VANITY (Analysis)
Vanity is Birago Diop’s way of expressing the frustrations of Africans after colonization. During, and after, colonization, eurocentrism was rampant.
Eurocentrism is the act of accepting and digesting the European culture hook sink and liner while neglecting one’s (local) culture and tradition. The contact with the French and British made many Africans neglect their tradition and culture in order to dress, speak and appear like the Europeans.
Colonialism further contributed to this issue because the European education, government and mode of education became what was required in the administration.
These are the issues that if the poet persona should start to narrate, who will hear them without first laughing at them?
If we tell, gently gently
All that we shall one day have to tell
Who then will hear our voices without
Laughter…
Whoever hears the Africans complain about their plights would laugh because it is obvious that the Africans are responsible for all that has happened them. The Africans are responsible for neglecting their culture and tradition. The Africans are responsible for embracing the idea of “wanting to be like the Europeans”, thus losing the connection that they have with their culture and tradition.
It is true that there is no sympathy for Africans from the outside world when they cry out about religious fanatism and terrorism. This is because if Africans had not accepted the foreign religions (of Europeans and Arabians) there would be no religious terrorism and fights such as that of the Boko Haram, AlShabab, etc. If Africans had stuck with their tradition religion, everyone would live in harmony because everyone would have one single religious structure and belief.
What heart will listen to our clamouring
What ear to our pitiful anger
Which grows like a tumour
No one would listen to the Africans again. No one can hear their cries anymore because it is already too late. The deed has been done already, and the only solution is far-fetched. Things had already fallen apart. No one can prescribe a solution for Africa; not even Africa herself. The corruption has really severed Africa’s Sinews, from its root. Even the African Gods and Ancestors have refused to help the Africans out. It is vanity because in vain has Africa seek for a solution to her condition.
The attempt to repair the relationship with mother Africa (tradition and culture) did not thrive. This time around, the internal solutions to problems are considered flimsy and not feasible. It is as “when our Dead come with their Dead” because it is incomprehensible. The African voice of reasoning has become unintelligible to Africans because the connection with mother African has been severed.
The connection with Africa’s culture, tradition and spirit has been severed. This is why Birapo describe the futile effort to understand a mode of communication that Africans have turned their backs on, for several decades, as vanity.
When the African communal system needed her people, they turned their back and went the Europeans way:
When they have spoken to us with their clumsy voices;
Just as our ears were deaf
To their cries, to their wild appeals
Just as our ear were deaf
It is evident here that Africans are the architect of their own predicament. Diop opines here that Africans have ignored the voice of reasoning. Despite the attempts to get her message across to the erring sons through signs in the air and on water, Africans have been unable to decipher this information because they have grown sterile of learning in the African way.
For us blind, deaf and unworthy Sons
Who see nothing of what they have made
In the air, on the water, where they have
Traced their signs
As a result, they can no longer understand mother Africa’s voice of reasoning anymore because it has been ignored for too long. Thus, they have become dead to our senses. This is why the poet refers to them as the Dead. The source of the solution cannot be assessed because it is not understood. This excerpt explains it:
And since we did not understand our dead
Since we have never listened to their cries
If we weep, gently, gently
If we cry roughly of our torments
What heart will listen to our clamouring,
What ear to our sobbing hearts?
Since the source of the solution has been neglected, it is in vain to cry and clamour for help. This cry and clamour will only be laughed at because it amusing when a child cries of hunger when he has a meal in a plate in his hand. It is an amusing scene that Africa seek for foreign aids when the solution to their predicament is right within their borders. This makes other nations to regard most African countries as a joke.
Vanity is Birago Diop’s way of expressing the frustrations of Africans after colonization. During, and after, colonization, eurocentrism was rampant.
Eurocentrism is the act of accepting and digesting the European culture hook sink and liner while neglecting one’s (local) culture and tradition. The contact with the French and British made many Africans neglect their tradition and culture in order to dress, speak and appear like the Europeans.
Colonialism further contributed to this issue because the European education, government and mode of education became what was required in the administration.
These are the issues that if the poet persona should start to narrate, who will hear them without first laughing at them?
If we tell, gently gently
All that we shall one day have to tell
Who then will hear our voices without
Laughter…
Whoever hears the Africans complain about their plights would laugh because it is obvious that the Africans are responsible for all that has happened them. The Africans are responsible for neglecting their culture and tradition. The Africans are responsible for embracing the idea of “wanting to be like the Europeans”, thus losing the connection that they have with their culture and tradition.
It is true that there is no sympathy for Africans from the outside world when they cry out about religious fanatism and terrorism. This is because if Africans had not accepted the foreign religions (of Europeans and Arabians) there would be no religious terrorism and fights such as that of the Boko Haram, AlShabab, etc. If Africans had stuck with their tradition religion, everyone would live in harmony because everyone would have one single religious structure and belief.
What heart will listen to our clamouring
What ear to our pitiful anger
Which grows like a tumour
No one would listen to the Africans again. No one can hear their cries anymore because it is already too late. The deed has been done already, and the only solution is far-fetched. Things had already fallen apart. No one can prescribe a solution for Africa; not even Africa herself. The corruption has really severed Africa’s Sinews, from its root. Even the African Gods and Ancestors have refused to help the Africans out. It is vanity because in vain has Africa seek for a solution to her condition.
The attempt to repair the relationship with mother Africa (tradition and culture) did not thrive. This time around, the internal solutions to problems are considered flimsy and not feasible. It is as “when our Dead come with their Dead” because it is incomprehensible. The African voice of reasoning has become unintelligible to Africans because the connection with mother African has been severed.
The connection with Africa’s culture, tradition and spirit has been severed. This is why Birapo describe the futile effort to understand a mode of communication that Africans have turned their backs on, for several decades, as vanity.
When the African communal system needed her people, they turned their back and went the Europeans way:
When they have spoken to us with their clumsy voices;
Just as our ears were deaf
To their cries, to their wild appeals
Just as our ear were deaf
It is evident here that Africans are the architect of their own predicament. Diop opines here that Africans have ignored the voice of reasoning. Despite the attempts to get her message across to the erring sons through signs in the air and on water, Africans have been unable to decipher this information because they have grown sterile of learning in the African way.
For us blind, deaf and unworthy Sons
Who see nothing of what they have made
In the air, on the water, where they have
Traced their signs
As a result, they can no longer understand mother Africa’s voice of reasoning anymore because it has been ignored for too long. Thus, they have become dead to our senses. This is why the poet refers to them as the Dead. The source of the solution cannot be assessed because it is not understood. This excerpt explains it:
And since we did not understand our dead
Since we have never listened to their cries
If we weep, gently, gently
If we cry roughly of our torments
What heart will listen to our clamouring,
What ear to our sobbing hearts?
Since the source of the solution has been neglected, it is in vain to cry and clamour for help. This cry and clamour will only be laughed at because it amusing when a child cries of hunger when he has a meal in a plate in his hand. It is an amusing scene that Africa seek for foreign aids when the solution to their predicament is right within their borders. This makes other nations to regard most African countries as a joke.
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