Freedom :: Essays Papers

FreedomThis book was written in the middle to late twentieth century. Generally, this book dealt with Indians life history in East Africa. The book is set in native Tanzania where Vassanji was raised after his family moved from his birth address Nairobi. This book is a collection of short stories that chronically move from the narrators early childhood until he returns to his homeland years later to find that much has changed from his childhood.There are many another(prenominal) issues that are intertwined into the text that Vassanji incorporates to relay his stories. Being a part of the lower class Indian community in Tanzania during the 1950s, there is much class struggle. There is an fount early in the book where massive discrimination is evident in the book. Schools went through preparation and drill for the royal visit. But to my great disappointment still the higher forms were allowed to welcome the princess. The narrator overcame this discrimination by working t hrough the crowd and essentially got a glimpse of the young queen. This was one of the more emblematic scenes in the book. The narrator overcame oppression here on a small scale as he later will by leaving Africa and passing to a University in North America.The market place called the Mnuda was a place of massive thievery and just not a good place to go. However, many members of the community would go to the Mnuda to pick up odds and ends. The point is that this is a low class society we are dealing with.Later on there is a mention of green government trucks that randomly show up in the streets of Tanzania during the night. Green government trucks just give the impression that the government has something to aid if they are sending out watchdog trucks to keep an eye on the demos or population. This example just shows the kind of totalitarian government that was in place during the mid-twentieth century in this part of Africa. Just a reminiscent of 1984 and the concept of big brother mentioned in that novel. It seems this type of ruling is in place more or less the narrator at this time.The family of the narrator would go on to have their own lives. When the narrator prepares for going to the University, he talks about his sisters already married.