Relationship between Memories and Trauma - Essay Example

Relationship between Memories and Trauma Memories can be defined as the act of thinking and putting much emphasis on the past while trauma is an experience that is depressing in a great way. This work tries to relate memories and depression or torture in the mind using selected literary discourses. The first discourse is titled the dreams of my father and it is a narration by Barrack Obama. This book is akin to an autobiography which tends to narrate what characterized the life of Obama in view of African American history. The book is seen as a life history of Obama as it revolves around African America life style. Among the major themes in the novel include double consciousness, black race, as well as invisibility. The author uses the narrative to show the path or the fight to gain the freedom his fore fathers wanted during their era but they could not attain it. History has it that the book was written after Obama had been elected as the president of Harvard law Review which took place in 1990. He was the first African American to be in that office and his autobiography was asked. This made Obama take some time off from the office and eventually he came up with the book which was later published in 1995. In his campaign, Obama borrowed a lot from the book as he tried to think of what his fore fathers underwent in their struggle to live happier life just as their white counterparts. One incident occurred when Obama had been elected the 44th president of USA. As he was giving his speech in Chicago, one woman named Ann Nixon Cooper really caught his attention. The lady was 106 years old and represented the fore fathers well because of his old age. The author noted that the lady had seen the change in America from a minute or a segregated country in the earlier years. Having thought of Cooper’s story, Obama came up with his campaign slogan “Yes We Can”. He thought of the sufferings of the women, the great depression his fore fathers underwent, the pain the blacks had during the Second World War, and the raw deals the fore fathers were given by the whites (Obama, 2004). Obama uses various characters to pass his messages right more so in figurative ways. For instance, the fictional autobiography of J. Gainess talks of a neo-slave who was born 110 years ago. This lady was conceived already a slave and the narrator thinks of her struggle during the civil wars as she dreamed of a better future to her grand children. The character faced the setbacks of colonists represented by Jim Crow System. It is written that as her life approached the end, she foresaw the human rights activists march as well the rise of black military. All these memories bring tears or rather create emotions to the readers (Merrida 2008). Another important concept in the novel that can never be ignored is the aspect of hope to have a better tomorrow by the author’s forefathers. It creates a lot of pain or emotions when a reader or audience learns of the kind of sufferings the forefathers underwent but with a lot of hopes of having an improved life if not to them, to their grand children. Obama recalls of one of the sermons he heard from one the clergies, Rev Jeremiah Wright. He relates the sermon to The Dreams from My Father and he concludes that the stories from the bible about human struggles for survival and hope as universal or rather common (Seppani, 2010). He regarded the story of the sufferings as “our story, my story’’ to express the deep pain the story causes. He talks of the great concern he feels about the possibilities of getting out of the narrow dreams to create a reality and fulfill his Father’s dream. It is really disturbing when one recalls of Fredrick Douglass (a character), who angrily complains that the slaves could be separated from the rest, who were majorly whites, should there be an occasion or function. This tends to create some idea that the slaves who are represented by the author’s father were considered useless or rather without any human value by their masters. This is a very disturbing experience in deed (Fox, 1990). Considering the family history of the novel, the writer Obama focuses on two major issues, the first one is the father passing on his dreams to the father and the second thought is the son searching for his father’s past. The idea of race as well as inheritance rings to the mind of the readers’ minds. While tracing for his Kenyan father, he brings out how his father left them when he was 2 years from his date of birth. This must be painful. He saw his father only once when he was ten. The father later died when he was twenty one years old. It can be said that Obama experienced a lot of pain on the search for his real identity, the family set up, the parents break up must be really disturbing. Obama talked about his father dream to be in America soil. This enables him relate his families’ life to slavery in America. He recommends his fathers dad as who was a slave as a hardworking cook as well a servant to the colonists who were majorly the British. The father suffered great but despite all that pain, he still had a dream that his son would be triumph. The author uses a character named Richard Wrights to describe the kind of struggles the blacks underwent to be educated in the whites’ school. The blacks were thirsty for knowledge for they knew their deliverance was hidden in the libraries. The fact that he was regarded black in a white’s school is very unfriendly. His father was always absent in the meetings that were only attended by white parents. He writes, he was considered different from the rest of the students if not a suspect, very disturbing experience in deed. He himself was disturbed not knowing exactly who he was. This work would be incomplete if Malcolm X experience is not incorporated. The writer recalls how Malcolm’s mother was raped by a white man. It is even more painful when Malcolm cannot avenge the pain of her mother as he cannot identify the white man who did the act (Haley, 2007). In his writing, he narrates on his parents’ relationship. His father, who was the first black in the University of Hawaii, met his mother who was a white. Their relationship led to the birth of Obama. The bitter or painful experience comes when the reader learns how the father abandoned the author’s mother at a tender age due various reasons, racial discrimination being one of them. The irony is that all focus and questions is directed to the black father but not the white mother. This already shows some form of racial discrimination. Still on Obama’s father, the fact that he could not enroll for his Ph.D in Harvard is really disturbing if not painful. He had all it took to pursue the Ph.D but his dream had to be cut short due to lack of funds. As a result he came back to Africa to fulfill what the black continent was promised. The sudden death of Obama’s father through road accident is not good news in the readers’ minds. The thought is worsened as Obama snr dies, Obama’s mother is remarried to Lolo Soetoro and the family moves to Jakarta. The life style the author had itself was a pity. He recalls his drug and alcohol life when he attended the accidental college. He further remembers the hardship he had when his programme at the non profit organization doing community organizations of gardens housing projects faced some sort of rejection based on racial grounds. Narrative life of Olaudah Equiano The author was born in the year 1775 and died in the year 1797, meaning he seized living when 52 years old. He was of Eboe ethnic and was an explorer, a writer as well as a merchant in terms of occupation. The author was blessed by two children named Joanna Vassa and Anna Maria Vassa. The author Olaudah Equiano, focus much on the time spent as slave. He majorly served in the gallery and later attained independence after studying the bible. The major themes or idea portrayed in the narrative are : the voyage of slaves moving from to A Africa to America as well as England , the way from slavery to freedom and finally the conversion from heathenism to Christianity (Manning, 2008 ). From the second chapter, the author recalls how he was kidnapped together with the sister. They are made to move around or travel by their captors for quite a while until appoint when they are separated. The author becomes a slave or rather helper of some children whose parents are recorded to be wealthy. At a point he accidentally kills a chicken that belonged to his master. This makes him run away and he hid in the woods in his master neighborhood. He stayed there for awhile without food, a condition that made him sneak into his master’s kitchen to steal some food. Since he was exhausted, he fell a sleep in the kitchen and was spotted by another slave who took him to his master. Fortunately enough the master forgave him. Later he is sold to other travelers. His sister who had been sold to other rich men suddenly appears and the two children celebrate their re-union. The sister and her company later depart a situation that saddened the author so much. He never sees his sister any more. He was then sold to a widow who had a son. The life there is so pleasing as he is treated more of a son than a slave. The happiness ended when he was forced to move or travel with some heathens to the seacoast. On reaching the sea coast, another pain is launched as he is made to get into the slave ship where he spent some weeks. He faced terrible conditions while in the ship. On reaching an Island named Barbados he is separated from the rest of the slaves and sold (Douglas , 2008). The author recalls that he was purchased by Michael Pascal who happened to be a lieutenant serving in the Royal Navy. He was renamed Gustavus Vassa (a Latinized name). Giving new names to the slaves was a common practice with the slave holders just after purchasing one. He had already been named for the second time, the first being Michael when they were in the ship as well as Jacob by his first master. The author refused to be renamed and opted to be called Jacob instead, this brought him much troubled as he was slapped beaten then finally admitted the new name. He accounts in his narrative that the slaves who were in the neighborhood slave holders were treated with cruel. They were punished in several occasions by iron muzzle for instance. A time scold bridles were stuck in their mouths to keep them silent, despite the pain they underwent. This left them unable to speak as well as eat. He states in his narration work of the fear as well as amazement he developed in the slave holder house. He developed great fear that he felt the eyes of pictures on the wall followed him all the time and the clock would inform his master all he did. In an attempt to end the fear he tried to wash his face so that he could alter or rat her change his color (Hochschild, 2008). When he was a slave to the naval captain, he got the opportunity to be trained in seamanship. This made him travel vast distances with the master. He recalls that this time the master’s people had war with France. The sad news is that he was also involved in the war despite being just a personal assistance to his master. His role was to pour the powder of the gun to the decks of the guns. Pascal who was the master was pleased by him and as a result or a reward he went to stay with Pascal’s sister in Britain so that he could learn how to read and write. He decided to join Christianity and hence was allowed to be baptized. He marvels that he never got the money prize when the British won the war as the rest of the sailors. Meaning he was down looked upon and could not be treated as the rest, being a slave. The master, Pascal had also promised his freedom, but this never happened. Later Equiano was sold by Pascal to captain James Doran. He was then transported to Montserrat situate in the leeward islands in the Caribbean. Here he was sold to Robert King who happened to be a merchant in the Philadelphia but traded in Caribbean. The former master liked the author a lot, he even instructed Doran to ensure that he is sold to the best master possible. Captain Doran too acknowledged the boy as a deserving lad (Eloudwa, 2007). In kings’ house, he worked in the shipping routes as well as in the stores. King promised the author that he would gain his freedom once he generates forty pounds the amount he paid for his purchase. He was further taught how to read and write by King. King could be regarded as a good master for not only did he teach the author how top read and write but he also guided him on religion and enabled him do trade to benefit both of them. He later granted him his freedom in the early twenties. King encouraged him (now not as a slave but a business partner) to remain in Britain, but Equiano found this not a good idea. At one instance he was almost being kidnapped back to slavery but on proving his Education he was released and he returned to Britain where the former slave felt safe. He moved to London and was greatly involved in abolitionist movement. Having been influenced by Whitefield George, Equiano remained a strong Methodist and later evangelized in the new dawn. He made friends with several people. He also gained a lot of support from the abolitionists and this encouraged him to write then publish his history of life. He got financial support from the abolitionists as well as the religious groups. His lectures also had a helping hand to ensure the publication of the author’s autobiography. His wok touched a lot of people on learning the kind of suffering he underwent and those who had not joined the abolitionist’s movement felt ashamed. This piece of work was published in the year 1789 after which it underwent several auditions and it is regarded as one of the earliest work written by an African, and the work was greatly read in England. The book was received with positive motives and on learning the slavery pains the author underwent, anti slavery movements were started in Britain. The story continues as adventures took the author to London where he married a lady from the English ethnicity and later became a great if not leading abolitionist. At this point, he revealed the bitter truth about the 133 slaves that were hurled into the sea so that the slave owners could be awarded the insurance money. This news shocked a lot of people /readers and this earned the abolitionists movement a lot of contributions. People really protested against African slavery and other in human activities. He was granted the leadership of the movement and was responsible for the resettlement programme London’s poor blacks to Sierra Leone, but this never went well as he was dismissed having complained about the mismanagement in the financial sector. The book is regarded as a great piece by an African author and greatly increased the personal revenue of the author. It enabled the author travel to many regions of the world more so in England. He later got the mandate to work towards improvement economic, social as well as Educational status in Africa more so in Sierra Leone. He then became the leader of the poor black community that was based in London. He records that at around 1790, it was the time the French revolution participated in America War for Independence and reformers face a lot of challenges as they were regarded as suspects who ignited the war. The author by then was a very active member of the London corresponding Society which greatly fought or rather campaigned so that the votes could be extended to men who were working. It is painful to learn that the society’s secretary, Thomas Hardy was killed by the government. It is also sad to learn that his daughter Janna died before reaching 21 years that is considered the majority age as he served West Africans as well as the London Missionary Society which encouraged Education in many nations. Despite the good work the author did, he faces oppositions from several scholars who think the author faked his African origin, and that all the sufferings he received as a slave were simply fabricated. This he did to enable him sell more copy, hence it is alleged he fabricated all these stories as a market strategies. One scholar by the name, Vincent Carretta argues that Equiano was an African since an African American by birth as well as African British as he chose. However, the birth records that, Equiano origins is linked to South Carolina as it is indicated in the muster roll. Due to this the research is still on, to get the actual origin of Equiano. It is so unfortunate that several authors have come up with their own versions concerning the birth place of Equiano. For instance, Catherine Obianuju who is a Nigerian believes that Equiano was born in Nigeria, in a smaller town called Isseke. In summery, the two novels discussed above are used by their respective authors to show some kinds of pains and sufferings they underwent. They shared some common experiences more so the racial discriminations. The issue of original identity is also common between the two authors. The major difference in the novels include the set ups as well as the motives of the autobiographies, for instances it is alleged that the Obama’s work was a campaign strategy while Equiano’s work was to increase the volume to be sold, hence a market strategy. Bibliography Douglass, F. 2008. Diagram of th slave ship. United States of Americans: History Wiz. Equiano, O. 2007. Grace unshakable. United Kingdom: Oxford Uni Press. Fox, B. 1990. First black elected to head Harvards Law Review. New York: Times press. Haley, A. 2007. The autography of Malcom X. United States of America. Hochschild, A. 2008. Burry the chains. Chicago: Adventure Work Press. Kevin, M. 2008. The Ghost of a father. New York: New York Times press. Kopytoff, S. M. 2009. Slavery in Africa. London: Univ of Wiscons press. Manning, P. 2009. Slavery and African life. New York: Wilkom press. Obama, B. 2004. Dreams from my father. United States of America: Three river press. Sapani, D. 2010. Garrows Laws. United States of American: Manta Media Inc. Read More