Big players, small victims: Capitalism and the child character in Nuruddin Farah’s Third Trilogy

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Published: May 10, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.58256/hjlcs.v3i2.610
Keywords:
capitalism, child Character, postcoloniality, third trilogy

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Obala Musumba
Department of Language and Literature Education, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya

Abstract

All of Nuruddin Farah’s thirteen novels are centred on adult protagonists which, as reflected in critical material on his works, illustrate recurring thematic issues connected to nationalism, dictatorship, culture, religion, gender, and on issues that directly touch on the central characters such as subjectivity, identity, individualism among others. The child character does not only suffer marginalization in the hands of the critic but s/he is represented in the whole trilogy as a mere pawn caught up between crossfires of the big, international capitalist players. This paper, explores the position of the child character in Farah’s trilogy; The Past Imperfect, comprising Links (2003), Knots (2007) and Crossbones (2011). It interrogates the marginal spaces occupied by the child in the postcolonial discourse revolving around and driven by patronizing agencies of global economy. It operates on the hypothesis that Farah nuances this power play as the artery in fuelling and sustaining the political turbulence in imagined Somalia’s political contours.

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How to Cite
Musumba, O. (2021). Big players, small victims: Capitalism and the child character in Nuruddin Farah’s Third Trilogy. Hybrid Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.58256/hjlcs.v3i2.610
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Vol. 3 No. 2 (2021)
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Articles
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Author Biography

Obala Musumba, Department of Language and Literature Education, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya

Obala F. Musumba is a PhD holder from the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin. He is currently a part time lecturer in the Department of Language and Literature Education, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology. Together with others, he recently edited a critical book entitled: Emerging Trends in Eastern African Literature and Cultures among many other publications. His current research interest is in the area of representation of people with albinism in Kiswahili literature and films.

How to Cite

Musumba, O. (2021). Big players, small victims: Capitalism and the child character in Nuruddin Farah’s Third Trilogy. Hybrid Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.58256/hjlcs.v3i2.610
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References

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_________. (2003). Links. New York: Penguin.

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