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Postcolonial Literatures Unit 5 The Green Leaves
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The Green Leaves
ENGLISH
POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURES
SHORT STORY
VERY SHORT TYPE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
1. Who is the writer of short story ‘The Green Leaves’?
Ans: Grace Ogot is the writer of the short story “The Green Leaves’.
2. In which collection the story was first published?
Ans: Grace Ogot’s short story “The Green Leaves,” from her 1968 collection of short stories called Land without Thunder, was published by the East African Publishing House in Nairobi, Kenya.
3. Who is the author of The Green Leaves?
Ans: Grace Ogot is the author of The Green Leaves.
4. What is the author’s tone in the story?
Ans: The tone is often rebellious and subversive challenging the cultural status quo.
SHORT TYPE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
1. How does Nyagar die in “The Green Leaves”?
Ans: Nyagar dies in “The Green Leaves” through trying to steal the money of the dead thief. It turns out the thief was only unconscious. The thief kills Nyagar, driving a stake through his eye.
2. What is the significance of the title of Grace Ogot’s short story “The Green Leaves”?
Ans: The title of Grace Ogot’s short story “The Green Leaves” is significant because the green leaves are a symbol of deceit and concealment in the story. They may appear fresh and alive, but they are actually dead. What they conceal is also not what it seems.
3. What is the main conflict in ‘The Green Leaves”?
Ans: Many of the stories in this collection are loosely based on tales that her grandmother told her as a young girl growing up in rural western Kenya. More than simply folk tales, Ogot’s short stories also reflect, through the traditional genre of the folk tale, a number of recent developments in Kenya’s history, in particular its colonial past and subsequent national independence movement, its changing gender roles, and its economic and urban growth. All these developments have contributed to Kenya’s passage from a traditional agrarian culture to a modern, urban society. Much of the social turmoil that attends such rapid change is revealed in her stories.
4. What metaphors are used in the Green Leaves?
Ans: The increasing influence of modernization in colonised countries resulted in the breakdown of social customs and traditional values that bound communities: a metaphor for loss of national identity.
5. Write a few lines about the following character.
(a) The European Police Officer?
Ans: He comes to the village to find out who murdered the thief. His chief function is to reveal the differences in values between European and local justice systems. By enforcing a Western legal system, the European police officer represents a colonial mind-set that views African culture as backwards and Europe as superior. His presence also disrupts the community when he demands that someone take responsibility for the death of the thief.
(b) The injured thief?
Ans: The nameless thief who is first beaten and then buried beneath a pile of green leaves is left for dead. Unfortunately for Nyagar, the thief has only been knocked unconscious and will end up murdering him.
(c) Nyagar?
Ans: The husband of Nyamunda, Nyagar decides to go back to rob the supposedly dead thief and ends up getting killed by him. He is already a successful and prosperous man in his clan and does not need the money that the thief who is covered in leaves has around his neck. Thus his motivation for acquiring this unnecessary wealth needs to be contextualised within the history of colonialism. In other words, Nyagar’s greed can be seen as an internalisation of Western attitudes that crave material wealth. In rejecting the traditional ways of the clan that would have prevented him from taking the thief’s money, Nyagar sets himself up for his own murder. His greed results not only in his downfall but also contributes to animosity among the clan members after they discover Nagar beneath the leaves.
(d) Nyagar’s Co-wife?
Ans: She is the other wife of Nyagar, who does not seem that disturbed by Nyagar’s absence the morning after the thief was buried beneath the green leaves. Her appearance makes clear that Nyagar is a wealthy man since certain traditional societies in Africa allow for more than one wife depending on the economic status of the husband.
(e) Nyamundhe?
Ans: She is the wife of Nyagar who disappears from his side in the middle of the night and forgets to bolt the gate after she leaves his hut. After the thief kills Nyagar, Nyamunda becomes the focus of the story. In particular, she defies the European system of justice by calling into question the reasoning behind the European’s insistence on taking her husband’s body away to be studied and dissected.
She also reveals that the clan is not so sure of itself after Nyagar’s body is discovered. People eye each other with suspicion and fear that an evil spirit has descended on them. This suspicion weakens their stance against the European police officer and makes the men look foolish. By embracing the traditional rituals for burying the dead, Nyamundhe attempts to salvage the customs of her people and deflect the influence of Western ideologies and beliefs. Her song states quite solemnly and directly what she has lost, and in a grander sense, it reflects on the larger losses that her people have suffered under the strict regulations of colonialism.
(f) Clan Leader Olielo?
Ans: Olielo is a cousin of Nyagar who metes out justice within the clan and provides a leadership role when the thief is killed. Olielo must confront the European police officer at the end of the story and defend the murder of the thief. By understanding how the European legal system works, Olielo is able to subvert it by claiming that the whole village is responsible for the murder and not one person. By making this claim, Olielo deflects attention from individual motivation to group responsibility, showing the difference in value systems between the Western view of justice that seeks justice for all crimes committed, disregarding the circumstances, and the Luo tradition that views some murder as being justified within a particular context such as endangering the security of the clan.
(g) Omoro?
Ans: Omoro is Nyagar’s friend who gets stabbed by one of the cattle thieves. Nyagar helps stop Omoro’s wound from bleeding and then makes sure that he gets home all right.
LONG TYPE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
1. Discuss the summary of ‘The Green Leaves’.
Ans: The green leaves is a short story written by Grace Ogot, this story reflects the condition of people living in Caribbean islands under the rule of the British Government. This story comes under Post colonial literature in English literature, literature written about the coloniser or the impact or aftermath of the British government falls under this category.
In Grace Ogot short story she has tried to show the best of it in just a night and day scene. The story starts with Nyagar who is sleeping in his house and thinks that he is dreaming but in reality there is noise of some people running outside his house. He gets up and sees towards her wife but she was missing so he goes near the main door and finds that the main door was open so he gets very angry on her wife saying that how can she leave his hut without taking his permission. Then he moves out of his hut and goes to see what was the noise going outside, he finds that there are three people running and a group of people running behind them and he get confuse. Suddenly someone screams to catch them, they are robbing cattle then he comes to know that they are thieves and the villagers are chasing them.
Nyagar also joins the group and starts chasing the thieves, after running a mile the thieves lost their way and they miss the bridge which they had to take to go to their village so they jump into the river and try to swim to reach their village but there was a whirlpool in the water which made it difficult to swim and go and hence they were caught by the villagers. The villager started beating them brutally in this a thief escaped and ran towards the bushes and was hiding behind the bushes then the villagers followed him and smashed in bushes with their clubs on bushes but there was no sound so they came back. The other thief attacked Omoro with his knife and he also escaped now there was only one thief left who was brutally beaten. After sometime the thief was unconscious so Omoro stopped all the villagers and told them that they should go back to their village because they thought that if he dies in front of their eyes then his evil spirit will be on their village. They covered the thief’s body with green leaves and decided to meet early in the morning to bury his dead body.
Everyone went back to their huts, when Nyagar reached his hut he thought that the thief might have some money which he can take from him so he starts walking towards the thief’s body. On the way he feels that someone is following him but it was all his hallucination due to fear. After reaching near the body he again thinks why he needs money he has enough of money but he also says that nobody has enough money and also he has came till here than i will take the money and go back. He searches the thief’s pocket but he finds nothing so then he remembers that the cattle traders keep their money tied to their necks so he checks over there and finds a bag tied with a locket and he tries to remove it then suddenly something hits Nyagar’s face and he fall down on the ground. It was the thief who had regained consciousness; the thief covered Nyagar’s body with the same green leaves and crossed the bridge to reach his village.
The next morning unreal drums were beaten and the clan leader Olilio gathered people in the centre of the town and told everything to the villagers what happened yesterday night. Now he thought that if the British government comes to know about this then they will punish the murderer so the clan leader tells the villagers that if we stand united than the government cannot do anything to them. In their culture killing a thief is not a crime but according to the British government it is a crime. He sends ten selected people from their village to inform the British government that they have killed a man.
Meanwhile Nyagar’s wife is in search of his husband but she can’t find her and thinks that he might be one of the ten people who had gone to meet the British government. After few minutes a police truck comes from which one British officer and 4 African police step down. The British officer asks the clan leader who killed that man the villagers say we then the inspector asks who hit him first the villagers again say we all hit him first ignoring this the police inspector asks them where is the dead body then the villagers take him over there and when they remove the green leaves from the body the villagers get a shock because it was Nyagar’s and not the thief’s but the villagers think that the evil spirit has entered their town in Nyagar’s form.
Nyagar’s wife starts crying then the British officer drags the body of Nyagar his wife stops the officer but the officer ignores her and drags his body and takes his body for autopsy and his wife strips her cloths till waist and follows the truck crying and singing a traditional song and with this the story ends.
2. Discuss the themes of the short story ‘The Green Leaves’.
Ans: Grace’s short story “The Green Leaves,” from her 1968 collection of short stories called Land without Thunder, was published by the East African Publishing House in Nairobi, Kenya. Many of the stories in this collection are loosely based on tales that her grandmother told her as a young girl growing up in rural western Kenya. More than simply folk. tales, his short stories also reflect, through the traditional genre of the folk tale, a number of recent developments in Kenya’s history, in particular its colonial past and subsequent national independence movement, its changing gender roles, and its economic and urban growth. All these developments have contributed to Kenya’s passage from a traditional agrarian culture to a modern, urban society. Much of the social turmoil that attends such rapid change is revealed in her stories.
In the Introduction to their book Challenging Hierarchies: Issues and Themes in Colonial and Postcolonial African Literature, authors Leonard and Shaka have articulated five common features found in African literature. The list is as follows: using proverbs and aphorisms, depicting social customs, incorporating myths, relating politics to social and cultural issues, and writing concisely. These criteria are relevant while reading his work, as well as other writers’ work produced during the African wars for independence against European colonisers. The cultural disruptions due to British colonialism are a major theme of many works written by postcolonial African writers such as Achebe and Flora.
As a writer coming of age at the time of Kenyan independence in 1963, he turned to the conflicts that occurred between the Lao people and the colonialists as a source for her stories. In particular, the early stories of his, such as “The Green Leaves,” reveal the tenuous grasp that many indigenous cultures in Kenya had on their traditional ways of life with the takeover of Kenya’s political and economic infrastructure by British colonial forces. This is rendered in the scene in which tension flares between the clan leader and the white policeman over the “right” way to deal with robbery. The two different systems of justice are brought into conflict with the traditional way, that of murdering the thief, being seen as barbaric and outdated.
Not only does she reflect on the injustices of the colonial system in Kenya, but she also contributes to an aspect of literature that, for the most part, was overlooked by many African writers who at the time were predominantly male: the experiences of being a black African woman. Specifically, her stories often reveal the limitations of men and the inability of women to make a cultural impact due to being disempowered by patriarchy within both traditional and colonial societies. Thus, she brings a dual perspective to her works that centres on issues of oppression due to gender and complicated by nationality and colonialism.
3. Give a brief analysis of the short story ‘The Green Leaves’ by Grace Ogot.
Ans: In The Green Leaves by Grace Ogot we have the theme of violence,tradition, modernity, colonialism, gender roles, power, greed and conflict. Narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator the reader realises after reading the story that Ogot may be exploring the theme of violence. Though the three thieves are guilty of stealing some cattle, how they are dealt with is interesting. Those in the village consider it appropriate to kill or at least try to kill the thieves.
It is as though the villagers are taking the law into their own hands. However Ogot may also be defining what law and justice is. Those in the village believe in their own traditional way of dealing with thieves. Yet the European police officer believes that the thieves should have been handed over to him in order that they face a trial and then if found guilty be sentenced for their crime. If anything those in the village disagree with the practices of the European police officer which may suggest that Ogot is placing a spotlight on colonialism and the difficulties incurred by those who live in the village who have their own values when it comes to matters of the law. It is as though both are in conflict with one another.
The role that women play in the story is also interesting as they appear to be subservient to men. They have a definitive role to play in what can only be described as a male dominated society. If anything, women are not at the forefront of village life. Those in authority are all male. Those who chased the thieves are all male and the women in the village are not told of what has happened till the following morning.
If anything there is a social hierarchy in place and women are not treated the same as men. Nyagar’s actions also suggest that he is being greedy. Though his inner voice tells him he has no need for the money he still attempts to steal the money from the thief. The consequences being that Nyagar has paid a heavy price for his greed. Should he have remained in his hut as others have done. He would still be alive. Instead he leaves behind a large family who in all likelihood has no way of providing for themselves. As mentioned the role of women in the story is limited with it being possible that their role is to maintain the home and look after their children.
It is also interesting that there is a shift in power when the police arrive at the village. Where previously the men in the village had the power this is no longer the case when the European police officer begins to ask questions. In reality Ogot may be highlighting that the real power in the village rests not with the men of the village but with the white colonisers. The fact that the villagers remain together throughout the story and do not change their story when the European police officer arrives might also be important.
There is a sense of unity within the village which could also be considered to be a stance against colonialism, very little if anything is given away by the villagers. They remain united against the European police officer. It is as though the villagers are rebelling against colonial authority in preference for their own traditional ways which may leave some readers to suspect that those in the village consider the European police officer (or colonisers) to be an unwelcome guest that they have no role to play in the village or in Africa itself.
The end of the story is also interesting as the song sung by Nyamundhe gives the reader an insight into how deeply loved Nyagar was and how he will not be replaced. Nyagar may have made a mistake in attempting to steal the thief’s money but he is not being judged by this by the reader. Instead the reader feels sympathy for both Nyagar and Nyamundhe. Nyamundhe obviously loved Nyagar regardless of what he might have done. She also knows that she will live her life as widows as too will Nyagar’s other wives. This might be important as it is possible that those in the village will now look upon Nyamundhe as being spoiled and that no man will wish to take on the responsibility of looking after Nyamundhe and her children. Something which may not necessarily be the case outside of the village where a widow may have every opportunity to remarry. In reality one foolish mistake by Nyagar has resulted in his family’s lives changing forever. Driven by greed ironically Nyagar has left his family without the means to support themselves. The reader left aware that life will only get tougher for Nyamundhe and Nyagar’s other wives and children.
4. Write an introduction of the story.
Ans: Grace Ogot’s short story “The Green Leaves,” from her 1968 collection of short stories called Land without Thunder, was published by the East African Publishing House in Nairobi, Kenya. Many of the stories in this collection are loosely based on tales that her grandmother told her as a young girl growing up in rural western Kenya. More than simply folk tales, Ogot’s short stories also reflect, through the traditional genre of the folk tale, a number of recent developments in Kenya’s history, in particular its colonial past and subsequent national independence movement, its changing gender roles, and its economic and urban growth. All these developments have contributed to Kenya’s passage from a traditional agrarian culture to a modern, urban society. Much of the social turmoil that attends such rapid change is revealed in her stories.
In the Introduction to their book Challenging Hierarchies: Issues and Themes in Colonial and Postcolonial African Literature, authors Leonard Podis and Yakubu Saaka have articulated five common features found in African literature. The list is as follows: using proverbs and aphorisms, depicting social customs, incorporating myths, relating politics to social and cultural issues, and writing in a concise style. These criteria are relevant while reading Ogot’s work as well as other writers’ work produced during the African wars for independence against European colonizers. The cultural disruptions due to British colonialism are a major theme of many works written by postcolonial African writers such as Chenua Achebe, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Tayeb Salih, and Flora Nwapa.
As a writer coming of age at the time of Kenyan independence in 1963, Ogot turned to the conflicts that occurred between the Luo people and the colonialists as a source for her stories. In particular, the early stories of Ogot, such as “The Green Leaves,” reveal the tenuous grasp that many indigenous cultures in Kenya had on their traditional ways of life with the takeover of Kenya’s political and economic infrastructure by British colonial forces. This is rendered in the scene in which tension flares between the clan leader Olielo and the white policeman over the “right” way to deal with robbery. The two different systems of justice are brought into conflict with the traditional way, that of murdering the thief, being seen as barbaric and outdated.
Not only does Not reflect on the injustices of the colonial system in Kenya, but she also contributes to an aspect of literature that, for the most part, was overlooked by many African writers who at the time were predominantly male: the experiences of being a black African woman. Specifically, her stories often reveal the limitations of men and the inability of women to make a cultural impact due to being dis-empowered by patriarchy within both traditional and colonial societies. Thus, Ogot brings a dual perspective to her works that centres on issues of oppression due to gender and complicated by nationality and colonialism.
5. Briefly analyse the story “The Green Leaves’.
Ans: In The Green Leaves by Grace Ogot we have the theme of violence, tradition, modernity, colonialism, gender roles, power, greed and conflict. Narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator the reader realises after reading the story that Ogot may be exploring the theme of violence. Though the three thieves are guilty of stealing some cattle, how they are dealt with is interesting. Those in the village consider it appropriate to kill or at least try to kill the thieves. It is as though the villagers are taking the law into their own hands. However Ogot may also be defining what law and justice is. Those in the village believe in their own traditional way of dealing with thieves. Yet the European police officer believes that the thieves should have been handed over to him in order that they face a trial and then if found guilty be sentenced for their crime. If anything those in the village disagree with the practices of the European police officer which may suggest that Ogot is placing a spotlight on colonialism and the difficulties incurred by those who live in the village who have their own values when it comes to matters of the law. It is as though both are in conflict with one another.
The role that women play in the story is also interesting as they appear to be subservient to men. They have a definitive role to play in what can only be described as a male dominated society. If anything, women are not at the forefront of village life. Those in authority are all male. Those who chased the thieves are all male and the women in the village are not told of what has happened till the following morning. If anything there is a social hierarchy in place and women are not treated the same as men. Nyagar’s actions also suggest that he is being greedy. Though his inner voice tells him he has no need for the money he still attempts to steal the money from the thief. The consequences being that Nyagar has paid a heavy price for his greed should he have remained in his hut as others have done. He would still be alive. Instead he leaves behind large families who in all likelihood have no way of providing for themselves. As mentioned the role of women in the story is limited with it being possible that their role is to maintain the home and look after their children.
It is also interesting that there is a shift in power when the police arrive at the village. Where previously the men in the village had the power this is no longer the case when the European police officer begins to ask questions. In reality Ogot may be highlighting that the real power in the village rests not with the men of the village but with the white colonizers. The fact that the villagers remain together throughout the story and do not change their story when the European police officer arrives might also be important.
There is a sense of unity within the village which could also be considered to be a stance against colonialism very little if anything is given away by the villagers. They remain united against the European police officer. It is as though the villagers are rebelling against colonial authority in preference for their own traditional ways which may leave some readers to suspect that those in the village consider the European police officer (or colonisers) to be an unwelcome guest that they have no role to play in the village or in Africa itself.
The end of the story is also interesting as the song sung by Nyamundhe gives the reader an insight into how deeply loved Nyagar was and how he will not be replaced. Nyagar may have made a mistake in attempting to steal the thief’s money but he is not being judged by this by the reader. Instead the reader feels sympathy for both Nyagar and Nyamundhe. Nyamundhe obviously loved Nyagar regardless of what he might have done. She also knows that she will live her life as a widow as will Nyagar’s other wives. This might be important as it is possible that those in the village will now look upon Nyamundhe as being spoiled that no man will wish to take on the responsibility of looking after Nyamundhe and her children. Something which may not necessarily be the case outside of the village were a widow may have every opportunity to remarry. In reality one foolish mistake by Nyagar has resulted in his family’s lives changing forever. Driven by greed ironically Nyagar has left his family without the means to support themselves. The reader is left aware that life will only get tougher for Nyamundhe and Nyagar’s other wives and children.
6. Discuss the theme of the story.
Ans: Grace’s short story “The Green Leaves,” from her 1968 collection of short stories called Land without Thunder, was published by the East African Publishing House in Nairobi, Kenya. Many of the stories in this collection are loosely based on tales that her grandmother told her as a young girl growing up in rural western Kenya. More than simply folk tales, his short stories also reflect, through the traditional genre of the folk tale, a number of recent developments in Kenya’s history, in particular its colonial past and subsequent national independence movement, its changing gender roles, and its economic and urban growth. All these developments have contributed to Kenya’s passage from a traditional agrarian culture to a modern, urban society. Much of the social turmoil that attends such rapid change is revealed in her stories.
In the Introduction to their book Challenging Hierarchies: Issues and Themes in Colonial and Postcolonial African Literature, authors Leonard and Shaka have articulated five common features found in African literature. The list is as follows: using proverbs and aphorisms, depicting social customs, incorporating myths, relating politics to social and cultural issues, and writing concisely. These criteria are relevant while reading his work, as well as other writers’ work produced during the African wars for independence against European colonisers. The cultural disruptions due to British colonialism are a major theme of many works written by postcolonial African writers such as Achebe and Flora.
As a writer coming of age at the time of Kenyan independence in 1963, he turned to the conflicts that occurred between the Lao people and the colonialists as a source for her stories. In particular, the early stories of his, such as “The Green Leaves,” reveal the tenuous grasp that many indigenous cultures in Kenya had on their traditional ways of life with the takeover of Kenya’s political and economic infrastructure by British colonial forces. This is rendered in the scene in which tension flares between the clan leader and the white policeman over the “right” way to deal with robbery. The two different systems of justice are brought into conflict with the traditional way, that of murdering the thief, being seen as barbaric and outdated.
Not only does she reflect on the injustices of the colonial system in Kenya, but she also contributes to an aspect of literature that, for the most part, was overlooked by many African writers who at the time were predominantly male: the experiences of being a black African woman. Specifically, her stories often reveal the limitations of men and the inability of women to make a cultural impact due to being disempowered by patriarchy within both traditional and colonial societies. Thus, she brings a dual perspective to her works that centres on issues of oppression due to gender and complicated by nationality and colonialism.
