Hannah Cumming 200853
Discuss the traumas and anxieties experienced by the characters in Dambudzo Marechera's 'The House of Hunger ' in relation to Zimbabwe and Africa's colonial history. Zimbabwe was relatively late to gain majority rule, Ian Smith initially delared !hodesia inde"endent #rom $ritain, #oring Z%&' and Z%(' guerillas, in a limate o# inreasingly inreasingly radialised nationalist resistane, to ta)e to the bush and #ight to overthrow the !hodesian state, whih had subjugated subjugated the bla) "o"ulation #or the last two hundred years* years* +his was the ontet in whih -ambud.o /arehera, albeit in eile in ngland, wrote The House of Hunger , whih was #irst "ublished two years be#ore the end o# the Seond Chimurenga in 180 1* iterature had been heavily mobilised in the nationalist struggle and enouraged to "romote disourses o# the nation, trium"h, ultural revival and a uni#iation o# bla) "eo"le in the new Zimbabwe, an identity #irml y rooted in the land and in the struggle against against the white oloniser* oloniser* -es"ite these sentiments, sentiments, /arehera4s widely alaimed and hugely suess#ul novel, "resents a blea) outloo) #or the new nation, "lagued by violene, "overty, "overty, trauma and the gradual erosion o# both the #amily and the sel#* ith the historial advantage o# seeing the e"eriene o# many other %#rian nations gaining inde"endene inde"endene /arehera realised that a majority ruled state would be most li)ely to re"eat the regime o# violene em"loyed by olonial "owers, rather than at as a #ore #or true e6uality and liberation* 7$oehmer, 2005* "*259 %long with other Zimbabwean writers at the time, suh as :vonne ;era and +sitsi -angarembga, his writing aimed to integrate violene and su##ering su##ering into the olletive onsiousness onsiousness o# the new Zimbabwe* /arehera riti6ues stati views o# identity, identity, "resenting a haoti "iture o# the modern mind, and highlighting the #at that deolonisation is not om"lete with the removal o# the ou"ying "ower, "ower, rather, it begins and ends in the minds o# the olonised* /arehera was essentially an anarhist and strove to move beyond any sense o# national identity in his wor), whih is in essene #oused #oused on the universal deay deay o# the modern human ondition * He 1 %ll "age "age numbe numbers rs re#er re#er to to the 2005 2005 editi edition on
1
Hannah Cumming 200853
was #amously 6uoted as saying, imagining4 the new ommunity* +he traumas and anieties o# the haraters are indiative o# the olonial legay o# alienation, both #rom ones own ulture and subjetion to alien ultures, and the di##iulties and neessities o# the searh #or authenti #orms o# e"ression* The House of Hunger draws the reader inside the mind o# an anonymous narrator, whose e"erienes and o"inions losely mirror those o# /arehera* +he root ause o# a lot o# anieties in his li#e is his olonial eduation, whih has le#t him well>versed in an alien ulture, but has led to #eelings o# alienation #rom his own* His suess in eduation is seen to be the ause o# his ongoing malaise, as (eter remar)s, onsious and nervous by his own #amily and res"onds to this omment by whistling 4little ja) horner4, highlighting that even in a hildish at o# de#iane he must still turn to #oreign ultural traits* His mental s"ae and develo"ment has been invaded and olonised* %t the age o# nine he is beaten #or aidentally s"ea)ing to his mother in nglish and destroys his nglish boo)s in an at o# de#iane, but he is #ored to borrow new boo)s and ontinue as this is the only ourse o# 4advanement4 available* 7"*259 ater in li#e he is mo)ed by his girl#riend ?ulia #or his use o# nglish idioms,
2
Hannah Cumming 200853
Sha)es"eare4s Othello and "age one o# the Rhodesia Herald with a "iture o# me glaring angrily at the amera lens*= 7"*319
+his is a star) and lonely image o# an alienated sel# that slowly rots whilst a"turing #ragments #rom two di##erent worlds* He is rooted, as a tree and annot esa"e or hide #rom the barren landsa"e that me must endure alone* /arehera ma)es a lot o# use o# "ower#ul organi and elemental imagery throughout the novel,
3
Hannah Cumming 200853
#aded lothes and the woman o# the #aded shawl*=7"*19 ven a#ter these s"irit>li)e beings, the embodiment o# the anestors, disa""ear the narrator remains obsessed with the 6uestion o# 4where are the bla) heroes@4 In a soiety where the "resene and in#luene o# anestral s"irits is "art o# daily reality the ru"tures in the onnetions "eo"le have to the land and eah other aused by olonialism are symbolised by these wandering, dis"ossessed s"irits* He searhes #or the bla) heroes o# his own time but #inds his ulture has been olonised by western onsumerism and #eels alien to himB <+he walls were all "lastered with advertisements #or s)in>lightening reams, %#ro wigs, ;aseline, $enson and Hedges* +here was a s)in>lightened %#ro>girl who was nu..ling u" to her oal>bla) boy#riend and reommending the Castle lager* %s the musi boomed against the advertisements and the arse olours and lights #li)ered on and o## I lost ount o# the time and sim"ly soa)ed mysel# in the stu##* I was no nearer to disovering the authenti bla) heroes who haunted my dreams in a #ar> o## golden age o# $la) %radia*=7"*3A9 He "ortrays the nightlub as a si)ening, on#using mangle o# advertising #or "roduts mar)eted by e"loiting the inseurities in "eo"le4s "ere"tion o# themselves* In heavily ironi tones /arehera is 6uestioning whether the heroes o# the "ast would a""rove o# the mindless onsum"tion and sel#> de"reating #ashions o# the day* (eo"le are being deeived by a #alse onsumerist #reedom, whih ontinues to enslave them and degrade their ulture by enouraging them to hate what they areD this is a a result o# neo>im"erialism all around the world* -uring a number o# visionary narratives and altered states o# reality there is a blurring o# the boundaries between the House o# Hunger and the narrator4s mind, rot had eaten into the base metal o# my brains* +he house has now beome my mindD and I do not li)e the way the roo# is rattling= 7"*29 +he idea that the state o# a "erson4s house re#lets their mental state is an image that I have notied reurring a lot in wor)s by Zimbabwean authors* +he disarray o# the 4house4 o# Zimbabwe is indiative o# the mental disarray o# it4s inhabitants and this in turn breeds #urther haos and orrosion* Images o# stains and erosion are to be #ound on almost every "age, <+he barman, im"ressed by her massive breasts, was
Hannah Cumming 200853
thought#ully reduing her to a stain on a sheet* % true hero o# our time* !eduing everything to shit*=7"*559 /arehera is insistent that both the sel# and soiety have been redued, orroded and blemished* He re#ers to himsel# and his om"atriots as having gut>rot, and his writing is #ull o# re"ulsive and e"liit images o# disease and in#etion, symbolising the "hysial and mental legay o# olonialism as internalised* Colonial "owers brought tehnology, <+he old man died beneath the wheels o# the twentieth entury* +here was nothing le#t but stains, bloodstains and #ragments o# #lesh, when the whole length o# it was through with him* %nd the same thing is ha""ening to my generation*=7"*A09 Colonialism is synonymous with the rushing #ores o# modernity re"resented by the train, also a symbol o# migrany, and /arehera shows is res"onsible #or the redution o# generations o# Zimbabweans to mere stains* +he old man ould not esa"e #rom the train and there is no esa"e #rom the need to #ind meaning and reloate the sel# in the stained modern world* -es"ite Zimbabwe not having even been #ully #ormed until two years a#ter this boo) was #irst "ublished /arehera is diret in his o"inion o# the harater o# the new nationB "arty states, es"eially where you have more slogans than ontent in terms o# "oliy and its im"lementation*= 7/arehera, 18* "*89 i)e many writers o# the time, he was "artiularly ritial o# 4big man4 "olitis,
5
Hannah Cumming 200853
to nowhere, everything is* +here4s big men now* +here4ll be big men always to dig "it>latrines #or you and your hildren to #all in*=7"*59 He believed that revolution and demoray would not bring greater e6uality just a hange in the #aes o# the big men, and ontinuing "overty and su##ering #or the "eo"le* +he harater o# Ste"hen is a "ortrayal o# suh 4big man4, a loud mouthed bully* He is ontrasted with the ourageous and loyal dmund to highlight the distintion between bloodthirsty, egotistial a#rianism and true ourage and loyalty* 7Fagiano, "*39 Ste"hen bullies dmund and taunts him about the #at that his mother was a "rostitute so dmund, des"ite being "hysially disadvantaged, hallenges him to a #ight and is le#t lying in the mud severely beaten and re"eating the words, to>earth manner, "arty state sought to on#er legitimay on itsel# by aligning itsel# with historial #igures o# resistane suh as
A
Hannah Cumming 200853
these* Z%&'>( enouraged the "rodution o# literature that elebrated the heroism o# resistane, and reated a version o# history that was in line with its belie#s and in whih it4s leaders "lay a entral role* /arehera was ritial o# this, <hat I mean isD is this all there is to our history@ +here is a stin)ing deeit at the heart o# it*=7"*59 +he harater o# (hili" shows the most sus"iion towards the la) o# authentiity in history and ulture, <+here4s white shit in our leaders and white shit in our dreams and white shit in our history and white shit on our hands in anything we build or "ray #or*=7"*59 +o try to esa"e #rom this (hili" writes "oetry, whih the narrators desribes in an almost mo)ing tone, throes o# "assion* %nd songs o# a golden age o# bla) heroesD o# myths and legends and s"rites*=7"*9 /arehera highlights the tendeny to reat to ultural im"erialism by romantiising ones own ulture, he wants to searh #or the authentiity and humour behind the rhetori* It was in this ontet o# the olonisation o# the mind and resulting alienation on one hand, and the emerging unitary, sel#>serving nationalist a""ro"riation o# history on the other that /arehera onduted a searh #or authenti #orms o# e"ression and a new soure o# meaning* In "art, he ahieved this through his "ortrayal o# marginalised e"erienes and a "lurality o# view"oints* He tells the story o# the harsh reality o# the "rostitutes who ta)e their lients to the bush,
Hannah Cumming 200853
aused by male domination and the marginalisation o# women* Indeed, the oloniser>olonised binary that has dominated the ountry #or so long is an all male idea, that leaves out women entirely* &estar is re"eatedly re#erred to as 4one o# the most #amous whores in the ountry4* +he narrator4s summary o# her origins reveals how she ame to be this wayB <+he married man who made her "regnant beat her u" when she went to him #or hel"* She was twelve then* She sle"t in waiting room and lavatories at the bus station and at the railway station* I don4t )now what she ate to )ee" hersel# going* ater when I as)ed her i# she had thought o# suiide she almost bit my head o##*= 7"*AA9 (overty is "art o# the system o# "atriarhal violene that is an im"ortant "ower dynami in Zimbabwe* e are invited to "iture her su##ering and see it as uni6ue and real, although she does not want to be "ortrayed as a vitim* Having survived etreme "overty &estar believes money is "ower and she tal)s at length about the vulgar se ats she has "er#ormed in order to gain material wealth, a mar)ed ontrast to her origins, <%n elegant +; nestled in the orner, by a marble statue o# ;enus*=7"*A9 It is interesting that /arehera hooses to give voie to a suess#ul "rostitute who has managed to drag hersel# out o# the tra" o# "overty* She is hard>hearted and on#ident in hersel#, she isn4t a#raid to s"ea) her mind or to assert hersel# to men* It is interesting to see her reation when her son, who is a ra"ist, is beaten* She initially remains alm, ae"ting the #at o# violene and the male need to see) revenge, but at the end she gives out a litt le justie o# her own,
8
Hannah Cumming 200853
e"erienes, I thin) /arehera was most suess#ul in his "ortrayal o# the on#usion or la) o# meaning that results #rom the modern ondition that eists aross the world and was brought to Zimbabwe via the vehile o# olonialism, <% loud o# #lies #rom the nearby "ubli toilet was humming Handel4s 4Hallelujah Chorus4* It was an almost "er#et "hotogra"h o# the human ondition*=7"*219 +his image is re"eated throughout the boo), it brings together the lowest level o# eistene, #lies, with the re#ined image o# lassial musi, a symbol o# 4high ulture4 and im"erialism* estern ulture has "ervaded all levels o# eistene to the etent that it de#ines the modern but it is also ombined with images o# re"ulsion and disease* It has been suggested that what distinguished olonialism #rom other #orms o# hierarhy was its insistene that its subjets ae"t its method o# viewing the world, ideas li)e 4logi4, 4rationality4 and a linear view o# time and s"ae* 7$oehmer, 20059 +he very struture o# the boo) itsel# is an at o# resistane to this idea* % #ast "aed stream>o#>onsiousness that em"loys #lashba)s, jum"s in time and "lae o#ten onneted by #ragments o# "oetry, sounds and images* +here is a mar)ed ontrast to the soialist> realist genre that "ervaded at the time* !ather than sim"ly relating events, /arehera in#used them with many di##erent levels o# symbolism, meaning and humanity* He sought a #usion o# literary styles and made deliberate ritiism o# ritially de#ined literary ty"ologies* He "resents li#e as a #ratured narrative , too diverse to be neatly ontained in a singular #ramewor) o# understandingD <+here were thousands o# windows out there and there were heads sti)ing out o# them* Heads bla) li)e me*=7"*529 %t the end o# the boo) an old man a""ears who s"ea)s in a beauti#ul, ry"ti style o# #ragmented stories and #lashba)sB seed*= $ut as he listened to himsel#, to the thirst and to the hunger, he suddenly said in words o# goldB
Hannah Cumming 200853
%gain these symbols are re#erenes to the elements, as well as to the searh #or a home and meaning* ven through his #ratured style the old man seems to summarise "rominent themes and messages that have been di##used and #ragmented throughout the story* +he narrator is mesmerised by him and s"ends long hours sitting listening to his rambling s"eeh, he is also a re#letion o# the narrator4s own mental s"ae* I thin) the old man is a deliberately ambiguous symbol im"liitly suggestive o# several meanings, it is not even ertain #rom the tet i# he is real or another o# the narrator4s vision* He ould also be a genuine bla) hero, s"ea)ing to the narrator in his #amiliarly #ratured stream>o#>onsiousness, or he ould be the old man who was )illed by the +wentieth Century train oming ba) to o##er #ragmented sni""ets o# myth and wisdom* /ost im"ortantly, the old man embodies resistane to the olonial ordering o# the world as his wisdom is neither logial nor linear, hole, and a dogged 6uest to "i) meaning #rom a haoti and o""ressive world* /arehera uses an arsenal o# dense, #ast "aed imagery to haotially de>onstrut and ritiise modern soiety and "resent the tr auma o# a divided "ost>olonial identity* He at one de"lores the misery o# violene and "overty, and "ainsta)ingly "ortrays how these are mani#ested and eaerbated in Zimbabwe* However, he is )een to situate this ondition as "art o# a universal e"ression o# human e"eriene rather than something that is uni6ue to Zimbabwe or bla) "eo"le* He is des"erate to esa"e the on#ines o# rae, lass, gender and nation and in a truly anarhi #ashion, he see)s an authenti way o# understanding himsel# and the world around him* +his boo) was written be#ore the horrors o# the emerging one "arty state, suh as Fu)urahundi, were #ully realised, but /arehera seemed to #oresee a ontinuation o# a regime o# violene* Con#irming his blea) outloo) the Z%&'>( regime also went on to "ursue an aggressive and unitary ultural,
10
Hannah Cumming 200853
whih sought to 4divide and rule4 and de#ine "eo"les "ere"tions o# themselves in the same way as the olonial state* It was this hija)ing o# meaning and la) o# authentiity in thought that /arehera ultimately sought to #ight against* He ho"ed that his e"loration o# the meaning o# the new Zimbabwean identity and his voiing o# a variety o# marginalised e"erienes, against a ba)dro" o# alienation and deay, would be his ontribution to the resistane and the re>imagining o# his ommunity des"ite his ondition o# eile*
1* 2*
3*
* 5* A* *
Bibliography $oehmer, lle)e* Colonial and Postcolonial Literature: Migrant Metaphors * G#ordB G#ord '(, 2005* (rint* Habila, Helon* Gn -ambud.o /areheraB +he i#e and +imes o# an %#rian riter* VQR » Virginia Quarterly Revie* 200A* eb* 13 /ar* 2011* Jhtt"BKKwww*v6ronline*orgKartilesK200AKwinterKhabila>on>dambud.o>mareheraKL* Fagiano, %nne* 2* eb*
ord CountB 1A1 7with 6uotes9
11