The Stranglehole of English Lit

AnaMarie Mehmel

Professor Benander

World Literature III

1 April 2011

First thing I have to say is that I’m greatly disappointed that Mnthali used Jane Austen as the English writer he was going to bash. Jane Austen is one of my favorite writers of all time. I own at least three of her books and have read her Pride and Prejudice six times. However, what he says is completely understandable. Austen’s novels are completely useless to the African people. Learning how to marry the richest man and have love at the same time or what dress is best for dinner is not something an African woman needs to know. Africans need to be taught how to live in their country. African people do not have the luxury of lounging around and chatting over tea. It does not make sense to force a person to learn something that has no meaning to them.  It is one thing to teach people another culture so that they can understand it, but it is completely different to teach that culture because it is the more superior culture; which in my opinion is completely subjective. People will always argue that they are better than another. Yet, because the English thought they were better and because they had power over the Africans, Africans have suffered much. They do not have a real culture. They have whatever they learn from the European universities they go to. Of course, teaching African history is not going to be in the curriculum; and as for language, they cannot make a language of their own without using European techniques. Unfortunately, this kind of oppression happens still today. You’d think that over time and through all the wars, deaths, inventions etc. that people of the world would have learned from mistakes of the past and realized that physical characteristics do not change the fact that a person is still a human being and does not deserve to be treated as anything less just because they might be different from the majority. Europeans still think they are better than the rest of the world, Americans think Mexicans need to go back to Mexico because they are all just lazy, job stealing aliens, men still think women should be at home with the kids or that women cannot do a job as good as a man; the list goes on. This poem kind of reminds me of what is going on in Libya. In the poem it was the English oppressing the Africans, in Libya, America is stepping in to “help” the people. Yes, I understand that sometimes people need help, but America uses their offer of help as a way to be right there in the action and controlling the whole thing. All that does is lead to rebellion and death. Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan etc. are all places were good American soldiers died because of greed and the need to control oil. That does not help the people and that is what Mnthali is saying. Teaching English literature really does not help the African people; it is just England’s way of controlling what the Africans know.