THey Really don't belong

In the short story, “The Old Chief Mshlanga” by Doris Lessing, the author recounts a personal experience during a time when Africans were colonized and brutally treated by the usurpative white owners. The protagonist, Nkosikaas had once been an unquestioning usurpative owner among all the other whites. By meeting with the Old Chief Mshlanga, Nkosikaas realized the cruelty of the whites and the possibility to treat blacks and whites equally. Through Lessing’s vivid descriptions of the various settings, she manifestly indicates the fact that Nkosikaas and all the whites are intruders and do not possess the Southern African lands.

Although Nkosikaas, along with all the other whites, lives in an African society and has the power to demand the blacks to do unreasonable harsh works, she lives in total isolation. The story opens with the description of the family farm of the “white child,” Nkosikaas. It’s “like every white farm…largely unused, broken only occasionally by sm...