THEMES AND LESSONS FROM THE SHORT STORY WRITTEN BY JOMO KENYATTA BY THE TITLE ‘GENTLEMEN OF THE JUNGLE’

THEMES AND LESSONS FROM THE SHORT STORY WRITTEN BY JOMO KENYATTA BY THE TITLE ‘GENTLEMEN OF THE JUNGLE’

The themes in the story include; 

• COLONIANISM; Jomo Kenyatta; the author of the story, was a former president of Kenya .He illustrated how the citizens of Kenya [The man] were colonized by their colonial masters [The animals] in the story.
• RACISM; Racism is the belief that due to the difference in race, one should be superior to the other, thus discrimination is directed to the inferior race. This happened in the case of the man being denied his seat in the commission with the belief that he wasn’t educated enough to undertake the position. “On seeing the personnel, the man protested and asked if it was not necessary to include in this Commission a member from his side. But he was told that it was impossible, since no one from his side was well enough educated to understand the intricacy of jungle law”, as stated in the story on page 2.
• BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION; Mr. Elephant bribed the commission members by providing a delicious meal to get the support of the commission members to win the case.” After enjoying a delicious meal at the expense of the Rt Hon. Mr. Elephant, they reached their verdict, called the man, and declared as follows: 'In our opinion this dispute has arisen through a regrettable misunderstanding due to the backwardness of your ideas”.as stated on page 3.It can be noted that this case is related to how activities in the court of Africans countries are carried out.
• DECEIT; Deceit is the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misinterpreting the truth.MR. Elephant concealed the truth to gain the support of the commission members. “One day a heavy thunderstorm broke out, the elephant went to his friend, who had a little hut at the edge of the forest, and said to him: 'My dear good man, will you please let me put my trunk inside your hut to keep it out of this torrential rain?' The man, seeing what situation his friend was in, replied: 'My dear good elephant, my hut is very small, but there is room for your trunk and myself. Please put your trunk in gently.' The elephant thanked his friend, saying: 'You have done me a good deed and one day I shall return your kindness.' But what followed? As soon as the elephant put his trunk inside the hut, slowly he pushed his head inside, and finally flung the man out in the rain, and then lay down comfortably inside his friend's hut, saying: 'My dear good friend, your skin is harder than mine, and as there is not enough room for both of us, you can afford to remain in the rain while I am protecting my delicate skin from the hailstorm.’”. This on page 1 was later interpreted as “‘Gentlemen of the Jungle, there is no need for me to waste your valuable time in relating a story which I am sure you all know. I have always regarded it as my duty to protect the interests of my friends, and this appears to have caused the misunderstanding between myself and my friend here. He invited me to save his hut from being blown away by a hurricane. As the hurricane had gained access owing to the unoccupied space in the hut, I considered it necessary, in my friend's own interests, to turn the undeveloped space to a more economic use by sitting in it myself; a duty which any of you would undoubtedly have performed with equal readiness in similar circumstances.'  “, on page 2-3.It is clear that Mr. Elephant was abusing the right of the man due to difference in power.