Season of migration to the north




cover of the novel 

 

Author:                                                Tayeb Salih

 

Place of publication:   Johannesburg, South Africa

Publisher:                                            Heinemann

Date of publication: first published in the African Writers Series in 1969, reprinted three times, and it was first published Heinemann International literature and Textbooks in this Textbooks in this edition year 1991.



Number of pages:                                            169

Season of migration to the north is a beautifully constructed novel; whereby the intentions of the writer are to bring into light to his African audience, the impact of colonisation on the whole of Africa and the aftermath thereof.



Author of the novel:
 Tayeb Salih



Tayeb Salih, a Sudanese, went to Europe for a period of seven years to study for a doctorate in poetry. It was after he had completed his studies, returned to his home village which is located in the rural parts of Sudan, at the bend of the Nile. Being in the mist of faces that he recognised, but this time, a bit matured. He noticed a stranger amongst his people who showed no interest to his arrival. The stranger appeared arrogant and less astonished by the return of Salih like other villagers. This made Salih to wonder who this stranger was.

Mustafa Sae’ed lived in Khartoum as a businessman, which is in the urban parts of Sudan, and had now moved to a village located in the bend of the Nile two years after Salih’s live to Europe, to start a new life. Though he had arrived as a stranger in the village five years ago; he was now part of the community and had already married a woman by the name of Hasna Bint Mahmoud and had two sons with her. He was also a member of the Agricultural Project Committee of the village and owned a farm.

Tayeb Salih thought of Mustafa as a mocking phantom that roamed around in search of new lives to end. But then again he was, somehow, convinced that Mustafa was innocent as a new born because, “the use of violence leaves a mark on the face the eye cannot miss,” he said. But it’s funny how things turned out to be the opposite of what he’d thought them to be. Mustafa used his cunning skills of words to tell the story of his life to Salih; what he really is, what he was and what he did.

Raised by a single mother, Mustafa grabbed the opportunity of education at first glance he saw it come his way. The writer compares Mustafa’s mental ability with a hot knife passing through butter. He learned how to write within two weeks into his schooling, his mind grasped whatever he read, arithmetic unpuzzled within his hands and could learn things by heart. He was the envy of every child in his school and admired by both his teachers and fellow pupils. But even in the mist of admiration, astonishment and envy, he paid no attention to them.

“They thought of schools of being a great evil...” (p.20). Hear the writer is trying to bring into light a realisation of that colonisation came not only with the injustices Africans had to bare, but it came also with the greater good of western education which now has a positive impact on what Africa is today. A modern continent.

To give a brief explanation to who Mustafa Sa’eed was, the writer compares him with a rounded rubber; “you through it into the water it doesn’t get wet, you through it to the ground it bounces back”. This explains that Mustafa was not affected by the outcomes of life. Whether good or bad, harmful or cheerful, complements or discouragements. He was a rare breed.

Though the story takes place in the rural of Sudan, were children walk several miles to school, no Human rights given or taken seriously. The government spends fortunes in upgrading urban areas such as Khartoum, while those who lived in the rural parts of Sudan suffer due to leadership negligence. The community of Sudan at the time had a high rate of uneducated individuals, especially women. While the poor community suffered even though decolonised, the new African leaders had the very same mentality of leadership like their previous lords.

With this in mind the writer of this book defines dictatorship in Africa as a disease past on by the colonisers to the Africans. “New rulers of Africa, smooth face, lupine of mouth, their hands gleaming with rings of precious stones and black suits of fine mohair”. Like children raised by abusive parents with no experience of how to love and care for; they also enter the world of responsibility with desires for personal gains and not for the greater good of the loved ones.

With such a media coverage of the uproar that took place protesting against the Egyptian dictator to step down from power recently, to rebel wars against the Libyan president demanding him to also step down from the ruling seat; steps of tearing out dictatorship disease has now began. Because “If we don’t tear out the disease by the roots we shall have with us a bourgeoisie that is in no way connected with the reality of our lives, which is more dangerous to the future of Africa than imperialism itself,” said Tayeb Salih. 

  

 Though Mustafa Sa’eed was an intellect and had travelled from Sudan to London in pursuit of education. He was also a womaniser. He used all trickery he could think of to entice a women to his bedroom. Then afterwards got a new one to bed. “There is a still pool in a woman that I knew how to stir”, he said. He caused three women (Ann Hammond, Sheila Greenwood, and Isabella Seymour) to commit suicide, mainly because he had made them to believe that he would marry them but did not.

 After so many years of tricking women to his bed, he had now met his equal. A woman by the named of Jean Morris; whom he could not stir her well strong enough to the point of her self-destruction. This was a battle Mustafa couldn’t win and decided to kill her later after they had gotten married due to her unfaithfulness. After Mustafa had served seven year of imprisonment for his act it was then where he decided to start a new life in a village based in Sudan.

As Tayeb Salih ventured on a quest of finding out who Mustafa Sa’eed was, he discovered that though Mustafa lived a simple life of a farmer in the village, he was a teacher to the minister of education in Sudan and that in 1928. Mustafa was a president of the Society for the Struggle for African Freedom, an author, a doctor, played an important part in the plotting of the English in Sudan, and he was one of the secretaries of the conference held in London in1936 (before the WW II).

After the death of Mustafa Sae’ed, passion and last treaded upon an old man over Hosna’s body. Wadd Rayyes a man in his 70s, known for his regales about how many women he had married, slept with and divorced; was also attracted to Hasna. But Hosna on several occasions rejected his proposal. Living in a collectivist society were women had no say in the issues of to whom they got married to. Hasna was forced into marriage. This led to the tragic end of Wadd Rayyes’ life as Hasna stabbed him several times one evening when he tried to force her into having sex.

The death of Hasna affected Tayeb badly. In this thought the writer expresses one of the dangers of African cultures. “They take everything into their stride. They never rejoice at birth nor are saddened at death,” he stated. He exposes the danger of bottling grudges inside one self as it may lead to regretful actions taken by one. “I’m not clear what happened next. However, I do remember my hands closing over Mahjoub’s [he’s best friend] throat,” he mentioned.

In such a great state of anger the Tayeb ventured to a room in Mustafa’s room determined to set it alight. And as he entered he discovered all the answers to his questions about Mustafa. He discovered that Mustafa was one of the greatest men that had ever lived in the face of the earth and yet he pursued no glory or recognition of people in the village.

How well the book has achieved its purpose

The book is well written and structured in a logical manner. The writer adds a little humour hear and there to give the reader a break as they both delve into discovering who Mustafa Sa’eed really is. He also makes the reader to experience conversations that take place in collectivist societies (which is rather an explicit talk of impolite gestures). The author also highlights the good of colonisation on Africa as a whole and its long lasting effect on African states.

“Has not the country become independent? Have we not become free men in our own country? ....they will direct our affairs from afar... they have left behind them, people who think as they do.” The author brings a solid point to the front, that most of us are not willing to accept or recognise that fact. The emancipation from colonisation and the harnessing of neo–colonisation on African states is still prevalent today on Africa.

Tayeb Salih brought clarity into what Africa was and what Africa is today. He did not delve too much on detail of Africa’s concerns and standings.

He also states that even though Africa declares that it is free from colonial rule. Dictatorship was a child given birth to by most African states. Blood spills and mothers crying for their dead husbands and sons was a melody common for Africans to hear.

The question remains, what is to be of Africa, as the new generation can’t speak their mother tongue. What will be of Africa as African cultures, tradition, norms and values are slowly fading away. A desire to being modern has been exaggerated. What happened to the African tales, poetry, idioms and songs? Is Africa the new Europe?

BY: Mohau Ramashidja