The Comparative Flashcards
Remembering
Whitechapel describes himself ‘boy, mule, nigger, slave’
Family call him ‘dog’
Names are central to identity
Takes on new name = succumbs to racism and adopts owners view internally colonized
Names equate slaves to livestock = animalistic terms
Slaves using the language of their owners shows the cultural imperialism = whitewashed speech
Boy = powerlessness
Nigger = violence
Mule = exploitation
slave = cultural imperialisms
Whitechapel schooled in ‘subservience, obedience, compliance’
vs
Chapel who is ‘thirsty for change’
- Contrast b/w generations expose consequences of oppression - WC =vehicle of oppression = teaching next gen how to be slaves = perpetuating the beliefs of the owners
W Lydia’s help, Chapel’s lit. transforms powerless to powerful = dangerous b/c threatens the fabric of society = risk corporal punishment
WC’s internal colonization -> share view of “the master” that literacy = ‘calamity and shame’ / Cook keeps chapels
secret
Older generations uphold status quo vs younger generation questions it
White Chapel’s belief about slavery
‘born owned by another man, like his father before him and like his so would be’
Chapel dreams ‘his children would be free’ but Whitechapel rebuts with ‘evidence of 300 years’ of history
W/C typifies the older generations of oppressed / resigned to slavery’s existence + pessimistic about its end
CH= represents the younger gen = hopeful optimistic
W/C = respected patriarch / passes his trauma on to future generations
D illuminates intergenerational & compounding trauma link to the 4 types of oppression
Slaves compared to ‘stock on plantation’
‘they do not feel what we feel’ –> link to sanders junior qoute
Whitechapel
‘a slave could live a good, long life’
- Editorial echoes society’s belief in white superiority + divide b/w dominant + subordinate groups / beliefs based on anecdotal & subjective ideas of ‘values’
-Dehumanizing lang. creates divide b/c slaves worthless outside economic benefits provided to powerful = African heritage replaced w/ Western culture e.g. W/C give his masters name - Slaves taught to believe they’re serving god / good slave = going to paradise (heaven) W/C shares view of his masters on himself
Nanna’s death = stories of ‘life’ ‘traditions’ + ‘heritage’ lost
Her photo ‘quietly’ put in suitcase
- Suitcase = symbol/ represents transition, memory, family connection, Aboriginal knowledge
- Suitcase = visual representation of every day trauma / overt & subtle
The act of quietly pushing into “shadow” highlights their inability to deal with grief = relegate this to a dark part of their memory
Photograph Story
Woman describes room in parents’ house w ‘trophies’ and ‘pennants’ and ‘memories’ of weddings, birthdays […] and family visits’
Trophies -> Neville Bonner essay = A portion of the remainder with great tenacity and courage began to know the mediums and methods of the conquerors, to defeat them, join the, in fact surpass them
- Monument to ‘good times’
- Celebration against Western standards = very European = shows internal colonization and cultural imperialism bleeding into their lives = show of joy and Indigenous ppl have excelled
- Celebration of love and pride and family
- Nana’s photo also removed from wall reveals the grief = the act of removing highlights how common and expected grief is = have a clear process with dealing
Cook explains her ‘master’ s pot is full of the best things but her pot is ‘sweet’ to her
Cook hearing Chapel read:
“ all i feel inside is pride, not fear, not yet: just pride, swelling my chest and filling my heart.”
- Cook = female voice + more positive perspective / contrasts relentless oppression
- Cooks for master as job but for family is with love
- Strong identity + life enriched with love of family
- Loves Chapel = keeps literacy secret / proud + hopeful
- Hopeful Chapel can weaponize literacy against his oppressors
Virginian editorial
Slaves are ‘not our equal, not derived from our race’
A ‘just’ punishment for a runaway = ‘something in the region of 200 lashes’ + restricted diet + ‘maybe leg irons’
‘this seems just and fair’
- Flippant debate over treatment reveals accepted mistreatment + violent abuse of slaves
- Authoritative tone = opinions appear as facts / Virginian represents attitudes of white majority
- Extreme violence used as a tool for economic exploitation
Woman delivers court report about the death in custody with ‘not hint of emotion’
‘finally breaks out’ & recounts events in voice of court + her own to explain ‘his condition aroused immediate concern’ eventually describes ‘limp body’ before he is ‘pronounced dead’
- scene = switch to dispassionate tone of court report = surgical, monotone = dehumanize the court case to a statistic
- the Woman’s voice breaks in most difficult, emotional parts
- emotional distancing measures helped her tell her stories but she cannot hide her grief / pain (shows movement along the 7 stages is constant)
- Flat, disconnected monotone + the hard facts of Vocke’s story highlights the apathy and brutality with which he had to contend in his final moments
Gallery of Sorrow
‘collection of images’ depict the ‘phases of Aboriginal History’ including images of ‘Protection’
Images vary in diff performances but typically include regulation of residence slavery as employment, marriage, social life + other aspects of daily life
- Multi-media installation / performance utilizing range of dramatic strategies
- Cements link between 7 stages of Aboriginal History as the “The 7 stages of Grieving’
- Australia used guise of ‘protection’ to assume control over indigenous ppls lives + systematically replaced their culture with British culture
- Decimation of indigenous Australian culture occurred incl. whole languages = Aboriginal Australians even have to think in English
- Ultimate colonization = controlling thoughts
Aunty Grace marries an ‘Englishman’ & moves to ‘London’
Woman, Dad & Nanna participate in ‘peaceful’ and ‘silent’ protest march
-Aunty Grace = manifestation of ppl whose identity linked to their oppressor
-England & London = catalyzed colonization of Aus so symbolism of marrying Englishman esp. poignant / to family, Ag abandoned indigeneity, land + culture
- Family participate in peaceful march in scene after Vocke’s court report = draws on audience’s knowledge of ATI deaths in custody + reference to ‘police camera’ fear but makes bravery of resistances more admirable
-Ice block continues to melt = aud reflect on their culpability & see urgency of change needed
Whitechapel in Forgetting
” how long can the master’s daylight continue to rule our nights? “
Closing line “ memory is pain “
-D’ Aguiar use novel form for deep rich connection/ emotional response / 1st person allows for readers to see innermost thoughts and feelings = humanizes the trauma and history –> perspective evokes empathy and sympathy
-Chapels death serves as catalyst for the change of mind / WC realises that shackles of slavery are beginning to break
-Slavery is not sustainable the end is near as the inherent, human yearning for freedom cannot be stopped by the plantation owners
- Contrast to WC trying to teach Chapel to serve, Chapel posthumously teaches WC taste of freedom
Black Skin Girl
‘the letters of the alphabet appear on her dress’
the Woman ‘tires’
she ‘attempts to evade the letters’
- At first it is a childlike game but Woman becomes increasingly uneasy
- Transformation from joy to panic - is confrontational to the audience, a shock
- Woman sings in her own language to painfully protect herself from her oppressor’s
- Contrast between the English alphabet and woman’s resistance highlight the tension between the violence of colonizers and strategies of resistance
- language is a key tool of communication but also oppression
“Protector of the worst fate”
“Master of his own slavery”
“Thinks freedom is death. Paradise is afterlife”
- his best intentions to school Whitechapel lead to his death = failure as a father = success as a oppressor
- Deeply critical moment of introspection = repeats “slave” = very complicit with system
He mocks his own view = Paradise = death = only way slaves can get freedom - He preaches a lesson he cant accept = fight for slaves humanity
Sanders Junior asking S. sr why slaves were “dark” and them “bright”
In away he is a character foil for Whitechapel because while his view begins to cloud, Whitechapel on the other begins to see past the systemic racism.
-When jr asks sr = shows he’s able to see past differences of class and race = intelligence
-curiosity between different skin colors = shows innocence/ he is yet to understand racist ideologies perpetuated by society + associate them with intelligence
-Sr attitude as a child / adult = shows contrast = emphasize how racism can be taught and ingrained so they lose ability to reexamine beliefs
