GENRE: NOVEL
BOOK DETAILS:
TITLE: THE OLD MAN AND THE MEDAL
AUTHOR: FERDINAND OYONO
SETTING: FRENCH COLONY
YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1989
PUBLISHER: HEINEMANN
INTRODUCTION
The book “The Old Man and the Medal” fiercely satirises the colonial situation through the eyes of Africans. The central character, Meka, is an old villager who has always been loyal to the white man (The French). He becomes proud on hearing that he is going to receive a medal for his loyalty to the white men. As he waits, his wife realises that this medal is being given to her husband as compensation for the sacrifices they have made to the white men (two sons who died in the wars for the French and cotton plantation). The events after the ceremony confirm Meka’s estimation (understanding) of the white as a hypocrite.
PLOT
The novel has been organised into several parts. It has three parts which are subdivided into other smaller parts as follows:
· Part One has five smaller parts.
· Part Two has three smaller parts.
· Part Three has three smaller parts.
PART ONE (Pages 3 – 81)
Part One (3 – 25)
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Summary Residence of Meka, Works of Mammy Titi, Meka received shocking news at Commandant’s office, Meka comes back home in a car, Catechist Ignatius Obebe’s interference, and White men’s hypocrisy. |
In this part, the author introduces some important characters like Meka, Kelara, his wife, and others. Meka lives with his wife in the villge of Doum. Doum is and African location (residence) that is near the town of Doum. It’s early in the morning and after having a breakfast, Meka goes to town for work. He calls at Mammy Titi’s place. Mammy Titi is a woman from the Coast who has a reputation as a distiller of arki, a forbidden local beer. She also lives in the African location and her place is near the town. Meka arrives at Mammy Titi’s place and join others to drink some arki. The white men dislike the arki and the natives have been forbidden to distil or drink it so that they can buy European drinks.
Meka tells the other men at Mammy Titi’s place that he is going to see Commandant. Later at the Commandant’s office, he receives shocking news that he is going to be given the Medal by the Chief of the Whites on July 14. At home, Kelara becomes worried because it’s evening and Meka has not returned yet. Most of the time, she fixes her eyes on the far end of the village to see if her husband is coming back.
Then as Kelara begins to lose hope, the sound of the car is heard and the villagers come outside their huts. In the car, Meka is sitting beside the white man who is driving. The villagers see Meka stepping out of the car majestically. After stepping out, Meka announces that the Great Chief of all the White men who lives at Timba is coming to five him a Medal on 14th July.
At the evening, the old men of the village come to sit with Meka his hut so as to discuss the matter and congratulate him for this achievement. The old men; Nua and Nti have no employment and they work for Meka. Mvondo, Meka’s nephew who has bald head although he is young is also there. David Ondua, the Catechist has also attended. The Meka tells his fellow old men how he got this news. Meka says, the Commandant told him through an interpreter who interprets French into Mvema that: “You have done much to forward the work of France in this country. You have given your lands to the missionaries, you have given your two sons in the war when they found a glorious death. The Medal that we are going to give you means you are more than our friend.” – p. 19. .........
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- Part Three: Analysis of ‘Eat More’
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CHAPTER ONE: THEORY OF LITERATURE:
- Part One: BASIC CONCEPTS OF LITERATURE
- Part Two: DEFINITIONS OF LITERATURE
- Part Three: NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LITERATURE
- Part Four: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
- Part Five: FUNCTIONS OF LITERATURE
- Part Six: FICTION AND NONFICTION
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