LIT 342 World Literature - Final Essay
Professor Kinkade
May 2007
The Language of Shange, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, and the Negritude Movement
Both Ntozake Shange and Ngugi wa Thiong'o create works exemplifying the Negritude movement in "For Colored Girls" and "Resonances" respectively, in that they both "revamp the content of literature so that once excluded voices are now heard around the world", despite geographical differences (LIT 342 Unit 4 Web Reading).
| Negritude is a literary and political movement developed in the 1930s by a group that included the future Senegalese President Leopold Sedar Senghor, Martinican poet Aime Cesaire, and the Guianan Leon Damas. The Negritude writers found solidarity in a common black identity as a rejection of French colonial racism. They believed that the shared black heritage of members of the African diaspora was the best tool in fighting against French political and intellectual hegemony and domination. (Wikipedia) |
Leaders in the Negritude movement worked painstakingly at articulating models "for understanding and neutralizing the cultural alienation experienced by those on the receiving end of European colonial expansion" (Andrews, Foster, & Harris). Both Shange and Ngugi wa Thiong'o write in two languages, so to speak, in order to convey two parallel universes, that of their African heritage and that of the colonialism and imperialism imposed on them by the white community in both America and Africa itself. Thus, the use of language becomes a rallying point for both in their quest for poetic expression of experiences and values, and for the need for a "unity and particularity of black experience" (LIT 342 Unit 4 Web Reading).
There are many similarities evident in both pieces with respect to Negritude. First, both express cultural values of the black world. For example, in Shange's piece, she is "conscious of her female characters as black" (Clarke). The rainbow is reflective of the diversity each women faces. "The rainbow as a symbol works as a visual manifestation of women's spiritual beauty and eventual self-actualization. That a rainbow is not monochromatic by definition affirms the diversity of black female's experiences socially, culturally, and individually" (Mafe). Furthermore, "Shange is known for her unconventional use of English - unorthodox capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, and the use of African American idioms, dialect, slang, and rhythms" (Andrews, Foster, & Harris). Likewise, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, shares a story of voices having been silenced and the disharmony this caused him in his own youth, with language being the focal point. "In my view language was the most important vehicle through which that power fascinated and held the soul prisoner. The bullet was the means of the physical subjugation. Language was the means of the spiritual subjugation" (Damrosch, p. 961). In his piece, he draws a conclusion that "Afro-European literature can be defined as literature written by Africans in European languages in the era of imperialism" (p. 965).
Both are conscious of their blackness, and both express the need to have their voices be heard. In order to convey their messages with regard to heritage, both authors include childhood song and stories. Shange, early on, has all of the women sing "mama's little baby like shortnin, shortnin, mama's little baby like shortnin bread" while Ngugi wa Thiong'o captures childhood memories: "I can vividly recall those evenings of storytelling around the fireside. Language was not a mere string of words. It had a suggestive power well beyond the immediate and lexical meaning" (p. 961-962). When it comes to similarities these two authors share regarding Negritude, both attempt to "free themselves from European standards of style, thought and values and assert pride in their African heritage" (LIT 342 Unit 4 Web Reading). Shange captures the journey of seven women as they "come of age", including their "self-definition, self-evaluation, and an empowered self" through many of life's traumas (Mafe). Shange engages her audience with the duality of American culture through African American content (Mafe). Ngugi wa Thiong'o's work "exemplifies through different modalities the necessity European colonialism imposed on African writers to adapt a European language to an African vision" (Lovesey). In doing so, the authors move from neocolonial alienation to engagement and self affirmation.
Though both works exemplify several similarities with respect to Negritude, differences are evident. Ngugi wa Thiong'o focuses primarily on language whereas Shange has her focus on experience and emotion. For example, in "Resonances" Ngugi proclaims "Language and literature were taking us further and further from ourselves to other selves, from our world to other worlds" (Damrosch, p. 963). Here, he is sharing the humiliating experience he encountered being sent to a school run by the colonial regime in Kenya, having to forfeit his native Gikuyu for English. Shange focuses the discussions of the seven women on the "trials and triumphs of femininity through experiences as black women" (Mafe). Language is not spoken about, it is merely spoken, using a hybrid of sorts. Shange moves beyond the barrier of language and incorporates this hybrid language without blinking an eye. Ngugi wa Thiong'o seems to focus on a "golden" past whereas Shange has the characters move forward as they unveil their past and present lives. "Language, Ngugi believes, is an undiluted cultural essence and the taproot to the past, as well as a tool for solidarity and resistance" (Lovesey).
The spatial location of cultural identity is emphasized throughout both works. Shange's Lady in Brown dwells on her experiences reading Toussaint L'Ouverture. "…but I ran inta the ADULT READING ROOM & came across TOUSSAINT my first blk man …TOUSSAINT waz a blk man a negro like my mama say who refused to be a slave & he spoke French & didn't low no white man to tell him nothing" (Shange, p. 26). Negritude was inspired by Haitians such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, who led the slave revolution in the 1790's (Wikipedia). Ngugi wa Thiong'o emphasizes "The language of my education was no longer the language of my culture" (Damrosch, p. 962). Both promote black values in a world where values were being threatened to be taken away. Both yearn for unity in the Black community in order to move forward. Both promote the particularity of the Black experience in their writings. "somebody/anybody sing a black girl's song bring her out to know herself to know you but sing her rhythms carin/struggle/hard times sing her song of life she's been dead so long closed in silence so long she doesn't know the sound of her own voice her infinite beauty…let her be born & handled warmly" begs Lady in Brown (Shange, p. 4). Ngugi wa Thiong'o challenges "The very fact that what common sense dictates in the literary practice of other cultures is being questioned in an African writer is a measure of how far imperialism has distorted the view of African realities. It has turned reality upside down…" (Damrosch, p. 965). Shange and Ngugi wa Thiong'o reach a wider audience by telling their stories or their character's stories through the use of several languages, one using an African American dialect of English, the other, his native Gukuyu and English.
Shange and Ngugi wa Thiong'o present works exemplifying the Negritude movement, which is so important because it brought people of the African diaspora together in unity in the face of colonialism and imperialism. At a time when values were constantly being threatened, the movement offered a venue through which people of color could express and promote their values, create unity, and promote the particularity of their experiences. In these two works, language and a return to culture have given voice to those who were once silenced. "The thrust of Negritude therefore was the overthrow of European elements and civilization in African writing, and the replacement of them with African values and elements with which the people are familiar" (LIT 342 Unit 3 Web Reading). Language plays a vital role in both stories in the manner in which the authors "rethink forms in which writing can and/or should appear" (LIT 342 Unit 4 Web Reading).
Works Cited
Andrews, William L., Foster, Frances Smith, & Harris, Trudier. The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Clarke, George Elliott. "Contesting a Model Blackness: A Meditation on African-Canadian African Americanism, or the Structures of African Canadianite" Essays on Canadian Writing. Toronto: Spring 1998, Iss. 63; pg. 1, 55 pgs. Retrieved 29 May 2007
Damrosch, David. The Longman Anthology of World Literature. Volume F. The Twentieth Century. Pearson Longman, 2004.
LIT 342 Web Readings, Units 3 & 4
Lovesey, Oliver. "Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's Postnation: The Cultural Geographies of Colonial, Neocolonial, & Postnational Space". West Lafayette. Spring 2002. Vol. 48, Iss. 1, p. 139. Retrieved 29 May 2007
Mafe, Diana Adesola. "Black Women on Broadway: The Duality of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun & Ntozake Shange's for colored girls" American Drama Cincinnati. Summer 2006. Vol. 15. Iss. 2. pg 30. 19 pgs. Retrieved 29 May 2007
Shange, Ntozake. For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf". Scribner Poetry, New York, 1977
Wikipedia