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features of post-colonial literature
salient features of post colonial literature
post colonial literatures characteristics
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Colonialism was when Europe took over most of Africa and Asia, and then Post-Colonialism followed. During Post-Colonialism people from Europe began to question the way European literature talked about people of color (Africans, Asians). This lens allows people to see the racism behind what they are reading, that it be intentional or unintentional. It questions poetic ideas like (darkness = evil) and (light = goodness, purity). It all gives you a different perspective on parts of the book to realize what is happening. OMAN tells the story of two friends during the Great Depression who go to a farm to fulfill their wish of owning a farm. Lennie has makes the whole dream harder because he must always watch out to make sure he doesn’t get in trouble. He has already gotten in to trouble in the past, and now he is too in this new farm.
“ I ain’t sure I want you in here no more. A colored man got to have some rights even if he don’t like them” (82).
This tells the reader he has certain freedoms, but they may not necessarily be things he likes to do or have. Being alone isn’t exactl...
Laurence Hill’s novel, The Book of Negroes, uses first-person narrator to depict the whole life ofAminata Diallo, beginning with Bayo, a small village in West Africa, abducting from her family at eleven years old. She witnessed the death of her parents with her own eyes when she was stolen. She was then sent to America and began her slave life. She went through a lot: she lost her children and was informed that her husband was dead. At last she gained freedom again and became an abolitionist against the slave trade. This book uses slave narrative as its genre to present a powerful woman’s life.She was a slave, yes, but she was also an abolitionist. She always held hope in the heart, she resist her dehumanization.
Weaver, Robert C. “The Negro As an American: The Yearning for Human Dignity.” The Norton
It is impossible for anyone to survive a horrible event in their life without a relationship to have to keep them alive. The connection and emotional bond between the person suffering and the other is sometimes all they need to survive. On the other hand, not having anyone to believe in can make death appear easier than life allowing the person to give up instead of fighting for survival. In The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, Aminata Diallo survives her course through slavery by remembering her family and the friends that she makes. Aminata is taught by her mother, Sira to deliver babies in the villages of her homeland. This skill proves to be very valuable to Aminata as it helps her deliver her friends babies and create a source of income. Aminata’s father taught Aminata to write small words in the dirt when she was small. Throughout the rest of the novel, Aminata carries this love for learning new things to the places that she travels and it inspires her to accept the opportunities given to her to learn how to write, read maps, and perform accounting duties. Early in the novel Aminata meets Chekura and they establish a strong relationship. Eventually they get married but they are separated numerous times after. Aminata continuously remembers and holds onto her times with Chekura amidst all of her troubles. CHILDREN. The only reason why Aminata Diallo does not die during her journey into and out of slavery is because she believes strongly in her parents, husband and children; therefore proving that people survive hardships only when they have relationships in which to believe.
Levels of Literacy in African-American Literature - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Song of Solomon, and Push
Modern writers learn from the past by reading works written by authors of that particular era. Contemporary African-American writers gain knowledge and insight into the horrendous and sometimes harmonious conditions that plagued Africans during slavery and the slave trade. By reading the actual words, thoughts, and feelings of these enslaved Africans, modern writers receive information from the perspective of the victimized. Lucille Clifton's "slaveship" is a vivid example of a contemporary writer borrowing from the past to depict another account of the slave trade. The fact that Clifton's father told her stories about her family's struggle and she, herself, traced her lineage back to Dahomey, West Africa helped to impact the tone, ideas, and imagery used in her poem. Although "slaveship" is not written by someone who has experienced slavery herself, it does use similar elements found in Olaudah Equiano's Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley's "On Being Brought from Africa to America".
The Harlem Renaissance is one of the most historic and significant movements in American history; it has become a phenomenon marking something more than the fact that the African Americans wrote poems and stories, painted and sculpted, and infused new life into the American theater (Huggins 3). The Renaissance sustained to create an identity of African Americans it is best remembered as the beginning of African-American creativity that came from their talented minds. Although it was a literary movement, it also embraced art, dance, and music. The creative minds that sprung from the Harlem Renaissance used artistic expressions to make an impact on society in the 1920s and still today. African American writers had been published since the 19th century, but what made Harlem Renaissance different and memorable was the spread of topics that the writers wrote about. Although the artists created lasting and important works of literature, art, and music, it became just as important in a way which gave African Americans a legitimate culture and a pride in embracing that culture.
Hypertension will continue to be a major cause of death all for Americans especially African Americans. Limitations in care for the under-served will continue to be a growing problem. Solutions must be made to provide the delivery of high quality, lower cost and especially effective primary care to the underserved populations.
During this period of literature of the Reconstruction to the New Negro Renaissance, 1865-1919, African Americans were becoming more educated and more aware of the rights that they were entitled to. The start of this Reconstruction Era began after 1863’s emancipation of slaves in the Confederate states and the Civil War’s end in 1865. Although the three Civil Rights amendments, thirteenth(1865), fourteenth (1868), and fifteenth (1870), ends slavery in slaves states, ensures equal protection and due process for all citizens, and gives voting rights to all men(Black and White), institutionalized segregation was still an issue(UShistory.org). Nevertheless, more voices began to emerge as social and political changes were made approaching the Renaissance. These brave men and woman of color tried these issues and expressed themselves using the art of literature. The major reasons Blacks displayed these expressions was to: (1) articulate intellectual achievements, (2) teach themselves, (3) correct the historical record of the black experience, and (4) document and shape social and political aspirations and conditions(Gates). After the distinguished abolitionist and writer Fredrick Douglass died on February 20, 1895 at Cedar Hill’s woman’s rights meeting one intellectual leader in particular, Booker T. Washington, become a key spokes person and writer of the Black Community(bibliography.com). Dr. Washington’s “Atlanta Compromise” is noted as one of the most influential and significant speeches delivered in America(Gaston). It’s time to explicate Dr. Washington’s address as it relates to the one of the four major aims for writing literature during this era and his life story.
Before taking African American Literature I never really thought about the impacts that poetry, songs, stories or folktales really had on society. Rap has never been something I enjoyed and reading has never been overly interesting to me, and finding stories that interested me and caught my attention have been difficult. Throughout this class I have learned a lot about the actual influences of African American literature, while also finding stories that were more than interesting to read. Without African American art and literature society, today, would be so much different. In the “City of Refuge” white people took over black culture like jazz and poetry and twisted it into their own style. Without that “colorful” and inspiring art white people would have never been able to do something more. Slavery would still exist or it may not because the colored man or woman would cease to exist. “Stranger in the Village” would instead be titled “Tourist Visits Village”, because instead of it being a story about a black man in a village, it would be a news article about another white man strolling through a new town. “Chicago Heat”
African- American folklore is arguably the basis for most African- American literature. In a country where as late as the 1860's there were laws prohibiting the teaching of slaves, it was necessary for the oral tradition to carry the values the group considered significant. Transition by the word of mouth took the place of pamphlets, poems, and novels. Themes such as the quest for freedom, the nature of evil, and the powerful verses the powerless became the themes of African- American literature. In a book called Fiction and Folklore: the novels of Toni Morrision author Trudier Harris explains that "Early folk beliefs were so powerful a force in the lives of slaves that their masters sought to co-opt that power. Slave masters used such beliefs in an attempt to control the behavior of their slaves"(Harris 2).
It is human nature to tell stories and to appreciate and participate in theatre traditions in every society. Every culture expresses theatre and may have their own traditions that have helped pave the way for how they are today. The involvement of African-Americans has increased tremendously in theatre since the nineteenth century and continues to increase as time goes on. African-Americans have overcome many obstacles with getting their rights and the participation and involvement of Theatre was something also worth fighting for. American history has played an important role with the participation of African-Americans in theatre. Slavery occurrence in America made it difficult for blacks in America to be taken seriously and to take on the characters of more serious roles. With many obstacles in the way African-Americans fought for their rights and also for the freedom that they deserved in America. As the participation of African-Americans involvement within the theatre increase so do the movements in which help make this possible. It is the determination of these leaders, groups, and Theaters that helped increase the participation and created the success that African-Americans received throughout history in American Theatre.
Despite the restrictions imposed by slavery, African Americans have made significant contributions to American culture in music, literature, and cuisine.
“Everyday use” by Alice Walker, was set in the early 1970s when many African American were struggling to define their social and cultural identity. It was a time when many blacks were looking back to their African roots in an effort to reconnect with their ancestors and struggling to reject their American heritage which was dominated by injustice and painful histories. Alice Walker try to clarify this double consciousness problem in “ Everyday Use” by pointing out that one can be black and still embrace his African heritages without losing his American identity.
When it comes to writing styles, African American literature is a very complex category of writing. It is made up of three main categories. These styles are romantic embrace, realistic appraisal, and shame-faced rejection. Each style illustrates the author’s view of his or her history. European colonialism played a major role in how the writers viewed their past. The extremist categories are shame-faced rejection and romantic embrace.
Literature is a very powerful tool that is used to make a huge impact on society or in someone’s perspective. Literature comes in different forms and each literature form fits in a certain category or role to help understand the true meaning of it. From playwrights to short stories, each one has moral lesson, a message or a reflection of the author. I have witnessed the power of literature several times. Literature has moved teens to better being; it has motivated unfortunate people to fame, used as an educational process of teaching and most of all, entertainment. Back in the day, plays were on of the most famous forms of entertainment. Without television and radio present, plays served as a substitute to entertain certain groups of people like the royal family or just for the whole public. This was one way of making money by the actors and the authors that wrote the play. Also present during those times were the poem recitals. This is similar to a play but fewer people are present in the stage or sometimes solo performance. Today, Literature is still being used as a form of entertainment and educational intentions. Hollywood made a lot of money by revising the great masterpieces of famous authors such as “Rome and Juliet” by William Shakespeare. Also, they made movies out of hundreds of literary works for educational purposes and better understanding of the literature piece. Each form of literature has its own style. The style determines how it influences the audience to absorb the true meaning and moral of the story or poem. William Shakespeare and Benjamin Franklin were truly persuasive while Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe mixed mystery and adventure to their works. The style touches the readers which really makes a good relationship from the reader to the author’s literary masterpieces.