How to Write About Africa: A Response

I found Wainaina's "How to Write About Africa" to be highly effective and humorous, conveying valid points in the gauze of satire. Several descriptions struck me as particularly comical, because I was most clearly able to connect the image with something I have seen or read about Africa. For example, mentioning a big-hearted woman called "Mama" resonated with me, since it seemed particularly cliche. 

The piece rose issues that I have thought about, which rang true, as well as issues that I had not given as much thought to and that struck me. For example, insinuating that Africa is often treated as one, uniform country, in particular one of starvation and war, I felt to be highly relevant. I believe that many Westerners, or anyone with a knowledge of Africa as a whole, is susceptible to lapsing into this prototype. This I expected and firmly agreed with. However, later the piece discussed the lack of depth of character attributed to African people, which had not before crossed my mind and which I found to be telling. The piece satirically said, "Avoid having the African characters laugh." It dawned on me then that African people, in the eyes of Westerners, are all too often oversimplified-- they are portrayed as miserable people, unprofound people. 

Overall, I agreed with the points made by the article. I also began to wonder, if I were to write a novel about my experience in Africa, how would I write it? Would I, not having previously read and pondered this article, have been trapped by many of the devices listed by Wainaina? I like to hope not. In any case, my experience of travelling to Tanzania enlightened me to the variety of cultures and people in Africa further than my formal education, and it allowed me to make connections to people on another continent who I might have oversimplified otherwise. 

My Number v. I had heard it's a fight

 Both the poems "My Number" and "I had heard it's a fight", by Billy Collins and Edwin Derby respectfully, ponder death and the tone that it brings along with it. They differ not only in rhetorical method but in perception of death. The first, "My Number", presents itself differently from the getgo, with the stark and upright title, capitalized, and convicted. The second, in contrast, is lowercased, aloof, and in the past tense. My Number is a personification of death, a disturbing portrayal of the character and its actions and the places it might visit. An overall description of death is given, leading to the image of a dark, brooding figure that comes up frighteningly, invisible, to take away one's life. 

Contrastingly, Derby gives not a personification of death, which would lend itself to an image of death as a figure, but he describes what he felt using imagery. He uses pleasant diction to demonstrate his pleasure in death, often using the word "sweet". 

It is Derby's and Collins' perceptions of death and their approaches towards the inevitable which oppose one another the most. Collin's view is that death is unavoidable, and that one must avoid it. It is revealed in a turning couplet at the end that she is attempting to talk to death and avoid her own. Derby, on the contrary, enjoys the feeling of dying, as evidenced by his imagery, choice of diction, and loosely dreamy tone. He sees death as avoidable, since he mentions that he brushed with death but decided against it "like a cute schoolchild". He invites it, and discusses it as a dreamer would a vision, or an addict would a kicked habit, saying “I can’t get over that minute of dying so quit” in the final couplet, similar in form but not in content to the final couplet of Collins’ poem.

Apocalypse Now v. Heart of Darkness

The most obvious differences between film and book exist in the plot. In the movie, the setting is in the Vietnam War, while the setting of the book is the Congo Free States. The time periods differ, and the contexts differ; the film’s theme centered around war in Vietnam, while the book’s theme centered around colonization. However, these glaring differences matter little. The essential theme of the book persists within the movie, and in both forms of media there remains a sense of battle and of contempt with the native peoples, and a sense of infiltration into a foreign land. Other plot points matter somewhat more, and are intriguing. For example, Kurtz is murdered by the main character in the film. Opposingly, in the book, Kurtz dies of natural causes, watched over by the main character, Marlow. The death of one of the story’s central characters varies. Furthermore, the pieces end differently. The film concludes with the wind murmuring “the horror”, while the book ends with Marlow meeting a woman who loved Kurtz, and he tells her that his last words were her name. This difference has minimal significance simply because the book ends with the main principle—that Kurtz murmured “the horror” upon his death, and that this haunted the main character.

Of course, there are also plot similarities which are striking. The steersman of the boat in both pieces is speared, and dies before the protagonist; afterwards, a character becomes distraught by some minute detail (in the book, it is Marlow, by the blood in his shoes; in the movie, it is Lance, by the loss of the puppy, comparatively minor). There are also heads on the stakes; Kurtz is dying; there is a woman present, idolizing him. These inclusions of elements from the book into the movie emphasize their importance in the story.

Between movie and book, the main character differs. In the book, Marlow travels because he craves adventure, and he becomes disenchanted by what he finds. In the film, the main character journeys because he is forced to by the army, on a predestined mission to terminate Kurtz, unlike Marlow, who believes he is merely going to visit Kurtz. While motivations contrast, the relationship between the main character and Kurtz remains intact. Marlow is undyingly curious about Kurtz, and is drawn to him, while the main character of the film is also drawn, studying papers and history of Kurtz in his spare time. The mystery enveloping Kurtz remains in both stories.

The emphasis on the natives between book and film are somewhat similar. In the book, Marlow witnesses disturbing scenes, such as the Valley of Death, but he does not focus on them. Similarly, the film views scenes which are disturbing—dangling dead bodies, natives shot—but does not focus on them. Rather than the idea, the essence of the horror with the natives is given both in film and in the book.  The book, however, has a more modern view on racism—it seems to decry it more so, fixating more on the death of the natives rather than discussing unlikeable traits of their culture, like Heart of Darkness is prone to do.

Finally, the character of Kurtz is largely similar. Kurtz is powerful, mysterious, reads poetry—yet in the film, he is large and strong, and determines his death, wanting to go like a soldier. In the book, Kurtz steps over the ledge, but it is a ledge of the natural world, not on of murder. His impact is great. Yet, in the movie, the relationship between Kurtz and the protagonist seems to be fostered more. In the book, there is almost no evidence of a developing relationship until after the fact, leaving the reader confused. This, I believe, is a strongsuit of the film that the book failed to deliver. Again, though, both movie and novel capture the main principles surrounding Kurtz and his death, despite minor plot and character differences. 

Poetry Explication: Siren Song

This poem in its entirety is what it claims to be merely about. The speaker claims to be discussing a "siren song", speculating what it is about, and what makes it so "irresistible." The second and third stanzas allude to the legends of Siren’s song, that men would leap overboard to reach the Siren’s despite knowledge of imminent death. Both stanzas are formed in similar manner, beginning with “the song”, with lowercase letters, like an ongoing reminiscence. The tone for the rest of the poem is set here: speculative, wondrous in the mystery, and moreover, grim (“anyone who has heard it is dead” (9).)

The structure and rhythm of the poem are interrupted by the fourth stanza, which begins with a capitalized word “Shall” (10) and if in the form of a question. Here, the intrigue is introduced. Framed by the reflections of the legend in previous stanzas, the curiosity of the reader is provoked. Furthermore, curiosity is spiked when the speaker mentions that they are donning a “bird suit”. The reader is propelled further by wonder and intrigue.

The following two stanzas, encompassing lines 12 to 18, begin to appeal to stereotypical desires of man, to be powerful, heroic, and a rescuer of a damsel in distress. The image of a damsel in distress is constructed by the two identical lines which say “I don’t enjoy it here…”

The following stanza further appeals to men by making them feel “unique”, a rescuer “Help me!”, and special “I will tell the secret to you, to you, only to you.” All appeals are made to the male reader, curiosity and bravado are piqued, and the reader is drawn: what is the siren’s song?

The final stanza reveals that the entire poem is the song of the Siren. It is understood when the speaker says “it works every time” that the reader (male figure) has been drawn into the Siren’s grip, and as revealed by the tonal shift, from intriguing and sensuous to plain and bored, that the reader has perished like the men whose “beached skulls” are a failed reminder to others of the dangers of temptation. 

The Secret Sharer: Character Evolution

The captain (and narrator of the short story) changes in subtle yet noticeable ways over the duration of the short story "The Secret Sharer". In the beginning, he is tentative, a new captain on a ship that he is unfamiliar with, surrounded by crew members who doubt him and are suspicious of his youth. It is revealed that the captain does not give orders to his crew when he mentions upon giving one that it is his first. Some of his first instructions to them are, also, not commanding in nature. He gives them a rest from their duties, something unusual and perhaps more timid an act than a noble one.

The captain is also consumed by the belief that he is insufficient and by the fear of rejection by his crew. He says: "My strangeness, which had made me sleepless" (21), an indication that he is plagued by thoughts of his own newness. In the beginning, the captain overall is therefore timid, weak, and preoccupied.

Following his peculiar relationship and interactions with his "double", the fugitive he has hidden on his ship, the Captain undergoes an interesting change. In the end, he directs his crew in an orderly manner, instructing them to turn the ship towards land despite their doubts and trepidations. He also realizes at this point that he barely knows the ship of which he is the Captain, and resolves within himself to get to know his property as a captain should. He shrugs off his preoccupation with his inadequacy, coming to fulfill the role of a captain with more confidence and conviction.

The reason for this transformation: the captain is introduced to another part of himself when he lets Leggatt onboard his ship. Leggatt is always stoic, calm, and strong, whereas the Captain is nervous and feeble. Leggatt is like the Captain's alter-ego, which intrigues him greatly (he always calls the fugitive his "double" with great affection). After rescuing the man representing his alter-ego, the Captain sees more so in himself the traits that Leggatt embodied, and decided, perhaps, the embody them himself.