HOUSE BOY BY FERDINAND OYONO

HOUSE BOY BY FERDINAND OYONO

TITTLE:HOUSE BOY

WRITER: FERDINAND OYONO

SETTING: CAMEROON AFRICA

CHARACTERS

Toundi omdoua ( Joseph) house boy

He is the main character, who is activity of circumstances of colonial rule in Cameroon

He is forced to live away from his family due to both his father harshness and brutality and family poverty

He represent poor African children whose life is full of messiness/problems that is from birth to death

He reflect child labor and street children in modern society due to family poverty when he works as a house boy oppressed , humiliated, discrimination, exploitation tortured to death

He is partially educated but he remained unaccepted as a fellow human being by the whites who is loves and serves them

He is baptized as Joseph then became the house boy of new local commandants (head of the government )

HOUSE BOY BY FERDINAND OYONO

Farther Gilbert

He is a catholic father , who lives in missionary center

He is portrayed as oppression , exploiter that humiliates his house boy (toundi) who is an Africa

He portrayed as a racist despite being as a religious

He represent all religious leader who are hypocrites that is those who don’t practice what they preach

Father Vandermayer

He is the assistant to father Gilbert

He took the position of the father Gilbert after his death

He is a racist ,exploiter ,oppressor

He treats Toundi worse than father Gilbert

He also represents hypocritical religious leader

Gullet

He is the white chief of police force

He is harsh and brutal to Africans

Sophie

She is an Africa girl

She is agriculture engineer’s house girl who not only sleeps with her boss but also a girl friend to the houseboy (Toundi)

She steals the agricultural engineer’s money and moves to Spain

Madame Suzzy

She is commandant’s wife and very beautiful who has an extra marital affair with prison director

She seems to like commandants

At the beginning, she treats Toundi friendly but later miss treat him as an enemy

Toundi father

Harsh and brutal to his son

He use abusive language

HOUSE BOY BY FERDINAND OYONO

LANGUAGE USE/ TECHIQUE

Similes

E.g. father Gilbert hair is like the beard of a maize cob

E.g. the dog of the king /the commandant like the king

E.g. the author in the novel ,the author says toundi was treat like a pet animal by father Gilbert and kicked like a dog by the commandant

Metaphor

E.g. Toundi say my ancestors cannibals

Sophie herself is called by agriculture engineers my cabbage my chicken

Madam refers the African food is an old baboon

Symbolism in characterization

father Gilbert is a symbol of colonists with religions goals and Death of symbol of transition from initial colonists

Toundi parents are symbol of old generation lost to the colonists

Madame/commandant both symbolize the French colonists and colonialism in general

HOUSE BOY BY FERDINAND OYONO

TITLE OF THE NOVEL

The title of the novel is just it just like other literature work, the title of ” house boy ” it standard for symbolism of African country where by other character like father Gilbert e.g. represent white domination, in order to exploit Africa nation

SETTING

In the novel of house boy the setting was in Cameroon Africa

HOUSE BOY BY FERDINAND OYONO

THEMATIC ANALYSIS

i) Oppression / exploitation

These are among of overriding theme in the book; they are mostly depicted through the main character for example;

Father Gilbert used to show sugar lumps to the children the ways people throw come to the children

Toundi was not paid

Toundi’s toured caused his death

The servant were given very bad food

ii) Ignorance

The Africans who underwent an act of assimilation was not any use to them, at the first Africans had thought that the white had a very high level of civilazation and that is why some of them were assimilated example Toundi.

iii) Humiliation

The French humiliated the black Africans, they claim the Africans to be the French after undergoing the policy of assimilation

They don’t pay Toundi as the house boy

They tortured toundi until he lost consciousness

Father Gilbert also throws sugar lumps to African children as animals or children

HOUSE BOY BY FERDINAND OYONO

iv) Disappointment

Toundi is disappointed at last when he discovered that inspite of being assimilated he still despised by whites, he still humiliated, opposed ,exploited by the whites though toundi is honest and respect to them

Toundi is blaming himself for his decision of being assimilated and leave away the African tradition ways of life

v) Awareness

Toundi became aware of the French hypocrisy at his bed during his death “he say brother what are we? We blacks who calls our selves French man?” This question shows that finally Toundi has come to discover that the assimilation done to them was full of hypocrisy aimed to facilitate oppression, exploitation, among the Africans

vi) Immorality

This is moral pollution in which there is a tendency of people violating the social norms and going against the moral value.This has seen/shown in the novel in different occasion’s value;

The agriculture engineers also makes love with his house girl in secret

Father Vandemayar also acts immorally because he treat people against

Prostitution has also been revealed in the novel as, discovered that Kalisia used to be a prostitute at the coast

MESSAGE

The French colonial administration include the police, the prisons and the police of assimilation and catholic mission (religions) and the white man’s culture are used to oppress, exploit, humiliate and segregate Africans in their own countries.

HOUSE BOY BY FERDINAND OYONO

RELEVANCE OF THE NOVEL

The book is relevant to the society due to the following aspect;

Some leader parents fail to set good example to the young generation to copy because they are the source of moral decay

People have failed to live by what they preach, including the church which is expected to be the savior of humanity ,in sometime leads by hypocrites e.g. father Gilbert