Study Guide: The Boy Who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye by Manu Herbstein

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Description

Study Guide: The Boy Who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye by Manu Herbstein is a detailed analysis of Manu Herbstein’s novel, The Boy Who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye. The novel is a historical novel structured as a “found” diary written by fifteen-year-old Kofi Gyan. The story provides a firsthand, African perspective on the violent advent of British colonialism in the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) during the 1873-1874 Anglo-Ashanti War. The novel specifically documents the British bombardment of Elmina in 1873 and their subsequent military campaign to loot and sack the Asante capital of Kumase in 1874.

Herbstein wrote the novel as a deliberate counter-discourse to the pro-Empire youth literature of the Victorian era. He targets with his writing the imperialist boys’ adventure novels authored by G. A. Henty. He attempts to show the war through the eyes of a bilingual African boy who acts as an undercover spy. In other words, the novel seeks to challenge and dismantle the sanitised, heroic narratives of the British Empire manufactured by Western journalists.

This Literature PADI study guide offers a comprehensive analysis of the novel, covering its background, setting, plot summary, chapter-to-chapter summary and analysis, narrative devices, characters, and themes.

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1. Plot Summary and Setting of The Boy Who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye by Manu Herbstein
2. Characters in The Boy Who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye by Manu Herbstein
3. Themes in The Boy Who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye by Manu Herbstein
4. Chapter 1 to 3 Summary and Analysis of The Boy Who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye by Manu Herbstein

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