More handpicked essays just for you.
Principles of post colonial literature
Principles of post colonial literature
Principles of post colonial literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Benjamin Komoetie, the main character in Fiela’s Child by Dalene Matthee, arrived on the doorstep of Fiela and Selling Komoetie when he was only three years old. It is fortunate that Fiela and Selling Komoetie had raised Benjamin as their own from the day he arrived on their door step until was twelve years old. Although Fiela and Selling Komoetie are not the biological parents of Benjamin, they are remarkable parental figures, as well as the only ones Benjamin knew. At the age of twelve, census takers discovered Benjamin living with Komoetie’s, and had suddenly recalled a story of a boy who had vanished from the forest. After several months, the census takers had returned to take Benjamin away from the Komoeties and send him to the illiterate family of woodcutters, the van Rooyens who had lost their child nine years ago. Fiela Komoetie asked this simple question to the magistrate, in an attempt to get her son back: is it possible for a boy of only three years old to walk, whilst remaining in perfect health, from the forest near Knysna and over the mountain only to land on the doorstep of Fiela Komoetie? The likelihood of this was very small. In this textual analysis, there will be a focus on tone, theme, and symbolism throughout the novel Fiela’s Child as Benjamin searches for his identity.
The struggle of self-identity begins when the Magistrate of Knysna tells Benjamin that he may -no longer use the term master:
“‘I am Fiela Komoetie’s child, master, we’re not penniless people, I swear. I have five shillings to prove it… Please, Master!’ ‘I never want to hear you use the word master again! You’re a white child and you will learn to speak like a white child.’ ‘Please, your worshipful lord, I’m Fiela Komoetie’s child and Sell...
... middle of paper ...
... search for is identity, the main character of Fiela’s Child, had in discovering his own identity. Dalene Matthee uses the tone of white supremacy to exemplify the way in which the colored population of South Africa had been treated by the white population. This causes Benjamin to question his identity at the young age of twelve years old because he was told by the magistrate that he may no longer use the term master when referring to authoritarian figures. The use of theme throughout the novel typifies Benjamin Komoetie’s struggle to discover his true identity, allowing the reader to able to sympathize with him. The use of symbolism throughout the novel allows the reader to truly understand the internal struggle Benjamin Komoetie had endured. Benjamin is, without a doubt, Fiela’s Child.
Works Cited
Matthee, Dalene. Fiela's child. New York: Knopf :, 1986. Print.
...en-year-old girl”. She has now changed mentally into “someone much older”. The loss of her beloved brother means “nothing [will] ever be the same again, for her, for her family, for her brother”. She is losing her “happy” character, and now has a “viole[nt]” personality, that “[is] new to her”. A child losing its family causes a loss of innocence.
The novel “The Chrysalids” by John Wyndham is about a boy named David who grows up in the oppressive society of Waknuk where changes are not accepted. Through Uncle Axel and his father, Joseph Strorm, he learns about the ignorance of human nature. This helps to guide him through life and develop his maturity. Hence, the author conveys that a father figure is an essential part of development in a child’s life.
As a child Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother; a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games that left one of her sons nearly dead. She no longer considered him a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dogs' bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. Dave dreamed of finding a family to love him and call him their son. It took years of struggle, deprivation and despair to find his dreams and make something of himself. A Child Called 'It' covers the early years of his life and is an affecting and inspiration memoir of one child's determination to survive.
In Melina Marchetta’s, 1993 coming of age story, Looking for Alibrandi. Josie, the protagonist of the novel, finds it complicated to belong to her caecilian culture, and heritage, her mid class status, and being on a scholarship at St Martha’s also has a quite a big impact on her as well. As Josie grows throughout the novel she starts to realise being an “Alibrandi” isn’t what she expected.
In the novel, Invisible Man, the main character carries around a briefcase throughout the entire story. All of the possessions that he carries in that briefcase are mementos from learning experiences. Throughout the novel, the Invisible Man is searching for his identity and later discovers that his identity is in those items.
Children are seen as adorable, fun loving, and hard to control. Ida Fink uses a child in “The Key Game” to be the key to this family’s life. The setting is placed during the start of World War II; Jews all around were being taken. Fink uses a boy who doesn’t look the traditional Jewish, “And their chubby, blue-eyed, three-year-old child” (Fink). As they read on the emotional connection is stronger because there is a face to go with this character. Fink draws a reader in by making connections to a family member the reader may know. A blue-eyed, chubby child is the picture child of America. A child in any story makes readers more attached especially if they have children of their own. The child is three way too young to be responsible for the safety of the father, yet has to be. Throughout the story, we see how the mother struggles with making her child play the game because no child should be responsible like
In John Connolly’s novel, The Book of Lost Things, he writes, “for in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be”. Does one’s childhood truly have an effect on the person one someday becomes? In Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle and Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, this question is tackled through the recounting of Jeannette and Amir’s childhoods from the perspectives of their older, more developed selves. In the novels, an emphasis is placed on the dynamics of the relationships Jeannette and Amir have with their fathers while growing up, and the effects that these relations have on the people they each become. The environment to which they are both exposed as children is also described, and proves to have an influence on the characteristics of Jeannette and Amir’s adult personalities. Finally, through the journeys of other people in Jeannette and Amir’s lives, it is demonstrated that the sustainment of traumatic experiences as a child also has a large influence on the development of one’s character while become an adult. Therefore, through the analysis of the effects of these factors on various characters’ development, it is proven that the experiences and realities that one endures as a child ultimately shape one’s identity in the future.
In “A Long Way Gone”, we follow a twelve-year-old African boy, Ishmael Beah, who was in the midst, let alone survived a civil war in Sierra Leone, that turned his world upside down. Ishmael was a kind and innocent boy, who lived in a village where everybody knew each other and happiness was clearly vibrant amongst all the villagers. Throughout the novel, he describes the horrific scenes he encounters that would seem unreal and traumatizing to any reader. The main key to his survival is family, who swap out from being related to becoming non-blood related people who he journeys with and meets along his journey by chance.
The novel very closely follows a nameless African American male that travels pre-Civil Rights Movement America simply following his dreams of being able to make a living with relatable, very human conflicts that can resonate with a myriad of groups. In short, his life experiences describe the trials of coming of age, going off to college, disappointment, the blue
What is personal identity? This question has been asked and debated by philosophers for centuries. The problem of personal identity is determining what conditions and qualities are necessary and sufficient for a person to exist as the same being at one time as another. Some think personal identity is physical, taking a materialistic perspective believing that bodily continuity or physicality is what makes a person a person with the view that even mental things are caused by some kind of physical occurrence. Others take a more idealist approach with the belief that mental continuity is the sole factor in establishing personal identity holding that physical things are just reflections of the mind. One more perspective on personal identity and the one I will attempt to explain and defend in this paper is that personal identity requires both physical and psychological continuity; my argument is as follows:
The nine-year-old boy, the narrator, and the father maintain a strong relationship. For the kid, his father is his protector, his shelter, his guide, and the person that has all the strength, knowledge and assurance of the adult world. Both go on a Sunday walk holding hands, sharing emotions, listening to the singing of the birds and the sounds of nature, to which they are accustomed but for which they have never lost appreciation. Even though they are going toward the woods, “[walking] along the railway line”, the son feels secure in his father’s knowledge of his surrounding (Lagerkvist
Arthur’s son spreads his father’s ideals through Ndotsheni by embodying a simple child-like love and innocence for everyone around him with no preconceived notions involving racism. Arthur’s son was raised to love everyone not taking into account their race, so he greets Kumalo as if he were anyone else for he “raised his cap and said, Good morning. And Kumalo felt a strange pride that it should be so… and an astonishment that the small boy should not know the custom” (268). This white boy begins to break the boundaries of race by simply treating Kumalo as an elder, and all elders should be respected for their immense wisdom and experience. Arthur’s son does not completely grasp the idea of the apartheid that divides his country; he only wishes to be kind and treat those around him as he wants to be treated. He makes no assumptions of the natives in Ndotsheni as being criminals, and he does not act in an entitled manner. Treating a native with respect is a step in the right direction, but a white boy committing himself to be taught by a black man is a leap towards bringing justice to their broken country. A few moments after Arthur’s son shows the preacher his skill with the native speech of Zulu, he declares to Kumalo that “I’ll come and see you again, umfundsi. I’ll talk more Zulu to you. Kumalo laughed. You will be welcome, he said” (270). (Add uniqueness) This passage continues to show
“Adopted Son” begins with the description of two households the Tuvaches and the Vallins who are living simultaneous lives next to each other. The Tuvaches have three girls and one boy and the Vallins the exact opposite of three boys and
The purpose of this paper is to identify James Marcia’s identity status theory and how it pertains to the author 's life during adolescence and early adulthood. The author will reflect as well as address the four statuses of development. Noting that Marcia’s theory has proven to be an effective and dependable tool in helping to determine the status of the identity development in adolescents.
rank and asks Sam to call him Master Harold, instead if Hally. This proves the