Under A Cruel Star

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During the 20th century, several wars occured around the world that drastically affected the people that resided in those areas. The River Between written by James Ngugi highlights a specific war in Kenya during the early 1900’s. This war involved british imperialism and colonization in Kenya, which resulted in the mass lost of land and the unfortunate split between two villages, Kameno and Makuyu. Years later in the mid 1900’s, a more political and violent war occured in Prague, Czech Republic. In Heda Margolius Kovály’s Under a Cruel Star, the war is described as societal shift from fascism to a society run by communist. In this war, individuals suffered far worse due to oppression, identity loss, violence, and more. Through comparison of …show more content…
The war between the two villages, Kameno and Makuyu, was focused more on sticking to tradition rather than shifting to imperialistic views. It is said that, “There were the Christians led by Joshua… [in] Makuyu. Then there were the people of the tribe… [in] Kameno.” (Ngugi, p. 80). Due to “New Imperialism” and a European claim of bringing “Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization”, there was a strong split between those that wanted to remain with traditional Kenyan values and those that supported the new concept of Christianity. However, the loss of identity was far more drastic to those in Prague during the reign of Hitler after World War 1. Because of the “Stab in The Back Theory”, Jews and Marxists were treated as war criminals and placed in concentration camps. Heda described the loss by stating, “After Hitler’s Occupation, we were no longer Czechs anymore, not citizens, not students, not even human beings. (Kovály, p. 64).” For the Jews in Prague, the war cause them to lose a sense of self identity and for many it made them realize that they were different from the rest of society. The war also caused individuals to lose morals and become insensitive, the first sign of this was when Heda was helping a German soldiers and a nurse exclaimed, “Take care of the Czechs and let the Germans go to hell! (Kovály, p. 43).” Though the neighboring villages in
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