Internal Colonialism in the poem “Civilians and Soldiers”, by Wole Soyinka

The theory of internal colonization looks at how we produce our forms of racial domination within a society. Different racial and ethnic groups are subject to forms of oppression forced on them by a dominant group in society. 

This poem was written by Wole Soyinka as a response to the rising violence in native Nigeria in late 1966. This violence then soon led to a civil war of three years. This poem is about a civilian who is recently shot dead by a soldier and the ghost of the civilian is narrating this poem. The main point of focus in the poem is the soldier’s confusion regarding the destruction which they are causing and the justifiability of their actions, upon which the ghost throws light. 

Being one of the greatest writers of Nigeria and having a great influence upon the mass over there, Soyinka mostly writes about the issues which his country is going through. In this poem, Soyinka has raised the issue of internal-colonialism in Nigeria to raise a voice for the powerless and innocents. As stated above internal colonialism is broadly the domination of one group by another group within a society. It leads to the exploitation of the group which is powerless and oppressed. In the same way, in the poem, there is a civil war going on in which one group is of the soldiers and the other is of civilians. The soldiers are dominant. They are exploiting the civilians and are doing their massacre to express their dominance upon them. So, as a whole, this poem is presenting a situation of internal colonialism in Nigeria.

Also Read:  Postcolonialism in Louis Bennett’s poems

  The narrator of the poem is a ghost of a civilian who is shot by a soldier. During the poem, we get several instances which show internal colonialism. As of right from the beginning of the poem, we can see that how the ghost is helplessly asking the soldier that why are they doing the massacre of civilians, even though they are not doing them any harm and are armless. He ponders that do the armless civilians also frightens the soldiers or they are just trying to show their domination over the vulnerable.

 The narrator also finds the soldier still and confused. May be his own conscious is wakening up regarding the torture they are doing. Further, highlighting the point that how the soldiers are trained to finish the life from the area wherever they battle. This is done so that no other person raise against them again and to show their dominance in the same way the external colonizers do in their occupied colonies; they also use violence to show their dominance. The narrator is of the view that the soldier is somewhat confused about what he is doing. This is something he had noticed over the last minute of his death. This maybe is because the soldier like the colonizers is feeling guilty for the exploitation of the weaker but still they are doing it.

Also Read: Postcolonial Aspects in "The Fist" by Derek Walcott and "A River" by A K Ramanujan

 Being a part of the oppressed group the ghost cannot do anything now, but he hopes that someday that soldier may die in combat and both of them meet in the other world where the ghost wishes that he might be a soldier. This intends that the ghost wants to be in the dominant group over there, but he does not want to exploit the ghost of the soldier in that world. 

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Salman Ali

Hi. I’m auther of Blog English Literature for students. I’m huge lover of books. I’m happy to share my views about different topics related to English Literature. I am inspired to help any student, who have any problem related to English Literature.

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