Themes of The Blood Of a Stranger

Themes of The Blood Of a Stranger
1] The theme of Colonialist Arrogance and expectation -
Whitehead comes to Mandoland with a blatant air of superiority with is why after two days of arrival inn the land he refuse to pay homage to king sangi until kindo forces him. This is reflective of colonial arrogance inn history. Even though the real colonial colonial mission is to exploit, They still engage the owner of the land in service labour to advance that interest and also expect to accord him honour and for him for pittance. It is also a show of colonial arrogance that makes whitehead introduce gin spirit drink in place of the peoples local drink mamapama which is congenial with their system, whereas whitehead's drink intoxicates
and makes the animal of the people.


2] The theme of Patriotism and Resistance to Oppression -
The patriootic zeal of kindo saves Mando Kingdom from the hands of whitehead. when whitehead refuses to accord kig santigi his deserved respect, it is kindo who restore it by putting him where he truly belongs - beneath the king's feet. Kindo constantly monitors maligu and soko when he suspects they are in league with whitehead. He also interrogates whitehead on why he chose Mandoland and not another place. when whitehead get the people drunk and the woman become sexually provocative, It is kindo that also calls whitehead and maligu to order. kindo it is that also unveils the grand design to steal mando's diamond wealth. in the end kindo does not only resist oppression, he stamps it out by killing whitehead.


3] The theme of Irony of Culture -
Its is a cultural irony that the culture whitehead disregards by introducing the people to alcohol, tobacco, and hard core hallucination drugs, he also finds in it a substance to manipulate the culture by relying on key traditional beliefs that favour his ominous ploy. For example, he seizes on the decree of the death for anyone who kills in peacetime, so as to trap kindo. He also describes diamond as evil stones that should be handed over to him in a land purification ritual he trumps up.



4] The theme of Moral decadence and corruption -
Some characters in the play fail moral test. Whitehead for instance attempts to rape a county virgin, Kindo's woman, Wara. The attempted rape of this country virgin in this play symbolizes the rape of the country' natural resources that the colonial government is essentially after. it should be emphasized too that whitehead's deft manipulation of mondo society is aided and abetted by the corrupt priest of the shrine, Soko and the chief assistant to the king, Maligu who are hoping to gain personal wealth by assisting whitehead. Their ignorance of whitehead's true motive - he wants diamonds, whereas they think he is there to grow tobacco - is reminiscence of the general exploitative track of colonial history in Africa. While beads, tobacco and cloths were among the initial innocent exchange in a barter of goods for palm oil and other product between Europeans and Africans, It did not take long before Africans themselves became the battered goods of choice by European (the slave trade), who used corrupt local leaders to accomplish their scheme.




5] The theme of Political social and spiritual decadence
The Corrupt leaders of the priest of the scared shrine and the chief adviser to the king, Maligu parodies the colonial legacy of political, social and spiritual decadence in sierra lone, the country. Over all, as tragic as the play (seemingly tragic for kindo) there is moral retribution in the end when whitehead is given a taste of his own recommendation - he is sacrificed rather than Wara. Thus the evil plotter becomes the sacrificial lamb of atonement and give hope for our flawed humanity

6]The Theme of The evils of African colonial encounter with the west -
The play successfully demonstrates the evils of the african colonial encounter with the west, without presenting the colonized as mere victims. kindo represent a major obstacle to whitehead's plan matching him wit for wit and always a step ahead of him he disciplines whitehead for not according deserved respect to king santigi and eventually kills him for his evil role in their land

7] The theme of Cultural Clash and erosion of customs

8] The theme of Justice always wins out against oppression

9] The theme of greed and ambition
The theme of greed and ambition runs through there play the characters involve in this. are whitehead , maligu and soko. The thr ee's sole ambition is to get rich. whitehead come to mandoland with dubious intent to cart the people's diamond wealth away and become extremely rich. The other two connnive with him to carry out his intention and also get rich
in the process. Greed sets in when they begin to distrust one another and hatching plans to eliminate each other for greater advantage on the diamond wealth

In short The Blood of A Stranger is a story of greed, selfish ambition, human deceit, corruption, and exploitation.