BOOK THE OLD NEGRO AND THE MEDAL

Description

Ferdinand Oyono, a French-speaking Cameroonian novelist, was born in 1929 in N’Gouléma-kong. While studying law and political science in Paris, he published his first novels in 1956: A Boy’s Life and The Old Nègre and the Medal. The Old Negro and the Medal was written in 1957 during the period of decolonization. Furthermore, even before this process was completely completed and the outcome of which was the emancipation of the colonies from the Western metropolises, the author wanted to be one of the very first of his time to implement naked from a very objective point of view, the realities, the mysteries and the dark sides surrounding colonization. It is with humor and irony, simplicity and realism that it looks back on a pivotal but difficult period in the history of the black continent. By addressing in his work what one could consider as a “clash of civilizations” or “a shock of cultures”, the meeting of two worlds that are essentially dichotomous and which, by force of circumstances, were brought together , Ferdinand Oyono describes without complacency the difficult relationships between colonizers and colonized, oppressors and oppressed.
It is the story of Neka, an old Negro, who gave his land and his two children as soldiers to the Whites. He lost everything, so to thank and reward him the Chief (the High Commissioner) offers him a medal and promises him that he will be treated like a white person (promise of great friendship). Neka believes it but he will quickly realize that it was only illusions.
The old negro. This old Méka. Military retiree from the First World War. We laugh at him at first. We laugh at him and his peers. At first. All these poor wretches that the announcement of a “medalist” reward given to Méka, puts into turmoil.
Meka. Middle-aged man whom the Catholic settlers transformed into a “good” Christian, fully committed to the religious cause. the old man no longer feels happy when the colonial administration announces his next decoration by “the leader of the whites”.

He had the remarkable grace of being the owner of a land which, one fine morning, pleased the good Lord. It was a white father who revealed to him his divine destiny. How could one go against the will of the Giver? Méka, who in the meantime had been recreated through baptism, faded away before the usher of the Almighty.

In the first part of this “Old Negro and the Medal” by Ferdinand OYONO, we have the caustic portrait of the inhabitants of Doum, as well as their neighbors, whose naivety of colonized Negroes highlights the “recognition of the white friend” draws us condescending smiles.
We, the readers, slumped in our soft comforts as Western scholars – or assimilated – smile, light years away from these realities. We smile, imagining this ancient society which marries Kélara to Méka with a relaxation that repulses

“Here’s your wife,” he told her. “You can come and get her when she’s ready.”

We smile, imagining Engamba, the brother-in-law, as well as his wife Malia, walking night and day towards Doum in order to participate in the glory of the medalist.
– And you, here, Mbogsi intervened, if anything happens to you, you will just have to tell the commander that you are the brother-in-law of the one who came to decorate the Chief of the Whites
“That’s the truth,” the stranger punctuated. Your family, your friends, your friends’ friends will now be privileged. It will be enough for them to say: “I am the friend of the friend of Méka’s brother-in-law” for all doors to be open to them. Speaking to you myself, I feel a little decorated…

We smile, imagining Méka in his oversized jacket, cut “in Paris fashion” by the pot-bellied and crude Ela, self-proclaimed master fashion designer.

We smile. YELLOW. Annoyance and grimace in front of this second part of the book which makes us uncomfortable, uncomfortable in our shoes as black people with a globalized culture, in front of these Africans dragged through the mud by the cold colonial administration.

IN CONCLUSION:
The Old Negro and the Medal” is a novel by the Cameroonian writer Ferdinand Oyono (1929-2010). The latter studied in Paris, studied law and studied at Sciences-Po.
the novel relates the story of Méka, a modest and humble African. In a warm and earthy language, the author paints his portrait and we learn that the colonial administration has decided to reward him for the service rendered to the Fatherland (the France). He gave everything to this country where two of his sons died on the battlefield for France and offered part of his lands to the Catholic church. “The Old Negro and the Medal” is a book including we delight in how fluid the writing is. A little less than 200 pages which are easily read in one go where we enjoy the misadventures of Meka who suffers and sees what happens when we rub shoulders with the whites .