PERSPECTIVES ON COLONIALISM
A STUDY OF NGUGI WA THIONGO AND MICERE MUGO’S
THE TRIAL OF DEDAN KIMATHI AND ATHOL FUGARD’S
SIZWE BANSI IS DEAD
BY
AJIBOYE OREOLUWA OPEYEMI
MATRIC NO: 07/15CD037
AN ESSAY SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF
MODERN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES, FACULTY OF ARTS,
UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, KWARA STATE, NIGERIA.
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
(HONS) IN ENGLISH
MAY, 2011.
CERTIFICATION
This research work has been read and approved as having met the
requirements for the award of Bachelor Arts (Honours) in English Department,
Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
_______________________
PROJECT SUPERVISOR
_____________________
DATE
_______________________
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
_____________________
DATE
_______________________
EXTERNAL SUPERVISOR
_____________________
DATE
ii
DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to Almighty God, the King of Kings, the I am that I
am, the rock of ages and to my loving family: My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ajiboye
and my siblings, Foluke, Bukayo and Boluwatife.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, I want to give thanks and praises to God Who has been
really faithful to me in all ways. I thank Him for provision, guidance, protection,
good health throughout my stay in University of Ilorin.
I also want to sincerely thank and appreciate the efforts of Dr. O.I.
Dunmade, my supervisor, for his assistance and guidance during the cause of this
project. I wish him the very best of luck in life.
I also want to really appreciate the efforts of my loving parents Mr. and
Mrs. Ajiboye for their moral, financial, spiritual and physical support. May the
Lord continue to bless and keep them in good health to be able to reap the fruit of
their labour (Amen). Also, I thank my siblings, Foluke, Bukayo and Bolu, for
their encouragement.
Finally, I want express my gratitude to my friends for their contributions
one way or the other. Friends like Seye Odanaogun, Tomilola Alao, Tunde
Odebunmi, Tunde Ayeni, Biola Usman, Muyideen Ayinla. I wish them success in
all their endeavours. I appreciate both Dr. (Mrs) Omede, a very caring mother for
her support right from the beginning of my stay in Unilorin and Owen Omede,
who is also like a brother to me.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
i
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgments
iv
Table of Contents
vi
Abstract
vii
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.0
Introduction
1
1.1
Background of the Study
4
1.2
Aims of Study
10
1.3
Justification
11
1.4
Scope and Delimitation
11
1.5
Methodology
12
1.6
Organization of chapters
12
1.6
Literature Review
13
CHAPTER TWO
Perspectives on Colonialism in Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s
and Mugo Micere’s The Trial of Dedan Kimalhi
21
CHAPTER THREE
Perspectives on Colonialism in Athol Fugard’s
Sizwe Bansi is Dead
45
CHAPTER FOUR
Comparative Study of both Plays and Summary
71
Bibliography
77
v
ABSTRACT
Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Micere Mugo’s The Trial of Dedan Kimathi and
Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead treat colonialism, the building and
maintaining of colonies in one territory by people from another territory.
Colonialism is the child of capitalism and what capitalism seeks out to do is to
maximize profit at the expense of labour. This study aims at analyzing both texts
as responses to colonialism and the ills that it breeds. The study examines
apartheid as a product of colonialism in Fugard’s play and treat colonialsm perse
in the other play. It shows that colonialism breeds ills such as racism, alienation
oppression and capitalism. Colonialism is the.
Colonialism is the subject matter of the two plays the playwrights examine
the preoccupation from different perspective but are agreed that colonialism is
injurious to the colony.
vi
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Perspectives on Colonialism in Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead and
Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Micere Mugo’s The Trial of Dedan Kimathi.
1.0
INTRODUCTION
Colonialism is the building and maintaining of colonies in one territory by
people from another territory. Colonialism came into being from the 15th century
to the late 19th century when nations of Europe established colonies in other
countries. The reasons for the practice of colonialism at this time include
economic, political, religious and cultural reasons. The Standford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy uses the term ‘colonialism’ to describe the process of European
settlement and political control over the rest of the world including America,
Australia and parts of Africa and Asia.
This study is on the perspectives on colonialism in Athol Fugard’s Sizwe
Bansi Is Dead and Ngugi wa Thongo and Micere Mugo’s The Trial of Dedan
Kimathi. It focuses on the three African playwrights and their treatment of
colonialism. Athol Fugard is a world acclaimed African writer and his works are
unique. He uses his work as an instrument for social mobilization and change. He
was born in Middleburg, South Africa. He describes himself as an Afrikaneer
writing in English. He is a playwright, novelist, actor and most of his plays are
always set in South Africa and steeped in the politics of the day (apartheid then
1
and now post-apartheid). Fugard says, “(my) real territory as a dramatist is the
world of secrets with their powerful effect on human behavior and trauma of the
revelation. Whether it is the radiant secret in Miss Helen’s heart or the withering
one in Boesman’s or the dark and destructive one in Gladys, they are the dynamo
that generates all the significant actions in my play.”
Ngugi Wa Thiongo is a writer of international repute, a Kenyan,teacher,
playwright, novelist and essayists, whose works function as an important link
between the pioneers of African writing and the younger generation of post
colonial writers. He was born in Kamiriithu in Kenya in 1938 as the fifth child of
the third of his father’s four wives. After imprisonment in 1978 for a year without
trial, Ngugi abandoned using English as the primary language of his work in
favour of Gikuyu his native language. The transition from colonialism to postcoloniality and the crisis of modernity has been a central issue in Ngugi’s writing.
Ngugi prefers his native language to English language; he sees the latter as
a sign of colonialism. In ‘On the Abolition of English Department, (1968; 467) an
article he wrote with Taban Lo Liyong and Henry Ownor – Anyumba, he says, “If
there is need for a study of historic continuity of a single culture; why can’t this
be African? Why can’t African literature be at the centre so that we can view
other cultures in relationship to it?”1 This shows his total resentment and he finds
the power of pen invaluable to work for a desired change.
2
Micere Mugo is a well known African poet, playwright, scholar,
instructor, professor of African – American studies. She was born in 1942 in
Bancho. Kenya-born Micere Githae Mugo’s English language verse and drama
draw heavily upon indigenous African cultural traditions. As a critic, she has
written extensively on contemporary African literature. Mugo was forced to
depart Kenya in 1982 after becoming the target of official government
harassment. He has worked, written and taught abroad in the years since. She is a
professor of African Studies at Syracuse University in New York State. “Mugo is
a poet with a mission in her society which embraces the black race, the
underprivileged class and her specific female gender”, remarked World Literature
Today reviewer Tanure Olajide. “She appears to speak for African and blacks,
women and the down trodden”. Her adolescence was disturbed by the MauMau
uprising which endured from 1952-1956. This armed revolt against the British
colonial government and its economic and social discrimination brought much
bloodshed to threat to her life. Mugo is seen as a woman of the people, for the
people and her gender.
1.1
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Colonialism is a process whereby sovereignty over the colony is obtained
by the metropole and social structure, government economy within the territory of
the colony are changed by the colonists. It is a certain set of unequal relationship
between metropole and colony and between the colonists and the indigenous
3
population. Colonialism normally refers to the period from the 15th to the 19th
centuries when the nations of Europe established colonies in other continents. The
reasons for the practice of colonialism at this time include the profit to be made,
the need to expand the power of metropole or escape persecution in the metropole
and to spread the coloniest way of life including religious and political beliefs.
Collins English Dictionary defines colonialism as the policy of acquiring
and maintaining colonies especially for exploitation. The Standford Encyclopedia
of philosophy uses the term ‘colonialism’ to describe the process of European
settlement and political control over the rest of the world, including America,
Australia and parts of Africa and Asia2.
In Africa, colonialism brought a new dimension into the concept of land
and various other aspects of the culture of the African people. Colonialism is the
child of capitalism and what capitalism seeks to do is the maximization of profit
at the expenses of labour. Therefore, the incursion of the settlers into Africa is an
attempt to utilize, to the maximum all resources both human and material
resources that are available there. Capitalism can be said to be individualisitic in
nature while the already existing system in Africa is communal and this points out
the fact the two systems negates each other. Walter Rodney (1972; 4), argues that,
Many writers would concede, at least partially that
colonization was a system which functioned well in the
interest of the metropoles. Such writer, would however
4
raise another issue on how much Europeans did for Africa
and it is necessary to draw up a ‘balance sheet of
colonialism’ Quite often they will conclude that the good
outweighs the bad. He concludes that ‘colonialism’ had
only one hand. It was a one-aimed benefit.
It could be based on the above fact that the British came to Africa with the
major aim of exploitation and in the process of exploitation; the Africans were
oppressed and alienated. Exploitation in this context means the system whereby
the British came and used all resources both human and natural resources selfishly
to serves their own interest. Through their superior weapons, technology and the
use of religion, as the case may be, the Whiteman took over the land from the
Africans and turned them slaves on their own land. Africans were subjected to the
worst form of colonization which is slavery. Able bodied men, women and
children were forcefully taken away across the sea from Africa to a new world to
work on the sugarcane, cotton and tobacco plantations and other places outside
the continent.
Maurice Comfort (1962; 6) states that, “The exploiters, as a class seek all
means to consolidate their property, to extract more surplus labour and to increase
their wealth”. This means that if colonialists were exploiters and oppressors: they
maltreated the Africans and extorted all they could from them and their land. The
Africans were thrown into jail at the slightest provocation, curfew and state of
5
emergency were declared at any time. African writers explore this sociopolitics in
their works. An example of this reflection is when Njeri and Kori, the wife and
son of Ngotho in Weep not Child by Ngugi Wa Thiongo, are arrested at Ngotho’s
door step and all he, Ngotho could do is just watch. This reflects a terrible kind of
oppression when a man watches his family being taken away without being able
to defend them.
Another evil of colonialism is total alienation of the black people.
Alienation is the estrangement of a man and even a society from what seems to be
the totality of existence. An African man who works as a labourer on the farm
loses interest in the society because he has been turned into an alien in his home.
Alienation during colonization comes in different forms one of which is political
alienation. This estrangement occurs when the people are not allowed to
participate in the government of their land and they do not enjoy the government
imposed on them. For instance, politics which is a game of governance and which
is intended to provide peaceful atmosphere is threatened and citizens are denied
their rights. Political alienation may give rise to class distinction. As a result, we
have the privileged class living in opulence in the society while the masses
(commoners) wallow in abject poverty.
Another is economic alienation: This arises when Africans who are
engaged in hard labour get next to nothing and those who do nothing get the bulk
of the profit. Africans who severed as labourers were made to all do the work.
6
They work in factories, mines and sawmills. For example, Ngotho in Weep Not
Child by Ngugi Wa Thiongo get just little for his service while the bulk of the
gain is enjoyed by Mr. Howland who sits in his office doing nothing. It is
however the opinion of some people that labour is treated by capitalistics
inclination. This means that it is an attempt to make gain that capital employs
labour, which means that the less the money that goes to labour, the more the gain
or capital. The aim of capitalism is to maximize interest at the expense of labour
thereby disallowing people from enjoying the fruit of their labour.
Cultural alienation is yet another. The culture of the Africa people, their
religion, mode of dressing, food, language etc. were considered by the colonizers
as inferior and they therefore work that they be discarded. The settlers’ religion
became the only religion acceptable and the Africans are discouraged from going
about their own way of life and therefore their culture, religion and language were
imposed on them
Psychological alienation is also part of the sufferings of the black people.
It can be regarded an outcome of the totality of the political, economic and
cultural alienation. Psychological alienation is characterized by frustration,
violence, aggression, failure, disappointment etc. In A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi
Wa Thiongo, Mugo is artistically portrayed as a character in a state of
psychological tension. He is isolated and alienated.
7
1.2
AIMS OF STUDY
The purpose of this study is to examine the different ways the play wrights
have responded to colonialism in Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Banzi is Dead and Ngugi
Wa Thiongo and Micere Mugo’s The Trial of Dedan Kimathi. The work aims at
analyzing both texts and their portrayal of colonialism. Athol Fugard’s Sizwe
Bansi is Dead responds to colonialism within a social – context while, The Trial
of Dedan Kimathi by Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Micere Mugo responds to the
ideology within a political context. This means that the study will specifically
focus on social and political responses to colonialism in the two plays.
1.3
JUSTIFICATION
Many works have been done on colonialization in African plays among
them are Sizwe Banzi is Dead by Athol Fugard and The Trial of Dedan Kimathi
by Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Micere Mugo, but the two plays have hardly been
together a subject of study. The need to compare the two plays within a colonial
framework justifies this research.
1.4
SCOPE AND DELIMITATION
This study will only focus on colonialism in the plays used in this study.
We shall give an analysis of the two texts used in this research and the study will
discuss colonization explored in the plays. In this study, we will only limit
ourselves to the Perspectives in Colonialism in Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is
Dead and Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Micere Mugo’s The Trial of Dedan Kimathi.
8
The research work has four variables which are: Perspectives, Colonialism, Athol
Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead and Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Mugo Micere’s The
Trial of Dedan Kimathi.
1.5
METHODOLOGY
The data for this study will be gathered from the library, internet, and the
method is descriptive.
1.6
ORGANIZATION OF CHAPTERS
This study will have four chapters. Chapter one will include the general
introduction and literature review. General introduction will be about the main
focus of the research work, the definitions of the keyword ‘colonialism’.
Literature review will examine what previous researchers have done that is
relevant to our topic.
Chapter two will be on Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead. It will be an
analysis of the play and on Fugard’s response to colonialism.
Chapter three will be on Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Mugo Micere’s The Trial
of Dedan Kimathi. It will be the analysis of the play and on Ngugi and Mugo’s
response to colonialism in it.
The last chapter which is chapter four will be on the conclusion, a
comparative study of both plays and the bibliography.
9
1.7
LITERATURE REVIEW
There is no doubt that African writers reflect their societies through their
work. Therefore it is pertinent to discuss those writers who have had one thing or
the other to say on the concern of this study. According to Marie Rose (2006;2),
The genesis of Sizwe Bansi is Dead can be traced to
Fugard’s experience as a law clerk at the Native
Commissioner’s court in Johannesburg. At that time, it was
required that every black and coloured citizen over the age
of sixteen carried (sic) an identity book that restricted
employment and travel within the country. In court, Fugard
saw the repercussions of this law: blacks were sent to jail at
an alarming rate.
Marie Rose (2006; 2) also says,
Although, these restrictions are specifically in
South Africa, critics have noted the play’s greater
theme of identity is universal
Sizwe Bansi is Dead is a rich play and its richness is evident in that it can
be related to different forms of drama. It is apt to quote Rose again:
Critics and scholars have also observed that Sizwe Bansi is
Dead contains elements of absurdism, especially its sparse
settings and surreal subject matter.
10
In the view of Andre Brink (1993; 2),
Reading of Fugard’s dramaturgy in Sizwe Bansi returns us
to what himself at a time when he was a particularly
enthusiastic exponent of Jerzy Poor Theatre regarded as
basic to the theatrical experience an “immediate and direct
relationship with our audience.
It means that for a more comprehensive evaluation of the interaction
between aesthetics and politics we should look at the text as performance, that is
part of an experience that has no outside to it.
In the narrowest sense, the play can be read as a response by a group of
artists to the challenge of the sociopolitical situation. In view of this, Andre Brink
(1993;2) also says,
Much of the impact of this moment in Sizwe Bansi derives
from the way in which it represents an interface between
the play’s two key dimension: the socio-political and
existential.
Kauffman Stanley dismisses the play as “superficial” because it is, he
believes only about the troubles of South African blacks (Rev of Sizwe 26). On
the other hand, it is well known that Fugard has always aimed at transcending the
merely sociopolitical.
11
Significantly, in the seven-page introduction that precedes the three
statement play, Fugard concerns himself with some of the dramaturgical and
philosophical problems he confronted in them without a single reference to their
ideological or sociopolitical context. In Corroborating this, John Kani (1967;7)
provides a cameo of Fugard as a director trying to outwit the censors.
Fugard exposes all the racial problems that the blacks are facing in
America and South Africa. Every other writer before, around and after them make
protest pronounced in their works.
Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Micere Mugo’s The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is
perhaps one of the most ideologically charged, even one of the most intellectually
overplayed characters in the entire corpus of modern African drama. Ngugi is one
of the most ideologically committed writers in Africa owing to his prominence
and consistency in African literary circle. In view of this Gerald Moore (1980; 1)
says, “Few African writers have achieved a development as rapid and drastic as
that of Ngugi in the half dozen/years.” Ngugi no doubt has been an eloquent
exponent of social and political view; His aims and objectives as an artist are to
create awareness among the downtrodden masses who are being day to day
robbed.
Similarly, W.J. Howard (1973;102) believes that “Ngugi’s Wa Thiongo
has decided to become more deeply involved in the social condition of his people.
He further stresses that Ngugi’s involvement has been expanded to his day-to-day
12
life as a Kenyan. He is also of the opinion that A Grain of Wheat (1967) marks
the return of Ngugi from Leeds and also marks that would be seen as a new phase
in his career”
It is clear that Ngugi’s work centre around the masses in his society and
their liberation. Ngugi in his book titled Writers in Politics is of the opinion that
every writer is a writer in politics because literature cannot escape from the forces
of struggle and contradictions that pervade and shape everyday in life.
Emenyonu and B.C. Oguzie (1989; 3) says “Ngugi has become one of the
greatest literary artists in Africa today because of the skill and variety of his
literary device. He will be remembered for a long time for his versatile literary
skill.”10 Technically and aesthetically, A Grain of Wheat reflects a decided
change in Ngugi’s literary career. With multiple points of view and fragmentation
of narrative by unchronological arrangement of events; A Grain of Wheat bears
the stamp of socialist influence.
Nwankwo (1992;4) also agues that;
The study or reading of Ngugi’s work is not complete
without an effort to understand how he arrived at certain
kinds of preoccupation in his creative work. Explanation
for instance, of his obsession with violence and other
preoccupations such as his frequent criticism of Christian
13
and religious leaders, could readily be found in
circumstances surrounding his early life and career.”
The artistic work of Ngugi is richly blessed with natural aesthetics; this
gives the reason why his reader easily exploits beauties and message of any of his
works available to them, most especially A Grain of Wheat. In support of this
assertion, David Cook (1977;5) says,
A Grain of Wheat is a well planned and well constructed
novel. In his early writing, Ngugi’s scenes were not brief
and disjointed to allow a truly intimate development of
characters. In this novel, he has developed a technique for
conveying continuity comparable to a cine camera
following a character from place to place so that even when
the background is constantly shifting, the separate parts are
held together by a particular figure.
Despite the praises showered on Ngugi by these critics, some still have
some things against his works and vision. According to Soyinka and Achebe
(1972; 8),
Ngugi as an African writer was in the danger of becoming
too fascinated by yesterday of his people and forgetting the
present. He forgot that his society was no long peasant with
ownership
of
means
production,
14
with
communal
celebration of joy and victory, communal sharing of sorrow
and bereavement, his society was no longer organized on
egalitarian principle; conflict between the convergent,
elitist, middle class and masses were developing their seeds
being in the colonial pattern of social and economic
development. And when he worked up to his task, he was
not a little surprised that events in post independence in
Africa could take that turn they had taken.
Actually history is a powerful element or source for Ngugu’s works. He is
always conscious of the past of his people just like what Soyinka and Achebe said
about him. Ngugi should take into cognizance that there should be progress and
evaluation in ones society. People’s past is their history and history is meant be
studied that one may understand one’s past and march it with the present and plan
for the future.
15
CHAPTER TWO
THE TRIAL OF DEDAN KIMATHI
Ngugi and Mugo’s The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is the text that this chapter
intends to examine. As indicated above, Ngugi’s The Trial of Dedan Kimathi was
jointly written with his colleague Mugo Micere and published for the first time in
1976. It is essentially an historical play that tries to construct a prominent
historical figure (Dedan Kimathi). Ngugi and Micere (1976;8) have surmised the
mission in this play as follows
We agreed that the most important thing was for us to
construct imaginatively our history envisioning the world
of Mau Mau and Kimathi interms of the peasants and
workers struggle before and after independence.
The two authors continue from the same page and state that,
Although, the play is titled ‘that’ it is not in any way a
reproduction of a farcical that at Nyeri but rather an
imaginative reaction and interpretation of the collective
will of the Kenya Peasants and workers in their refusal to
break over sixty years
Of colonial and ruthless oppression by
the British ruling class.
16
THE PLOT OF THE TRIAL OF DEDAN KIMATHI
Plot is the story line of a literary piece of work arrange sequentially in the
order of the unfolding events. It sheds more light ob literary piece of work for
readers who haven’t read the piece of work before. The plot can be divided into
three phases: the beginning, the middle and the end.
The beginning of the plot set the action in motion. It is also an intellectual
formulation of incidents. The middle of the plot is about how the incidents /
events from the beginning generate into a conflict. Then the conflict attains its
peak (climax) and this is the moment of greatest tension in the play. It is at this
point that the play is moving to an end where the conflict tension is finally
resolved. The end is the critical moment in the final determination of the play.
In The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, the play opens with kimathi in the court
room with a white judge presiding. Kimathi is accused of being in possession of
firearms (a revolver without a license, contrary to section 89 of the penal code),
on October 21st 1956 near Ihuru in Nyeri District. Kimathi is asked if he is guilty
or not but he remains silent. In the first movement, the way the natives are being
treated by a fellow black man is presented. The natives are enslaved and
maltreated in exchange for material things. The very opening of the play
represents interesting contours to the power dimension that perhaps Kimathi
creators in this play were not even thinking about. During this harassment of the
black people, a woman walks into the mouth of a gun. She is described as a “good
17
looking woman, strongly built, versatile, full of energy. A mother, a fighter, all in
one’’. She is harassed by a white man called Johnie on her way to the market to
sell some goods.
After she is allowed to go, she meets a boy and a girl arguing and fighting
over money. She separates them and asks what the matter is. The girl calls the boy
a bully and breaks away and vanishes. The boy tries to run after her, blaming the
woman for allowing the girl to escape but woman holds him firmly. Later, the
woman recognizes the boy from some where and asks him questions about his
parents and how he got to know the girl. The boy tells how the girl ran away with
his money when he told her to get a change and give him his own share of the
money after helping to unload some baggage’s from one big American lorry. The
woman refunds his money and decide to test him by giving him twenty shillings:
when the boy brings back the change, the woman decides initiating the boy into
the course of saving Kimathi from being eliminated by giving him a loaf of bread
with a gun inside to give to Kimathi.
Twice Kimathi is brought to court for the same charge which is sustained
throughout out the entire play but Kimathi will not admit to a “white judge sit in
judgement over him”. 25
Due to the unsuccessful court cases, Kimathi is tried in
his cell with the aim of persuading him to sign the agreement and call for
ceasefire. The first trial involves Shaw Henderson who attempts to use his
closeness with Kimathi to persuade him. The second involves bankers, Indian and
18
an Africa, they came to plead and persuade him to join force with the imperialism.
The third trial is when a business executive, a priest and a politician (all Africans)
attempts to dissuade Kimathi from continuing with the struggle. The fourth and
the last trial is when Henderson after all the efforts to convince Kimathi is not
successful decides to use force.
The trials reveal the ruthlessness of the colonial masters against the pocket
of resistance and their avowed mastery of treachery and exploitation. They
deceive the feeble minded Kenyans to testify against Kimathi for a token
gratification. Such traitors against the people’s collective will and struggle are
revealed in the mock trial at Nyandarua forest. They include Hungu, Gati, Gaceru,
and Wambararia, who is Kimathi’s brother. In the end, death sentence by hanging
is passed against Kimathi, but it is quite uncertain to admit that Kimathi died
because the woman’s plot with the boy and Girl actually works out as a
pandemonium is caused in the court after the verdict.
THEMES IN THE TRIAL OF DEDAN KIMATHI
The themes in any literary work are the subject matter and also the
central idea. No literature can exist without a theme or some themes readily
presented in it. From the theme (s) the mood and tone can be easily predicted. In
The Trial of Dedan Kimathi our main aim will be on the major theme related to
colonialism like: the theme of colonial exploitation, colonial Resistance and
colonial oppression.
19
THEME OF COLONIAL EXPLOITATION
The mission of the colonial masters is to exploit the rich mineral resource
and the abundant human resources of the colony to their utmost advantage. The
historic scramble for and partition of Africa in the Berlin conference of 18841885 is replicated in the British attitude in Kenya. The colonial government is out
to exploit the black people physically and materially. The natives are used for
cheap labour; they are turned against their fellow blacks while the colonial
masters are busy celebrating their gains of exploitation.
Shaw Henderson gives the impression in his monologue, “I know all about
colonization. My father came from Scotland… we too have been ruled by the
English ... I am only fighting for my own spoils of war if you like”25. In response
to this Kimathi says, “… our people are struggling, fighting not like you to
maintain stavery, oppression, exploitation but to end slavery, exploitation”.35.
Colonial are opened for repatriation of funds from the colonized nations and their
business out fits are established to further exploit the natives.
THEME OF COLONIAL OPPRESSION
There is this ungodly and unusual feeling that blacks are inferior and
therefore should be exploited and oppressed. Those who stand in the way of the
British exploitative tendency are dehumanized, systematically ostracized or
crushed. The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is a typical example of the British torture,
exploitation and oppression. Shaw Henderson gives an impression of the British
20
feelings about Africans during the trials when he says, I’m not talking about the
law of Nyandaria jungle.”26. The general impression is that Kenyans are indeed
jungle stocks. The British settler for instance calls Kimathi a “fucking black
monkey.”28 which is the general name given to the blacks.
In the court room, whites sit apart from the blacks. This shows the sign of
racial discrimination. Every treatment meted out to the blacks shows them as
inferior and sub-human. The education given to Africa (Kenyans) is grossly
inadequate and sub-standard. Natives are deceived to betray and fight one another
for a token gift. Oppression causes the main problem in The of Trial Dedan
Kimathi because the whites consider the blacks as animals and treat them as
such. They are deprived of their rights and are turned into slaves on their own
land and made to work in dangerous places and do the most difficult tasks.
THEME OF COLONIAL RESISTANCE
The central message in the play is the struggle for the emancipation of the
black race from the strangle-hold of the British imperialism. Dedan Kimathi is the
epitome of black struggle. He leads the black into the Nyandarua forest and in the
mountain. The trials are ways to convince and persuade Kimathi to drop his vision
of a liberated Kenya. However, in spite of the lies against him, inspite of the
humiliation and torture and in spite of the campaign of calumny against him, with
the game of betrayal by some Kenyans, kimathi’s head, though bloody is
unbowed.
21
The middle aged woman who plays a masculine role as a fruit seller is
determined to swim or sink with Dedan Kimathi. Her plan to sell oranges outside
the courtroom is to device a rescue for Kimathi. For this role, she commissions
the ‘Boy’ to be part of the struggle and the ‘Girl’ who disagrees with the Boy over
money also becomes a part of the struggle.
DRAMATIC ELEMENTS IN THE TRIAL OF DEDAN KIMATHI
Dramatic element of any literary work are the essential and basic
structural aspects of that work be it a prose, drama etc. It includes:
characterization, settlings, language etc.
CHARACTERIZATION
Characterization is an important element of drama. It is through
characterization that action can be given proper form, interpretation and meaning.
Characters are therefore important not only because they give drama the picture
which makes it audible and presentable. Characters are symbols to communicate
meaning, thought, feelings and ideas. There are different types of character like:
the flat and round characters. In The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, we will only
discuss the major characters like, Kimathi, Shaw Henderson, woman, boy and
girl.
DEDAN KIMATHI
The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is a play which is tied to the experiences of
Kimathi. He is the central character or the protagonist. Dedan kimathi is a
22
freedom fighter. He is not particularly fighting for his liberation but he is in the
struggle for the total liberation of his people. As the MauMau leader, Kimathi is
involved in the guerilla war against the British colonial administration in Kenya.
He leads his people to the mountains and to the Nyandurua forest. He is a fearless
and committed fighter. He is respected by his
people. To many, he is a myth,
teaching unity and resource control. Kimathi is accused of being in “possession of
a firearm” and he is arraigned before the British court (in Kenya) presided over by
Shaw Henderson. Kenyan is offered freedom and leadership if only he should
denounce the struggle but he rejects the offer because of his determination and
because of the love he has for his people and country. Kimathi of course device
his only basis of power from the moral rectitude of what he believes to be a just
cause. This itself is the power that is responsible for the tension and urgency that
the playwrights want to define the atmosphere with.
Twice Kimathi is brought to court but to no avail because he does not
admit that he is guilty of the offence he is accused of, and he will not observe a
law he had no part in making and even worse he will not acknowledge a white
judge. When he manages to speak the second movement, it is merely to assert a
defiant resistance that would send a shock shivers any where. To quote Kimathi,
“by what right dare you a colonial judge sit in judgement over me’’. To the threat
of death that would normally go with the offence he has been accused of, he
promptly reacts in a tone and style reminiscent of sir Thomas Moore before
23
Norfolk and Cromwell in Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons,1967: “Death! To
a criminal judge in a criminal judge in a criminal court, set up by a criminal law:
the law of oppression. I have no words.”25
It is concepts, tables and thinly disguised Marxist paraphrases that actually
define Kimathi’s linguistic norms: peasant, home-guards, sell-outs, opportunists,
traitors, chauvinists re the reserve vocabulary used to describe the judge and the
repressive social, capitalist class that he represents. The Trials of Dedan Kimathi
which take place in his cell are attempts to persuade him to sign an agreement and
call for ceasefire. He is tried four times in his cell, by Herderson two times and
the priest, business executive, Indian and the bankers, who all try to deceive him
into dropping the idea of the struggle but he refuses. Kimathi is worried by
continued suffering of his people and he remarks in one of his outburst, “How
long shall we… allow our people to continue, slaves of hunger, disease, sorrow,
in our lands, while foreigners eat and snore in bed with fullness”.38 Though
Kimathi is betrayed by his fellow blacks especially his brother, Wambararia, he
still continues in the struggle.
As a freedom fighter, Kimathi is gifted with the power of resilience. Even
in chains, he challenges Shaw Henderson for a physical fight. He is not
discouraged by the torture but he believes that the struggle, even without him will
yield a positive end. He is later sentenced to death by hanging by Shaw
Henderson but it is not quite clear if Kimathi is hanged or not because of the
24
confusion that erupts in the court after the pronouncement and the sporadic
shooting leaves every one in total suspense
SHAW HENDERSON
Shaw Henderson represents the imperialists government. His father is
from Scotland and he has lived in Kenya all his life. He is the judge who is in
charge and leads the British court in Kenya to try Dedan Kimathi. He claims to be
a Kenyan and believes that he too is entitled to struggle as he says, “we too have a
right to struggle to persevere, conserve, maintain healthy standards: Christianity,
civilization”.35 Henderson’s own struggle is to ensure that colonial interest is not
subverted, he serves as the colonial prosecutor.
Henderson is ruthless when it comes to protecting British interest. This is
the reason he fights to obtain Kimathi’s renouncement of the struggle so that the
representative of white people and the race will have their ways. Henderson tries a
game of deceit to force Kimathi to renounce the struggle but fails. Then, he
arranges some people like the business executive, Indian, Priest etc. to convince
and persuade Kimathi to renounce the struggle but all to no avail because of
Kimathi’s determination and his love for his people and country. Henderson is a
typical racist who has little or no respect for native Africans. He believes in
colonialism and the strength of the British colonial administration. In its defence
he says, “...Nations live by strength and self interest, you challenged our interests:
we had to defend them….”34
25
WOMAN
The woman is a middle-aged woman. Among the mentioned few in the
struggle for Uhuru, the woman is in the forefront. She identifies with Kimathi.
She has experienced a lot of bad circumstances in her time. Se is first presented
when being questioned by a colonial white guard called Johnie. In purely
Mmembe like terms, what she does is to ‘zombify’ her tormentor (Johnie); the
man who is actually programmed to expect the ‘Ndiyo afande’ (yes sir/officer) tag
from all victims. It is further not lost on us that the woman’s feminine power is
invoked in, “nice legs, eh? Nice pretty face, eh?.”9 Johnie acknowledges that,
“women are their own passbook, eh? Even to heaven.”9 part of this sub-text that is
easily lost in familiar tales of grandeur is just how this ‘leg power’ rules to a point
where it actually enable the woman to smuggle a gun through to a desired
destination. It entails the act of teasing and buffoonery, like even pretending to
wonder why indeed would a white “bwana” (boss) fear a ‘mere’ woman the antithesis is that a lack man never would fear women.
She serves as a judge between two black youths a boy and a girl who are
quarreling over money. The woman listens to the case and blames the boy. She
tries the boy’s honesty and discovers that the boy can be an asset and an
instrument in the struggle. She plays the role of a woman and a man in keeping
with the struggle. She wants Kenyan people to unite instead of tearing and
26
fighting one another. Even though, she is taken away later in the court, her plan
with the boy and girl succeeds.
GIRL
Apart from the woman, Girl is the second vibrant female character who is
directly involved in the struggle to liberate not only Kimathi, but the Kenyan
people. She is first seen quarrelling with the ‘Boy’ over money. The girl refuses to
be intimidated by the boy and is pursued by the boy until they meet the woman
who settles the dispute. Later, it is now the girl who tries to encourage and
enlighten the Boy on how to prosecute the woman’s instruction with the gun in
the bread. Though the attempt fails initially, they are seen again inside the court
during the final trial of Dedan Kimathi where they play the role they are
commissioned to play.
BOY
Though the Boy appears to be a bully, he is also a freedom fighter. He
intimidates the girl and chases her until they come face to face with the woman
who settles the dispute. The boy is given fifteen shillings with a warning never to
beat the girl again. Even though his heart is ruled by dishonesty, he seems to fear
because of his attempt to run away with the woman’s money.
His fear is
compounded when he and the girl discover the gun hidden inside the loaf of bread
but the girl allays his fear.
27
SETTINGS IN THE TRIAL OF DEDAN KIMATH
Setting is a very important element of the any literary work it is the
background against which the events in the story are built. Without setting the
aesthetic and structural functionality of the work will be weakened. Setting
however is sub-divided into types: Geographical setting, occupational setting and
time setting.
Geographical setting concerns the actual geographical location of the
story, its scenery and thing that surrounds the place where the story is localized.
Occupational setting involves the manner of daily living of the people: the social,
moral, emotional, mental background of people the story is all about. Time setting
is the period in which a story takes place.
The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is a play is set in Kenya and it is borne out of
the circumstances surrounding the arrest and trial of Dedan Kimathi Wachiuri.
The play is also primarily set in the courtroom cell and the Nyandarua forest. All
the events in the play portray a sense of urgency. The play is also set during the
colonial period when the natives (Kenyans) are exploited, oppressed and
discriminated against.
LANGUAGE IN THE TRIAL OF DEDAN KIMATHI
Language is the choice of words or diction that an artists or playwright
decides to use in writing any literary work. It also comprises allusion, song
symbolism etc.
28
The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, is a play with a blend of both English
Language and Kenyan Language. The mixture of both languages depict the
linguistic situation of the social landscape
SONG
Songs are usually employed in dramatic piece because they add to the
effectiveness of the message the play is trying to pass across to the readers. In The
Trials of Dedan Kimathi, songs help to enforce and portray points the play is
trying to make the readers and audience see. The songs are of hope, praises and
struggle, written in English Language. Examples are: “Bururi uyu witis Andu
Airu, Ngai ni aturathimiire, Na Ikiuga tutikoima ku”. This is an example song of
struggle. Another one is,
When our Kimathi ascended
Into the mountain alone
He asked for strength and courage
To defeat the white man
He said that we should tread
The paths that he had trodden
That we should follow his steps
And drink from his cup of courage
If you drink from this cup of courage
The cup that I have drunk from myself
29
It is a cup of pain and sorrow
A cup of tears and death and freedom….63
This song is praising Kimathi’s strength and courage
ALLUSION
This is a dramatic way of referring to past events. It can be classical,
historical or biblical. It helps to give a better understanding of an event. Ngugi
and Mugo’s The Trial of Dedan Kimathi alludes to the Bible in many instances in
the play. When Kimathi and Shaw Henderson refer to the issue of “a horse and a
rider” Dedan Kimathi refers to “Balaam’s ass”
34
an episode found in the Bible.
The allusion is largely religious and it fits properly in the conversion of both
Kimathi and Henderson when Kimathi says, “There must be horses and riders,
must there? Well, let me be Balaam’s ass then …. Yes, the one who rejected his
rider” 34
Another instance is when the priest tries persuading Kimathi in his cell to
join force with the colonial master and call for ceasefire. The priest alluded to the
Bible in all his conversation with Kimathi.
SYMBOLISM
This is the use of images to represent ideas in any literary work.
Symbolism adds to the beauty of a literary work. In The Trial of Dedan Kimathi,
The playwrights uses symbol to portray and foreshadow the outcome of parts of
actions in the play. For instance, the main character Dedan Kimathi symbolizes
30
the people’s struggle. He is the symbol of the Kenyan Struggle against British
colonial administration, injustice, looting and imperialism. He is not particularly
fighting for his liberation but he is in the struggle for the total liberation of his
people. As the MauMau leader, Kimathi is involved in the guerilla movement
against the British colonial administration in Kenya and due to this he is accused
of being in possession of a ‘firearm’ and is arrested and tried in court three times.
His trials means the people’s trial. Dedan Kimathi therefore symbolizes the
oppressed, exploited, alienated and suffering people of Kenya who are struggling
with the aim of gaining back their freedom, lost land, wealth and driving away the
imperialists.
The use of bread as a means of communication in The Trial of Dedan
Kimathi is also symbolic. This is because bread symbolizes existence and
continuity of life. This is seen when the woman says, “…Give him this loaf of
bread.”21 The bread that we refer to here is used to carry a gun, an instrument of
liberation inside he bread, which itself symbolizes life, is a gun which is an
instrument of liberation.
There is also the symbol of hope and continuity. The symbol of hope and
continuity of the struggle is the Boy and the Girl. They symbolize the continuity
of the movement. The simple fact that the boy and girl do not hesitate to carry the
message (the bread containing a gun) points to this. It should be pointed out that
the activities of the guerilla movement is a continuous process. No matter the
31
number of death, the number betrayed and eliminated, the ideals of the struggle
will continue to exist as long as the people are oppressed. Kimathi implies that
even if the leaders, the elder are betrayed, captured and killed, the youth will carry
on the vanguard and the spirit of the movement will continue to exist no the
matter the condition or what happens.
The trials of Kimathi all took place in his cell are also symbolic. The first
trial involves Shaw Henderson who attempts to use his closeness to Kimathi to
persuade him. The second trial involves the banker, and a native. They try
persuading Kimathi to join forces with the imperialists, Also, the executive, a
priest and politician (all natives) attempt to dissuade him from continuing with the
struggle. The fourth and the last trial is when Henderson, after his plan to
persuade Kimathi to plead guilty in the court room fails, he decides to use force.
The symbolic aspect of the trials is the genuine commitment we find in the
character of Kimathi. The commitment is the struggle and belief in the movement
that freedom is not negotiable. It cannot be partial, it must be total because
anything aside from total independence and the return of the land to their owner is
unacceptable.
In concluding this chapter, it should be emphasized that the point to be
demonstrated here is not so much the connection, or even the admirable defiance
that this sometimes-mystified Kenyan political hero represents. Rather, it is that
the playwrights in the totality of their conception and in the dramatic portrait of
32
the protagonist have actually adapted a confrontational and direct diatribe without
an iota effort at disguising their impatience with the entire social and political setup. There is no hiding that Kimathi becomes the undisguised mouthpiece of
Ngugi and Micere, who use him to articulate their Marxist vision of the society
much to the Chagrin and discomfort of power that be.
33
CHAPTER THREE
SIZWE BANSI IS DEAD
Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead is the text that we will analyze in this
chapter. We shall discuss the plot, themes, dramatic elements, characterization,
settings, language and style. The play dramatizes the poor and horrible condition
of three non-whites: Styles, Sizwe Bansi and Buntu who tell the pitiable stories of
penury and hopelessness in their country. They struggle to eke out a bare
existence in a society whose policies are based on racial segregation and through
the stories and the real lives of these three characters, Fugard vividly opens our
eyes to the state of affairs in apartheid South Africa
THE PLOT OF SIZWE BANSI IS DEAD
Plot is the storyline of a literary piece of work arranged sequentially in the
order of the unfolding events. It is cause effect sequence of the actions in the
literary work. The plot can be divided into three phases: the beginning, the middle
and the end. The beginning of the plot sets the action in motion. It is also an
intellectual formulation of incidents. The middle of the plot is about how the
incidents from the beginning generate into a conflict. Then the conflict attains its
peak (climax) and this is the moment of greatest tension in the play. It is at this
point that the play is moving to an and, where the conflict is finally resolved. The
end is the critical moment in the final determination of the play.
34
Sizwe Bansi is Dead, begins with Styles who had worked for six years in
Ford Motors a multinational company owned by an American family and as a
perceptive person he comes to the decision to establish his own outfit where he
will become his own master and free himself of the humiliation and exploitation
that has been the hallmark of his working life in Ford Motors. The policy of Ford
Motors in such that after twenty-five years of service, a retiring employee of the
company is only entitled to a gold-wrist watch. Styles tells us that he saw himself
as a fool, and for those six years “six years a bloody fool”9
Styles takes to photography and opens a studio which in the cause of the
play becomes a beehive of activities for the black community who have been so
suppressed that they are looking for an opportunity to express themselves even if
temporarily. Indeed, Styles’ studio and his creative photography skills provide the
black people with the much needed environment and temperament to take a breath
and be able to express themselves. Styles’ photographic studio is not the usual one
where people just come because they need photographs to replace their lost ones,
it is a strong room of dreams. He states this to a friend, in his monologue in the
course of the play, “No, friend. It’s more than just that this is a strong room of
dreams. The dreamers? My people”12
Styles’ photography also comes handy in the resolution of the crisis of
survival which Sizwe finds himself in. Sizwe’s passbook have been marked by
the agents of apartheid denying him in the process the right to live and work in
35
Port Elizabeth. Fortunately for Sizwe, a dead man’s body which Buntu runs into
as he and Sizwe, are coming from Sky’s Place where they have gone to unwind
creates an opportunity for Sizwe’s survival. With care, Buntu expertly swaps
Sizwe’s marked passbook with that of the dead man whose name is Robert
Zwelinzima. Style’s photography studio becomes Sizwe’s next stop. Sizwe’s
walks into the studio to take a photograph and after some hesitation when asked
his name, later gives his name as Robert Zwelinzima. He tells styles that he is
sending the picture to his wife, Nowetu in King Williams Town.
In the letter which Sizwe writes to his wife, he explains how he came by
the new name and that in a manner of speaking “Sizwe Bansi is dead”.22 He
explains that he had left his home town, King William’s town, ,in pursuit of
employment in Port Elizabeth. He could not get a job and his pass book was
declared illegal, making it impossible for him to reside and work in Port Elizabeth
but with the new photography Sizwe Bansi ‘dies’ and becomes Robert
Zwelinzima, the dead man whose passbook he is using. As Robert, Sizwe can get
a job in Feltex and attend to his responsibilities, his wife and children who live in
King William’s town, a poverty-stricken home land.
THEMES
Athol Fugard explores many themes in his play Sizwe Bansi is Dead and
our main focus however will be on the major themes related to colonization like,
36
the theme of colonial exploitation, racial discrimination, life and death during
colonialisation.
THEME OF COLONIAL EXPLOITATION
The blacks in this play are exploited by the employers and government
who are white. Despite the fact that South Africa consist of a black majority and a
white minority population , the blacks during the apartheid regime face very
difficult living conditions as a result of racial discrimination. Racial
discrimination is the major policy thrust of the apartheid regime. The least
developed parts, more or less remote areas such as villages and squalors, areas
without modern infrastructure and prospects of employment are the free regions
of the blacks, the original inhabitants. For instance, Sizwe left King Williams’s
town, a poverty-stricken land for Port Elizabeth in search of job in order to
survive and to perform his responsibilities as the head of the family.
The foreigners who are free rulers take the urbanized and well developed
areas for themselves. Movement of the blacks to the areas of the whites such as
port Elizabeth is restricted and attached to it are stringent conditions such as
having a pass book which must be stamped with a worker’s permit, passport etc.
The only condition that can allow the blacks get into some of these areas is their
readiness to work in the mine, a very deadly option.
In spite of much talk and reports given headlines in the newspapers on the
concern of the big owners of the multinational companies where blacks work, the
37
condition of black workers remains unaddressed. Styles’ realize this hypocrisy in
time hence, his decision to take to self employment where he will no longer be
exploited. He mock at the headlines, “Makes me feed up. I worked at Ford Motors
at one time. So and so from America or London made a big speech…. going to
see it that the conditions of their non-white workers in South Africa were
substainlly improved.” Another example of exploitation is the pathetic case of
Outa Jacob who worked for a rich boer in his farm for many years but was sent
away with ignominy at his old age
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
People’s literature evolves out of their individual or communal
experiences. This is why literature from South Africa is essentially a protest
literature. While this play has no violent scenes or language, it is nevertheless
adding its own voice to the growing literature against apartheid. Apartheid is the
political system by which different races co-existing within the same nation do
not have equal political, social and economic rights. This system was practiced in
South Africa during her colonization.
This obvious segregation hits us full blast from the first scenes of the play.
Mr. Ford is going to pay a visit to the factory and there is going to be a general
cleaning. Of course, it is the blacks who have the dirtiest, lowest jobs in the plant
and they are the ones who embark on the general cleaning. Safety regulations that
have not been in existence before were quickly painted on the wall. Styles’ laugh
38
sarcastically, “safety precautions after six years.”5 Not only that, the regulations
were even painted on in the local language, being illiterates, the blacks could not
read the safety regulations written in English. So in order to impress the big ‘bass’
from overseas, the local language is picked from the garbage dump, dusted and
written out. The workers were then marched into bathrooms to wash with hot
water and soap, towels, new overalls and brand new tool bags were issued. This is
obviously a comic scene as styles acts it out but this does not detract from the
seriousness of the situation.
Also, racial discrimination is blatant in the case of Sizwe Bansi. In his
letter to his wife he says: “there are so many of us who have come to find work.”
One would think from that statement that he is free to look for employment
anywhere he wishes, but this is not so. There is a raid and he is caught in Zola’s
house and taken to the administration office, then on to the labour Bureau. Here,
his record card is brought out and examined; something is written in it and his
passbook is stamped. Within a space of a few minutes, his fate is unilaterally
signed and sealed without any consultation with him. He cannot protest. The
enormity of getting the passbook regularized is well conveyed when Buntu speaks
on the matter,
Hai, Sizwe! If I had to tell you the trouble I had before I could get
the right stamps in my book, even though I was born in this area!
The trouble I had before I could get a decent job… born in this
39
area! The trouble I had to get this two roomed house… born in this
area.27
The record card is a monitoring device to control the movements
and activities of the blacks. It is the most potent symbol of oppression. Before a
black can be eligible for any form of social amenity, the record book is brought
out and examined. All blacks have to carry it on their persons all the time. Failure
to produce it on demand is punishable with a fine. To the white man, the black is
only a number-the native identification Number. The government is not really
interested in the black man as a fellow human being but as a means of cheap
labour. Loss of the book means a loss of identity for the black because this is the
only identity the white man gives him.
There is no freedom for the blacks. He is not allowed to vote; he cannot be
voted for. He is not allowed the same educational opportunities as the whites.
Employment opportunities are limited largely to menial jobs. Styles’ father fought
with the allies during the Second World War. Faraway in Egypt and France he
went to fight so that the world can be free. He was not discriminated against at the
war front but unfortunately only to be stripped of whatever self respect he had
after the war years when he fought side by side with whites. When he came back
home after the war, one would have expected that he would come home to
reception but sadly he was discriminated against because of his skin color.
40
LIFE AND DEATH
The play makes a strong statement about life and death during the colonial
apartheid period. Death is inextricably linked with life. The experiences of the
play’s three characters within the political system are so bitter that they are
resigned to finding peace in death.
Styles’ escapes from the humdrum of a foreman’s job in a factory to a
more vibrant profession. His photography studio therefore becomes, ironically,
the free world while the outside world becomes the enclave. It is in the studio that
people come in and live out their fantasies. What they cannot achieve in real life
they act out in the studio. Styles assume a larger than life role as the helps and
coaxes the men who come into the studio to forget the worries in the outside
world. He translates their dreams on to paper, giving them in a way a kind of
immortality. It could be in form of a family photograph as it once happened when
an old man died two days after being photographed with his family. Through the
photograph, the memory of the deceased lives on. Being next door to the funeral
parlour, sometimes mourners forget their tears momentarily as they too are caught
up with the celebration of life next door in the studio. If the studio is the make
believe world, then the real world surely is next door the funeral parlour which is
all about death.
It is to this studio that Sizwe goes when he wants a photograph to send to
his wife at home. By the time Styles gets him in position for the picture he is a
41
changed man, Stets hat on his head, pipe in one hand and cigarette in the other
with the map of the world as a back drop to the photograph. (Even though he
cannot read, he is made to carry a newspaper).Here Sizwe is transformed. In the
letter he writes to his wife, he informs her that Sizwe Bansi is dead. Through the
dead man Robert Zwelinzima, Sizwe finds life and Sizwe dies but it is not a
painless death because he does not want to lose his name. He thinks of his wife
known as Bansi’s wife and his children who are registered in school under his
name and he thinks of the loss of identity and the pride associated with his name.
The blacks are dead, not physically but psychologically, economically and
politically. It is only when the black go “home” that they can have peace and this
means it is only when they the blacks die that they can find peace. In the case of
Outa Jacob, it was when he died that he found perfect peace and rest. Buntu
confirms this when he says, “…The only time we’ll find peace is when they dig a
hole for us and press our face into warth”.28
Buntu the third character never goes to Styles’ studio neither does he
change his number, but from what he says we realize that he too sees the futility
of the black man’s existence. With each suggestion for employment that Sizwe
brings, Buntu tells him the difficulties involved. He knows so much about the
system and this is why he sees that the only solution for Bansi is to “die” when
the opportunity presents itself.
42
Finally, we can see that the blacks are alienated in every way in their
country. They go on from day to day with their rights taken away from them and
not so really being a part of the society. The joy of life eludes them and it is no
wonder that they see in death a respite to their problems. Even in church, they are
advised to sign up and join the burial society.
DRAMATIC ELEMENTS IN SIZWE BANSI IS DEAD
Dramatic
elements
comprise the basis
structural
elements
like
characterization, settings, language, style etc. Characterization is the only means
that actions can be given their proper form, meaning and interpretation. Acting
necessitates performance, therefore characterization describes the illogical
workings of the mind. Character s are therefore important not only because they
give clues and meanings, but also because they give drama the picture which
makes it audible and good to look at. Characters are symbols to communicate
meaning, thought, feelings and ideas. There are different types of characters in
drama, we have the protagonist, antagonist, round, flat, static and dynamic
characters.
Settings is a very important element of a drama. It is the background
against which the events in the story are built. The setting however is also subdivided into types like: geographical, time and occupational settings. The
geographical settings are the actual place or location of the story, its scenery and
the surroundings. The geographical setting can be a village, town city in any
43
country. The time setting is the actual period in which a story takes place. It may
be during war, a particular season, a killer disease etc. Occupational setting
involves the manner of the daily living of the people. It is also about the social,
moral, emotional and mental background of the people located.
Language and style has to do with the diction and the choice of words of
the playwright and the artistic skill that is peculiar or unique to a particular
playwright or author.
CHARACTERIZATION IN SIZWE BANSI IS DEAD
Styles, Sizwe and Buntu are the main character we are going to focus on
here.
STYLES
Styles is a black photographer with a rich experience about the nature of
things in his country. He had worked in Ford Motors for six years before
resigning to establish his photography studio. He reads newspapers most of the
times in his studio. He is the one who introduces us to the play and makes us have
an idea of the events happening in his country and their implication for the
international system.
He does not believe the things that he reads in the paper. In one of the
headlines: “Car plant expansion 1.5million rand plan”3. His reaction to this news
is that the expansion will not translate to a better remuneration for the workers as
this will only mean “…more machines, bigger buildings…”3 for the investors.
44
Styles is the reservoir of this people’s history and that explains why he goes about
commenting freely but unhappily on the relationship between the black workers
and their white lords.
He does not like the foreman in his former place of work at Ford Motors.
He treats and speaks about him with condescension and scorn. He feels happy
when Mr ‘Bass” Bradly asks him to spell Eye protection area.”5 He sees the
whole activities in the Ford Motors aimed at impressing the visiting Henry Ford
Junior number two as a charade.
The Ford Motors and all that it represents stir and prepare the
consciousness of Styles. He does not wait until his old or dying days in Ford
Motors before he decides to quit. Perhaps if Styles had listened to his parents and
wife’s opposition to his decision to take on photography as a profession, his
photographic skills would not have been realized. He would have remained in
Ford Motors and the fate that befell out a Jacob would have befallen him.
Photography was Style’s hobby in his younger days. The Christmas shutdown
provided him with an opportunity to get a shop (studio), a door next to a funeral
with the help of a friend (Dhlamini), who works at the funeral parlour. The shop
is so old and dirty that has to use a Doom (a strong insecticide) and a cat to deal
with the cockroaches that have overtaken the shop.
45
SIZWE BANSI
Sizwe is a loving husband to his wife and father to his four children. He is
forced to run away from home, leaving his wife and children. Like all other
blacks, he struggled to discharge his responsibilities to his family. In his search
for survival he becomes a tramp being harassed by the system. Sizwe is a typical
African living under a dictatorial and tyrannical order.
The title of the play is taken from the letter of Sizwe to his wife. The title
demonstrates vividly what the black people go through in South Africa during the
days of apartheid. Sizwe abandons his name in place of another one to be able to
earn a living for his family. He robs the dead man of his passbook and this entitles
him to all that he requires to live in Port Elizabeth. He becomes a ‘ghost’ forced
to live in the shadows, announcing his own ‘death’ and resurrection as Robert
Zwelinzima. When Sizwe visits Styles in his studio asking for a card, Styles
ensure that before he takes the picture, the stern mien of Sizwe is relaxed to that
of a smile.
Sizwe Banzi is not as sharp as the other two characters Styles and Buntu in
the play. He is an illiterate and he confesses to Buntu that he cannot read, “I can’t
read”.25 The playwright portrays him as a foil to Buntu who knows much about
the system. Were it not for Buntu, Sizwe would have taken actions that would
have been detrimental to himself which would have exposed him to the agents of
46
the system. This would have meant his being deported to King William’s Town
where he would have died in penury.
Sizwe does not want to work in the mines. He says. ‘There is no money
there and it is dangerous…’26. The mine is a metaphor for death. The mines are
meant for the blacks. Native Identification numbers and such other requirements
are waived aside for the blacks who want to work in the mines. For Sizwe, sky’s
place becomes the road to success and happiness. This is because it is on their
(Sizwe and Buntu) way back from Sky’s place that they run into the dead man
whose particulars become Sizwe’s. When Buntu suggests that he dead man’s
passbook should be kept, that they burn Sizwe’s own and change his name to
Robert Zwelinzima, Sizwe refuses. But with the pressure and explanations that,
that is the only way his life and manliness will be guaranteed, he bows to the logic
of Buntu. Having accepted Buntu’s advice, he writes his wife, “so Nowetu, for the
time being my troubles are over/Christmas I come home.44
BUNTU
Buntu is introduced to us in the play by Siwze in his uncompleted letter to
his wife. We are made to understand that Buntu is Zola’s friend while Zola is
Sizwe’s friend. It is Zola who takes Sizwe to Buntu’s house after the raid in which
Sizwe was caught. Buntu understands the nature of his society and that explains
why he wastes no time in explaining to Sizwe who is brought to his house by Zola
that he is in big trouble. In the dialogue between him and Sizwe, he is able to pre-
47
empt what Sizwe would have gone through in the labour Bureau where he was
driven to after the raid.
As an indigene of Port Elizabeth, Buntu ought not to have face the
problems that he went through in his attempts to get his passbook stamped but
because the system deprives people especially the blacks of their basic rights to
shelter, employment and freedom of movement, it was very difficult for him.
Buntu can be described as a master strategist and planner. His role in the play
resolves the knotty issue of Sizwe’s homelessness and joblessness and brings the
play to a reasonable end. The card and money that Sizwe wants to send to his wife
are made possible because of Buntu’s strategic thinking and love for a fellow
black in need.
SETTINGS IN SIZWE BANSI IS DEAD
The play is set in Apartheid South Africa. Apartheid was introduced as a
state policy in 1948. This policy entrenched discrimination between blacks and
whites in all areas of life and placed the black people in an inferior position. This
explains why Buntu who was born in Port Elizabeth went through hell before he
could get a job, a house and a stamp on his passbook.
The play is also set principally in Styles photographic Studio because most
of the activities that revolve around Style’s photography studio in the African
township of New Brighton, Port Elizabeth. The photographer’s studio is an
escapist World, another world which manages to shut out the world of apartheid.
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LANGUAGE AND STYLE IN SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD
Language offers an even more subtle disturbance. Unlike Mda, Mbongemi
Ngema and other black playwrights, who readily incorporate African languages
like Xhosa in their text, Sizwe Bansi is Dead is written / Performed almost
exclusively in English.
The characters (Buntu Sizwe and Styles) as earlier mentioned are common
people whose individual destinies are tied together by the destructive apartheid
political system. By exploring the internal feelings and turmoil in the minds of
these characters arising from the destabilizing effect of apartheid on their psyche,
the playwright presents them in a self- reflection mood that unfolds their dreams,
fears and suspicion. This unique style makes the work very relevant not only to
the South African society but to humanity in general.
DRAMATIC TECHNIQUES IN SIZWE BANSI IS DEAD
Dramatic techniques are majorly literary devices or elements employed by
an author or playwright to reproduce the sociological issues of a given society.
These dramatic techniques are used to exemplify the realities or life like issues
exposed in text or dramatic piece. Examples are flashback, symbolism, chorus,
soliloquy etc. In Sizwe Bansi is Dead, we are only going to examine the use of
flashback and symbolism.
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FLASHBACK IN SIZWE BANSI IS DEAD
Flashback is the literary technique in a drama or novel involving the
recalling of an earlier scene, action or event which sheds further light on what is
currently happening. The most important aspect of Athol Fugard’s technique in
Sizwe Bansi is Dead is the use of flashback because in some ways, the past helps
to understand the present and the future. Style’s past experience as a worker in
Ford Motors is presented through a flashback. He remembers the visit of Henry
Ford Junior number two and the fawnings of his boss. He mimics his boss then,
Mr ‘Bass’ Bradley (who had a heavy African accent) and dramatizes with strong
mockery the antics of his bosses in Ford Motors. The playwright uses styles in his
recollections to poke fun on the operators of Apartheid and their foreign backers
and the playwright also manages to avoid using a lot of characters since it is
Styles who tells us what happened as he remembers.
With this background about his past, Styles’ decision to take to
photography becomes very clear to the audience.
Also, through Buntu’s flashback to the life Outa Jacob an old man ho had
walked the road of life-used, trampled on, tired, unrewarded until at last he died.
The story of this man shows how callous the system is. As long as workers like
out a Jacob are active and vibrant, they are needed but when they show signs of
old age and weakness they are dispensed with.
50
SYMBOLISM AS AN ASPECT OF LANGUAGE IN SIZWE BANSI IS
DEAD
Symbolism is the use of images to represent ideas in any literary piece of
work. In Sizwe Bansi is Dead, the playwright also make use of symbolism. As
styles tells us, there are two types of knocks that he experiences in his studio-the
solemn and the energetic. The ‘solemn knock’ symbolizes the mourning people
who are going to the funeral parlour while the ‘energetic knock’ symbolizes the
happy people who want to take a snap shot for one reason or the other.
In this play, the playwright shows a desire to record the lives and
experiences of the common people and Styles sums up his ideology in a way:
“this is a strong room of dreams. The dreamer”. My people. The people you never
find mentioned in the history books…12-13” Fugard also records the experience of
the common people in Sizwe Bansi is Dead, therefore, he uses the three character
(Sizwe, Buntu and Styles) to symbolize in every sense the common people to
dramatize the contradictions of an oppressive society that glories itself in
inflicting harm on the people because of a policy that believes in the superiority of
one race over the other. With the three characters, he vividly captures the South
African Blacks pain and hopes by portraying these characters as the real heirs to
their country’s history.
Styles faces the problem of infestation by cockroaches upon first acquiring
his studio and he has to wage a way against the cockroaches in the shop before he
51
was able to occupy it. The cockroaches here symbolize the white capitalist.
Without the extermination of the cockroaches, Styles will not be able to function
effectively. He speaks about them in a language of warfare; the cockroaches are
paratroopers who are aimed for battle; Styles is armed with a pesticides called
‘Doom’, he used in waging war against them. When Styles notices that the
attempt to evict the cockroaches is not successful, he adopts another method by
using a cat called ‘Blackie’ to do the job. It was only after the cat was brought in
that problem was solved.
In concluding this chapter, Fugard’s major concern is about the harsh and
frustrating condition under which the blacks lived during the inhuman and
degrading system of apartheid in South Africa. The pass laws prevented the
people from expressing their inalienable right to movement and freedom of
association. There was serious discrimination against the black people with their
white counterparts. Blacks were denied employment and where this was available
it was such that could not guarantee their existence and happiness. Styles’
experience in Ford Motors and Sizwe’s terrible condition portray the mood of that
moment. Buntu’s case is also note worthy. Despite the fact that he was born in
Port Elizabeth, he went through thick and thin to get a two-roomed house, a job
and a permit. The three characters represent the black people and their burdens.
Fugard appears to be saying in this play that for these victims of apartheid,
poverty is a companion. He explores the lives of the common people. The
characters in their speeches and the setting are laced with unspoken but evident
political statements about life in South Africa.
52
CHAPTER FOUR
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NGUGI WA THIONGO AND MICERE
MUGO’S THE TRIAL OF DEDAN KIMATHI AND ATHOL FUGARD’S
SIZWE BANSI IS DEAD.
The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is a significant African play based on the
freedom movement of Kenya. Ngugu and Mugo here give an artistic expression to
the anti-colonial cultural politics they re-write Kenyan history from a nationalistic
perspective. The play focuses on the life and death of Dedan Kimathi, the leader
of the revolution, who led the militant phase of MauMau independence struggle.
It celebrates the brave deeds & philosophy of this great hero. Though
concentrating exclusively on the articulation of African experience in their play,
happily enough, Ngugu and Mugo reach out to the entire world but more
specifically to the third world countries like Idian.
Sizwe Bansi is Dead confronts and explores South Africa political themes
with depth and penetration, particularly offering a theatrical experience that
impacts it spectators.
The Trial of Dedan Kimathi Provides a good example of the oppression
and revolutionary violence that took place during the colonial period while Sizwe
Bansi is Dead is a play that gives one an insight into the happenings Apartheid
South Africa during the colonial period. It is not a revolutionary play because it
53
depicts no confrontation with the political authority but only paint the suffering of
South Africans and their efforts to cope with the system.
It should however be stated further that as much as the writers have the
intention of exposing the evils of colonialism through their works, they equally
produced excellent literary pieces basically because their literary works provide
literary satisfaction to their reader or audience.
Both plays are mainly on colonialism and reflect social happenings in
South Africa and Kenya. The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is on the heroic deeds of
Dedan Kimathi while Sizwe Bansi is Dead represents the experiences of South
Africans characters (Sizwe, Buntu and Styles) during her colonial period.
In The Trial of Dedan Kimathi by Ngugu and Mugo as well as Sizwe
Bansi is Dead by Athol Fugard, the authors have not only analyzed the violent
situations in their societies but also shows that the solution to colonization and
oppression does not always lie in negotiation but sometimes it might be necessary
to be gunny or apply force or use violence to be free from colonial tangle
oppression.
Though both plays are on colonialism period, they respond to colonialism
is different ways from the general point of view both plays are political but The
Trial of Dedan Kimathi is more pronounced as a political play than Sizwe Bansi is
Dead, The latter has to do with revolution of Kenyans against their colonial
government. Sizwe Bansi is more of a socio-political play because it is mainly on
54
the lives of people apartheid is South Africa. It is about social relations among
blacks in South Africa under their colonial masters. It portrays many the facets of
the life of the blacks marked by discriminatory conditions and arrangements:
separate schools for blacks and whites with varying infrastructure and class
dichotomy in the mode of transportation, among others. It focuses on a period
when the blacks in South Africa were reduced to second class citizens on their
home soil.
The issues of racism, oppression, exploitation and alienation are common
to both plays and they can be seen the ways the playwrights presented the
experiences of Kimathi in. the Trial of Dedan Kimathi and Sizwe, Buntu and
Styles in Sizwe Bansi is Dead. These characters who represent blacks in both
Kenya and South Africa depict for to us the way blacks are maltreated exploited,
oppressed, alienated and denied their civic rights in their country during the
period of colonialism. Kimathi for instant in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is a
victim of this period. He is jailed and lied against because of his revolt against the
colonial government in Kenya. Dedan Kimathi is seen as a threat to the colonial
government and the only way they can shut him up is to eliminate him. Kimath’s
presence however is a source of hope and freedom to his people. The situation of
Sizwe, Buntu and Styles in Sizwe Bansi is Dead is peculiar. These three
characters are alienated, oppressed and exploited in every possible ways. They
55
suffer abject poverty, have no good job or education and are denied all their
human rights.
SUMMARY
Colonialism in all its ramification is a period of suffering for the African
people because colonialism negates the principle of communalism popularly
known among the Africans in the pre-colonials days. They two systems
(communalism and capitalism)have also been described as an instrument of selfpreservation. Because of this theory of survival alone, a clash has become
inevitable between the two conflicting principles. In addition to maximizing profit
at the expense of labour, capitalism also intends to protect the source of that profit
with everything.
However, the blacks having been conscious of their rights to their land and
rulership, at least in their own country, decide to retrieve their lost land, rights and
honour from the impenalist by all available means even if it means laying down
their lives. Frantz Fanon (1967; 27) also explains the situation when he says, “At
the level of individuals, violence is a clean sing force. It frees the native from his
inferiority complex and from his despair and inaction. It makes him fearless and
restores his self-respect”. The two plays used in this study are typical examples of
literature which depicts the evils of colonialism as stated earlier.
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