Green Leaves As Post Colonial Work Ogot

Literature of Africa in the postcolonial era emerges as a mirror
of the colonial power, subjugation, violence, and resistance.

Most of the literary pieces of that period deal with the theme
of cruel experiences, inhuman treatment, and endless
exploitation of the native population by the mechanism of
power and politics of the white Europeans in the name of
colonialism.
According to M.H. Abrams, postcolonial studies include, "The
critical analysis of the history, culture, literature, and modes of
discourse that are specific to the former colonies of England,
Spain, France, and other European imperial powers. These
studies have focused especially on the Third World countries in
Africa, Asia, the Caribbean islands, and South America."
Postcolonial writers of Africa like Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata
Aidoo, and Grace Ogot steeped their texts with elements of
history, culture, and tradition of their own country, Africa, of
the colonial era. Ogot in her short story, The Green Leaves
presents a pen picture of the effects of colonialism on the lives
of the native people of Kenya. When discussing the writing of
Ogot, it is difficult to separate her work from its historical and
cultural contexts, particularly its precolonial, colonial, and
postcolonial contexts. At the time of writing ‘‘The Green
Leaves’’ in the early 1960s, Kenya had just achieved
independence from British colonialism. The road to
independence was tortuous and extremely violent.
The story of The Green Leaves begins with the hero, Nyagar
who awakes from his dream by the sounds of movements of
feet of a group of villagers. A small group of people is found
chased by a larger group of people. It comes to the fore of
Nyagar gradually that the small group consists of three thieves
who are pursued by the native villagers as they have stolen the
cattle of the villagers. Two thieves have managed somehow to
escape from the clutches of the villagers while one has failed in
his endeavor to do so. Villagers have overrun and caught him.
He is beaten mercilessly. The condition of his life becomes so
severe that he is about to die and they leave the thief to "give
up his ghost" by himself. Thus, they return to their respective
cottages after covering the body of the thief with green leaves.
They also decide that they will meet there again in the morning.
Nyagar is one of the wealthy and happy villagers. He has a
happy family with children and wives. Nyagar gets the idea that
the cattle thief might just have some money on him, and he
goes back at night to search, thinking that the thief will
certainly be dead by then. His greed leads him to his own
downfall. Here, before placing his hands in the pocket of the
thief, mentally he is found perturbed for sometimes as he is
engrossed in the thought of the fact that he should remain
satisfied with what he possesses. He is pleased to find a bag
around the man's neck, but as he is taking it, he receives a blow
to the eye that kills him. He falls a sheer victim of greed. What
Ogot attempts to portray here that the native people
internalize in their pure hearts the sense of greed from their
Colonial Masters who used to transport various resources from
their colonies to their own country due to their greed which is
better known as Colonial Greed.
Nyagar is found to waver and the good angel of his soul tells
him "What do you want to do with the money? You have three
wives and twelve children. You have many cattle and enough
food. What more do you want?" On the other hand, the bad
angel of his soul suggests to him “Don’t deceive yourself that
you have enough wealth. Nobody in the world has enough
wealth.”
The next morning unreal drums were beaten and the clan
leader Olilio gathered people in the center of the town and told
everything to the villagers that happened yesterday night. Now
he thought that if the British government comes to know about
this then they will punish the murderer so the clan leader tells
the villagers that if we stand united then the government
cannot do anything to them. In their culture killing a thief is not
a crime but according to the British government, it is a crime.
He sends ten selected people from their village to inform the
British government that they have killed a man. Meanwhile,
Nyagar’s wife is in search of his husband but she can’t find him.
Apart from this incident, the resistance of Nyamundhe, the
wife of the hero, Nyagar, of the story as noted earlier, to the
urge of the White officers of taking the body of Nyagar away to
Kisumu for postmortem. Nyagar’s wife starts crying then the
British officer drags the body of Nyagar his wife stops the
officer but the officer ignores her She doesn't allow the police
to take away the dead body of her husband "She struggled
wildly with the police who carried the corpse of her husband
and placed it at the back of the lorry to be taken to Kisumu for
a postmortem." She pays no heed to the police who try to
comfort her. She says "If you say you will give him back to me
alive then, l will listen."
CONCLUSION for post colonial:

It can be said that the story, The Green Leaves by Ogot
leaves immense space for the readers and the critics to cast
their critical glance to open up new windows of knowledge. As
a postcolonial writer, Grace Ogot does not only saturate her
this story with multiple issues related to colonialism but also
provides a deeper insight into the reality of Kenya during its
pre-independence period. The resistance of these native people
is impressive and praiseworthy indeed as they do not surrender
themselves fully before the White Police Officer. They have
shown their courage and cleverness in order to survive.
Conclusion for title significant :

The next morning, the villagers are stunned to find Nyagar's
body when they brush the leaves away. The green leaves, then,
become a symbol of concealment and deceit. This is actually
quite fitting. The leaves are green and seem to be alive and
fresh and even growing, but since they are removed from the
tree, they are no longer living at all. Their freshness is a
deception, and this symbolizes the deception of what they
conceal, namely, the thief that is not dead and then Nyagar's
body. Nothing is quite what it seems in this story, even the
leaves.

Green Leaves As Post Colonial Work Ogot

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Green Leaves As Post Colonial Work Ogot

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Literature of Africa in the postcolonial era emerges as a mirror

of the colonial power, subjugation, violence, and resistance.

CONCLUSION for post colonial:

Conclusion for title significant :

You might also like