C.S. Forester's "The African Queen" is a thrilling tale of adventure set during the early days of World War I in German East Africa. The novel tells the story of an unlikely duo, Charlie Allnutt and Miss Rose Sayer, who embark on a perilous journey that tests their courage, resilience, and ultimately, their capacity for love.
The novel opens with the introduction ofRose Sayer, a patriotic missionary, and Charlie Allnutt, a Cockney engineer working at a Belgian mine. When WWI breaks out, German troops raze an African village, including its church. Rose's brother, the missionary Samuel Sayer, dies from the shock, leaving her alone in the German colony.
Charlie, the captain of the steamboat "African Queen," arrives to help Rose escape. Much more than the movie, the two are set up as different classes from the beginning as Forester has Allnutt speak in a very strong Cockney dialect, and handing over the novel’s point of view to Rose Sayer, whose thoughts are always calm and collected, even in moments of anger. The narrator is strictly speaking an omniscient narrator, but for much of the book he chooses to convey to us Rose’s point of view. That decision is one of the main reasons the book is so enjoyable and can frequently rise above its anachronistic politics.
The Perilous Plan
Rose, driven by a thirst for revenge and a loud and strident patriotism, convinces Charlie to undertake a daring plan: to use the "African Queen" to strike a blow against the Germans. Their target is the Königin Luise, a German gunboat dominating Lake Wittelsbach. The plan is to go down the Ulanga river, which leads into a large lake and use the boat as a kind of torpedo to blow up the Königin Louise.
The journey down the Ulanga River is fraught with danger. They must navigate treacherous rapids, waterfalls, and a German fort overlooking the river. They also endure tropical heat, rain, stinging mosquitos, and leeches.
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Challenges and Transformations
Once the two makeshift sailors get on board the roles are quickly distributed. Rose steers the boat, picking up nautical terms and facts on the fly, and Allnutt tries to keep the boat’s faulty old steam engine running. The African Queen is an old and temperamental boat. As they face these challenges, both characters undergo significant transformations.
Charlie, initially a drifter with no initiative, is pushed into action by Rose. He is not stupid but he is not quick and, outside his work, shows no initiative. He is easily pushed around by Rose, who takes full advantage of her higher social status: he doesn’t think the plan will work but it is his way to comply.
Rose, initially portrayed as a prim and proper missionary, discovers her inner strength and leadership qualities. The river - like a bilious, eddying metaphor, carries her in a few hours and days towards emancipation and maturity, at the ripe age of 30something. And at the height of it, at her fullest sense of self and freedom, after a particularly dangerous and successful ride down a series of dangerous rapids, her sexuality blooms and she and Allnutt kiss and have sex right there on a bank of the Ulanga river.
Love and War
As they navigate the treacherous river, Rose and Charlie find themselves drawn to each other. The hardships they endure, the shared danger, and their growing respect for each other lead to an unlikely romance. All this development reads exceptionally modern, and one worries that it’s not inherently placed like that in the text.
After sex, Rose slips immediately back into submissive mode, for the first time since meeting Allnutt - but even that is explicitly reflected by the text as her assumption of a role.
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The plan, as it’s quickly decided upon, is to go down the Ulanga river, which leads into a large lake. On that lake, a big German ship, the Königin Louise, is holding sway, dominating the banks of the lake with her far reaching canons. Since the African Queen has some explosives on board, the plan is to glide into the lake and use the boat as a kind of torpedo to blow up the Königin Louise.
The Climax
As the African Queen heads for the Königin Luise, a sudden storm blows the ship off course, and it sinks. Allnutt and Rose escape but are caught by the Germans. The captain of the Königin Luise questions them, and although they refuse to answer his questions, he deduces enough from Rose's lifejacket (which reads "African Queen") to decide the pair are the missing missionary and skipper. Running up a white flag, the captain sends Allnutt and Rose to the British navy.
The British commander, preoccupied with his newly arrived enforcements and impending attack on the Königin Luise is dismissive of them. He sends them to the British Consul, who listens to their story and advises Allnutt to enlist in the Army. First, however, Allnutt and Rose will be married.
Here's a table summarizing the main characters and their traits:
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| Rose Sayer | A patriotic missionary who transforms into a strong and determined woman. |
| Charlie Allnutt | A Cockney mechanic who initially lacks initiative but rises to the occasion. |
| Samuel Sayer | Rose's brother; his death sets the initial plot in motion. |
Forester closes the story, "So they left the Lakes and began the long journey to Matadi and marriage.
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The movie version follows the novel quite closely until the last few chapters, but the ending of the novel is very different from the film. I think I preferred Forester’s version.
Themes in The African Queen
The most interesting aspect of The African Queen is the treatment of empire. It provides Rose’s motivation and therefore the plot’s mainspring. Rose knows little about the causes of the war, which included imperial ambition, or the actual position in Europe. She just wants to strike a blow for England (which is home, and therefore must be right), and against the Germans who made life difficult for her and her brother. Quite why English missionaries are in a German colony is unclear, but this usefully suggests imperial jockeying for position. Rose doesn’t stop to think, as we do with hindsight, about the irony of this European war affecting the inhabitants of African colonies to whom it must mean nothing.
Like many books then (and quite honestly now), The African Queen unfurls in front of us the drama of white people in Africa without being particularly interested in the Africans’ plight. There’s a Belgian mine near the village at the beginning of the book, and historically, we know how the Belgians treated their colonies. I mean the mere fact that one of the three colonial forces depicted in the novel had historically committed genocide in Africa, another one came close, and the British record in Africa included the invention of concentration camps, this is completely ignored.
What’s more, this blatant disinterest violently clashes with the gung-ho patriotism espoused by the book that leads to Rose attempting what is essentially a suicide-bomber-like mission. The book is set in an area where many different tribes live, but for the book (and the movie) they are all just the same variety of “negro.” This political or racial indifference is the biggest mark against this book and and keeps it from being more than what it ends up being - an above-average adventure novel.
