| dc.description.abstract | This thesis is a study of how the dehumanized but
affluent man was/is created in this imaginary African country of Kifo, and how he attempts to shape a society in which he will maintain power and affluence. In short,
it is a story of a social and psychological spiral, how the society moulds a certain trait of character and how, in itself, society is forged by those it creates. The novel,
On the Same Spot, ends in a note of poetic justice, as the characters out to pursue the strictly material things are cast into a world of the socially degenerated.
The sense of poetic justice is concretised by the sub-plot in the novel, that tells the story of the writer's father, who is deep in it trying to accumulate, but who is extremely insecure at the end of the novel, an insecurity that signals the height of his attempts to become richer. The writer opts for a simple life, and together with the teacher, they are seen walking away from the lives led by Lazarus, the writer's father, and all the other people they represent. Hopefully, the two will become role models for some young people, who will be at the forefront in the fight against the cancer of climbing to the top at the expense of
one's health, the health of neighbours and the society at large.
The creative and critical study of the leading character is done alongside that of the entire society. If the
individuals who outwardly appear to have succeeded have only been heading towards nothingness, then the society that seems to be developing is not developing, but only putting up a facade.
As he grows up and struggles to retain an identity in a world that will not mourn his death or disappearance, we are at the same time given a
glimpse of the degenerating nature of the lives of
those who have the money, property and power, and those who are the role models for the rest of the people
on the move.
In the second part of the novel, Lazarus is middle aged, "up there", among the affluent, but like most of the people, "up there", depicted in the first part of the novel; he begins to degenerate at the social and psychological levels, and it seems as if he has really not moved from where he was at the beginning.
But now he is in a position to destroy the societal institutions in his attempts to retain power. In destroying society, he also destroys the remnants that have remained of himself. | en |
