Midterms
#3 ~ G to H (alphabetized by author's last name)
Student
Midterm Discussion Papers
Student Writing, Hum 211, Winter
2002
Short
Cuts to Student Midterms on this webpage:
Cindy Greer,
"The Tragedy of
Okonkwo
"
Heidi
Hale, "Gender Balance:
Prevention of Things Falling Apart"
Kilmeny Hall, "Chinua
Achebe's Use of Oral Art Traditions in Things Fall Apart"
Jeff Hunt, "The Effects of Colonialism and
Western culture on African
peoples
of past and present as witnessed in Things Fall Apart and Keita:
The heritage of the Griot"
Gracie
Huntington, "Strength from Within" [of women in I Is a
Long Memoried Woman]
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Cindy Greer
Hum 211
Midterm Discussion Paper
23 February 2002
The Tragedy of
Okonkwo
The tragedy of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things
Fall Apart begins early in his life.
Okonkwo is born into a poor family whose father, Unoka, “was laughed
at...because he was a loafer” (Part I, ch.1, p.4). Achebe
describes that there was hardly enough food for the family and Unoka “owed
every neighbor some money, from a few cowries to quite substantial amounts.”
Unoka was a musician, a man who loved to play his flute and entertain
others. He wasn’t much
interested in farming or securing a place and name within Umofia of
importance. As a result, Okonkwo
was embarrassed and humiliated by his father, as he did not live up to the
Igbo cultural expectations of hard work and acquisition of wealth to attain
social status and respect to the point of a shameful death. He so despised his father and his father’s indolence and
feared becoming like his father that Okonkwo did everything within his own
power to become the opposite of Unoka.
“With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have
the start in life, which many young men had.
He
neither inherited a barn nor a title, nor even a young
wife. But in spite of these disadvantages, he had
begun even in his father’s lifetime to lay the
foundations of a prosperous future.
It was slow and
painful. But he threw himself into it like one possessed.
And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father’s
contemptible life and shameful death” (Part I, ch.3, p.13).
As a young man, Okonkwo made a name for himself as
“the greatest wrestler [with] in the nine villages” (Part I, ch.1, p.6).
Okonkwo became one of the most prominent men within Umuofia.
He received many titles, had three wives, many children and was driven
“by one passion - to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved”
(Part I, ch.2, p.10). Okonkwo
propagated his yam farm so that he could become a wealthy, successful,
respected leader within his obodo.
What is it that motivates Okonkwo so passionately to succeed?
It is fear; fear of failure, fear of humiliation, fear of becoming “agbala”
(Part I, ch.2, p.10). Okonkwo ,
“[even] as a little boy ...resented his father’s failure and weakness”.
As an adult, Okonkwo could “still remember how he had suffered when a
playmate had told him that his father was agbala”,
Agbala, a name for “a man who has taken no title” (Part I, ch.2, p.10).
“...his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of
failure and weakness. It
was deeper and more intimate
than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic,
the fear of the forest, and forces of nature, malevolent,
red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s
fear was greater than
these. It was not external but lay deep within himself”
(Part I, ch.2, p.9,10).
Fear was the driving force that not only led to his
success as a great leader and clansman, but also led ultimately to his death.
Fear of losing his dignity among the members in Umoufia caused Okonkwo
to make numerous mistakes that caused him great heartache.
Okonkwo reacted to his fear, perpetuating tragedy in his life.
He mourned the slaying of his adopted son, Ikemefuna at his own hands.
“He heard Ikemefuna cry ‘My father, they have killed me!’ as he
ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.
He was afraid of being thought weak"
(Part I, ch.7, p.43). Okonkwo
will not embrace his natural son, Nwoye.
He sees a resemblance between his father and Nwoye.
“...Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his
father great anxiety with his incipient laziness.
At any rate that is how it looked to his father...” (Part I, ch.2,
p.10). Nwoye knows that his younger sister is Okonkwo’s favorite
and can see his father’s partiality towards her.
His father would just as soon beat him because of how much he despises
him and his idleness.
At the funeral celebration of a prosperous member of
the clan tragedy hits Okonkwo again. In
the fury and excitement of the traditional funeral a young boy is accidentally
shot by Okonkwo. “The only
course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan.
It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man
who committed it must flee from the land.
He could return to the clan after seven years” (Part I, ch.13, p.88).
During Okonkwo’s exile, changes take place.
These changes are significant and will lead to Okonkwo’s downward
spiral. The white-man,
missionaries from Europe invade Umuofia. They come to convert and civilize the Igbo people.
With the introduction of the missionary come their European culture,
traditions, government and god. Because
the Igbo people are gentle and obliging they are unaware that their culture is
being invaded, very subtly. “Perhaps
I have been away too long...[but] I cannot understand these things you tell
me. What is it that has happened
to our people? Why have they lost
their power to fight?” (Part III, ch.20, p.124).
Clansmen have idly sat by and let the white-man bring their beliefs and
justice systems to Umuofia; tragically his son, Nwoye converts to Christianity
and ultimately rebukes his father (Part II, ch.16, p. 107).
Okonkwo, who follows the traditions and rules of the clan even to the
point of exile, must now look upon his own son as he shuns everything sacred
and treasured by Okonkwo. As Okonkwo muses over his son, he is filled with anger that
he should be cursed with such a son. “He
saw clearly in it the finger of his personal god or chi. For how else could he explain his great misfortune and exile
and now his despicable son’s behavior?” (Part II, ch.17, p.108)
As
Okonkwo returns to his obodo he is
determined to try to regain the status that he lost
when he was exiled.
This is where he meets his final tragedy.
“Okonkwo’s return to his native land was not as
memorable as he had wished...Umoufia did not appear
to have taken any special notice of [his] return.
The
clan had undergone such profound change during his
exile that it was barely recognizable”
(Part III, ch.21, p.128).
“Okonkwo was deeply grieved.
And it was not just a personal grief.
He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart,
and he mourned for the warlike men of Umoufia, who had so unaccountably become
soft like women” (Part III, ch.21, p.129).
Ultimately, everything Okonkwo believed in--tradition, culture,
ancestors, worship--were fearfully changing.
His civilization and that of his descendants was on the edge of
non-existence and Umoufia was passively participating in their own demise.
Umoufia was becoming all that Okonkwo hated.
He interpreted Umoufia acceptance of the white-man’s co-existence as
weak and failing. Like his son
Nwoye, he hated them. As his
family, his traditions, his culture and his home fell apart Okonkwo feared for
himself.
Who was he? Where
would he go? What was happening
to his world? All around him was
weakness and ultimately failure. “Okonkwo
was called the ‘Roaring Flame’. As he looked into the log fire he recalled the name.
He was a flaming fire. How
then could he have begotten a son like Nwoye” (or a village like Umoufia)?
(Part II, ch.17, p.108). “He
sighed heavily, and as if in sympathy the smoldering log sighed.
And immediately Okonkwo’s eyes were opened and he saw the whole
matter clearly. Living fire
begets cold, impotent ash. He
sighed again, deeply" (Part II, ch.17, p.109).
Okonkwo
tragically ended his own life. He ended it in the most dishonorable way,
by hanging himself, a shameful death, just like his father, just as he had
feared. Okonkwo could see the direction his village was heading.
By allowing the white-man and their influences into their lives the village
and its members were tragically "hanging themselves" as their lives
and future would never be as honorable and authentic as it was. I
believe Okonkwo feared his dishonorable immediate death less than he feared
the slow, inevitable demise of his culture and his future.
© Cindy Greer, 2002
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Heidi Hale
Hum 211
MidTerm
Winter 2002
Gender Balance:
Prevention of Things Falling Apart
“Things Fall Apart” is a
wonderful novel that tells the story of an African society, the Igbo lived
“pre” and “post-colonialism”. Chinua Achebe, the author of this story,
enlightens us with an understanding of the cultural values, myths, and
proverbs of this extraordinary society. He enlightens us with truth about Igbo
family functionality or disfunctionality that we may find otherwise and
illustrates the role of women in pre-colonial Africa.
What exactly were the roles of
women in this story?
Igbo thought
conspicuously uses a metaphor of masculinity and femininity in its principle of
balance—male and female categorize farming crops, types of crimes in the
society, kinship structures, story-telling, religious rites, and of course
social roles. Women are treated
like property in this society, and yet the most important goddess of the
society, Ani the earth goddess, is female.
Ekwefi, Okonkwo’s second wife, is able to desert her first husband and
marry Okonkwo for love. What do you
make of these contradictions? Is Okonkwo’s fall in some way an indicator of
the perils of an African machismo—a lack of a moderating female principle—at
play in the society?
(Svendsen, http://www.campusnut.com/book.cfm?article_id=640§ion=3
[See Works Cited added by Cora below]
In
Things Fall Apart, the reader shadows Okonkwo, a tragic hero whose limitations
was due to the fact that "his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear
of failure and weakness (16)." By
shadowing Okonkwo, we can see how women have been treated like a piece of
property. Even though, Okonkwo
may be a sort of extreme character to follow regarding the relationships
between men and women, I feel that an extreme example can reflect the truth.
For Okonkwo, these
limitations or weaknesses were blamed on his father, Unoka.
Unoka was a man of a gentle nature, however, he accumulated a large
amount of debt, laziness, and a very small amount of trust or reginition
within the community. Okonkwo was taunted as a child by other children when
they called Unoka agbala. Agbala could either mean a man who had taken no
title or "woman." Okonkwo dispised things that reminded him of
frailty, hence, we can understand the way he had treated his neighbors,
children, and worst of all, his wives.
Okonkwo ruled his
household with a heavy hand. His
wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and
so did his little children. Perhaps
down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man.
But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and
weakness. It was deeper and more
intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the
forest, and the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw.
Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these (9).
In keeping with the Ibo view of female nature,
the tribe allowed wife beating. It
seems that this view of female nature is solely based on the comparison
between an average male and female. A
man’s strength and size must mean that they are the provider, hence, would
mean they are the leaders in all aspects of life.
For instance, the woman Ezima is one of the few representations of
women in this book, and the character serves to represent a young woman who is
incredibly strong and intelligent, yet weak in body.
Therefore, she is of little concern in the Igbo world.
This theory has been prevalent throughout the world, however, some
societies believing in it for spiritual/religious reasons, and others,
believing in it out of simple appearance, or both.
Okonkwo continually threatens to beat his wives
throughout the story to keep them powerless against his idea of what their
family’s life should be.
Ezinma went deeper and deeper and the
crowd went with her. Then she
suddenly turned round and began to walk back to the road. Everybody stood to let her pass and then filed after her.
‘If you bring us all this way for
nothing I shall beat sense into you,’ Okonkwo threatened (58).
The novel describes two instances when Okonkwo beats his
second wife, once when she did not come home to make his meal.
He beat her severely and was punished not because of the immorality of
the act, but the punishment was solely given the beating took place during the
“Week of Peace”. He beat her
again when she referred to him as one of those "guns that never
shot." When a severe case of wife beating came before the egwugwu, he
found in favor of the wife, but at the end of the trial a man wondered,
"Why such a trifle should come before the egwugwu."
Examining Okonkwo, we can see how many men of the Igbo society
may hve treated their wives, verbally, mentally, and physically.
Through the hateful comments, threats, putdowns, and beating, we can
see how many women in this society were not those of high self-esteem.
For example, he also wished that his daughter Ezinma "should have
been a boy ( )." Even though
it seemed he favored her he still felt that, "if Ezinma had been a boy
[he] would have been happier ( )."
Even though the Igbo women were
not treated equally, they still included them in their community by delegating
certain positions or duties of significance.
For example, the first wife of an Igbo man is paid with a certain
amount of respect. However, the
second or third wives are treated with less respect than that, perhaps
equivalent to none. Women of the Igbo were also allowed to paint the houses of
the egwugwu (84).
The Igbo culture, like almost
the entire world has ever known is full of contradictions and hypocrisy.
We see this in the modern world everyday.
The Igbo people worshiped Ani, a female God, but enslaved their
own wives. These Igbo men feel as
though they can practice polygamy, but women will be beaten if they are found
with another lover. Can we say that a non-existing female role in the Igbo
society is what ultimately changed the way they lived?
Would a stronger balance between leadership roles of men and women
could have prevented the Igbo society from falling apart?
Works Cited [added by Cora]
Christina Svendsen (Harvard
University). “Points to
Ponder.” “Book Summary – Things
Fall Apart.” CampusNut.com.
CampusNut.com, Inc. 2000-2001.
http://www.campusnut.com/book.cfm?article_id=640§ion=3
[accessed 9 March 2002].
© Heidi Hale, 2002
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Kilmeny
Hall
HUM 211
Midterm Discussion Paper
February 27, 2002
Chinua
Achebe’s Use of Oral Art Traditions in Things Fall
Apart
Chinua Achebe blends a variety of African oral art traditions
throughout his novel, Things Fall Apart. His purpose in creating an
oral art potpourri, is to enable his audience, Western readers and Africans
alike, to better understand his people, the Igbo, and the beliefs and
traditions that make up his cultural identity. As Achebe says, “The oral
tradition is ‘very big, because everything that we as human beings have
learned to talk about and discuss and reflect upon is part of this oral
tradition…” (“Where One Thing Stands Another Stands Beside It An
Interview with Chinua Achebe” Rob Baker and Ellen Draper, HUM 211 Coursepack).
Achebe illustrates the importance of oral arts and its traditions among the
Igbo people, in Things Fall Apart, by giving the audience a rich array
of specific examples such as the proverb, the myth/folktale, and song and
music.
Proverbs
play a special role in African oral arts, as an important aspect of
communication. Achebe frequently weaves proverbs throughout the novel, in
order to support the significance of proverb wisdom. He does this by
immediately introducing proverbs and setting the tone in the first few pages,
“Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs
are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.” (Things Fall Apart,
Chpt.1, pg.5) In pages following this quotation the value of proverbs is
reinforced when the reader encounters three distinct proverbs and he/she
begins to understand the role proverbs play to the Igbo. “Study of African
proverbs can give us important clues to rich wisdom traditions and cultural
values.” (In Praise of the Word: Traditional African Oral Arts, HUM 211
Coursepack). From reading Things Fall Apart, I learned that the Igbo
people are highly complex and spiritually deep, and have been functioning this
way for over 2,000 years. They have learned the value in passing down and
expressing traditional wisdom through proverbs. The separation between the
sacred and the profane for the Igbo is virtually non-existent; their religion
is part of their daily lives and that of their community as expressed in some
of the Igbo ceremonies Achebe introduces to his audience. Proverbs to the Igbo
are a way of expressing the sacred, something of importance that cannot be
said in a profane way. To an oral people, communication is very important.
“Moreover, Igbo proverbs, folktales, and incantations testified to their
belief in the existence of God.” (Things Fall Apart, Igbo Culture and
Religion, pg. xxxii) Proverbs usually begin in a similar way, some examples I
found of these similarities are: “As the elders said…”, “As the Ibo
say…”, “As the saying goes…”. I find proverbs to be a beautiful,
thoughtful means of communication.
Another
oral art form that Achebe consistently uses in Things Fall Apart
are myths or narratives that are common in an oral-based society such as the
Igbo. These narratives or stories are complex and can have certain
characteristics; for instance, male and female stories. Masculine stories tend
to be more violent and serious, while feminine stories are more “silly”
and imaginative. Myths have great significance and purpose in African culture;
they define the beliefs and values of the community, and they are at the core
of what is important and spiritually true. Myths often explain the origin of
the world (i.e., creation myths), describe how to live your life, provide
models for behavior, etc. “Every human culture in the world seems to create
stories (narratives) as a way of making sense of the world…story explains a
cause, origin, or reason for something…it entertains, it informs, it
instructs. It is the most complete way of communicating.” (African
Storytelling: Oral Traditions HUM 211 Coursepack)
Myths
and stories are spiritually true, but not necessarily scientifically true. For
instance, in the story of “Tortoise and the Birds” which is a common
folktale among the Igbo, “‘Tortoise and the Birds’ and ‘Nnabe and
Chineke’ are examples of Igbo folktales that explain how animals got their
physical characteristics…” (African Storytelling: Oral Traditions HUM 211
Coursepack). Folktales and myths like the above, are both in Things Fall
Apart and generally have morals and explanations for why things are the
way they are. “Tortoise and the Birds” explains why a turtle’s shell is
in pieces and not smooth, and it also has a moral lesson specifically aimed at
children not to be “naughty” like Tortoise, who is a common trickster
character in Igbo and African oral literature.
Achebe
introduces common Igbo myths throughout Things Fall Apart such
as the locust myth.
“The
elders said locusts came once in a generation, reappeared every year for seven
years and the disappeared for another lifetime. They went back to their caves
in a distant land, where they were guarded by a race of stunted men. And then
after another lifetime these men opened the caves again and the locusts came
to Umuofia.” (Things Fall Apart, Ch.7, pg. 38)
Among
the nine myths/narratives spread out among the novel, there is also the
mosquito myth, the quarrel between Earth and Sky, the Abame story, the kite
myth, and Ikemefuna’s song. They all give meaning and purpose to the Igbo
people as an important aspect of communication and expression.
Song
and music is a huge part of African culture and lifestyle and plays an
integral part of each and every day. Rhythm, song, dance, and drums, are
imbedded in the culture; the entire community involved. “African music is
woven into the fabric of daily life, performed often inseparably with games,
words, drama, ceremony, visual art, and dance in both special and everyday
activity.” (African Music and Culture, In Praise of the Word: Traditional
African Oral Arts, HUM 211 Coursepack) I was struck with how much music was a
part of everyday life for the Igbo people in Things Fall Apart, and I
wonder what it would be like to be surrounded from birth by music, creativity
and expression as are those in oral-based societies. Among the proverb songs,
praise song, and other musical forms, is the untranslated song,
“Ikemefuna’s Song” in Things Fall Apart.
African
oral arts are varied and expansive, rich in tradition and depth. Achebe is
staying true to his people, the Igbo, by including a few examples of these
oral traditions in his novel, Things Fall Apart . I find them
insightful into humanity and hope we can all learn from one another’s’
stories.
© Kilmeny Hall, 2002
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Jeff
Hunt
Hum 211, Prof. C. Agatucci
Midterm Discussion Paper
27 February 2002
The
Effects of Colonialism and Western culture on
African
peoples of past and present as witnessed in
Things Fall Apart and Keita:
The heritage of the Griot
“The world is large,” spoke Okonkwo (p. I pg.51) and unfortunately
for many cultures around the world it wasn’t or is not now large enough.
For a very long time now predominately white European American ways
have completely thrashed cultures and peoples worldwide in the pursuit of what
they perceive as theirs. Whether that would be money in the form of goods such as
ivory that was pillaged out of the Belgian Congo as highlighted in Joseph
Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” or the imposition of a Christian god onto
the people of Umuofia it all eventually lead to the destruction of a way of
life. Even now after the vast
majority of former colonies have gained independence from this western grip on
their lives the damage has not been stopped from escalating further. Clashes of old and new grow to new heights between those who
hold the old ways in high regard and show the utmost respect to them and those
who have found something in the name of progress and civility.
Yet, perhaps there could be some way to coalesce the two since I
believe that what Djeliba said of the future being borne in the past is right
on the money. Our pasts give a
sense of identity and a sense of place to who we are and that is important in
forming what we are to become.
Colonialism in Ibo land
was a steady escalation from nothing to something big in a very little time.
What was fore saw by the oracle is almost scary “the strange man will
break the clan and spread destruction among them.” (p.II pg. 97)
Scary in that it had gone from gossip that the white man had no toes to
the appearance and killing of a white man in Abame.
It is also scary that the people of Abame killed this man and tied his
bicycle, “iron horse” to a tree so it would not go tell his people and perhaps save them from the destruction of their way of
life. I suppose that it is not so
scary, but more of a saddening story that the people of Abame did indeed meet
their fate as foresaw by the oracle and that over time the people of Umuofia
despite spiritual, violent, and peaceful efforts to expel the missionaries
from their land that their clan was thus divided into a broken clan.
Why did this all have to happen? The
people of Umuofia were a somewhat capitalist culture of sorts with the rich
and successful being on the higher end of things and those lazy, poor, and
disadvantaged were obviously on the opposite end of the spectrum.
That is a structure that is not different of any European or western
culture of the past few hundred years and probably past thousand years and
beyond. What I feel was at the
center of the conflict was religion. It was in a sense the white man’s Christian god that drove
a nail into the core of Ibo culture by destroying family ties to heritage and
the honoring of tradition. From
Ibo perspective of bountiful simplicity the white man at least in Umuofia was
of little concern at first, especially when given the rights to build in the
evil forest which should have done them in.
I am thinking that this is what gave the missionaries a foothold in the
minds of their first few converts such as Okonkwo’s son Nyoke.
The power of the Christian god must be great if it protected the
missionaries from the spirits that dwelled in the evil forest.
In any event the elders of Umuofia were eventually conned into a
beating and things certainly did fall apart not only Okonkwo but the whole
clan mainly due to honest belief that things would work out rather than the
clan actually dividing religiously and thus allowing the colonialists better
footholds in a land that is not united.
The colonialist and the missionaries looked upon this situation in a
completely different light. They
saw themselves bringing the one true god to a land of savages and turning them
into descent civil people with not only their god but their courts and
district commissioners as well. All
in the name of civilization. Why
on earth would these people who wear no shoes and live in mud huts not
want the one true god and our brainwash education that says everything that
was known is wrong? Why?
Because I believe that this has been the attitude for so long with
European and Western cultures that it is almost impossible to break.
Perhaps it is evolution because as highlighted in “Keita: the
Heritage of the Griot” if it is not the missionaries or armies destroying
past cultures it is now our culture cleansing what little dirty indigenous
cultures and culture that is still left in the world.
Mr. Fofano and Djeliba made a perfect example of the extreme clash of
old vs. new in regards to what was best for the boy Mabo.
Should learning the story of his heritage, his past, and his roots come
before learning flawed western influenced history of who discovered the
America’s (it wasn’t Columbus). Of
course education is important but past heritages are important as well and
play a significant role in what is to come.
This situation in my eyes parallels what happened in “Things Fall
Apart.’ It was simply the
inability of two different cultures to mesh and give a little on either side
and failing to recognize the importance of tolerance and what each side could
have to offer the other
The sad thing
about all of this is that the obviously “civil” side of this conflict is
the side that was often times looked upon as the savages and old timers in
need of so much reform have always been the side that showed so much restraint
and tolerance for the European colonialists and Western ideals that were in
fact the real roots of trouble for all of the above conflicts.
© Jeff Hunt, 2002
E. Gracie Huntington
HUM 211
Midterm Discussion Paper
27 February 2002
Strength
From Within
Imagine being
treated as cattle as a piece of property.
Not even being thought of as human, having no rights, and even being
stacked up in a ship as a log of wood being surrounded by dead people and
stench. Then after that being a
man’s personal concubine and being in a land of a different language and
culture. Through all of this
never even knowing if your life will ever be normal again and just trying to
do what you can to keep your sanity. Would
we all have the mental strength to go through this pain? Well African women brought to America to be slaves endured
this horror. And the film “I Is a Long Memoried Woman” is one women’s
account of her life and what she had to endure and how her strength was what
kept her alive and sane. What
strength these women have and to still try and hold their heads up high. I admire and applaud all of the women that had to endure this
treatment from the European, “white man.”
For starters when the Africans were taken from their land and piled
into a ship to sail across the sea this was not some Caribbean cruise by a
long shot. These poor people were
literally stacked on top of each other like wooden logs left to starve and
thirst, pee and poop on one another. Many
died just on this journey across the sea and the people who didn’t were
stuck in a strange land locked up in chains and being dragged around to be
sold as slaves. These tortures were well illustrated in I is A Long Memoried
Woman, “she hasn’t forgotten hasn’t forgotten how she had lain there in
her own blood lain there in her own shit” (Part I-film notes, pp.6-7).
Then on the plantation in the long memoried women’s story a women was
tortured to show their slaves what happens to those who rebel against them,
“they call us out to see the fate of all us rebel women the slow and painful
picking away of the flesh by the red and pitiless ants,” (PartII-film notes,
pp.23). This I would define as being in human.
It seems unbelievable that anyone could be this cruel or that a human
being can stay sane, but so many did. These
women would still try to walk with dignity and grace as hard as it may seem as
with the long memoried woman, “she tried very hard pulling herself erect
pulling herself together holding herself like royal cane,” (Part I-film
notes, pp.14).
Not only do these African women have to deal with in human treatment
but also deal with their culture and way of life being taken away from them.
These people were being suffocated in the “white man’s” way of
living and had to o try and keep alive their own beliefs and tradition just to
stay alive and sane. The African
women had to make joy out of the fact that they are even still alive and have
not died yet like the long memoried woman, “Mornings of dew and promises the
sound of bird singing pink and red hibiscus kissing I must devote sometime to
the joy of living,” (PartII-film notes, pp.36-38). The women also used their
dreams to remember their home and to keep strength.
The long memoried woman also portrays this in her story, “I must
construct myself a dream one dream is all I need to keep me from the borders
of this darkness…. to keep me from these blades of hardness from this plague
of sadness,” (PartII-film notes, pp.39). The use of song was an important
part of their culture and was a way for Africans to express their feelings
when being treated so horribly.
And song was used all of the time and many songs were sang in I is a
long memoried woman, but one stands out to me which is “Hi De Buckras Hi.”
I feel that it portrays how the African used music to keep them strong
and sing of how low these “white men” were to feel more powerful when they
were so powerless of their situation, but not of their minds.
In the mind there is power and strength.
In I is a long memoried woman she uses song and sorcery to try to keep
her strength and put the “white men” in their place, “floating by whit
and pale not even looking not even seeing the pain and rage and black
despair…she round blue eyes from she cold countree…she better take care
she don’t turn zombie…him pluck-chicken skin from him cold countree…but
suddenly so him turning weak and dizzy,” (PartIII-film notes, pp.44-45).
By the use of dreams, song, and trying to love life itself is not only
keeps African strong and sane but also restores and passes along their
culture.
Another trouble to over come was African women’s morals and rights as
a woman, being violated. Woman
were raped by their master’s and expected to be their master’s persona;
concubine. Then to later find
that the horrible creature that raped them has impregnated them also. In I
is a Long Memoried Woman tells her story of this same instance happening
to her. She speaks of fear that
the gods will condemn her for this bastard child and so she reaches into her
homeland culture to cleanse her unborn child and herself.
Instead of falling into the trap of sadness she calls upon her inner
strength and knows that what she needs to do is cleanse her child of the
“white man.” The long
memoried woman speaks of this cleansing, “let the evil one strangle on his
own tongue even as he sets his eyes on you for with my blood I’ve cleansed
you.” It takes a tremendous amount of strength to go on with life
after being raped and then carry the rapist child and once again her culture,
her beliefs is what she draws her strength from.
These women have been beaten and treated so horribly but still seem to
be able to have joy and keep their culture alive at least in themselves.
This takes great inner strength and character.
Even though the “white man” felt they were better and stronger in
actuality the Africans were the strong ones.
The easy route would be to kill themselves but they did not they
triumphed and as we know fought long and hard to gain freedom and respect
which has paid off. I must say I have great admiration and respect for those who
have gone through trials like these.
© E. Gracie Huntington, 2002
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