In the Eye of the Beholder

            This past week’s readings by Ngugi have been stories that tell the different reactions the African’s had to colonization.  The one that stood out the most to me was “Minutes of Glory.” Here we saw a woman that strived for an impossible dream. The Europeans had placed it in her mind that having stockings, a beautiful dress, wigs, and light skin was the most desirable attributes a woman could have.  According to the story, this poor girl became a barmaid who never achieved true intimacy with anyone and always strove for it. She wasn’t pretty to begin with, but tried so hard to mold to this idea of beauty, that she actually made herself look worse but only lightening parts of her body that she believed to be the most important. At the end of the story she stole money from a man as revenge for putting up with his endless complaining and he fell asleep when she tried to open up to him with her life’s story. She spent the money on these perishable ideas instead of something that would improve her status indefinitely, like a home. She then returned to the bar she worked at to flaunt her idealistic beauty and wound up being arrested. Hence the title, “Minutes of Glory.”

            This need to conform to what the world around us sees as beautiful continues even still today. People waste money on expensive luxuries that aren’t necessary to carry on a decent lifestyle. Female Americans are pushed to believe that the only way to be beautiful is to be skinny with large breasts and blonde hair. This image causes many eating disorders and loads of self-pity/low self-esteem.

            In my own life I have undergone many trials that the point was to teach me that women are in existence to basically serve men and create crib-midgets. That idea didn’t settle that well with me. I rebelled against this brainwashing and am now part of a company that empowers women to be more than that. Pure Romance encourages women to not let men control their every desire. Pure Romance gives women an outlet to get out of the house, have an income, educate in sexual health, and experience new things in the bedroom that brings them closer to their significant other. Breaking the mold of colonization in the bedroom is something that is a touchy subject around the world. The privacy that is provided during ordering allows women to inquire about their curiosities so that only the consultant and the customer know. Because of this I am now able to eradicate myself from the norm of what women are “supposed” to amount to. My self-esteem is high, my income is enough to live on, and no one can take away my sense of self-respect/pride.  I found within myself my own beauty and play into my own strengths. I was never one to conform to the society around me and today I still won’t change for anyone.

            “Minutes of Glory” iterated how this dream of pretty much becoming another race was totally detrimental. One should take pride in who they are and not look to others for approval for their beauty. No one has the right to take away the allurement of your attributes. Highlight what makes you beautiful and never let anyone take it away from you. 

Subconscious Preservation

Over the past week we read several stories by Nadine Gordimer. Included in those was “Six Feet of Country.” Here she portrayed a white man who owned a farm and hired poorer Africans to work his land. His wife stayed home and helped with the chores along with the farmhands while the white man traveled to the city on business. He considered himself better than his workers and was disgusted with his wife. She was extremely unkempt and leveled herself with those she worked with.

One of the Africans had harbored his brother while his brother was sick. The brother was an illegal immigrant looking for work. Sleeping outside caused him to catch a chill and it ended up killing him. When the worker tried to get the owner’s wife’s help, the owner came out instead. Unlike what his wife would’ve done, he insisted on notifying the proper authorities and do thing according to “the book.”

Many things are wrong in this story. When the British invaded Africa they looked down on the simple ways the Africans lived.  This is the same in the disgust the farm owner had for his workers and his wife. The uncaring views of the white authorities in the story, that lost the body of the brother, are another appalling instance.  But this isn’t what my focus was drawn to.

I chose this story to write my blog about because I can relate to the families need for closure over the boys death.  The family discovered during the funeral that they were given the wrong body.  There are many reasons past the obvious that this wasn’t a good thing. For them, there were religious issues, closure, and the fact they paid the authorities to get the boy’s body back. I can emphasize with the closure issues. My brother committed suicide in 2002. My number was the only one on the note that he left, so the Philippi, WVA police department promptly notified me. I found myself in a whirlwind of hatred and grief. A few days later I blindly walked into the funeral only to discover that they had already cremated the body and didn’t want to have the ashes present. His adopted parents only had photos of him in order to preserve his smile in their minds. To this day I have never seen his grave or urn.  It’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get closure when you never see the death. For years I have had dreams that he randomly shows up and tells me that he faked the entire things in order to escape the life of drugs and violence that he previously led. I understand that this isn’t possible, but subconsciously in my mind he never died. I can’t imagine how it would be to have a body to bury and suddenly discover that it wasn’t the correct person. I feel that this family would have the same problems I have encountered if they hadn’t seen the body previously. I would wish this on no one.

Crazy or not?

          Chinua Achebe makes a strong point in each of his stories and each story has a different message. “An Image of Africa” explains how Europeans tried to write the history of Africa from their point of view and how they claimed Africa had no history until the Europeans arrived. Just because the African’s didn’t have a written language, and therefore an unwritten history, doesn’t mean they have no history, traditions, or way of life. Everyone has a history, no matter how they choose to pass it to the next generation it still exists.

            “Girls at War” is a tale of irony. A hooker dies trying to save the life of a soldier who was there to save her. Maybe not her specifically, but he was part of a unit who was there to try to help better the lives of those who lived there. It figures that both the girl and the soldier die from being bombed.

            My favorite story was “The Madman.” Both men were viewed as being mad, or insane. This story depicts two different degrees of insanity though. Just because someone does something crazy every once in a while doesn’t mean that they need to be put in a straight jacket and a locked in a padded room (although the padded room idea could be fun). With my anxiety disorder causes me react to things in a more unorthodox manner. Just because I have an anxiety attack, or temporarily break down, doesn’t warrant me a hospital stay.  Granted, if someone is literally talking to the road, they probably need to get some sort of help. High running emotions, and also alcohol, can cause temporary acts insanity. The second man was angry at the first for stealing his pants, and based on the principle of it, chased him through the market… naked.  You can say, “That is insane” but unless it’s a constant, consistent, mental disorder who is to deem one act of madness as insanity? It seems to work in court systems when an offender claims "temporary insanity,” but they are fine during the trial. I would need to research that further, but the understanding I have is that high levels of adrenaline (or something like that) cause temporary blackouts in memory (or something like that). Even psychiatrists aren't always the best source if a clinical diagnosis because unless the see the person regularly over a period of time, then the patient can say whatever, and act any way they want to get the diagnosis they want. 

           In “Madmen” the view of madness is making fun of the Africans in their lack of education and written language.  The author is getting at that the African’s aren’t crazy in their way of life but they have been taught that they are by the Europeans. Since they have been told so constantly that they are “insane” they have started to believe that it’s true and attempted to change their ways accordingly.  It’s wrong to call out being different as being uncivilized and crazy.

          Every culture has their traditions and way of life. Just because it doesn't match what the "norm" is of a more advanced lifestyle doesn't mean its wrong or unbalanced. This is exactly what the Europeans thought of the African's way of life and still today Africa suffers from it. The wars that were triggered by forced colonization have left most of Africa in constant battles and destitution. Maybe if they had been shown how technological advancements could improve their lives the Africans may have utilized them. Instead the Europeans forced Africans to "work for them" as they took over Africa without regard to improving it. Its heartbreaking to see the photos from this time period and see the cruelty inflicted just because of a difference in lifestyle and people's greed. Its a long-shot to wish that we could all just get along, but is it so much to wish that we could stop harming one another? 

Relevance of Reading

     I must admit that when I first read The Stranglehold of English Lit I didn’t understand its point.  When Dr. B read it out loud in class it made a lot more sense.  Mnthali validly argues the point of reading American literature, dealing with the problems that American’s face, when they have no relevance to African life. My friends and I used to argue the same point in high school when we were made to study subjects that had nothing to do with our career goals.  Why should we know chemistry when we are planning on going into a non-science field? Why should Africans have to read Jane Austin when they don’t have the same life problems that she and her female friends faced? I’m sure that in a civilization where tea time is a daily ritual where you discuss the real-life version of The Bachelor is fun and all, and the Africans would probably prefer it, but from my point of view/understanding, things like finding food for the day, without being eaten themselves, was probably a little more important to them. People want to read stories that they can relate to. Literature is something to get lost in. If you can’t get lost in it, and you have to dissect and study it, just to understand it, then it’s considered more of a text in my book.

     Over the years Africa has faced many wars within itself, as well as with the world. Their languages are becoming extinct because they are not accepted or understood. Their stories are told in English only after they travel to Europe so that they can translate, and there is always something lost in translation. The rest of the world is taking away their history a little at a time. In Ngugi’s Creating Space for a Hundred Flowers to Blossom it explains this point. Our countries issue is that we try to fix the rest of the world. I don’t believe that it’s our job to fix anyone else’s problems. Traditions are terminated and we lose pieces of heritage that define us as a people.

     After being in the real world for a few years I understand the need to know a broad range of subject matter. In our culture it’s necessary. It’s not relevant in African culture though. Their lives are nothing like ours. Everyone deserves the right to their own types of communication, transfer of history, and preservation of sacred traditions. No one should force anyone to conform their way of life.