“The Drummer of all the World”
The first-person narrator, Matthew, recalls the warm and fuzzy version of the African in which he was raised as a missionary’s son. When he gets old enough, he returns to England for school. Upon going back to Africa, it seems to him as though the Africa he knew is gone, but he is forced to admit that the Africa he knew as a child was really just a European tourist version of reality.
“The Perfume Sea”
Mr. Archipelago and Doree are mired in poverty as they run a beauty salon for those actual European tourists coming to the Dark Continent. Then a eureka moment: fulfill the desire of all the traditional African women who want to instead look like “city girls.” It is a highly symbolic story as the two are save from devastation by a woman named Mercy.
“The Merchant of Heaven”
Brother Lemon, an evangelical preacher from America, has come to Africa to collect souls, estimating that within six months he will have 6,000. What Brother Lemon is far less interested in are the bodies those souls inhabit. His vision of Africa is informed by his very American and very evangelical prejudices and expectations. His own soul becomes tortured by the reality that Africa is not just “Africa” but Africa.
“The Voices of Adamo”
An exercise in tragic irony in centering on colonialism and communication. A tribesman named Adamo manages to somehow survive an epidemic with devastates his village. This heroic struggle ironically results in his becoming a regimental drummer for the British troops. Captain Foster, the bandmaster, takes Adamo under his wing with the result being that Adamo ironically becomes a supporter of the colonials over his fellow natives. Ultimately, Captain Foster’s attempts to find Adamo a place in the new world of independence for his country is viewed by Adamo as another looming devastating disaster. Out of despondency and fear, the winds up killing the captain.
“The Rain Child”
Miss Nedden, an English teacher at Eburaso Girls’ School has a new student. Ruth has been receiving an education in England. When she returns home to Africa with her father, she is suffering not just culture shock, but identity issues as she attempts to integrate. The story is essentially a framework by which Ruth alienation from African culture, but inability to be racially accepted into English society is paralleled with Miss Nedden. The parallel of cultural identity is given further texture by virtue of Ruth’s father having become Europeanized while working in England, but once back home finding it impossible to make connections with Africans or Europeans.
“Godman’s Master”
A young man returns to his African homeland after four years attending British university. The exile has significantly impacted his cultural views and upon return he sets to becoming a heroic figure by rescuing a midget named Godman from a life in which he is held hostage for exploitation as a strange prophet. Godman is so thankful that he latches onto the young man as a substitute for the protection offered by his former master, but the student tires of being thought a savior and abandons Godman to a life he’s never known: a life of pure independence. In the end, Godman recounts a horrifying story of poverty, degradation and further exploitation. The ending, however, is to be considered a happy one because Godman asserts that despite having confronted the worst of the worst while living in a constant state of fear, he has endured. He lives, still.
