Mongo Betis Narrative in The Poor Christ of Bomba is...

Postcolonialism is a term that ranges from artistic actions, political theories, cultural theories, and social ideologies which have created a new genre of African writers in the mid to late twentieth century that theorize this term. The fallout, drawbacks, and social emergences that have come out of colonialism appear to have taken the definition of postcolonialism up to a certain point because according to some theorists of postcolonialism, the definition still remains subjective. At this point, what remains is still the level of understanding toward the colonized and remaining questions as to the motives of the colonizers to colonize. Postcolonialism relegates the colonizers intent to just personal financial gains over the colonized,†¦show more content†¦Before postcolonialism is understood at some level, colonialism itself has to be defined. Mongo Beti uses his book, The Poor Christ of Bomba, to tell a fictional tale of colonialism. He uses wit, satire, irony, and parodi es to bring forth some revelations about this subject matter of colonialism. Beti uses biographical narration. It resembles autobiographical narration which takes the reader through a historical account using a diary-like dialogue of the main protagonists life with other members of society such as the colonizers and the villagers who live alongside of the road of Bomba. Denis is the young boy whose mental imagery where this invasion takes place is ultimately the readers tour guide of what colonialism may have like. Mongo Beti (1932-2001) was a Cameroon writer who was a theorists, novelist, essayist, and publisher. He is noted for being a prominent African writer who has been known to use satirical approaches to criticize and emphasize the effects of colonialism through his fictional novels. The importance of his characters in his novels, for example, The Poor Christ of Bomba, gives visional insight though the narrative of how the hierarchal order of the colonizer adhered to its position and then how the colonized submission presumably took place. Beti uses satire as a literary device to draw consciousness of a subject whose remnants have tried to define its effects known as postcolonialism.