Saving Mr. Ugwu

Saving Mr. Ugwu

In the colonial era where the European empires reigned supremely there weren’t anyone to stop their expansion. The colonialism saw no end and brought destruction and trauma with it. However, after the second world war it was decided that people of different cultures had the right to independence. Subjugation of entire people of different cultures was now inacceptable. Former colonies finally gained their independence. But the Europeans had left the continent with war-torn countries, unprotected ethnical minorities and a culture of systematic racism.

The short story "Saving Mr. Ugwu", written by Lin Anderson in 2012, deals with the state of postcolonial Nigeria. Here we follow our protagonist, Mr. Ugwu, in his daily life.

        The story's progression and build of suspense follows the classical 5 act dramatic structure, also called Freytag's pyramid. In the beginning of the story we meet Mr. Ugwu and his family. We learn that they are living far away from their home in Lagos and that they are having a difficult time getting used to, what they call, "Uncivilised way of life" (p. 1 l. 38). As the action rises with the conflict of the paychecks it suddenly drops, and it seems as if the conflict has been resolved. However, the same conflict arises anew but on a much grander scale. Suddenly a large crowd of workers stand outside his house with weapons. In the third act, the climax takes place as he tries to flee and draw the crowd away from his family. He then finally finds a hiding place and the action once again falls as the crowd leaves. However, in a sudden twist, he then hears rattling next to him in the tall grass and attacks out of anger and despair. He finds himself having killed his neighbours monkey concluding the final act of the story.

The story takes place in a bush-area in Nigeria. The duration of the plot lasts one day, but past and future events are referred to throughout the text. The social setting is defined by different cultural groups and their relation to each other. We don’t know exactly where the Ugwu family is located. We do nonetheless, know quite a lot about the environment. The family misses the capital city they lived in, and don’t feel comfortable in the very remote location. The difference between the capital and their new home is not only of geographical character but also of a social and cultural one. This is on the biggest key characteristics of the environment. We hear that the area's primary cultural group are the Hausa, where as Ugwu are Ibo. "It is difficult to work as an Ibo in Hausa country, he has told his family this repeatedly" (p. 2 ll. 71-72). During the story we learn that the Ugwu see the Hausa as uncivilized and they feel as if they are above them. The social setting of the story is a lot like that of Rwanda in the post colonial time, where the Europeans preferred one ethnical group over another, as they do here. When the Europeans left that group suddenly became a threatened minority targeted by the larger ethnical groups.