Colonial Disillusionment in Ngugi wa Thiong'o’s Weep Not, Child

Abstract

Disillusionment is experienced when expectations are not realised. Some of the natives of the colonies naively believed in the nobility of the intentions of the whites, their aspirations to teach their language, convert them to their religion and other prospects of prosperity and development. They hoped that they would lead a respectable life. They were not aware of the hidden agenda of the colonisers. When they find out that the colonial religion or Education or anything that colonialism has brought into their lives is of no use and least worthy to be trusted, an overwhelming sense of disillusionment engulfs them, which results in desperation, a sense of loss, self-hatred, hatred for others, mental and physical trauma, self-doubt, and unexpressed anger against colonial powers. Ngugi wa Thiong'o is a politically skewed post-colonial writer whose works reflect his own experiences as a subject of colonisation. The paper makes use of the concept of disillusionment provided by Paul J. Maher and Eric R. Igou in their article titled "Disillusionment: A prototype analysis", wherein they have scientifically conceptualised the experience of disillusionment. They have worked on both the epistemic and affective factors that characterise disillusionment. This paper utilises their findings to explore the colonial disillusionment in its various aspects in Ngugi's Weep Not, Child. These aspects include Politics, Education, and Spirituality. With reference to the concept of colonial disillusionment, this article makes an effort to probe into the novel for these aspects.