RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
IN GRAHAM GREENE’S NOVEL
JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS
THESIS
By :
HASAN ACHARI HARAHAP
060721004
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH SUMATERA
FACULTY OF LETTERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MEDAN
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Bismillahirrahmannirrahim,
First of all, I would like to express my highest gratitude to the almighty
Allah SWT, who give me chance, courage, fortune and all his blessing that enable
me to finish my study.
I also would like to express my sincere gratitude to Drs. Syahri Saja, M.A,
as my supervisor and Dra. Swesana Mardia lubis, M.Hum as my co –
supervisor for guidance, suggestion and corrections given to me in accomplishing
the thesis.
I would like to thank the Dean of faculty of letters north Sumatera
University, Drs. Syaifuddin, M.A, Ph.D. The chairman and the secretary of
English Department, Dra. Swesana Mardia lubis, M.Hum, and Drs. Yulianus
Harefa, M.Ed. Tesol. And also of the lecturers who have taught me many things and knowledge throughout the academic years.
My special gratitude is due to my beloved parents, Ayahanda Basyaruddin
Harahap and Ibunda Halimah Sitompul and also to my brother and sister, M. Ramadhan Harahap, ST, Fatimah br. Harahap, Desi yani br. Harahap who have given love and effection, prays and financial support to me all these years.
I thank to all of my friends, especially, for Silent Corner friends, Loko,
I also thank to all of my friends in DIII bahasa Inggris, Bayu, Bos, Irfan,
Baginda, Rudi, Idham, Andi, Rusdi, Fadli, Doni, Baba. I always remember all of story of us in the Corner, in 2002-2005
Medan, Juni 2008
ABSTRAK
Didalam skripsi ini saya menelaah unsur – unsur diskriminasi ras yang terdapat didalam novel Journey Without Maps, karya Graham Greene, seorang penulis novel Inggris yang terkenal. Fokus analisa saya terutama pada sifat – sifat mulia yang terdapat pada suatu bangsa di Afrika yang masih primitif dan dianggap masih biadab. Sang pencerita ( narrator) berkali – kali mengungkapkan keheranannya terhadap sifat - sifat mulia penduduk asli Afrika yang ditemuinya dalam petualangannya di rimba raya Afrika. Dia kemudian membandingkan sifat – sifat mulia ini dengan orang – orang Eropah yang menganggap diri mereka beradab dan berpendidikan.
Dalam penganalisisan ini saya menggunakan pendekatan intrinstik. Hampir semua kutipan pendukung untuk tesis ini saya ambil dari novel yang dibahas. Namun demikian, saya juga tetap merujuk ke sumber – sumber lain yang berhubungan dengan masalah yang dibahas.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOLEDGMENTS i
ABSTRAK iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION
1.1The Background of the Study 1
1.2The Problem of the Analysis 2
1.3The Scope of the Analysis 3
1.4The Objective of the Analysis 3
1.5The Significance of the Analysis 3
1.6The Method of the Analysis 4
1.7Review of the Related Literature 5
CHAPTER II : THE CONCEPTS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
2.1 The Description of Racial Discrimination 7
2.3 Racial Prejudice 11
CHAPTER III :RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN GRAHAM GREENE'S
NOVEL, JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS
3.1 Loyalty 15
3.2 Hospitality 24
CHAPTER IV : CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
4.1 Conclusions 38
4.2 Suggestions 40
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES
APPENDIX I : THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE WRITER
ABSTRAK
Didalam skripsi ini saya menelaah unsur – unsur diskriminasi ras yang terdapat didalam novel Journey Without Maps, karya Graham Greene, seorang penulis novel Inggris yang terkenal. Fokus analisa saya terutama pada sifat – sifat mulia yang terdapat pada suatu bangsa di Afrika yang masih primitif dan dianggap masih biadab. Sang pencerita ( narrator) berkali – kali mengungkapkan keheranannya terhadap sifat - sifat mulia penduduk asli Afrika yang ditemuinya dalam petualangannya di rimba raya Afrika. Dia kemudian membandingkan sifat – sifat mulia ini dengan orang – orang Eropah yang menganggap diri mereka beradab dan berpendidikan.
Dalam penganalisisan ini saya menggunakan pendekatan intrinstik. Hampir semua kutipan pendukung untuk tesis ini saya ambil dari novel yang dibahas. Namun demikian, saya juga tetap merujuk ke sumber – sumber lain yang berhubungan dengan masalah yang dibahas.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1The Background of the Analysis
The novel, Journey Without Maps, is , as the title suggests, and account
of a long trek through a dense jungle in Liberia in West Africa, with its
wretchedness, unhappiness, and injustices. To the reader who is familiar with the
earlier works of Graham Greene, it will be obivious even from the title of the
novel that the story will not be a happy, superficial one, for Greene always tend to
dwell noun the unhappy aspects of life.
The story introduces us the narrator's journey when he was the British
Consul at Monrovia. He made it the object of his first journey outside Europe. He
and his cousin, Barbara Greene, traveled with a chain of porters from the border
of Sierra Leone across the head waters of several rivers and down at Grand Bassa.
I am very impressed as well as deeply fascinated by some points in the
novel which cannot be separated from human life, such as the squalor,
unhappiness, and involuntary injustices of the blacks. I am also impressed by the
ways the author expresses such matters as loyalty, honesty, and hospitality,
performed by the natives toward the whites eventhough they are under the
The appreciations of these points are relatively not the same and not
nearly depend on personal and narrow minded judgment. One may appreciate
them well or as those which can give benefical things for him or her. The injustice
as well as morals are very interesting to discussed.
In another point of view, the contact between the characters also need to
be revealed. Therefore, based on the statement above, I am intrested in analyzing
the novel, especially the racial discrimination which exists in the novel.
1.2The Problems of the Analysis
There are some problem which arise in teading the novel. One of them is
that the narrator of the story is encountering a savage trive in the deep jungle in
Africa. He believes that this tribe does not have any good moral, but he is wrong
these people have good qualities. The problems are as follows :
- Is it good for the white people to dominate black ones?
-Do the black, savage people have better quality of life than the white
people?
1.3The Scope of the Analysis
In analyzing novel, I am going to focus my attention on the three aspects
which deal with the racial discrimination. They are loyalty, hospitality, and
honesty. These three aspects are very dominant throughout the plot of novel.
Actually the story of the novel is about the racial discrimination, but it closely
related to the three aspects above.
1. 4 The Objective of the Analysis
The objective of the analysis is to find out whether there is the element of
racial discrimination in the story of the novel or not. Besides that, I am going to
prove that the three aspects – loyalty, hospitality, and honesty are related to the
main theme of the novel the racial discrimination.
1.5 The Significances of the Analysis
This thesis offers a study on the racial discrimination which happens in
the Africam continent. I believe that it can also happen in various parts of world.
Therefore, the reader of this thesis is able to learn how to treat other people
1.6 The Method of the Analysis
Most of the data used to support the thesis writing are collected from the
writer form quated from the novel. By reading it carefully, paragraph by
paragraph, I am able to obtain the main data. This kind of getting the data is called
the intrinsic appoarch, for the data are obtained from the text.
Besides that, I also obtain the data from some books which have the
relationship to the subject matter of the analysis. It can be said that these are two
kinds of sources of the data – the primary data and the secondary ones (intrinsic
and exterinsic). All the data are arranged so systematically in the references that
the readers can see well which data I have collected and studied.
In this study I have applied library research, this kind of reserch makes
me visit the library in order to find the related data for this thesis writing and I
also get data from the related site in the Internet for download all supported data
for the thesis. The method used in this analysis is the sociological the people. In
this case, I force my attention on the relationship between the Europeans and the
native Africans. I think it is best method in applying it to the analysis.
In collecting the data, first of all, I read and study the contents of the
novel until I fully understand them. Then I have to choose the topic which deals
with the novel. After that I propose the proposal to the head of the English
Department. I, of course, should choose the method of the analysis.
In order to get all the data in completing this thesis, I do the library
information related to the subject matter. I also read some books and sorted the
important quotation and put them down into the raw material. After having
revised several time, I retype the thesis, and I am ready for the final test.
1.7 Review of Related Literature
In order to support the subject matter of the thesis, I have consulted some
references.
Louis Filler in his book, The Crusade Against Slavery (1960), helps me
understand the fighting of some good people who have decide to abolish the
slavery. In this case, I can get some information about the racial discrimination,
especially in Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century.
R.H. Abrams in his A Glossary of literary Terms (1981) explain
aloborately some literary terms which are needed to be depicted. I get some
information about the literary workd which tell about racial discrimination.
Norman Sherry in his The life of Graham Greene (1989), helps me
understand Greene's ideas life. From this book I can find out that he opposes
bitterly the racial discrimination. Futhermore, he takes side the black people
William Kenney in his book, How to Analysis Fiction (1966) talks a lot
about some aspects of the novel or the prose writing, such as plot, characters,
setting, point of view, etc. By reading his book, I can analyze the novel, Journey
CHAPTER II
THE CONCEPTS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
2.1 The Description of Racial Discrimination
Before describing any futher the concepts of Racial Discrimination, it is
necessary to quote some definition about it so that we have a clear idea of what
racial discrimination is. In the Dictionary of American Politics (1986:121), racial
discrimination is defined as
….an unfair or unequal treatment accorded by custom, or law to some of a community's members because of their color or other alleged racial characteristics.
From the quatation above, we can understand that racial discrimination
usually deals with the differences in the skin color and prejudice, The word
'alleged' here means 'asserted without prood'. In a broader sense, a certain group of
people think that they are superior in education, wealth, or class rank than the
other groups.
The term, racial discrimination is usually used to describe the action of a
immoral and undemocratic behavior or way. In a broader sense, racial
discrimination is the active and overt aspects of negative prejudice toward a
person or a group of people. However, the recognition of relationship between
prejudice and discrimination is strongly related ( will be discussed later).
Discrimination may permit an individual to act out a negative feeling
toward a target group or people who are prevented from getting an adequate
education; in consequence, it will serve to confirm the stereotype of them as
stupid and uneducated. In The Encyclopedia Americans ( 1991:545), we can find
another definition of dicrimination:
Discrimination is negative behavior directed toward some group of people. Discrimination, as the term is used here, is behavior that is unfair to a target group.
We can see that an individual or an institution can practive
discrimination. Institutional discrimination takes place or occurs when some large
organization, or instance, the government, business, or school engages in practices
that are unfair to members of some group and put them at a disadvantage. Another
example, a white who throus a rock at a school bus which is taking black children
from attending their school, this is called an institutional discrimination.
Minority groups means people who are singled out for unequal treatment
in the society in which they live and who consider themselves the victims of
collective discrimination. In the Encyclopedia Americans, Volume 19 (
Minorities are generally groups within a society that are characterized as having lower social status, possessing less power and pretige, and exercising fewer rights than the dominant groups of the society.
Minorities are formed essentially through power relation – the ability of
others to control their lives. The exercise of that control results in continual
conflict, both open and concealed On the one hand, dominant groups of people
work to suppress attempts by minorities to increase what power they have. On the
other hand, minorities usually struggle to assert themselves, challenging the
superior position taken by the dominant group.
A disctinction should be made between race and ethnicity. Race refers to
differences based on biological inherited traits such as skin color ethnic group
refers to difference in social characteristics, such as language, religion,
birthplaces, and culture. Race is important because it is socially evaluated.
Physical appearances and the genetics of race are less important than how they are
valued. People can be "color blind" but they can also see racial differences where
none exists.
The absece of visible racial differences does not prevent one group from
defining another as a differences race. For example, until recent years, French
Canadians and Anglo Canadians were called races. In traditional Asia, outcase
groups are thought to have different racial origins from those of the dominant
from one country after another were called races and were considered inferior to
early settlers.
At different rates they learned the language and adopted the culture of
their new country – they became more or less assimilated. As the children or
grandchildren of thos immigrants were fully assimilated into American society,
they were redefined as white – which is what they were to begin with.
Ritcher, in his Exploring Sociology (1980:96) broadly explains the term
ethnic group as follows :
when I used the term ' ethnic group' . I shall mean by it any group which is defined or set off by race, religion, or national original, or some combination of these categories. I do not mean to imply that these three concepts mean the same thing. They do no… However, all of these categories have a common social – physchological referent, in that all of them serve to create, through historical circumstances, a sense of peoplehood
From what Ritcher says above , we can see that the members of ethnic
groups share a sense of togetherness and the conviction that form a special group,
2.2 Racial Prejudice
In the Encyclopedia Americana (1991:545), we can find the definition of
prejudice as follows:
Prejudice is a negative attitude of a group of person who has some characteristics. It is common that is not shared by all people.
Racial prejudice is based on simplified beliefs, called stereotypes. In a
stereotype, a few characterics are accepted as a full description of any member of
a minority, even though they group may be composed of millions of people with a
wide variety of characterics. Stereotypes can be favorable, especially when they
are applied to one's own group, but most of the group stereotypes are negative.
Even positive traits can be given negative weight. The Jew is shrewd, the Yankee
provident, the Jew is stingy, but the Calvinist frugal (Ritcher, 1980:136).
False definitions of individuals and groups are perpetuated by prejudice,
It is really a negative attitude toward an entire category of people, often an ethnic
or racial minority. It also means a categorical predisposition to like or dislike
people for their or imagined social characteristics.
Prejudice can lead us to make very different evaluations of the same
behavior, depending on whether it is seen in members of our own group
Prejudice can result from ethnocentrims – the tendency to assume thet
one's culture and way of life superior to all others. Ethnocentric people judge
other culture by the standards of their own group, which leads quite easily to
prejudice against cultures viewed as inferior, Schejbal and Laurakas in Brand's
Ethnical Theory (1959:217) find out that
A random sample of 439 undergraduates was questioned about relations between racial and ethnic groups on campus. While individual students differed on various responses. Both white and African American students tended to characterize relations with the other group as "too distant". The same was true for African American and Asian Americans. In general, African American were the m ost likely to describe interactions with the other groups as 'separate and distant' Hispanics were found to be least distant in their relationship with the other groups.
One important and widespread form of prejudice is racism, the belief that
one race is supreme than others who are innately inferior. When racism prevails in
a society, members of subordinate groups generally experience prejudice,
discrimination, and exploitation. Racism is the doctrins that some races are
inherently inferior and some are inherently superior. In the colonial period, racial
ideology served as a rationalization for the conquest, subjugation, exploitation,
and brutalization excuse for both offical segregation and unofficial discrimination
in the United States. Finnaly, racist ideology promotes belief in sharp divisions an
The attitude of the prejudice person often lead to discriminatory
behavior, Discrimination is the proces of denying opportunities and equal right to
individual and groups because of prejudice and other arbitrary reasons.
Discrimination also means as an exclusion or exploitation on the basis of group
membership. While sometimes intentional, discrimination may also be
institutional; that is, caused by a product of the regular operation of social
instutions which affects groups unequally. Prejudiced attitude should not be
equated with discriminatory behavior. Although they both are not related., they
CHAPTER III
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN GRAHAM GREENE'S
JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS
Before I discuss the topic of the subject matter of the thesis, it is
necessary for me to talk a little bit about morality. For racial discrimination is
closely related with morality. The revelation of the point is intended to illuminate
the path of morality as a body of reflection answering certain problems about
moral action in the novel.
When I discuss the racial discrimination in the novel, I do not mean that I
propose a moral judgment. I only look on the novel from my point of view
coincided with the views of those who are experts in the field. If I may say, it is
the impression of the feelings or passions in my mind to find the very basic of the
very particular moral attitudes of the people or actions that we always find around
us.
It becomes incresasingly clear that the novel is not only a story of right
and wrong, but it is also a study of infinite subtlety of didactic pupose it is also a
study of infinite subtlety of didactic purpose – it is a tale that teaches us how to
important, at least to fundamentalize my analysis in order not to deviate from the
familiar path. The New Encyclopedia Britanica points out that morality is
… a standard of human behavior determined either subjuctively or objectively and based on what is considered ethically ' right' or 'wrong'. (Vol.8:11)
The meaning of the phrase 'ethically wrong' is something to say that is
precribed by God and will be punished by Him, or that is condemned by a certain
community. "Ethically right" is of course, the opposite of the 'ethically wrong'.
I am going to discuss some important aspects which deal with the subjec
matter of the thesis – racial discrimination,. They are, loyalty, honesty, and
hospitality. There are, of course, some other aspects which can be discussed, such
as kindness, oppresion, slavery, etc., but I believe that it will be sufficient if I only
discuss these three aspects.
3.1 Loyalty
According to Collins English Dictionary, the adjective 'loyal' means 1.
having or showing continuing allegiance; 2. faithful to one's country, government,
etc. The noun 'loyalty' means "the state or qulity of being loyal". These meanings
are quite sufficient for me to support my analysis of the black's loyalty to their
master, the narrator of the novel, who is the white man, without getting rid of
some other quotations. The narrator is the main character of the novel because he
narrator, he is also an observer since he observes his surroundings during his long
journey into the dense jungle in Liberia. He deeply observes and studies human
behavior, He scrutinizes his carriers and his servants, and most of them are the
African.
The prologue of the novel tells us that before going to Liberia the
narrator has made some preparations to make his journey run well. He realized
that he is going to leave his country, England, to explore a wild country where no
white men have every come before the depth of the hinterland of Liberia ( the
Negro Republic of West Africa). It is a land of cannibalism and witchcraft.
Unfotunately, he and his cousin, Barbara, cannot find any reliable map to guide
them to reach their last mission, Monrovia, We know this when the narrator meets
Daddy in Freetown. The latter has been in Monrovia and know every native in
that town.
"Have you ever been in Africa before ? Have you ever been on trek? What on earth made you choose to go there ? … Had we any idea of whatwe were up against? Had we any reliable maps? No, " I said". There weren't any to be got. Had we any boys? No…. When we crossed the border, how were we going to sleep?" " In native huts."
(Greene, 1980 : 49-50)
The narrator is beginning to learn the itinerary or the route to Liberia. He
picks out three boys as his servants and twenty five carriers who will carry his
true journey although he has no reliable maps. He has to come to grips with the
country he is traveling through. He has to become a leader, dealing with all kinds
of difficulties and unexpected events. Along with his account of the journey, the
narrator finds estimable deeds among his carriers and servants – loyalty.
It is significant enough to mention, I assume, that when the narrator
makes a long journey to Liberia, the country is still under European colony with
its savagery methods and oppressions. The white men believe that the country is
in a turbulant situation with the natives brutality. They think that they are more
superior than the black so that most of them exploit the black people for their
benefit. The take eveything from the land and exploit the natives so that the land
becomes a mess.
It was… a British colony, an Outpost of the Empire. An intense seediness. All shabbiness an English responsibility. English had planted this town. Everything ugly… was European."
( Greene, 1980:37-8)
It is interesting to note that during his journey the narrator never finds
any brutality or uncivilized deeds from his carriers, but the praiseworthy ones.
They even do their best to their master. We can get his information from Barbara's
Graham, from the beginning treated them exactly as if they were white men from our own country. He talked to them quite naturally and they liked him. They knew where they were with him, and apart from their everlasting cries "Too far", They did everything he wanted them to do. His method of conversation was far from simple, and he used long, complicated phrases. I do not believe that the men ever understood him, but after a while they began to get some dim idea of what he was driving to lie around him, and joke and laugh, while he would smile kindly upon them.
( Greene, 1980:539-40)
The narrator's attitude toward the carriers affects them in the way they
serve him and his cousin, Barbara along the journey. He never laughs at them,
despises them or patronizes them. He thinks that the natives should be loved and
admired. Besides that, he realizes that he will never accomplish his mission
wihtout them. He imagines that if he fires them, he will be able to hire new
carriers.
Very often the narrator and his team get some problem since they do not
know where to go. For example, when they want to go to the next stop,
Bamakama, he decides to take the shortest way through Jboiay in order not to
waste time. Unfortunatelly, they arrives at a different village whose name they
He is convinced that the carriers are leading us out of our way, so that we shall not be able to reach Bmakama to night. I am angry. Graham is angry. And the carriers are all furious, too.
(Greene, 1980:542)
This makes the narrator suspicious of his carriers. He emotionally
decides to fire all of them and to let them go home. He thinks that the situation is
a sign from the carriers to ask a raise they are arguing to one another and the
narrator name them the mutineers. But a few moments later the situation is under
control. Although the narrator is angry at them, the carriers do not want to leave
him. Barbara's diary tells us about it :
"Tell them they can go home; I'll give them their pay, but they won't get any dash. I'll take new carriers here."
……… ……… ……
There was a moment's pause, and sudden sheepish grims spread over the faces of our men. That was going too far. They did not want to leave us… smiling and laughing they forgot the whole argument and were as friendly as over.
(Greene, 1980:543)
We can learn two things from this incident: first, it shows the loyalty of
the carriers. Although the narrator fulminated against them, the carriers do not
carriers fell responsible to protect their masters, for they are the natives who know
about the area.
The carriers' loyalty to their master can also be seen in Part Two of the
novel. It takes a lot of time to go from Pandemai to Duogobmal since there is a
long distance between them. The carriers, therefore, suggest that they stop
continuing their trek before the next morning, but the narrator inssists on going
on. When the missonary tells him that Duogobmal is more than a day's journey,
the narrator does not listen to him. He even says that a black man likes to
exaggerate. He believes that the place is only five fours away. Like a proverbial
mad dog of an Englishman, he leads his men on, stalking ahead of the carriers. He
does not listen to the carriers who say that they will not be able to get to that place
before night. He calls his servant, Alferd, a liar.
Alferd suggested it would be a good thing to spend the night with the chief. He would be offended otherwise. Duogobmai was too far, too far… He asked the man about it. They shook their heads. He said that it was more than a day's march from Pandemai. But I couldn't speak the language, and Babu, whom I trusted, couldn't speak any English, and Alferd, I believe, to be a liar.
(Greene, 1980:177)
Throughout the next eight-hour journey, with the narrator traveling fast
ahead, the carriers follow slowly with Alferd telling them that it is too far to reach
the narrator is traveling to the wrong village. The day is to be an exhausting trial
of wills among him, Alferd, and the carriers:
There hours went by and there was no sign of Duogobmai… I want stubbornly on to where the forest began again. A man followed me, he had a few words of English. He said we would never reach Duogobmai before dark, I had been walking now for more than sight hours. (Greene, 1980:123)
Realizing the fact that they have gotten lost because of his being
stubborn, the narrator wonders whether his carriers have abondoned him. He
begins to doubt the carriers's loyalty. The reason is that the has been told by a
white wonderer that a black man likes to tell a lie and to get a white man get lost.
But the fact is that the narrator himself, walks too fast to be followed by carriers.
And he gets lost. Actually he is scared when he gets lost in the dense jungle. He is
also afraid whether he can carry out his mission or not if he gets lost the jungle.
We were in the forest now… I wondered whether they would stay the journey; if they left us, I hadn't the money to reach the coast. Would I have the nerve, I wondered, if it came to showdown, to refuse to pay them or would we go tamely back with them to Bolahun? (Greene, 1980:120)
However, what the narrator is afraid of does not come true. The carriers
still walk on and try to catch him up. It seems that they still follow him. When he
servant is the way in which he shows his loyalty, and there is no trait of cowardice
in their loyalty, The narrator has a good sense not to fire his boys. He even
depends on them for any comfort that can be wrung out of the country. It is they
who are always ready to put up his tent, to make his bed, and to serve him. The
narrator himself ezpresses sincerely about his boys' loyalty:
"I am not praising them for that. One ought not to be able to but loyalty… I walked straight off out of the village with any two spare men and left the carriers behind. I was paying them three shillings a week and that sum paid, not only for an eight-hours day or more of heavy carrying, but for their loyalty… There was no trait of cowardice in their loyalty, no admission that the richer is the better man. They did sell their loyalty, but it was a frank sale, loyalty was worth so many bags of rice, so much palm oil. They didn't pretend an affection
they didin't feel. Love was quite one-sided as it ought to be.
(Greene, 1980:122-3)
The most importan point of the quotation above is that the black men's
loyalty cannot be measured by a sum of money. It is dealing with something
abstract, a praiseworthy action. The narrator himself admits that they perform
such a kind of sincere action. They are highly motivated by their own traits to do
It seems that the natives sincerely manifest their loyalty to their masters.
It is a constant source of action and of interest.
It is also a moral action which is praiseworthy. The black people perform
their loyalty because they are motivated by obligation to serve their masters. They
do not have any pretentious feeling among them when they do their duty. Their
devotion to their duty by showing their loyalty to their masters is more or less
paralel with Immanuel Kan's view on a good character, viewed from the moral
point of view. Kant point out that
….. a character is made good by just one thing, by being conscientious, which is being ready to do one duty as sees it, and for no other reason than just that it is one's duty.
(Brant, 1989 27-8 )
Along with kant has pointed out above, we can say that the natives'
loyalty in serving their masters indicated that they are morally good. Although
they are "uncivilized men", they are "remarkable men", they can also be called as
3.2 Hospitality
Like loyalty, hospitality is also one of the admirable traits. In this novel
we can see that the African natives, although they are still primitive or uncvilized,
display their hospitality to their mastes, the white people. In a simple term, the
word, 'hospitality' means "kindness in welcoming strangers or guests" and
"receptiveness" (Collins English Dictionary). Broadly speaking, we can say that
the word containd and understanding how a host serve his guests loyalty and well.
In this case, loyalty does not mean a great welcome with its glamorous party, but
it brings an image of sicerity. When the narrator is experiencing his long and
exhaustible journey, the villagers are overpoweringly hospitable, serving him, his
cousin, Barbara, and all the carriers with drink and food, and treating them
politely.
The narrator takes a very long journey in the deep jungle in Liberia. It
takes him four weeks and covers three hundred and fifty miles. Along the journey
he decides to take some rests in the villages he passes through. They will start
their journey in the next morning. By doing this, they can be fresh and are able to
carry on their journey. His spending the night with the villagers has made him
learn some valuable things about the natives. Although they are savage, poor,
oppressed by the white people, they serve the narrator and his men very well.
They provide huts, drink, and meals. They also perform the traditional dance to
The chief at Kpangblamai was overpoweringly hospitable… Now they had brought with them a basin full of eggs… a huge basket of oranges, and three gourds of palm wine… I was longing for a wash and I hadn't had time to shave before I left Bolahun, but the hospitable chief kept me on the run. No sooner had he gone after presenting the chicken then his son came in to say that the devil would dance for the visitors… I felt such as a member of the royal family must feel after a tour of and industrial fair… It was the first time I had slept in a native hut…. I had never befor experienced….(Greene, 1980:111-5)
The condition at Kpangblamai has given the impression to the narrator
that the chief of the village and his people show their hospitality not only to the
white men, but also to the carriers who are black. They are really good although
they are uncivilized. They treat their guests who are strangers very warmly and
generously, regerdless of the difference in the skin color. The most wonderful
thing about these people is that they present some gifts to their guests before
leaving the village.
(Greene, 1980:116)
Through the narrator's observation, we can understand that the natives
possess the capacity of the honorable human behavior which makes them
improvious to the greediness and corrupted Europeans. We can say that this novel
indicated the contradictory between the noble savage and the civilized Europeans
who are corrupted and bad. The narrator observes the moods and manners of the
villagers from his own direct imaginative perception. He only gives his
compliments objectively.
The narrator also receives a warm welcome form the natives when he and
his men arrive at Pandemai. To his surprise, thtee messangers from the village
welcome them outside the village. They say that their boss, the chief of the
village, and all inhabitans have prepared everything to welcome their guests.
On a narrow path we met three men with long curved cut-lasses cutting away the bush; Alferd spots to them. They came from Pandemai, They said the chief had expected the white man the night before, he had swept the hut and cooked food for thirty men.
(Greene, 1980:118)
For the narrator ( and us, the reader), the villagers' hospitality is
incredible. They are able to serve the strangers, especially the white men, at their
villages although they only accommodate and serve food and drink in a very
moderate way. They never think of getting reward from their guests although they
expecting nothing from other people. The honorable custom of the African natives
is praised heartly by the narrator, He says:
"If you are English, they would argue, you fell at home her. If you don't like it you are not English… the country which has given them only this: a feeling of respectablity and a sense of fairness. (Greene, 1980:44)
It seems that the narrator gives us a hint that a European who always
claim themselves as respectable people is nothing compared with the
respectability showed by the African natives, The villagers never think about
materialistic things since money is not important for them. They even do not
know how to use money because if they want to get something, they only do it by
doing a barter. The narrator himself finds a problem when he tries to give the
chief of the village some money.
From the quatation above, we can understand that the natives never
consider money as important. They only show their respectability and hospitality
as their custom. Throughout his journey in the deep jungle of Africa, the narrator
never finds a single village whose people are indifferent to him and his men. It
means that most of the native are good. Therfore, he is so impressed by the
honorable and admirable traits of the natives that he always praise and admire
them. He never imagines that he will find such memorable experiences in his
journey, He used to claim that the black people were uncivilized, savage, and
frightening. He got the wrong information from many white men about the
African natives. Now, after he himself experiences and knows the good side of the
natives, he realizes that all information about the black people is wrong. At the
very beginnign of the novel, the narrator says that he will surely be dissappointed
making his journey through the jungle of Africa because he thinks that he wiill
find many difficulties, especially when he gets in touch with the natives. On the
contrary, after trekking the whole journey and getting through the real adventure,
he admits that everything is running well, and he is never disappointed.
This was carried with me into new country, an instictive simplicity, a thoughtless idealism. It was the first time, moving on from one place to another, that I hadn't expected something better of the new country than I had found in the old that I was prepared for disappointment. It was the first time, too, that I was not disappointed.
When the narrator says that he "was not disappointed". It does not mean
that he does not find any difficulties along his journey. He plainly wants to say
that he fells happy and satisfies with the natives conduct. He and his men oftenly
get lost in the dense jungle. Besided that, they usually encounter wild animals,
swamp areas, poisonous snakes, and so on. He frequently cannot sleep at night
because there are many rats and cockroaches in his tent.
I wanted something to make me sleep … but most of the night. I lay awake listening to the rats cascading down the walls, racing over the boxes.. now I learned that at night anything left outside a case would be eaten… by cockroaches and rats.
(Greene, 1980:130)
However, he is still very grateful to the chiefs of the villages for their
kindness they have provided him and his men some huts so that they can be
proctected from the wild animals at night. Eh should appreciate the natives'
hospitality by providing them the huts although the huts themeselves are not
comfortable. But the villagers have swept and cleaned off the huts before the
narrator and his men used them. In short, the villagers want to do their best to
Nicoboozo was a clean little town, the huts wide apart, the chief was old, hospitable and incurious. He dashed us a chisken and hamper of rice, saw that the hut we were to sleep was swept…
( Greene, 1980:133)
To sum up, the uncivilized African people in the thick jungle if Liberia
and perhaps the African people in general have good traits and behavior, Here,
morality plays an important role in human life. David Hume in Brand;s Ethical
Theory, says
… morality naturally has a influence on human passions and actions: Men are often moved to do something because they think it is good or right, or moved not to do it because they think it ought not to or that is bad.
(Brand, 1959:31)
Based on Hume's idea about morality, we can say that the African natives
in the novel are doing something which they think is good or right. They are rally
not motivated by materialism or reward. For them, hospitality is one of their
obligations in receiving their guests, regardless of what colors their skins have.
3.3 Honesty
Honesty is also one of the aspects of morality. As it has been mentioned
in the previous pages, the villagers who are also the African natives have shown
hired by the narrator are also the black men. It is interesting to note that although
the carriers encounter so many difficulties and dangers during the tiring journey
and are paid with a little sum of money, they never want to deceive their master.
They always work obediently and serve their master honestly.
The carriers are hired under a contract to serve and to carry the narrator
and his cousin's things along the journey until the mission is accomplished, They
are paid with an amount of money based on a legal agreement from the local
government.
…. The government wage for a carrier was a shilling a day....I believe it was legal to contract over a period at a smaller rate, … I said that the Government wage didn't include food, and I was paying for their food…. They had contracted…. They had agreed to work for three shillings a week.
(Greene, 1980:47)
Three shilling a week is really a little amount of money for the tiring and
dangerous journey through a dense jungle in African. We can imagine that they do
hard work along the journey, They have to carry bags, trunks, etc,. including six
boxes of food, two beds and chairs, mosquito-nets, three suitcases, a tent, two
boxes of miscellneous things, a bath, a bundle of blankets, a folding table, and
even hammocks. Sometimes the narrator feels ashamed of himself since he has to
exploit his men. He treats them unproperly by insisting them to work hard with a
…. The merits were all on their side. I was exploiting them like all their masters, and it would have been no comfort to them to know that I could not afford not to exploit tham and that I was a little ashamed of it.
(Greene, 1980 : 129 )
When the narrator says that he is ashamed of himself, he wants to say
that he is really impressed by their honesty. He has heard from the other white
men that the black people like to cheat their masters. They have warned him not to
believe his carriers because most of the carriers are liars. Now, he himself finds
out that in spite of their harsh skins, ugly faces, they are full of tenderness. Their
poverty do not change their goodwill. These primitive people seem more polite
and more generous that the white men. It is for the first time for the narrator to
unashamely admit that this trive is actually equal to those who are civilized.
I was for the first time unashamed by the comparison between white and black. There was something in this corner of a republic said to be a byword for corruption and slavery that at least wasn't commercial. One couldn't put it hinger then this; that the little group of priests and had a standard of gentleness and honesty equal to the native standard. (Greene, 1980:82)
Here, the narrator is talking about the moral standard of the natives. He
says that there are two aspects of the natives moral standard gentleness and
Characteristically, this moral standard shapes the positive norms of social
behavior, where an individual interacts with other people in his community. The
natives are, to a certain extent, the anti thesis of the negative forms of such
behaviors, such as aggression, harm, destruction, or selfishness. These people tend
to have good behaviors, such a helping, cooperating, exchanging and maintaining
friendship. Some say that these kinds of behaviors are also called helping
behaviors or prosocial ones. The word 'helping' here refers to an act with a goal
from the helped prespective to the benefit of other people and can result from
numerous motives, such as a feeling of obligation, expectation of rawards,
indebtednes, or compensation. But, as it is seen in the novel, the carriers' real
desire is not the expectation of the reward or compensation, but how to maintain a
good friendship. They never think of the differences in race, religion, and
geographical area. It is a sound morality with its mutual tolerance and respect.
Again, the narrator has to admit that he never find any dishonesty in his
during his adventure in the jungle of Africa. He says :
And these were the people one had been told by the twisters, the commercial agents, on the Coast thet one couldn't trust. 'A black will always do you down'. It was not good protesting later that one had not come across a single example of dishonesty from the boys, from the carriers, from the natives in the interior: only gentleness, kindness, and honesty which one would not have found, or at least, dared to assume was there, in Europe.
In the last line of the quatation above, the narrator is audacious enough to
assume that gentleness, and honesty will rarely be found in Europe, where
civilizes people live. It is a typical note of a contrary idea of how a white man
dares say that the black are gentler, kinder, and more honest than the white people.
Ironically, although the black people serve that white well, most of the white
consider them as inferiors.
Fortunately, this kind of feeling of superiority does not happen to the
narrator of the novel. From the very beginning of his journey, he has treated his
workmen as his employess. Both parties have created a friendly atmosphere on
their relationship. Therefore, there is most no gap between the master and his
men. It is likely such kind of relationship between them, but it is true, as what the
narrator himself admits :
Our relationship was to be almost as intimate as a love- affair; they were to suffer from the same worn nerves; to be irritated by the same delays but our life together, because it had been more perfectly rounded, seemed ofterwards less real. For there is so much leftover after a love affair; letter and mutual friends, a cigarette case, a piece of jewelry, a few gramaphone records, all the jewelry, a few gramaphone records, all the usual places one has seen each other in. But I had nothing left but a few photographs to show that I had ever know these three men.
From the quatation above, we can understand that both parties, the master
and the workers are joined together by the realization that they are dependent on
one another. This realization has formed a motivation in their minds to woek
together harmoniously.
The narratror himself as an obervant of everything around him along his
long journey, notes an important event from his carriers. He is very impressed by
their honesty to him. They do know that he narrator and his niece, Barbara, bring
a box caontaining a large sum of money and other precious jewelry. They actually
can easily steal it and disappear in the dense jungle. But they never have the idea
to that because they honest people. For them, honesty is the best policy. The
quotation below shows the narrator's astonishment of his men's honesty.
It astonished me that I was able to travel trough an unpoliced country with twenty - five men, who knew that my money box contained what to them was a fortune in silver. We were not in British or French territory now; it wouldn't have mattered in the black government on the Coast if we had disappeared and they could have done little about it anyway…. It would have been easy, less drastically, simply to mislay the moneybox or to lose us in the bush……….but 'poor fool' one could tell the Coast whites were thinking, he just didn't know he was being done. But I was not 'done'; there wasn't an instance of even the most petty theft though in every village the natives swarmed into the hut where all day my things were lying about, soap ( to them very precious), razor, brushes.
What the natives have done to the narrator and his niece, consciously or
unconsciously, might be highly appreciated. By being honest to their master for
not stealing his things, they want to show that they have perceptual nature of
moral. It has a conspicious place in their moral reflection and discourse of the
honest men. Besides that, it can be said that they have not infringed one of the
human rights; that is, right to the property. They believe that they rightfully may
not infringe to those who have the right to posses something. It seems that this
kind of view is nearly the same as what John Locke pointsout the systematic
theory of right:
It is morally right for X to have or enjoy Y, and it is morally wrong for any one to interfere with X's having for enjoying Y.
(Brandt, 1959:442)
The justification for the right, as it is suggested above, provides a
relevancy to moral action of honesty revealed in the previous paragraphs. The
absolute right to property is obviously respected by the carriers. There is
something noble in the hearts. They have done what they should do, especially to
their masters. It is undoubtedly that this kind of trait is morally admirable. We do
not see any racial discrimination in the novel.
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
4.1 Conclusions
After I have discussed some moral values which are closely related to the
racial discrimination, I come to some conclusions.. First of all, I would like to
conclude that this novel not only talk or tell about the narrator's experiences in his
long journey in the dense jungle of Liberia, but it also tells about people's
behavior. He plays the role as the narrator of they story so that he can observe
what happens to his men and the African natives in Liberia.
Having been introduced by the narrator in the novel, we can find several
good features of how the black people – the villagers and the carriers – put on the
good attention to the other people. They all have some common features: loyal,
hospitable, and honest although they show these traits in different ways.
By reading this novel, we can get some moral values which are very
useful in our daily life. It teaches us how we interact with other people. We have
to be honest and friendly to other people, regardless of the differences in religion,
skin color, and rank. We are taught to love others from different race and region in
It is likely that the narrator of the novel points out that the civilized
people must not exploit the uncivilized ones. He believes that men are created
equal. All men have the right to live and get along with other people. The should
together in harmony, hand in hand in every situation in order to pursue happiness.
The narrator also implicitly tells the reader to love all mankind, for they are God's
creatures
In this novel, the narrator also wants to tell us how to respect other
people and their rights. We cannot take other people's properties without getting
permission from the owner. We have to be honest so that people will respect us.
We should feel accountable to bring the human problem to our daily life, such as
helping the poor, the handicapped, or our inferiors. We should nurture a good
motive to do something good to become useful for ourselves and for other people.
It is likely that the author of the novel, through the voice of the narrator,
frequently gives his ideas about the white people's relationship to the black people
who are much more inferior than they are. Sometimes he critizes the white men's
behavior. On another occasion, he praises the black men's 'good' behavior. It is
likely also that he never thinks of racial discrimination in his relationship with the
African natives.
4.2 Suggestions
This novel is worth reading. It contains an important lesson for those who
have a discerning eyes and observation to see a lot of good lessons about human
the advance level of English, especially for those who are engaged in English
literature.
I would like to suggest that the reader realize the importance of reading
the novels as the source of information, knowledge, and messages. I confirm this
because I find some readers who read the novel merely in order to kill time. It
would be much better if you get something valuable more than just an
entertainment.
This novel gives us a guidance about moral, ethics, love, and other good
behavior. The white men believe that African continent is in a turbulant situation
with the natives brutality, but it is not proven, the narrator find the good moral
qualities and the native have a loyalty, hospitality and honesty. They have
responsibility to the master, the narrator, I hope the reader get a moral lesson
about this, do not judge other people from, race, religion, color skin
It also help us improve and enlarge our vocabulary. There are many
simple vocabulary in the thesis, and it is used for daily activity.
Finnaly, I have two other good suggestions for the reader of this thesis.
First, we should avoid an evil action or deed and do something which can
improve our moral judgment. Secondly, we read the novel carefully so that we can
BIBILIOGRAPHY
Abrams, M.H. 1981. A Glossary of Literary Terms, New York: Holt
Rinehart and Winston
Brand, Richard. B. 1959, Ethical Theory, New York, Prentice Hall, Inc.
Filler, louis. 1960 The Crusade Against Slavery, New York : Harper &
Row, Publishers.
Foster, E.M. 1970. Aspects of the Novel, London : Penguin Books, Ltd.
Kenney, William, 1966. How to Analyze Fiction, New York : Monarch
Press.
Ricther, Mautice N. 1980. Exploring Sociology, New York : F.E. Peacock
Publishers.
Scholes, Robert. 1971 . Some Modren Writers, London : Oxford University
Press.
Sherry, Norman. 1989. The Life of Graham Greene, 1904 – 1939, London :
Jonathan Caps, Ltd.
Stroud, Barry. 1977. Hume – The Arguments of the Philosophers, London :
Routledge & Kegan Paul, ltd.
Washington, Sooker, T. 1985. Up From Slavery, New York : Dodd, Mead
& Company.
THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR AND HIS WORKS
The Biography of the Author
Graham Greene is known as a modern British author, who was born on
October 2, 1904 at Berkhamsted, Herfordshire. He got his education at
Berkhamsted School where his father, Charles Henry, was the head master. He
was also educated at Balliol College, Oxford.
While studying at Balliol College, he worked at a tobacco company and
saved his money. By saving he would like to visit and make a trip to many
countries and places. Befor writing novel, he had been a sub – editor in local
paper, a Journalist, and a film critic. During this time, he had visited many
countries such as Istambul, Turkey, Seirra Leone, Liberia, South Africa, Bergium,
Vietnam, Mexico and many other places.
At the age of twenty two, Graham Greene was ordained as a Roman
Catholic. After that he married a Roman Catholic girl, Vivien Dryrell Browning,
in 1927. From this marriage, he got two children, a son and a daughter.
Greene's first novel was The Man Within that was published in1929, This
novel gave him a great success. Most of his novels are influenced by Catholicism.
Brighten Rock which was published in 1938, was his first Catholic nove. The
Heart of the Matter was published in 1948. This novel was his master piece and
Glory, which was based on Catholicism, Atheism, and politics in Mexico. Later
he got the Hawthorne Prize for this novel.
Besides, Greene worked as an editor for the magazine, Spectators for
Literature; He also worked for the Foreign Officer, as a secretary, during the
Second World War, that was in 1940, Grenee's fictions were divided into two
categories; serious and light novels, and all of his novels were becoming famous.
Greene's serious novels deal with politic, moral, sin, weakness and failure.
Besides his father who was headmaster of a school, his mother, Marison
Raymon, was also coming from a good and educated family. Marison was a very
strict mother who always kept an eye upon the education of her children and she
also like to help and give good service to the people who worked and studied at
kindergarten at Berkhamsted School. Marison was a polite woman and used to run
her family in a good way and full of humanity.
She used to advice all her children not to commit bad deeds that were
against the religion, law and the rules of traditons. Greene's mother was a very
good mother who kept a good family and she always tried her best in arranging
anything for the sake of her family.
At the age of four, Greene was beginning to listen to the stories that were
read and told by her mother to him. Most of the stories read for him were all about
the aspects of human life as happiness, hypocricy, crimes, sin, etc. He also told
him that all of those stories might be bringing a misery to the human being and
would possibly end in terrible death. Greene was very sad when his mother died
Greene entered school at the age of eight. He was very happy to find that
all subjects were all found in his father's library. And of course in a short time, he
could learn all the lessons easily. Since that time, he coulds get knowledge that
was related to human a social life. His bright mind brought him to be more
concertrated in books and when he played with his brother, hugh, he told him
what he had read. Greene's favourite reading was history.
Once Greene played truant from his school, then he went to a park to
read the books that he borrowed from the book store. Later his father got to know
this and because of that, his father sent him away to join Balliol College, Oxford.
In this place, he also played with his land – lady and they sometimes rode on her
cart. His land – lady like him for his brightness.
Greene got a pleasant enjoyment outside of his house because he could
understand more about human life by making friends with all classes of people,
besides he could understand them easily but it made many problems to him.
Because of this, he was imprisoned without any cause and this was the idea that
he wrote in his novel, It's A Battle Field
Greene's elder brother, Raymond, entered Oxford University, Raymond
also liked to study very much and he also had a bright mind. Seeing Greene who
could not control himself upon what he saw surrounding him, he suggested that
his father should pay more special attention upon him. Then his father brought
him to Dr. Kenneth Richmond was psycho-analyst who led Greene to behave
At the age of seventeenth, Greene like to play "Rassian Roulette" that
was interesting and impressive to him. He like this game because he wanted to
soothe his feeling and nerve. And he tried to prevent his difficulties of thinking
too much of the conditon around him and this was he cause why he was taken to
Dr. Kenneth Richmond.
Greene had written more tht forty novels. From his literary works. He has
been awarded "Pistzac award" (Poland) in 1960, Cambridge Univesityin 1962,
Balliol College in 1963 and Royal Society of Literature Prize in 1966. All of these
were regarde as honorary friendship. He finally got a good name from the
University of Edinburg and Legion D'Hommer Chevalier in 1969 for his book The
Ideal of Human Freedom
Greene was very productive author and he had written so many books
including novel, short stories, essays, plays, verse, His first novel was written in
1926 and he was still writing his last novel Monsieur Quixote in 1928. He died at
his home on March 8, 1991 at the age of 87.
His Works Novel
1. Babling (1926)
2. The Man Within (1929)
3. Istambul Train (1930)
4. Rumour at Nightfall (1932)
6. It's A Battle Field (1934)
7. England Made Me (1935)
8. Brighton Rock (1938)
9. The Confidential Agent (1939)
10.. The Power and the Glory (1940)
11. The Ministry of Fear (1943)
12. The Heart of the Matter (1948)
13. The Third Man (1950)
14. The End of the Affair (1951)
15. Loser Takes All (1955)
16. The Quite American (1955)
17. Our Man in Havana (1958)
18. A Burn-Outcase (1961)
19. The Comedians (1966)
20. Travel With My Aunt (1969)
21. The Honorary Consul (1973)
22. Lord Rocheste's Monkey (1974)
23. The Human Factor (1978)
24. Doctor Fisher of Geneva or the Bomb Party (1980)
II. Plays
26. Twenty One Days (1938)
27. The New Brain (1940)
28. The Fallen Idol (1949)
29. Brighton Rock (1946)
30. The Living Room (1954)
31. The Potting Shed (1957)
32. Saint Joan (1957)
33. The Complaisant Lover (1959)
34. Carving (1964)
35. The Comedians (1967)
36. The Third Man (1969)
37. Alas, The Poor Mailing (1975)
38. For Whom the Bell Chimes (1980)
III. Short Stories
39. The Basement Rooms (1935)
40. Nineteen Stories (1947)
41. For Chistmas (1950)
42. Twenty one stories (1954)
43. A Sense of Reality (1963)
IV. Travels
45. Journey Without Maps (1936)
46. The Lawless Roads (1937)
47. In Search of Character (1961)
V. Children Stories
48. The Little Train (1946)
49. The Little Fire Engine (1950)
50. The Little Horse Bus (1952)
51. The Little Steam Roller (1953)
VI. Critical Contemplative Essays
52. The Lost Childhood (1951)
53. The Search of Character (1964)
VII. Verse
54. Babling April : A Poem (1925)
VIII. Other Works
55. Getting to know the General (1984)
THE SUMMARY OF THE NOVEL
Greene's journey through Liberia ( the Negro Republic of Africa), in west
Africa, is the first of his exploratory journey onto distant, dangerous, little known
places in search of adventure, experience and inspiration for a book. Not only is this
trip extremely dangerous, it is also his first trip out of Europe, and he makes it with
his twenty three-year-old cousin, Barbara greene. In this journey, they have been
walking almost without missing a day, for four weeks and have covered three
hundred and fifty miles through dense jungle.
Before departing to the country, Greene visits the consulate of the Republic
of Liberia to learn anything about the country. He learns from the League of Nations
report and the British Blue Books of May 1934 that there are such diseases in the
interior as elaphantiasis, leprosy, yaws, malaria, hookwarm, schistosomiasis and
dysentry; the President is privately exporting slaves to Fernando Po; and a black
merceary called Colonel Davis, carrying out a savage campaign, has burnt 41 villages
and killes 40 men, women and children.
Their journey begins on 4 january 1935 at Euston Station where they caught
the 6.5 p.m train. They spend the night at the vast Liverpool Adelphi Hotel. The next
morning, a cold January day, they embarks at the Prices's Stage. The sea voyage is
relaxing, the other passengers are intresting, and there are some hilarious moments.
agents, a traveller for an engineering firm, a doctor on his way to the Coast with
anti-yellow fever serum and a woman joining her husband at Bathusrt.
Next day ther is an indication of the other side of things, of the nature of the
land they are approaching. They arrive in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. For
Greene, Freetown is an impression of heat and damp and a mist which stream along
the lower streets and lay over the roofs leke smoke. It is his first contact with a British
colony, an outpost of the Empire. He says that everything in Freetown is ugly and it is
caused by the Europeans.
About some miles from Freetown there is a city called City Bar, where men
get a drink. Greene finds the men in the City Bar, prospectors, shipping agents,
merchants, engineers, who are the colonial officers, the rulers. These men have to
reproduce English conditions if they are to be happy at all. They are not the real rulers
they are out to make money; and there is nothing hyprocricy in their attitude towards
the bloody blacks. The city Bar men give Greene and insight into Human purpose and
behaviour. During those few days in the city it is essential that Greene acquire more
important things about their journey.
When they come on shore they met by Mr D who had received a cable from
London asking him to be there. His home is in Krutown, one of the few parts of
Freetown, and he knows the Republic well.
To go up country they need carriers and servant. Apart from provisions, one
that. There are Amedoo, the head boy, who is also to look after Greene, Souri, the
cook, a very old, Laminah, who is to look after Barbara.
They leave Freetown on the narrow gauge railway for Pendembu. It is a slow
journey, taking two days to cover 250 miles. They stop for the night at Bo (halfway to
Pendembu), and are met by the Distric Commisioner's messenger, Sergaents Penny
Carlyle, who takes them to a rest house, At Bo, Greene fells happier. They are now
out of the Colony Sierra Leone and are now in the Protectorate, presumbly implying a
Loosoning of the white man's control and a closer proximity to the true Africa. The
white men up – country, he notices, do not talk of bloody blacks or laugh at them or
patronise them. The English man up – country are dealing with real natives, and that
the real native is someone to love and admire.
Another messenger meets them next day at the station at Pandembu with a
lorry and the paramount chief of the arca, small and bowlegged, who speaks no
English, They are taken on to Kailahun, on the border with French Guinea. There are
only two white men in the village, the Distric Commissioner, and a Scottish engineer
who is building a bridge.
A the Greene are drinking warm cocktails with the D.C, a third man strolls
into the Bungalow. D.C immediatellyand takes him to be a Liberian messenger who
is reported to be in the area having been sent to guide the Greenes on the next stage of
their journey. He is given instructions to show the Greenes the wa to Bolahun and the
