Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry

Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey is one of remarkable confluences of astonishingly beautiful writing and fully developed characterization. There is no major crisis that takes place, no earth-shattering destruction of place or person, there is a sustained tension throughout the novel. The protagonist is Gustad Noble. The novel is set during the rule of Indira Gandhi, and is a damning indictment of both her government and American foreign policy of the time. The journey is both a physical and metaphorical one, of Gustad's bedside visitation of a friend he thought had betrayed him and of Gustad's eventual realization that there are few absolutes in life beyond that of death, that for every face there are a myriad of facets. There are several but subtle poignant metaphors woven, the most memorable being the character of Tehmul, who is a physically and mentally disabled man with the character of a boy and it is this pull of the innocent versus the carnal that mirrors much of the political and social turmoil of the novel. This book was shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize. It was pulled from the University of Mumbai's English Curriculum because of protests from the family of Hindu's nationalist- Bal Thackeray. Through this book, we come to know about the journey of Parsis and their culture and the problems they faced.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

"The drums were still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. It was like the pulsation of its heart. It throbbed in the air, in the sunshine, and even in the trees, and filled the village with excitement."

                                                                                         - Chinua Achebe                                                                                                (Things Fall Apart)

"Things Fall Apart" written by Chinua Achebe shows many contrasts, traditional culture, colonialism, Christianity, the Masculine and the Feminine, animism, the ignorant and the aware. Achebe has shown a culture which is rife with superstition but rich in context. We are told about African proverbs, folk tales, details of the Igbo clan system, African culture. This book is a simple tale, an extended metaphor for African despoliation, life and politics. The scenes from the life of Nigeria's Ibo society are painted with an assured, uplifting clarity and they resonate brightly. Okonkow is an excellent, wonderful human, central character, strong, proud, wilful and a traditionalist. He couldn't prevent "progress" as he always won wrestling matches. He is acutely aware of the pitfalls of forgetting the past but he is blind to the absurdities, cruelties and sheer backwardness of certain of his tribe's customs and of his own, sometimes outrageous. Okonkow shows the progress to a capitalist future is no future, the rural isolation and ignorance of his tribal is no longer even a viable present. 

Decolonising the Mind by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Decolonising the mind is a work of Ngugi wa Thiong'o explains how colonialism has deemed African languages unworthy of use- both by the Colonisers and the Colonised. He explains how a "cultural bomb" was dropped on Africa so the mind of Africans were controlled. "Make them hate themselves" was the mission. He was born in a large peasant family. They spoke Gikuyu. About language, he said:

"We therefore learnt to value words for their meaning and nuances. Language was not a mere string of words. It had a suggestive power well beyond the immediate and lexical meaning. Our appreciation of the suggestive magical power of language was reinforced by the games we played with words through riddles, proverbs, transposition of syllables or through non-sensical but musically arranged words. So we learnt the music of our language on top of the content. The language, through images and symbols, gave us a view of the world, but it had a beauty of its own. The home and the field were then our pre-primary school but what is important, for this discussion, is that the language of our evening teach-ins, and a language of our immediate and wider community, and the language of our work in the fields were one."

In Kenya, English became more than a language, it was the language, and all the others had to bow before it in deference. Students were given punishment if they were caught speaking Gikuyu in the vicinity of the school. This was seen in the schools where European languages were idealised, the streets where African language became synonymous with the language of the peasantry and at the prison cells were those African writers whose choose to stay true to their mother tongue were held. When they were in school, English was imposed upon them. Students who passed in other subjects but failed in English had to remain in the same class means they had to reappear in the same class. This book is a thought provoking dissection of the effects of colonisation in the African literature. This book raises the question of self and culture, imperialism and language through the eyes and stories of someone who grew up in colonial Kenya and has spent his life fighting to separate African literature from the European influences that have so pervaded it.