In “Out of Africa” by Karen Blixen, Blixen presents an autobiographical account of her trials, adventures, and memories from her farm in British East Africa. The book offers a widespread report of the contemporary problems faced by all parties within the British colony during the pre-World War One time period. Blixen discusses a major conflict within the book, colonialism and the relationship between the native Africans and their recent rulers, white Europeans. Blixen also recounts stories from her time in Africa from her first experiences with Africans to the many travelers she received while in Africa. The book first starts by describing Blixen’s interactions with the native Africans and her reflections on their culture and customs. Blixen…show more content… Blixen does not write of her experiences in Africa in a normal, linear pattern, but with a deviating and intermittent style that gives the book its own personality and tone. The book begins by Blixen introducing and describing the farm and land that Blixen owned. The first major event in the book is when Blixen discovers a young African boy with sores covering his legs; Blixen, the closest thing to a doctor on her farm, takes the boy in and tries to heal his wounds. Blixen wasn’t able to heal the boys sores, however she has made friends with the boy known as Kamante. Blixen sends Kamante to the local Protestant mission where he stays for many weeks healing. Kamante eventually returns to the farm and becomes the head chef, cooking for Blixen’s guests and even being taught in European restaurants in Nairobi. Blixen also meets one of her closest friends in Africa, Farah Aden a Somali. Farah was Blixen’s translator and interpreter for the different African languages and the intelligible cultural conflicts between the squatters on her farm. The most important and longest lasting incident to happen on the farm was when Kabero, the son of the head cattle farmer on the farm, Kaninu, accidentally shoots to other buys with a shotgun. Blixen refers to this incident a lot because it summarizes the odd differences between the Europeans and the Africans. The…show more content… Blixen herself was effectively a part of colonizing Kenya because the land she bought from the British government had actually been taken from the Kikuyu people after the Conference of Berlin. The Kikuyu people lived on the land that was Blixen’s farm, however she allowed them to stay as squatters. Blixen even used these people as labor on her farm, in return for use of farmland and a small amount of land. British rule at first did not cause conflict with the natives but as settlers became more and more overzealous with their exploits, such as using the Africans for labor and taking over greater swaths of land tensions began to grow. Blixen tells how the British favored certain groups of Africans, such as the Somali and Kikuyu’s over the unpredictable Masaii. The Kikuyu had more liberty in the land they could live on and the jobs they could occupy, the Kikuyu people were considered by the European settlers to be a very valuable asset and were treated accordingly. The Somali’s were highly thought of by the Europeans because of their years of being brilliant hunting guides and companions, because of this reverence many Somali’s thought of themselves as superior to the other African groups. The Masaii, on the other hand, were thought of as savages by the British and Europeans for their tribal and violent actions. The Masaii were contained to a
