Wendt RA


Today (9/30) in class we spoke about how Things Fall Apart, Potiki, and Sons for the Return Home are initial landmark books for postcolonial literature for their respective cultures. They are the first of many catalysts, in a sense, for newer authors and generations to think more introspectively about how they arrived at their current positions both culturally and personally. But, the first of any type of expression is often experimental and could lean more heavily on the audience than the author to discern and create an impactful meaning. In Sons, I feel that the sparseness of the dialogue and perhaps the reason for its, at times, unclear delivery is to convey some underlying discords and issues that Wendt was unsure how else to communicate. I would argue that a very traceable trend between the several protagonists we’ve encountered this year and the antagonists (whatever secular/non-secular individual/group they maybe) is the lack of effective, relatable communication. The sense of talking (or feeling…) past someone is very evident in these examples of postcolonial literature. Dumbed down to a misunderstanding, but on a much grander scale, you could argue that it is in fact the whole premise of the genre: exposing the subtleties of misunderstandings, which is quite difficult to do through narrative. Wendt’s solution, I believe can be observed in his use of dialogue, which he tends to layer without quotations and present in a block fashion. A prime example of this can be seen at the end of chapter 21, page 116, where the dialogue is stacked and free flowing without breaks or quotations. The intimate nature of the conversation would make it difficult for any reader to fully understand, but more so is the presentation, which requires the reader to actively recall which character says what at every new line. The lines tend to blend and could even blur the meaning of the text. This unconventional demonstration of language, I believe, is a tool Wendt uses to convey just how difficult it is to truly understand another way of thinking and culture.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spiral of Time in Potiki

Potiki is a story focusing on a Maori community fighting to maintain their autonomy from hungry land developers who are desperately trying to coerce the Maori people off of their sacred land. The author, Patricia Grace, constructs the story through a patchwork of memories, where different events, different times, and different viewpoints come together in like a mosaic.   Grace disrupts the linear narrative and describes time in a cyclical way, a never-ending spiral. Rather than segregating time the “past time” of the ancestors from the “present time” of the community, there is a new way of describing time. I found “now-time” to be a fascinating concept, where there’s this spiral temporality where past and future time are narratively experienced. The concept of “sacred time” was more challenging to understand, where the narrative of Christ and the and the ancient myth of Mäui align.   The spiral, like kowhaiwhai, signifies repetition with a difference. Toko shares q
Read more

Potiki literary analysis

In comparing  Things Fall Apart  and  Potiki,  it is evident that each culture, and even individuals within a culture, define home differently. Many of the characters in  Potiki  rely upon the geography of New Zealand to define home. Hemi particularly views home through this lens.              Hemi first demonstrates his commitment to the land when he loses his job. While he is initially disappointed, he quickly resolves that “He’d always known that one day he would return to the land, and that the land would support them all again," (60). He trusts that the land will provide for his family, which is exceptional given that he has recently become unemployed. Additionally, Hemi expresses the importance of protecting his own land. He reflects, “These days people were looking more to their land” because “They had to if they didn’t want to be wiped off the face of the earth,” (60). He then points to the Te Ope people as an example of those who had been forced to protect their land. 
Read more

Potiki Reading

          From the beginning of her novel, Patricia Grace makes her priorities clear: She will be telling the stories that have been untold, and more importantly, unheard. Potiki  begins with the story of the carver, a master storyteller, who places the history of his people in his craft. Like Grace, he is "Seeking out and exposing the figures that were hidden" (7). However, his final story is left uncompleted, because "[It] is not yet known" (10). With the death of the carver, the narrative begins, and the reader is thrown into a somewhat tumultuous world.           Unlike Things Fall Apart , there is a strong emphasis on the "hidden" nature of the story. Roimata's internal conflict is not nearly as clear as Okonkwo's. In fact, it feels almost unknowable. "As a child I lived with my father in a railway house with a small, dark kitchen... Our window framed the flying windows, flying eyes, of trains which riveted the senses, carrying them into
Read more