The Stranglehold of English Lit

The poem “The Stranglehold of English Lit” written by Felix Mnthali, I found to be very difficult to comprehend at first; However, after reading the poem over a few times and put myself in Mnthali shoes, I understood it just a little better. It is obvious that that Felix Mnthali is not a Jane Austen fan, but my question was why? What did Jane Austen ever do to him that made him loath her so much? I pictured it as if the Middle East became a powerful country then came in to the United States and started to take control, Forcing their culture, their way and views on life on us. Being forces to read their history their Literate and having them turn to me and ask what I do, what my people do. I would be insulted; I too would hate their Jane Austen. Two perfect quote from this poem shows Mnthali frustration towards these asked questions “for if we had asked why Jane Austen’s people carouse all day and do no work” and “while history want on mocking the victims of branding irons and sugar-plantations that made Jane Austen’s people wealthy beyond compare!” basically he is saying that while Jane Austen’s people were sitting back drinking tea and having a good time, his people were doing their dirty work. Bringing in income for their people, while they all just sat and watched, and now they have the nerve to come in to their country come and ask what they do.

“The stranglehold of English lit.”, “Gentlemen of the Jungle”, and “Creating space for a Hundred Flowers to Bloom” all seem to tie in together. they are all about the authors prospective on colonization.