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Doris Lessing and Postcolonialism

The short story explores themes of colonialism through the eyes of a child living in colonial Africa. It questions the racist discrimination that was taught to children as normal. Through an encounter with an African chief, the child begins to see the local people differently and acknowledges that her people are the colonizers who have taken the land from its rightful owners. The story gives a voice to the native perspective and shows how colonialism made the local people foreigners in their own country.

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Karunika Kardak
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634 views

Doris Lessing and Postcolonialism

The short story explores themes of colonialism through the eyes of a child living in colonial Africa. It questions the racist discrimination that was taught to children as normal. Through an encounter with an African chief, the child begins to see the local people differently and acknowledges that her people are the colonizers who have taken the land from its rightful owners. The story gives a voice to the native perspective and shows how colonialism made the local people foreigners in their own country.

Uploaded by

Karunika Kardak
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Old Chief Mshlanga Doris Lessing

Themes in the short story: Colonialism elaborates on the phenomenon of colonialism and the racism that accompanies it The colonizers/oppressors experience of the colonization. The colonizer here is a child whose experience is quite different from an adult who has grown up in England and the foreign land is just another part of the world that has to be civilised. But for the child, who was bred in country, it is no longer just a foreign land for her. She wants to identify with the land as her own. For her, England is the far away foreign land. The other landscape in my mind faded and my feet struck directly on to the African soil. Questions the basis of this discrimination and colonialism There is a certain realisation that the discrimination doesnt have any basis in any concrete rational ideology. Along with that, the narrator realises that the discrimination is taught. the child was taught to take them for granted page 14. After this sentence, the speaker narrates two relatively normal incidents from her childhood which she seems to be ashamed about. The story questions the set norms further when the child has an encounter with the Chief and from thereon she feels comfortable being in the presence of the natives on the streets and offers them greetings. Page 17: it seemed quite easy. Postcolonialism? Realisation of the fact that she and her people are the destroyer. Page 22 Page 24: acknowledging the fact that the colonizer has stolen land from the natives. It is a huge step towards postcolonialism. Though it is written by a British writer, the voice of the native is still heard in the text which makes it postcolonial. The other The natives have become the foreigners in their own country; through the childs eyes, the Africans are the foreigners, they are different. They are supposed to be treated differently. But when the girl visits the village, she realises that she is the migrant. Her family is the one without roots in this place. Page 21

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