Defence of the colonized in M Butterfly and Death of the King s Horseman
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Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman and Hwang's M. Butterfly are both postcolonial prose. Contrary to Hwang, Soyinka forbids the readers from reading the text as representation of "clash of cultures". However, a closer analysis of the play suggests that it is in fact about clash of culture as well as about gaining understanding of the idea of transition and its importance to the Yaruban culture. Both Death and the King's Horseman and M.Butterfly are an attempt to conserve the importance and validity of the indigenous cultures. The texts achieve this purpose in two steps: 1-representation of the oppression of the indigenous culture; 2-defense of the indigenous culture. Whereas, M.Butterfly presents a bold defence of the Oriental culture, Death and the King's horseman presents a passive defence of the Yoruba culture. In this essay I'll prove the above claim as follows: The endogenous race/culture is oppressed as can be seen in recurring themes of ethnocentricity, orientalism, alterity and colonial mimicry...