Greener Journal of Arts and Humanities

Greener Journal of  Art and Humanities Vol. 3 (2), pp. 030-040, August 2013

 ISSN: 2276-7819 

Research Paper

Manuscript Number:070813708

 

Other Forms of Conquest: A Discussion of Houseboy, Mission to Kala and Waiting for the Rain

 

Zuvalinyenga Dorcas

 

Bindura University of Science Education.

 

Abstract:

The unfolding discussion of Houseboy and Mission to Kala supposes that these texts lay bare the sufferings of the colonised under the French whilst Waiting for the Rain exposes the effects of British colonialism on the colonised. This supposition stems from the notion that colonialism employs two forces which are, firstly, the naked force where the colonised is bottled into submission. He is forced to accept the powers of the coloniser through threats and the use of power. These are painful ways of taming the colonised into submission. The other way is that of using elaborate (mental) apparatus meant to imprison the mind such as education, religion and many other policies that will cause the colonised to be part of the society (mental bondage). In other words, this force leads the colonised to believe that everything done by white people is always good. By using terror to quell any revolutionary uprising, the colonisers reinforce fear and submission. Therefore, this study seeks to find out how the three selected texts fictionalise this colonial conquest. 

Keywords: Colonial conquest, submission, subjugation, mental and physical bondage, colonial subject, Houseboy, Mission to Kala and Waiting for the Rain.

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