As the book goes on it appears that the Sudanese are slowly gaining power over the Europeans. The apprentices actions shocked the Europeans and struck fear into all of them. The young boys actions are harmless for the most part, simply destructive, though as most young boys would act if given a slingshot. The africans seem to be gaining ground in achieving what they want with the strike. But even so they continue to talk down to them and about them, as is seen in chapter 14 which they are talking about how dependent the africans are on them. The Europeans come across and snobby and self absorbed to me. The seem to find it practically inconceivable that the Africans could live without their help and all the resources they provide for them. I guess it goes back to the issue we discussed more in the beginning of the book, about whether or not colonization is a good thing, and for whom. Personally, I still consider it true that the African people don't depend on the Europeans nearly as much as they think. Different isn't always worse, and even though the people lives were different in the time before the africa scramble and the colonization it doesn't mean it was worse. It was simply a different way of life.
I think you make a great point in talking about fact that the Africans are not nearly as dependent on the Europeans as those believe. It just adds to the discussion of difference in achievement and development of civilizations. As long as the two civilizations/cultures are not perfectly identical in nature/structure you really can't make an argument for which one is better, and that appears to be a foreign concept to the french.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how far this power they are gaining will go.