The sacrificial lamb written by Sindiwe Mogana is part of a compilation of

short stories called Push-Push! and other stories published in 1996 by

Beacon Press, the version analyzed in this essay is from this very same
edition. This article have as main objective diagnose how the colonial process
affects, in different ways, the people of a country, in this case South Africa,
even after their conquered a political independence. Therefore a post-colonial
criticism of the literature will be used as concept of analysis.
Before a deep analysis of the story it is important to define which concepts
will guide this composition. The idea of a post-colonial criticism is to identify
the effects of the imperial European domination, that lasted for centuries
depending on the case, in the contemporary literature of the ex-colonies. As
Bonnici affirms in the following stretch.
The post-colonialism criticism, therefore, covers the culture and the literature, occupying
itself to peer along and after the imperial European domination, trying to make it clear its
effects on contemporary literature. In fact, all of literature that derives from European Colonies
() had arisen from experiences of colonization and they claimed towards the tension with
colonial power and the differences with assumptions of imperial center.(BONNICI, p. 232)
As stated before the independence from the metropolis is no equal to an
emancipation from all rooted structures imposed and inherited from the
colonizer.
MEMMI (1977) thinks about the colonialism assuming that the independence of a country
doesnt means the end of the colonial process, because, in political and social terms, those
changes doesnt happens in short time, and the conditions that sustain the previous system
will serve as a mainstay for the social, political and economical relations of this new country,
as the stereotypes will be kept, as well the myths and social life elements. For the author,
colonizer and colonized opposes themselves because they represent different religions,
races, languages, cultures and civilizations, in different developments stage and, even more
important, because they represent different interests. (SCHLIECK, SOUZA. P.2)
ESCREVER PARAGRAFO DE TRANSIO CAALHO!
It is possible to use literature as a tool to understand that process
because even losing their territory for colonizer, many colonies presented
what is called loser simulation where someone who is conquered by force
find other ways to fight against the imposition of cultural, social, economic and
others aspects by the colonizer as Bruit defines:
"[...]The simulation concealed the rancor for destruction and genocide; For other chroniclers it
concealed the desire and the intention to preserve the most beloved cultural traits, such as
religion. In both cases it is a mechanism of defense, survival, deculturation, resistance, which
was not visualized or understood by the authorities, who became politically deceived. While
all, or almost all, saw the most defeated as obedient servants[..]" (BRUIT, p. 173, 1993).
One of the ways to build that simulation is using the language of the
colonizer as a way to claim what they lost or at least fight for their rights. In a
contemporary context its possible to construct their own new identity.
At a first moment, the colonized nullify himself, looking for survive, but, when he/she learns
the colonizers language, the colonized will use it to claim his rights and retrieve its
consciousness; the main objective, in this moment, is release and restore his language.[...]In
the colonized case, this denial of the colonizer is marked by dudgeon and isnt bigger
because this one is already psychologically loaded by those denial marks. This can be
considered the beginning of the colonized recovery, by using its own language, by
recognizing its folk and itself, by appreciating its past, remaking your own unity and cultural
traditions, facing the colonizer and, if it is possible, defeating or sabotaging it.(SCHLIECK,
SOUZA. p.5)
That is the tool used by Sindiwe Mogona to demonstrate how the ghosts
of colonization keep haunting her native country, South Africa, and with that
she builds something unique into the South African literature and culture. The
Sacrificial Lamb narrates the story of Siziwe and South African woman who
moved from a small city in South Africa called Cala, to New York looking for
better life chances to her and her family, someday she receives a phone call
from her parents, who still lives in her hometown, ask for financial support
after an accident with her brother.
This kind of setting shows a contemporary dichotomy between colonizer
and colonized in the first side we can observe the figure of United States, the
most powerful nation of the world. On the other side, South Africa struggling to
get rid of the stigmas from his colonization process.
One of the many causers of these stigmas is the Apartheid, which was the
institutionalization of the prejudice were the race defined your place and role
in society. Those aspects can be see in some extracts from the text:
Her sisters and brothers were slowly killing the poor woman; aging her and wearing her
down fast with all the troubles they visited her: drunken brawls, job loss caused by bad work
habits, unemployment due to lack of qualifications, and a host of other causes besides. The
same problems that plagued everybody else in the black townships.
That is the reminiscence of apartheid politics when it is common to
separate black people from white sending them to margin parts of the city
usually leaving them without any access to basic needs. As MALUCO
confirms:
Perhaps the key institution of segregation and apartheid has been the black township. For
many decades the ideal of accommodating the black underclasses in segregated townships
was part-and-parcel of white local government discourse

The mentioned dichotomy is clear when the reality of where Siziwe lives
compared to her family in South Africa.
By nine, she had made the transfer from chemical bank to her mother's account with
Volkskas bank in Elliot, the nearest town to Cala that boasted such facilities as banks.
As seen in attachment 01 the distance they have to travel to make a
simple money withdraw, 35 kilometers, sounds unbelievable even in small
cities of a not fully developed country as Brazil. That fact leads to the
conclusion that if her family lives in a city without something simple as a bank
facility or a ATM machine, they probably shouldnt have the ideal access to
basic institutions such as schools, hospitals and others which probably is one
of causes of job losses , unemployment due to lack of qualifications, and a
host of other causes quoted before.
At the other side there is the reality of Siziwe can have a happy hour at
the Ritz, a cozy little restaurant patronized by the foreigners in attachment 02
its possible to see what the Ritz is in New York and how different the realities
are. There is a huge contrast when it comes to the access a well being
structures.
It is clear hat if Siziwe kept herself in her hometown the chance to obtain
what se got in New York it would be harder for her, because Cala still lives in a
reality built by their colonizer and reinforced by Apartheid. The ghosts of
colonization made Cala had to stay in a colonial past forcing Siziwe to left her
family looking for best conditions, and making her family struggle to sacrifice
themselves to give her the conditions to made it.
You said, Those of us who are supposed to have made it, are the ones whom, for
whatever reason, the ancestors have chosen as sacrificial lambs for the family! [...]Very true,
my friend. But, as you yourself have said, we are helped to be successful, so that the family
may endure. How else would so many of us have survived apartheid... were it not for those
who, despite overwhelming odds, made it to where they could support us (MOGOWA, p.
147, 1996)
 The sacrifice as seen is from both parts in one side the family who fought
to survive the apartheid period and of Siziwe who was chosen to become the
Sacrificial Lamb. As Macmillan Dictionary define a sacrificial lamb is
someone or something that suffers so that someone or something
more important can succeed, all over the story its possible to see how the
protagonist suffer, her family only calls her for ask money, she has a strange
relationship with her mother and she is suffers from homesickness as can be
seen in the following parts of story:
She knew exactly why they called her... why they always and invariably called her: Money
[...]Whatever she said would end up upsetting her mother[...]I Miss having my family help me
with children. You know, at home, thus wouldnt be just my problem alone.[...]Siziwe nodded
her head, thinking of her mother and the strength she drew for her, just knowing she was
there.[...]when i hear her voice, realize how far she is, I ask myself: Why should brother her
with my little troubles? She would only worry. And the Lord knows, she needs that like she
needs a second hand on her shoulders
These lines show how difficult is for Siziwe stay away from her family.
What reinforce her sacrifice to help the kin to somehow succeed. From the
analysis of the short story its possible to see as one of the reasons that leads
the protagonist and her family to appeal to migration as a solution for they
problems is the remaining effects of the colonization, which lead a country to
deal with problems created by a colonizer elite who never really cared for the
people of country leaving them lost when a independence process occur.
ATTCHMENT 01