Shuttling Back and Forth between Authenticity and Bad Faith in Devil on the Cross by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The ethical ideal of authenticity serves as the right prescription to conduct a good life. If this ideal is put into practice, it ameliorates the value of a person’s life. The standard of authenticity can thus be used to gauge the quality of a person’s life and his/her level of awareness. In this context, Devil on the Cross by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o foregrounds the drift between bad faith and authentic existence. A set of African characters subdue the drive of self-deception rather than the anguish of freedom and embrace their alienated existence by relinquishing their autonomy to their white masters. On the other hand, another set prefer to ride the storm and decline to substitute a displeasing truth for a pleasing falsehood by choosing to be free agents rather than masquerading in white masks. Against this backdrop, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o demonstrates that colonialism is partially the outcome of the socioeconomic, historical, as well as internal sources of stress and anxiety and partially a free choice.