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Blossoms of the Savannah as a reflection of the modern day woman

A literary look at the modern day woman as portrayed in H.R Kulet book. Blossoms of the Savannah is a book written by the late H.R Kulet in the early 2000s. The story in the book is set in the mid-90s- a period marked with inflation in Kenya which prompted massive layoffs of civil servants called retrenchment and privatization of key government institutions. This was also a period of political change in Kenya with the birth of multiparty politics and also the onset of gender equality debate in the country. With vocal female leaders like the Late Wangari Maathai, Charity Kaluki Ngilu among others joining politics, there was a lot of enthusiasm in Kenya about the impending change. Kulet chose to dwell on the social cultural change brought about with education of the girl child and how this was effecting change in communities that were consertive. Key among the issues he sought to address were the retrogressive cultural practices that targeted a specific gender and how greed and lust
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RUNNING AWAY FROM CULTURE IN BLOSSOMS OF THE SAVANNAH

  One cannot run away from their culture; what they can do is work towards changing it. Drawing from the book Blossoms of the Savannah, discuss. One cannot run away from their culture; what they can do is work towards changing it. This is evident in the novel Blossoms of the Savannah by H.R. Kulet. According to the novel, Parsimei Ole kaelo brought up his children in the confines of the city of Nakuru away from the culture of Nasila. In Nakuru, Kaelo was comfortable to be a monogamous with two daughters. Even though his brother had advised him to stick to Nasila culture and obey its tenets, Kaelo dismissed them. He was a happy successful man doing well as a career man. In Nakuru he could model his daughters to modern women with careers- probably the reason he moved to the town in the fast place.        By moving to Nakuru, Kaelo was in a way running away from the cruel Nasila culture. He was a man with an outside view of his culture. He wished that his people could embrace change
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OLE KAELO'S ACTS OF COWARDICE IN BLOSSOMS OF THE SAVANNAH

The book Blossoms of the Savannah presents Ole Kaelo as behaving in a cowardly manner. This essay observes Kaelo’s acts of cowardice and how they shape the trajectory of the story. Kaelo is one of the main characters in the book. He is the father of Taiyo and Resian. Kaelo’s decisions make the story’s conflict skyrocket into a struggle for the rights of the girl child. Generally, we pick up Kaelo from the moment he retired. However, it should be noted that Kaelo’s confidence begun the moment he moved to Nakuru. With a lucrative job and a lean family, Kaelo displayed a confidence never seen before. In the comfort of Nakuru, he defended his decision to remain monogamous and delineate himself from the barbaric female circumcision for his two daughters. The security of employment in the sprawling Nakuru city offered Kaelo enough confidence to denounce culture and call Nasila elders as ‘megalomaniacs who were stuck in the past. In Nakuru, Kaelo found a safe haven in which to abhor and
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THE PEARL: LISTENING TO ADVICE

  “ When one fails to heed advice, they suffer.” With illustrations from John Steibeck’s The Pearl, write an essay to validate the above statement. Sometimes it is important to heed advice from those around us. Even though we may think that we are right, the advice given may go a long way in helping us. According to the play, The Pearl, Kino did not heed to the advice of others and this led to disastrous outcome. Kino comes out as a proud masculine man. It is for this reason that Kino does not want to listen to his wife. When Juana proffers an advice, Kino does not give it so much thought. He assures her that he is a man and he knows what he is doing. For instance, Juana observes that the Pearl they had found from the sea will bring evil to their family. While Kino can see the evil lurking in the darkness, he does not want to let go of his treasure. Juan Thomas seems to know Kino well. As an elder brother, he keenly walks Kino into the history of their people and how they had be
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SYMBOLISM IN THE PLAY INHERITANCE- A PLAY BY DAVID MULWA

Sometimes it is hard to explain abstract ideas without having a vessel to carry them. In literature and any other work of art, artists tend to use symbols. A symbol is an object. This object can be used to convey an abstract idea like love or create an emotion within the work of art. Therefore, symbolism is a literary device in which a writer uses objects or symbols in order to convey ideas and at the same time create the desired mood or evoke a desired emotion. In the play Inheritance, David Mulwa has used various symbols. These symbols are in the form of characters, objects, and animals. These symbols play an important role in helping us understand the meaning of the play and at the same time add aesthetics to the play. To begin with, the two foreign characters Robert Rollerstone and Daniel Goldstein represent neocolonialism. It is important to point out the age difference between Rollerstone and Goldstein. Goldstein is advanced in age, while Rollerstone is young. This signifies
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USE OF MOVEMENT IN THE PLAY INHERITANCE

The play Inheritance has involved various aspects of English literature styles in order to create a very compelling work of art. Normally, plays are divided into Acts; however, the playwright chose to use movement instead of acts. Movement shows motion, a change in position from one point to another, a transition. In this regard, David Mulwa tries to weave a transitional play; a play that doesn’t occur in acts but moves from one place to another or time to another. The play starts off (in the prologue) in colonial Kutula led by colonial Governor Thorne Macay with the advisory board made up of Bishop Menninger. During this period, there is a lot of opposition fronted by the people who are led by the wise and beloved King Kutula XV. King Kutula seems adamant to reach an understanding in which his people will continue being slaves to their colonial masters even though they are politically independent. He refuses any form of independence fronted by Thorne in which the colonial master s
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THE PLAY INHERITANCE AS AN ALLEGORY TO UHURU KENYATTA'S ADMINISTRATION

Allegory is a style in which the writer or author mirrors what is happening in society with what happens in his work of art. Most often, allegory has been used to espouse the truth ignorant to the masses. In Inheritance, David Mulwa attempts to warn us about the dangers of voting in Uhuru Kenyatta. Nevertheless, a decade later, we voted in Uhuru Kenyatta and now we are reaping what we sowed.  The play Inheritance is the modern-day Allegory of the Cave. Written by Plato centuries ago, Allegory of the Cave explains why the opinion of the few with knowledge is unacknowledged especially at the time when there is a general consensus on what truth is. In this respect, the majority will acknowledge the general truth as opposed to the new truth espoused by the few. This is one of the reasons we make the wrong decisions.    The play Inheritance was first published in 2004- two years after Uhuru Kenyatta had lost two Mwai Kibaki in the 2002 elections. At the time, no one knew that Jomo Kenyatt
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