A POSTCOLONIAL READING OF GRACE OGOT'S LAND WITHOUT THUNDER

Abstract

Colonialism has been a destructive force that has affected colonized peoples at different levels. The inevitable interaction between the colonizer and the colonized produced a conflict of ideologies and a clash of cultures.   Literature has been a reflection of this dark part of human history, among which short stories reveal almost exactly what larger literary genres maintain in terms of ideology and culture. This paper aimed to analyze Grace Ogot's collection of short stories, entitled Land Without Thunder, from postcolonial perspectives. The approach used was descriptive qualitative, according to which most stories were thoroughly analyzed. This analysis showed that Land Without Thunder had presented ideologically conflicted discourse. Moreover, Ogot intended to use much of her native language and dialect to identify her people's indigenous culture. This paper may be limited in theory as the collection of these stories also tackles gender-oriented issues and psychological conflicts, which require different theories other than the postcolonial. In future papers, it is suggested that Land Without Thunder be read from both feminist and psychoanalytic perspectives.