Post colonialism in ‘‘The Black Skin, White Mask’’, ‘‘A Tempest’’, ‘‘Orientalism’’, ‘‘The Imaginary Homelands’’.

Topic: Post colonialism in ‘‘The Black Skin, White Mask’’, ‘‘A Tempest’’,
                                  ‘‘Orientalism" ‘‘The Imaginary Homelands’’.

Name:              Baraiya Sonal Rameshbhai

Class:               M.A. Sem-3

Paper No.:       11-The Post-colonial Literature

Submitted to:  Smt. S.B. Gardi, Mkbu,

                              Department of English

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Introduction:

Post-colonialism:

‘‘Post-colonialism deals with the effects of colonization on cultures and societies. As originally used by historians after the Second World War in terms such as the post-colonial state, ‘post-colonial’ had a clearly chronological meaning, designating the post-independence period. However, from the late 1970s the term has been used by literary critics to discuss the various cultural effects of colonization.’’

‘‘The Black skin, White Mask’’, ‘‘A Tempest’’, ‘‘Orientalism’’ and ‘‘Imaginary Homelands’’ all are studied under the term of post-colonialism.

‘‘The Black Skin, White Mask’’ by Frantz Fanon:

The Black Skin, White Mask studied under the psychological term, given by Freud. He gave three level of mind

Basic idea is to understand notion within psyche, the notion of the color lie. The idea of race/color coming from colonialism. Colonizers turn the notion into symbolic value. This symbolic value created problems. It is lead towards the idea of

                           ‘‘Lackness’’.

Black Skin, White Mask reading within ‘‘the lack’’ and it is generates the idea of desire. Desire of having white skin it is constructed idea by colonizer. White as a superior, the idea is created by White Man.

At the very bottom level the idea is constructed at that level that black people hating their own self. That’s how they constructed that having black skin, it is became the curse for them. They don’t like to look themselves as a black man. Their mind is totally controlled by the given symbolic value. They feel shame for having black skin. Fanon described that when black man seemed their face, they seemed themselves as a white face. Being a human with black skin was became more dangerous for them. At that level their mind is washing by white man. Therefore they have desire for white skin. White skin became the goal for black man. But desire is abstract thing, it cannot achieve. They frustrated because they cannot achieved the goal. That’s why Fanon said that

     ‘‘If we cannot achieved the goal, changed the goal.’’

Celebrate what we are. He tries to goes into the roots and celebrate their culture, notion, tradition. And try to put themselves as it is. But he was not fully happy with going back to ‘‘nativism’’ because there were also some trouble. We cannot fully celebrated our Nativism as it is. So, he tries to goes beyond the notion of color and tries to seemed people in parallel instead in hierarchical way. He believe in ‘‘HUMANITY’’.

As Toni Morrison described in her writing that she became irritated when they are considered as a ‘‘Black Writers’’ instead of ‘‘Writer’’. As here Fanon described that they are considered as a ‘‘black man’’ instead of ‘‘Man’’. But Fanon thinks out of box and tries to considered himself as a human being rather black man. Through that he tried to put himself or black people as equal as white people. Fanon raised his voice against colonizer and put himself as a post colonial writer.

Colonialism and post colonialism is historical process. And theory is ‘‘A Historical theory’’. Fanon tries to turn ‘‘The History’’ into ‘‘A History’’.

That’s how Aime Cesaire tries to reread ‘‘The Tempest’’ and came with ‘‘A Tempest’’ through post colonial tongue.

Exploration of new geographical spaces and control of those lands by the explorers is basically what we know by colonialism. So, colonialism read under the voice of post-colonialism. It is also known as anti-colonialism. The reference in The Tempest that Prospero reached at one island where already somebody lives. As Derrida described that anything can be deconstructed, if we are able to find out the things. Here Aime was able to find out the colonial aspect and burn out through the tongue of post-colonial. Caliban’s protest against Prospero and his resistance to colonial power using the language taught by the colonizer helps us interpret the play as a post-colonial text. Prospero rules over the land and tries to imposes his own culture on the people like Caliban. Also putting him under the slavery and undermining him as a monster. He don’t like all the things that we came to know through his dialogues such as:

‘‘Call me x… or, to be more precise, a man whose name has been stolen.’’

‘‘It’s the name given me by your hatred, and every time it’s spoken it’s an insult.’’

‘‘Better death than humiliation and injustice.’’

According to him, he is not even human rather born devil.

Prospero: This thing of darkness, I call my own

This shows the colonizer’s attitude of looking down on the colonized people. The whites looked down on the people of another color. So, at this level they are treated. Post-colonialism studied those who are in minority and also gave voice to them.

‘‘Orientalism’’ by Edward Said

Constructed identity+ imposed idea= Orientalism

According to Vico men make their own history, that what they can know is what they have made, and extend it to geography: as both geographical and cultural entities to say nothing of historical entities. Such locales, regions, geographical sectors as ‘‘Orient’’ and ‘‘Occident’’ are man made.

Orient is constructed identity by west people, through which they tries to show their superiority. They have a habit to portray these countries as a dull, desert and darker country. Arab is country, which represent or misrepresent by West. But reality is something else. When we seemed the picture of Pakistan we find out the good picture of Pakistan and that time we became shocked because it is totally opposite to what presented by America. 

For Example-

                                   

So, it is very badly presented by America and that all about the politics and the role of media.

 Physically people are free but mentally they are in chain or in cage. Because people still believe west as a superior than East. So, east colonized be mind. So, Said through post colonial angle, he talked that no one is superior and no one is inferior. Both of them survive because of each other. His main concern was about humanity instead of race, cast, inferiority and superiority.

‘‘Imaginary Homelands’’ by Salman Rushdie

The title itself suggests the post colonial aspect. When he talked about the Imaginary Homelands that time he talked about the notion of nation. The idea of Homeland or motherland is created. As French Orientalist Ernest Renan said in 1882 about the Nation is that

Nations… are something fairly new in history. Antiquity was unfamiliar with them; Egypt, China and ancient Chaldea were in no way nations. They were flocks led by a Son of the Sun or by a Son of Heaven. Neither I Egypt nor in China were there citizens as such. Classical antiquity had republics and empires, yet it can hardly be said to have had nations in our understanding of the term. (quoted Bhabha 1990: 9)

So, the idea of nation is constructed. And that idea lies in our memory. Within the memory we are created.  Nation is narration by ‘‘Meta – Narrator’’. So, Nation and Narration stands within the imagination. It is remain an idea because there is no authenticity. It is nothing like authentic because nation and narration take place in history and history is man made as Vico said.

        What is ours?

        What is others?

When we talked about ‘‘ours’’ and ‘‘others’’, there we find out the problems. People became the sandwich between two identities, two nations, etc.

For example-

Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘‘The Namesake’’.

In which Gogol face the same problem. He cannot say that what are mine and what not. He became the sandwich between two names, two nations and two identities. Same problem here faced by Salman Rushdie. But he gave solution. It is all about meta-narrative. There was nothing like ‘‘OURS’’. All histories and all narratives are doubted. Problems are created because people are constantly in search of authenticity. It shows not the narrowness but blindness of people that they are in search of authenticity.

Conclusion:

Post-colonial’s writers main concern about the minority. About those who never speak rather their voice is suppressed or oppressed by those who are in majority. Or we can say that those people who are accepted by society. Post-colonialism gave the glasses to see what wrong going on with the minority. Why they cannot speak? What are they seems in particular way? Why they are not considered as a human being? What are the reasons behind these kinds of questions?

Citation:

Assignment prepared from class notes.