A Meeting of Two Cultures In Ngugi wa Thiong 'o 's short piece “A Meeting in the Dark,” Thiong 'o reflects upon the generational fractures that colonialism has caused in Africa. He explores the rift between familial relations, with tragic sympathy. The primary source of conflict comes from John, the protagonist, putting perceived responses and ideas into the mouths of others. This does not reveal how those characters would actually react, but rather, how John thinks they would react. By exploring the world through John 's eyes, Thiong 'o illustrates the ever widening gap between the native and Western culture in Africa, as well as some of the more devastating effects of colonialism in the African home.
From the beginning of the story it is evident that John 's parents, Stanley and Susanna, provided a very different home than most people around them. Stanley, a stern preacher who was converted to Christianity during the time of colonization, has kept John from anything of the “old ways.” Even the bedtime stories Susanna told …show more content…
Namely, Wamuhu is pregnant from a dalliance with John, and the potential consequences of this are too frightening for John to face. Panicking, he murders Wamuhu in the hopes that no one will ever know what he did (Thiong 'o 110), Thiong 'o closes the story on a dark, yet human note: “Soon everyone will know that he has created and then killed” (Thiong 'o 110). The devastation that colonialism has wrought is seen in full effect here. In a different setting, without the overbearing pressures of both the Western and African traditions, these two lovers might have been spared such a dark fate. However, the pressures of both societies meld together and form what, to John, seems to be an inescapable
From the beginning of the story it is evident that John 's parents, Stanley and Susanna, provided a very different home than most people around them. Stanley, a stern preacher who was converted to Christianity during the time of colonization, has kept John from anything of the “old ways.” Even the bedtime stories Susanna told …show more content…
Namely, Wamuhu is pregnant from a dalliance with John, and the potential consequences of this are too frightening for John to face. Panicking, he murders Wamuhu in the hopes that no one will ever know what he did (Thiong 'o 110), Thiong 'o closes the story on a dark, yet human note: “Soon everyone will know that he has created and then killed” (Thiong 'o 110). The devastation that colonialism has wrought is seen in full effect here. In a different setting, without the overbearing pressures of both the Western and African traditions, these two lovers might have been spared such a dark fate. However, the pressures of both societies meld together and form what, to John, seems to be an inescapable