how beautiful we were

               

What is real civilization and prosperity in modern world?

 

        Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, it tells of people living in fear amid environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of cleanup and financial reparations to other villagers are made-and ignored. The country’s government, led by a brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interests. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. Their struggle will last for decades and come at a steep price.

        Told from the perspective of a generation of children and the family of a girl named Thule who grow up t become a revolutionary, is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, coupled with the ghost of colonialism, comes up against one community’s determination to hold on to its ancestral land and a young woman’s willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people’s freedom.

          People will blame the misfortunes of the people in KOSAWA by the American oil company and the African government.  Because the safe equipments is part of an oil company, the oil company can’t polluted people and let the local government treat the ills even they give money to the government.

       In this novel, the African elder goes to relative’s house to wait for death and the villagers raise the mad person and give him food in turn. They use herbs as medicine to heal the sick and have spiritual guard to important decisions. The townspeople collect taxes from villagers but refuse to give them jobs when a oil company has taken their land. I want the oil company have a small part of land to do business and have safe facilities to protect people from pollution, and government uses the foreign company’s money to improve local people’s life including land. After she went to America, she got education about revolution and she became a rebellion with modern thinking like Martin Luther King, such as parade peacefully against corruption and celebration for their culture and ancestors. She was put into prison for her rebellion but she never gives up doing so to set her country free.

         Konga is a good hunter, farmer and fisherman until he gets mad. He believes only people can save themselves instead of depending on corrupted government or good foreigners. In China, when child is one month old, he is given a birth celebration. Different cultures have different ideas about what means to be civilized and prosperous. In this book, American company means material richness. Their employees have brick houses and cars and get children good education. They are not civilization because they are not good person to exploit the poor villagers of their land and bring pollution to their children and environment.

       On the contrary, the African villagers have little material things to meet their needs but they have beliefs to their ancestor and love each and have courage to fight injustice. They have good morality and civilization.

 

        Grief in this book is shared by so many. For example, when an orphan was sexual abused by the head of a village, he was forced to keep silence to keep the village from tiring apart. He refused to go back to the village after marriage and cut contact from his relatives until he died. He seldom smiled because of hatred experience and didn’t believe a foreign oil company can bring any benefit to his land.  

        When many children died of pollution, some fathers went to the capital to appeal the government to help; some use weapons to attack workers and some kidnapped the government officers. Some use law. Kosawa has a long law suit against the oil company for decades but it failed because the U.S. court ruled that the evil African court should make judgment.

       The Kosawa court put pleading villagers to death when one of the imprisoned government offices died of deadly disease, they are machines of government and they will never rule for the villagers.

       Kosawa people want the oil company to treat their sick children as well as make the polluted river clean. But the oil company wants the whole village to open a new well. At last, the land of ancestor was destroyed by the government and sold to the company; all the villagers lost their relations to their ancestors and their home.

       The story seems plausible. When Austin fell in love with Thula but she determined to give up her true lover. He said he was dying because he loses the true love in life so did Thula. “Freedom is more valuable than love “--- the belief encourages a lot of rebellions to fight for their countries.  Pollution, colonist and government cooperate with foreign country, children got sick because of pollution, and people lost their land by the government in modern history. All kinds of pressure about living are threaten to modern people.

       People want a good government, economic growth, civilization growth, environment protection, and they want happiness. Money can’t take place of a good homeland, a good president, and healthy children. Happiness index is a good goal to pursuit in some poor country.

    Civilization and prosperity maybe a good goal for life but how to get it?

        “How beautiful we were”—summary “we should have known the end was near. “

----------The powerful novel is education and necessities for modern people

from Imbolo Mbue.