Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The impact of christopher columbus
The impact of christopher columbus
The impact of christopher columbus
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The impact of christopher columbus
When European colonial authors introduced us to the native, they created the native; the native character became more real to European readers than the actual inhabitants of the new world. The natives' overwhelming otherness eclipsed any individuality that might have been found among them. The native was childish, incapable of reason, and savagely unchristian, or as Lord Cromer described him, a being which "generally acts, speaks and thinks in a manner that is exactly opposite to the European" (qtd. in Said 39). The European world was first given Robinson Crusoe's Friday as a native or, more accurately, the native. Friday could easily (and accurately in the European's mind) be substituted for any non-European. Friday, and the native that he represented, continues to exist in post-colonial literature. Part of him, his otherness, is expressed in the new European character. Another part of him, his nativeness, continues to be expressed in the new native.
The legacy of the other did not die with colonialism. It continues to be a presence in post-colonial literature, only now the other has white skin. Winterbottom/Clarke/Meers/Pilkings is just one character: the other, the European, the white man. Post-colonial literature's example white man is a reincarnation of Friday; his traits may be slightly different, but he remains the same in that he is overwhelmingly opposite from the important individuals found in the literature. Just as the native and the concept of the native was invented by the Europeans, the European has been invented by the new generation of post-colonial authors. In Arrow of God, Chinua Achebe creates Captain T. K. Winterbottom and Tony Clarke, white officers portrayed as mere unemotional bureaucratic cogs in the co...
... middle of paper ...
...n. The European's once prized light skin has become a sign of illness and he has adopted a stereotypical insensitivity that prevents him from being human. Colonial literature's other, the native, did not end with colonialism. Instead, part of him became the new other, the post-colonial European, while the other part of him remained the native and became the new self. The colonial native is the root of post-colonial characters and, as such, continues to be an integral part of post-colonial literature.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Arrow of God. New York: Anchor Books, 1969.
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. London: Penguin Books, 1985.
Emecheta, Buchi. The Joys of Motherhood. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1994.
Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1979.
Soyinka, Wole. Death and the King's Horseman. New York: Norton, 2003.
Conclusion: In all, racial oppression and identification is a concurrent theme in Butler’s works that have been discussed. Butler’s examinations involving the sense of pride and passion towards uniqueness and individualism are evident in many different perspectives. In Butler’s works, the passion the main characters have towards themselves in an alien world teach the reader important values and lessons against negativity and racial discrimination.
Fanon focuses on two related desires that constitute the pathology of the colonial situation: “The Black man wants to be white. The white man is desperately trying to achieve the rank of man” (p. xiii). As an unconscious desire, this can result in a series of irrational behaviors and beliefs, such as the Antillean speaking French, the desire for a white
Richard Wright introduces the main character in his novel, “Native Sun”, as a poor black man, named Bigger Thomas, living in the ghetto. In book 1 “fear”, I analyzed how Bigger lived and learned who his true character was. I also learned how he felt towards himself, family, and his friends. Bigger Thomas’ character is a very angry and violent person towards anyone who makes him feel afraid or out of place. Richard Wright uses imagery, sentence syntax, and symbolism to express how Bigger Thomas truly thinks.
The White Savior Complex is a trope where an ordinary ethnically European character meets an underprivileged non-European character. Taking pity on the other characters situation, the White Savior ‘selflessly’ volunteers themselves as their tutor, mentor, or caretaker, to help them rise above their predisposition (White Mans Burden, 2004). The White Savior, at their core is the application of colonialized ideals, which casts people of colour as incompetent, and hopeless, until the White Savior comes to rescue them (White Mans Burden, 2004). A common destructive trait of this trope involves white people conquering non-white people, and eliminating their culture under the prefix of 4helping them (White Mans Burden, 2004). The conception of this trope took place in the 18th and 19th century in adventure fictions. During the period of European exploration, the trope has since modernized and has become problematically common (Kings...
Chinua Achebe was an influential Nigerian author during the 1900’s who was credited with his three essays which have been fused together into the book “Home and Exile”. In his stories he discusses things such as his own Igbo people, the problems with colonialization, the strength that stories can have and many more topics. A big part of his essays are on his thoughts of colonialism, the impact it has had on his home of Nigeria, and how stories written by others either helped justify colonialism or rejected it. Chinua argues that stories have their own power to fight, and while stories themselves do not have the ability to directly fight colonialism; they do, however with their power of words, stories can motivate and encourage people to stand up against colonialism. In proving this thesis to be a true statement, I will be providing evidence of the how, why and the extent to which stories can fight colonialism.
Reimer, Susan. "Case Closed: Teen Pregnancy Is Poverty's Offspring." Baltimore Sun. N.p., 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 26 Dec. 2013.
In the present era of decolonization, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness presents one of fictions strongest accounts of British imperialism. Conrad’s attitude towards imperialism and race has been the subject of much literary and historical debate. Many literary critics view Conrad as accepting blindly the arrogant attitude of the white male European and condemn Conrad to be a racist and imperialists. The other side vehemently defends Conrad, perceiving the novel to be an attack on imperialism and the colonial experience. Understanding the two viewpoints side by side provides a unique understanding that leads to a commonality that both share; the novel simply presents a criticism of colonialists in Africa. The novel merely portrays a fictional account of British imperialism in the African jungle, where fiction offers maximum entertainment it lacks in focus. The novel is not a critique of European colonialism and imperialism, but rather a presentation of colonialism and the theme of darkness throughout the novel sheds a negative light on the selfishness of humanity and the system that was taking advantage of the native peoples. In Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, Conrad presents a criticism of British imperial colonization not for the purpose of taking sides, but with aims of bettering the system that was in place during Conrad’s experience in the African Congo. Conrad uses the character of Marlow and his original justification of imperialism so long as it was efficient and unselfish that was later transformed when the reality of colonialism displayed the selfishness of man, to show that colonialism throughout history displaces the needs of the mother country over the colonized peoples and is thus always selfish.
This paper aims to provides a full understanding of the free market system and how it can potentially benefit individual’s needs. The free market system is fully explained and classical economist’s views are considered separately as well as in contrast with one another. The specific economists discussed include Ricardo, Marx, and Mill. Their individual opinions on how the free market system could impact the economy is examined and the effects of an economic system controlled by the government is also discussed.
China grew to be the largest and most populous country of Asia. IT developed a unique culture by being isolated and having little contact with any other civilizations. After time, its methods of production and system of government here highly advanced for its time. China’s history is shown through the ruling of several different dynasties, their schools of thought and religion, and the vast spreading of their culture to its surrounding countries.
In his thesis for his book, Orientalism, Edward Said states that the existence of a subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture derives from Western culture 's long tradition of false and romanticized images of Asia. This same could be said about America’s prejudice against African-Americans and America’s tradition of false notions about the brutality of African-Americans. Richard Wright was determined to make his readers feel the reality of race relations by writing something so hard and deep that they would have to face it without the consolation of tears; his goal for writing Native Son, and his success. Wright created a character that rejected the domestic black life and instead actively plays
Generally, as expressed in Charles Bressler’s Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice (4th Edition), post-colonialism encompasses a study of literature written in countries that are or were at some point in time colonized by England or some other imperial power (235). This analysis of literature implies or assumes that the peoples of these texts experienced social, political, and economic influences from an outside force, and were made out to be the “other” right on their own homeland. While Frankenstein is by no means a tale of conquest, the concepts of isolation and oppression are eminent throughou...
The study of the (non-Western) “Other”, defined by Trouillot as the Savage Slot, commenced before Anthropology became a discipline. Thus, Anthropology did not fashion the concept of the “Savage” or “Other” (Trouillot 2003:28). Instead, it is initially associated with the accounts of travelers and explorers and literature of the sixteenth century and seventeenth centuries. In 1516, Thomas More composed a fictional account of the island Utopia, which became “the prototypical nowhere of the European imagination” (Trouillot 2003:14). The appeal of the “Elsewhere” to Europeans was fulfilled by travel accounts that portrayed the savage, such as those of Jean-Baptiste Du Tertr...
As everyone knows, teen pregnancy rate is increasing more and more each day and someone needs to do something to try and either stop it or decrease it dramatically. Teen pregnancy is causing dramatic population increase and that’s just common sense. Teens getting pregnant at such a young age is also causing poverty levels to go up more and more. Mississippi Spent over $100 million on teen pregnancy alone in the year 2010 (“Teen Pregnancy”). Just think of what it is now. More teens are dropping out of school and not finishing their education. According to the authors of this article, “approximately 30 percent of teen mothers have mothers who dropped out of high school, 40 percent have mothers who are mothers who dropped out of high school, 40 percent have mothers who are high school graduates, and 30 percent have mothers who attended college”(Kearny et al 143). Many people don’t realize that there are many effects of teen pregnancy including higher risk of birth defect, more likely to drop out, and also abortion rates increase.
In Native Son, Wright’s principally naturalistic style, momentarily interrupted by rebellious points of fragmented, modernist language, reflects in form Bigger’s overwhelming repression throughout the novel and his liberating moments of agency. The naturalism contributes to a narrative voice that can articulate Bigger’s fears, impulses, and desires with much greater sophistication than Bigger himself is capable of. This allows Wright to explore Bigger’s consciousness in a vertical manner, omnisciently understanding emotional mechanisms not apparent to Bigger. It is as though we are looking narrowly down at Bigger, and through him. While the narrative voice sees that Bigger’s violent mood swings are the result of his frustrated potential in a segregated society, Bigger only knows these moods as “the rhythms of his life... ebbing and flowing from the tug of a far-away, invisible force” (...
Postcolonial authors use their literature and poetry to solidify, through criticism and celebration, an emerging national identity, which they have taken on the responsibility of representing. Surely, the reevaluation of national identity is an eventual and essential result of a country gaining independence from a colonial power, or a country emerging from a fledgling settler colony. However, to claim to be representative of that entire identity is a huge undertaking for an author trying to convey a postcolonial message. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique amalgamation of history, culture, language and tradition. Only by understanding and embracing the idea of cultural hybridity when attempting to explore the concept of national identity can any one individual, or nation, truly hope to understand or communicate the lasting effects of the colonial process.