The Gentlemen of the Jungle

I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at analysere novellen "The Gentlemen of the Jungle" af Jomo Kenyatta, som findes i antologien Worlds of English (s. 170-174). Udover analysehjælpen kan du finde et summary af teksten samt idéer til fortolkning og perspektivering.

Præsentation af teksten

Titel: “The Gentlemen of the Jungle” (1938)
Forfatter: Jomo Kenyatta
Genre: Short story

John Kenyatta (1897-1978) blev født i Kenya mens landet var en britisk koloni. Han tilhørte Kikuyu-stammen og var aktiv modstander af kolonistyret. I 1952 blev han anklaget for at have ledt et oprør mod briterne, hvilket ledte til både fængsel og eksil. Efter han fik sin frihed blev Kenyatta den første præsident i det selvstændige Kenya, fra 1964 til hans død i 1978.

Uddrag

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Symbolism

Because the story is a fable, both its characters and some elements of the setting are symbols which help the author convey his message.

The man, who lives in a hut and speaks in an African dialect, is a symbol of all African people living under colonisation. As the author is Kenyan, the man could also be specifically symbolic for the people of Kenya under British rule. The way the man is treated by the animals is symbolic of the author’s perception that many African people were discriminated against and exploited by British and other western colonisers. The man’s final act of setting the hut on fire with all the animals inside is symbolic for the colonised people’s fight for independence from their colonisers. By setting it on fire, the man implicitly sacrifices the hut that he built. This suggest that the narrator uses this act as a symbol to communicate to his readers that violence and sacrifice might be needed to escape the colonisers’ oppression.