahs
dotted with sentinel trees and slowly moving animals. (PP: 14)
It is the expression of the narrator who looks at things through the eyes of
Donne, who is por~rayed as a man goaded by materialistic greed ta colonise
;tnd subdue the native uibe. The insipid and listlessness of life in the
Carihkan IS portrayed in the passage. The zest for life is found wanting as the
pcople of the crew are haunted hy their rootlessness and sense of alienation.
The solid wall of uee\ was filled wlth ancient blocks of shadow and
u~th gleaming hlnges of I~ght Wlnd rustled the leafy curtains
through which mask\ of Iivlng heard dangled as lou as the water
and the \un (PP 26)
A\ the CFCU journey up the river pursuing the fleeing Arawaks. it also
hcconlcs a journey into their consciousness as they attempt to reconcile with
thc past. Though there ih plenty of greenery around. with the river working itc
way, there is no Wordswonhian or Keatsian attitude towards nature. Since
the11 hlstnry of lives 1s made of such stuff as fears and desires, they are more
wnsitive to the eerie atnwsphere which they identify themselves with.
Even the spectacle of the river, which flows with I& hen& and curves.
nudging along the woods and nxlks reminds them of the racial conflict and
colonial past. "A white fury and foam chwned and raced on the black tide that
grew golden every now and then like the crysull memory of sugar" (PP: 21).

It was the fury of the white colonisen that saw the extinction of the
natives and resulted in the enslavement of black race who wae brought to the
wttlements. The Creoles who are the products of that society are also
hurdencd with the colonial legacy that haunts their fragmented memories of
the past. As Wilson Harris points out in his "Profiles of Myth and the New
World".
I sense the Collective or Universal unconscious extending into
voices that echo within the roots of nature as from the ancestral
dead. from riven. from rocks. from birds and other species, from
rhythm of landscapes, skyscapes, etc. (201)
I-{eryth~ng In nature %em\ to communrcate wmethlng and reklndle the
thought\. shlch IIC huned In thetr p\yche Therefore we daStlva
dt\~obertng an affin~ty w~rh a pan. whlch has a s~lver nng on 11s foot Only
daS~l\ a wcm\ to recognise it though no one else In the crew can spot the b~rd
Is par~~ Ah scelng and one got a ring on she foot. 0 God you think
I hl~nd or what'? How you can't see it I don't know. You mean is
another dream Ah dreaming'? . . . Ah heen dreaming far far back
before anybody know he horn. Is how a man can dream so far back
hefore he know he born'? (PP: 109)
The experience daSilva undergoes is unique to himself and as an individual he
relates lo his surrounding in his own way. Therefore the crew members are
unable to understand his peculiar behaviour at ttus point of time and they
deride him for his apparent foolishness. But he does not seem to bother their
derision and he even goes to the extent of calling the bud his mistress:

"I fwd it oflen from me lip," daSilva said whistling loud, "My
pretty lady bird. She and me was one flesh. I going many she this
time Ah lell you. Look she leg slender. . . And she taste sweet. Me
mistress breasts like sweet cocerite. She got sweet-sweet honey lip
too. And she hair long and black like midnight feathers. Ah kiss she
eyes fast and thick till she nearly dead in me hand. . . ." (PP: 112-
113)
lor JaSllva ~t I\ a moment of rellvlng the past, reconcil~atlon and a reumon
u~th h~s pa\[ memones Though however compl~cated this may appear, ~t IS an
cxpenencc that rn\ol\es pds~ expenenceS and memones that Ile deep buned
u thin him as he d~alogues wllh h~s past In "Wllwn Hams and the 'Subje~t'
of Real~\m" Stephen Slcmon ohwne\
!:or Harri5, this poten~ial for 're-vision' is the sinequa-non of
radical change in the age of postmodern depthlessness. It resides in
unsuspected uap within the effects of colonialist history, and
when set in unln it effects an alchemical transformation in the base
elements of colonialist cognition. This 're-visionary' gateway of
'enduring cross-cultural spirit' is thus in Harris a gateway for the
passage of n decolonizing energy in the field of representation: the
promise of radical nnd transforniative posr-colonialism at work in
the literary text. (72)
Wilson Harris helieves in the power of imagination that enables oneself to
dialogue with the past radically to work towards re-defining hislher
relationship with it. It functions as an ameliorative force that helps the West
Indian individual to muperate from the wounds of colonisation. In his

intmicw with Frrd D' Aguiar, Hanis describes about the power of
imagination to reconcile with the past:
My judgement is that the present in which we live is completely
meaninglesb unless we can sense the impact of the past. Now one
knows one cannot physically go back, what happened yesterday has
happened, but in inner space one can return. and this is through the
creative imagination. (39)
Ah the characters journey into their consciousness and dialogue with
[he past even the figures of speech such as metaphors and similes are worked
up in a Language that mourn5 the cruelties and injustices that prevailed in the
We.;[ Indian soil.
Thc lcavcr dripped in the enure forest the dewy cold tears of the
wason of drought that affected the early tropical morning and left
me ng~d and uembling. A pearl and half-light and arrow shot along
the still ve~ned branches. The charcoal memory of the hour lifted as
a cunain rises upon the light of an eternal design. The trees were lit
with stan of fire of an unchanging and perfect transparency. They
hung on every sensitive leaf and twig and fell into the river.
streaking the surface of the water with a daning appearance
crimson as hlood. (PP: 47)
The early morning sunrise, which usually is a beautiful spectacle 10 watch. is
described as one that stokes the painful memories of the past. It is a bitter
experience of bloodshed and tortures and therefore the "charcoal mun~ry" can
only see the morning dew dripping from the leaves as "cold tears" that is shed
for the suffering humanity of the Caribbean islands. The tears that drip inm the

iver Wm crimson as blood and the emotion that it evokes is not ecstasy and
sublimation but fear and trembling. The experience is one of pain and sorrow,
which the colonisers might be insensitive to. But the entire sunounding seem
to holler the agony of a West Indian individual. The brutalities and inhuman
treatment that was meted out to the natives might be a suppressed and hdden
fact to Ihc rest of the world. But for a West Lndian, everything in nature
communicates that harsh reality in a telling manner and for a sensitive mind
there seems to be no way out of it. As the land stinks with the blood that was
\bed due to colonisation. the native Aboriginal presence that pervades the
rurroundinp is a real thing for a sensitive West Indian mind. Therefore even as
W~luon Harris dexnhes the experiences of a crew that sets out in search of
Manella. he brings in the native prewnce alive through the character of
hfariella A\ the gu~de and tracker she is forced to accompany the crew on
thc~r journey. By making Manella pan of the crew. Harris points out to the
fact that the prexnce of he Aboriginal consciousness is something that every
Webt lnd~an has to come to terms with. As Nana Wilson -Tape points out:
The aboriginal consciousness operates in this novel then as a
symbol of significances, of the open possibilities of an indigenous
vision of the Caribbean. Harris brings this consciousness into a
living relationship with the inheritors of the Caribbean in order to
free them from the h~storical determinism of conventional imperial
history with i~s dependence on cause and effec~ on fixed time and
fixed rclauonships; to create new ways of viewing the region. to
alter the boundaries of realism in order to c a m the subtle
dixontinuitim in the region's history and illuminate the complex
Caribbean psyche. ( 145)

The wloaial history of the Caribbean islands might have silenced the voices of
the Caribs. hwaks and the indigenous people of the land. But Wilson Harris
brings the presence of the indigenous people alive and allows them to dialogue
with each other. As Gareth Griffiths in "Post-Colonial Space. and Time:
Wilson Harris and Caribbean Criticism" observes, "For Harris space
'annihilates' time as it establishes itwlf as the primary category. the 'womb'
of space fmm which and to which temporal structures and constructions arise
and return" (67 ).
Therefore Harris defies the western space and time when he reaches out
Into the prc-colonial past to re-live and re-vision the tradition of the past as it
Interacts wlth the colonisen and settlers of the land. In the novel, as Donne.
rhc capuun of the crew IS dnven by rhe colonial desire to capture the land and
pple. the crew realises this truth in the hard way:
Th~s wa\ hard-hearted nature they contemplaled without thinking
they may have already overcome it and tamed it and escaped it.
Rather II seemed to them only too clear that the past would always
catch up with them- when they least expected it- like a Legion of
devils. There was no simple bargain and treaty possible save
unconditional surrender to what they knew not. (PP: 106)
Therefore. of the four boob that constitute the novel, the last book is titled
'Paling of Ancestors'. It ir when led by the "muse of love" (PP: 144) that the
narrator is able to sef the "savannahs-though empty- were crowded (PP:
144) and is able to smke a chord of hn.ship with each other. In the fural
vision of he palace of the pmck, the differences and dichotomies that are
charsctuistics of Caribbuo islands arc overcome by the power of love,

which seems to be the answer for the problem of multicultural and
polyphonic setting of the Caribbean islands.
Wilson Hanir, as a postcolonial writer who is aware of the polemics of
post-colonial scenario of the Caribbean islands. deals with the past as well as
the present and offers a harmonious relationship that is grounded in the fortune
of love for its multi-cultured society. He uses landscape to evoke memories of
the past as the characters. through the power of their imagination, find a close
affinity with it. The vital role of the landscape in assisting the West lndian to
affirm his idenuty IS a case rn point for the postcolonial response of Harris.
English language is also creatively used as the metaphors. similes and images
reflect the painful experiences of colonisation which resulted in the emergence
of a new wial order in Creole societies. Harris also uses English to capture
the struggle whch the characten experience as they dialogue with the past
through the~r language of consciousness. By writing ahout the experiences of a
h~nt crew who journey up the nver in search of the native tribe. Hams
\k~lfully portray\--the polyphonic character of West Indian society, the need to
pet nsonciled with their past. the power of imagination thmugh which the past
can be accehwd. the use of landwape in the reilication of West Indian identity
and the need to get reconciled with the Ahoriginal presence--a variety of
l\sucs tha~ go into the making of West Indian character.
SeJvon's Assedoa d West ladinn Identity and Culture
Sam Selvon's Moses Ascending. was written as a sequel to his 79te
L#nr/y lr~ndoners. where the principal characters of the earlier novel make
their V n c e . Moses Ascending is concerned about the life and struggles
of black immigrants in London. As a postcolonial writer Selvoa probkmatises
the imperial stance of the prejudiced white ideological assumptions and

portrays Ihe problems of acculturation which the black West Indian immigrants
face in London. He also points out the biased perspective of a western society
In which his characters toil to eke out a living that is free from the stifling
clutches of racial discrimination. While Selvon points out the folly of West
lndian immigrants in lrying to ape the western culture he also expresses the
need to be true to one self and affinn his black identity.
Mo=s. the principal character is a West lndian immigrant who tries to
pct adaptcd to the British life-style. As a black immigrant in London. he lives
without a sense of belonging to anywhere. Selvon, a Trinidadian himself and
ha\ Ilved In London for a long time. portrays the plight of the blacks, who
iomc as ~mrnigrants to settle in London. through the character of Moses. As
they find thcmulve\ In a new environment. the desire to emulate western
\rlucs 1s a prcdomtnant ua11 which can be traced back to their experience of
iolon~utlon. As Garreth Griffiths observes in A Double Enle.
The colonial myth, that the West lndian reality was to reflect its
master's values. and strive to imitate and emulate them is nowhere
better expressed than in this continuing urge to emigrate felt by
West Indians. This is an aspect of West lndian life which touches
all classes of wrlety and all races. Home. the Mother Country. the
Real World. call il what you will is never here. always over there.
and Ihe call has pmved imsistible to generations. (99)
True to the above statement, in the novel Moses Ascending. we see a great
number of irnmigrwts from Caribbean islands migrate to London and strive to
lead a decent living without the ignominy of experiencing racial
discrimination. There is nothing glorious about their historical past aM1 hence

they want their future not to be tainted from their past experiences. It can be
understood from the archives of history that Caribbean islands turned out to be
a melting pot of various kinds of tribes who were transplanted in the islands to
work in the plantations. It all began with the mishap of Columbus' discovery in
1492. which resulted in the extinction of the native Amerindians. As
Brathwaite records in "Nation Language",
Then with the desuuction of the Amerindians. which took place
within 30 yean of Columbus' discovery (one million dead a year) it
was necessary for the Europeans to import new labour bodies into
the area. And the most convenient form of labour was the labour on
the edge of the slave wade winds. the labour on the edge of the
hurricane, the lahour on the edge of Africa. And so Ashanti, Congo,
Yoruha, a11 that mighty coast of western Africa was imported into
the Caribbean. t 3OY)
Thc land* were peopled wtth slaves hrought from different quarters, and due
to thts historical and cultural shock from which the new residenrs of the island
never fully recovered. there is a sense of rootlessness and a quest to assert
thetr tncfividuality which can he found inherent in Caribbean writing.
Sam Selvon's Moses Ascending is set in London and deals with the life
of African Caribbean imm~grana. Mows. the princtpal character, has Lived his
life on the s w ~ of s London and having made a litcle money, in his post-
rctircmcnt age. Likes to enjoy life a% an ordinary Londoner. Selvon focuses on
the plight of the black Britons and their struggle to be assimilated into the
main stream of the white society. Though the novel is written in the first-
person narration of MOWS, Selvon uses Moses as his mouthpiece to comment

and ridicule the shams of the West Indian immigrants in a white city. Moses
himself is taken to task as he is caught between the two worlds. Though the
action unfolL in a white metropole, it does not deal with the tall spires and the
life of the whites. Rather it is about the squalid condition of the blacks, their
wishes, slr~ggles, failures, and achievements. Even when the whites are pitted
against the blacks--Bob and the Police. it is always the blacks who emerge as
the better lot. Selvon assens the blacks and their culture and as Rose C.
Acholonu puts it:
Selvon in his works identifies with his humble and gentle
charactcn who are engaged in the grim struggle to make a sense
oul of their lives, their situation, their purpose in life and thereby
work out thelr ultimate self image and identity. Being an optimistic
reformer. Selvon rather &an eing the soul of the oppressed. the
mtserahle. as king lost, focuses his vision on the potential saving
pccs or vlrtues latent in the dying or sinking soul. (80)
-, . .
-pile his past abject misery finds II
rest in life and wishes to spend his latter par! of his life in ease. Being
economically stable, he uics to assimilate hlmself with the English life.
Sclvon ndiculcs the effons of Moses. who. in trylng to be a pseudo English
man. takes to the English culture only to reahse that no matter how hard he
wier, he will always k an outsider as he is ear marked by his colour and
race. Moses. having lived a major part of his life as a tenant purchases the
mansion in Shepherd's Bush from Tohy. By becoming the landlord of a
mansion Mows feels elaled of his assumed new position in society wbere he
can dictate terms to his tenants:

I can also be on the other side of the door when people wme to
look for rooms.
'Is the landlord in?'
'I am the landlord.'
'Oh.. .I'm looking for a room.'
'1 don't let out to black people.'
SLAM.
I might even qualify for jury service.
'I hereby drem you a rogue and a vagabond. You will go to jail,
you worthless scamp. and await Her Majesty's pleasure.'
These are only some of the privileges that would be mine. (MA: 2)
Mow* re-lives his pa*[ experiences and muses over his reversal of roles. He
recollects hrs humiliatrons of the past which are common to all blacks and
mur* over hr\ preen! \tatus. The purcha.~ of the mansion is a big
achrevement fc~r hrm as he we\ himself nsing in social strata of the society.
Having 3uffered hum~liation and ignominy at the hands of the whites, Moses
I'eelr that his presenl economic status would reinstate his dignity irrespective
of hr\ racc and colour:
I cannot tell you what joy and satisfaction I had the day I move into
thew new quarters. Whereas I did have a wom's eye view of life, I
now had a bird's eye view. I was Master of the house. I insert my
key in the fmnt door lock. I enter, I ascend the stairs. and when the
tenants hear my heavy tread they cower and shrink in their rooms.
in case I snap my fingers and say OUT to any of them. (MA: 4)

Once Moses moves into his Shepherd's Bush mansion, he assutncs that he is
different from the rest of the black community who still live in abject misery.
He wants to get rid of his painful past and start his life afresh in a more
dignified way. He wishes to disown his old black friends and wants to
disassociale himself from his black identity. Moses before moving to his new
mansion tells Galahad about his new perspective of life: "'This is the parting
of the ways.' I tell him. 'You can have this whole basement room to yourself.
H'hen I leave here. my past will be behind me, you inclusive"' (MA: 2-3).
Mows takes In a white "batman" (MA: 4) to run errands for him and
manage things in h~s newly hought mansion. He takes to sipping tea and
dnnk~ng sherry and whr\ky from his "cocktail cahinet" (MA: 18) --a mark of
h~s "gentetlity" (MA. I I I. He wants to highlight the difference that has come
over hcrween h~mwlf and h ~s friend Galahad:
Anolher point I would like to make in passing, is the lack of social
graces In Galahad. Notc the invasion of my castle. note the
intrusive. agprea\ive entrance. the brash, vulgar greeting, the
annexing of a seal without invitation. But note. way and above his
ill mannen--note, I say. the stab at my Achilles heel! I actually
wince. (MA: 40)
Mom wants to mline in his bed and work on lus memoirs and the only thing
that interests him is to collect nlaterials for h ~s memoirs. As Moses begins to
distance himself from the rest of the black community in London. Galahad
wants Moses 10 be of support to the Black Power--a party that fights for the
rights of blacks--in London. As Moses refuses to have any dealings with the
PM~, Galahrd warm him of his betrayal to his community and race:

'You star^ already to deny your countrymen! As Boon as a black
man start to get out of the gheao and into the castle, he turn a blind
eye to the struggle. You are not going to join that band of traitors?
We have enough of them to contend with.' (MA: I I)
Mcjses, despite Galahad's and Brenda's persuasive words keeps h~mslf aloof
from the party's activities. He neither promises to be the donor nor becomes a
member of the party. After getung arrested for no fault of his. Moses in his fit
of fury bluns out: "Fuck you. fuck Galahad, and fuck the party,' I say bitterly"
I MA: 38).
But huwever hard Mows me\ to mimic the white man and his culture,
he never \ucceed\ In getting as\imilated into the main stream of the white
wiety that 1s plagued w~th racism. The more he vies to distance himself from
h~s community and black ~dentity the closer he gets in realising the truth about
h~mself and hi\ role in the white society. As Curdella Forks points out:
Yct MO.WS' "development" in this context is at best equivocal,
representing a volunuq "colonization of the mind" and therefore a
continued night fmm the responsihil~ties implied in (re)creating
Wesl Indian smctures as a space of being in the material condition
of exile. Moses finds refuge in the Bntish eslahlishment precisely
because as an outsider he is absolved of responsibility. Assimilation
hen appears as an illusion. for assimilation must be pl#ficated
upon the receiving society's acceptance of the sumdmng
individual. and it is manifestly clear that 'Brittania' will new
acccp~ Moses in this way. (541

Selvon takes a dig at Moses' attempts to behave 'white' and betray his people
and culture. He considers the white culture as ideal and wishes to distaoce
himself from his black ways. Because of the social stigma that a black carries
in the society, Moses prefers to isolate himself from the rest of the blacks who
\till live in the lowest rung of the social ladder. Galahad who knows Moses
from the time he lands on the rtreets of London. sarcastically dnves home the
me\sage:
'We are all in the same boat. You can buy a house or a limousine,
and eat cavlar and hest end of lamb. but you can't get a white skin
if you beg. borrow or steal. Things are not like the old days,
Mows.' (MA: I I- 12)
A hlack skin will ever renlaln hlack and Moses gets arrested just because of
the vtce of helng a hlack and will e\.er remain a criminal before the white
laus. Though he IS ju\t an obwwer of the rally of the Black Power, he is
charged w~th "aswul~ and batter)., affray, breach of the peace. obstruction.
drunk and d~wrderly" (MA: 40). Though Moses vies to assimilate white ways.
h~r hlack ~dentity and West Indian experience continues to assert itself. When
Maws gets an-eslad and finds himself in the jail. his memory brings back the
\lave rhip enpenenca of his race:
I do not know ahout you. hut it IS a shuddering thought for a hlack
man to be lock up by the police. Once you are in. it is a foregone
conclusion that they will thmw away the key. There was no protests
from any of thc passengers saying that they was innocent and
shouldn't be hue. nobody struggling to get out like me, nobody
saying anything at all. Like we was in the hold of a slave ship. I

emember them stories I used to read, how the innocent starboy get
condunned to the galleys. Next thing you see him in chains, with
beard on his face. wrestling with one of them big oars like what
stevedores have in Barbados when they loading the ships. (MA: 36-
37)
Moses is wen lo be caught between the two cultures. His life in London has
taught him the white ways and his desire to get acculturated into the main
\[ream only leaves h~m with painful experiences. After a series of bitter
experiences, he real~ses that he will never be accepted and kome an insider
as long as hi5 skin is black. On the other hand there is a constant tug and pull
lowards h ~s home and hlack wap. Therefore even when he propenies himself
w~th a manston and ent~rle\ as the landlord he is aware that he is an outsider
and thinks of h~s homeland. London can never become his home though he
con\~dcn II 10 be the Ideal place. As he takes delight In the fact that his
manston ha an atuc and prefers to live in the highest flat of his house he
u- shes that the trees he of a varicty that would remind him of his home:
It had a tall London plane what gmwing outside, and one of the
branches stretch near the wlndow. I would of prefer if it was a
mango we. or a calabash, to remtnd me of home. but you can't
have everything. (MA: 3)
Mows though wishes lo alienate himself from hs native experience he is
constanrly reminded of home and a1 times feels nostalgic about it. As he
presently lives in a city. hc desires to assimilate his surrounding and considers
himself as pan of it. He says,

I have weathered many a storm in Brit'n, and men will tell that in
my own way I am as much part of the London landscape as little
Em with his bow and arrow in Piccadilly, or one-eye Nelson with
his column in Trafalgar square, not counting colour. (MA: 44)
Moes IS led by his illusion only as far as his experience with the London
I'olice. After his harrowing ordeal with the Police, Moses realises the uuth that
he can never become an insider of the white society. When he is cheated by
Rob and feels tembly inilated by his presence Moses thinks of home, native
landscape and his past experiences to calm his mind: "I don't know how long I
sat there after he left, calming myself thinhng of sandy beaches and waving
ctronul palm\ in my beloved homeland. remembering little joys and pleasures
to scrbthe my m~nd (MA: 108). His West Indian identity assens itself and
Mows gradually realices h~s folly and towards the end feels that even if he got
the ~nv~~atlon to he Garden Party in Buckingham Palace it is but an
"c\ane

police station and gets the bail by paying a huge amount of money. He fully
identifies himself with the blacks and wants to fight for the social injustices
that his people are subjected to:
One would not be worth one's salt to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear
to the injustice of that night. I know all the failings and
shortcomings of My people, their foibles and chicanery, their
apathy and disunity, but I were less than a Pharisee to leave them
hy the wayside. Such was my righteous indignation that I did not
even consider the recovenhility of the three hundred pounds, plus
twenty-five new pee for \lamp duty. that I had to fork out for the
hmthen and srstcr. I [old Galahad. after their release, that the
money could he uced for their defence when they bust a case in the
police arse for wrongful arre\t%. (MA: 97)
1:rom hcrng a v~olenr cntrc of the Puny. Moses gradually matures to associate
hrm.wlf with his fellou countrymen and addresses them brothers and sisters.
Moses reconciles wrth his hlack rdcntiry and sheds his fancy for the English
uay~ Hi\ i\Wmpt to escape from sharing his responsibilities comes to nothing
and hc realrser thal there is no easy way to get assimilated in a foreign land
and culture. Though. to hepin with Moses is confused ahout the world that he
rnhab~ts, toward!, the end of the novel Moses is seen asserting his hlack
~dentrty and aweriains his kinship with black community in London. Thmugh
the charactu of Moses. Selvon ridicules the voluntary colonisation of the mind
of the West ln&nns who are caught in the glamour oi London and points out
that it is only in the assenion of whal he is and by being true to his culture that
a West Indian can regain his identity and dignity in a white city. As Sam
Selvon puts it in his interview with Susheila Nasta:

I think that in spite of all his presumptiom to be English. tha~ he
still remains basically a man from the Caribbean, and that this
comb out in the way he relates all the experiences that happen to
him and through using this identical voice which is so much part of
the West lndian immigrant. ( 13)
While Selvon expresses the need for a West lndian migrant to assert his own
ldcntity instead of aping the coloniser's culture, he also exposes the
h~'pc~'ritical nature of the we\tern culture and their ideologies. He questions
the pnnc~ples that support rac~al dlscnmination and points out the need to
rcaliq the fact tha~ white raclsm IS only an extension of their assumed cultural
\upc.nonty. A\ S~vanandan pints out in 'The Liberation of the Black
Intcllrctual".
Racial prejudice and diwrimination. he recognizes. are not a matter
of indiv~dual attitudes. hut Ihe sickness of a whole society carried in
its culturc. And his survival as a black man in white society
requlrca that he constantly questions and challenges every aspect of
white life even as he meets it. White speech. white schooling, white
law, white work, white religion. white love and even white lies-
they are all meamred on the touchstone of his experience. (78)
Even as Selvon wishes the black West lndian to assen his identit) and
culture hc docs not desist from giving the black's perspective of the English
culture. Given the fact that English culture has been flaunted down the ages as
the hallmark of civilisation, it is a postcolonial response of Selvon when he
gives the alter perspective by looking at it through the eyes of black Moses
and exposes the falsity of their sentiments and principles which has a selfish

motive attached to it. In the novel Moses Ascending, Moses murates the
incident where the Pakistanis slaughter a sheep in the backyard of Shepherd
Bush. AS there wght to be some religious rites observed during the killing of a
sheep. the Pakislanis would not "ear English meat" (MA: 50). Hence Faizull
and his friend decide to slaughter the animal by themselves. As Moses
uatches the whole proceeding with curiosity and interest, Bob, who is a
rcprevnutive of the English culture. makes a big fuss about it. He blurts out:
'Th~s 1s a civilized country, use don't do things that way. If they want to kill a
,hcrp, they \hould go to a proper slaughter-house" (MA: 57).
Though Mows remernhen reading in the newspapers that how the
1:11gllsh, when u)m "Paki\ in the Black Country slaughtering animals in their
hack garden\" tM.4 49). row in pmte\t against this "barbaric custom"(MA:
491, doe\ not shou his antipathy toward\ it. Moses understands the
h>pocnucal a d of thc English culture that can sympathise with animals and
PI\ and at thc ramc tim ill-ucat the hlach by depriving them of their status
of a h um king. Moses, who ha$ started his life from the lowest strata of the
wclely. klx1u.r what ~t 13 to be a black immgrant who lives on the sweets. He
rcmlncsces h ~s own cxpenences:
'Couldn't he give II some Kir-E-Kal or some Lassie?' Bob was
really gettlng anxious ahout he situauon: you know what Enplish
people arc like when 11 comes to animals. I uscd to wish I was a dag
when I first come to Brit'n. (MA: 49)
Though Boh so concerned about the sheep and reacts shrply for the
killing of Ihe sheep he betrays his selfishness of his sentiment and
compromises on W issue when Moses tells him that the liver of the sbaep will

increaw his mxual prowess. To begin with Bob protests: thac he wiU lodge a
complaint against this. but when M m Lempcr; him with personal gains, he is
ready and willing to be an accomplice in the matter:
Bob look as if he want to throw up.
'It's gwd for you.' I say. 'It will make your cock stand up.'
He begin lo look interested now. 'Yeah?' he say.
'It's packed with vitamin E.' I say. 'look.' And I squeeze the liver
and let a few drop dmp. (MA: 57)
Boh clrlms that wlme\\lng the mercrless \laughlenng of the sheep nauseates
hlm and that he cannot hnng himself to eat hls breakfast. The prospect of
Inlpmborlng hr\ wxual potency fawnate\ Bob and he enstly cornpromuses wlth
hl\ culler \[and By play~ng upon his uednew Moses exposes the sham and
pretence IJUII gut& hl\ pnnclples
But you could we that the pmspxt of aiding the elevation of his
pent5 hnd him curious. You could fool a white man with any shit if
he belteve 11 will pmlong the sexual act.
He took the Ilver. alkit gingerly. and went into the kitchen.
Ftfleen minutes later he was polishing off Ihe liver with some onion
rings tha~ Bob fry golden. He tackled the meal with gusto, but still
kept up n tirade.
'It's the principle of the thing. Moses.' he say, with his mouth
full of liva. 'It's not that I'm not partial to a bit of fnsh meat.'

For spite I uy lo put him off eating. 'Did you see how tht blood
spurt out of the sheep neck when Farouk makc the slice?'
He stop chewing for a few seconds. but stm IO masticate
enthusiastically again. (MA: 57-58)
While Selvon's novel is peopled with black characters and calls for the
asenion of native culture in a foreign land. it also exposes the pitfalls of white
culture and its principles that are grounded on selfish motives. Contrary to the
white'\ pnpctive of the we\tern culture that is highly exalted and venerated.
Selvon give\ the black'\ prnpctive of the same culture that stands in conflict
uith the k~rmer. Thmugh the character of Moss. Selvon gives expression to
the migrant cxprnence of West Indians who leave their motherland for various
rcaulns and a\rt.ns the d~asporic Canbhean identity. Not only the blacks were
rnarg~nal~rrd and \uppreswd. their voices were never recognised. as they
rcmained unheard on the fnnges of the white society. Nevertheless, the novel
deal\ w~th black Carihhean immigrants who affirm their identity even though
they have to fight for equal~ty and acceptance. The desire for social
recognition and acceptance leads people like Brenda and Galahad to take up
m~l~tancy . Selvon identifies himself with the rnarginalised and recognises the
\ignificancc of the lives of black West Indians who struggle for recognition
and acceptance in the white society. Even as Selvon gives voice to a
Caribbean immigrant who uses Creole English he also stmses the significance
of cultural assertion that is essential in affirming one's identity.
'Ihe history of West Indian islands has left the society devoid of any
glorious past. The Africans who arc burdened with their past nightmarish
experience of slavery and the Emt Indians who came as indentured labourers

have to forge a MW identity for themselves. Though they cany rheir distinct
cultural baggage of their pat inheritance, in the present polyphonic Creole
xxiety. it undergoes a radical change as people grapple with their new
~dentities. However complex this experience be. Caribbean individuals have to
come to terms with thih predicament and assen their identity and individuality.
Both Wilson Hanis and Sam Selvon. though deal with different kinds of
Canbhean experience and use different strategies. they stress the need to get
rtconciled to the past and the significance to assen one's identity.
Mudrooroo's AsslrC)on of Aboriglnnl Culture
Namgln Mudmom). in Ihm Wildcar. deals with the tension that exists
at vanous levels between the white and Aboriginal Australia. The novel
centre\ on the ltfe of Em~e. a seventeen year old Aboriginal youth who is
~uhjc~led to various vrial d~scnminations because of his race. The novel
dernkr the harrowing details of h~s prison experiences and social injustices
that arc meted out to him. Mudrooroo &pic6 the difficulties the Aborigines
lace In a wh~te dominated society. as assimilation still remains as an illusion
for the Ahonglne5 and never gets realised hecauw of the racial prejudices and
d~rnm~natir)ns that prcvall in the wlety. While Mudmomo writes about the
politics of representadon. writlng. publishing and so on. he also incorporates
tlrr cultural artefact, of Aboriginal xxiery, which is an integral pan of their
I~fe. With the onslaught of coloni.\ation the Iredidonal Ahoriginal life and
culture has hcen xverely threatened and many Aboriginal societies have
hccome extinct. It is agarnst this backdrop Mudrooroo incorporates Aboriginal
\tciries and songs, which face the threat of extinction. into the fabric of his
novel. As a writer who is committed lo his society. he d ises the significance

of stories and songs for Lhe younger and future generation in shaping their
d~stinct worldview.
Literature. in Aboriginal Australia exisled in oral form. Songs and
wies cake a predominant role in the pattern of oral literature. Since
Ahoriginal culfure springs from a religious base of The Dreaming, various
myths and invicatc wpects of their culture have been passed from ow
generation lo ancHher In the form of stories and songs. Every occasion has its
\pec~lic code In whlch these songs and stories operate accordingly. Aparr from
the rellgiour ccrcmonies. there an: stones that are told in a variety of
circum\tances for varying purposes. One of the sigruficant aspects of stories
and songs 1s 11s u.refulncsr m educatlnp the younger generation. The society's
ethics, morals. %red sltes, and general knowledge are taught to children
through \toner. It alu, helps them tcl know ahout the richness of their language
and icm how it 3hould he used. Therefore in Aboriginal societies, the telling
01 a \tor) IS as Imponant a the \tory itself. Very often the evenb of the stories
uc \hewn praph~cally hy n sene\ of sand-drawings. According to Catherine H.
Bcrndt:
Also. telling a story was (is) a dramatic performance: not just
somchody s u n g up and telling a story. but the whole thrnp acted
out. with audience participation. like a rmni-drama. This is
something very hard to recapture, in wntinp or on tape or even on
video. Older women who knew exactly what words to use, and in
what circums~ances. used to remind me about the parallel with
ceremonial body painting. Some of you know will know that when
people are king paintad for a ceremony. the lines have to be drawn
jus~ right. and the dots-everything has to be exactly right, not just

anyway. And it is the same with storin and songs: they have to be
prepand and performed with cam. and skill. Those were things that
children had to learn, had m be caught: the use of which words, rhe
singing wods, the imagery. the basic figures of speech, the
symbolism. (96)
(iiven the complex nature of the procedure, it is ea\y for an outsider who does
not know ahout the intricacies of it to get completely lost when he tries to
undcntimd the meaning of apparently just-so stories of children. With the
tnttrference of colonlsen. the traditional way of life was disrupted. Many
Ahonpinal language\ d~sappeared. and with them. their cultural practices also
\ul'lcred. Western culture hegan to influence the Aboriginal societies and the
younger gcneratlons were attracted towards it. Catherine H. Berndt observes:
Some adult\ no* arc d~\rnayed to find that thetr chtldren are not
tntere4ted In the repcrtoln. of \tone\ and songs uhlch they
then~ul\e\ conttnue to we a4 srnpottant The children. they cay.
haw hen tumtng to pop u>ng\. or they go to whool and get caught
up In other attracttons They hope. however. [hat ~f trahtlonal
\ton- and song\ can he recorded they will contlnue to he avalable
and the chrldren will one day return to them and find them
Interc4tlng and relevant (95)
Thmfore Mudnxmw, incorporsles stories and songs into the fabnc of
his novel. Oral narratives not only tell stories but also nflcct familial and
wial structures of himhicd nlationships in communal group. Oral
literature constantly reminds the teller and the listener of their personal. mKal
and social personality. Shad bodies of wPI literatures give tk individual a

social identity of belonging IO a group. As Mudrooroo realises the significance
of these oral traditions that are at stake in the present modanisation and
urbanisation of Aboriginal societies, he harks back to the past and gives
expression to them. Therefore even though the setting of the novel is the city
with its prison, streets and lakes. Mudrooroo brings in the traditional wisdom
nnd oral narratives into his novel. In the novel Doin WiIdrar. Kevin Coles, the
asststant director, who is a Koori from Sydney, is adept at telling smries:
Can't elp falltng over meself at Kevin Coles little bit of fun. Ee's
the trainee director, yuh know, an if ee's as good at directin as ee is
at telling em jokes. we'll ave a blockbuster on our andr. An he
knows just when to tell em too. Yer stnndin there, feelin say a little
down, or just letting things build up ~nside yuh as I was just doin.
when along ce comes an sltp\ one into yer mind. an with a rush
whatever was wonylng yuh goes into a great roll of laughter. an yer
ready to get onto somethtng else. likc dipptn a little black to some
woman. (DWC': 61
Not only dtr* hc tell jokes and anecdotes. he also narrates, though not in the
trad~ttonal way. Aborigtnal stories like the 'Monkey and Turtle' and the reason
why 'Tunle is in the sea an monkey is up in a wee." (DWC: 31-32)
The writing of oraturcs is itself a p)litical act takrng the present socio-
political scenario of Aboriginal Australla into consideration. For the
colonturs, the Aborigines are a backward race that is devoid and incapable of
any significant cultural forms. Even their languages were for a long time
considered nolhing mom than beatly grunts. But Mudroonx, twns the tables
upon them when he asserts the Aboriginal culture by mgnising the

significance of the cultural forms of the Aborigines. It also goes to show that
the Aboriginal culture. lib any other culture has a rich line of tradition which
greatly influences the lives of the people.
In the novel Doin Wildcur. not only the stories but also songs are
included as part of the narrative. In Aboriginal wcieties, songs originate from
oral tradition as they have specific roler in the social context. Apart from the
ritualistic umgs there are songs that celebrate their culture and songs that offer
communal wisdom to the younger generations. The narrator of the novel sings
an old Ktxm wng:
Can't uc i\c a u)ng ahout Au\tral~a,
Ah~ut the emu an the Kangaroo.
A ulng ahour thc p sum an the uattle blo\wm.
A Kwn L~nd of rig u ill do
Can't ur i\e a umg ahout the old gum tree.
All ahout our natltc land.
Somcthlng onglnal ahout u\ Ahonglnal.
A real Ausml~an rag (DWC' 7)
The uing expresse\ the Ahoriginal wish to celebrate the life of Ausualia. The
"emu". "Kangwn". "gum tree" are the natural symhols of Australia and is a
of the Ahoriginal culture. If this song is written in Aboriginal English,
Mudmomo includes a wng in traditional Ahiriginal language itself. Win&.
the old man who help Ernie in the bush resorb to an Ahoriginal song:
Dandara wantum me.
Dandara wantum me.
Bwjwr me muntuee.

Ngan walla kuttijee,
Boojoor me countem
Dwonga walla kuttijee. (DWL': 103)
Since the song is in Aboriginal language, Mudroom, keeping the non-
Ahonginal readen in mind, lriec to present the theme of the song in English.
"Winjec: Ear that song before'?
Frncc : Dunno.. .
Wlnjee: Tell but your country. Ow it can give yuh an and when
yuh need it. It just like yer mummy. yuh know?" (DWC. 104)
The lnclu\lon of songs 1% not just for lhe salie of it. It is insmctive in purpose
a\ 11 offen a pncelcss plecc of advice to Ernie. who helongs to the younger
generation and ha\ to he cducated In mditlonal ways of life and social values.
f:rn~e i\ an Ahonglnal youth who has been hrought up in the city and therefore
r\ estranged from his cultural way. Winjee. who represents the older
pcncratron of Ahongines, instructs Ernie to be m e to his Aboriginal identity
and teaches the sipn~ficmcc of the Australian landscape which is an extension
of Ahonginal culture. He compares the natural environment to a mother and
reminds him never to forget his cloe affin~ty with it. Winjee also instructs
Ernie ahou~ the s~gnificance of The Dreaming when he says. "Blackfella never
forgets is water, just like ee never forgets is dreamln. Get goin! An keep to h e
hush. It knows yuh (DWL': lO5)!
Inciden~ally. in the novel. the nanalorlxript writer educates Ernie with
a couple of practical lessons. Ernie plays the role of a seventeen-year-old kid
in the film. As he belongs to the modem sociely that is caught up in the

glamour of while society. he flashes his cardicc smile, which does not suit the
character of rebel he plays in the movie.
. . . I swim out towards the orizon while thinlung, thinking of Ernie
an what ee's doin to me character. to me. I get an idea. I'll get him
off to one side tonight an ave a little talk with im. Ee ain't never bin
in jail. doesn't know what it's like, so ow can ee play me. Yeah. ow
can w'? Ee needs a little taste of what's it's like bein scared an
defiant both at the one time. Ee's pot to get it right! (DWC: 44-45)
t3scau.w Ernie has ncl lint hand experience of the prison and active
colon~wt~on, he I\ a misfit to the character he plays. Therefore. the
namtor/xnpt writer gives him a practical lesson to teach him what it is to be
chawd hy thr pol~ce. L~fe In the white dominated wciety has never been easy
fclr the Ahongine\ ah they face nclal dixrimination and other problems that
cloud\ u\sim~latlon. But Ernie who belongs to the younger generation is not
\cn\lti\.e to th~s and hence the narntor offen him a mining =ssion. After the
~ncidenl/le\mn. there I\ an apparent change in Ernie's character: "Ee looks
d~fierent th~s morning. more wary, an the carefree smile of is doesn't flash at
all. Not even once. EP glances at me an IS eyes slide away" (DWC: 55).
Fmic's defiance reaches it5 climax when he feels unhappy ahout the ending of
the novel where the Aboriginal youth faels sorry for his crime and meekly
yields to imprisonment. But the ultimate lesson for Ernie is whea Winjee sings
the Aboriginal song and inswcts him to "kap to the bush. It knows yuh!"
cnwc: 1051.
It is a reminder to the modern Aboriginal youth who have a bent
towards the western culture and tend to neglect their traditional culture and

values. Mudroom. dons the role of a teacher and reiterates the need to draw
inspiration from The Dreaming and places the bush over city and its glittering
life. It is only when an Aborigine is true to his cultural identity, he can clearly
understand his position in the present society and shape his future.
hhhomo not only me\ to educate the modem Abonpnal youth by
rcrnlndlng them of the need to hark back to thew tradloonal past to shape then
futurc, but also me\ to educate the non-Abong~nal soc~ety by wntlng about
he n~hnew and complex~ty of Abonglnal culture As Abong~nes and thelr
*
~ulturc updmrrundcnttnd and mlwepre~nted Mudrooroo, takes 11 upon
h~rnwlf tci pct thlnp\ \tra~ght fmm the Abonglnal percpecuve Therefore
Mudrtn~nxi'\ unllng I\ not ju\t artlrl\t Ilterature In belng a protect novel but
mo\er furthcr to he a noicl of undcntandlng where the focus 1s to explan the
Ahinplnc.\ and the~r u A)\ to thc non-Ahong~ne\ A\ Mudroom incorporates
JIFC~\ of hl\ oral trad~ucin he undencore\ hl\ po\tcolonlal response to the
c~l~~nt.il con\uuctron\ thdt dcn~prated Ahing~ne\ and their culture The
~nlrtwlucuon of Ahonp~nal ~ultural component\ 1s alw an exerclse to assert hls
Ahinp~nal ~dent~tj and lo \houcr\e the nch n.\ources of h~r culture that has
u~th\ttxd thc on\laught of colon~wt~on and al\ci remnc as a repeno~re that
ran rcplmr\h Ahongtnal ununp
lnodsape in UH CekbrstiOa of Aboriginal Culture
Kim Sccla In 7iuc Counfn. uses the topography of the land to celebrate
,dAbonpind life and culture. He collects traditional stories and experiments
2 4A.4
w~@j. uanrribin&o cater to the needs of the present genemtion and to
preserve& for posterity. Hc celebrates Aboriginal culture and places it above
thc non-Aboriginal cul~urc that challenges it in the present Amealiao

societies. He acknowledges the autobiograptucai element of the novel in his
author's now:
This novel began with a desire t explore a sort of neglected
interior space, and to consider my own heritage . . . actual place
names. I rhought. would help anchor it all in 'reality' and assisted
to become something other than mere indulgence. I used details of
Kimberly topography. and borrowed from the dialect and past of
one community I had lived in. ITC: I I )
B111y. the protagonist of the novel, along with h~s wife Liz. returns to
Karnam to teach In the Mirsion School. HI* return to Karnama is significant
In that. 11 I\ a warch for h~\ Ahoriginal rtx)ts. Having removed from his land
2nd cimlmunlty, fur reason\ unbou.n. he come\ back in search of his lost
tdrntity. The ti~pognph! ill' the land i\ \till fresh In his memory as he recalls:
And 11 I\ n bcaut~ful place, thr\ place Call 11 our country. our
rountr), our Lounu) rll round here We got nver. ue got sea Got
creek. mcL. h~ll. uaterfall We pol hu\h tucker apple, potato, sugar
hag hu\h turkey. Langmm. harramund~, dupong. tunle every
klnd Sscct m~poe\ and coconut\ too (TC 13)
It is significant to note that the description of the landscape is MM just
;m exercise la provide a haclidmp lo he novel. It is a celebration of the
topography of the native land which stands opposed to the denouncing of the
assumed new world by the invaders. For the colonisers. the land and climate
of Australia was strange as it oflen pmvoked nostalgic memories of their
English summer. pleasant rains and lush mcadows when comparrd to the
Ausvalian bul. In the novel. Billy is in the company of whites who complain

about the hat, rains, people and children and feel "it was exotic, but it was
claustrophobic too" (TC: 60). As for Billy, he is reminded of his childhood
days and relates things to his own experiences. When he sees childrm playing
with fishing line. his memory is stoked and he recollects his past:
Many of the younger children held lengths of nylon fishing line. the
other ends of which were tied to cans dragging behind them.
'Hey. I used to make toys like that when I was a kid. I'd forgotten.'
It was true I'd forgotten." (TC: 17- 18)
Hilly, uho ha\ jolncd a\ a teacher I\ Interested not only in teachlng Abonglnal
~hlldren hut take\ extra effon\ to learn the Ahongtnal ways uhich he has
forpc~tten E\eq mornlng he goes to wake up the lad\ fmm sleep and bnngs
thcn~ along ulth htrn He Ilhc\ to go out utth De\l~e, an Ahonginal lod to
Intcnor plate\ to fi\h Though Bllly doe\ not re\eal h~s ~denuty. the
Ahngrnc4 hegtn lo \hiire Lln\h~p u ~lh hlrn
lhnt shun teacher bloke. he hit like us. but - he Nyungar or what?
Lmk at him, he could be. Why's he wanna know things?
He get to school proper early anyway. sun-up even. Sebastian.
he say he see him then at the school. Sebastian jusl sitting making
fire. you know. making tea. He see him. He get one of the kids with
him, go out and get the lazy kids that still sleeping. Lazy those kids.
Their mums, dads. still sleeping. That teacher, what's him name?
Billy? He goes and he gets 'em. the big oms mostly. them boys
ova in Moses' house. (TC: 71 )

Billy is aware of his Aboriginal descent and feels lost and displaced. He
has come to Karnama not just to work for the Aboriginal community but also
to share the real experiences and revive his relationship with the Aboriginal
culture to which he has become a stranger. He is haunted by questions
concerning his Aboriginal identity and reasons for the displacement. He
wishes that his Aboriginal grandmother would answer him:
He wants it lo he a time when he finally spoke u, h~s grandmother
when she wasn't 10 years sick and she could answer his questions
about her young days, her life. How come she doesn't want people
to know

of the Aborigines arc reluctant to join the dance, few of them, with their
pntad faces put up a show for the tourists who consider the Aborigines as
some sort of a specimen.
bple here thought they came in to see the river, and they didn't
know why they just stayed around our store, and kept taking
photographs. One man might take a photo of his old wife holding
up one of our kids. Or a photo of her standing in the shop with all
us mob. buying things. They think we monkeys may be. Or sitting
on the ground outside. in the shade with us. We laughed when their
clothes pot dlny hut.
Some of the people here uy we should stop lemng tounsts In.
They just treat us as ue in a loo. or umethlng (TC 142)
If, for the tounsts thc Ahong~nes are monkeys and specimens, the
uhitcs In the Mlswn consider them a\ livy. dnmkardr. de\~ouc and
unrellahle None of then) umts to \lay hack In the Mt\s~on w~th the
Ahc>nglnes Gerard fccls "glad lo be out of thrs mad place" (TC 243) The
uh~tc communlt) feels oul of place 11b1ng among Ahong~nes They can never
come to term\ ulth Ahonplne\ and thc~r way\ of llfe
Ah they all leave. these other people. Let them go, we getting rid of
them. Gonc. Father Paul, the builders. Alex and tus family, Munay
too. Some of them see their world slipping the longer they stay, and
they struck out before they marooned and forgotten. (TC: 236)
'The above passage reflects the pennnial fear the colonisers had when they
came to the colonies. They could never really identify with the land, people

and culture and wm constantly afraid of 'going native'-an expression that
prevailed among the coloniwiers. When everyone else feels that thcu world is
slipping. Billy's relationship with land and people gets stronger and stronger
aa days go by. His visits to the sacred sites become regular and he begins to
dream of his ancestors. His mystical experience with the crocodile awakens
the innate knowledge that lay huried within him.
It seemed to have barnacles growing on it and was certainly very
large. Billy knew it was the old one. He'd heard of that had
survived the tlmes when its kind was trapped and shot for profit A
wtse old cmccdlle. . . . Billy stayed as he was. but thinking thinking
I have m~sjudgcd the distance this thing is huge its eyes those
lump ilre the SIX of peoplea\ heads on he water it is so big and
sllent 11 IS holding my g ar and why it is it corning at me and when
wtll 11 declde close enough a dl length or leap'? ( TC: 2 12)
Therc I\ an exchange of glance\ hetween the crocodile and Btlly and
utth that an exchange of knowledge Btll)'\ encounter with a huge crocodile
at such close qumen doe\ not xare h~m On the other hand. he blurts out: "I
Lnc~u that cmctdtlc now He wax exclied and happy" (TC 213)
The knowledge that Billy garners in the mystical experience is personal
md unique that binds him with the ancestom of the land and ends his ~dentity
crisis. It is an experience that rekindles his consciousness to reconcile with the
past. Towards thc end Billy feels Walanguh. the dead husband of Fatima.
hide him and [hey share an affinity with each other. His nconciliation with
his IDOL$ is manifested in the last tines of the novel:

See? Now it is done. Now you will know. True country. Because
just living, just living is going downward lost drifting nowhere, no
matter if you be skitter-scatter dancing any kind like mad. We gotta
he moving, remembering, singing our place little bit new, little bit
special. all the dme. (TC: 255)
tven as K~rn Scott celehrau\ the landrape of Kamama, he points out its
s~gnrficance In the l~fe of the Abonglnes A\ B~lly ident~fie\ h~mself w~th the
Ahongtne\. he not only rcuntes the h~story of Kamama. but also records
Ahortglnal \tone\ of the pa\t and tranrcnhe\ them Stonec. betng the integral
pm of the Ahonglndl culture uhlch onginales from The Drearmng. the older
generatton of the community llhc Fallma. Walanguh and Mllton's father want
thclr stones to he prcxned Becaux of rhe ad\ent of colonlsauon, hey feel
!hat there I\ a threat of extlncrlon to the~r md~rional culture As the younger
gcnerrtton of the rommunlt) I\ rtmcted touards the gleam of western culture.
thc older pc~plc feel that the \tone\ and wng\ \hould he precerved and made
d\ailahle ah reu>urcc\ to uhlch the young uould reson In future The
Aklngrne\ fcvl that Billy'\ prewnce in Kamama 15 a blesslng In ckgu~se as he
take\ effon~ to mod thc Abongtnal stones Fduma volunteers herself to tell
thew \tone\
Fatima remained waled, but shifted about on her hunocks. 'You
like stories9 You want I tell you stories. hut old people long
time?'
I nadded. 'Yes. I'd like that. if you don't mind. I'm interested.
and it would hc good. I think, for the kids to read. To leam to read
about things lo do with here. And read it the way you spealr, sort
of.' I felt awkward. (E 28-29)

Billy's Aboriginality gives him the cuning edge to undertake this
project. This is not the first time Aboriginal stories arc recorded and
transcribed. But most of the time, it is done by the sympathetic whites who,
due to their ignorance and over amhition, misread them and misinterpret them.
Alw, the Aborigines have their own reservations to reveal their cultural
anefacts to an outsider. As Mudroom in Writing From The Fringe, points
c>ut:
When an Ahoriglnc suddenly is confron~ed hy a white person with
a tape-recorder. 11 is only natural to expect a self-censorship to
come Into play. The Abarigine consciour of his suborcfinate
paillon. 1s exvcmely careful to tell he white pemn what he or she
cxpcc1.c to hear. The Ahongine suddenly becomes tongue-tied,
suddenly hes~tates as the past two hundred years of oppression
we~gh on h ~\ \houldcn. Hc rcmenlhen the time when to open one's
nx~uth. to \pati the mth. could and often did mean dealh. His
culturc 13 filled with accounts of men opening their mouths to
receive in exchange for their words of defiance a hullet. (147)
The colon~al vlolence that was unleashed on the Aborigines silenced
thelr cultural expression in many ways. Even when effons were made to
rccord the stories and songs. it was to convihute to the western knowledge of
understanding the Aboriginal life and culture. Themfore. however s.~npathctic
the whites war. Ah>rigines had their inhibitions to share their cultural
arlefacls with the white researchers and anthropologists. Kim Scott drives
home the point that it is left to he Aborigine to represent his culture and share
the responsihilicy to help revive his culture and to realise its significance in the

postcolonial scene. In the novel, Billy is conscious of the fact that, it is his
responsibility to mord the stories for the future generation. When Mwray, the
white mechanic, asks Billy why should he bother himself to encourage the
Aboriginer by recording their "lie" (TC: 102) and rewriting il he answers,
Ha! Ah well. What else can I do? I like that sort of thing. And I'm
Aboriginal. of Aboriginal descent. A bit of tarbrush in me. . . . So
I'm ~nterested. That must be pan of the reason I asked to come
here. (TC': 103)
B~lly's attemp to write their stories produces an overwhelming
rc\pmu from the Ahonp~nes. Fatlrna i$ only too willing to narrate the stories
w that he could transcribe 11. The older generation of the Aboriginal
community ts enc~ted ahout thc new enterprise of Billy. Billy is seen as a man
uho \lands In the pap hetween Ahoriginal society and the modern
honglnal u~icty.
Sebastian. Fauma. Samson. even the kids: they seemed happy that
he wanled to do their htorics. Thcy wanted these things written
down: that thcy worked hard to help build up the mission. that they
were clever and pmud. that they still knew some of the old ways.
and the old wap were good. The old people wanted !o make it
happen that the young ones got power in the white man's way also.
and did no! dnnk or fight so much. and could be proud. (TC: 169-
170)
Even Walrmguh. who shuns from meeting people and hardly has any
conversation with anybody, inquires about this project which embPnasses
Billy:

'You bin tellim them kids story?'
. . . Billy kept a watchful eye on the dogs. He hadn't thought
Walanguh knew about the taping sessions. He attempted to explain
that he hadn't found time to transcribe many of then but he had
done so with one or two, and the students seem to appreciate il,
liked hearing familiar words and stories in the class room. But no.
he really hadn't done it much. (TC: 146-147)
Though Billy lakes it upon himself to transcribe the stories. he is wary
of the prohlems that go wth the change of mode. culture and language. He
leelr that hi\ Intcrventlon Into the uaditional oratures may deprive it of its
onplnal~ty and its tntncacic\. He \ayb.
Its prohlematrcal. we. I wnte for the kids. but 1 &I. So. do I
change it 1~x1 much? Do I write only for the kids here? Who speaks?
Have I the npht to . . .' He almost clasped his hands in front of his
iacc. almosl looked mcltxJramatically offstage. (TC: 245)
The aulhor. in Bllly, raises important Issues concerning the writing of
the oral narratives. Can oral literature In the pnnt form retain its distinct oral
features'? Since stories that are narrated are perpetually hrought to life with
each narration. pnnt form con render it a fixed entity and close its cultural
context and ~xiological functions. Aboriginal narrative style and its cultural
ovedones will hc lost when it is attempted to amst orality within a text. The
intimacy that is shad hy the teller and the listener is lost with Ihe intrusion of
written word. But the inevitability of the present social scenario calls for a
change in the mode. To minimise the loss, Mudrooroo in Writiq Fmm 77u
Frinp. suggeH

If oral texts must be transcribed and written down, then an audio
cassette should be supplied along with the book; but if this is
impossible, then the editing process utilized should leave the text as
close to the original as possible. A third course might be lo create a
writlen \tyle in close proximity to the oral style. (1 11)
B~lly a\ a rhooltcacher plays the recorder In the classroom and
cxprnmentr u~th the tranrnhed \tone\ a\ he include\ 11 a\ pan of the school
iurnculurn k)r the Ahong~nal ch~ldren He play\ the lape and hstens to the
ongtnal terwn of the \tone\ and later he reads out the wntten venlon of 11 to
~hcrn
But, latcr. u hen I read wme of th15 aloud to the students, hying on
the \oiLer, they lirtcned cloelg and were attentwe to the text They
pnnned at one another Sometme\ they recognized the onglnal
rpciiker 'He uiund\ l~ke ' tTC 67)
isch onc had h~s unique uay of telling stone\ and the children art able to
~dentlfy he onplnal spedcr More than that. for he first ume in h~s I~fe. Billy
find\ out that the Ahonplnal ch~ljrcn are attenuve to the text Because Billy
\hare\ the am Ahong~nal blood In h~s veins, he makes qu~te an Impact on his
rudlencc uhen he read\ out the \lone\.
And, in truth. he had harely started even mscribing the words of
his sources. Oh, hc had one or two anecdotes m the students. They
had looked at the words on the page and mgnized the syntax of
the Voice that Billy read. They were surprised at it, and laughed.
Sebastian, too, had come to the class to listeo and ehbomtc if

necessary. He had wondered at the rendition Billy gave, the
rhythms of his speech altered a little, and the different timbre of his
voice. (TC: 169)
Billy's rendition of the Aboriginal stories serves more than one purpose in the
decolonisation of Aboriginal Ausualia. As the English language is
appropriated it is made to carry the burden of the native culture and local
colour. Thc \am language that was used by the colonisen for desmtive
purpo* is appmpnated and altered for consuuctive reasons. Rendering it in
the pnnt form tmmonalises Aboriginal stories that were on the verge of
cxtlnctlon. Though Kim Scott. a\ a postcolonial writer. uses the language of
the colon~rr, he uses 11 to carry the experiences of his Aboriginal culture. This
I\ one of the way of decolon~\~ng the language from its colonial ramifications
ar rt I\ altered to sewe the purpmes of the colonised in asserting the local
culture. Thc language adoption In the pnrtcolonial scenario highlights the fact
that ncr matter whnt the hlstoncal circumstances iue hehind the induction of
English In hc colonier, postcolonial writen creadvely commandeer the
language to cnrry a different cultural experience of their xriety.
In Trur Ciaunrn. Kim Scott describes the cultural mefacts of
Ah>rigines and includes Ahoriginal myths. legends and stories that involve
thelr rel~glon and magic. Since Ahoriginal societies see no distinction between
naturc and culture, everyhng has its element of spirituality. They also believe
In magical practices, which are difficult to distinguish from theiu spiritual
practices. As W.H. Edwards observes in An lnrroduction ro Aboriginal
Srwirrks.
11 is difficull to make a sharp distinction between religion and
magic in Aboriginal society. While some prectices clearly

eligious and other clearly magical, the are o h which do not fit
neatly into either category and have elements of both. Aboriginal
societies recognize that individuals facing problems or needs may
wish to engage in activities through which they seek to control or
influence other people or events. Some members of each group are
considered to have special powm or abilities which can be called
upon to a~sist at these times. (74)
Kim Scott includr \torie* and anecdotes that pertain to this
rnctaphy\ical realm, which are an everyday reality to the Aboriginal societies.
In the novel there arc atone$ llke Walanguh's father. by dremng. kills the
\hark that killed a man.
All thew \tone\ I tell you happened In uue llfe Old people used to
hd\e hlack mdplL The) uwd to kill or destroy anybody Or they
uwd to find out what animal L~lled that bloke and then go after tt
and Llll 11, you Lnou They dream 11 They go and they sleep and
they drcam 11 and the) ptr Llll that thrnp. crocodile or shark or
uhatc\cr (7C' 67)
In another Instance, Walanpuh rides h)n the hack of a whale to reclaim
hl* ahduc~cd wife (TC: 144). Thew stories cannot be dismissed as fantastical
hecnux they are pan of their psychological make-up. These brave feats give
them their proud feeling of heing an Abonpine and help them to revere their
culture and old men who have these powers. Kim Scott stresses the fact that
lhese are far from lies: "And this is a me story this one, this is a me story
again. This mob here can tell yau. Same words again . . . hsten, we tell no lies
to you. Not cva. But we could help you there. maybe" (TC: 145).

As Kim Scon validates Aboriginal culture, he also asserts that their
traditional practices still hold good in an era of science and technology. In the
novel. Beatrice, an Aboriginal girl, who is friendly with Liz behaves in a
41riige manner after the death of Walanguh. She becomes indifferent. arrogant
and violent in the class. No one knows what to do with her. "She got crazier.
Sometimes *he just sat down, for a long time. rocking herself, or crying. or
w~th her face vacant and responding to no one" ITC': 153). She is taken to the
ho\prtal In Wyndham for tests. But she remains a mystery to the white doctors.
Bu! at Wyndham they didn't know. They could find no bruises or
hreilks to wppn the Idea- the hospital people said things at coffee
and ~ISCUIIS- that she'd been treated bad by her parents or relations.
Ba\hed. or w o ~ They . poked her wtth their dry pink fingers. but
found M) evrdence of sexual abuse. (TC': 1%)
Nothtnp helpd and Beavlce deteriora~es in the hospital. They strap her
down on the M whenever shc gets v~olent. When Beatrice's sickness defies
wience, uadtoonal Ahong~nal practice comes to her rescue. The old people of
Karnama rncludrnp Fatima. Moses and Samson \.isit her in the hospital and are
ahlc to hrinp her hack to the normal condition. Billy reads this in the
nenS\paper:
Btlly got hold of a newspaper. and they read it at school. Some of
the kids read it aloud to the old people:
GIRL SAVED BY BLACK RITUALS
An amazing series of rituals to rid a dying black girl of a mbal
cum was canied out in one of Pea's major hospitals.

The girl was believed to have been cursed by Aboriw
eldcrs. A clinical psychologist became concerned that the
child had been 'sung' and arranged for the Aboriginal tribal
elden t perform an exorcism on the comatose child in Sir
Charles Gardiner Hospital.
Being 'sung' is a ritual similar to the so-called pointing of a
bone.
The elders, from the Kimberly. visited the child three times.
The chrld has returned to her community and is fit and well.
tTC': 186)
This IF a clas\lc example of polntlng out the lrmrts of western rlennfic
uorld whrch \cry often I\ glonfied at the expense of uadluonal systems and
prscttce\ Ktm Scott affirm\ that rndlgenou\ practrces are equally good and
\omct~mcs \uccced when modern mence fuls In the novel. the old people of
[he Ak)ngtnal communriy of Karnama ha\e the last laugh when they say
The old people laughed, and told them there were many things they knew and
undentaod that other ones dad not" ( 7C 186)
As Klm Scott affirms Aboriginal culture and highlights the uniqueness
and richness of its culture. he IS also careful nut to romanticise it. He is equally
auare of the evils of its society. He does not fail to point out the
lumpen~letarianism of Aboriginal community who are given to drinking.
gambling and rrcklas living. However the novel focuses on the rich tradition
of the Aboriginal culture which pmvides them the needed inspiration to re-
gmup lhemselves and assert their Aboriginal identity. Billy. Gabriella and
Fatima akc efforts to pave a way for lhe cultural assertion of the Aborigiws.
They venture out to raise the kids as responsible individuals who will &arc a

strong sense of their Aboriginality.(Kim S&tt, in this novel, validates
~borig~nal culture and affums its significance lo Aboriginal life.
I"
J3stcolonial fiction2 therefore.& focussing on the lives of the pmple
who have been pushed to the periphery by the discourses of the west.
\decenmlises the elitist attitude of tJ&mlonial myths by asserting and
validating the local culture. The writen make use of the oral strategies and
other subvenive devices and mark their postcolonial response to assen the
colontud culture. It is vital to observe that the language they use for their
sultunl awnion is the wme language that operated as a powerful tool in the
Itnguistic coloniwtion and cultural imperialism of the natives. As the language
I\ appn)pnated and nativiwd. the writers use it as a vehicle to affirm their
culture which form\ a \ignificont pan of their lives. As language and culture
Are ~nsepanhle. the writen decolonise the language hy fusing he cultural
component\ of thetr nch uadtticrn The language is reworked to accommodate
[he pmvcrh. \one\ and wries which are derived from oral wadition. The
Images, metaphors and \tmiles invariably depict the rural setting of the native
land. The native landrape i\ creatively used in postcolonial fiction a it is
considered to \re an extension of the people and their culture. It helps displaced
pcc>plc to reaffirm their identity and revive their relationship with the
community and also help to get wtth thetr past. These novelists
work their way towards their project of decolonisation hy validating the
trdit~on and culture of the colonised societies. All the six writers discussed
ah~ve cmtivcly us the English language for he celebration of the life and
culture of h colonised.

CHAPTER - 4
INTERROGATING COLONIAL DISCOURSES
In postcolonial writing. the text becomes a site where the writers
unmask. rejecl and rewrite colonial ideologies. Colonial discourses are
confronted with conflicting perspectives and world-views of the colonised.
Troprs arc questioned and the binaries are subvened. The counter-discourses
of the p)stcolonial writing are a rebut~al of the colonised and the vengeful
rr\ponw to the cruelty and sufferings that were the outcome of colonial
dlroune4 Since texts openld as one of the tools of colonisation. postcolonial
u.nlen uw the umc tool to counter the violence of the colonisers. The various
~,olc)nial diu.ourse\ that were perpeuated by the writings of the western
crcntlve wnten played a prominen! role In shaping up their ideologies. These
unting\ nt)t only dcfined the \uhject position of the self, but a!= conswcled
thc ~Jcnt~ty of the other. Though these wntings apparently appear to be a mere
aerthetrc exercise. It had far-reaching consequences. which had its
rnnn~festatrons In the whole pnress of colonisation. Therefore the textual
v~olencc which was gencraied by the western writings shares equal
rc\ponsihil~ty with thc php~cal vtolence that was exercised on the indigenous
people.
Therefore p~stcolonial writers who represent their community address
!he issues that relate to colonial discourses. They not only give the counter-
perspective 10 he western narratives but also expose the lies that had
maqucrsded as wths in he colonial writings. The politics of representation is
questioned and the coloniser and his prejudiced assumptions arc exposed to
\howcase the mk of textual violence in the process of colonisation. As

stereotypes arc alterrd and colonial myths punctured, histories are rewriaea
from the alter perspective of Ihc coloised. It is also significant to note that the
same languege that was used by the colonisers in the creation of colonial
discourses becomes an effective tool as postcolonial writers dismaotle the
discourses and create narratives that are in conflict with the coloniser's
versrons of wth. It should not be forgotten that decolonisation is one of the
pnmary concerns of postcolonial writers and as they appropriate the English
language, it IS used lo counter the discourses of the west and to narrate their
own venrons of nth. This chapter purpons to analyse the use of English for
counter-d~u-unive purpowb in the writers' project of decolonisation.
Dellacing the Myth of Colonial FAucacion
Okara in Thr Cbrc-r uses English to counter the discourse that was built
mud colonial educatron. Englihh education was greatly responsible for the
~prnul of Englr\h Language in the former colonies. Colonial education was
rntnwluced UI as to ctviliw the rndigenous tribes that were deeply immersed in
therr native traditional widom and values hat were passed as a legacy from
one generation to the other. However the colonisers interrupted the traditional
\ptems of thought and values and forced the western knowledge that was
rmprin~ed in heir books and literature. Okara deflates the myth of the
cnnohling nature of colonial education and highlights the superiority of their
natrve communal widom.
In the novel 77tr Voice. Okolo. the central character goes about the
vlllagc asking for 'i~'. He spares no one and questions everybody whether they
hve got 'it'. Though the novelist does not explicitly spell out the meaning of
'11'. it is quite evident that it is something to do with the spiritual lspct of the
human life. AS A m is ruled by the dictatorial powas of Chief Izongo.

people an mar puppets without any moral wurage or strength. No one dares
to rai* his voice against the evils of Chief lwngo for the shacr few of his iron
rule. It is against this social climate that Okolo raises his voice questioning the
standards and plnciples of not only the rulers. but also the w m n people
who have losl their will to resist evil. According to Eustace Palm
7hr V111c.r is a cry of protest against the spiritual sterility.
inhumanity, and materialism that Okara sees everywhere about
hlm. and 11 IS a message of an obviously universal relevance. The
'voice' ir Okolo's. crylng in the spiritual wilderness, and calling for
a restctraticln of traditional integrity and moral purity. (158)
African uKtetie3 are plagued with spiritual sterility and materialism that
cams along wtth the ci~loniren and their culture. As then vaditional set up is
L
d~rtuhd. II I\ inevttahle that people tend to lose grip with their cultural
\[rCngLh and African ua) of life. The pre-colonial African states that thrived on
d~\.tdcd latm~ur and shard profit is glbSen to the evils of materialism, due to the
u-c\tern tnfluence. O h pciints out to his padcular shift in value and the
novel hecomes a lament for the loss of lradiuonal values and systems and at the
wmc ume sketches a biting sarire of the willing degradation of the erstwhile
colontc\. Coloniution a\ an exercise was ju\t~fied by the colonisen in their
attempt to civillu and Improve the standards of living of the colonised. But the
postcolonial scenario wiinesses degradation and abject misery that pervades
the former colonies as a msull of colonisation.
Though Okara's 7'hr Vo~cr deals with the post-colonial scenario of a
Nigerian village. it is underscored with the theme of resistance. Okara
punctures the mfi of the ennobling nature of colonial education. The novelisr

in a very subtle manner handles his characterization of Abadi, who is in many
ways the lone exception to other characters of the novel. In the novel, A M
happens to be the "next man to Izongo" (7V: 42). He is Izongo's advisor and
sits next to lzongo on all important social gatherings. He is also the most
learned man in the entire town of Amatu. He has travelled far and wide and has
acquired coveted degrees for himself. As Abadi himself claims: "I have been to
England. America and Gennany and attended the best universities in these
places and have my M.A.. Ph.D (N: 43-44). Abadi has gained reputation and
rc\pect as he has hecn to England. America and Germany, the high places of
Icamrng and has mastered the master's language. Izongo remarks: 'This house
wrll not contain the kx)k\ he has read" (Dl: 45).
A\ d man of \u~h urde uholanhrp. Abadr begrns to address the crowd
In llaule\\ Engl~\h rhough rr I\ oh\~ou\ that the common folks of Amatu will
nor undrntand hr\ language Ch~ef Ilongo ha\ convened a meetlng and the
u holc toun of Amatu ha\ garhered to dec~de upon the fate of Okolo who has
heen a cauw of concern for qulte uwnetrme Amatu IS peopled w~th fishermen,
p,rlm culten and In ah ad^'\ phraw. "wme of you were nothlng In the days of
the ~mpenal~\t\" (n' 43) Okolo I\ the only other educated person who has
attended n ucondary whwl
A language ha\ multiple functions in a given social context aparl from
just transferring the message from a speaker to the listener. As Altmann puts i t
"language, quite simply. is a window through which we can reach out and
touch each oh's minds" (233). Abadi's use of English is quite contrary to
his view of language. The purpse of using a particular I.nguege here is not
Just to communicate one's ideas and so Abadi does not choose to address the
gathuing in the vunacular as lzongo docs (W 45). But since thur is power

and prestige ~~&ociaud with the use of the wlonisn's language, Abadi chooses
to speak in English. a language that wmmands respect and demands
admiration in the colonies. As English came with the wlonisers it always
enjoyed a privileged slatus in the wlonies. To be able to use the language
characlensed the speaker's position in the new hierarchy of social order. As
Godfrey C. Anichc observes,
English ha\ alway., enjoyed a 'high' prestige in comparison with
the indtgenous languages with which it is co-territorial in Nigeria.
As he language of the all-powerful official of the colonial
adminrrtratton, and of ihe early Christian missionaries, English was
held tn awe and reverence. (72)
With the in~rtuluction of English. the value systems asmiated with the
Lnowlrdgc of languages tn traditional African sociedeb were redefined. While
English wos prefcm-d and promoted. the indigenous languages were
ct)nstdercd to he infenor. English was promoted at the expense of the African
languages and was stgn~fied with power and prestige. So when Abadi begins
his spch tn Engl~sh. at Izongo's cue. the Elders. "clapped their hands and
\tmmped their feel in applause" I 7%': 43). and when he ends his speech. "there
arose a great shout of applause, feet stamprng and handclapping" (TV: 45).
acknowledging his achievement in garnering the prestige variety and affirming
hi\ \lamp of class. The grcal applaud and adulation is not so much for Abadi's
\perch as it is for his ability to handle the English language. The people only
hear his speech but do nor undmtand it. As lzongo himself honestly confesses,
"He spoke in English and many words missed our ears while many entered our
~ars" (N. 45).

Abadi has garnered the position of next-to-chief simply by the virtue of
his vast learning. particularly the "whiteman's book" (7V: 119). and Chief
lwngo calls him "our highest son" (W: 45). Interestingly, O h endows
Abadi with a flawless variety of standard English without any contortions and
ahermtions. He even uses archaic words like 'nay' (N: 43) in his effort to
~mpress and sound like an English man. As the situation demands Abadi is
lmpccable in his formal use of language. starting from acknowledging the
august presence of Chief lzongo. As he is the only exceptional individual in
Amatu, who has travelled widely and has got various degrees, his speech is
a140 the only exceptional passage in the whole of the novel where the language
I\ not suhvened and nativised. Though he has read and mastered the white
man'!. book. his learning has not effected anwng good as he is no different
from the deprave lzongo and others. Therefore Okolo retom. "You have your
M.A.. Ph.D.. but you have not got if" (N: 44).
A\ Okolo obwrves. Abadi does not show any trace of virtue as he only
actr as Izongo'r mouth-piece. His vast learning has not implanted anything
gtxd and remarkable which contributes to the good of the society. The only
difference is that he can sped. In English and has learnt to abstain from
dnnking palmwine. Instead he prefers the other sophisticated liquor brands:
'Don't you know? Don't force him,' the second palmwine bearer
said lowering his voice. 'He does not drink palmwine. We looked
for heer, whisky, schnapps and brandy but couldn't get that.
Palmwine does not fit him so leave him alone.' (n/: 1 19)
As an individual who has received the western education, he ects no different
from the western colonisem. Though he talks about democracy and

acknowledges one's right to raise om's voice. Abadi does not like anybody to
intempt and contradict him. Even at the beginning of his speech he browbeats
the Eldm and reminds them of th$loyalty that is due to Chief Lzwgo:
What could you have been without our leader? Some of you were
mere fishermen, palm cutters and some of you were nothing in the
days of the imperialists. But now all of you are Elders and we are
managing our own affairs and destinies. So you and 1 know what is
expected of us, and that is, we musf toe the pany line. (7V: 43)
A\ Ahadi likes no dlssentlng voice to counter the decisions of Izongo, it is
evident that he is a par~y to the evil designs of the Chief. Okara depicts the
plight of the post-lndepndent setting of Nigeria that is tom asunder by the
nlorally deprave and profligate leaden who seek only to further their selfish
Intere\t\. They are united in their evil design to do away with the contradicting
uew\ of Okolo and Tuere who attempt to bring in a social revolution. The new
cl~te who hjast of the English education have not evolved into morally superior
perwns. In the novel Okolo points out h s flaw in the character of Abadi:
'Whom are you fighting against?' Okolo again interrupted.
'Are you no1 simply making a lot of noise because it is the
fashion in order to share in the spoils. You are merely making
a show of straining to open a door that is already open. You go
and sleep over this.' Okolo said. (IV: 44)
In fact Abadi's great learning of the whiteman's hook has only made
him a better and clever devil as he is responsible for some of the tactical moves
in the killing of Okolo and Tuere. As Chief lzongo himself confesses, it is
A W who is responsible for ostracizing Okolo from Amatu (7V 47). Later in

the novel. when Okolo nsurfaces in Amatu after being exiled in Sologa it is
Abadi who twice silences lzongo so that they can put an end to Okolo and
Tuen. Even when lzongo shows signs of panic, it is Abadi who exhibits
ahsolute control over the situation:
'If the people see and they turn against us what will we do?' lzongo
said with fear creeping into his inside.
'Leave everything to me. Let her speak and allow her to take
Okolo with her. Then we continue the celebration.' (7Y 121)
By attributing such a role-play to Abadi. Okara deflates the myth of white
man'\ civilising and ennobling nature of his much-celebrated education.
In\tcad he validates Ihe superiority of the native knowledge that has been
handed fwm their ancestors Okara addresses the binary divide of the western
hcx)klsh knowledge that ih pitted against the traditional wisdom of African
ur~etier that instil moral values in their societies. In the novel one of the
me\sengen of Izongo is averse to corruption and says that anybody who
~ndulges In corrupt practices will die.
'You say water has my inside entered. I know not whiteman's
b k . Their hook learning is different from earth's knowledge
which has come down from our ancestors. Book teaches not that.
You say water has my inside entered. BUI you know not the power
of water?' (7V: 93)
The common folks of Amatu who still value their traditional values are free
from conuption and spiritual sterility. The messengers of Itongo, Tuere, and
Ukule who are untouched by the evils of modunity maintain their integrity

and moral stability. Okara deliberately pits the native wisdom up against the
bookish knowledge of the west and reverses the hierarchy. He affums that the
white man's knowledge and teaching is not absolute and there are things that
the natives can learn from the spoken words of their ancestors rather than by
the learning of the western education. Hence it is not surprising that Abadi
who gets distanced from his native culture by the virtue of his vast learning
turns out t be more hideous and villainous than the rest of the natives. All his
learning from vanoub foreign universities has not inculcated any remarkable
urial value that would he beneficial to his society. According to Ernest N.
Emenyonu:
Wucat~on In the colonies was designed to produce individuals
enlightened enough to understand he values of the world outside
their home envlmnment, but not equipped to think inwards for the
betterment and wlvation of their own immediate environment.
(116)
Ahadi. therefore, becomes an outsider to his society and does not prove useful
to his community. He perpetrates more violence by instigating lzongo and
furthers his selfish motives. Through the character of Abadi. Okara points out
the negative influence of the English educauon on he African native who
turns a traitor to his own community and society at large. He deflates the
c~vilising myth of the English education hy pointing out the impact it has on
Ahadi. It is also a call to revive the aaditional value systems that are sidelined
due to the intervention of colonisation and modernity. Okara highlights the
failwe of the English education in the colonies and valrdates tbe traditional
wisdom and spiritual values of African culture that would contribute to the
welfare of postcolonial African societies.

VnWntlon of Msu Mau and the Effects of Cdonlal Education
It was in English. the colonial history of Africa was constructed, and
their pre-colonial past was effaced and denounced as barbaric and uncivilised.
English turns out to be a racist language as it expresses the cumulative
negativity of the idea of blackness in its imagery and vocabulary. Therefore as
a postcolonial response an African writer posits, in English. a counter-
narrative and rewrites the history of his past, race and injustices from the
African perspective. While doing so, the writer dons the mantle of a historian
who interrogates the European versions of truth and presents a conflicting
narrative that spnngs frcrm the felt experiences of the native Africans.
Therefore an African writer is sensitive to the historicity of his themes.
Though it can be argued that the novels are not a faithful reflection of the
urrd reality. they deal wrth the ideological challenge of thiu reality. The
\rgnrficance of these writings lie in their realisation of the importance of
cxcavattng supprewd hrstories while uyng to critically engage with the
prohlcm of hrstorical representation in the postcolonial condition. With
regards to Ngugi's encounter with Kenyan political history. Dianne Schwerdt
is of the view hat hi$ achievement lies in the "articulation of what has been
called elsewhere 'a proper sense of history', In particular the production of a
Kenyan history that 'shines with grandeur. . . of heroic resistance"' (184-185).
In Ngugi's A Gmin of Wheat. the action opens four days before the
Uhuru celebrations as people are gearing up for h e event. The harrative also
shifts back and forth to include the years of Emergency, Mw Mau rebellion,
detention camps and the brave resistance that was put up against dK British
imperialism. The immediate post-Independence setting and the inclusion of

historical events mark Ngugi as a documentary hismian who is charting a
different version of Kenyan history opposed to the EuropeanlOfficial version.
As Barry Andrews observes:
The History lo which Ngugi Wa Thiong'o refers is the recent
history of his native Kenya: specifically, the dramatic and bloody
decade of Mau Mau, the Emergency, and Uhum: a decade- from
roughly. the early fifties to the early sixties-which continues to
'ohsess' Kenyan writers. (36)
llnlikc hts earlier novel. Thr River Brtwrrn, which deals with the ancient
h~\tory of Kiuneno and Makuyu. two villages of Kenya. and the prophecy of
Mugo wa Kihlru, the great G~kuyu seer. who prediced the coming of the
uhttc man. A Grain of Whectf. is concerned with the recent history of Kenya
whlch Ngug~ 15 well aware of and which he belongs to. Ngugi was a
chtwlboy when Mau Mau began its freedom swggle against the colonial
government which made life difficult for the Kenyans. As Ngugi is aware of
lhe Manichean struggle between the natives and the colonial regime, he
vlnd~cates the Mau Mau rebellion and highlights its political ideologies which
are in stark convast to the manner in which the west perceived it.
The nc~vel reveals that almost everybody in the village is a member of
the pany who wishes to retrieve the stolen laad and governing authority from
the whim. It grows from strength to sacngth tbougb its leadm change from
time to time. Nobody knows exactly when the party was started but "its origin
can, so the people say, be mced to the day the whiteman came to t& country.
clutching the book of God in both hands, a magic witness that the white man
was a messenger from the Lord (GW: 11). In other words, the people of

Kenya look up to the party as freedom fighters who would break free the
chains of colonialism and liberate their land from the shackles of white
domination. But the colonial administration sees it as a threat to its vcry
existence and brands them as terrorists and outlaws who have to be dealt with
an irnn hand. In the novel. Dr. Alben Schweitzer, who has worked in Nyeri,
Githirna, Kisumu, and Ngong. is of the view that:
One must use a stick. No government can tolerate anarchy. no
civilization can be built on this violence and savagery. Mau Mau is
evil: a movement whlch if not checked will mean complete
desuuction of all the values on which our civilization has thriven.
tGW: 49)
The overwhelm~ng zeal to curb the Mau Mau activities on the part of
the white adrn~n~straton oulrmnales in the arrest and torture of many innocent
c~vil~ans. Npupi highlighs this in the character of Gitogo. the only son and
hreadw~nner of an old widow. He is a deaf mute who ekes out a livelihood by
doing menial jobs in eaung houses and meat shops. He is shot dead by the
police and h~s death ir justified in a matter-of-fact statement: "Another Mau
Mau temmst had hecn shol dead (GW: 6).
The amities and cruelties that are inflicted on the Africans reach its
plnnacle when Thomas Rohwn holds office as the Distnct Officer of Rung'ei.
dunng Emergency. He is known as 'Tom, the Td' (GW: 162). who. with
his all-pervding presence persecutes a numkr of pwpk for nothing. As the
novel reveals.
Driving in a jeep, one Askari or two at the back, a brcngun at the
knees, and a revolver in his khaki mum partially coaceakd by

his bush jacket. he would suddenly appear at the most unexpected
times and places to catch unsuspecting victims. He called them
Mau Mau. He put them in his jeep, drove them into the edge of the
forest, asked them to dig their graves. (GW: 162)
The brutalides of Robson's actions are legitirnised under the cloak of his
undisputed white administrative power that is mandatory to bring order and
pace in [he otherwise unruly African state. However, in the end, when Kihika
\hcx~ts him dead at polnt blank. the only word that escapes from his lips is
"b~te5" (GW: 163). The irony is that, the killing of a black by a white is
called disc~pline whereas the reverse is brutal.
The western perception is so prejudiced that they are unable to
undrntand the ~deology of a party like Mau Mau, which strives to liberate the
land fnm its colonisen. Since hlack liberation means the eviction of whites
from Afnca. anyrhing that is aimed towards th~s end is viewed as terrorist
acrtvlty. which has to be subjugated. suppressed and ultimalely decimated. But
k~r thc nauves. it IS more than a mere organisation. They consider it an honour
to work and suffer for the party's cause. It is a religious exercise when they
pray and sacrifice with pips before their expeditions. Lieutenant Koinandu, a
member of the pany, explains that they prayed twice a day facing Mount
Kenya:
Mwenanyaga we pray that you may protect our hideouts.
Mwenanyaga we pray that you may hold a soft c l d ova us.
Mwenanyaga we pray that you may defend us behind and in hwt
from ow enemies.
Mwemyaga we pray that you may give us coursge in our hesrts.

Thai thatbaiya Ngai. Thai.
We also sang:
'We shall never rest
without land,
without Freedom true
Kenya is a counuy of black people.' (GW: 20)
The pany has tried with words of persuasion and is tired of waiting for
the colonisen to give heed to their rightful claims. There was a time when
peaceful rallies and demonstrations were staged as a mark of protest against
the white administration. Warui, an old member of the party recollects the
peasant revolt without anyhody having even a spear. But now, the party
klteves In the power of their hands than the efficacy of their mouths. The
pimy's tdeology is best expreswd in the words of Kihika:
'We don't kill just anybody.' he smed spealung as if there had
heen no interrupuon. 'We are not murderers. We are not hangmen-
like Robson--killtng men and women without cause or purpose.'
'. . . We only hit back. You are struck on the left cheek. You turn
he right cheek. One. two, three--sixty years. Then suddenly. it is
always sudden. you say: I am not turning the other cheek anymore.
Your back to the wall. you strike back." (GW: 166)
The few exploits of Mau Mau that are mentionad in the novel smcdy adhere to
their ideology and never stray beyond it. The greatest achievement of the time
is the capture of Mahee. a police garrison in the Rift valley. Kihika. who leads
the attack, sets the prisoners free and sets fm to the prison. It should be noted
that even in a great expdent such as this, the damage that is inflicted is

eslricted to the property and not to persons. As the policemen are allowed to
make their escape, some jump over the prison walls and flee (GW: 16).
Even a gruesome incident such as the rape of Dr. Lynd by her African
cook, has a motive that contains the Mau Mau ideology within:
He and two men laid her on the ground. He vibrated with fear and
intenx hatred. He hated the whiteman-everyone. He was being
avenged on them now; he felt their frightened cry in the woman's
wild hreathing. Whiteman nothing. Whiteman nothing. Doing to
you what you did to us--to black people--he told himself as he
thrust into her in fear and cruel desperation. (GW: 185-186)
The motive hehind the act explains the deed. It is not the burning desire to feel
the white hody of the lady. hut one thai of hatred and revenge for the shame
and tgnonliny the African women were suhjected to by their colonial masters
that prompted Ko~nandu to do his. This is in stark contrast to the flirtations of
Margery, wife of Mr. John Thompson, who uies to seduce Karanja, a black.
and in turn hlames "the African heat does these things lo women" (GW: 44). It
is also a ca.x tn point for the stereotyping of the black as sexually deviant
whereas the white woman's promiscuous behaviour is explained in terms of
heat. Ngugi satirizes the colonial assumptions that are responsible for
stemtyping the Africans.
The colonisen often associated Mau Mau with violence and bloodshed.
General R. rationalises the aggression of the party when he says,
nK Whitc man went in cars. He lived in a big bouse. His children
went to school. But who tilled the soil on whicb g m coffee.

pymhnrn and sisal? Who dug the roads and paid the taxes? The
White man lived on our land. He ate what we grew and cmked.
And even the crumbs from the table, he threw to his dogs. Ttrat is
why we went into the forest. (GW: 192)
It is the rcuibutive justice that is at work in Africa as sen in the novel. The
land was confiscated and the people's rights were stolen. The country became
a colony imd the native became a slave who was fed with the bread of
affliction and drink of oppression. It is under these circumstances of incessant
colonial brutaltry that the Mau Mau movement has its inevitable beginnings
and fonns a powerful limb of the Kenyan nationalist suuggle. This view
htands harnefncally opposcd to the representations of Mau Mau as evil and
\lolent hy the colonialt\ts and the writings of apologists of colonial mle in
Kenya and elwwhere.
The colon~al adnunismtion expected absolute subservience from the
natrves. The traditional, socially suuctured system of local law and order was
pronounced inadequate and every black individual was brought under the
proteclive cover of the western system of laws which were favourable only for
the wh~tcs. Convary to the claim that the western interference into the
traditional African socrety has liberated the natives from thew monstrw
superstitions. the western legal system did more harm than good to the natives.
It provided the colonial administrators the official means to silence the
rrcedorn suuggle with violence. In the novel. the killing of Thomas Robson,
the District Officer. has its repercussion in the lives of so many people, who
arc taken to &tention camps and never come back. The Government
confiscates their lands. Mugo. who is taken to the detention camp, is stripped
of his property. Even when he returns he does not retain his land but wwLs on

Warui's land. Some run away to the forest. Even womn an not spered from
the vengeful violence of the whites. Wambuku, Kihika's woman, who is
pregnant. is beaten to death. The life of one white man, who is called a "man-
eater'' (GW: 162). takes its 1011 on the entire village of Thabai.
The capture of Mahee Police Post results in things falling apart in old
Thahai village. Huts arc burned and villages arc destroyed. Even those who
arc caught listening to the news of Mahee over the radio are arrested and sent
to "Manyani. the most famous and the largest concentration camp in the
c.ountry" (GW: 12.1). The villagen. hoth men and women, are forced lo dig a
trench around the village to stop them help the Mau Mau fighters. Mumbi
recollects the scene and narrates it poignantly:
We were pnwnen in the village. and the soldiers had built camps
all mund to prevent any escape. We went without food. The cry of
ch~ldren was terrihle to hear. The new D.O. did not mind the cries.
He even permitted soldien to pick women and cany them to their
tents. (GW: 126)
Thc laws that were enforced by the Colonial Government in Kenya sanctioned
all of thi5 unspeakahle v~olencc and considered it as indispensable to maintain
law and order in Africa.
The west considered itself to be the champion of humanitarian issues.
Unlike the presumed bmtal barbarians of the Dark Continent. they considered
!hemselves humane. civil and nobk.
huried beneath the white policies when he writes about he

detention camps. The prisoners an beaten with trunchwns. The sanitation is
extremely bad because of he over populated cells:
Manyan was divided into three big camps: A, B and C. Compound
C into which Mugo was hustled. was for the hard core. Every
compound was then subdivided into smaller compounds. each
enclosing ten cells. One big cell housed about six hundred men.
(GW: 115)
A\ a rc\ult of ptwr \anitation, the detainees are prone to typhoid and are not
rilkcn to hospital but arc just left lo die. The shocking treatment to force the
pnumen to confe\s their oaths is described as a "common game in Rim had
ken to hury a man. naked. in the hot sand, sometimes leaving him there
ovrm~ght ((;HI: 116). Even their just claim to mat them as "political
pnu>ncn" and not "cnrntnals" (C;W 117) and to increase their food ration
cnds In severe beating in which eleven men die. Mugo. who is sent to the
dctcnt~on camp for daring to stop the whipping of a pregnant woman.
Wambuku. mollec~s the &mils of the painful experiences:
Nolhtng, cxcept that I saw men crawl on the ground. you know, like
cnpples htxauw their hand3 and feet were chained with iron.'
'. . . Once hottlcnecks were hammered into people's hecksides. and
the men whimpered like caged animals. '. . . 1 saw a man whose
manhood was broken with pincers. He came out of the screening
office and fell down and he cried: to know I will never touch my
wife again, oh God. can I eva look at her in tht eyes after this?
(GW: 160)

Ngugi's novel is documentary, political, expository, ad subversive and
balances all thew complexities with a simple and sponmews style of
narration. After witnessing and experiencing the cruelties and inhuman
treatment of the white colonisers, Mugo refuses to give them the status of
human beings. He says. "When I was young. I saw the White man, I did not
know who he was or where he came from. Now I know that a Mzungu is not a
man--always remember that--he is a devil--devil" (GW: 160).
ConIrar) to all the boa.tful clams about hrmself, the white man IS
druW hy a black as the deb11 The western texts mghr have dsnussed the
Mack\ a* an cxlen*ron of evrl But now that the black has learnt the art of
untrng, he Jrrnbes the whlte5 a\ dcvrl\ not merely drscunrvely to construct
hlrnwlf by conua\t. hut *uppn\ h~\ statements w~th evrdence from the
~olonral hr*tory
The douhle standards of the western humanitarianism is thoroughly
cnpoud in the incidcnt when Dr. Lynd is furious over Karanja for attempting
to throw a stonc at her hull-mastiff. even afler knowing that he did ir only for
his self- defence. She confesses. "I hate them. How can I help it" (GW: 40)?
and wishes to lcr her dog get at Karanja. The hypocritical sIand of Thompson.
who tries to wlvc the pmhlern and speaks in favour of Karanja. is exposed in
the passage: 'Thompson's breath came back Fust in a long-drawn wave. then
in low quick waves. relieved and vaguely disappointed that nothing had
happened (GW 38).
The reason for Thompson's dsappointment is manifold. Fitly. a black
ha5 not been punished after he dares to harm a dog that belongs to a white.
Secondly. he has hsen depnvbd of the exercise of his administrative power.

The following passage reveals this: 'The other Africans hoked at Thompson
and sloppd murmuring and mumbling. The sudden silence ad the many eyes
unsettled Thompson. He remembered the detainees at Rim, the day they went
on a strike" (GW: 39). Had the dog harmed Karanja there would have been a
protest from the hlack workers which he would have had to control. In the
process. he could have had a repeat of Rira. where he ordered for the whipping
and beating of the blacks in which eleven men died. As this incident takes
place just a few days before the Uhuru celebrations. this would have given
Thompson the last opponunity to have his s revenge on the blacks before
h~s departure to England. The association of Uhuru with this incident is
\~gnificant as it gives a new twist to the perception of the behaviour of the
hlacks which is evident from Dr. Lynd's comments: 'They are rude because
llhuru i* coming- even the best of them is changing" (GW. 39). To cap it all.
the m~xed feeltnpa of hatred. antagonism. betrayal and revenge towards the
hlacks m- evident In the suppressed confession of Thompson: "He wanted to
tell her the uuth- hut he would have to lell her abut his own paralysis- how he
had rtood fa~iniited hy an anticipation of blood" (GW. 40). The spilling of
hlack hlcxd fascinate5 a white. Ngugi rips open the apparent mask of civility
and humanism and exposes the Maric thirst for blood that has manifested
~tself at various Ie\rels in the whole enterprise of colonisation.
The notion that the Europeans are the torch bearen of knowledge and
civ~lity who have brought enlightenment to Africa and the prcjdce that
Africa is incapable of maintaining its own affairs is expressed when
Thompon reflects:
Would these things remain after Thursday? Ptmaps for two
months: and then - test rubes and W e n would be broken or lie

un-washed on thc cement, the hot-houses and &-beds strewn
with wild plants and the outer bush which had been carefully
hemmed. would gradually creep into a Litter-filled compound. (GW
38)
Thompson fcelb that without his presence the whole compound will rot and
pensh. The notion that Europe is indispensable for the existence of Africa is
best expressed In the words of Thompwn: "We are not yet beaten, he assened
hcwly. 'Africa cannot, cannot do without Europe"' (GW: 144). He is so
jealous of h~s office that he cannot even imagine a successor to his place in the
office. When Margery suggesls that probably a black would replace him after
he quits, Thompson feels the pain "as if a pin had pricked his buttocls" (GW:
4.31, Thompson comes to Africa with a great vision to help build the British
Emplre cutting across colour. class. creed and boundaries. He recollects:
In a flash I was convinced that the growth of the British Empire
was the development of a great moral idea: it means, it must surely
lead lo the creation of one British nation, embracing peoples of all
coloun nnd creeds. based on the just proposition that all men were
crcnted equal. (GW: 48)
Thompson's vis~on cannot be considered as a desire for a Utopian
world of equality. peace and prosperity. The point that has to be noted is his
dcs~re to change the world inlo Britain and all denizens into citizens of the
British Emptrc. The apparent quality that is a~sumed by Tbompsoa is
thwarted when he considus himself as "Rospero in Africa" (GW: 48). But the
irony is that Ihe wart is always the Rospero, destined to tucb its piocipk
values and customs and the Caliban is expected to be substnrieat, obedient.

and ever-willing to learn and to be grateful to the master. When a
ProspedCaliban binary is created, there arises a hierarchy in which the west
always wants to be on top. Thompson's view that "all men wm created
equal" (GW: 48) proves to be a farce and fad and remains at an idealistic level.
The reason he gives for his resignation from office reveals that he can never
accept an African as his equal: "For why should people wait and go through
the indignity of king ejected from their seats by their houseboys" (GW: SO)?
Thompson calls the Africans who will replace him in the office after Uhw.
houseboy\. The European mind is conditioned to imagine itself superior and
divinely commissioned to educate, eradicate and enlighten the minds and lives
of the other. Ngupi reveals that all the gibberish talk about equality and justice
I\ yet another in\tance of the western glmrnick.
Thc dellneatlon of the character of Karanja assumes significance in the
fact [hat he I\ the only penon in the novel who is competent in English.
Though nothing much i\ aid abut Karanja's education. he is shown to be
rca.wnably proficient in reading. writing and communicating in English. He
works at Githirna Library and is happy to be in the service of the English men.
As a representative of the new elite. Ngugi portrays Karanja and highlights the
111-effect5 of the colonlal education on the African youth.
Thc English educational system which was forced on the African
natives had adverse consequences on the African individual. Josef I. Schmied
1s of the view hat,
Because English is the language of a European mion and a
Western culture it cannot carry the associations and connotations of
an Afncan identity. Education in English may therefore deracinate

the African child and alienate it from its own cultural background.
(104)
A5 language and culture are inextricably interwoven, the imposition of English
education resul~\ in the cultural alienation of the African child. It also stifles
the imaginative faculty of a child. The basic education they get in the schools
enabled them only to write a composition or a letter in basic English. Thus in
the novel. it can be observed that Karanja is well content in "dusting books,
keeping them straight In their shelves and writing labels" (GW: 31). when
there are a lot of research activities going around him. It also affects the rnind-
r t of an ~ndividual. He Ims to revere the whites with awe and wonder and at
the -me time believes in his inability to manage his own affairs and hs
~ntellectual ~nfenority. Mala Pandurang observes thal
In A (;rufn (,j Whear. the figure of Karanja In front of his White
colonial ho\\ John Thompwn "\~and~ng as he alwap dld before a
Whltc peruon. feet \I~ghtly parted hand\ llnked at the back, all In
obwqu~ou\ attentlonu (33). I\ a good example of a uell constructed
\ubject totally ~ngrruned wlth a 'colon~al rnentallty' (101)
Therefore. Karanja is happy to run errands for Thompson and Mn.
Dickinscm. He feels proud and privileged when Margery invites him into
her hou.se and offen him a cup of sugarless coffee. His mentality has been
w con&tioned that he refuses to believe that the Thompsons are leaving for
England before the Uhum celebrations. He has been brain washed to
believe in the infallibility of the whites and therefore cannot imagine the
end of their ~ lin e Africa:

AS long as he did not know the truth, he could intrrpret the story in
the only way that gave him hope: the coming of black rule would
not mean. could never mean the end of white power. Thompson as
a D.O. and now as Administrative Secretary, had always seemed to
Karanja the invincible expression of that power. How, then. could
Thompnn go'? (GW: 35)
He has been laught and uained to look upon the whites as a symbol of
power and authority and to remain secure under the overwhelming presence
of the colonial rcgrrne. He reems to have lost the verve to fight against the
evrl of colonralism. Therefore, when his playmates like khika. Gikonyo
and Mugo are hravely puttrng up a resistance against the white
admrnictralon. Kmnja I\ found lo he totally compliant and content in
wnrng his c~lonlal mahten. He is seen to he isolated from the mainstream
of hr\ trad~tlonal uricty. Even his traditional village. Thaba~. hardly holds
any aruactron for h~m. Hc makes a guest appearance during the Uhuru
celehriltron\ and leaves for Nrurohr immediately. He cannot even wait for
the rain to atop. The colonial educational system has isolated the individual
from being an intcgral pari of hs society, which used to be the hallmark of
a uadit~onal Afncan wcrety. Mala Pandurang pnts out that not only the
content hut uiw the mode of learning has contributed to this isolation:
Colonial education which compelled the learning of reading and
writing in English, not only marginalized the mode of eansmission
of tribal ideology lhrough induction, initiation and group activity.
but was also responsible for breaking the harmony between the
individual and the wial environment. (107)

Thus Karanja. though takes the oath along with his village youth, turns a
traitor to his own people. The wesm ideology of individualism and
materialism has crept into him and Karanja's fmt job in the colonial
governmen! is to betray his own people, which he does with a degree of
bravado.
His first job was in a hood. The hood--a white sack-covered all his
body except the eyes. During the screening operations, people
would pass In queues in front of the hooded man. By nod of the
head. the hooded man picked out those involved in Mau Mau. (GW
199)
The man who i\ expected to live in brotherhood becomes a hood to his own
people. He enjoys the act of killing "human life by merely pulling a trigger"
((3': 1W). He joins with his white officers and is ruthless in dealing with
hlb people:
When he \hot them. they seemed less like human beings and more
like animals. At first this had merely thrilled Karanja and made him
feel a new man. a pm of an invisible might whose symbol was the
whiteman. (GW: 199)
Estranged from his society. Karanja becomes a new man who IS selfish,
greedy and cruel. As he turns an apologist for the colonial government. he
finds himself climbing up the social ladder. further removed from his society.
Therefore when he assumes office as the Village Chief during the Ernugcncy.
he is ruthless in managing the affairs:

He led other homeguards into the forest to hunt down the Freedom
Fighters. It was also during his rule that even the few remaining fit
men wen taken from the village to detention camps. He became
very strict with curfew laws and forced communal work. (GW: 129)
The man who has mken the oath to fight against the colonial government hunts
down his own pmy worken without any guilt or remorse. When Gikonyo
rcturns from detention. Karanja makes his smd clear:
'Ltsten carefully. You have now come back into a normal Life in the
village. People here obey the law. hear? No meetings at night. no
stone\ ahout Gandhi and Unity and all that. The White man is here
to \lay ' (GH': 103)
It I\ his strong belief in the permanency of the white rule that makes him
conscious of his power in the new Government. The white man's presence is
cswntial for ht own self-aggandisement and therefore speaks for the white
man'\ power. whlch prompts Mumbi to castigate him: "Why don't you wear
your mother'$ \krn and Mwengu? When others went to fight. you remained
behind to lick the feet of your white husbands" (GW: 130).
Ngugc published A (;ruin oj Whcar four yean after the Kenyan
Independence. As the colonial government has come to end. it is now up to the
natives to reform and re-form the country and to chalk out a path for success.
But IIK new elite who have been inevitably caught in the western influence of
neo-colonialism prove to be a stumbling block for the progress of Kenya. In
his earlier novel 7 % River ~ Bcrurcn. Ngugi expresses his expectations of the
white man's education and the role of new elite:

How could he organize people into a political organization when
they worn so tom with strife and disunity? Now he knew what he
would preach if he ever got another chance: education for unity.
Unity for political freedom. For a time this vision made his heart
glow with expectation and new hope. He quickened his descent.
wishing to come to the people and communicate this new vision.
Wucatlon. Unity, Political Freedom. (143)
Ngugi wirhed that the new elite would gather the forces and work towards the
polttical freedom of Kenya. Having learned the white man's education. it
would give the African elite, the edge of using the white man's tools against
them. Ngugi In 7Xr Rivrr Bern~rm envisioned a prosperous future for Kenya
where everyone rcal~xd the African culture:
And Waiyakl ww a vihe great with many educated sons and
daughten all Ilving together. tilling the land of their ancestors in
pcrpctual wreni~y, pursuing their rituals and beautiful customs and
all of them acknciwledging their deht to him. (87)
But the post-independent Kenya witnesses the new elite as a sect of comprador
intelllgentria glven to the demands of neocolonialism. Though the country is
independent. the people are not yet liberated, because of the profligacy of the
new elite like Karanjn.
Though Ngugi wants the African youth to equip themselves with the
white man's learning, he docs not fail lo warn the adverse effects that go along
with it. In his novel 7'he River Betn,een he puts it across quite forcefully:
The white man's education was an instrument of enlightenment and
advance if only it could be used well. He still fernembend his

father's words, that long time time ago, when h y stood on a hill,
thc whole country before them:
'Learn all the wisdom and all the secrets of the white man. But
do not follow his vices.' (94)
Ngugi, punctures the myth of western education and reveals how it affects an
African individual by isolating him from the main stream of his community.
A\ Karanja isolates himself from the rest of the youth of his community. he
hetrays hi\ own folks in order to befriend the white officers. Ngugi, in his
ari~cle. "As I see 11: MhOya I\ Righr- Education is an Investment" points out:
In the pa\{ [the educational] system was designed to fit people into
a colonral regime. It produced a whole group of people with a
colon~al mental~ty whose two facets were an inferiority complex
that wax ready to he apologetic of a people's past when not outright
a*hamed of it, and an extreme dependency- a feeling that only the
wh~teman can do things for us. (10)
Ngugi targets the influence of colonial education through the character of
Karanja who is totally esvanged from his immediate society and is unable to
relate to the sentiments of his own people. As the colonial education has
influenced his world-view. Karanja. though lives with his community. is not
pan of it.
Ngugi, uses the Engl~sh language to serve his ideological purposes. By
choosing English as his &urn and presenting a diffucnt persptctive on
Kenyan history and its resistance towards colonisation, Ngugi activates the
hitherto suppressed space of alterity in the colonial discowse. Even as he

validates the Mau Mau movement, he exposes the double standards of the
westem ideologies which were responsible for the suppression of the Africans.
Both Okara and Ngugi use English as an effective 1001 to counter the
discourses that were circulated during the colonial enterprise. As Okara
addrcsvs the myth concerning the ennobling nature of the colonial education,
Ngugi re-positions the Mau Mau movement and validates its role in the
Kenyan fmclom struggle. He also points out that the new elite, who are the
product of colonial education. find themselves esmged from theu society
and al~enated fmm their vaditional values. The writers offer a counter
persprt~vc to the colonial claims and give expression to the suppressed voices
of thelr ur~eties.
Subvertiog Binaries and Rewriting of Canonical Texts
Sam Selvon employs h~s experimental use of English to counter
\.anous dlsounes and to intem>pate the constructions of binary oppositions.
As he IWUVS on the nclal disnmination that prevails in the white society, he
alw write* hack to the English canonical texts and i ~ discursive \ field in which
thcy operated. He offcn a hidng utlre on the colonial assumptions and
revenes the hierarchy rn which the blacks scale above the whites. In Sam
Selvon's Moses Asc.rndtng. the principal character Moses, anempls lo
compose hi.\ rncmoin hy jotting down the experiences of his life. The content
of he writing and the language in which he expresses himself are the
problems which Selvon tries to highlight in the novel. Ln spite of all the
puhlem that Moses has to face. the desire to write and his wanting to prove a
point to the whites &at even the blacks arc capble of writing saun to be the
propelling force behind his efforts to write. To quote Moses: " I longed to get
back to my philosophizing and my analyzing and my mapsoduing. M n g

my thoughts with grace-notes and showing the white people that we, too,
could write a booL" (MA: 100-101).
As a writer from the Caribbean, Selvon's is a quest to show his stamp of
class as a writer. giving voice to all the pent up feelings and emotions of his
tribe. people and nation that have been suppressed for ages. it was the white-
skinned writer. who. all this while. has written about the blacks, naming,
rnterpreting and trying to understand their peculiar ways. This exercise of
~nterprllation has only resulted in the formation of colonial discourses, which
have been resp)nrihle to keep the voice of an entire race buried and unheard.
Therefore when Mow take* to writing, he knows well that the intellectual
conmmnlty would raise meaningless questions like, "In any case. who tell you
you could wntc" (MA: 42)'' Since writing needs an amount of scholarship.
people deride him saylng. "You think writing hook is like kissing hand? You
should leave hot to people Like Lamming and Salkey" (MA: 42). Without
cxpectlnp any encouragement from any quaners Moses knows that his work
w~ll break a new ground in the tradiuon of fiction writing though thm are
eslablished wntcrs like Lamnung and Salkey who are associated with Black
Llteramre wlh some p~werful hooks to their credit. Selvon's predtcament as a
wnler is s~milar to that of Moses. But Moseb knows that his work. with its
Md~cal techn~ques and strategies will stand out when he says, "So? Well, my
rnemln will create a new dimension" (MA: 43).
In the novel Moses tries to enjoy his post-rrtkmcnt life. As a black
~mmigran~ he has staned off from the scratch, stomached unmntionable
suffering that belongs to his race but hugh all his hardship and toil, he is
now p.opucied and wants to cat the fruit of his years of labour. Though be
desires to be Iefl alone in peace, there is an inherent desire to compose his

memoirs for which he jots down his experiences and hunts for materials. The
writing of memoirs is not an activity to while away the time but a declaration
to the whites that blacks are capable to tell the stories of their painful
experiences and linguistically competent to produce narratives. He does not
care about the various provocative criticisms his friends offer. All that he cares
for is the wlecticm of materials. Will the insignificant details of the problems
that bother the blacks have an appeal with the reader in the wider context? It is
significunl to note that Moses' concern is not to create a piece of English
Iltenture, hut 11 1s rather the need to make his voice with all its seeming errors
heard in the land of the English language. He wishes to break the spell of
s~lence hy expressrng the felt experiences of his people and desires to expose
the nctst ideologies of hrh white community.
Ever uncc the onwt of the emergence of literature from the Third World
countnc\. pstcolon~al wnten have subverted western literary texts as they
counter thc tcxtual v~olence that wa. unleashed on their societies. As Bill
A\hcroft remarks in h~s Po.c.r-C;~kmlal Transfo~ion, 'Canonical literary
texts arc 'consumed' In such a way that they become the basis for resistant,
appropriated venlons which suhrly subvert the values and political
assumptronh of the onginals" (33).
The west has Lried to justify their ways of colon~sation and to
understand Ihe ways of the other hy writing and reading about them in literary
texts that have heen wriaen by the western writers whose perception had been
tainted by prqudice. presumption and misconception. These writings resulted
in such colonial discourses that had very serious consequences on the lives of
rhe colonid. Therefore when he oppressed took to writing. they took it upon

themselves to dismantle these discourses by rewriting these western litaary
texts highlighting the politics of representation. As lsmail S. Talib points out,
It has been noted in this regard that 'a prominent endeavour among
colonial writenlartists had been to rework the European "'classics"
in order to invest them with more local relevance and to divest
them of their assumed authority/authenticity'. . . . (87)
One of the classic examples of such texts is Shakespeare's fie Tempest. The
Ikspzro - Calihan relat~onship and its implications have been remodelled and
whvened repeatedly. Selvon alten a number of binary divides and highlights
the polrt~cs of reprewmtion. As Helen T~ffin observes in "'Under the Kiff-
K~ff Laughter': Stereotype and Suhvers~on in Moses as rend in^ and Moses
hf~~rurln~":
In\en~on\ of thc role\ of ma\ter and xrvant, wh~te and black.
colonlwr and the colonrwd here serve to denaturallse the
\tereotypc\ and rhelr h~erarchsauon. to expose theu
consuuctedne~s, the~r Interested representauonal foundauons.
(132)
Even while dealing with the binary opposition of master and slave. hlack and
white. Selvon focuses on the prohlern of language as found in the Calibanic
response to Rospcro's language. Selvon brings it alive when one of the Asians
uses the abusive four-lettered word when Moses asks if he could speak
English.
''I was in a quandary. 'Spcakee English?' I try.
'Puck off, he say, giving me a nasty look". (MA: 69)

Though it is only a shorl span of time for the Asian who is an illegal
immigrant in London. he manages to pick up the alien language and as Moses
says. though not "the most auspicious phrase in the Queen's language" (MA:
691, it serves his purposes well. 11 is not the language ha^ was learnt by choice
with a liking and fascination. Rather it wa\ the Hobson's choice, a language
that was enforced upon and compelled to learn if not to master i~ It is the
language that war learnt in order to stay afloat and to survive in the "London
Jungle" (MA: 891. and hence it IS understandable why the Asian retorts b N
with a verbal punch. Mtreb pets the same response even when he wishes him
gtwd luck:
I dahed downstairs and caught him just ac he was entering the van.
'Let's be fnends,' 1 say proffering my hand. 'I wish you the best of
Bnt15h luck dunnp your suy in our countrq..'
He shtw)k my hand warmly and wy. 'Fuck-off.' (MA: 89)
Mwr. who IS also an ~mmlgranr, really appreciates it when he realises that it
IS. "Only one day in Brit'n. and he was already picking up the language" (MA:
89). But what needs to be noticed is the resistance of the immigrants to the
,).items of the white coloniser that is instigated by the recognition of the pain
of the wound that was ~nflicted during the colonial struggle.
Sam Selvon subverts the stereotypical characten of Defoe's Robinson
Cmscw succinctly and qulte efficiently in his creation of the character of Bob.
The scuco~yped whitdblack, mastetlservant roles are swapped by Selvon and
he pomys Bob as a white vagrant who comes to London to seek his fortunes.
aad a 'hilling wotler, uger lo learn the ways of the Bhck man" (MA: 4).
Moses calls Bob his "Friday" (MA: 4). a subversion of Crusoe's character. only

with a diffaence that in Selvon's, a white man is ever willing to save his
master who is a black and wants to learn his ways. To quote Moses:
Witness how I mke in poor Bob, and makc him my fwanan, when
he was destitute and had no place to go to when he land in Loadon.
I create a home for him, giving him the joys and comfort of a wann
hearth in winter, and a fridge with ice and orange squash in the
summer. (MA: 25)
Therefore as a grateful servant Bob sweeps. scrubs. cooks and run errands for
Mows who reclines in h~s chair. husy jotting down his memoirs. Though Bob
I\ ever willing to learn, he IS quixotic and blockheaded. Selvon constructs the
chantrrr of Boh to destabillw the colonial binary oppositions, which were
~nswmental In dec~drng the subjectivity of the coloniser and the colonid.
Bob 1s never seen to be bhanng the bame vicious racial prejudice of the
penerutron which he belongs lo. Rather Selvon turns the table on Bob when he
fceh d~scnm~nated because of his white skin. After all that he had done for the
Black pany stanlng from getting the bail to donating funds for the pmy. Bob
fcels offended when he finds out that his efforts are not recognid in the
article written by Brenda for her magazine. He feels sidelined and left out and
wp. "I suspecl a spot of discrimination" and reasons. "it is because of my
colour" (MA: 101 ) that his name and his sacrificial contribution for the party is
not mentioned in the article.
It has been the blacks. who, for centuries have been the victims of racial
discrimination and quite justifiably have risen in protest against its
manifearatiotw. But Sdvon, for once, has made Bob, a white, to complain of

his wlour. Moses attempts 10 console Bob, who is in his fit of tantrums by
saying.
'Balderdash'. I snort. 'since when does a white man complain of his
colour? You should be proud of it. as becomes any staunch English
man. You want to create a precedence' ? (MA: 101)
Bob is shown to be the precursor of his race who realises the nobility of the
hlackr and when he feels that he ha< been sidelined on account of his colour,
he does not protest but is seen 1~1 be crylng for recognition and acceptance.
It is not an outright rejection and subversion where a while man and his
way\ an. duhhed a\ unctvilised and uncoulh. But Selvon does it covertly in his
crcatlon of Bob. Hc does not call him a cannibal. but attributes such qualities
to h~m that wuuld showcase lhat he is no less lhan a cannibal. Even his
phywnl demeanour 1s not desirable as he is dirty and smelly for bathing is one
of h ~r avenluns. As Mows puts it.
1 must say that I have had to encourage. goad. and even order Bob
to have a bath. What he used to do was to have a dryclean -as he
hurnomusly tnd to call his uncleanliness using a d iy washing rag
mh up In soap under lhe neck. behlnd the ears. under the ms. and
finish off with a dash of Woolworth's talcum powder. I found it
disgusting. and told him so. hut that was the way he was hmught
up. (MA: 79)
If Shakespeare p omp Calihan as a monster who smells like fish, Selvon's
Bob is not far hehind with his strong body odour. He is loo lazy even to have a
bath and Selvon goes a step further and traces it to be the problem of his race
when he pints out that, it is the way Bob has been brought up. Moses points

out how even the fair and modest looking white girls are not very different
from Bob:
You get a whiff of them frowsy English girls what look sharp on
the outside but ain't changed their panties and bra. for weeks, and
only cover up the day-before perspiration with another layer of
talcum and a quick splash of water on their face. (MA: 79)
Mom goes on to describe his nauseating sexual experience with one of
the whiv girls who workcd in the "Houses of Parliament" (MA: 79). Even a
gtrl who belongs to such el~te class IS shown as diny:
Well, to cut a long \tory short. while I was sucking her nipples. I
find wrnclhing crunchy in my mouth. 'What's this?' I ask her
with di\gurt. \pitting it out. She giggled, 'I didn't wash today.'
she say. as if that make her more desirable. When I investigated
the flake\ I spat out. I found il was vintage talcum which had
calcified that she was hoarding as if a shortage was threatened.
That was thc upper regtons: I will not disgust you further by my
encounter with he lower regions. (MA: 79)
Moses taker he white race to task when he depicts them as dirty and unclean.
Moses wkcs extra effon to highlight that Bob is not just an exception in an
otherwise civilised white world. Bob is only a representative of the white race
and culture through whom Selvon counters and reverses the discourses.
Bob is dcvious and is not wstwonhy. Selvon depicts Bob as a puppy
who bites the hand that feeds him. Mous, the noble and benevolent black,
unlike Rospcro and Cmsoe, treats Bob as his friend rather than a suvant. He

also takes a dig at the colonising attitude of the west, which exploits the less
pawerful ad overpowers to control them. Though Bob knows that Moses does
no1 like anybody to read his memoirs. Bob betrays his master when he breaks
the lock and shows Moses' memoirs to Brenda so that he can have sex with
her. Moses does not hide his feelings when he snap him saying: "'You'd do
anything for a bit of pussy, won't you'? I say bitterly. 'even deceive your
friends"' (MA: 107)'? He also reveals to what extent Bob is willing to stoop
when he says. "You would sneak and beg and crawl and creep. Nothing is
helow you to gel a bird beneath you" (MA: 107).
If Shakespeare'\ Calihan is after the white-skinned Miranda, Selvon's
Boh lu\b after the hlack Brenda. He is lewd and shown to be like a sex-
manir. Ever stnce he meets Brenda he is always on the look out for an
opportunity ro have wx w~th her. Ro\pero punishes Shakespeare's Caliban for
trytng ro violate Miranda. Bur when Bob makes a forceful advance and pushes
her on thc wfa. he learns. in the hard way, what a black woman is capable of.
as Brenda heats him hlack and hlue and gives h~m a demonstration of Kung-fu:
"Bob emerge f ~ under ~ m the maxi with his nose bleeding, his eyes bound-up,
h~s lips husr-up. and he stagger hack like a drunk and fall down on the floor"
{MA: 24).
Bob is also a drunknrd and is addicted to drinking. As Moses puts it. "he
went out most evenings and come hack pissed, drunk like a lord (MA: 5). Bob
is so much addicted that he does not spare even the cheap stuff which forces
Mom to teach him a telling lesson. To quote Moses:
Only thiig Bob dnnk so much that 1 had to teach him r lesson, and
that particular bottle of whisky, I did wait until it was halfway

empty, and piss and fill it up again, telling him he could have tha!
but leave the other bottles alone. (MA: 18)
Therefore Moser takes the burden to indoctrinate Bob and vies to convert him
from the evils of alcohol. Moses tries to enlighten his darkened mind by
teaching him the Bible (MA: 5). Nevertheless, Bob continues to be a kind of a
savage on whose nature no amount of teaching will have an effect.
To cap il all Bob is an illiterate. Though he shares the same skin of
those who hmg of civiliwtion and enlightening this world with their language,
Boh i* seen staring at the pictures in his comic books without deciphering what
I! i\ all abut. While Moses composes his memoirs. browses all popular
magazine\, and Brenda dtrs the editing of a magazine. Bob cu& a sony figure
in the company of the blacks. quatting on the floor swrounded by his crate of
comlc tnmks and Itx)klnp, a1 it "like a juvenile" (MA: 128). Selvon has created
\uch a typical chwlrctrr as Mows up. "'It is the first rime that I have come
acn)\s a full-fledged white man in this day and age who does not know that A
I\ for apple and B 15 for hat"' (MA: 129). Now is the time when a black man
has to teach a wh~te and Moses has great fun in teaching Bob with his little
lelephc~ne hook. how lo make the letter A.
Thc misconceptions of the west which jumped into conclusions that the
use and style of language and l~terature as a hegemony belongs only to the
white race suffer a set back when Bob. the white savage. makes a serious and
audacious claim. though not without its comic sense. that he "can write better
memoirs" (MA: 139) than the black Moses, just because he happens to be of
the same race chat prides itself of its intellectual superiority and highly civilised
status than the st. Boh, who does not even know to sign his name, and

practices it 60 that he can many his ladylove, claims that he can write beaer
memoirs. 11 1s also significant lo observe that no sooner had Bob tried learning
to write the alphabets than he claims that he can write bew memoirs than
Moses. Selvon poinw out the psychological mode of colonising the mind of the
natives. a ploy u d by the west in its colonial exercise. The repealed
reprimanding and denouncing of the colonised. results in stifling and
conditioning their minds that they are an inferior race and backward in thinking
and hence should emulate the west which passed for an ultimate role model.
Slnce Boh helong\ IC) the white race, he naturally assumes the superiority of his
literary skill\ and no matter how he writes. his writing will always be of a
h~phcr \tardud than that of Mow. Therefore when Bob tells Moses that he
can writc ktter memoin it only stresses the latent manifestations of the
common ground that lrnks him with hi\ imperial race.
Sclvon'r anempt 1s no1 to write back to any specific British master
nmlrvc. lnstcd what he ach~eve\ 1s that he counters the whole discursive
field In wh~ch such ter;ts wielded its power. Selvon erases the binary
constructrons while he ridicules the entire pmcess of representation and
hubvenh the colonial di~ounes. He also laughs at the whole exercise of
~nterprllatlon and expose3 the political ram~fications that lie heneath it. As
Kckno Retamer observes in his "Caliban Speaks Five Hundred Yean Later":
Afvr d~sdainfully calling us "h-ans" and "colound peoples".
and not wanting to use the proper denomination of colonies. semi-
or na, colonies (the epch encouraged at least vubal equalities),
more neutral and even hopeful denominations were proposed. . . .
Thcsc ax, like in previous examples, terms of relation
(civili;~ation/harbarism. white peopldcolound people, colonizing

countries/colonized countries), which make it necessary to know
him opposile pole. . . . And the inference is that if the latter
behaved well- learned their lessons, etc, they could become like the
former. the big ones, the aduh. (4)
Selvon addre\ser the dlroune of the colonlal constructs and the categonsauon
of the black\ a\ barbanan5 As he alten the blnary dlvlde and subverts 11s
h~erarchy he potnt\ out that II I\ not the black Mow\ uho wants to learn the
uh~tc Ray\ of Bob, hut 11 I\ the uhlte Bob who I\ eager to learn the black ways
of Mmcs Sam Selvon, by hl\ uw of Creole and by cubvenlng the structures of
the colon~ur'\ language and thetr pol~tlcally stereotyped Qscourses ha.
demonswaled what II 1s to be a po\tcolon~al wnter of ficuon who IS goaded by
the necessity of rc\l\unp and toppllng the lmpenal ldeoloples whle recreanng
an tdentlt! for the \uppre\ud volce A\ Helen Tlffin observes In "Post-
Colonla1 L~~erature\ and Counter-Dls~oune"
What Selvon has achieved (in spite of Moses' descent) is a
complelc dc\tahiliu6on of centrist systems and an exposure of
their pretensions to the axiomauc. By re-entering the text of
Robinson C'ru.v(u (and to a lesser extent 73e Tempesr), the
assumpions on whlch they rest and the paradigms they reflect and
construct. Selvon destabilises the dominant Qscourse through
exposure of its slrategies and offers a TrinidadianICaribbean post-
colonial ~munter-discourse which is perpetually conscious of its
own ideologically constructed subject position and speaks
ironically from within it. (27)

Selvon addresses the politics of representation and its influence in the
conslruction of colonial subjectivity and also subvens the colonial diwurses
by writing back to the centre. Through his creation of Bob who is deviant,
lewd diny and illiterate. Selvon alters the binary divide and exposes the evils
of racial discrimination. Selvon destabilises the colonial assumptions and
~ubvens the position of Bntish cenmlity through his fictional characters. He
takes a revolutionary stand when he bulldozes the colonial discourses that
have wmnged hr\ race.
Futility of Cdohtion and the Vanquished Coloniser
Wrlum Ham\ In hrr nobe1 Palate of !he Peorotk lntemgates the
~olonral ar\umptron of the d\rumed qenonty of the colomsers and pornts
out lhe t,nhcrent rc\rrlanre that exr\l\ between the coloruser and the colorused
The nobe1 d~rurw\ the colonrrer r futrle attempt to wleld absolute control
mer the natr\e\ and thew defiance that Ihuan\ the colonlal authonty The
no\el~\~ nlu, dlten the hrerarch} In the h~nary of the colonlser and the
colonrd mwd ponrap the ah\urd~tj of he uhole project of colomsatlon
Wrlu~n Hams porlrays a motley group on a mission to capture the
rndrgenous people of Manella. A!. Donne captures Mariella an Arawak
woman, he takes her a3 a hostage ~81th him to track down the other natives of
Mariella who have fled. Therefore Mariella, who stands for the name of a
ulllemcnt and of a person, becomes a I~ving presence as Hamis counters the
d~~icounes of colonisation. Harria questions some of the assumptions of the
colonisers and exposes the absurdity of such thought and feeling.
In the novel. there is a resistance lo the use of the English language. As
discussed in he earlier chapter 'The Nativisation of English. Cameron calls it

"brutal XNUXW' (PP: 43). and old Schomburgh manages only "scarred broken
words" (PP: 28). The coloniscrs were not bothered by these linguistic hazards,
which the English language has inflicted upon its non-native speakers. Neither
did they try to understand the nuances and ingenuity of the indigenous
languages. In the novel. Mariella. an Arawak woman speaks in ha native
tonpc. Old Schomburgh manages to understand her language and dons the
role of an interpreter who translates it into English. But Donne. the captain of
the crew and the hymhol~c representation of the white coloniser. despises her
language when he \ay\. "What does she bay?" he demanded. "You know the
hlastcd Buck talk" (PP. 601.
Though Donne need\ her words of wisdom. as she is the only person
who knows the wall\ and can guide them, he discards her language as the
.hlonul Buck talk He doe\ not know her l a n g u a ~ r $ he ~ take s any
effort to learn it. Hut unce her indigenous language is different from his
much-glorified thgllrh, hi\ Iinguistic chauvinism enables him to drub it as an
infenor tongue. The ingenuity of the languages of the colonised was never
undenttud by the colonisin who dismissed it in haste as inferior varieties.
But Jean Aitchiwn I\ of different view when he says,
It is a m~slake to think that societies which lack Western technology
have primitive languages. A Stone-age culture may well possess
less soph~sticated vocabulary items. hut the language's essential
sauctun is likely to be as conlplex as that of any other language.
(221)
Since English was the language of the officials of the colonial administration
who ruled over he indigenous land and its people. it has always mjoyad a
status of power and prestige when compared to the native languages.

Donne's naction to the Arawak woman's language is not very diffmt from
the coloniser's attitude towards the native languages. However, Dome, no
matter what his opinions are. has to listen to Mariella's voice for his own
survival. The Aboriginal presence is brought alive through the character of
Mariella. and Donne who symbolises the coloniser, has to recognise her
presence and ohey her directions.
When !he invaders landed in the Caribbean islands they considered
themselves to he destined to own and rule the land. They assemd their power
by colonising the land and any form of resistance from the indigenous people
was cons~dered to he a rehelllon against their monopoly and a challenge to
their m~lttary prowess. The native tnbes were seen as a blot on the face of the
land and a block to the establishment of their empire. Moreover the
dtwurslve pmctlce\ In creatlng an otherness with regards to the Caribs who
arc rcponed to have one eye in the forehead and cannibals. which staned
from the writ~ngs of Columbus' Journal, gave the colonisers the added
advantage in evlctlng these natives from their land and were not given even
the \tarus of a human king. The colonial represenlations of the indigenous
people ore quitc essent~al in the negation of rhe humanitarian rights that were
denied In the whole pmcess of colonisation. The native tribes were cruelly
decimated on the prelext of their forced idenuty as cannibals. In the novel,
Polwr cd tht Prrrrk. Donne who identifies himself with the colonisers
speaks in the same vein when he says.
"Isn't it a fantastic joke that 1 have to bargain with them and think
of them at ally he spoke bitterly and incredulously. "Who would
believe that these devils have title to the Savannahs and to the

egion? A stupid Iegacy--aboriginal business and all that nonsense:
but there it is." (PP: 58)
Donne is not able to digest the fact that the native Aborigines can own lands
and he feels it terribly humiliating to negotiate with them for their Lands. He
calls it a "stupid legacy" and drubs it as "aboriginal business" and asserts that
they do no1 deserve their titles lo the lands. Dubbing them as devils makes
things easy for Donne In furthering his obsession with the native land. When
Donne captures Mariella. the Arawak woman. she is subjected to severe
cruelt~e\ and 1s "ruled like a fowl" (PP: 15). Unable to bear Donne's cruelty
\he bluns cwt: "She shuddered and sobbed. 'He beat me'. she burst out at last.
She lifted her drebs to show me her legs. 1 stroked the firm beauty of her flesh
and rouched the ugly marks where she had heen whipped (PP: 16). As Donne
heats and whrp hur, she complains that Donne is "cruel and mad (PP: 16).
Hamr brings In the native voice and feelings that have been suppressed for
ape\. through the character of Manella. The colonisen might have had a high
u.lf-c\teem ahout thcmwlvss and thew moral responsibility in bringing
c~viliation to the lands agalnst all odds. More often than not the native voice
was supprcascd which was never given a heanng. But Harris, through the
character of Mariella brcaks the suppressed silence and manoeuvres a space
for t k suppressed vvntce which has a completely different view regarding the
presence of the colonisen. She belongs to a race that nums grievance and
hat4 towards Ihe colonisen as the wounds of colonisation remains unhealed
in their hems. As the narrator points out. "She helonged to race that neither
forgave nor forgot" (PP: 7 1 ).
Even in the delineation of the characters. Hams points out that they are
not easily cornpliable and their apparent meekness should not be confused

with the acceptance of their lot. When Mariella is taken into custody by
Donne, dre sails along with the crew who follow the trails of other Arawak
men, who. when caught will be forced to work in Donne's plantations. As
she travels with the crew. her posture is described as follows:
She sat still as a bowing statue, the stillness and surrender of the
American Indian of Guiana in reflective pose. Her small eyes
winked and blinked a little. It was an emotionless face. The stiff
hrcmding materiality and expression of youth had vanished, and
now--in old age--there remained no sign of former feeling. There
was almost an air of crumpled pointlessness in her expression, the
air of wisdom that a millennium was past. a long timeless journey
was linished without appearing to have begun. and no show of
malice. enmity and oven desire to overcome oppression and evil
mattered any longer. (PP: 7 1 )
11 1s an expressionless face that tries to negate every threat and persecution.
She knows well that she is betraying men who belong to her race. But she
also knows that if she refuses, her own life will be at stake. Therefore she sits
with an "unearthly pointlessness" (PP: 72). oblivious of the crew that is
around her and their threat of persecution. The injustices that were meted out
to them are severe and linger fresh in their minds that they find it difficult to
forgive and forget. Therefore even though there is an apparent submission
and subservience to their colonial masters there can be no denial of the fact
that there is an inherent resistance lurking beneath the facade of meekness.
This is evident when Donne tells of their behaviour: 'They call me Sir and
curse me when I'm not looking" (PP: 58). Wilson Harris captures this
resistance, which masquerades in various forms. Even in the casual

conversation of the characters there is a resistance which qt~estions, though
subtly, the centrdperiphery power relations and a desire to alter it. The
characters are shown to be totally unhappy with their present situation in
which they are forced to live and we see them abusing and cursing the
colonisen and their English language.
Though Harris believes in the power of spiritual love to unite the
polyphonic setting of the Caribbean islands, when it comes to the indigenous
races, he is circumspect of his conviction. The motley group of Donne and
his crew though gnawed by contradicting opinions and cultural differences,
towards the end strike a chord of unity in the palace of the universe:
This was the palace of the universe and the windows of the soul
looked out and in. The living eyes in the crested head were free
to obwrve the twinkling stars and eyes and windows on the rest
of the hndy and the wings. Every cruel mark and stripe and
ladder had vanished. (PP: 146- 147)
The settlen have a different post-colonial experience than that of the
indigenous tribes of the islands whose land was forcibly confiscated and their
people brutally wiped out. Though there is no gain saying of the experiences
of slavery and deracination which the settlers suffered at the hands of the
colonisers. Harris sees a possibility for a future West Indian society that can
live. in spite of the differences. in harmony through the power of love. But
Harris, significantly, leaves out Mariella in the final union. Throughout the
novel there is a constant friction and resistance between Donne and Mariella.
While Donne is unable to accept her as an important member of his crew, he
is also aware of the fact that without her native skills there is no return for his

crew. Even a. he is willing to heed to her directions he is unwilling to
recognise her rights as a native of the land. On the other hand although
Mariella acts as a part of the crew, she remains always as an outsider and
never integrates with the others. She is unwilling to yield to Dome's
authority and she is defiant in her attitude towards him. Even while she
recognises that Donne is the captain of the crew, she refuses to budge to his
dictatorial powers and in turn calls him mad:
"Donne cruel and mad," Mariella cried. She was staring hard at me.
I turned away from her black hypnotic eyes as if I had been blinded
by the sun, and saw inwardly in the haze of my blind eye a
watching muse and phantom whose breath was on my lips.
She remained close to me and the fury of her voice was in the
wind. (l'P: 161
If at all there was a truce needed in the novel, it should be between Donne
and Manella as there is always a tension and resistance in their relationship.
But sign~ficantly Harris does not bring in Mariella in the final chapter where
the I-narrator realises the scope of spiritual love that can transcend "cruelty
and confusion in the blindness and frustration of desire" (PP: 152).
Before her disappearance, the final description of Mariella is that of her
native navigational skills on the rocky terrains of the cliffs: "The Arawak
woman rolled like a ball on the cliff, clinging to tree and stone and Vigilance
was able to follow" (PP: 117). Mariella, makes her escape fmm the
colonising Donne and simply disappears from the novel. She retains her
grievance and anger against the colonisers and remains a part of her race that
"neither forgave nor forgot" (PP: 71 ).

tis, through the character of Donne.! ridicules the whole act of
colonisation. Donne sets out with a mission to capture the folks of M d
and bring them for workyhis estate. He identifies himself with the coloniser
when he says:
"Now I'm a man. I've learnt," he waved his hands at the savannahs,
"10 rule this. This is the ultimate. This is everlasting. One doesn't
have to see deeper than that, does one?" he stared at me hard as
death. "Rule the land," he said. "while you still have a ghost of a
chance. And you rule the world. Look at the sun." (PP: 19)
For Donne, the ultimate thing in life is to rule the land. He loves to have
everything under hi\ control. He acts as the captain of the crew who give their
"d~vinc attention" (PP: 21) to him. He does not brook any rebellion or
resistance from the natives and behaves rudely to gain control. His behaviour
towards Mariella spcaks volumes of his cruelty. His lust for power and land is
ahly masked hy the recognition of his responsibility akin to the 'white man's
hurden' :
"1 have treated the folk badly," he admitted. "But you do know
wha! this nightmare burden of responsibility adds up to. don't you?
How gruesome it can be? I do wish," he spoke musingly, "someone
would lift it from my shoulders. . . ." (PP: 56)
The colonisen' lust for land resulted in the power struggle that placed them in
direct conflict with the natives. The colonisers. simply by the virtue of gun
powder managed to eliminate the resistance as they annexed estates to their
property. Native land was demarcated and new boundaries were fixed

establishing their power. In the novel the I-narrator highlights the futility of
these practices:
The map of the savannahs was a dream. The names Brazil and
Guiana were colonial conventions I had known from childhood. I
clung to them now as to a curious necessary stone and footing, even
in my dream, the ground I knew I must not relinquish . . . I could
not help cherishing my symbolic map, and my bodily prejudice like
a well-known room and house of superstition within which I dwelt.
(PI': 20)
These zymholic map5 and imaginary boundaries never become real as Dome
In his quest for conquest hecomes the victim: 'They were the pursuers and
now they had hecome the pursued" (PP: 106). Though Donne tries hard m
mntan his control, he is never in control of anything. Mariella emerges as a
\ymbol of re$lstance who contjnually defies his power. His crew, though
apparently travels in one boat with a single vision, they are actually plagued
w~th in-fighting and most of the crewmembers die on the way. As they get
carried away by the currents their hat is wrecked (PP: 117). Dome. finally
realises that all his colonising endeavours are futile:
An ahsmction grew around him--nothing else--the ruling
abstraction of himself which he saw reflected nowhere. He was a
ruler of men and a ruler of nothing. The sun rose into the hlinding
wall and river before him filling the stream and water with melting
gold. He dipped his hand in but nothing was there. (PP: 127-128)

Hamis exposes the futility of the colonisers' materialistic cravings for power
and wealth through the character of Donne. He makes him realise that it is
only in the spiritual love that human beings can find fulfilment:
In the rooms of the palace where we firmly stood--free from the
chains of illusion we had made without--the sound that filled us
wah unlike the link of memory itself. It was the inseparable moment
within ourselves of all fulfilment and understanding. Idle now to
dwell upon and recall anything one had ever responded to with the
sense and sen\ibil~ty that were our outward manner and vanity and
conceit. (PP: 151 )
Harris thmugh he character of Donne hits at the colonisers who are bound by
their "chains of illu\ion" and rid~cules their desire to control. He also points
out [ha! absolute colonisation is never possible as it is grounded on shadowy
footing of imaginary boundaries and the coloniser is made to realise that he is
a "~ler of nothing" (PP: 127). Even the native uibes. who can be easily
~ubdued by the plnt of gun, never fail to express their resistance and strong
resentment towards the colonisers. Through the characters of Mariella and
Donne. Hanis captures the antagonistic feeling that is survived even centuries
after colonisation and remains problematical in the relationship of the
coloniser and the colonised. Hanis decolonises the colonial assumptions that
supported the act of colonisation by producing a counter-perspective of it
when he shows the disillusionment of Donne.
Harris as a postcolonial writer is concerned about the post-colonial
scenario of the Caribbean islands. While he brings people of various races
together and highlights their need to be united and forge a distinct identity, he

captures the nsislance that prevails among the native tribes whose laad has
been conf~scatd as their liver face the threat of extinction. Hams points out
the futility of the whole enterprise of colonisation when the coloniser ends up
as the vanquished as the colonised show their bitter resentment and defies his
attempt to exercise absolute control. The colonial assumptions of the
superiority of the coloniser is ridiculed as Donne. in spite of all his boastful
claims depends on the wisdom of Mariella for his survival and towards the end
realises his folly and yields himself to the saving grace of spiritual love where
houndaner and differences are transcended. Hanis while interrogating the
colonial assumptions reverses the hierarchy of the coloniser and the C O~ONS~~
and portrays the learning experiences of the coloniser and counters the
colonial dixoune of the assumed superiority of the colonisers.
While addres\ing the postcolonial experiences of the Caribbean islands.
hoth Selvon and Hms uhe it upon themselves to counter the colonial
dtscouncs that were consuucted to further the interest of the colonisers.
Though they are varied in their thematic concerns the underlying motive to
decolonise the colonial assumptions that negate the truth about the West
Indian individuals mark their commitment to the societies they belong. As
they are sensitive to the imponant role of English that supported the colonising
enterprise, Selvon and Hanis appropriate the language to offer counter-
discourses as par( of their decolonising effom.
Revlslng/Rewriting to Expose the Pollfig of Aborigbd Writing
Mudrooroo in his novel Doin Wildcar offers a postcobnial critique to
the various discourses that were built around the life of Ausealian Aborigines.
He addresses the struggle that exists between Aborigines and the whites and

portrays the plight of Aborigines who are always at the receiving end. He
exposes the hypocritical nature of the western policies of the colonisers and
the problems concerning the assimilation of Aborigines into the white main
sfream. He also brings out the politics that was involved in Aboriginal writings
that were controlled by the whites that stifled the me voice of Aboriginal
writers.
Mudrooroo's Doin Wildcar is a rewriting of his earlier novel. Wild Cai
Falling. published in 1965. Mudrooroo looks at the former through the
fictional window of rhe latter and exposes the politics that was involved in the
earlier wnting. He aluo addresses various discourses of the west that concern
Au\ualian Ahonpine\ and offers his counter-perspective. Wild Cat Falling is
the fint novel written in English hy an Aboriginal writer. The novel deals with
an Ahoriginal youth who becomes a victim of the assimilation policies of the
while adminlswaron. As he is forcibly removed from the loving arms of his
mother he i\ sent to s Welfare home and later to the prison. After his failed
attempt of burglary. he mcekly surrenders to the police and courts arrest.
Mudrr~)rcm comments on his novel in his book Writing From rhe Fringe:
My novel, Wild Car Fulling, heavily edited and launched with a
foreword which in effect said that assimilation was working in that
now 'they' can write novels just as 'they' can paint watercolours.
was well received. But followed to a great extent the metropolitan
tradition with the hall marks of character development, supposedly
a feature of the then modem novels. The unnamed character
advanced into the arms of the police and the ending provided the
hope that he might eventually settle down, or be assimilated into
the wider Ausvalian society if given the necessary help. (34)

The novel Wild Car Falling is an achievement in that it is not only the fira
Aboriginal novel to be published, but from the western perspective, it is also a
success to the assimilation policies that were aimed to nurture the Aboriginal
youth to get on to the mainstream of white Australia. Mudroom's novel falls
well within the western standards and conventions of how a novel should be
written. Mudrooroo conforms to the literary traditions of the west to a great
extent in form, content and language and does not hun the western sentiment
in the treatment of h~s subject.
But when the same novel is reworked in Doin Wildcat, the western
convenrions are broken. and the story is rewritten from an Aboriginal
penpective, in an Ahoriginal dialect. incorporating Aboriginal oratures.
Cornmenring on Ilr~tn Wildt~ar. Mudrooroo remarks in Wtiring From the
Fr~n~e:
In 1988, I returned to the story again in Doin Wildcar. The
character had pone to gaol. written Wildcur Falling in gaol as a
project of rehabilitation. been released and much later was hired to
script his novel. Doin Wildcar is on one level the story of the
making of the film. On another level. it shows what happens to the
Ahoriginality of a script when it is made into a film by a White
director. A third level is to try and exape the conventions of the
novel. Conventions such as an ending. Also it was an attempt to
write an entire fictional work in dialect and to include some
examples of contemporary Aboriginal oral literature. All in all, I
consider it my best work to date; others consider it my worst. (174)

Doin Wildcot deals with the making of a film of his earlier novel Wild Cat
fall in^. Though both the texts are physically different and can exist on their
own. the thematic strand that runs through these novels overlap each other at
various levels. The latter novel attempts a critique on the earlier one and
explores the tension that existed between Aboriginal writing and the colonial
master's response to it. Mudrooroo looks at his Wild Car Falling, written
under white dominance. through the fictional window of Doin Wildcat to
explain the pollticr that was involved in the writing and publishing of the
novel. It also offers a cntique on the politics of representation when the white
director changes the script to suit the western audience. As Mudroom offers
hir counter-perspective of the white interference into the Aboriginal life. he
alu~ experiments with the form of the novel and experiments with the
language. Therefore, the three levels. as mentioned above by Mudrooroo, are
punctuated with pilitics that crop up between the western Intelligentsia and
the nativc Aboriginal writen.
Mudroom's experimentation does not confine itself to language but
also spills over to thc form. The early Aboriginal novels were modelled on the
western classics and to a large extent conformed to the great literary traditions
of Europe. But Mudrooroo in Dc~in Wildcar extends the frontiers of 'novel' to
inculcate the indigenous forms into it. To a great extent it is a play within a
novel which is interspened with stories and anecdotes. There is no sequence
of stages of character development and it does not offer a definite ending.
Aboriginal literature does not arise out of a vacuum. It springs from the
well of emotions and hope for a better future free fmrn rhe shackles of white
dominance. It is an integral pcuc of the struggle that goes on between the
Aborigines end the cnlonisers. It is written with a purpose to contribute to the

ndressing of people's perceptions of their cultural identity and historicity. It
also seeks to contribute to the form and content of the growing modern
tradition of Aboriginal literature. Therefore, it is not sufficient to join the
bandwagon of the western literary tradition, which is guilty of exploitation and
stifling the voice of the marginalised. Aboriginal novelists forge their own
novels capturing the indigenous literary forms of orality and story telling aad
chart a course for Aboriginal writing. Therefore Mudrooroo extends the
conventional structure of the novel to accommodate his cultural patterns.
Mudrooroo is aware of the response his novel would receive fmm
critics and publishen who might castigate him for breaking the conventional
\tructure\. But the desire to carve out an Aboriginal litenvy tradition gets the
hetter of Mudrooroo. and his only response for all the reactions and objections
that might be raised against h ~s language, form and content seems to lie in the
words of the narrator of Drrrn Wildcur: "Come on, yuh can't take on a black in
an argument. Yuh can't argue like we do: yuh know ow we do it? We say:
'Well, fuch yuh'- then stalk off. That's our answer to everythin: 'Fuck yuh"'
(I)WC: 69)!
In Dotn Wildcar, Al Wmthherg. "the biggest an whitest
dircctor/pmducer we've ever been. an come all the way fmm America to
spend big bucks and mix with us Abo's to make a filim based on me book
(DWC: 3) also stands for the surrogate white coloniser of the nekcolonial era
who misrepresents and falsifies facts regarding Aboriginal life. His shooting
of the film can be viewed as an exercise in fictionalizing things, both literally
and metaphorically, by documenting the Aboriginal life into the most popular
medium. The 'I' narrator of the novel is also the scriptwriter of the movie that
is being shot by Al Wrothberg. It is a part autobiographical story of the

narrator's miserable early teens and gruesome prison experience. A1
Wrothberg shoots the movie, for a touch of reality, in the very places that are
mentioned in the novel Wild Car Falling. He shoots the film for solely
commercial reasons coupled with the desire to please his white audience. In
the process, he does not hesitate to change the script to suit the western tastes.
He wants to be realistic in the portrayal of the locale of the action but in the
depiction of the character he prefers to tamper with the original script so as to
please his white audience. Ernie. who plays the role of the script writer in the
movie, informs ahout the changes Al Wrothberg makes:
Yuh know this character of yours. well, don't yuh think ee's a bit
too quiet? Al's decided to make some changes to it. Nothing big,
yuh understand. Jest letting yuh know, so that yuh won't be too
\urprrsed when yuh see some parts are different from the way yuh
wrote em. (IIWL': 11-12)
It I\ me Al'* senture I\ not to make a documentary film of the
Abongrnc\ and their vaumauc experiences wrth the whlte colorusen But even
In a commercral movre. the mrsrepresentat~on of the Abong~nes can produce
negatlve Images rn the m~nd\ of the brewen
As Al shoots the prison scene. the narrator feels 'lhe scarr; of those
other days ache in me memory" (DWC: 5). The prison gardens remind him of
his hard labour for a pittance of fifty cenL\ a week and a ration of tobacco. His
disgust for prison is made manifest when he says: "Still there's that smell bout
that place. Smell of prison; smell of prison soap; smell of fear; smell of
commands issued and obeyed. Smell of kids bein fucked into stupid lives by
so-called men" (DWC: 70).

The stoly and the incidents are a painful reminder for the scriptwriter
who has been lhrough all of it. But Al is more interested in capturing the local
colour than to address the poignancy of the tragic incidents of prison. He says,
Say. listen. I've been playing this game for twenty years. I know
what'll click what won't. The one thing that the folks back home'll
want to see is local colour. What I mean is this is where the
America's Cup race was held. It was on T.V. you just gotta jog
their memory. So I'll put in a shot or two of a few yachts tacking,
and then. well, there's that beach scene I shoot tomorrow . . . you
know cut from character to carnival, back to character. to carnival
and \o on. Man, I can see that. It will work and it'll bring the whole
th~ng into ftrus. (DWC: 29- 30)
While the story of the film is about an Aborigine, the intended audience
i\ we\tem. So Al wants to shoot a couple of shots that would remind them of
America'h cup race. He dilutes the tragic incident of prison experience with
America's sporting event held in one of the heaches of Australia. He has also
forgotten (or has he ignored?) that the Aborigines have bitter memories
regarding the yacht race. The script writer tells Ernie: "Yuh know, when they
ad the yacht race ere. they tried to keep the Aborigines outa town. We aven't
forgotten that" (L)WC: 5 1 )!
The native was dnven out of his land because a foreigner wanted to
play games on the shores. Therefore what is tragic for the Aborigines is
carnival for the West. But since Al. the white. is the director of the film, the
narratorlscript writer has no power to relain his text. He simply says. "What

can I do. but ~ay 'fuck it', an let the cameras roll. Life is only dreams an
feelins. Cut" (DWC 36)!
Though the script writer is an Aborigine, his writing is only closer to
reality. and not reality itself. Therefore arguments may be raised regarding the
credibility of the incidents and the writer's reaction to Al's changing of the
script, given the fact that the novel itself cannot be a m e story in its ultimate
sense

An onus is on Aboriginal writers to present the evidence of our true
situation. In attempting to present the evidence we are furiously
attacked by white Australians and white converts, whatever their
colour, as, 'Going back two hundred years . . . the past is finished. .
. Yet, cut off a man's leg. kill his mother, rape his land,
psychologically attack and keep him in a powerless position each
day--dws it not live on in the mind of the victim? Does it not
continue to scar and affect the thinking? Deny it, but it still exists.
(41 J
11 is this memory of history and the sense of responsibility as an
Aboriginal wnter that is responsible for the hurt that is felt by the
nmtor/w*-npt writer, when his text is altered by Al who wants to look at
events from the western perspective.
Mudrooroo's Dorn Wrldcar examines the politics that is involved in
Ahirip~nal wnting. It is not that when the Aborigines took to writing and
htarted to puhl~sh novels in English, the wall that divided the 'centre' and
'periphery' collapsed and the voice of the marginalised got its due attention.
On the other hand, the content of the Aboriginal literature was modified to suit
the western audience. The work had to go through the grind of editors and had
to satisfy the publishers. More often than not. the Aboriginal writings were
prefaced by the whites, recommending readership and as an apology for the
Aboripinality of the text. Since writers of Aboriginality are ideological writers
and socially committed. their content is predominantly protest in nature
against the white interference and denial of rights. As Mudmoroo observes in
Writing From the Fringe.

Being born in a white world is no joke for a black man or woman.
A primary school education in which we suffer and react to racist
taunts. the psychical and physical blows of assimilation, the coming
to terms with one's Blackness the discovery of one's Aboriginality
and the rebellion against a life of oppression--all these result in the
formation of a writer with a message to get across. ( 1 36)
The content that counten the white dominance is altered and modified
sci a not to hun the white bentiments. This interference by the whites deprives
the text of its ahoriginality and resrricLs the freedom of the writer. The exercise
of cdit~np is a calculated measure by the white publishers to read only what
they want to which stifles the counter-discursive practices of the Aboriginal
writen. Bruce McCuiness and Dennis Walker address this issue in 'The
Polit~cs oC Ahoriginal Literature":
This brings a very imponant fact to the surface and that is that
Aboriginal people. writers who even write their own material. have
no control over that material in terms of ha\ing it published. They
have no control over the finances that make it possible for them to
exist. make it possible for them to pursue writing as a career, and,
most impofiantly. to act as historians in control of the way in which
they write and what they write about in terms of what is happening
within the Aboriginal population of Australia within the various
Aboriginal communities throughout Australia . . . that it ceases to
be Aboriginal when it is interfered with, when it is tampered with
by non-Aboriginal people who exist outside the spectrum of
Aboriginal life, of Aboriginal culture within Australia. (44)

In Doin Wildcat, the narrator points out to the politics that was involved
in the writing of his novel Wild Car Falling. He tells that he "wrote it ere in
jail" (L)WC: 10) when he served a term in prison. In the novel Wild Cat
Falling the protagonist is arrested for burglary and attempted murder. Though
armed with a rifle. he has no guts to open fire on the cop, nor on his dogs that
pounce on him and rip his flesh as he meekly "stands against a tree like a
cornered Kangaroo" (131 ). An Aboriginal youth, who is a hunter and gatherer.
is shown to succumh to the harking of dogs without offering any resistance.
Ernie. in Darn Wildl.ur, plays the role of this chicken-hearted
Ahonginal youth. and is enraged with the narratorlscript writer for having
dep~cted the Ahonginal to he weak and yielding without putting up a fight.
Begin to cast me mind hack. but Ernie who as slumped into the seat
hcs~de me (guess this actin business is ard work). turns an angry
facc at me. 1 try a grin. hut the face still scowls. Dunno what's
wrong with im. The filim is alright. isn't it?
Ernie: That fuckin end, hro?
'That fuckin end? A1 done it more or less as I wrote it. Not like
some of the other parts. Never a word from you bout em cept that
nude scene
Emie: Well, yuh ended it wrong. yuh did. All yuh got IS another
black fella endin up in jail. Nuthin good about that. Should ad im
shoot i~ out with those blokes on orses. Sony for what they done to
im. that's a joke that is? (DWC: 112)
Ernie is furious over the fact that an Aborigine has been made to say sorry
after having suffered so much of brutality and humiliation at the hands of the

white colonisem. Earlier in the novel Doin Wildcat, when Ernie gives a punch
on the face of a white bloke. and is asked by June to apologise to him. he
replies, "Never pologised in me life, for nuthin!" (DWC: 79). Therefore it is
unders~andable that Ernie is upset with the narrator for his depiction of an
Aborigine.
But Al Wrathherg, the white director is elated and is all praise for the
way the novel end\.
Director: Th~\'ll make the movie, man. Beautiful, real beautiful.
They'll love thew bush scenes in the States. I've got a sixth sense
ahout thehe things, you know. Poetry and sympathy for the
underdog are where it's at, and that means the Australian bush for
\we: the real Australia just like our Old West. ( 1 12)
An Ahinpine youth running for life into the bushes is poetry for the western
audience. The white sentiment expresses sympathy over the Aboriginal youth
who is cornered by the dogs and handcuffed by the cop. But it cannot stomach
the dlsplay of bravery of a black Aborigine who shoots the cop and over
piufers white authority. It always has to he that of the invincibility of the
white power decimating the meek resistance of the black natives which would
move the white audience to the ends of their sympathetic feelings towards the
underdogs.
But the narrator of Dorn Wildcat is quite candid about his intentions in
giving such an ending even if it would hWl the Aboriginal sentiment. He says,
'Then suddenly. 1 remember it's just ow I wrote me book. Ow I ad written it
to comfort an" (DWC: 118).

Under adverse circumstances, in the prison, the narrator writes the
novel Wild Cur Falling. Though as an Aboriginal, he would have loved to
have the cop killed. his present predicament leaves little scope as he has been
given 'The Governor's Plasure' (a fom of punishment where the prisoner
had to plea= the Governor to be let out). He says, 'That book was me ticket to
the outside, bradda. It ad 10 please em, so the ending was an appy one for em
(DWC: 113).
Ah a prisoner. the narrator has to please the white authorities and hence
the end~ng of the novel is one that would plea.= them. An Aborigine rebel has
heen shown to feel sorry for what he has done--a positive sign in the process
of assimilation--and willingly obeys the cop by offering to be handcuffed
without putting up any resistance.
Al Wrofhherg, who is elated about the whole thing. shoots his film
hased on the end~ng of the novel Wild Cur Fulling. But the narratorlscript
writer of 1)oln W~ldcrrr offers a criuque on the ending of his earlier novel, Wild
C'trr F'ullrn~, Therefore the narrator offers two other alternate endings to his
earlier novel. Now that the narrator has no obligation to please the white
authorities, he exercises the freedom of a creative writer, and extends the
conventions of a novel, hy offering more than one ending to his earlier novel.
The other two alternate endings are:
He doesn't shoot anyone, just gets away. Ec doubles back to the
city. an uses the money to make it to freedom in the east. What do
yuh think of that?'
Emie: Better than lhe one I just did.

'Old on a see, aven't finished yet. Ad another endin too. 1 Wrod this
one a lot. Bit like the movie, so I'll put yuh in the role, so yuh can
easily follow it. Yuh an jinda do the job. Yuh both take rifles. The
cop get it an yuh off into the bush. Yuh both meet old Wally, I
mean Winjee an, after yuh leave im, you ear those dogs an then
orses gallopin towards yuh. Yuh get be'ind a fallen log. Wait for
those dogs. wait for those ones an men to reach yuh. Yuh both get
yer rifles. an they is waitin too, waitin for those policemen. . . .
(IIWC: 112-1 131
While the first ending depic~s a submissive aborigine youth who lacks the guts
to fight agalnst the white oppressors, the second ending depicts an escapist
Ahong~ne. He steals money and gives a slip to the cops and goes to East. He is
shown as a fugitive who desenz his homeland. But the third ending depicts the
Aborigine tcr he in a revengeful rnc~d. He braves to face the music, as he gets
ready, med wlth rifle, to take he cop and his dogs head on. The narrator
expresso his preference to this en&ng than the other two.
But the narrator goes on to say that since his novel Wild Car Falling has
an ending that pleases rhe whites he had little difficulty in getting his novel
published.
So ee wrote that book, nice white social workers elped krn an the
reports went in, an the book got written, then published. 1 was an.
what do yuh call it. an exemplary prisoner, an so after a dozen years
or so I was let out. Bin out ever since. So now yuh know why the
endins like that. It ad to appen. it was as it appened- at least to em!"
(DWC:113)

The politics of writing is brought to the fore as the socio-political conditions
of the writer impinge upon his literary aesthetics, which has a considerable
impact on his creative output. The narrator highlights the conflict in writing
and publishing that is maimed with the interference of politics which has a
detrimenlal effect on Aboriginal writing. Because of these constraints,
Mudrooroo feels that Aboriginal writing is deprived of its originality. In
Wr~ring From fhr Fringr, he says:
I feel that it is away from the printing houses of the established
puhlishen that an originality of Aboriginal writing is to be found.
There is an increasing number of Aborigines writing who do not go
through the processes of being published. (29-30)
Mudrtw)rcrj point\ out to the c~rcum\tant~al facton that restrict Abonenal
unten from exercl\lng the~r freedom and remn true to thetr creauve
exprcwon
Al Wrothherp shoots the film in the exact places as mentioned in the
novel. Therefore the prison scenes are shot in the same prison where the
narratorlscript writer had been a prisoner in his early teens. Though many
yem have passed hy and much water has flown under the bridge. the narrator
cannot help but remember the dreaded times he had in the prison. It should
also he noted that not all imprisoned Aborigines are thieves, thugs and
hardcore criminals. The discourses that were built around the Aborigines gave
the administraton the moral justification for bringing the Aborigines within
the boundaries of their law. In the novel. the narrator gives the -on why he
was put in prison:

To1 her straight just before I was picked up for something I didn't
do. Yuh know it, yuh goin along swell an then they grab yuh one
night for bein on the street an before you know it, yer back inside
again. (DWC: 21)
The Aborigine's 'original sin' seems to Lie in the fact of being born an
Aborigine. He ih deprived of the basic rights of a human being--to enjoy the
warmth of family and kinship. In the novel. the narrator, even as a child of
nlne 1s snatched from the loving arms of his mother to be sent to welfare
homes, to be bred and groomed in the civilised way of the west, and is thus
sandwiched between two differing cultures. This hideous act is made possible
and legalised by the Aborigine5 Act of 1910. As Darrel Lewis observes:
It uab th14 act which allowed 'half caste' children to be taken away
from their parents and raised in institutions, a law now recognized
by Aborigines and Whites alike as one of the most inhumane ever
appl~ed to Aboriginal people. ( 5)
The western intrusion into Aboriginal affairs has had detrimental effects on
the native culture and life. Arguably. the worst affected part of their culture is
their fam~ly kinsh~p. Families were broken as children were forcibly removed
from their parents with the assumption that the Aboriginal parents do not
know how lo bring up their children. Since the Aboriginal way of life was
considered uncivilised and uncouth, the missionaries instituted this practice to
instil Christian virtues in young lives. As Colin Bourke and Bill Edwards,
point out in "Family and Kinship":
The separation of Aboriginal children from their families began in
earnest in 1883 when the NSW Aborigines Rotection Board was

established to control what non-Aborigines perceived to be a
growing problem of Aboriginal populations congregating around
towns (Edwards and Read. 1989: xii). It was argued that the
children of these people could be turned into useful citizens if they
were taken from their parents and socialized as Europeans. A policy
of child removal began based on the "idleness" of the parents from
which the child should be "protected" . . . and placed in Aboriginal
Children's Homes. (101 )
The colonisers did not understand the complexity of Aboriginal kinship
and social systems. Little did they realise that it was considered as a legacy of
their Ancestral Spirit Beings and was a part of their tradition of The Dreaming.
Since Ahoriginal societies are closely knit. every individual is expected to play
hidher role in the society. Even children are not exempted from contributing
to the gtxd of the extended family which give them their social identity.
Therefore, even a1 an early age. an Aboriginal child is educated concerning
hidher re~ponsib~lity to the society and family. Accorhng to Aboriginal
Women's T askforce Report in Women 's Business.
Children are h e responsibility of the entire family rather than to the
biological parents alone. Many Aboriginal people have been
'grown up' by members of the family other than the biological
mother and father and this practice of growing up children is still
very wide spread today. Often it is the children's grandparents who
cany out the growing up. They also are very important members of
the family unit and are heavily relied upon to play a large part in
child rearing. As a result of the children being encouraged to think

and have responsibility at a very early age. they have a large degree
of personal autonomy. (qul. lo Colin Bourke and Bill Edwards 115)
The extended family system enables the children to garner the
realisation that they belong to a larger community rather than living within the
close confines of a family. The growing up of children by their grandparents,
the elders of the community. gives children the opportunity to leam various
aspects of their traditional life.
But when the children are snatched from their families and herded in
Welfnre Homea, they badly suffer from identity crisis, not to mention the
agony of their mothen. Having removed from their traditional life, they are
taught to th~nk and act wh~te. An Aboriginal child is, thus, caught between two
cultures and struggle\ in not king able to relate to either of them. In the novel
Ik~rn Wtldcur. the =lrrator recollects the plight of his childhood days in
Swanv~ew. wh~ch any Aboriginal youth can identify himself with:
I ad to play games there. Ad to do everything in teams too. Yuh
know, march in teams. play sports in teams, eat in teams, shit in
teams. shower in teams. sleep in teams. Yuh name it, we done it in
teams. I ale teams. (DWC: 67)
He resents the collective identity with which he is known that is radically
different fmm the communal identity he has with his community and regrets
that he is never let to decide anyrhing for himself. In a Wetfare Home he is
deprived of his individuality as he congregates with the rest of the Aboriginal
kids who also share the same plight. He has always been taught to obey orders
and never to talk back.

Yuh know. I'm what's called institutionalized, bin in one place or
another most of me life, an it append from the age of nine when I
found myself in Swanview. There I done me basic trainin on ow to
exist in a institution. (DWC: 85)
The most significant aspect of the Welfare Homes is that while the white
society receive, a young Aboriginal boy into its fold, it rejects him when he
becomes an adult. He is forced to fend for himself in a world, which he does
not helong to. As he is left high and dry, his instinct to survive gets the better
off him and he indulges in petty thieving from shops and stores. As the doors
of Welfare Homes are shut on him. he seeks shelter within the walls of prison
as the codified white legal system is unfavourable IO him. Because the white
world grimaces at him, he resents his day of freedom as the prison remains a
haven for him. In the novel. Doin Wildrur, the narrator points out to the fact
that some of his prison inmates are total misfits in the white society and hence
take prison a\ the~r refuge.
'Yuh know, there are blokes who can't stand the outside. Can't take
it all. They come in for five years say, then one day they are eaved
out. They out one day, then in the next. An ol mate of mine was
like that. The screws even useta keep is cell for im. . . . Yuh know, I
couldn't andle anything. Cars and buses, shops an streets. I
remember goin into a supermarket. Seein all those goods on the
shelves. same kinda things with different hrand names put me into a
fright. Man I was shiverin. Couldn't make a choice, didn't know
ow to. All those things just pressin in on me. I couldn't take it, just
couldn't ack it.' (DWC: 83- 84)

Tht voluntary imprisonment of the Aborigines is misconstrued by the wn-
Aborigines and discourses are built denouncing them as devious, lazy and
morally depraved. However, it should be noted that their ancestral land has
been stolen, along with basic human rights and their freedom. It is not without
a tinge of imny that a race that has suffered so much of a loss at the hands of
white colonisen is in turn called devious and dishonest.
In the novel. the narrator shares his prison experiences. The cell is tiny
and badly lit. His only company in the cell is a shit bucket and a Bible. The
hair which he fondly grew is cut and he is given a rough clothing of grey and
hrown. The pnsonen are subjected to hard labour and inhuman treatment at
the hands of white officers. At the tlme of release. each prisoner is given "our
lou\y pay: juht enough to buy a few drinks" (DWC: 83). Though the narrator
ha5 to undergo all these hardships in the prison, he says that he did not feel
happy at the thought of his release.
'Achin with the pan I felt standin at the window of me cell starin
out at the dark sea an earin from be'ind bars the ebb and flow of the
freedom sea. I ear the lap of the waters an begin telling er bout the
time I was gettin out of prison an instead of feelin appy just felt sad.
Yuh know. I ad no one to go to.' (IIWC: 83)
The prison experience not only affects them physically but also leaves a
lasting impact on the psyche of the Aborigines. The men who once go into the
prison never the same again. In the novel, Kevin. an Aboriginal trainee
director, shams an anecdote in which one of his relatives who is new to the
city is awestruck on seeing the elevator. He is unable to understand how
people who go into a tiny room, which has no windows or any other doors,

disappear and a new group of people come out. The narrator compares this to
the prison cell and draws a parallel to the transformation that takes place in the
minds of individuals who are kept in it.
They all laugh at this. All except me. Yeah, people go into little
moms just like this one. They put yuh in these little rooms an then
after a time. too long a time, they take yuh out, and yuh 've
changed, all different inside. That's what they did to me. They
locked me away in this tiny cell, left me for a month an then came
an ttmk n new me out. A quieter an more passive me; a meaner an
nastier me too. Well, fuck em I say! (DWC: 18)
The crueltres of prison and the inhuman punishment at the hands of white
officcn dram the Aborigines of any will to express their resentment and
re\istance. They ieam 11 in the hard way how not to give vent to their ill
feel~nps that they nunure towards the colonisers. They are taught to obey
orden and be subwn~ent to the white authorities. As a result the prison eats
away h e guts and leaves the Aborigines passive and without the will to resist.
Mudmoroo deflate5 the myth that the Aborigines are morally depraved
and cannot do without the civilising practices of the west. He also highlights
the fact that Welfare Homes conuary to their purpose, did more harm than
good hy disrupting the familial system of native life. Mudrooroo also takes a
dig at the white laws which legitimise the brutalities that are inflicted on the
Aborigines. The trustworthiness of welfare officers are questioned in the novel
when the narrator points out to the incident when his probation officer, Mr.
Robinson, promises to help him out in his trial, but eventually ~ uns a traitor in
fmnt of the magistrate.

The bastard a% dobbed me in good and proper. What statement? Ee
wanted ITK to talk about meself, an 1 obliged im. Now I get it flung
back in me face. Can't vust any of these so-called welfare officers.
They'll do yuh in as soon as spit at yuh! (DWC: 89)
The double standards of the white welfare officers is in direct contrast when
pitted against the seventeen-year-old Aborigine who refuses to take an oath on
Bible in front of the magistrate hut speaks the tmth upon his honour:
Magistrate: Oh . . . now remember that you have given me your
word of, of honour to tell the truth. This is very important. Do you
feel any remone for the offences you have committed?
'Dunno. what that is. I was ungry. the rent was due, an I needed
dough.' (DWC: 90)
A hlmple monohyllahic word 'yes' would have seen him "escape on a
bond" (IIWC'. 87). From the non-Aborigine's perspective, feeling remorse for
a petty theft is a aign of progress towards the bigger project of assimilation. It
IS alu) a sign that. if given time, he will mend his ways and integrate with the
civilised white community. But the same reply. from an Aborigine's point of
view. would mean weakness and being submissive. As he belongs to a race
that suffers from the scars of colonisation. he is defiant and unrelenting. "What
do they expect. that 1'11 break down an beg forgweness . . . don't give em the
satisfaction of seein ow scared yuh are" (DWC: 89).
Because he is b~tally frank, unlike Mr. Robinson. and speaks the truth
without camouflaging his resentment he ends up in prison for eighteen
months.

1 watched that cunt Robinson an that magistrate whisperin together
an knew me rabbit was trapped. Still, I didn't believe that 1 would
get eighteen months, but I got it. A bloody stupid kid getting
eighteen fuckin months in Freo. That was what they were like!
(DWC 90)
The Aborigines are not expected to talk back to the white colonisers.
They are supp~sed to stay in their assigned places and assumed roles. As
wardr of the State they are expected to be content, if not grateful to the white
government and white policies. Even a rightful claim to their rights is seen as
a mark of rebellion which has to be addresxd with punitive measures before it
hccomcs a threat to the white society in Australia. In the novel, Mr. Robinson,
tries to teach a couple of things as to how to behave in a white society:
Me prohation officer. Mr. Robinson was there with is shit advice. I
keep noddin as ee whispers: 'Now listen carefully. Don't give the
magistrate any lip. understand! No answering back, just speak when
you're spoken to.' (DWC: 87).
The narrator in Dnin Wildcar talks hack to the colonisers and rewrites
history fmm the Aboriginal perspective. In the process, he counters the
discourses that were created abut the native indigenous people and their
culture. It also exposes the double standards and the hypocritical nature of
white policies and white officers.
One of the cultural symbols of Aborigines is the 'boomerang'. The
narrator calls it "the most returning one in istory" (DWC: 116). The
coloniser's gift of English language boomerangs on them as the colonised

write to uncover the masks of conquest in the white policies and their legal
system that legitimises it. The instituted stereotypes with which Aborigines
were interpellated. are restructured with the creation of counter-discourses that
are in direct confrontation with colonial discourses of the west. As a result we
have the subversion of the binary opposition as blacWgood pitted against the
whitelevil.
In the novel Doin Wildcat, Ernie converses with the white university
students regardtng the integration of Aborigines into the white Australian
society. They discuss the ways in which the transition should be eased and
need for remedial measure5 to improve the quality of life of Aborigines. But
Mudrooroo feels that all the big talk that goes with the assimilation policies,
remain at the ideal level and never gets realised. Therefore, even as the
university students discuss these issues. when the question is raised regarding
Ihe pmhlem\ that tag along with these policies, the conversation abruptly
comes to an end and the topic is changed. The question is left in the limbo.
The narrator feels that.
It sounds phoney. Only problem is they do talk like that, an do ask
such questions. an do wait with bated breath to get the info directly
from the one's mouth. We all know ow it is an ow to play this
game. Most of us go along with it, though may be some'll ave
better answers than the one's I've written. (DWC: 63)
All along. the white Australia has failed to understand the black ways.
Aborigines have remained inscrutable and hence they have been interpellated
in tams of the white man's understanding. This gave rise to the destructive
discourses that were constructed around them. The desire to assert the

superiority of the white race saw the Aborigines denounced as inferiors who
had to be educated in the white ways that would, in turn, make them better
citizens who will comply with the authority of the wlonisers. Various
measures were schemed to educate the natives in the civilised way of the west.
Mudrooroo's novel is a rebuttal to these redemptive measures of the
coloniscrs. Now that the centrality of the cenm is questioned, he turns the
table on the west and feels that it is time the whites began learning the black
ways.
Girl: Yea, it's white people who need the education, not the native.
. . . I con4ider ir stupid and arrogant to want to drag the Aborigines
Into our 50-called civilisation. Why, why, it is like giving a jau
mus~cian a classical music education. It'll only spoil their natural
ah~l~ry. We our\elve\ must regain that naturalness before it is too
late. We should be learning from the Aborigines. not the other way
round. t L)H1(': 65)
Mudm~nn hnngs out the politics that is involved in stifling the growth of
Aboriginal writing and publishing. As a postcolonial writer he reviseslrewrites
his earlier novel, which was written under the aegis of colonial authorities and
exposes the extra-literary influences that stifled the Aboriginal voice. He not
only defies the conventional standards of fiction writing but also manoeuvres
with forms of Aboriginal dialects to offer the counter-perspective of
colonisation and to give voice to the plight of Aborigines in the process of
assimilation. He also deflates the myth of the white superiority by exposing
the double standards of the colonisers and their laws. Mudrooroo, in his novel
Doin Wildcut, addresses various issues concerning the Aborigines and their

culture while countering the colonial discourses as a part of his decolonising
practice in the postcolonial space.
Exposing ColoniPl Myths and Rewriting W iry
In Trur Counrrj Kim Scott appropriates the English language and uses
it to rewrite the history of Karnama which runs counter to the western
narrative. He exposes the politics that was involved in the creation of such
narratives that showca.wd Aborigines as wild, blockheads and lazy. He
attempts to rewrite history from the viewpoint of the Aborigines who were
eyewitnesses to the colonial encounter. Kim Scott also experiments with
Ahmginal stories as he transcribes and includes them as part of the
curriculum. He addresses the problem of colonial education which is irrelevant
and insufficient to the cultural needs of the Aboriginal children and exposes
the colonial myth that undermined the intellectual prowess of Aboriginal
children.
In he novel 7he C'ounrr\. Billy comes back to Kamama in search of
his M)IS Having removed from his community for almost two generations,
Billy's return to Karnama is in a sense a return of the native. Since
colonisation. the close-knit family and kinship of Aborigines have been
mutilated and memben of their community got displaced and dispersed. But
the knowledge of the history of their genealogy gives them their sense of
identity, bonding, joy and pride. Whether they live in urban areas or in hush or
they are fringe-dwellers and no matter whether they are full-blooded
Aborigines or parr Aborigines. they share the same kinship as they share the
cultural bonding with each other. In "Australia's First Peoples: Identity and
Population". Eleanor Bourke is of the view:

Europeans have based Aboriginal identity mainly on race whenas
Aboriginal people speak of "my people", representing the notion of
peoplehod. This is derived from the knowledge of genealogies,
and belonging to specific extended family groups. Aboriginal
identity and culture is based on a distinctive cultural heritage which
incorporates special meanings given to the land and people and is
centered on core values. (5 1 )
Therefore. Billy. though removed from Aboriginal community for two
generations, is accepted within his community and his genealogy is traced.
Walanguh, the oldest man of the community stuns Billy with his query: "Your
pudda--grandmother--my hister. \he die. e h (TC: 147)? Being associated with
the community. Billy look\ forward to the future. He is concerned not only
with his past hut also ahout his future and his role in the community. He
cxprexw\ his concern to Gerrard: "Ahout me. the past, what I'm doing, where
I helong. the future. um . . ." (TC: 129).
Billy understands that he has a role to play in his Aboriginal society. He
m~ght have been displaced for two generations but once he identifies himself
with the community he is aware of his commitment towards his society and
people. He has the white man's learning at his command and hence uses it to
the good of his Ahoriginal community. Billy rewrites the history of Karnama.
Billy's knowledge ahout Karnama is entirely textual. Though Billy shares the
Aboriginal hid. his knowledge about the history of his community is
limil+d. For two generations he has lived as an outsider to the culture and
experiences of his people and therefore Billy knows very little about the
colonial history and the traumatic experiences of his community.
Acknowledging his limitations. Billy confesses, "My first impressions of

Karnama were from Above, over a map. I looked at several maps. Karnama
was labeled either 'Aboriginal community', or 'Mission', depending on the
age of the map" ( TC: 19).
Once he arrives in Karnama, Billy is curious to know about the history
of the place and hence orders for books and journals written by the white
settlen. It is also significant to note that Billy garners his initial knowledge of
Karnama from bcx~ks written by white colonisers about the settlement. As
Billy collects information about Karnama and the Mission, he meets Fatima,
on Ahoriginal woman. who according to Brother Tom is "among the last of
them w~th any understanding of their culture" (TC. 24).
Fatima. who likes to tell stories, has a series of sessions with Billy and
he record3 them in his tape recorder. Since Billy is keen on the history of
Karnarna he asks Fatima: "Fatima. why not tell me the history of Karnama?
Son of like what these books do, but more what you remember, or what you
know" (TC': 36-37 ).
As Fatima begins to tell, Billy follows it up as it is recorded in the
books and the two histories come into direct conflict with each other. Though
they ape on issues such as landing, meeting the first girl. Nangimara and
giving gifts. the textual version suppresses facts regarding the killing and
shooting of the girl.
Fatima grunted. 'No'?' and yawned. She said, 'it's not in this book
but. the shooting. not in this mission book'.
I found the passage I'd been searching for and never followed up
the story of that particular shooting. (TC: 38)

Kim Scott. even as he problematizes the history, brings the two
narratives so close., both literally and metaphorically, to highlight how far it
deviates from each other. At times Billy reads from the book as Fatima
complements or corrects it.
I qualified what I was about to read. I was oddly defensive,
apologetic. 'And then, this is what they say here. This might not be
me, because it's just the way they remember it:
Then we noriced that some of the boys with the Father's were
hrc.on11ny rrsr1rs.s and lookinl: a hir frightened. Four of the
Ahonpne.\ wmr hrrc.k to w,hrrr they'd lefr their spears. '
Fatrma waa enthralled.
'Pertr otre (!/' rhr boy.\, came up to the Abhor saying, "Father,
tht.! w.unr ,\,ur." Thrn rhr Abhor realized thar he was right. They
had ctwlrd rrs. ' (7%: 40- 4 1 )
Settler writ~ngs have promulgated discourses that run counter to the
Ahonginill volce. Exclusion of facts and inclusion of comments marked the
style of their wnting. Therefore when Billy reads out that the Father did not
know the reason why the Aborigines want to fight them, Fatima provides the
hackdrnp of how the killing of a dog has incited the Aborigines to attack the
M~ssion.
'Yeah. see that's why 1 want to talk to you, and the others may be,
hecause the book doesn't . . . it just tells you what one eye saw.
they don't tell you the background like about the dog . . .'
Fatima said. curtly, 'Yeah because they don't want to.' (TC: 42)

By refusing to state reasons for the fight, the European texts create a negative
image of the Aborigines. It is not just ignoring the minor &tails of an incident,
hut a conscious suppression of facts which lead to distorted and biased
construction of narratives. In 'The Politics of Aboriginal Literature", Bruce
McGuinness and Denis Walker write about an incident where the white
readership ignores the truth:
Another thing that is important is the relevance of writings. Gerry
gave a good example of yesterday of something that has actually
happened, talking about the taking of heads, pickling of heads and
sending them to England. The white authorities. the white
academia. continually suppress this information and they write
ahout something which pleases them. . . . Pwple just don't want to
know the truth. (52)
Kim Scot in h~s novel retrieves the wilful omissions and the suppressed facts
that w~ll change the contour of the western narrative regarding their
relationship with the Aborigines. In the novel. Fatima is quite candid in her
comments regarding the happenings and their recording in the narratives of the
western text:
'Well. it should be like I say it in that book.' She continued. 'that
book might tell you different. this one or this one might tell you
'nother way.' She pointed to the books on the table. 'If you find it,
it might tell you that way. So I tell people, like I do now, to you, the
right way it happened. The true way, and what we people think.
You can do that too, maybe.' (TC: 43)

The epistemic violence that is generated in the construction of the
narratives by the white settlers is brought to the fore. When Fatima refers to
"we people". it is the collective voice of the community that asserts the "true
way" and the "right way it happened" which is pitted against an individual
author's perspective. It is also a confrontation between the veracity of spoken
words and the duplicity of written texts. In the postcolonial writing, histories
are not only problematised but also rewritten from the colonised point of view.
Kim Scott rewrite\ the Aboriginal history from the Aborigines' point of view
wh~ch marks him as a postcolonial writer who is commined to his society. In
"Changing Hi\tory: New Images of Aboriginal History". Steve Hemming
opine\:
Aboriginal people have started an invasion of their own over the
la\! Icw decades--challenging the dominant "white" view of
Auhtralia'\ past. They have begun presenting their own versions of
what has happened in Australia in the last two hundred years and
bcforc and introduced a new perspective, based on The Dreaming,
of Ausualia's much longer history (18).
Therefore Billy who belongs to the Aboriginal community is entrusted with
the responsibility of writing the recorded voice of Fatima. The socio-political
climate has changed in Aboriginal Australia and hence the change in mode of
transmitting knowledge is inevitable. So Fatima teams up with Billy in the
production of the new narrative from the Aborigines' point of view. ". . . And
this tape machine. I take that eh? I can listen on it maybe do some talking on
it. You can write what I say, what we say, all together. Some of us? So people
will lesd it. and know" (TC: 43- 44).

The readership will be both Aborigi* and the non-~borig& ee
&The knowledge created in / the new narratives is also about both,
Aborigines and non-Aborigines. As Kevin Gilbert points out in his "Black
Policies":
Rewrite our Aboriginal history and remove the distortions and the
lies. (Remember, the general public of white Australia know little
of our real situation. They certainly do not realise the truth of how
much all of Australia will benefit from Aboriginal land rights. They
know little. if anything, of how we speak in our vernacular, little of
how we live or feel. They are a people kept in ignorance by the
media and governments. except in cases where public notice is
unavo~dahle or the matter makes good television). (40)
Thc western nivratlve and the Aboriginal narrative differ in purpose as they
differ in pnpective. As the former validates the white ways and justifies
colon~sation. thc latter contradicts and offers a counter-perspective of the
whole pmjcct. When Ihe colonibed take lo writing, the result is not an erasure
of colonial writings. hu~ it is an erasure of the claim to the absolutist nature of
the grand narrative\ of the west.
On another level, True Counrv is a rehuttal to the colonial educational
methods. The white benevolent settlers tried to impose western education on
the Ahoriginal children ignoring the fact of irrelevancy of the content in the
context of Ahoriginal Australia. Invariably the curriculum consisted of English
Kings, Queens. Heroes. Culture and History, which made little sense to the
indigenous children. Mudrooroo points this out in his Writing From The
Fringe:

Even the education system belongs to the coloniser and reflects the
things of Europe more than the things of Australia - with perhaps a
few tokens of Aboriginality thrown in as a goodwill gesture. Fringe
dwellers lurk on the outslurts of this system, and if they enter, they
are taken in and escorted to their place. A foreign culture is thrust
upon [hem and they recite words in a foreign tongue. (145)
Not only the syllabi were designed by the whites, those who taught them were
also whites or those who were sympathetic towards the western mode of
teaching. Since these teachers and what they taught were far removed from
their culture. the Aboriginal children showed little interest in learning the
white man's education. Hence tropes were built that the Aboriginal children
are Iuy, dull. rebellious, ni~\chievous and uncontrollable.
In the novel. True C'ounru. the white teachers of the Mission school in
Karnama share the same opinion as they simply denounce the Aboriginal
children:
Oh. 11's so frustrating. Kids that don't know how to sit still and not
getting to school until recess time. What are their parents doing?
Do they feed them? No. they are playing cards. Alex goes out to see
them. like to pet them to help with the dancing. and they are all yes
sir no sir but as soon as he is gone they forget. (TC: 23)
The teachen share a sense of racial and cultural superiority that prevents them
from wing things as they are. While they notice the indifference of the
children, they fail to trace the reason for it. In "Education: The Search for
Relevance", Howard Gmme is of the view:

In addition to the reality of verbalised racism there is a hidden or
instilulionalised racism in schools. One aspect of this is the failure
by schools and teachers to rccognise the distinctive cultural needs
of Indigenous children in their organisation, teaching and
management policies. . . . ( 179)
In the novel. when all the other white teachers of the Mission school
spend their lime in complaining about the attitude of the children. Billy goes
out of the way to help the Aboriginal children to cope with the white presence.
Every morning he gcws our to the Aboriginal settlement to wake up the
children and pets them to .school. His concern for the children makes the
parents remark:
You see them. Teacher out front and them boys sleepy walking
hehind him \on of in a line waking up. He turn his head head back
and talking soft to them. He get 'em there. He's all right that fella,
gtud teacher. He Nyungar. or what. Is he? (TC: 75)
As Billy \hares the Aboriginal descent, he mixes freely with the Aborigines
and the ch~ldren seem to enjoy his company. He goes along with Deslie for
hunting and fishing expeditions. Not only does he show love and affection. but
is also concerned with their education and hence experiments with the
teaching materials. Billy is not content with the white curriculum as it does not
meet the needs of the students. Not wanting to know the needs of the students
has been one of the pitfalls of colonial educational system. As Howard
Gmme points out in his "Education: The Search for Relevance":
Many tachen: are ignorant about contemporary Indigenous people,
their cultures, values and life styles. The House of Representatives

Select Committee (1985) found that many teachers did not
understand the attitudes and motives of Indigenous students and
were unresponsive to their needs. Until, very recently teachers have
not received guidance in their training on how to work with
Indigenous students. ( 182)
As Billy reads out the transcribed Aboriginal stories in the class, he finds out
that the students show keen interest in listening to them. Earlier, Deslie, who is
a "proper well-trained hlackfella" (TC: 172) is portrayed as a trouble-maker
and a dunce at school:
People worried abut him. he was sniffing petrol, going too wild all
round. He went to school all the time here. because they made him.
But he was clever at school. Couldn't read or write. not even his
own name. hut he was clever enough to uick the other kids, and
teachen. too. most of the time. (TC: 173)
But when Billy introduces the Aboriginal stories into the curriculum, there is a
world of difference In Deslie's attitude towards learning. Even Billy is
surpnsd to sm the .sea change in his behaviour.
It surprises him in class, how De\lie. especially. took to listening to
him reading. Even before school. Billy sat in a bean bag, and Deslie
kside him, and they read. It was as if it was a parent and very
young child.
It was funny, really, how they got on so well. He who couldn't
read or write. and he who wanted to read and write ev-ng too
much and may be too hard. (TC: 171)

Kim Scon points out to the fact that the Aborigines do not lack in
intellectual powers to learn the sophisticated learning of the west. Rather, it is
just that their interest lie elsewhere and they have the acumen to learn
anyhng that is relevant and closer to their culture. Kim Scon offers a counter-
discourse in that it is the flaw in colonial educational curriculum and teaching
slrategies that proves to be a block for the Aborigines, and there is nothing
wmng in the cerebral capabilities of the Aborigines. He also experiments with
the English language as he transcribes Aboriginal stories and cultural forms
and uses il as pan of the bchool curriculum. His novel suggests that designing
proper syllabi hy the Aborigine,, which will incorporate their traditional oral
heritage. is the need of the hour, whereby the future generation will be
educated In hoth way--efficient in the western academic skills while retaining
their strong sense of Ahoriginal identity.
Kim Scott alw) interrogates the history of colonisation of Karnama and
offers an Ahonginal perspective on the whole issue. He points out to the wilful
deletions and suppression of facts by the colonisen who constructed narratives
only to further their selfish ends. He also records the Aboriginal version of the
inc~dtnts that tnok place during the colonial encounter which runs counter to
the western narratives and addresses the epistemic violence that was generated
hy such misrepresentations.
In thc Australian literary scenario, both Mudroom and Kim Scon
employ the genre. 'novel'. to redress the wounds that the Aborigines sustain
from colonisation. While they decolonise the English language by
incorporating Aboriginal dialects and cultural forms into the standard variety,
they use the language to offer counter-discourses to the already existing
colonial discourses that were circulated during the act of colonisation.

Histories are rewritten from the Aboriginal perspective. The coloniser's
language is appmpriald to voice the suppressed feelings and the unheard cries
of the Aboriginal communities are given expression, which further the project
of decolonisation.
The role of English in the project of decolonisation is significant as it is
reworked to dismantle the colonial discourses of the colonisen. The colonial
myths are deflated as postcolonial writers offer a counter-perspective from the
colonid point of view. All six novelists discussed in this chapter express
their commitment to the society they belong, as they use English for counter-
dixunive purpose\. Rewriting of texts and rewriting histories are essential
component* of postcolonial writings where the colonial myths and
constructions are investigated and subverted, and the counter-perspectives
from the colonised point of view are validated. Though the writers deal with
different Issues that penain to their respective societies they display their
unflinching involvement towards decolonising efforts as English is
appropriated and u.wd in the anti-colonial polemics of their writing. They are
not only unhesitant to demean the coloniser's values and the western
narratives hut also give voice to the suppressed voices of their community
wh~ch are in direct conflict with the coloniser's writings.

CHAPTER - 5
SUMMING-UP
what we come round to
in the end
is that all our Lhmlung
ha< brought us nowhere
that the trail-blazing journey
has ended where it began
that thought is at best
a protection against funher thought
that the heathem we sought to save
the mar=\ to educate
need ne~ther our salvru~on
nor wr educat~on (Richard Allen 1-12)
Bntish colonisatton of the past is now regarded as one of the grave
injust~ces meted out to the itxhgenpus tribes. The western intelligentsia which
is informed hy -is fully dive to the ilk of disc~mination
on the bacis of race and colour. It also explains the reason betund the boom in
he emergence of postcolonial studies which wadis nursed within the citadels
of western academia. As postcolonial studies is increasingly becoming an
academic activity with its far- reaching theories, postcolonial writing
nevertheless achieves its significance in the postcolonial expuiences that are
wrinen and published by the hitherto suppmsed voices.
Though writing is not a western invention, writing in Ea~glish as an
exmix certainly began in the colonies, only in the wake of colonisation. The
gift of English language boomeranged on the colonisers when the wlonised
finally found their suppressed voice hugh thew writing. Since writers sn
IIIC products of their society and an conditioned by thek social milieu,
postcolonial wrim ~ t as a c mouthpiece for their people to cxpss the

counter-discursive perspactives of colonisation, their precolonial traditional
and cultural life and the present postcolonial scenario of their societies. As
they investigate the dominant discourses they posit a new relationship between
narrative and experience. Since the colonised were interpellated through
powerful colonial representations, postcolonial writers reverse the gwz upon
the colonisers even a$ their writings pass off as a ubiquitous symbol for
valorising the local culture. This practice of re-inscribing the coloniser in a
perspective hat subverts the colonial stance is one of the powerful strategies
used by postcolonial writers for their recuperation and empowerment.
One of the aims of postcolonial writing is its endeavour to decolonise
the colonial ramifications that have made an indelible mark on the life of the
ex-colonid. Though the active period of colonisation has come to a grinding
halt. its repercussions are felt in almost all walks of life which the pos~lonial
wnter has to come to grip with. It is under these circumstances English
inserts ~tself into the political discourse. As it is the language of the colonisers
in the historical sense and is cornplicit in the project of colonisation, the use of
English by postcolonial writers is seen as a deliberate political act. As the
writers prefer English to their mother tongue, it can be argued that these
writers do na consider English as a hunch in their back but rather they get
reconciled with their postcolonial scenano by the cnative handling of the
language. The difficulties in using a foreign language to express the cultural
experiences of the colonised are resolved to an extent when the writer
appopria~~~ the language and alters it to suit his native experience through
various strategies. In postcolonial writing, there is nothing ssrrosaact h t
the conventional form of English as the writus utpaimmt with the language
by wilfully distoning it. No thought is given or any effort taken to main the
standard fom of English as it is fused with native cultural terms which bring it

closer to the lives of the colonised. Therefore in postcolonial writing, even
though English is used as the medium of communication, every effort is taken
to decolonise the language in its form and content. The myth of the superiority
of English is taken to task as the native cultwal terms invade the language to
mark the cultural hybridity of the colonised societies. The writers do not
kitale to give vent to their anger as they use the language and distort it to
look and sound ridiculous. As they write decolonising fictions, they also see to
it hat English is decolonised in the first place. The images and metaphon are
creatively used alongside the insrtion of local varieties and cultural terms as
the language is distanced from its colonial associations and is brought closer to
the postcolonial life of the colonised. As the form of the language is nativised,
postcolonial writers commandeer the language to bear the burden of their
cultural experience as hey interrogate the colonial dtscourses and offer a
rebut;tl to the colonial constructions. Postcolonial writen express theiu
~ncreased involvement with the use of English as they employ different
stralegies lo appropriate the language and use it for their ideoloprcal purposes.
TAng these factors into consideration. an attempt has been made in
the course of this study to analyse the use of English in the postcolonial fiction
chosen for scrutiny. English becomes more lhaa a medium as the writen
incorporate it into the thematic pattern of their fiction. Though the novels
chosen for study. Gabriel Okara's Thc Voicc. I- Ngugi's A Gmin of
Whmr, Sam Selvon's Moscs Ascending. Wilson Hanis's Palace of thc
Pcwock. Narogin Mudrooroo's Doin Wildcat: A Novcl Kmri Script and Kim
Scott's True COW^ have been written from different social milieu. all the
writas reveal their marked interest in the deployment of the bghsh language.
As postcolonial writen they are aware of the problems tha~ come atong with
the choice md use of English. Therefore English is decobnised even as it is

used in the making of a postcolonial novel. The writers use decolonised
'englishes' to address their postcolonial concerns which ultimately serve the
purpose of dccolonisation. As the language is appropriated thcy use it to assert
their native life and culture and also offer counterdiscourse to herald the
political implications of their writing. The process of decolonisation is
funhered as poslcolonial writers address it not only at the content level of their
writing but also at the formal level where English is decolonised and
appropriated.
Therefore after problematising the position of English in post-colonial
societies and in postcolonial writing. an attempt has been made to study how
each writer uses different strategies to nativise the English language aad
insem it into he grid of decolonisation. Okara in 77w Voice fuses his native
ljaw patterns into the English language and uses relexification effectively;
Ngug~ In A Grain r,f Whcar incorporates his Kenyan cultural terms and
Afncanises the language; Selvon in Moses as rend in^ uses a wide variety of
'engl~shes' and fuses it with the standard variety of English to highlight the
cultural hyhndity of the Caribbean society and the creativity that marks the
speech of West Indian society: Hanis in Pakc of the Pcaock experiments
with the Caribbean Creole and brings a touch of reality to his novel: in Doin
Wildcar Mudrooroo experiments with the dialects of his Aboriginal
community and captures the language of his marginalised society; Kim Scott
in True Counrry incorporates the Aboriginal variety of English with its tribal
idiom to authenticate his writing.
Although these writers use different sIra~cgies to dvise the language
to malre it nlevant to the context of their writing, the point of convergence
that & thcir postcolonial &stance ties in their will to violate thc
conventiod form of English. While miters like Okam and Selvon indulge in

explicit expcrimenlalions by breaking the grammatical rules of English, other
writers do it in a subtle manner. By incorporating the language varieties of the
mar~nalised people. these writers attempt to etase he boundaries of standard
and variant and thmby subvert the hierarchies that pertain to the language of
the colonised. Therefore though the medium of writing is English. it is not the
standard variety of English that these writen strive to retain. As native
varieties are fused with the standard variety, new words arc coined and new
meanings are aqsipned to the new usages of English. The language is
decolonised even as it is appropriated by these writers who use it creatively for
their ideological interests.
While the language 1s decolonised at the formal level. these writers
deploy the language to address their postcolonial concerns when it is used for
their cultural assertion and to counter the colonial discourses. The colonial
representations produced a negative image of the colonised culture which
helped the cause of cultural imperialism of the west. Everytfung pertaining to
the colonised was simply dismissed as primitive. wild and barbaric. The
nadver were taught to give up their cultural practices and instead were forced
lo learn the ways of the imperial masten which was a necessary first step in
the civilising project of the colonisers.
Therefore postcolonial writen take it upon themselves to assert their
native culture and subvert the hierarches. The native Me of the colonised is
given its due significance and the negative images that were consbuctad upon
the lives of the natives are effaced. The land. life. tradition and culture of the
wlonised societies are celebrated using the same language that was used in
colonial writings that were demmental to the colwised.
In The Voice, Okm creatively uses the figures of speech to evoke the
nuPl life of Nigeria. He also borrows elements from his oral tradition to

project his ljaw culture. Ngugi'r A Grain of Wheat is a situationid novel where
he affirms the life of a remote village in Kenya. He captures the songs, daoces
and other cultural artefacts and validates their significance to the Africans.
Harris in Palurr of the Pcucock. creatively uses the landscape to enable a
reconciliation with the fractured past of the West Indan individuals. The
characters of the novel. through their language of consciousaess wmmunicate
with their physical environment and strike an affinity with it. In Moses
Ascending. Selvon while pointing out the problems of acculturation which
concern a black West Indian immigrant takes a dig at the western culture and
the hypocritical nature of their ideologies. He also calls for the assertion of
native culture and the need to be true to one's identity. Mudrooroo in Doin
Wildcar. incorporates Aboriginal stories and songs and points out the'u
significance to the life of an Aborigine. Kim Swn in True Counrp celebrates
the topography of the land In Kamama and revives the lost relation- with
Abonglnal culture. He also transcribes Aboriginal stories and highlights their
importance to the younger generation of the Aboriginal wmrnunity.
As language and culture are inextricably intenwid. these writers fuse
thelr natlve cultural components as part of their project of de~010~Sation. 'lhe
language is used creatively so as to accommodate the oral literary forms which
assen the native life and culture. While cultural imperialism created negative
images and &sranced the natives from their uaditioaal cultwe. poslcolonial
writers aim to valoria and celebrate their native culture in or& to help the
colonised to get reconciled with their past. dfm their identity and to revive
their relationship with the tradtional culture.
Since English provides the scope to write back to the centre, these
postcolonial novelists confront the various colonial discourses that were
constructed aad circulated during the pmcess of coloniwion. Now th.t the

colonisad have taken to writing and speak for themselves, tbey offer counter-
discourses as part of their postcolonial response. Colonial myths are punctured
as truths from the colonised point of view are affumed. Histories are re-
constructed from an alter perspective and texts that promoted colonial
ideologies are rewritten. The construction of counter-discourses by
postcolonial novelis& is one of the recuperative strategies used in the
restoration of facts and retrieval of suppressed truths that enhance their project
of dccolonisation.
In the novels studied. Okara in The Voice. deflates the myth of the
supenority of colonial education and instead valorises the traditional wisdom;
Ngugi in A Grain o/ Wheur, rewrites the Kenyan political history as he
validates the Mau Mau party and points out its significant part in the Kenyan
freedom struggle. He also highlights the negative impact of colonial education
on the African individuals who become estranged from their community and
Afncan values: Selvon's Mt>ses Ascendin8 is a rewriting of Defoe's Robinron
C'rusoe and Shakespeare's The Tempsr. He suhvem various western
conventional hinanes and politically stereotyped discourses and addresses the
politics of repsentation: Harris in Palace of the Peacock, points out the
futility of the whole process of colonisation as the principal character who
represents the coloniser mlises his folly of bying to gain control over the land
and people. Harris brings in the native Aboriginal pmeacc of he Caribbean
islands and captures the motif of resistance that prvades the whok scenario:
Mubooroo in &nn Wildcar returns to his earlier novel Wild Gu Fallmg and
rewrites it to expose the politics that was involved in the making of the novel.
He also counters various discoluses that were coas~ucted around the life of
the Aborigines: and in True Country, Kim Scan rewrites the colonial history
of K a m and unearths the violence that was sup+ in the western

narratives. He also offers a counter-perspective to the colonial educational
methods and highlights its irrelevancy to the cultural context of an Aboriginal
society.
In postcolonial writing, English is seen as the language of power and
hence becomes a site for contestation as postcolonial writers defy the
conventional rules and standards that govern the fonn of the language. They
wilfully break the set standards and appropriate it by fusing their native
varieties and experimental forms to make it culturally relevant to their society.
Decolonisation rakes place not only at the formal level but also at the content
level as thew writers valorise their native culture to assert their cultural
identity and rewrite histories as well as offer counterdiscourses to expose the
p>llt~cs of reprewntation which was responsible for the consuuction of the
dehased ~denttty of the colonised.
All the six novelists chosen for study express their unflinching
~nvolvement with the politics of using English as their vehicle of
communication. They decolonise the English language from its colonial
nsmclatlons hy using different strategies and manoeuvre the language to serve
their desired ideological ends. As the content of their writing is essentially
p)lit~cal. it is paramount to the understanding of the role of English to notice
how English is reworked and refashioned to Sene as an effective tool to
counter the ideologies of colonisation. Therefote. as English is decolonised it
hecomes a potent force in postcolonial writing that is skilfully commandeered
to address the various postcolonial concerns of the colonised societies and
funher the cause of decoionisation.
Since this study rcsvicts itself to the examination of male writers, it
could be a worthwhile project if a scholar were to scmtinise the postcolonial
response of women writers and their treatment of the English language as their

experiences are loaded with colonial oppression as well as the patriarchal
suppression. It also would be an enterprising project if one were to compare
male and female postcolonial novelists and study the similarities and
differences in their usage of the English language.
As English is increasingly becoming a topic of interest especially in the
present global context. the present study is an initial step towards
understanding the varied reception of English in erstwhile colonial societies
and their creative use of it in their fictions.

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