A Far Cry from Africa by Derek Walcott, as a Postcolonial dilemma of the

speaker's legacy

"A Far Cry from Africa" by Derek Walcott presents the speaker’s
dilemma of colonialism.

Or,

"A Far Cry from Africa" by Derek Walcott presents the speaker’s
dilemma of painful legacy between the colonizer and the colonized.

Answer: The poem "A Far Cry from Africa" is a reflection of the Mau
Mau Rebellion that took place in the mid-twentieth century when African
Kenyans fought for independence against the British colonial rule. The
speaker of the poem has connections to both Africa and England and has
been at odds over how to explain the violence of this conflict. By identifying
himself intimately with the poet Walcott, the speaker of the poem is
painfully divided even among the African colonists in his connection with
English. Indeed, what the poem clearly argues is a misguided identity and it
is worrisome because colonialism is an element that dominates in the vein
of painful legacy.

Here it is important to know some historical context to understand the

indecision of the speaker. The Mau Mau or Kenya Land and Freedom Army
(KLFA) was a rebel of the Kikuyu tribe of Kenya that lasted for eight
consecutive years from 1952 to 1960. The people of the Kikuyu tribe in
Kenya waged a terrible guerrilla war against English colonialism. The British
response to the revolt was even more ruthless.

So, how does the speaker react when asked:

The British later provoked a brutal response. These lines embody the
speaker’s internal divisions between England and Africa and leave the two
sides as bilaterally opposing choices.

The speaker felt that a violent and decisive response was needed to the
violence of the Mau Mau rebellion. Either someone has to condemn Mau
Mau and stand by England, or Mau Mau has to support and abandon
England altogether; Accept the violence of the Mau Mau uprising as
necessary for Kenya's independence, or reject such violence and reject

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 every connection with Africa and the colonized people in the process.
Between these two options the speaker is suspended, unable to determine.

Thus, the speaker feels isolated from all sides of the dispute. At the same
time, the speaker considers himself involved with both the British and
Kenyans. This implies that the speaker has a colonial tradition, descended
from both English colonists and colonial Africans. As a result, the speaker
feels that his own body has been divided by this conflict.

In the third stanza, the speaker addresses the issue explicitly:

The word "poisoned" conveys the powerful idea of provoking the Mau Mau
rebellion in the speaker’s mind. Although the speaker has "both blood" from
Europeans and Africans, meaning descendants of either sides - this blood
feels poisonous, connecting the speaker to violence no matter it would be.

This tradition also makes the speaker poisonous, because the speaker thinks
he is divided into veins. The way the speaker presents the twists, as if, half
the blood of the speaker is half violent. So the speaker thinks that the poem
is very personal and even physically divided by composing this conflict. For
the speaker, this is not a matter of abstract politics, but a truly intimate
struggle that has taken place within him a struggle over the legacy of
colonialism. Thus, colonial history has compelled the speaker to this
example which is forever divided by colonized and colonizer.

*****

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