One way in which an author chose to
share the story of the decolonization of Africa is through a novel titled King Leopold’s Ghost. Author Adam Hochschild
tells the true story about how the king of Belgium enslaved thousands of
Africans and forced them to cultivate Africa’s natural resources for his own
gain. King Leopold did this by lying to his nation, saying that he was creating
a program that would help improve life for the people of Africa. In actuality,
he sent his soldiers deep into the Congo’s of Africa and exploited the African’s
lack of military defense and forced them to mine Africa for its resources.
This text deviates from the traditional “heroic”
treatment because it does not look to explain racism or ways of prejudice. The book
does not look to speak a message against racism or advocate for equality. The
book does not look to change people’s opinions, but rather show the reader how
so many African lives were changed due to their location and King Leopold’s
evil ambition. It is not a story about how King Leopold was a white man looking
to harm Africans because of the color of their skin. It is a story about the
terrible truth that King Leopold saw whoever was living in the Congo at the
time as an economic resource, and not a human being. King Leopold did not see
Africa as a collection of rich societies, rather just a means of economic gain:
“To see Africa as a
continent of coherent societies, each with its own culture and history, took a
leap of empathy, a leap that few, if any, of the early European or American
visitors to the Congo were able to make” (Pg. 101).
Another great book
that displays the hardships of Africa at this time is the story titled Things Fall Apart. This story follows the life of an African man
named Okonkwo and how the life he has known will never be the
same once Europeans come to Africa. The main conflict of the story happens when
Europeans tell Africans that their religion is wrong and they will go to hell
after death if they do not accept the Christian religion. As some of Okonkwo’s
family and friends follow the Europeans, he is sucked into their ways of
preaching and ultimately discovers that true salvation is found within and not
through forceful acts of disrespect from European Christians.
How this story does not follow the typical
heroic treatment is because it does not have a happy ending. The story does not
sugar coat the true horrific fact that the Europeans only wanted to convert
Africans to Christianity because of their supposed inferiority. The Europeans
were not trying to save Africans at all, but rather prove to them that Christianity
was the only way of worship. The ending of the story looks to advocate for the
terrible truth that most rich histories that were associated with African
civilizations were lost and reformed by Europeans. The Europeans established
their own form of government to overthrow many African societies and claim
power over them. At the end of Things Fall Apart,
Okonkwo returns to his home and he is taught of the ignorant court system that
has come to establish laws around his village. The Europeans make ignorant
decisions because they do not know the customs or beliefs of the indigenous.
Most of the white men involved in the court did not even speak the language of
any village, making it impossible to interpret what was best for the area. The
messengers of the court were also easily swayed by money creating an un-fair
system of justice.