The Postcolonial Writers and the Concept of the Nation - Essay Example

The notion of the as described by post colonial in literature The definition of the nation could be varied but the oxford dictionary puts the meaning as a collection of people inhabiting a country or territory and is united by a common descent, language, culture or history. These aspect of culture, language and history have been represented differently by post colonial writers. However, the common ground is that all the writers acknowledge that a nation is a system that is underpinned by these aspects. Before independence, most nations were under the rule of the colonial masters. The people felt that the colonial masters were very arrogant and ruled with a lot of force. Furthermore, the attainment of self rule and freedom from the colonialist was favoured or seen as the most ideal circumstance. The general mood at the time was that through self rule, much change and freedom would be experienced by the members of this nation. This was the main driving force that urged the freedom fighters to engage in liberation fights that ended colonialism. Most writers of the post colonial era however feel that the nature of the state has not changed much. In fact the authors have had fierce criticism of the fact that the nation of the nation and the expectations that it was to come with have been watered down. In this essay, the discussion that is given focuses on the critic of the notion of the nation or state as given by some of the post colonial writers. It also examines the modalities that the authors have used to engage in the critique. The works of Ayi Kwei Armah (1988), The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born and Salman Rushdie (1995) Midnight’s Children are used to illustrate the position of the authors on the notion of the nation. Most post colonial writers have brought out the aspect of disillusionment as the major characteristic that shrouded the notion of a nation after independence. The disillusionment is brought about by the failure to meet the expectation of the people by the new leaders that took over from the colonial masters. In many nations that were colonies of the western countries, the expectation was high among the members of the nations that change would affect their lives positively. The aftermath of the attainment of self rule did not deliver the expected change and the result was a high level of frustration in the new governments. The level of dissilutionment led to most writers of the same period believing that the notion of a nation had no meaning. The unity that led to the eviction of the colonialist has become a fictional idea. The new leadership used the term nation for purposes of unifying the people to get to power and start a looting or mismanagement process that led to loss of faith in the idea of a nation. One author Homi K. Bhaba describes the notion of a nation as an impossible symbolically unifying force. It states that the concept of a nation is “An idea whose cultural compulsion lies in the impossible unity of the nation as a symbolic force” (Bhaba, 2). This shows the lack of possibility of the nationhood being the cultural compulsion that delivers unity among members of a state. In the texts by Arma and Rushdie, the authors use narration and symbolism as a technique to voice this disappointment in the new nations. There is a significant difference though in the modality of explaining the disappointment in the nation within these texts. As shown from the preceding discussion it is evident that the authors of this time expressed a harsh criticism of the concept of the nation as used by the post colonial leaders. Apart from this direct criticism, in literature there are a host of method of representing the ideas or concerns of criticism to the notion of a nation. Rushdie Salman uses the concept of embodiment to explain his criticism of the notion. According to this author, the nation is embodied by the life and times of the narrator Saleeem. The narrator is born at the exact time that the country attains its independence from the colonialists. This factor is symbolic in nature. At the time of birth of a child, there is a lot of joy that surrounds the event. The parents and all other people related to the child celebrate the fact that the delivery is a success. Hope is another characteristic of the event. Most of the persons that are involved in the life of the newborn are optimistic to the growth of child and a potential good or bright future. To relate the birth of the nation with his own, the narrator says that “when India was nearing independence, he was able to tumble into the world” (Rushdie, 9).the meaning got from this is that there existence as a nation and a human being share a common timeline. At the time of the birth of the republic which the narrator is referring to, the hopes and aspiration of the people is quite similar to the birth of a child. The people feel that the nation should grow and become prosperous in the coming times. Freedom and abundance is expected from the right of self rule that is attained as well as the basic social services like education and healthcare. This relation of the new nation and the birth of the author is an example of the embodiment of the new nation. The narrator explains this fact by saying that “he was handcuffed to history, and his destiny was chained to his country” (Rushdie, 9). The allegory of embodiment does not stop at this point. Rushdie continues to pursue the idea of embodiment through the narrator to explain the happenings that befell the new republic India. In science, a body of a human being is described as a system. Typically organs and related parts are viewed as sub systems within one major construct that is the body. Each of these structures function together although in some cases independently to deliver the overall functionality of the human body. The presence of ill health and disintegration will make the body not work as it is supposed to. When the narrator talks of ill health, and his body falling apart, this reference can be made to the system of governance that is not right. The failure of the different actors in the government system to work properly would lead to the ultimate destruction of the whole system. the narrator states that “he began cracking like an old jug, which was his body...”( Rushdie, 37). This is to make reference to the fact that the different subsystems and organs within the government are not functioning properly and are pulling apart. The new nation or the post colonial regime is also satirised by the author by giving a comparison between the old and new nations. The author believes that the despite the old nation being a bad idea, the resultant nation that is formed after the departure of the colonialist is worse. In this case, the author uses the character of Padma to make illustrations on the fact that the promise of the new system was far greater. A study of Hinduism would link the name of the character to the availability of abundance and plenty or prosperity. Here her roles on the ability of the narrator tell a good story is equally important. The author uses her to show that within the nation, there are people of reason who really think the nation is going towards a wrong direction. However, such persons are often brushed aside or ignored by the system. the narrator agrees with the this fact and states that “Padma was leaking to him, and historical facts was pouring out of his body, and his lotus was dripping in, with the superstitions emanating from Padma” (Rushdie,37). The presence of such people in the society is common happening. These are people who want to inflict change to the system ad represent a level of consciousness of the society. Timothy Brenan agrees with this position and refers to her as an disembodied voice, that was conscious of what was happening in her country (Brenan, 101). The representation of the nationality by Rushdie points to the fact that the concept of a nation is not an impossible reality. The main systems that drive the concept of a nation and the very existence of a nation is impossible or fictional. Some writes have described the existence of a nation as the existence of the soul (Renan, 19). The study also opines that in order for the nation to exist, the value of the heritage and legacies must be perpetuated in an undivided form. It is for these reasoning that Rushdie satirises the notion of the nation as a fictitious concept through embodiment of the narrator and the Midnight kids. The method that is used by Rushdie in this case is to be part of the nation through the embodiment. The author observes the happenings in the nation through participation of the narrator that describes himself as a fictional post colonial nation. This method of embodiment and participation of the narrator is different from the method of satire on the concept of nation that is used by Armah. The method adopted is more of an active participant and observer who is alienated from the norms of a society. Through the narrator who is only identified as the man, the author is able to present his views of a failed project that is a post colonial nation. The identity of the narrators as used by the author is quite symbolic in nature. It can be interpreted in this literature to mean that no such person ever exists in the society that is characterised by failures from every system occasioned by the high level of corruption. Alienation and the separation of the man from this society provide the author with the method of bringing in different opinion on the subject of nationalism. It is different from the method developed by Rushdie that embodies the nation and tries to give its characteristic of fiction through the main character who happens to be narrator of the story. Several instances within this work explain how the author uses the theme of alienation to position himself as an observing participant in the building of the concept of nationalism. As is with the case of many other post colonial writers, Armah satirizes the fact that the failure of the nation is as a result of the mismanagement of the project by the new leaders that took over. Analysis of his work by other writers reveals the same. In order to achieve this effective satire of the project, an observer position is a potential method to adopt, and the writer drives his analysis through alienation. From the time the narrator refuses to take a bribe so as to deliver a favour to a person, he becomes an ‘outcast’ in this society where taking bribes and other forms of corruption is the norm. From his home to the streets and the even his workplace, the mood of the public is the same. Those who engage in the shameless act of looting the public resources and bribery are praised by the same members of the society. Back at home the wife is not happy too with the fact that he could not take the bribe to make their life better like the fellow men in his position are doing. On trying to make his point, the man finds himself being insulted by the wife and he is refered to as “Chichi dodo”. In the Ghanaian society, this bird is notorious for the fear of excrement but feeds from maggots that gives the irony (Armah, 45). These happenings leave the man isolated from the society and give him the opportunity to be the eye of the author in evaluating the system. The refusal to be part of the rot and corruption therefore accords him the role of an observer. The separation of the man from the society also gives him the chance to take reflection on the possible effects of the transfer of power from the colonialists to the Africans. The narrator’s detachment from his society forces him to do the same. While fleeing from the conflict within his own house, he is forced to seek a solace from a conversation with the teacher. Through their conversation, they try to analyse the possible cause of the rot and negativity in the society. Their conversation is underpinned with historical analysis of the main events that have led to the failure of the nation. In this discussion, the reads can realise that the intent of the author is to provide an analysis of the utopian promises of the new nation. The people who fought for the independence promised a socialist government system and that; things would be changed by the coming of a new nation. Through the use of the concept of nation, the politicians were able to provide to convince the people and ascend to power. For instance, he says “they have power but it will never work, as long as they work together (Armah, 87)”. The narrator then follows this statement by a mockery of what has become of the concept of the nation that the politicians envisioned. The refusal to participate in the rot that created the society in which the narrator now lived also provides him with a chance to analyse the philosophies that the corrupt used to explain their deeds. It can be argued that the author capture the analysis of the rot systematically by tracing the promises and leading the readers all through to the point that the concept of the nation has really collapsed. According to Nayar, the analysis provided by the author through this narration captures all the aspects of the neo-colonial nation. Nayar (82) explains that the works of Armah are a critique of the post colonial society, which were full of corruption, and poor governance. This statement echoes the fact that the author uses the narrator to get the reasoning behind the activities that the political class engage in. For instance, as the wife of the narrator tries to persuade the narrator to join the corrupt group of individuals, she uses philosophical tactics in her explanation. The narrator tells us that “Koomson managed to drive in a quicker manner, and therefore, anyone wishing to go far, had to learn how to drive faster” (Arma, 58). Therefore by taking the observer role, the author is able to present readers with the views of both sides in the story while developing and presenting his ideas about the concept of a nation. In conclusion, most post colonial writers generally expressed the people’s discomfort and disappointment with the new nations. The disappointment was coming from the fact that the new leaders that took over power from the colonialists provided did not fulfil the promises of a nation. Instead, the leaders engaged in the process of looting state resources and greed that only favoured self gains. The promised socialist government system was not delivered, much of the basic services were a reserve of the elite in the society and the concept that bound the people together as a nation was abandoned. Rushdie and Armah represent the case of India and Ghana respectively. Despite the use of the common technique in delivering their position on the concept of the nation, the two authors exibit a small level of difference in methodology. Rushdie use the concept of embodiment of the nation through the body of the narrator and the other midnight kids. The symbolic body that begins to fall apart is the nation that was born at independence. Works Cited: Armah, Ayi Kwei. The beautyful ones are not yet born. Vol. 43. Heinemann, 1988. Bhabha, Homi K. "Nation and Narration." (1990). Top of Form Brennan, Timothy. At Home in the World: Cosmopolitanism Now. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1997. Print. Bottom of Form Ernest Renan, What is a Nation, in Nation and Narration, ed. By Homi K. Bhaba (London & New York: Routledge, 1990). Top of Form Nayar, Pramod K. Postcolonial Literature: An Introduction. Delhi, India: Pearson Longman, 2008. Print. Bottom of Form Rushdie, Salman. "Midnight\s Children." (1995). Read More