The Expression of Anti-Colonialism in Houseboy by...

â€Å"When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said â€Å"let us pray.† We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.†- Bishop Desmond Tutu Satire is a powerful technique generally utilized in order to convey an intense, hard-hitting thought in a mild manner. This technique is used in the novel Houseboy written by Ferdinand Oyono. Houseboy is an anti-colonial novel which with the help of satire reveals the flaws in the colonial period which includes the Christianity spread and â€Å"supposed† policy of assimilation. Oyono depicts the English hypocrisy of the African perception of colonialists. Toundi, the character on whose life the novel is based on, was introduced to the†¦show more content†¦As stated in the quotation above by Tutu the missionaries where there to help them however they did not intend to. â€Å"When we fetched a priest to save his soul, he told him to fuck off. (Page 3)† This quotation represents the behavior that the priests had towards the natives; which is ironical. The role of a priest in a church is to guide the citizens to be better Christians however with the use of their vulgar language is discloses the real â€Å"aim† which is to exploit the natives. Another example is on page15 where the actions of the priests are contradictory to their ideal aims. The priests beat those natives who have committed adultery however in an ideal church the duty of the priest is not to beat but to help the citizens to become better Christians and forgive them for their sins. Oyono uses these examples to mock the roles of the priests. These obs cenities are used by him to make the readers realize that the Europeans were not as clean or pure as they would have seemed. Through many characters Oyono had represented an overall hypocrisy present in the European colonization. Europeans claimed themselves to be a role models and pure for the Cameroonians to follow however how can those who have contradictory actions ever by pure. One example which represents hypocrisy is through Madame’s character. Madame was initially portrayed as the epitome of the European culture. She is seen as aShow MoreRelatedRole of African Elites in Dismantling Decolonization5146 Words   |  21 Pagesprevails today in Africa because of the continuation after independence of the economic, political and social practices established by colonialism. An analysis of the economic, political and social contradictions created by colonialism is, therefore, necessary in understanding and effectively countering neocolonialism. For the contradictions created by colonialism are still realities in contemporary Africa s development. Walter Rodney s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa analyzes the colonial relations