Abstract
<p><em>The main aim of this paper is to critically examine the representation of the Whiteman (the colonizer) in the African prose narrative context and Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s “A Grain of Wheat” specifically. The thrust has emerged from the main concepts of the binary opposites postulated by the critic Franz Fanon regarding the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. Hence, the postcolonial theory is adopted as a literary analytical theoretical framework in this paper, for it works as a boundary line that explicates such texts. Via a close analysis of the selected text based on the tenants of postcolonialism, orientalism, Occidentalism its concluded that A Grain of Wheat is one of the literary texts that represents African elites’ tussle for decolonizing the mind. </em></p>
Highlights
Most of the African elites believe that Western Colonization was built on the assumptions of the West that it represents the core center of progress especially in Africa
Talking about Africa, he is conscious of “the great struggle between the two mutually opposed forces in Africa today: an imperialist tradition on one hand and a resistance tradition on the other”. He attributes the region to the spread of imperialism supported by linked forces: “The imperialist tradition in Africa is today maintained by the international bourgeoisie using the multinational and the flag waiving native ruling classes”
He (1986, p. 28) argues: The very fact that what common sense dictates in the literary practice of the other cultures is being questioned as an African writer is a measure of how for imperialism has distorted the view of African realities
Summary
Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s writings stand as a direct denial and rigorous tussle for liberating and decolonizing the African people, culture and language from the bondage of imperialism and colonialism His first novels were written in English, including his highly acclaimed 1967 novel A Grain of Wheat, centered on the state of emergency in Kenya’s struggle for independence and a village’s preparation for Kenya’s Independence Day celebration. Late he decided to primarily write in Gikuyu, the language of his own Kikuyu people of Kenya, believing that it is the responsibility of the elites to start the real liberation through their writings through the use of their native tongues. The other problem which a colonial or postcolonial African literary text faces is the operational methodology: that is; how to theorize and how to use and apply these theories (specially the post-colonial ones which are built upon the idea of binary opposites) in the analyses and criticism of the African texts
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