African American Colonialism

Kristal Morgan

English 150-ASPS

Professor Hill

4/18/2017

Essay #2

Collateral Damage: the Effects of Colonialism in African-American Literature

Throughout literature and history, the effects of colonialism can be seen in both explicit and subtle ways. The Stanford Encyclopedia defines Colonialism as “a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another.” Kohn, Margret. “Colonialism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2006. “The term colony comes from the Latin word meaning farmer. The root reminds us that the practice of colonialism usually involves the transfer of population to a new territory, where the arrivals lived as permanent settlers while maintaining political allegiance to their country of origin.” Kohn,

Margret. “Colonialism” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2006. In two works of literature particularly this can be seen as subtle effects on the character’s day-to-day activities and encounters. The first piece of literary work is the novel “The Autobiography of My Mother” by Jamaica Kincaid. The second is a short story by Ralph Ellison entitled “Battle Royal.” Although the term “Colonialism” can apply to various acts throughout history, it is most commonly applied to European acts of domination over the rest of the world during the 16th century. Its effects can still be seen on a global scale. The effects of colonialism, particularly its effects on identity and acceptance, can be seen woven in the text of many pieces of African-American literature, for instance in Jamaica Kincaid’s “Autobiography of My Mother” and Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal.”
One example of the effects of colonialism can be seen through the interpersonal relationships.

The protagonist Xuela, is the product of a bi-racial courtship. Her mother was Caribbean (Dominica) and her father, Alfred, was mixed raced being that his father (John Richardson) was from Scotland and his mother (Mary) was of African descent. John Richardson was a rum trader who lived throughout the English-owned West Indies when he met and married Mary they had two boys together, one being Xuelas father Alfred. It is important to note the specificity Kincaid uses in providing the full name of the grandfather and only the first name of the grandmother. This identifies that underlying strategy of Colonialism which is to undermine and erase the culture and identity of the other while preserving the history and culture of the dominant. Throughout the novel Xuela seeks acceptance from various individuals, including from her step family and suitors—this idea will be discussed later. In contrast, the unnamed narrator of “Battle Royal” has a lack of relationships by rejecting the notion of acceptance. This is evident in the opening paragraph of “Battle

Royal”:
“All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what I was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and often self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!” (Ellison, “Battle Royal”)
The other example of the effects of Colonialism aligns with the mingling of language. Often, the domination of one culture by another is accompanied by the introduction of a new language. In this case, we as readers, see this in Xuela’s school. Although the native tongue was patois, a dialect of French, English was taught. In official capacities, the people spoke English while, amongst each other, they spoke French patois as the language was considered “improper.” The shunning of native languages as improper or primitive was a common practice during colonial times. Xuelas step mother used the expression of language as a means of both inclusion and exclusion. In the excerpt below we clearly see the duality of language in Xuela’s life and symbolizes the effects of colonialism on the colonized other.
“She spoke to me in French patios; in his presence she had spoken to me in English. She would do this to me through all time we know each other, but that first time, in the sanctuary of my room at seven years old, I recognized this to be an attempt on her part to make an illegitimate of me, to associate me with the made-up language of people regarded as not real-the shadow people, the forever humiliated, the forever low”(Kincaid, Autobiography of My Mother 30).
Her father spoke English to her to keep her “educated” while her stepmother spoke French patios to her as an attempt to intimidate and remind Xuela that she was an outsider to her and thus, did not truly belong. This implied sense of loneliness is another central theme to the novel.
“As I was kneeling there I saw three land turtles crawling in and out of the small space under the house, and I fell in love with them, I wanted to have them near me, I wanted to speak only to them each day for the rest of my life”(Kincaid 11). This quote shows one of Xuelas first overt expressions of loneliness, besides missing her father and the face of the mother she never laid eyes on. The same theme of loneliness can be seen in the short story “Battle Royal.” The unnamed character spoke of his loneliness and being in search of something to belong to. The opening paragraph of the short story illicits this idea of loneliness and acceptance.
The opening paragraph of Ralph Ellison’s short story “Battle Royal” encompasses the struggle the dominated feel when accepting and challenging the effects of colonialism. The unnamed narrator speaks through the lens of the oppressed minority in America. He is the direct descendant of slaves. His grandfather advised his father to “Live with your head in the lions mouth,” and to overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree ’em to death and destruction, let ’em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open” (Ellison). The self-proclaimed Invisible Man acknowledges that some interpreted his grandfather’s words as the ramblings of a crazy old man. Conceptually, the advice could be interpreted as instructions on how to overcome the oppression he experienced while “free”. The advice of his grandfather was a sort of invisible sword the narrator would use to combat the evils of society. He used the words as a guide on how to act in the presence of white folks. For a great amount of time, the narrator believed that he was using the advice wisely and was almost proud to see how much the façade worked. He was “praised by the most lily-white men in town” (Ellison) and considered an “example of desirable conduct” (Ellison) just as his grandfather had been. These accolades meant the most to him, giving him a sense of worth.
The narrator’s pride in his acceptance into the white majority culture lead him to the battle royal in which the story is named. The narrator arrived at a grand ballroom under the guise of delivering a speech to the white elite of the town. While the narrator felt accepted, he clearly learned that the whites viewed him as just another “other” as he was volunteered into a battle royal in which his schoolmates took part as the entertainment for the evening. The narrator was obviously different from the boys slated to fight—or so he thought. “They were tough guys who seemed to have no grandfather’s curse worrying their minds. No one could mistake their toughness. And besides, I suspected that fighting a battle royal might detract from the dignity of my speech” (Ellison). The overall scene is brutal and alludes to the barbaric ways enslaved Africans were used as entertainment to their masters. Often, the brutes of the group were forced to fight boxing matches to the death, with masters betting large sums of money on their fighters. The dehumanization of the dominated was a clear byproduct of Colonialism. Kincaid’s Xuela, experienced the feeling of inhumane treatment from a young age. Starting with her father (Albert) who handed her over to MaEunice. Not only did he hand her over to this stranger, he dropped off his soiled clothing with the child, making her feel as if she was worthless. Those feelings of worthlessness, coupled with loneliness, and a struggle for self-identity lead to Xuela searching for acceptance through sexual exploits.
As previously stated colonialism implies an acceptance of a new culture while disregarding the old culture.

Expressions of sexuality can be indirectly labeled as an effect of colonialism. The expression of sexuality was shown through Xuela and the way she used her body to have her way with men, especially with her British husband Phillip whom she described as not being sexually knowledgeable. Some of her sexual encounters with her husband can be described as a nod to his cultural dominance, in the sense that it was the only time she was the dominant party. In “I Made Him” Sadomasochism in Kincaid’s The Autobiography of My Mother by Gary E. Holcomb, the two characters are explored. Instead of Phillip being the dominant, party he seems to approach Xuela in a submissive form. “The scene demonstrates the novel’s problematization of traditional gendered images as they are bound up with colonialist ideology” (Holcomb and Holcomb 2002). In the encounter discussed in the essay, we see that she loses herself and bites her husband on the hand while giving him instructions on how to touch her and what to do to satisfy

her.
In “Battle Royal” the narrator described a white woman as being naked and very seductive. The white supremacists strategically placed her there to entice the young black boys, who knew that they should not look at her. They felt this way because of the cultural environment and times that they lived in, they were made to feel a sense of shame and inferiority.
The effects of colonialism can be seen throughout African American literature. Jamaica Kincaid and Ralph Ellison expressed the hardships colored others faced as residual effects of colonialism. There are numerous effects of colonialism, but three main themes include the effects on interpersonal relationships, the effects on language and culture, and the effects on identity. Both authors weave the struggles of the dominated and subjugated through very different storylines, but undoubtedly reflect the arguments proposed in both the article by Gary Holcomb and definition of colonialism.

Work Cited Page

Kincaid, Jamaica. The Autobiography of My Mother. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1996. Print.

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965. Print

Holcomb, Gary E. "I Made Him": Sadomasochism in Kincaid's "The Autobiography of My Mother"." Callaloo 25.3 (2002)

Kohn, Margret. “Colonialism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2006