Marigari by Ngugi wa Thiongo - 691 Words

When it comes to the realty of violence, Thiong’o’s novel tells a political satire of newly Independent Kenya – the unnamed newly independent state- that helps us to examine the unexpected reality of decolonization within Africa. The Satire is strikingly familiar to the Political satire of George Orwell who wrote the legendary political satire about the Russian revolution, The Animal Farm. Matigari tells the story of a young liberation fighter who believed in the freedom he fought for, but instead the reality of the end result was that he had only assisted in replacing the colonialist oppressors who he describes as the old non- sower, with a new breed of unprepared capitalist imperialists as their ambition to rule is not fueled by the love of the people but rather by the benefits afforded to them once in power. Matigari’s symbolic return home to claim his home (since he had built it in part with his labor) is one that speaks to the attitudes of the coloni zed after the initial process of decolonization. These attitudes that come from the belief that once the colonists have been removed, then the wealth that has been hoarded off to Europe will remain in their country and the people will be able to live a better life since the wealth should be benefiting them, not Europe. This is an assumption that can be very problematic, in a way that this newly independent nation will come to its knees. An example of the effect of a newly ‘entitled’ elite who believes that the