Gordimer

Nadine Gordimer was an excellent author, which I really enjoyed reading.  Her style was much different from the other African authors we have read, however the content and messages in her stories were similar to Achebe and others.  Gordimer being a white South African, knew all too well the injustices and horror of colonization, especially apartheid.  She attacked both appetite and colonialism in "Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants."  She was showing how colonization not only hinders African advancement, but is also detrimental to the white South Africans as well.  Gordimer was debunking the idea that Boers had total control in apartheid;  her claim was that no one has control over apartheid.  Gordimer would have compared this to Frankenstein, the monster that was created by man but could not be controlled by him.  The Africans obviously had it the worst and were the ones that were truly downtrodden, but in the process the Boers minds had been corrupted too. 
 This must have been extremely hard, and even dangerous for Gordimer to do.  This is a white woman in South Africa not only speaking out against apartheid, but also preaching this message directly to the Boers; and even telling them that their minds have been damaged by the very system created to damage others.  She was truly walking a thin line and was a target for both sides.  She was working so hard for the Africans, but i think to myself; What if she is walking around a town or village and the Africans didn't know who she was? They would probably see her as just another racist Boer coming through their neighborhood.  She could have hypothetically been attacked by the same people she was fighting for.  Then on  the other hand I can only imagine how Boers who supported apartheid looked at her.  I would imagine similar to how William Lloyd Garrison was viewed by Southern Slave owners (he and other abolitionists were tarred and feathered and nearly beat to death during speeches.)  I applaud Gordimer as well for truly have a grasp on the colonial African experience, being a Boer.  In "Amnesty" she tapped into this experience so well, knowing and understanding what these Africans were going through to earn their land and rights.  She not only understood the hardships on the political and military front lines; but also the sacrifices being made at home by the women and children of these men.  For her to grasp that experience so well in astounding, and to me, proves she really cared about these people and that's why she was writing; not for fame or fortune.

Achebe

Achebe was a brilliant author who knew the pain, struggles and hardships that plagued colonized Africa.  He was clearly from the literati class of political authors; siting the main points of deception, cruelty, and abuse from the colonizers, yet still taking a firm non violent approach.  This wasn't necessarily the normal stance to take for African authors and revolutionaries.  Achebe seems cool, cool, calm, and collected; almost like a Martin Luther King Jr. His stories' messages have a grandfather like wisdom about them.  "Girls at War" was excellent story that not only told the stories of war ravenged Africa, but also had a deeper meaning for those colonizes Africans and also the outside world, especially the colonizers. In this particular story those colonizers also happened to be African.  This is a thing that still plagues parts of Africa today this day; corrupt and sell out African leaders and bureaucrats.  He realized that the colonization of his people was deeper than just the hardships they were put through.  This colonization was also one of the mind.  Africans were either brainwashed by the colonizers about their roots and intelligence, or shown the ways of greed and luxury at the expense of a fellow man.  This is what Achebe was picking at in "The Madman". These European oppressors not only were corrupting the lifestyle and lively hood of the people but also of their mind. Africans were being told lies from these evil oppressors, and after awhile many started to believe these ludicrous lies.  Achebe saw the danger of this, its one thing to colonize and control a man's mind, but a whole another thing to take control of a man's thoughts and beliefs. So he warned his people about this danger in "The Madman".
This must have been tough for Achebe to try to give rise and intelligence of his people, while also sending harsh criticisms to the oppressors.  This was a dangerous thing to do in Achebe's day and he deserves extra credit for doing it a foreign tongue of English.  I applaud him for not even batting an eye at not winning the Nobel Prize.  What prize is that to a man who has helped free his people.  His prize he has helped shape and mold himself over many years of hard work and conflict.  I would encourage anyone to read his great stories of liberation, knowledge of self, and self determination.