« The Gentlemen of the Jungle », by Jomo Kenyatta / « Civil Peace », by Chinua Achebe

Docs en anglais | 3 pages | 09-07-2007 | Format : | Note : Non noté

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Résumé

The Gentlemen of the Jungle is a philosophical tale whose characters are animals ; that is to say a fable - in the tradition of Esope or La Fontaine's work. The similarity between this short story and classic fables is obvious, at least to some extent, as is shown by many typical expressions, such as "once upon a time" or "lived happily ever after". The Gentlemen of the Jungle tells us the story of a man living alone in the jungle with many animals. This man is fooled by an elephant that pretends to be his friend and a dispute begins therefore between them. The lion, king of the jungle, offers the man the opportunity to state his case before a Commission entirely composed of animals, whose impartiality is consequently doubtful, to such an extent that the elephant is declared innocent and the man has to give up his hut and build another one somewhere else. The same scene happens again and again : the man builds other huts, which are successively confiscated by a rhinoceros, a buffalo, a leopard, a hyena and other animals. So he decides to take extreme measures, manages to gather all the animals together in a big hut, then sets the hut on fire and burns it completely ; so much so that he finds himself alone and tranquil, having got rid of the cruel animals and being ready to enjoy a costly peace. The story finishes with a moral maxim, as in every parable : "Peace is costly, but it's worth the expense". The author has treated the themes of injustice, abuse of power and racism in a colourful, simple and sober style, but the moral is clear and brilliant.

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