AFRICAN DRAMA
Dele Charley: The Blood of a Stranger
Consider the view that the play exposes the colonialist exploitation of Africa.
Colonialist exploitation is an important theme in the play. At the centre of this exploitation is a white stranger, approprietely named Whitehead.
Whitehead works out an elaborate scheme of deception and treachery. Before he comes to Mando, he en-lists, through bribery, the support of Maligu, Cheif Advisor to the King. His strategy is deliberate. He comes to Mando Land ostensibly to cultivate tobacco. This, however, is a cover for his plan to steal the people's diamonds. Maligu in turn bribes and blackmails Soko, the Cheif Preist, to support the plot. So, even before White-head arrives in the Kingdom, the ground has already been prepared.
Whitehead epitomises the colonialist, who ruthlessly and selfishly exploits the resources of Africa. Even his closest accomplice, Maligu, does not know Whitehead's real intentions.
His arrogance and lack of respect for the custom and tradition of the people is exposed on his arrival in Mando Land. He arrives in the Kingdom and fails to pay his respects to the King be-cause he claims he is too tired to do so. This behaviour flies in the face of the mores of the people. The impression is given that his action is not a result of his igno-rance of hte custom. He does this because he does not respect the society.
to what he tells Maligu, Whitehead's real intention is to extort diamonds. Part of his scheme involve intoxicating the people with alcohol and hard drugs and exploiting their labour. He succeds up to a point in de-ceiving everyone except Kindo, who is to be his nemesis.
In his exploitation, Whitehead ignores the custom and tradition of Mando Land which he does not find convenient and uses to his advantage those which he thinks will be of benefit to him. He is aware that his supply of alcohol and hard drugs to the people is causing debauch-ery and laziness but he couldn't care less. When, However, he wants the people to hand over all the diamonds to him, his strategy is to play on their superstition. Whitehead is treacherous and will treat as expendable anyone who can no longer be of use to him, no matter how close the person has been to him. He does not value the life of even those he calls his friends. He plans to rape Wara, Kindo's woman, and then sends Parker to kill Soko whom has been part of his deception all along. When Maligu remarks that Kindo will kill Parker, he replies, "That is what I want to happen. Parker is of no use to me any longer". This is a chilling reminder of the heartlessness and exploitation nature of colonialists.
The focus of the play is colonialist exploitation. The play-wright, however, also exposes the complicity of the blacks in their own exploitation. Maligu and Soko, consumed with greed, lend their full support to Whitehead in his exploitation of their own resources. Both are self-seeking and greedy, Maligu more so than Soko. Without their connivance, Whitehead's plan would not even have been put into action, much less succeeded. It is only Kindo who stands between disaster and salvation.
The final impression in the play is that contact between Africa and west, though disastrous, can be salvaged by people like Kindo.
Points to note:
(a) Whitehead as a colonialist representative, not an agent.
b) His enlisting through bribery, the support of maligu who in turn bribes Soko; the priest.
(c) His concealing his real intention to steal diamonds by announcing that he is interested in cultivating tobacco.
(d) The blackmailing of Soko, the Chief priest, by Maligu to support Whitehead.
(e) His arrogance and lack of respect for the custom and tradition of Mandoland a manifested in his failure to respect the King and his attempt to rape Kindo's woman.
(f) His introduction of alcohol and hard drugs in his design to exploit the people's labour and introduce them to immoral activities.
(g) His treacherous nature as seen in his intent to kill Parker whom he has no use for any longer.
(h) The role of Kindo in opposing colonialist exploitation and restoring dignity to Mando Land.
(i) The complicity nature of some natives in colonial exploitation.
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