Common Themes in Les Blancs and The Dutchman Les Blancs Dutchman

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Common Themes in Les Blancs and The Dutchman There is little difference between colonialism and racism. The difference is only a matter of semantics. While colonialism is oppressing another group not in one's own country, racism is oppressing another group in one's own country. The Dutchman gives the audience two characters who were ignorant of each other. Lula has certain stereotypes of Clay's race, like the idea of barbed wire, just as Les Blancs gives the audience Charlie, who has stereotypes of Tshembe, like the many wives misconception. Themes in racism and colonialism, just like some of the themes in The Dutchman and Les Blancs, are ignorance of others, betraying one's own people, and how far one goes to tolerate what one believes to be the immoral behavior of another. Les Blancs takes one theme of The Dutchman, that of accepting one's race, and puts an interesting twist on it. Tshembe is not totally convinced that the rebellion is the correct thing until he finds out what his father did. Unlike Clay, Tshembe continues somewhat in the footsteps of his father. The idea of "father" is not only meant in the literal sense but in the figurative as well. It is meant as an embodiment of the African race itself. By joining the rebellion, Tshembe sides with his own race once and for all, and does what his ancestors, and most of the African race, would want. Unlike in The Dutchman, however, Les Blancs gives us more of a tragic villain. While we have little or no evidence to show that Lula was anything more than a cold-blooded murderer, Abioseh is more of a tragic villain, who is so misguided by his newfound Catholic ideals that he betrays his own race and, more importantly, his own brother. He allows himself to let his ideology blind him to the facts of what is going on in his country. Les Blancs and The Dutchman, then, share many similar themes but look at some of them in different ways.

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