A Huge Impact on World Literature by the Postcolonial Writers - Research Paper Example

?To What Extent Do Postcolonial Articulate a Coherent a Useful Notion of ‘Home’? The postcolonial of the Caribbean have made a huge impact on world literature. Among the recognized Caribbean authors is Kamau Brathwaite, whose works have inspired readers worldwide. Pollard states that while such theoretical definitions of postcolonialism ignite a tendency towards criticizing modernism; critical studies of “minority” or postcolonial writers have been more enthusiastic to make use of modernism as a constructive conceptual category.1 One of his most exciting works is entitled Ancestors, which is a historical narration in the vein of both Dante and Milton. Pollard states that post colonial Caribbean writers distinguish difference and fragmentation, but they seek to shape these differences and fragments into larger patterns of cultural meaning.2 The home in which the natives came from have disappeared. Most of the original literature and the oral culture of the native Caribbean’s were not preserved; hence no cultural mark had been passed over to the following generations.3 The fact that the African Caribbean people were enforced to reject their own heritage caused them not to have a traditional culture and an image to identify with. This has caused the natives to constantly adapt to the modern culture, thus not being able to grasp their own in whole.4 The poem Alpha is divided into three parts, which are ‘Mother Poem’, ‘Sun Poem and X/Self. Smaller divisions of Ancestor comprise of individual poems. The framework in which the poem is structured is in accordance with the context of universality, while being able to form a personal interaction through engaging the readers intimately. The association between the three voices in the Ancestor personifies the father, the mother and the son or the narrator, in relation to their Motherland. The poem captures the essence of familial integration and separation. The first verse is ambiguous. The subject of mother can be referred to as the author's mother whom he misses, or most likely, the author's motherland, as can be seen in the following lines, “the ancient watercourses of my island/ echo of rver. Trickle. Worn stone/ the sunken voice of glitter iching its pattern to the sea/ memory of foam. Fossil. Erased beaches high above the eaten”.5 The poem started with descriptions of an environment in which the author longs for, as personified in a form of a mother. The author misses his homeland and wishes to go back to his native land to comfort his female parent. The second verse is a description of the Americans or the West Indians. The author hints that his family has migrated to the United States of America, as deduced from the lines "the world Columbus found" and "the world Raleigh raided". 6The statements are symbolized by the following lines in the second part of the poem, “& my father swims through the noise / Through the blankets of jute on his lungs / & he is Caesar again at the Hellespont”. As for the references to the plantations, the setting in which the author's family migrated to is in New Orleans, it is where most black slaves have migrated to in the previous decades. In a nutshell, the second part is the author's description of his life as his family moved to New Orleans, where sugar plantations are abound. The second part of the poem also implies that the author's parents worked at the plantations in New Orleans. This fact has been deduced from the lines "through the blankets of jute on his lungs" and "maker of chalk dust".7 The line "she waits with her back slowly curving to mountain" represents her mother who have waited in patience and have gotten old, who lived her life in despair from working and waiting for his husband.8 This emotion is evident in the last part of the second division of the poem, “She waits for his return with her gold rings of love / Wl the miners trove that binds her to his world / She waits w/ her back slowly curving to mountain”.9 The last part of the poem implies several meanings. The last stanza consists of the line "When the roll is called upon yonder, I'll be there"10, can mean that the author can also be like his parents. He would work in the plantation if that is what's necessitated. It could also imply that he will change the course of his life and return to his homeland. The last part of the poem indicates a hint of both dread and hope, dependent on the reader's interpretation of the first two parts. The art in which Kamau Brathwaite writes is deeply associated with his native roots, as he intertwines words with the basic elements of rhythm and melody beyond the traditional standards. His works are presented in a manner that aims to reconstruct poetry and prose in more than just narrations of thoughts and emotions, but more of reality. What he writes is correlated with his strong sense of value of the West Indies' heritage and customs, as well as its ties with the African culture. He believes that the English language is restricted within a system that had only adapted its form in Latin, but failed to represent other languages as that of the West Indian Creole. 11 Thus, he created his own style of writing, commonly referred to as a "national language". He writes in English, but he had twisted the language in his own form, which most pertains to as a subversion of the language. An example would be the following lines from Alpha ““the ancient watercourses of my island/ echo of rver. Trickle. Worn stone/ the sunken voice of glitter iching its pattern to the sea/ memory of foam.” He does not care of grammar structure, or the correct spelling of words. He only means to share his thoughts in fragments of words that would best describe what he feels. Brathwaite is one of the pioneers who have struggled to form a national language that can also be utilized in communicating with its audience outside the nation's populace. Such pioneers intended to make most of the language in using it in its highest form, fully rich and intense, breaking free from the projected sophisticated and artificial language of those who colonized the West Indies. They made use of a dialect that is more in tune with he locals, as a means of the community to voice their thoughts freely.12 His fervent inclination towards his culture can be seen in his role as a historian who traces the evolution of West Indian literature. He aims for the new language in which he is reconstructing to symbolize the reality in which people live in. He intends for each syllable to embody intelligence, thus describing a person's experiences. 13Brathwaite’s intentions are evident in Alpha, as he did not only write about the emotions that were encapsulated in his memories, but he also traced his family’s history. He did not simply narrate the plethora of experiences he had since his childhood, as he was able to summarize it in a poem that reflects emotion that his family went through, in a creative manner. Such intents aim to identify with the people. Not just for a means to compose a poem or prose, but to create literature in which people can understand and relate with.14 Alpha is the first poem in the collection of Ancestors. It aims to associate the author s mother to the splendor of their homeland, which is Barbados. Brathwaite likens Barbados scenery with his mother s resolute character and fortitude in the advent of colonial and postcolonial repression. The first part of Ancestor culminates with Driftword which enjoins the readers with mourning of death of the author s mother. In this state, the narrator believes that upon his mother’s passing, she has become one with their homeland’s majesty. It presents an allegory in regards to both the physical and spiritual inclination of the poet to his loved ones and his home. Whereas the speaking sun signifies the hope of the Barbadian fathers for their children to survive life and continue to live in spite of death being evident. As long as the Barbadian suns continue to cherish life and live, so would the spirit of their culture and their homeland.15 Brathwaite provides reverence to people of the African Diaspora who have extended great effort and continues to do so, in order to resist the power of those who intend to make them suffer. The belief that as long as the society commits the Blacks to their memory, the people who have long been deemed insignificant and had been overlooked in almost all historical victories would soon be acknowledged.16 Braithwaite believes that the African people who struggled to establish their existence in the world would continue to rise in the form of the peoples’ awareness.17 The next poem to be scrutinized is ‘The coming of Yams and Mangoes and Mountain Honey’. In this context, James Berry identifies with a London market as a semblance of his home, the Caribbean. This is evident in the first lines of the poem, “Handfuls hold hidden sunset / stuffing up bags / and filling up the London baskets / Caribbean hills have moved and come”.18 James Berry come to settle in London during the 1950s. London represented the literary capital for these artists, providing a vital space in which their work could be published and disseminated on a scale unimaginable in the Caribbean.19 The manner in which the words have been strewn can be perceived as playful; elements such as alliteration, rhyme and metaphor are present as to how the poet described and visualized the fruits that are abundant in the market, as he has taken delight with using it as a point of comparison to a Caribbean sun. The following stanza continues with Berry's identification and visual representation of the fruits, as he revels in the moment wherein he identifies the busy market with that of a Caribbean paradise. The vast riches of various colors found in each fruit had been likened to a sweet Caribbean afternoon emanating the sun, the beaches and memories of a Caribbean summer, in both aroma and flavor. The upbeat disposition of how the poem started has turned sour in its progression. As with the visual reference of the surroundings are likened to that of their hometown, had been quickly replaced by what is evident in the market, it is not the Caribbean- it is not home. The author reminisces of his memories of the Caribbean life, he slowly compares his home to London, as signified in the following lines, “But, here you won’t have a topseat cooing / In peppers, won’t hear the nightingales / Notes mixed with lime juice”.20 The last stanza stressed about modifications that have transpired in the environment in London, as the poem is ended on a cynical note. The context of the poem signifies the transition from the wondrous longing of the Caribbean life to the reality of what is real.21 The poem reflects the poets' longing as he reflected on his memories back in the Caribbean, but later on attempted to persuade himself that his home had moved from paradise to London, all having the same elements, only presented in a different manner. 22The last line of the poem seem melancholic as it is evident that Berry insists that the "new home" in which their lives have molded into, must be taken as it is, as if turning their back on the sweet paradise they knew of in the Caribbean. It is evident that despite the writer have migrated to another society, he still reflected on the culture he knew, but failed to cherish. He understood that reality dictates that his home is where he is currently, and not the Caribbean dream. The general context of the literature of this period implies a tangible shift away from the more prose-based narratives of the 1950s and early 1960s to a more poetry-based cultural production in the 1970s and early 1980s.23 Both texts imply that the structure in which these authors articulate their emotions and thoughts in the concept of home is not towards the land that they embraced after the colonization which forced their people to migrate, but it is still strongly tied to their homeland, in which they continue to seek and long for. References Anderson, Ian. Mapping the cultural interface: Postcolonial Studies (2009):261-267. Print. Ashcroft, Bill, Griffiths, Gareth and Tiffin, Helen. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader (1995). Print. Baraka, Amiri. Afro-American Literature & Class Struggle: Black American Literature Forum (1980): 5-14.Print Booth, James, Nasta, Susheila, Steele, Charles, Pollard, Arthur and Guptara, Prabhu. African, Caribbean, Canadian, Indian, and Australian Literature in English. Eng Studies (1983): 531-586. Print. Byrd, Jodi and Rothberg, Michael. BETWEEN SUBALTERNITY AND INDIGENEITY -- Critical Categories for Postcolonial Studies Interventions. International Journal of Postcolonial Studies (2011): 1-12. Print. James, Louis. Caribbean Literature in English (2000). Print. Lazarus, Neil. Nationalism and Cultural Practice in the Postcolonial World: Cultural Margins (1999). Print. Lazarus, Neil. Postcolonial Studies After the Invasion of Iraq: New Formations (2006):10-22. Print. Macfie, Alexander. My Orientalism. Journal of Postcolonial Writing (2009): 83-90. Print. Mintz, Sidney. The Caribbean Region: Daedalus (1974): 45-71. Print. Miranda, Katherine. The Diaspora Strikes Back: Caribeno Tales of Learning and Turning. Carribean Studies (2010): 178-181. Print. Paul, Annie. Caribbean Culture: Soundings on Kamau Brathwaite (2007). Print. Polard, Charles. New world modernisms: T.S. Eliot, Derek Walcott, and Kamau Brathwaite. Williams, Emily. The Critical Response to Kamau Braithwaite: Critical Responses in Arts and Letters Series (2004). Print. Read More