Caine Prize Blogathon: The Gorilla's Apprentice

The shortlist for the 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing was announced on April 22, 2014 (see the shortlist and links to the stories here). As has become customary, bloggers are encouraged to give their thoughts on the shortlisted stories.

I therefore begin with “The Gorilla’s Apprentice”, written by the well-known Kenyan writer and director of Kwani?, Billy Kahora. Set against the backdrop of the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya, it is at once a story about the individual and the collective – the individual lives of Billy; his mother Claire; a fugitive from the 1994 genocide, Professor Charles Semambo; and Sebastian the gorilla, as well as the collective lives of Kenyans in the grip of the post-election violence.

Jimmy and Semambo are attached to the gorilla for different reasons. For Jimmy, the attachment is a form of escape from poverty and a broken family – his mother is separated from his father, alcoholic, and has numerous boyfriends. For Semambo, well, he is presented as having a history from Rwanda with the gorilla. Hence, as their individual lives become worse, so does that of the Kenyan collective, and the Rwanda genocide becomes an unstated reference point as to what might result.

It is a good story, told in straightforward prose, and it highlights some important issues such as corruption, poverty, inequality, prostitution, broken families, animal welfare, and of course the post-election violence. The simple prose may cause one to underappreciate the import of these issues.

The portrayal of Jimmy as an introverted young man troubled by poverty and a broken family is very convincing; and so is that of his mother as losing grip of herself slowly to alcoholism. Semambo is also believably seen as edgy and haunted by his past. Sebastian the gorilla, with his looks of resignation borne of an awareness of his time, and his restlessness when the post-election violence – in his mind a throwback to the genocide – breaks out in nearby Kibera, aptly conveys a human side of the animal. Perhaps the convergence of the human and the animal (people butchering each other in the violence) is the crux of this story (“as the two figures became one”).

However, there’s a nagging feeling of loose ends that needed to be tied up. For instance, the reason why Jimmy had to take a photo of Semambo isn’t quite clear. Did he want to blackmail Semambo? Does Semambo get the photo finally? Their trip to Jimmy’s house seems a little preposterous, seeing that when Jimmy once again asks if Semambo can teach him to talk to Sebastian the gorilla, they immediately set off to the Animal Orphanage (Sebastian may not have much time), forgetting the reason why they had to go Jimmy’s house in the first place.

In general, I believe The Gorilla’s Apprentice is a relevant and conscientious reminder of the Rwandan genocide and the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya. Given what is happening in various parts of the African continent, especially in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, we must never tire of these reminders.