Date of Award

5-1-2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Abstract

'African Rooster' takes place in Lesotho, a tiny country surrounded by South Africa at a time of considerable tension. In 1994, South Africa is in the infancy of its democracy and Lesotho is thrown into turmoil with its own coup d'état. John David ("Jed") Kendall, a white, middle-class American, is thrown into this world as a nominal missionary balancing his own cultural and moral baggage with African sensibilities. My first choice of first person narrative allows for an examination of racial and cultural questions in African society without my narrator having to assume an air of authority that a third person might convey. It also allows more sympathy with Jed's sometimes unsympathetic character. Thematic notions of loyalty, justice, and racism propel the principal relationship between Jed/Senate and his 'brother, ' Tsediso. Their interactions become the primary vehicle for examining cultural, racial, and moral conflicts within Jed

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6706

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