Mister Johnson by Joyce Cary Nine out of 10

 Mister Johnson by Joyce Cary

Nine out of 10

 

 

Mister Johnson is an engaging, amusing, but also tragic, provocative, excellent read for yours truly and those who have compiled the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, which has been criticized for the depiction of the main character, which is ‘superficial’ and has determined Chinua Achebe, author of the classic Things Fall Apart.

 

Sure, on some levels the criticism of the naiveté is justified, the hero choses to live in an universe of his own, that has little to do with reality, only the notion that this is the white man looking down on the African native – as in the author diminishing his own creation – seems more than inadequate for yours truly – who might be correctly accused himself of some sort of prejudice, surely unconscious if it there is one – and we can look at exhibit A, the recordings of what has happened only a few days ago, when a Trump mob has occupied the…American Congress, as a result of conspiracy theories and lucubrations promoted by the leader of the cult, American Ceausescu and his idiotic sycophants and enablers…

The under signed is in in fact impressed by the protagonist, his Panglossian view of the world appears to be incorrect, evidently, but also necessary to survive in Fada, a province in Nigeria, in the period following World War I, apparently, where destitution is the rule of the game, rules imposed by the colonialists are broken by themselves, the traditions do not look imposing to the European, but we have learned in the meantime that the alleged civilizers have in fact been involved in mass murder, organized plunder and the elements of progress they have introduced – roads among them, which are the obsession of one of the judges in this narrative – are more than compensated by the degree to which they have thrown back those lands…

 

In the first few chapters, we meet Mister Johnson, a British government official in Fada, of a much lower rank than he attributes himself, but we have to note from the start that this is not a selfish man, on the contrary, he reminds me of the sheik played by Anthony Quinn in the monumental Lawrence of Arabia, who says ‘I am a river to my people’, in that the hero never keeps a penny of his money for himself – spoiler alert, we will find him destitute at the end, that is if he is there to be found – and instead, he organizes endless parties, with or without a job, entertaining those who have contempt for him, like the store clerk Ajali, and will eventually betray his trust repeatedly, spending money on the disgruntled, equally treacherous, baffled, incomprehensible Bamu, the wife he buys after a lot of bargaining.

Our clerk is enthused when he sees the attractive, strong, obstinate young woman and a quite amusing operation will unfold, with the pretender assuming the role of a very important government official, willing to offer a good price for the girl, as much as ten or fifteen pounds – a fortune at that time and especially so in a region of Africa – only the haggling over the transaction would be prolonged, for members of the family would want the umbrella that the ‘foreigner’ – they see him as an alien and the spouse will never cease to be looking at him with indifference and mistrust – has and then all the clothes he wears, leaving him at the end of the long negotiation with his shoes and not much more than a cloth.

 

On the contrary, Bamu has no desire to adopt any of the ‘foreigners’  customs and when Celia, the wife of the British judge in charge with order and almost everything else in Fada, arrives and the proud government official wants to show off and insists that his wife is not a savage and loves to be a ‘government wife’ the truth is that the African woman will only wear a cloth and rejects the expensive European dress that had been bought for the occasion…furthermore, she would abandon Johnson a few times, and most importantly, she may be crucial in his eventual demise, when the instalments for the payment have not been paid, when the man is in dire straits and overall, she is not devoted to him, albeit feminists would make a point that this is the right way, she shows independence and a free spirit.

The hero has quite a few flaws, as is natural, but he is nonetheless impressive on so many counts, dedicated and loyal to his employers…yes, he does steal from the public purse, but what about the model, judge Rudbeck, he has, who takes money from some financial chapters to indulge in what is his obsession, roads that Waziri and local dignitaries reject, and when there is a serious confrontation, as Johnson is using a road tax he had created to extract some cash, the protagonist is not as guilty as it appears, since this is the culture that prevails, his superior has done the same thing and more important, there had been expenses that he had taken care of, such as beer and more for the workers…

 

Of paramount importance would be the fact that the road would have been impossible without the contribution, presence, creativity and brilliance of this very positive, happy man, who decides to carry on with the project, even when judge Rudbeck decides the completion before the rainy season is impossible and the hero cajoles, entices tribesmen to come to cut brush for the project when this looks impossible, for they are on holiday, they have finished the work, they have beer of their own and with their very wise philosophy of the world they are relaxed and in need of nothing more than they already have – which is incidentally one of the key precepts of Stoicism and reminds me of the anecdote with the Mexican fishermen who are advised by some experts to work and invest in some more boats, to make money enough to live relaxed on a house on the beach, to which they reply that they Already have that…

Johnson does steal some papers, is always in debt to a multitude of people and his alternative reality would keep reminding us of the ‘Stop the Steal’ and the myriad stupidities that people believe in nowadays – with the caveat that poor Mister J was only seventeen and had no education, access to internet and ultimately means to verify lucubrations – only these are the circumstances in his time and place, and what he does wrong is more than surpassed by his munificence, the larger than life character he has, making people happy all around – expect for Bamu, Ajali and those that envy his position and character – and the occasions on which he loses his job are unfair, the clash with Sargent Gollup had been announced and to some extent justified by previous events, such as the beatings he had received from the owner of the shop, the poverty into which he is thrown, lack of education and ultimately the vicious fate…yes, there are serious issues with the character of the clerk, he is not inhuman and it looks like any of us in his position could have followed the same trajectory, ending with the same crush, only without the constant exuberant, admirable attitude of Mister Johnson.