Thursday, March 17, 2016
Synoptic topic: links
Make links between the main texts or between a main text and a poem. Explain the effect(s) of the chosen aspect in each work, and whether the authors use this to convey similar or different ideas. Please comment on the posts made by your classmates to help develop ideas or introduce new ways of interpreting the link! Due by Thursday, March 24th, 9 a.m.
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One of the links we made was the use of eye as a symbol of colonialist domination. Indeed in J. Agard’s “Checking Out Me History” the speaker says “Bandage up me eye with me own history”. It symbolises the power the colonists have on the natives, they can control what they know and what they see and thus control them. The natives lose their identity and are made to feel inferior because they are made to think that only “white people” have achieved great things but as J. Agard proves it, it is entirely false.
ReplyDeleteWhen in this poem the submission is not voluntary, we find the same imagery in The God of Small Things. The father of Velutha offers to Mammachi to give his false eye back to her when he denounces his son who slept with Ammu. Here the submissive gesture is voluntary and occurs between two natives but in a relation of dominant and dominated. Giving up one’s eye shows that one is ready to lose his integrity and independence to be well seen by a superior figure. In this case it is even hurtful to his family but he does not hesitate.
In one work, the loss of sight is forced to control the natives and in the other text, through the same imagery, the submission is already complete and the submitted are helping their dominant to control them.
I agree with the connection you made and I wouldn't have seen the imagery on my own but it is fruitful to understand the synoptic topic. However, your comment made me think of another link that we could make concerning submission and sight imagery. According to me, as Velutha's father decided to offer his eye as a way to make himself and his son forgiven, the speaker's father in "Things Fall Apart" voluntarily decided to affiliate with the colonists' culture to the point of giving up completely his own and to "put the white mask of God on his handsome face.". Actually, I agree as well about the fact that the authors' message is similar. They all make a criticism either to denounce the imperialists' methods or the fact that some colonized didn't fight against it and made themselves submissive.
DeleteI find a link between Act Three of Translations and "A far cry from Africa" as far as the paradox of imperialists' acts is concerned. Indeed, when Lancey threatens the Irish because Yolland disappeared, the violence that is conveyed through his words is as well conveyed in Walcott's poem. Both texts are full of negative and harsh vocabulary. Plus, the process that is launched by the colonizers is similar: violence is at first hidden (false promotion of peace in the poem and the simple fact of "a new map is being made of the whole country" in the play) before being explicitly demonstrated (through irony in the poem and the grave tone through Lancey's ultimatum in the play). Here, the idea is the same. Friel and Walcott express how brutal imperialists mission could be. Even though dealing with the subject from a different perspective, both the playwright and the poet make a criticism of colonialism and methods that were used.
ReplyDeletethe link that I found the most interesting was one between "The Immigrants" and The God of Small Things, most importantly between the contrast of "carve children and flocks out of wood" and "wood is for burning", showing their inability to pursue their dreams, and Ammu and Velutha's relationship : at first, it seems that they will be able to continue seing each other, and the same hope is seen is=n the word "tomorrow" that closes the book. However, we know that it never happened, just like whatthe immigrants wanted to do. So the inability of following one's dreams, and the idea= of hope followed by disappointment are very important in Post-Colonialism.
ReplyDeleteI would just like to add that the same idea of hope followed by disappointment is expressed in Translations. In Act 2 Maire and Yolland both use the word "always" to express their love for one another. However this becomes quite ironic when you know what is bound to happen. I believe the concept of irony is majorly important when talking about false hope in Post Colonialism.
DeleteI liked the link that can be made between " A far Cry from Africa " and Translations about the police officers and the representations Colonised people can have of them. In the poem by derek Walcott the verse " The drunken officer of British Rule » Illustrates the abuses of power which were common and regular in the British Empire. Indeed , local communities were considered inferior and were subdued to British rule. Walcott makes it seem as if the amount of power available to the officers had made them insane and blinded by it.
ReplyDeleteIn Translations Captain Lancey represents the higher british authority in Baile Baeg and at the end of the play he is willing to destroy everyting just to find one missing british person , this action can be considered as a form of madness as well.
The reference to the Police can also be found in the God of Small Things but instead of denouncing the British abusive rule , Roy points out the lack of humanity and consideration of the indian police forces which acts absolutely in opposition to its supposed purposes which are repeated throughout the novel: Politness Obedience Loyalty Intelligence Courtesy Efficiency.
I think a very interesting parallel can be made between the choice in language in "Checking Out Me History" and The God of Small Things. Indeed, both authors decide to play with language. They write in English, but modify it by creating new words or changing pronunciation. This is a way to rebell against English imperialism, which has erased a part of their identity, but also to show the hybridity that has resulted from it. For instance, in "Checking Out Me History" we can hear Agard´s accent as he reapeats: "Dem tell me". He breaks grammatical rules, but his poem is still extremly clear and conveys a strong message. This brings forward the absurdity of the rules, the structure, and all the things imposed on the colonized. Roy plays with pronunciation with words such as "thang god", "porketmoney...", to once again show how strange and unfamiliar Imperialism is as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThis shows the importance of language in one's culture and history, but also on one's identity.
I agree with you, and moreover, I think we can see this irony in "Translations". The reader/audience does not know at the beginning that the characters speak Irish and there is no difference in a dialogue spoken between an Irish and an English, which is quite confusing. In contrast, we don't have a clear modification of the language but we can see the process of learning it, the mistakes and the legends, origins behind the words. Therefore, this also relate to identity and the importance of a language in a culture.
DeleteColonizers have often tried, with more or less success, to impose their way of life. This is often denounced in Post colonial literature. In both « Things Fall apart » and The God of Small Things, the same metaphor is used to convey this idea : Drama. In the poem, a « white mask » is mentioned and in The God of Small Things, Sophie Mol's welcoming is a « Play ». We understand that those characters are not themselves anymore. In the same way actors pretend to be someone else, the natives are pretending to have the same culture and education as the colonizers have. This can also be seen the poem « Colonial Girl School » with the image of « the mirror ». Even if very similar, those metaphors are not totally identical. Indeed, in Things Fall Apart, the narrator's father changes forever (we see this in the expression « he was my father »), whereas is The God of Small Things, the transformation is ephemeral (as normally, as soon as Sophie Mol will leave (it will never happen), the play is supposed to end). In « Colonial Girl School », the influence of the colonizers is already finished (as « the mirror broke »).
ReplyDeleteI think your idea of the metaphor of drama is really interesting. I also think that in both cases there is a focus on the idea of being white: in 'Things Fall Apart', the speaker mentions a 'white mask', and in 'The God of Small Things', the entire 'play' is focused around Sophie Mol and her mother: two white people. I think this clearly reflects to what extent colonizers have distorted the colonised people's perceptions of themselves, as well as showing this constant identity crisis and conflict: wanting to be someone they aren't, but this itself meaning giving up another part of themselves.
DeleteOne of the themes we can find between the two main texts is impossible love between a man and a woman. Indeed, in "The God of Small Things", the love laws make it impossible for Velutha and Ammu to love each other. Ammu is a touchable and Velutha is an untouchable: they can't be with each other, which brings out the post-colonial feature of transgression. In addition, there is a parallel with "Translations", Maire and Yolland are not supposed to love each other because Maire is Irish and Yolland is English. Plus, their love is based on physical appearance with a description of their body, it can be seen as a naive love. Thus, with the murder of Velutha and the disappearance of Yolland, the theme of betrayal stands out. This aspect of post-colonialism isn't explored through the set poems or in a different manner (love Father-Daughter, love between sisters, love with its own history).
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on the matter of impossible love being present in translations and in the GoST. Indeed, as you mentioned, the love between Maire & Yeolland and the one between Ammu & Velutha were both based at first on physical appearance. To go further, I think we could say that when they began knowing each other, one of them disappeared (or died). It is as if their love was completely impossible. We can also see that in Colonial Girl School. Indeed, the narrator states : «I who am poisoned with the blood of both» . We understand that Hybridity is impossible as it always has negative impact (destruction of the body, of the presence or of the soul) .
DeleteI found the link between - in Translations - the 'sweet smell' of the potato blight, and the smell 'like old roses on a breeze' (in The God of Small Things) very interesting. In both contexts the authors used sensory imagery to portray a feeling of danger or foreboding. What is more intriguing is the fact that they chose to focus on sweet smells (therefore usually smells that aren't necessarily linked to danger) to do so. This could be to show the insidious aspect of the dangers present in each of the works: in Translations whilst the potato blight is much talked of, no one really feels that it will affect them. In The God of Small Things, the sweet smell is surrounding Velutha and his death; a death brought on by love, by loving someone he was not supposed to.
ReplyDeleteIn our group we made a link between the blood imagery in A Far Cry From Africa and The God of Small Things. We compared the paradigm of blood : "bloodstreams" ; "divided to the vein" to Velutha's blood "Sicksweat. Like old roses on a breeze". We thought that this showed the violence of Post Colonialism but also the importance of sensory imagery when it comes to expressing and conveying ideas.
ReplyDeleteI found your link really interesting because, to me, it relates well to the theme of postcolonialism. I think the theme of violence is omniscient in postcolonial works even if it is not always directly evoked. The link you made highlights the importance of this violence through the sensory iagery and the blood. That's an unusual link that, in my opinion, can truly be evoked at the oral exam.
DeleteI think you mean omnipresent, not omniscient.
DeleteIn both Translations and The God of Small Things we find the idea of perspective. This post-colonial theme can help establish a contrast between the natives' point of view and the oppressors' one. For instance, on page 47 (act 2, scene 1) of Translations, we clearly see that Yolland's view of Ireland is getting more and more romantic and idealistic as he gets used to the country whereas Owen is more pragmatic and objective about his country when he says "I come back after six years and everything's just as it was". In The God of Small Things different perspectives are evoked toward the History House. Indeed, it used to be Kari Sapu's house before it was renamed the History House by Estha and Rahel. At the end the house is converted into a hotel for rich tourists and the paradoxical description 'the view from the hotel was beautiful, but here too the water was thick and toxic" (chap5) emphasizes the naive view of the tourists who are amazed by everything. Finally, this difference of perspective also questions the limits between illusion and reality and the misleading aspects of things. In both books a positive vision of a country, or place, is contrasting a negative, and often more realistic, view of what actually is.
ReplyDeleteIn our group we didn't find as many link but we went into depth into the ones we did find. David and I spoke about the link between the last lines of Sujata Bhatt's "A Different History" which contrasts Indian history and language with the coloniser's and the way it affects the indegenious population. The lines we linked to The God of Small Things and "the unborn grandchildren/grow to love that strange language." The strange language is English, and like in The God of Small things, where Estha and Rahel learn to love English and are deeply fascinated by it and its quirks. For example, page 51, when the twins discover the word "cufflinks" it is said that they were "thrilled by this morsel of logic in what had so far seemed an illogical language. [...] Cuff-links gave them an inordinate (if exaggerated) satisfaction, and a real affection for the English language."
ReplyDeleteWe can therefore make a parralel between the "unborn grandchildren" in the poem and the twins in TGOST, who are also the grandchildren of Mammachi and Papachi, the two falling in love with the "strange" english language.
We did not find many links in our group but we analysed them in depth (Charlotte David Vivian and Daan). Daan and I focused on the reversed repetitions that had the same effects in Translations and Colonial Girls School. We thought that in the poem and in the play, there were several of them but it did not always conveyed the same message. However, we could find a reversed repetition that highlighted a shift in perspective and the reassertion of one's identity. In Colonial Girls School we have "pale northern eyes" v14 and "northern eyes" v48, "pale?" v50. We thought this play on the structure of the sentence showed the evolution of the speaker's opinion throughout the poem. This shift in perspective is useful to emphasize the speaker's view on the theme of identity (which is recurrent in postcolonial works).
ReplyDeleteIn Translations, we thought the character who embodies best the reassertion of one's identity was Owen. We can see that in Act 1, scene 1, he is completely caught up in his work and very motivated to translate the names. We could almost say he is an anglophile and is responsible for the loss of the Irish culture. Whereas in Act 3, scene 1, he himeself says "It's only a catalogue of names" and "A mistake - my mistake - nothing to do with us" p 87. This truly shows that he's changed his mind about the translations of the places' names. That's why we could say he reasserts his own identity and wants the Irish to keep their culture. He realises his mistakeat last.
He reasserts his identity, but we can also associate this reassertion with (self-)destructive behaviour...
DeleteI chose to write about a link we found between "Colonial Girls School" and "Translations". Both of these pieces of writing show the importance of knowledge through the setting in a school. Moreover, in the play as well as in the poem, the characters are being taught things that don't belong to their culture : thus spreading colonization through education (in "Colonial Girls School" the students have to learn English and in "Translation", the characters are learning Latin and Greek as well as English).
ReplyDeleteThis links shows that education and knowledge are key features of post-colonial writing seeing as it allowed the colonizers to soak through a population and have a grip on their mind.
I think that the link you made is very relevant, as knowledge and education is an important theme in post-colonial writing. One thing that seemed important to me aswell, is that the play ( Translations ) opens on this classroom where only one person is taught how to speak her own language, where the others are learning Latin, and the play also ends on 2 characters speaking in latin and talking about an era which is not their's.
DeleteTherefore, I think that this is important to notice that the colonization is even present in the education, but that their is still hope for the "educated" colonised to reverse the situation ( to break the "mirror" ).
With Daan, Marianne, David and Charlotte we established a link between TGoST and the poem "Things Fall Apart" by Jackie Jay. In both of these works we found there was a strong emphasis on the relation from mother/father to children. In Kay's poem the last verse "I think he had my hands, my father" can be linked to the passage in TGoST when Estha describes Rahel saying she has "Grown into their mother's skin." (p.300). We thought these quotes could be related to the postcolonial themes of identity as well as history, particularly family inheritance and how it is perceived. Indeed it is important to point out that althought both quotes evoke physical ressemblance to elder kins they each reflect a different even opposite perspective upon it. In "Things Fall Appart" it seems as though it is the father whom looks likes his daughter "he had my hands" therefore setting a contrast to the common perspective set upon this 'physical inheritance'. In Roy's novel it is this most common view which is reflected ; the one according to which the children grow in their elders' skin and grow to look like them not the contrary. These different perspectives of legacy on the level of physical ressemblance echo to the cultural legacy and alienation issues as well as the ones of identity which are also explored in postcolonial works.
ReplyDeleteArmand, Noélie, Sean, Axelle and I established a link between Baby Kochamma and Jimmy Jack Cassie. Indeed, the two characters dwell in the past regarding their love interests. The two characters are not even in love, they seem to be above that stage, they're obssesed. However, the objects of their obssession are dead, unreachable or mythical. They're both being loyal and faithful in their eternal but unrequited love.
ReplyDeleteSo how can we link this to postcolonial writing?
DeleteWith Henrique, Noélie, Sean and Armand, we found a link between Yolland (in Translations) and Black Sahib (in The God of Small Things). Both are "colonists" who fall in love with the country's culture : Black Sahib lives in the history house, he has "gone native". And Yolland loves Ireland and wants to learn Irish. They convey different feelings, because they don't have the same place in the work : Yolland is one of the main characters and Black Sahib isn't. Thus they don't have the same importance.
ReplyDeleteAgain, what postcolonial ideas are conveyed?
DeleteWe found an interesting link between the post colonial poem "Checking out Me history" and Translations. Indeed both are exploring the use of light but not in the same way. In Checking out me history, the poet uses the imagery of the light when he talks about the heroes f his "own" culture. For him light represents hope and the culture shining even if the oppressor tried to tear it down. There is so an idea of hope with the light, which is a theme of postcolonial literature. In Translation, the light is used in the staging. Indeed in the last scene , light is progressively turned down and gives the impression of the end of the world . But this is strange ebacuse the speech of Hugh is not saying that there is no hope . On the contrary he tends to give a cyclical aspect of life and to imply a rebirth of Ireland . That way the uses of light creates a weird atmosphere , which point out the perpetual conflict of postcolonalism and the complexity of the situation announced . But also the complexity of the conflict expressed in the novel and in postcolonial literature in general.
ReplyDeleteMy group and I found an important link between A far cry from Africa and Translations. Both works contain a feature of post colonialism, which is the struggle and search for identity. Indeed, in A Far Cry from Africa, the speaker is torn between it's native country, Africa, and "The English tongue I love". The speaker suffers from this double identity, which he can't bear, and this feature is also found in Translations with the character of Owen, who is split up between his native Ireland, and his english job which requires to erase his history, and betray his friends and family. In the poem however, the feelings of the speaker are represented in a violent way, whereas Owen doesn't describe nor his friends nor the english soldiers as "beasts", and he refuses to see at first to see what the english soldiers are doing, where Derek Walcott is clearly conscious about the situation.
ReplyDeleteIn both poems, we can see that the characters who have to chose between their native country and the colonists' one suffer from the choice they have to make, which is an important feature of post colonialism writing.
ReplyDelete(This is from Jean)
An interesting link can be made between Things fall apart and The God Of Small Things.
Indeed, there is a flow of images that don't follow each other chronologically in the poem (ex : the Abuja hotel, where the sun is reflecting on the pool, without explicit correlation to the rest of the poem). We can say that in this poem, things... Fall apart.(YEEAAAAAAAH)
Anyway, this can be linked to the skewed chronological order in TGOST. This feature reflects the fragility and suffering due to memories that characterises both texts. Confusion is often found in postcolonial literature, because of the search for identity, of hybridity (Things fall apart), but also the attempt to reconcile opposite perspectives and ideas.
What a great way to introduce TGOST during your oral exam, right ? I wish you all a merry Easter weekend !