Houseboy

Christianity can be viewed as the backbone of the novel, and takes its shape in the Catholicism practiced by the priests and, to a lesser extent, the Europeans in Dangan and other areas of the Cameroons. The first glimpse of Christianity comes when Toundi notes that his people were once cannibals but abandoned the practice after being colonized. He then talks of Father Gilbert and his attempts to preach to the natives, as well as how comical his sermons are because he speaks in bad dialect, rendering his words obscene. When Toundi flees his abusive father, he seeks shelter with Father Gilbert, ready to openly embrace the Christianity of his colonizers. Christianity allows Toundi a way into the European world as he works at the Mission in Dangan. In this capacity, he glimpses the activities of both natives and whites.

The narrative highlights the negative effects of Christianity just as readily as it relates the comical aspects. Father Gilbert, though seemingly pleased with Toundi and willing to take him in, ultimately engages with Toundi from the standpoint of patronizing him. This relationship is viewed as one in which a wise, giving white man puts up with an uneducated African and works diligently to change him into something better.