Death As Metaphor In Yvonne Owuor'S Dust

95 Pages·2017·0.67 MB·English

DEATH AS METAPHOR IN YVONNE OWUOR’S DUST

JAUQUELYNE KOSGEI

A research project report submitted to the Department of Literature in the Faculty of
Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master
of Arts in the University of Nairobi.

2017
Declaration
This research project is my original work and has not been submitted for the award of a degree in any
other University

Signature …………………….. Date …………………………
Jauquelyne Kosgei
C50/82707/2015

This research project has been submitted for examination with our approval as university supervisors:

First Supervisor

Signature …………………….. Date …………………………
Dr. George O. Outa
Department of Literature,
University of Nairobi

Second Supervisor

Signature …………………….. Date …………………………
Dr. Masumi Odari
Department of Literature,
University of Nairobi

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Dedication
To those that dared me to dream:
Margaret Kosgei and Stanley Kosgei, my Mom and Dad.
My brothers Rono, Biwot, Kiprop, and Kipsang, and my sista Cheptoo.

Chirchir, many more coming for you, son.

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Acknowledgement
Much gratitude goes to Prof. Peter Wasamba—Dean, Faculty of Arts; Dr. Jane Oduor—Chairperson,
Department of Linguistics and Languages and Coordinator, Korean Studies; and Ms. Yuhjin Park—
Korea Foundation Visiting Professor to the University of Nairobi. Without you, this wouldn‘t be.
Erokamano. 고맙습니다.
My sincere appreciations go to my supervisors Dr. George Outa and Dr. Masumi Odari, without
whose guidance I would not have put this together. Thank you for supporting me, for believing in me,
and for always reminding me to take it one step at a time. You always read my work and gave me
speedy feedback; I commend your punctuality. Thank you!
I also appreciate the Board of Postgraduate Studies through the Department of Literature for awarding
me a University of Nairobi Scholarship with which I pursued my studies. You came in at my greatest
hour of need, and this will never be forgotten. Thank you!
I also must acknowledge the tremendous support I have received from my lecturers at the Department
of Literature: Prof. Henry Indangasi, Prof. C. Chesaina, Prof. D. H. Kiiru, Prof. Monica Mweseli,
Prof. Peter Wasamba, Prof. Alina Rinkanya, Dr. Masumi Odari, Dr. Godwin Siundu, Dr. Miriam
Musonye, Dr. Tom Odhiambo, Dr. Makau Kitata, Dr. Kimingichi Wabende, and Dr. Jennifer Muchiri.
Your insights, advice, encouragement, and best wishes will always be cherished.
I sincerely thank Mrs. Salina Kiptoo (Manjara), the woman who gave up her life to become part of
mine, the one who left her sons and daughters to take care of my son. Kogo, not only did you offer me
ample time to study, but you also taught me to love, to trust, to live, to believe, and to realise that
family is what we make it.
Eddie, you were a timely distraction throughout this course. Thank you.
Finally, cheers to my classmates Diana Ross Cherono, Ann Kamangah, Yoshiki Sugano, Lynda
Ouma, my Kaka Peter Odongo (POD), and Ludwick Ongeti. JM Kwanya, you have my best wishes!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY………………………………….................1
1.0. Introduction …………….………………………………………..…………………….1
1.1. Statement of the Problem ………………………………………………………………5
1.2. Objectives ………………………………………………………………………………5
1.3. Hypotheses ………………….………………………………………………………….5
1.4. Justification…………………………….………………………………………………..5
1.5. Scope and Limitation ……………………….…………………………………………..6
1.6. Literature Review………………………………………………………………………..7
1.7. Theoretical Framework………………………………………………………………...10
1.8. Research Methodology ……...……………………………………………………..….14
1.9. Definition of Terms…………………………………………………………………….14
1.10. A synopsis of Dust……………………………………………………………………15

CHAPTER II: DEATH AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF MEANING IN DUST…………17
2.0. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….17
2.1. Physical Death………………………………………………………………………….18
2.2. Psychological Death……………………………………………………………………26
2.3. Emotional Death……………………………………………………………………….36
2.4. Spiritual Death ……………………………………………………………………..….45
2.5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….49

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CHAPTER III: DEATH AND THE IMAGINED KENYAN REALITIES IN DUST..........50
3.0. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...50
3.1. Diagnosis……………………………………………………………………………...53
3.2. Foreigners and Foreignness…………………………………………………………...62
3.3. Masking/ Naming……………………………………………………………………..67
3.4. Back to Beginnings……………………………………………………………………70
3.5. The Journey Ends……………………………………………………………………..72
3.6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….……76

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………78
4.0. Summary……………………………………………………………………………...78
4.1. Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………78

Works Cited ………………………………….…………………………………………………83

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Abstract
This is a study of death as metaphor in Yvonne Owuor‘s debut novel Dust. The novel is
predominantly set in Northern Kenya in the heady 2007/2008, a short time after the general elections,
an event which was followed by the historic post-election violence. The narrated events span Kenya‘s
1960s to the beginning of 2008. Death dominates the text, and the study identifies the forms and
portraits of death and then establishing them as significant carriers of meaning.
A close reading of the novel reveals the intricate linkages between individual stories and experiences
and national narratives and histories. In particular, narrating dead bodies from the 1960s and in 2008
not only generates other forms of death, but also explains events surrounding Kenya‘s British
colonialism in the 1960s and how they proliferate into Kenya‘s present. Deploying psychoanalysis,
this study demonstrates how characters come to terms with the haunted memories that the people of
Kenya have lived with for decades. By contrast, postcolonial theories help establish the novel‘s
response to latter day struggles in Africa, and more so in a Kenyan context.

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CHAPTER I: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.0. Introduction
After reading Dust by Yvonne Owuor, I noticed that death occupies a central position in the novel.
Not only does the narrative open up with a death scene in which the main character dies, but there
also exists a pronounced correlation between this particular death and the narration of many others
that have happened over five decades in the history of the nation of Kenya where the novel is set. This
outlook invited my interest into wanting to look at what role death as an aspect plays in the creation of
the total meaning borne in Dust, particularly what images of post-colonial Kenya can be derived from
it. The subsequent study, therefore, is centred on an interpretive assessment of Dust with the aim of
bringing out the meanings attached to death in narrating the nation of Kenya in the novel.
Dust is a contemporary novel by the Kenyan writer Yvonne Owuor. This is a novel centred on the
death of one young man, Moses Odidi Ebewesit Oganda. However, an enquiry into the manner and
cause of his death consists of narrating numerous deaths that have happened in the history of the
nation of Kenya within which the novel is set. Odidi‘s death becomes an ice breaker as it ripples the
surface of Kenya‘s history which has been delicately wrapped in silence for more than half a century.
It spins into motion a series of confessions by formerly discreet characters but who now realise that
the memory of the things they saw, did, or heard, will not stop haunting them and is threatening to
drive them insane. These confessions interrogate the intricately interwoven epochs of Kenya‘s past
and present. In the course of the narrative, different forms and portraits of death take shape in the
novel, forming the interest of this study.
The author Yvonne Owuor is a Kenyan writer and a graduate of Jomo Kenyatta University of
Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and the University of Reading. Her novel Dust won the Jomo
Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 2015. She has previously published ―Weight of Whispers‖ (2006), a
short story that originally won the Caine Prize in 2003. This short story recalls the effects the 1994
Rwandan Genocide had on Rwandese survivors who were forced to flee their country. The characters
in the story, former bureaucrats, are in Kenya hoping to transit to Europe, but their hopes crashed by
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the realisation that all the wealth they had has frozen. They have to sweat it out to even be
acknowledged as refugees. Owuor is about to release another work of fiction. On July 22, 2016 while
giving an interview with the Daily Nation, she mentioned that her second novel The Dragonfly Sea is
with the publishers and is expected in 2017.
This study is anchored on the relationship between death and literature, particularly fiction. Death and
literature enjoy a very close relationship. Death itself is a secret, mysterious event, and no doubt a
painful reality in the life of man. Its mystery makes it impossible for one to know how it feels, what it
entails, what it truly means, and what response to accord to it, for all closeness one can get to it is by
watching others die. Yet, literature has become an avenue for man to treat this apprehension with
meaningful assumptions. There are essentially three ways to view death in literature as proposed by
Skelton in ―Death and Dying in Literature‖. These presentations range from the author‘s expression of
personal experiences on death, the use of literature to structure (our) own thoughts on death, and the
use of death as a literary device.
Over time, therefore, literature has become a way for people to have an encounter with the experience
of death by allowing them to put their feelings and imaginations on death to writing. As Hakola and
Kivisto argue, apart from watching others die, writing has opened avenues into an understanding of
this phenomenon (7). This is where people get to record their experiences on death.
In this respect, death is a theme in literature, and writings of this nature revolve around two things.
The first is the actual physical inexistence of an individual, which can be termed as physical death.
This, as discussed by Popa and Hanganu in ―The Faces of Death‖, sees death either as a transition to
another mode of being, or as something that puts an end to the nothingness of life, as a necessity that
is total and irreversible. The other is the emotional pain that is left on the part of the bereaved, which
can be understood as emotional death. This refers to the case in which people grapple with the effects
of death, with the result of losing a loved one. As Hakola and Kivisto in ―Death in Literature‖ assert,
this death plays itself out in the mind of the bereaved; it is in a way psychological (8).
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Yet, art also employs or exhibits the aspect of death not essentially as a theme, but rather as a style. In
many cases, death as a style is used as a commentary on the state of events in a society, mostly to
criticise play ups of systems in the society in question, as Hakola and Kivisto posit (9). This happens
when the idea of death in a work of art takes on more than a thematic occupation in the text, and
becomes stylistic, for instance, a symbol. In many such cases, authors use such devices as this to
castigate evil in societies they write from or about. Using death, texts to this effect communicate
deeper messages that many would not take seriously if they had been stated obviously. As a symbol,
therefore, death gains a metaphorical status. Focusing on Dust by Yvonne Owuor, this is the position
that this study takes.
Understood as a style, then, death ceases to refer only to physical inexistence, taking into
consideration other forms and portraits that are characteristic of death. Some of these forms include
spiritual death, psychological death, emotional death, and moral or social death. When these forms of
death appear in a literary work, they call for an analysis into what they stand for in the society in
question, as these forms of death mean different things in different contexts.
Spiritual death, for instance, can mean the state of one not recognising or subscribing to upheld
beliefs that are universally taken to guide morality. Yet, it is possible to think one as believing, but
realise that they are hypocritical, so that as far as their subscription is valid, their actions are devoid of
any spiritual influence or intervention. Spirituality is best understood within religious a framework
because religion offers a range of rules guiding morality, rules which believers are expected to
observe without question.
Emotional death, on the other hand, describes that moment when one is inwardly wounded or
broken-hearted, or is generally distressed. This happens especially after a loss or a major
disappointment, with the result of an individual appearing non-feeling, or on the other hand feeling so
much as to be broken. Though emotional death plays itself out in the mind of an individual and may
thus resemble psychological death to a certain degree, it is possible to distinguish between the two.
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