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Nina Zhang

Ms. Lee

8th Grade English

10/31/2017

European Imperialism in Africa

They say that the flap of a butterflys wings can cause a hurricane halfway across the

world; one small action can cause physiological and political devastation. Minutes of Glory by

Ngugi wa Thiongo is a story about a young girl, Beatrice, who accepted herself as not

beautiful because of the European image of beauty that was imposed on Africa. She is

dehumanized and laughed at while working as a barmaid, and this story tells of when she finally

succumbs to the stereotype and throws away her entire life to be acknowledged as beautiful for

the minutes she can get away with. Children of the Sea just like Minutes of glory, also depicts

the devastating impact of the European imperialism. The author, Edwidge Danticat was, weaves

a short story about two love birds being separated within the chaos. They update each other

through a journal and we gain insight through their thoughts and experiences. In Minutes of

Glory and Children of the Sea the author delves into the superiority of the Western

European culture that was prominent in Africa by using characterization, literary elements, irony,

symbolism, and figurative language.

Specifically in Minutes of Glory, the author uses characterization and literary language

to convey how European imperialism influenced and dominated the definition of beauty in

Africa in Minutes of Glory. Beatrice's character stays static to represent the imposed belief of
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inferiority that she has accepted. Ngugi wa Thiongo demonstrates this at the starting of the

passage, Her name was Wanjiru. But she liked better her Christian one, Beatrice,(Thiong'o 71)

and around the end of the story: She suddenly felt enormous hunger as if she had been hungry

her whole life. (Thiong'o 84) These excerpts help develop Beatrices character to show how

overpowering and constant the effects of Europes imperialism was. As well as character

development, the author also uses literary elements to convey the message of european

domination. Beatrice is dehumanized in the middle of the story and the quote states,He paid for

her body as he would pay for a bag of potatoes. (Thiong'o 79) This is a metaphor for how

Europe abused and maltreated Africa. The Europeans only wanted Africa for their raw materials,

and did not care about the people of Africa. Through characterization of Beatrice and the literary

elements presented throughout the story, the author is able to portray how powerful the European

were in Africa.

Symbolism and foreshadowing in Children of the Sea opens a window to the

superiority of the Europeans. In the beginning and the end the girl talks about butterflies and how

they carry messages; colorful butterflies represent good news and black butterflies bring bad

news. The very end of the story, the girl seems to always be followed by black butterflies. This,

symbolizes the fall of Haiti because of the horrible state the Europeans left them in, which

proves the extent of domination they had over Africa. Finally, as the boyfriend is on the ship, he

has a dream about dying and going to heaven. His heaven was at the bottom of the ocean and

he was reunited with his girlfriend in the dream. The author writes, The other night I dreamt I

died and went to heaven.(Danticat 7) This is another foreshadowing predicting the boyfriends
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death and Haitis death. Through all these examples, the author uses symbolism and

foreshadowing to tell a story that further proves the european supremacy.

Minutes of Glory and Children of the Sea tell how powerful the European

imperialism was in Africa. As seen in Minutes of Glory, Nyaguthii was a beautiful and highly

demanded woman. But she is exposed when she tells Beatrice, It is just that nothing interests

me. Men do not move me now. Yet I want, I need instant excitement. I need the attention of

those false flattering eyes to make me feel myself, myself. (Thiong'o 82) This establishes how

devastating the psychological effects of the European domination in Africa were. Children of

the Sea presents us a story filled with after effects from the European domination. . Even after

the Europeans left from Africa, the mancouts who rose to power continued to follow the pattern

of domination. They terminated anyone who didnt agree with them, tortured innocent citizens,

and raped the women that they wanted. Edwidge Danticat depicts the horror: They make the son

sleep with his mother.(Danticat 8) It does not directly apply the extent of influence the

European imperialism had on Africa, but we can see the continuous in reoccurring pattern

carried down by the mancouts. These two stories depict European domination in Africa from two

different viewpoints that give us a broader spectrum to be able to see the impact of imperialism.

The author uses symbolism, literary elements, character development, and foreshadowing

to demonstrate the influence of European. Children of the Sea brings up how the Europeans

abused their power and Minutes of Glory shows us how constant in dehumanizing their

practices were. Though the stories may sound unrealistic or not possible in our modern,

developed society, many of the same things are happening today in our world. These stories are
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examples of effective literary element use and teach us in important principle about how one

little action can cause cultural and political devastation.