Culture and Religion in 'Mission to Kala'

Culture and Religion in 'Mission to Kala' Cameroonian writer Mongo Beti explores the thorny issues of culture and religion in a compelling way in "Mission to Kala" (1957), using the satirist trope and modernist traits of sentimentalism and the picaresque.Although the novel tackles other themes like education, oppression and colonisation, which have left an indelible mark on the African landscape, it is the way Beti explores culture and religion which prompts close analysis.

Culture and religion are as old as humanity, making it folly for one to pick out a single aspect of either as holistic.

The issue of morals and what constitutes morality is a determinant of the values cherished by a particular community as a way of regulating behaviour and cannot be enforced on others outside its parameters.

Exploiting the tones of the satirist spectrum - wit ridicule, irony, sarcasm, cynicism and the sardonic - Beti puts culture and religion into perspective by highlighting the oppressive inclinations of the phenomena on the psyche.

The protagonist and narrator, Jean-Marie Medza, an egocentric product of Western education, tells us the story of his sojourns in Kala where he has gone to fetch his cousin (Niam's wife) who has gone back to her people after an altercation.

The circumstances surrounding her departure border on adultery and societal expectations as she is barren.

The Vimili culture prescribes communal ownership of wives and burdens such as Niam's cease to be his alone, hence, the convergence of the entire community in response to his distress call.

Medza is tasked to go to Kala as the community's emissary because of his knowledge of the white man's ways.

The oppressive nature of culture is exposed through Niam's wife, Aunt Amou, and Medza's mother in Vimili.

In Kala, women are oppressed because they are naturally vulnerable. They are used for sexual gratification, labour and as child-bearing machines.

When his wife leaves, the conceited Niam boasts: "I am the earth she rests on ... By herself she is nothing but a dead leaf that has broken loose from the tree. For all her flattering and gyrations, in the end she cannot prevent herself falling to the ground."

However, after six months of waiting in vain, he realises the fallacy of his declaration and tries to lure his father-in-law to his side through gifts.

Niam's wife was involved with a young man from another tribe who pampers her with fripperies.

The narrator enlightens us thus: "In our country what Europeans describe as 'adultery' (a word loaded with heavy Puritanism) doesn't on the whole provoke really violent reactions, even if people aren't entirely indifferent to such peccadilloes."

What really evokes ire is hitting it with a man from another tribe as Medza adds: "The seriousness with which any adultery is regarded is in exact proportion to the physical or social 'distance' between the two tribes - those, that is, of the cuckolded husband and the intrusive lover respectively."

Culture here seems to condone adultery if the Casanova happens to hail from the same tribe which in a way is hypocritical as the same morals that the society purports to safeguard are thrown to the dogs willy-nilly and the culprits forgiven.

Aggravating the issue is that Niam's wife is barren and barrenness is thorny in most African societies.

Barren women are stereotyped and "suffer a curious kind of communal anathema, the origins of which must be sought in the spiritual beliefs of our Bantu ancestors. Once a married woman has a child, all her caprices and infidelities are excused".

In the Shona society if a married woman has a child with another man as a result of adultery, the child is said to belong to her husband and her lover cannot claim paternity.

This is meant to protect the husband's ego and foster peace.

The events that Medza relates in Kala are intriguing.

If the Vimili culture is befuddling, then that of Kala is petrifying as morality seems to be just another word in any lexicon.

Beti satirises religion as having no real value in moulding the individual unless he wants to use it to his own advantage.

The protagonist receives a rude awakening as his perceived sophistication fades into oblivion as the Kala lifestyle unfolds uninhibited before his eyes.

His cousin Zambo, who at 20 is about Medza's age, lives with his girlfriend at his parents' home with their blessings, and yet he sleeps around with other girls as he is not yet prepared to marry.

The Kala youths do not only indulge in sexual escapades but they imbibe palm wine daily and do not seem to do anything else.

The writer uses characterisation, names and setting to mock religion, especially Catholicism through Zambo's friends Duckfoot Johnny, Abraham The Boneless Wonder and Petrus Son-of-God.

Duckfoot Johnny and co have a thorough knowledge of Catholicism and yet they satirise it, finding pleasure in using it to suit their gadabout nature.

Duckfoot Johnny calls himself St John of Kala and his wine cache is referred to as The Living Fountain. Their mockery of Catholicism and its catechism brings out the hypocrisy inherent in Christianity as the missionaries in Kala are said to pay those who labour for them with whiskey.

This also exposes the folly of religious intolerance as societies should be allowed to adhere to their own beliefs as is aptly captured in the exchange between The Boneless Wonder and Son-of-God when the latter implores: "I am quite willing to let you expound Catholicism, so long as you tell us afterwards what the other religions have to say, too."

Little wonder why there is no reference to African Traditional Religion to counter Christianity as Son-of-God says: "The best religion in the world remained that of St John of Kala, which consisted of two basic commandments: When you are thirsty, drink anything except water; and never forgo any occasion for making love, whatever time of day it may be (Sundays included)."

The Kala culture somehow is detrimental to progress and regeneration as the youth are depicted as lazy, careless and wayward.

Chastity is nothing to brag about, fornication and adultery the in-thing in a society that refuses to be influenced by colonisation.

Niam's wife, who is absent when Medza arrives, returns a fortnight later with a lover in tow.

Zambo tells the shell-shocked hero that it was no big deal for a married woman to be "screwing around with some man or other" because "all the women here run two or three men besides their husband when they get to her age. It's practically a rule".

It is quite boggling how such society intends to move forward by scalding its own feet.

Mama, Zambo's father, exploits culture to hoodwink Medza into ceding part of his loot on the premise of kinship, and the Chief, a sexual pervert, adds a teenager to his harem of wives in pomp and fanfare all in the name of culture.

Because religion and culture play complimentary roles in moulding the individual, there is need to check on their dynamics by seeking interfaces with other societies so as to come up with products conducive for regeneration.

Medza leaves Vimili a teetotaller and a virgin burdened by aspirations of an oppressive father, but when he returns he has lost it all, and is rebelliously astute, which paves a way for his success at college.

The Kala community, likewise, can also take a cue from other cultures and religions, instead of simply ridiculing everything.