Cong-no! Am I right?

 

Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, takes place in the Congo region of Africa in the middle of the 1900’s. A missionary family from middle America traveled there to save lost souls and civilize the “barbarians.” During this time period many used this philanthropic mission statement. While some, such as the Price’s, were sincere in their efforts others used this as a cloak for selfish motives. While the Price’s had very religious, humanitarian motives, King Leopold is an example of the latter.

 

According to BBC’s documentary, White King, Red Rubber, Black Death, the beginnings of this horrific event are described. Through the guise of the Association International Africain, King Leopold exploited Africa for it’s resources and the native for their labor. Through this exploitation, the Congo’s population decreased by over half of it’s inhabitants.

 

The Congo provided King Leopold with rubber. The automobile industry was booming at this time and rubber was in high demand. In post World War II America almost everyone had a personal mode of transportation. World trade and technological progress were experiencing new heights.

 

In order to retrieve this valuable resource, King Leopold took the native women captive and sent the men to work. Adam Hochschild’s history novel, King Leopold’s Ghost, does an excellent job at painting the portrait of the Congo in this time. Hochschild makes the characters relatable while giving graphic descriptions of the horrors many endured. If the men did not bring back enough rubber, one of their hands was cut off. The laborer was marked for the remainder of his days. This forced labor prevented the natives from harvesting and hunting their food, leading to a collapse in their simple economy. Instead of “civilizing” this group, outsiders tore apart their livelihood.

 

The Poisonwood Bible is set when this is beginning to take place. It allows the reader to see the transition of these people. The election Belgium had set up for the Congo’s “new leader” is seen from the native’s perspective. Anatole explains how his vote felt of little to no importance. The sense of helplessness is easily felt.

 

Since this period the trend of exploitation and corruption has continued. A Western ideal of  a capitalist society seems out of reach. The leaders of Africa’s nation use their power to drain the area of resources while hoarding all of the financial gain. Africa was blessed with its natural resources, but lacks appropriate leadership to distribute the rewards.

 

America’s system of capitalism paired with a system of checks and balances within the government allow our countries wealth to be more evenly distributed than Africa’s. Forcing this system on another country without taking into consideration its disposition is a recipe for failure. The Poisonwood Bible explains the fear of communism that was so prevalent in the 1950’s way through the 1980’s. The irony discussed in class as well as the end of The Poisonwood Bible is how if Africa did join the Soviet Union, the system of communism would allow for everyone to get a fair share of the countries’ wealth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORKS CITED

 

 

White King, red Rubber, Black Death. BBC, 2004. Youtube. 02 Nov. 2008. Web. 27 Oct. 2009 <www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx2SjlfhSso.>

 

Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in       Colonial Africa. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999.

 

Kingsolver, Barbara. The Posionwood Bible. New York, NY: Harper Perrineal, 1999.

Purple is the color!

 Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is told through a series of letters. This method of writing is called epistolary. Although this style of writing is undeniably intriguing, it has other positive and negative affects on the reader. While this system accurately explains the protagonist’s point of view and aspects of her personality, it also prevents the reader from seeing an unbiased perspective. The letters provide another view of Celie’s growth throughout the novel, via content and whom the letters are addressed to.

 

Every entry within The Color Purple reveals a little more about Celie’s character. Through her writing the reader gets a basic understanding of her intelligence. Celie misspells words and has only a vague understanding of proper grammar.  Celie talks about how Columbus arrived on the “Santamareater (19)” and writes sentences like, “Sofia right about her sisters (69).” This writing is juxtaposed against Nettie’s letters to Celie, which use proper grammar, a higher vocabulary, and correct spelling. This further reiterates Celie’s unfortunate circumstances contrasted with Nettie’s opportunities. While these contrasts are undeniable, the content of the letters shows a mutual understanding if pain, suffering, and hope.

 

The person Celie addresses the letters to gives the reader an idea of her progression throughout the novel. During most of the novel Celie addresses her letters to God. Celie is scared and alone. God acts as a last resort for a confidant. Once Celie finds out Nettie is alive, she writes to her. Celie writes, “ I don’t write to God no more. I write to you (175).” This transition shows Celie’s personal growth and understanding. Celie no longer needs to write to a white male who doesn’t seem to care about her. Celie now has hope and a confidant in and outside of the letters who responds with love and understanding. She begins to deal with her feelings of bitterness that have been developing since the first page of the novel. Finally, Celie writes “Dear God, dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples, dear everything, dear God (249)” This represents Celie’s complete life fulfillment and spiritual satisfaction. Celie now sees God everywhere and her situation is so fortunate she wants everything (God) to know about it.

 

Unfortunately, the perspective of celie’s letters makes it impossible for the reader to understand anything more than Celie does. There is no overlooking via explaining what is happening and allowing the reader to infer conclusions. The reader is only given Celie’s knowledge. Celie’s perspective may be biased or at least not reveal any more than Celie chooses too. For instance, the reader doesn’t know how often Mr. beats Celie or if Celie’s romance with Shug is constant. Only what is important to Celie is revealed.

 

Epistolary writing format is unusual and therefore interesting. It gives the reader a protagonist’s centered point of view with no option for outside influence. This method creates a closeness to the protagonist few others could match. While the reader is left with less knowledge about Celie’s actual situation, her thoughts are almost completely known. The reader, essentially, is Celie’s confidant and there is no better way to understand a character than to know her inner most thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple  New York: Pocket Books, 1982

 

 

Stein+Picasso= <3

Picasso was one of the leading patrons of the modern art movement now known as Cubism. When Gertrude Stein moved to Paris she took an extreme liking to Picasso and the Cubism movement. This interest is reflected very obviously in her work, Tender Buttons. Stein used similar techniques as those used in Cubism to create a literary work of equal caliber in both skill and uniqueness.

To understand this relation one must first understand the cubism movement. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque created the Cubism movement(Stokstad 1078). These artists used fragmented and broken views and distorted them to convey images seen in every day life (Stokstad 1079).  The idea was to shift perspective into something unexplored. One way artists accomplished this was by breaking up an object into parts, analyzing those parts, and pasting them back together to create an image resembling the original image (Stokstad 1080).

Gertrude Stein took these basic ideas and attempted, successfully, to transform this visual system of creation into a literary one. The titles of the poems resemble the titles of Cubists pieces. They are simple and not very descriptive such as “A Box” or “A Piece of Coffee.” The subject examined in Tender Buttons and those of Cubists artists are also similar. An example is Stein’s “ A Carafe, That is a Blind Glass” next to Picasso’s “Glass and Bottle of Suze.”

Aside from these superficial similarities, the composition of the poems as well as the art work is are comparable. For instance, in Picasso’s “Violin and Palette” the viewer is confronted with a distorted view of the objects in the title. The viewer is forced to search and work to put the objects in familiar terms. Although all of the elements are present; strings, handle, music sheets, color of the wood, the object is presented differently.

Similarly, in Stein’s poem “A Petticoat.” She describes the title writing, “A light white, a disgrace, an ink spot, a rosy charm (1).” All of the elements are within that one line, yet the organization of the elements leaves the reader feeling uncomfortable. This is not how the majority of the population would describe a petticoat. Stein takes prominent parts of this object and brings them to the surface. Just as the violin’s strings were obvious in Picasso’s piece, the color, stain, and broach on the coat are visible. The coat as a whole, in the way a reader understands it, must be reconstructed in one’s mind.

In conclusion, the most prominent similarity between the writings and the paintings is the emotions many felt after reviewing them. The techniques these artists use cause certain emotions. The artists’ interpretation and representation of reality is so unusual they tend to leave the viewer or reader feeling uncomfortable. The artists tear down any sense of reality and completely reshape the common things in life. While many artists and writers attempt to simply further explore what is already complex, Stein and Picasso choose to find the complexity in everyday life. Seemingly simple and explored items are put in a new life and re-explored to their fullest extent. The goal of any artists, writer or painter, is to evoke some sort of emotion. In this respect, both Stein and Picasso were incredibly successful and thus memorable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Stein, Gertrude. “Tender Buttons Objects—Food—Rooms” Project Gutenburg.  7 March 2005. Web. 2 October 2009 https://campus.fsu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_6296890_1%26url%3d

 

 

Stokstad, Marilyn. “Art History 3^rd Edition.” New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.