Human rights in literature: A study of David Rubadiri’s poems ‘An African Thunderstorm, and ‘A Negro Labourer in Liverpool’.
Human
rights in literature: A study of David Rubadiri’s poems
‘An
African Thunderstorm, and ‘A Negro Labourer in Liverpool’.
G.
Priya,
Asst.
Prof. of English,
Nallamani
Yadavi Arts and Science College
James David Rubadiri 1930 is a Malawian poet and
playwright and novelist. These poems are talking on the arrival of western
power in Africa and their impact to the native settlers. When we read African
literature, we should remember that, colonization was at its harshest in
Africa. As history stands proof, it was highly exploited and savaged by the
ambitious ‘white man’. This experience is on the minds of all thinking poets. Rubadiri
is ranked as one of Africa’s most widely anthologized and celebrated poets to
take up human rights issues in his poetry collection. His poems show a fruitful
combination of African influences and European poetical forms. There is a
certain melancholy in his poems, which is a common characteristic of black
poets from Africa and other regions of the world; it is maybe the black humor
that better describes the poetry of Rubadiri. Poetry and human rights have
always been good bed fellows. Many poets around the world have contributed to
the discussion of human rights. It is an accepted fact that without being
rooted in the culture of land it is difficult to give authenticity to the
writing. Rubadiri’s poetry has been praised as being among “the richest of
contemporary Africa”. He said that Malawi needed help to build its democratic
institutions.
David Rubadiri’s “A negro Labourer in Liverpool”
exemplifies the pathetic situation of the average negro. The poet asserts how
his individuality is suppressed in a white dominate society. This poem strives
to highlight the plight of a negro in Liverpool. The indefinite article ‘a’
points to the lack of specific identity. They are just one among group, one of
the communities, who do not necessarily posses any individual identity. A negro
labourer in Liverpool presents a vivid picture of the lot of the black negroes.
The white masters who brought these negroes, branded and made them do works in
coal mines and elsewhere. These negroes who works in the coal mines did not
have basic things to lead a meaningful life. The extreme cruelty inflicted on
them reduced to the level of animals. When the poet passed a negro labourer
walked not as human beings but as ‘shadows amist dark shadows’ (5). The word
itself has own meaning without any authenticity or reality of being of its own.
The place ‘back street pavement’ (2) where he lived was used to carry on all
sorts of illegal activities.
They neither talked nor walked with an upright
gracity. They were simply ‘slouched’ (2).
His face was not normal. It was ‘taut
haggard and worn’ (4). Treated as a slave for a long year they had forgotten to
up a straight head. Their bowed head tells the people of the world that they do
not enjoy even the freedom to hold their head high.
A
heart heavy
With
the load a century’s oppression,
Glouriosly
sought for an identity (18-20)
David Rubadiri
hints at the indifference of society as a whole to the plight of the labourer
as he states that when he passing them. He slouches on dark backstreet
pavements. His ‘marginalization’ is evident in his position ‘slouching’ (2).
Further, it is also emphasized in his being side-stepped on the pavements.
Again the pavement is qualified by the phrase ‘dark backstreet’ (2). The head
is ‘bowed’ (3) when it would have preferred to be straight. He is overcome with
fatigue and totally exhausted. He is a dark shadow amongst other shadows. He
has no unique identity, his life is not colourful.
The poet
asserts that he has lifted his face to his, as in acknowledgement. Their eyes
met but on his dark Negro face. The poet probably refers to the reflection of
the speaker’s eyes in the eyes of the labourer. The eyes are foregrounded on
his dark face. There is no sunny smile as he wears a forlorn expression. The
sun is an important and recurrent motif in African poetry. A wise man once said
that a man is poor if he does not have a penny; he is poor if he does not
possess a dream. The labourer here neither has hope nor longing. Only the
mechanical ‘cowed dart of eyes’(11) that is more mechanized than the impassive
activity of the people. People in their ‘impassive’ fast-forward life fail to
notice the labourer. He painfully searches for a face to comprehend his
predicament, acknowledge his suffering. It expresses his utter solitude and
utter desperation.
David Rubadiri once confronted a negro laborer from
Liverpool, the negro labourer wore a dark negro face. The only thing he seeks for a warm smile, or a
nod of understanding translating into the acknowledgement of his suffering. The
negroes back is has been bent by oppression, colonialism and collective
submission to a force that has been deemed indestructible his work resigned to
his fate with lack of feeling and spiritual numbness. His only fulfillment lies
in sweat of his labour. Smile which comes naturally to human being did not come
to him. The semblance of smile he put up was listless. There was no expression
of hope for the future in his face.
The negro labourer cart his eyes in a quick fashion.
His looks are full of fears caused by the cruel treatment of the masters. The fears
of whip haunt his looks. He pierced into impassive crowds. The crowd did not
respond. His heart was burdened with sufferings and unbearable pain. Poet expresses
inner most feelings of negroe slavery in the hands of white masters. Through
the lines ‘a heart heavy/ with the load of a century’s oppression’ (18) we can
understand the situation of the negroes who wants come out from the hardest
work. The lines which proves the ‘for they too groping for a light’(24)
searching for the new things to happen in their life. The speaker put forward
the question to the readers:
will
that sun
That
greeted him from his mother’s womb
Ever
shine again?
Not
here-
Here his hope is the
shovel
And
his fulfilment resignation (25-30).
He awaits a new dawn, as fresh as that promised as he arose
from his mother’s womb. He longs for the rays of hope of a sun that will never
set for him. Presently his hope is his shovel-his hard work, and he discovers
content in its fulfillment.
In his creations, that melancholy is accompanied
with irony and sarcasm that painfully touch the vital experience of his race.
However, this classic of African poetry, from whom we will not forget his
quality as a very recognized poet in the world, he gathers some elements that
make his poetry one of the richest of contemporary Africa.
From the west
Clouds hurrying with the
wind
Turning sharply
Here and there
Like a plague of locusts
(1-5)
The poem “An African Thunderstorm” describes a
typical African thunderstorm, with all its intensity. In African society, rain
is a blessing; everything loves the approach of rain, not just children. It is
good for the crops and animals, as it increases the harvest. However, when we
read this poem, we did not get the feeling that the author is happy; he
concentrates on telling us about the damage that the rain and wind do. For
example a plague of locusts is never a good thing, at least for the crops. It
calls attention because the poet uses this simile while referring to the wind
that brings rain, a good thing.
The wind whistles by
Whilst trees bend to let
it pass.
Clothes wave like
tattered flags
Flying off (22-25)
It is possible to interpret the poem as the effect
of colonial domination on the native land. The time that the poet has lived-
his country got independent in the early 1960’s can be convincing. At least he
was familiar with that part of the history of his country. It also alludes to
domination by such words as “trees bent to let the wind pass” (15) clouds ride
stately on the back of the wind. The tattered flags have a nationalistic
connotation. The interpretation provided could be making a mountain out of a
mole-hill but also, there can be more than meets the eye. That the why it is
important to know as much as possible about the historical context in which the
poet lived. Amidst the smell of fired smoke /And the pelting march of the
storm. (32-34).
David rubadiri’s poem is an eloquent poetic
testimony to not only the multiple human rights challenges such as race,
respect, national identity, unequal access to assistance and the like. Humans
have a right to their history and their places; harrased them is a violation of
such right. The negro labourer is a representative of the class of negro
slaves. Who were put to unjust sufferings by their white masters.
References:
David Rubadiri “An African
Thunderstorm”
David Rubadiri’s “A Negro Labourer
in Liver pool”
www.poem hunters.com
www.rukhaya.com
www.us-african literature
foundation.com
www.litrature warms blogspot
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