Houseboy

Patronization is symbolic of a power structure that puts white Europeans above native Africans. It is seen most easily in the church, where people like Father Gilbert are kind and caring to those like Toundi, but do so from a place of teaching or instructing in the “correct way.” This teaching or instructing takes for granted that Toundi and others had a concrete system of beliefs before Christianity arrived, and it seeks to remake Africans in the image of Europeans, but without allowing for the principle of equality also accorded Europeans. Father Gilbert, for instance, often presents Toundi to other whites as his “masterpiece,” rendering Toundi an object to gaze upon and mold into a set pattern.

The church in general is symbolic of a moral authority that can be seen throughout the novel. The church reforms the African villages, breaking up pluralistic marriages and taking in African boys and women to reform and reeducate the local populations. The church is the meeting place for white Europeans in Dangan, and as such, is the place where they go for direction in their lives. With the blessing of the church, the Europeans of Dangan enact their barbarity upon the locals, and feel vindicated that they have the moral authority to do so.