Postcolonial Dictatorship and an Uncertain Society: Analyzing "Shreds of Tenderness" John Ruganda College

Shreds of Tenderness is a riveting drama written by John Ruganda who is Uganda's best-known playwright. Ruganda deployed the use of various stylistic devices in the drama, which enhanced his developing of the conflict and presentation of the problem in the play. In his literary communication in the drama, Ruganda portrays some of the subtle truths of both the political and social situations that were experienced in the postcolonial East African countries. For this reason, Ruganda is considered as a force that has helped to shape East African theater. The themes of change, abuse of power corruption and betrayal have filled the pages of this drama, with the author embracing the use of a play-within-a-play to allow the three main characters to slip in and out of various roles to propel these themes. There are several mentioning of the State Research Bureau (SRB) in the play, "If the forces that be are rounding up all SRB spies, so be it. Let them." (Ruganda, 2001). This highly suggests that the play was set in Uganda where these troops were used to terrorize Uganda citizens who were opposed to the tyrannical rule of the then president Idi Amin Dada. In the play, the major cause of suffering for the people was bad governance and...