29 pages 58 minutes read

Aimé Césaire

Discourse on Colonialism

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1955

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Essay Topics

1.

Discuss the overall tone of Césaire’s argument against colonialism. What attitudes does he share about the relationship between colonizers and the colonized? In what manner does he convey these feelings?

2.

Discourse on Colonialism is a long essay written in a poetic prose style that is unconventional for postcolonial writing at the time. Discuss three elements of Césaire’s poetic prose style and how they contribute to his thesis against the moral hypocrisy of colonialism. What do these elements of his style achieve that more conventional prose cannot?

3.

Césaire arduously defends the proletariat in his critique of colonialism. Who does he define as members of the proletariat? How does he connect his defense of the proletariat with his critique of colonialism?

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By Aimé Césaire

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