Lusophone African Writers and the Issue of the National Identity - Case Study Example

Lusophone African and the issue of the national identity Introduction Noise, smile, nervousness and many other concepts penetrate in the fiction of Orlanda Amarilis and Luandino Vieira. The tendency of the literature of protest, which is the reflection of national independence, is relevant characteristic to the short stories of both writers. It should be noted that the writers of the nations, which were oppressed for centuries, reflect their emotions and negative emotions and connotations in the context of their works. The major themes of the fiction of Vieira and Amarilis were the antagonistic moods against oppression, exerted on Africans by the white Portuguese society. Furthermore, it should be noted that national identity and its protection is rather challenging issue. For example, in the work by Amarilis, the main character is confused about her self-identity and cannot make a choice whether to socialize with white Portuguese society or to remain with other poor dark-skinned people. In the short story by Vieira, the national identity is positioned as the main advantage of the Africans living in the poor working districts of the Portuguese society. Therefore, using different means, both authors discuss the essence and the relevance of the national identity for Africans, who sacrifice their self-identities under the pressure of other authoritative nations. “Disillusion” by Amarilis Actually, the modern Angolan literature has its specific features of development and very often the writers wanted to transfer cultural and lingual peculiarities of their nations in their works. In the short story “Disillusion” by Amarilis the writer does not indicate the name of the main female character. It is the first evidence of a kind of social protest. Non-native Americans and African Americans have been considered for centuries as anonymous subjects, who were constantly oppressed. The experience of the main character is relevant to all other immigrants and this bitter experience should not be identified and there is no need to name the main character, because her destiny is so common. There is an unsolved dilemma before the main character: whether to socialize with the rest of the white Portuguese society or stay with her people. The heroine realizes her absence in the society she lives; she feels neglected and nobody takes care about her. Having chosen anonymous main character, the writer thus indicates peculiarities of the context in which the short story was written. Different moods of immigrants, their daily routine, negative and positive emotions are explored by Orlanda Amarílis. The concepts of identity were relevant to the writer, who was born under conditions of lost identity in Cape Verde. There are a lot of different challenges within the short story of Amarílis. A lot of immigrants from Cape Verde had to make a choice of socializing in their own community or socializing with the white Portuguese society. Throughout the story a young woman identifies her with the rest of the society. Supposedly, a woman is Cape Verdean, but on the other hand there are some facts, which inform that her life would be different if she were to “go back” and “vegetate behind the blinds of a city going nowhere and peer out at the women bringing water from Madeiral in cans on their heads or the men dragging carts loaded with sacks to the Morais warehouse? No, no, forever, no.” (Amarilis, p. 35). Moreover, we can see that a young woman meets different people throughout the story. She talks to them, but her neighbors know nothing about her except “her quick, nervous step” (Amarilis, p. 35). People around her are just a faceless crowd. It can be suggested that in such a way a young woman wants to preserve her self-identity and expresses her protest against the white Portuguese society. The woman notices just some features of people’s appearances or discusses what they are doing. Their names are not important for her. On the other hand, there is no expressivity of her protest, because “everything goes well” from day to day. She is not satisfied with her life, but on the other hand she is not really disappointed about it. Her isolation is quite clear and she is afraid of making some changes. For example, when a young man invites her to go to the cinema, she thinks that it would be a change for worse. There is even more isolation of the main character in the end of the story. Moreover, the girl’s sexuality is acknowledged by men, but they also make an emphasis on her race. Still, the girl stays inattentive to potential changes in her life and gossips around her race and sexuality. Consequently, there is no identity of such people, who are neglected and discarded by the society. There is no need to develop or identify their self-identities. The limits of different individuals are blurred and there is no society of individuals with any personal identities, but only a nameless crowd. The main character of the short story “Disillusion” losses her roots and in the end the main character is not ashamed of her roots. Therefore, only in the end of the short story the main character is proud of her national identity and she realizes it only acknowledging her self-identity and her roots. In the beginning of the story there was evident social protest against social prejudices and in the end of the story the main character underlines the main value of her nation, of her identity and she likes being surrounded by other people. She acknowledges that being surrounded by dark-skinned people is an unavoidable thing. There is no way to start all over again; there is only a way to acceptation of others, as they are and not shaming of her color of the skin. Thus, we can claim that Orlanda Amarílis in her short story “Disillusion” reflects a problem of the lost self-identity and the concept of a lost identity, which is the dominant problem for dark-skinned people. Luandino Vieira Luandino Vieira in his story “The Tale about the chicken and the egg” discusses the peculiarities of the national identities and the concept of self-identity of people from Luanda. The writer reflects internal conflicts of African neighborhood with all his heart. He provides the smallest details of his discussion and he is very much concerned about the worrying of African Americans. The author passionately transfers misfortune of the musseque dwellers. Actually, this tale reflects a comic internal conflict between two women. They are arguing about the ownership of a chicken and an egg. The involvement of policemen in this conflict makes the situation even more tragic-comic: “Since you didn’t come to any conclusion about the hen and the egg, I’ll resolve it. […] You were disturbing the public order in this yard, you noisy gossips! More than two people were together here, that’s prohibited! … this crazy idea of deciding your own disputes you were trying to take justice into you own hands! The hen goes with me as evidence and you start moving! Let’s go circulate! Go on home!” (Vieira, p. 107). We can see that in this passage antagonistic moods against dark-skinned women are reflected. Moreover, the police officer expresses his negative ideas violently. After the policemen, the readers penetrate in the complicated political discourse. The policeman reflects his ideas about a potential independence. It is clearly shown that Portuguese represent the law, but the musseque are able to solve their conflicts themselves without any help. In a consequential manner the Africans are able to gain control over power. Moreover, it is possible for Africans to strengthen collective actions against the colonial administration. Luandino Vieira reflects national identities of the musseque, using his special dialect. The definitions of dialectic words, which may be further read in the end of the short, reflect the appreciation of the musseque of their national identities. Another important feature of Vieira is the fact that he positioned the main characters of the short story from the musseque as integrative elements of the plot of the story. The narrative is structured around the main dark-skinned characters. It is weird that through the arguing about the topic of the chicken and the egg, the author managed to show social position of Africans in the Portuguese society. Moreover, this daily arguing was the most impressive emotional component of the lives of poor people in the working districts. Police involvement in the conflict indicates the position of authorities and indentifies the role, which the powers play in the lives of Africans. To get the chicken and not only the egg is the core element of the society in the working class. The same can be said about the authorities. They want to get money at the expense of other means. This conflict is perfectly illustrated by Vieira. Self-identity is especially important for the main characters of the short story. There are certain names indicated throughout the short story. All the main characters of the story have their names, have their opinions and do not need authorities from Portuguese society to help them solving their conflicts. Conclusion Therefore, both Vieira and Amarilis show the challenges of self-identity identification of Africans, when they live in the alien society of white Portuguese. Amarilis chose a strategy of alienation and anonymity, because it is better to socialize with white Portuguese society. Vieira underlines a strong basis of national identification and dominance of Africans over Portuguese authorities. Both stories show a passionate nature of Africans, their desire to be independent from external bounds. The concept of national identity is a complex phenomenon. Lusophone African writers underline the necessity to preserve the national identity of their nations. Moreover, it should be noted that African writers find it too hard for their main characters to socialize within the alien national context. Vieira is more open in his political considerations. By means of allegory, he compares a challenge of the chicken and the egg with a political conflict. When the source of getting money was taken away from poor people, they remained calm, but when the land was taken away from these poor people, they were indignant and they felt too bad. They united, raised their voices and wanted to fight against the Portuguese white authorities. Thus, antagonistic moods directed on national identity protection are expressed in a more direct manner in the work by Vieira. The short story by Amarilis does not have such a strong political background, but the depth of emotions and psychological turmoil of the story is deep as well. Consequently, these two works are the writings of protest and resistance. Moreover, these works are the reflections of the necessity to protect the national identities for Africans. Like the other African writers, it is evident that the reflections of Amarilis and Vieira underline the peculiarities of the national identities of poor oppressed Africans in alienated contexts. Work cited Amarilis, O. Disillusion. Vieira, L. The tale of the hen and the egg. Read More