Karen Blixen - Isak Dinesen home

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Question 8: What if Karen Blixen had been born in Africa?

Q.If Isak Dinesen had been born in Kenya and raised there, as a white woman, would her life have been different compared to moving to Africa from Denmark, her birthplace?

A. 1.) Karen Blixen grew up on a rural estate in Denmark with many servants. In many ways her life in Africa was similar. She was taught to treat the rural people kindly and affectionately.

2.)She might have been more prejudiced if she had grown up in Kenya, because the settlers often treated the Africans with disdain.

3.)She was a foreigner, almost as worthy of disdain to the English as the Africans. During the war she was under suspicion as a German sympathizer, but even at the end of her stay she was afraid of the British authorities, allowing them to take Kinanjui away to die in a hospital against his will.

4.)It's doubtful that she would have been as admiring or as observant of the African way of life if she had grown up in it.

5.)She always hated living alone in Africa; she might have grown more accustomed to it, if she had grown up there. (She was used to living in the bosom of her family in Denmark.)

6.She would not have given up African life when she lost her farm. She would have found another occupation in Kenya. In fact, she might never have become a writer, because she would have been running a restaurant or hotel.

7.)She might not have lost her farm, because she might have understood the African soil and seasons better.