The issues of racial diversity and equality have been some of the most frequently discussed subjects for many centuries. The racial diversity used to be referred to as the racial “difference” meaning that the individuals of different racial backgrounds were treated based on rules and laws supporting the fact that some ethnicities were recognized as more valuable and deserving while the others were depowered, discriminated against, and disregarded. Today, the issues of cultural and ethnic diversity circles around the needs for recognition and tolerance in the society comprised of multiple communities with their specific features and traits.
However, this tendency had occurred and became powerful only a few decades ago. In particular, the confrontation between white and black ethnicities went on for centuries and affected the lives of thousands of people in every generation. This paper focuses on the works of two well-known authors associated with the movement called Negritude, Aimé Cesaire and Leopold Sedar Senghor studying them from the perspective of cultural identity and self-recognition.
Namely, the poems compared and contrasted in this paper are Notebook of a Return to the Native Land and Black Woman. Even though both of these poems belong to the movement of Negritude and reflect similar themes related to Black consciousness, the way the poets express their perceptions of their native lands differs significantly in form and approach as Cesaire emphasizes the sufferings and struggles of the revolutions while Senghor compares his motherland to a beautiful African woman.
The Movement of Negritude
Cesaire and Senghor are known as the initiators and the main participants of a movement called Negritude that was dedicated to the establishment of the sense of self by the African nations colonized by the Europeans and forced to live in inequality (Zahid and Hussain 3). Negritude was a logical and natural response of the communities that had been tolerating oppressive policies and unfair treatment for many years.
The rage of the Black nations was based mainly on the fact that all the mistreatment, cruelty, and discrimination against them from the side of the white Europeans and Americans was based only on the color of their skin as the main point of difference that made the two sides hopelessly inappeasable towards each other. Having survived years of endless sufferings and disrespect, the African community of Europe has generated a response that was, basically, an attempt to reclaim freedom, equality, dignity, and respect embracing the native culture and communicating their pride of being African to the rest of the world.
One of the most obvious common features of the authors of Negritude is what was recognized as a chromatic palette reduced to only two primary colors that are black and while (Clement 172). For example, Senghor starts his poem with the description that says: “Naked woman, black woman” (1). Further, in his poem, black or dark turns out to be the main color that is emphasized and noticed. As for the work of Cesaire, in his Notebook of a Return to the Native Land, he portrays the colors of white and black as engaged in ruthless confrontation; and, clearly, he sides with the color black referring to himself as “a lone man imprisoned in whiteness/ a lone man defying the white screams of white death” (21).
Overall, in Cesaire’s poem white is associated only with death and sufferings as the color of aggression, horror, and destruction. The narrowness of the chromatic palette of the poets of Negritude is quite understandable as their main point was to bring up the issue of racial inequality and discrimination against their native people both in Europe and in their motherlands. The poems of Cesaire and Senghor, regardless of their different key and mood, were designed to depict the unfair environment the poets and their African communities had to live in for decades.
One may argue that Cesaire’s reference to the color white as a symbol of evilness and death could be seen as a generalization and the author’s perception of all white people as enemies. However, the poets of Negritude have never claimed to be unbiased. On the contrary, they intentionally had a bias in order to make their point to the rest of the diverse society and the unfair, one-sided tendencies that took place at that time.
The theme of Beauty and Love
Even though Cesaire has many poems about women namely, Notebook of a Return to the Native Land, a work dedicated to the poet’s national identity and the history of his people was chosen for this paper to be analyzed and contrasted with Senghor’s poem, Black Woman. The main subject may not match one another in an obvious way; however, the theme of love, admiration, and pride of the aspects of the Black ethnic identity can be seen very clearly in both poems. Senghor’s work makes a clear comparison between him motherland and an African woman: “I come upon you, my Promised Land/ And your beauty strikes me to the heart/ like the flash of an eagle./ Naked woman, dark woman” (8-11).
Praising the beauty of a Black woman, the poet makes an unconventional statement as his poem was written at the time when African women were not regarded as beautiful in the white-dominated societies (Moore 55). In his poem, Senghor goes against the commonly accepted standards, in a way, and focuses on an aspect that has been overlooked or misperceived for a long time demonstrating the narrow-mindedness of the “socially appropriate” views and likes.
Cesaire makes a step similar in nature to that of his Negritude fellow Senghor and expresses the pride of his nation writing, “Eia for those who never invented anything/ for those who never explored anything/ for those who never conquered anything/ Eia for joy/ Eia for love” (42). As much as the author is in love with his nation and his land, he is also appalled by the sufferings they have experienced throughout the decades of oppression and humiliation.
Compared to Senghor’s Black Woman, Cesaire’s Notebook of a Return to the Native Land is a rather lengthy poem as the author does not fail to remember all the horrific details of his people’s past contrasting them with the life of the poet’s present (Pope 541). This theme of praising his nation and celebrating its strength, endurance, and patience goes hand in hand with Senghor’s celebration of the African womanhood as both of the subjects are directed against the commonly accepted points of view and designed to emphasize the national and ethnic identity of the Black people as the heroic and stoic community that remained true to its legacy even after decades of its thorough and cruel elimination by the white conquerors and colonizers.
The Form and Expression
The belongingness of both of the reviewed poems to the movement of Negritude is their dominant similarity as it unites the author’s focuses and goals – the description of their motherlands, their people’s history, the appreciation of their legacy, and the promotion of Black identity as a form of national and ethnic consciousness that has been ignored and neglected for many years.
Having similar goals, Cesaire and Senghor choose very different approaches putting into practice their thoughts, views, and perceptions. Reviewing Notebook of a Return to the Native Land and Black Woman, it is easy to notice some of the most obvious differences. For instance, the forms of the poems are varied significantly as Senghor’s work is much shorter than that of Cesaire. Besides, even though both authors attempt to familiarize the reader with their feelings and emotions towards their motherlands and nations, Senghor decides to be brief and general while Cesaire chooses to retell his people’s history in detail writing, “So much blood in my memory! In my memory are lagoons./ They are covered with death heads. They are not covered with water lilies” (29).
The author is persistent in his attempt to use colorful and detailed descriptive language in order to shock the reader with the horrific realities of his people’s past. Cesaire employs to appeal to negative emotions of sadness, grief, horror, and disgust as powerful persuasion techniques helping him make his point and produce an influence on his readers.
The approach preferred by Senghor is different. The author attempts to demonstrate the beauty of a Black woman and help his readers see it the way he does describe the authenticity and outstanding spirit of his land. Senghor employs detailed, emotional, and impressive descriptions attempting to make an impact. He writes, “Firm-fleshed ripe fruit, somber raptures/ of black wine, mouth making lyrical my mouth/ Savannah stretching to clear horizons,/ savannah shuddering beneath the East Wind’s/ eager caresses” (12-16). The emotions to which Senghor appeals for the persuasion are admiration, delight, and excitement.
That way, both authors achieve the same goal employing different measures, and at the same type focus on different aspects of their culture, motherland, and history expressing their never-dying love to their roots as love to the woman whose beauty is overlooked or a nation whose history is full of nothing but horror.
Conclusion
While Africa portrayed by Cesaire is exhausted and devastated by endless sufferings and pain caused by the white colonizers, the motherland described by Senghor is beautiful, seductive, and even regal in its spirit. Choosing very different approaches in their attempts to present the readers with their views of their legacy, the two authors have a similar goal and perspective as they demonstrate unconditional love to their roots, culture, background, and nation.
Tortured and neglected (as in the poem by Cesaire) or gorgeous and alluring (as in the work by Senghor), the motherland possesses one powerful common feature – the unbreakable pride and a freedom-loving spirit that finally took over in the 1940s when the movement of Negritude was founded and began to spread the word about the Black consciousness and engage more and more individuals to go back to their roots traveling to the countries of Africa or simply remembering and appreciating their legacy.
Works Cited
Cesaire, Aime. Notebook of a Return to the Native Land. Trans. Clayton Eshleman and Annette Smith. n.d. Web.
Clement, Vincent. “Latitude And Longitude Of The Past: Place, Negritude And French Caribbean Identity In Aimé Cesaire’s Poetry.” Caribbean Studies 39.1 (2011): 171-193. Print.
Moore, Gerald. “Senghor: Poet of Night.” Research in African Literatures 33.4 (2002): 51-59. Print.
Pope, Jacquelyn. “Notebook of a Return to the Native Land (Review).” Callaloo 26.2 (2003): 540-541. Print.
Senghor, Leopold Sedar. Black Woman. n.d. Web.
Zahid, Sazzad Hossain and Asad Ullah-al-Hussain. “Aime Cesaire’s Notebook of a Return to the Native Land: A Self-Liberation.” Prime University Journal 2.2 (2008): 1-11. Web.