30 pages • 1 hour read
Ken Saro-WiwaAfrica Kills Her Sun
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1975A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Nature of Imprisonment
The Nature of Imprisonment, a major theme in “Africa Kills Her Sun,” is reflected in both Bana’s literal imprisonment in his cell and the overarching imprisonment of his country due to selfishness, corruption, and exploitation. This theme and carceral setting are prevalent in other works by Saro-Wiwa in which the protagonist illuminates the layers of imprisonment under which he and his countrymen find themselves.
While Britain’s exploitation of oil and other resources led to colonialism—another form of exploitation and imprisonment—this story focuses on the imprisonment that follows colonialism, wherein African citizens are exploiting, hurting, and neglecting one another. Bana also alludes to the fact that this self-sabotage and corruption has been present throughout the country’s lifespan: “In every facet of our lives—in politics, in commerce and in the professions—robbery is the base line. […] In the early days, our forebears sold their kinsmen into slavery for minor items such as beads, mirrors, alcohol and tobacco” (296).
Bana reveals how all the characters in the story are, in their own way, imprisoned. The High Judge, guard, spectators, and people at home are all prisoners of the government. They are victims as well as perpetrators. They are complicit in that they refuse to fight against the system and status quo, whether out of ignorance, moral depravity, or lack of care due to inertia and comfort. Bana considers himself to be different because he sees and understands the system. Unlike a majority of the public, he never forgets what he has seen and realized, as evidenced by his frequent anecdotes. He is also honest about the system and his involvement in it. A central question of the story is whether Bana, despite being a criminal, is a moral, heroic character. In his own words, Bana “joins” the government but becomes quickly disillusioned by its corruption. He does not want to be part of the problem but cannot find a way to live an honest life within the system.
The Nature of Imprisonment also shows itself in Bana’s unique view of honesty. For Bana, a way to break free from imprisonment in a corrupt society is to be honest. He is honest to the judge as well as to Zole in the letter. Being honest and sharing his insights and experiences are his only acts of agency. They are acts of witness, testifying to his own and the country’s suffering. While other people are at home, safe and drinking beer, this superficial form of freedom is one of deeper subjugation. True freedom does not look like conventional comfort because in this story, comfort is only possible with complicity.
Acceptance of Mortality
Bana’s complex journey of confronting his forthcoming execution gives rise to the theme of Acceptance of Mortality. While Bana is insistent that life is miserable, not worth living, and is worse than death, he also admits that he is full of love. Despite the almost interchangeability between life and death—a closeness that “makes life a walking death” (299)—he concedes that he will miss his two friends, Sazan and Jimba, as well as Zole. This concession reveals the significance of friendship and romance. Life is not without value, but it is complicated by the country’s pervasive injustice.
Throughout the story, Bana condemns the masses who are inert, ignorant, malignant, and forgetful. This is not the same, however, as accepting that this is how life is—that this is the nature and fate of man. What he actually condemns is the inability or refusal of others to value life in honest, meaningful terms. This raises the question, of course, if Bana’s life of robbery was meaningful, or if he could have chosen a better path. Regardless, if Bana did not value life, he would not feel such disdain toward the men who ruin people’s lives and livelihoods through corruption.
Bana attempts to reconcile himself with death with the idea that what separates life and death is “narrow, as the neck of a calabash” (299). The calabash, a type of gourd, is symbolic in African religions and culture, often representing wisdom and spiritual knowledge. They are used for traditional vessels, hollowed out as bowls and containers. The image of life and death being contained in the same calabash means there is no way to accept one without the other. Bana’s recognition of this intertwined relationship helps him accept the inevitable.
Bana’s acceptance of his mortality comes through as he writes his letter for “posterity,” acknowledging that he wants to create something positive for the future. While his motives are not fully clear to him in the beginning, he ends with the realization that this letter was born of Africa and for Africa. He wants to be remembered and chooses to believe that Africa can do more than simply erase its honest men. In this way, he chooses to accept his mortality and make his death a sign of hope. The change of the epitaph to “Africa Kills Her Sun” is significant in this aspect. Bana modifies son to its homonym, sun, likening the sons of Africa to the Earth’s lifeforce without which it cannot exist. The current status quo is killing these men, and thus killing any hope for progress, visibility, beauty, and life. To kill the sun is to annihilate all life. Using the letter, Bana transforms his annihilation into a life-giving event.
The Struggle to Overcome Alienation
While Bana says that he is not reaching out to Zole for sympathy or understanding, his letter is an intimate, human act. On one level, the letter is to “unburden” himself of knowledge that he has kept within himself for so long. This knowledge is about the neocolonial powers at work in his country and the public’s surrender to these conditions.
The letter is not a sterile, formal presentation of knowledge. Woven throughout the story is Bana the man and the people he has met who have shaped his journey. The drive to write the letter also comes from a desire to connect with the innocence and goodness of his childhood. The development of Bana’s character in the narrative is slight but focuses on his cynicism. He begins the letter in a contradictory frame of mind, one that grieves the state of life but is also full of appreciation. In the end, he chooses an epitaph—“Africa Kills Her Sun”—that is a damning statement. It encapsulates the continent as a monolith of devolution and self-betrayal. His current self feels the alienation of being one of the only ones who sees the plight of the nation, and the alienation of being deeply unhappy. Unlike others, he does not numb the pain. This letter is a way to overcome the darkness he feels and connect that past goodness with the future.
As the letter becomes more personal, his struggle to overcome alienation breaks through the cool satirical tone. In delineating his choices and the thought processes behind those choices, Bana addresses Zole more and more, rhetorically asking, “See?” He wants her validation and for her to understand the circumstances that have led him to this point.
At the end of the letter, the sun is present, both metaphorically within Bana and in the literal sun coming into the cell. The letter has acted as a conduit, allowing Bana to recognize the light and end on that image. Seeking connection with Zole is a way to overcome alienation and believe that Africa can value humanity, the dignity of human life, and freedom. Rather than thinking back to the ocean and pond and memories with Zole, he is able to sense light within his present self. This light is proof that he has overcome his own alienation from goodness, and his belief in the world’s state of alienation.
