Kenyatta Gray 

Abuse:  Traditional Value or Human Rights Violation?

            The eleventh edition of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary has several definitions for abuse.  One definition says it is a corrupt practice or custom; another says it is improper or excessive use or treatment; another as language that condemns or vilifies usually unjustly, intemperately, and angrily; and another says it is physical maltreatment (6).  In short, abuse involves verbal and physical mistreatment, and is also a corrupt practice or custom.  I would also like to add that abuse can be seen as a threat, as I will discuss later.  Throughout this essay, I will show how abuse was the common theme between Train to Pakistan, Jasmine, Things Fall Apart, and Heart of Darkness.

            In the western culture, we view physical and verbal abuse as punishable by law.  Physical abuse is the act of attacking living beings by the use of hands or the involvement of objects to cause harm towards that living being.  The result could be bruises on the face, arms, or legs so badly that the person is restricted in movement or maybe even death.  If the person reports to the police of the abuse, they can file a law suit against the attacker that may place them in jail or a restraining order to keep that person from coming near them.  If the abuse occurs between a husband and wife, the result is usually divorce, or in most cases, if the wife is afraid of leaving the husband, the husband is required to take anger management for a certain length of time.  In the eastern culture, abuse seems to be normal behavior, usually the right of the husband when his wife gets out of line.  This shows the superiority of the man over the woman; when a woman disregards her place by disrespecting that of the male, it is acceptable for him to hit her.  This act is seen as putting a woman back in her place and knowing that she cannot cross certain boundaries.  This also shows that the woman has embarrassed the man because those who have witnessed the scene will think that the husband does not have control of his household, which is naturally his duty.

            Why do we in the West see abuse as uncivilized behavior while those in the East see it as normal?  While reading the article on wife beating in Africa, author Sharon LaFraniere provides the answer to this question.  An incident in Lagos, Nigeria, of a man beating his wife for defying him and leaving her on the side walk unconscious tells us of the kind of society wife beatings occur in.  A survey taken in sub-Saharan Africa showed that many men and women consider beating a justifiable act for disobedience.  One important note to make is that the woman in the incident was a university graduate and founder of a French school; as soon as she came home from the hospital, she left her husband and is contemplating divorce.  Another woman said her husband beat her because she was watching movies made for television.  It is often a belief in the West that an educated and independent woman would not allow a man to hit her because she knew of her rights as a human.  Television can also be a source of education regarding human rights, which is probably why the husband of the other woman beat her; he was afraid she would get ideas and defy him.  The status of women in Africa is very low; they are usually uneducated and work longer and harder than men.  Due to the fact that they are less educated, they grow up thinking that beatings are normal; men grow up thinking women are inferior to them, giving them the right to punish their wives when they attempt to usurp their power over the household.  Nigeria even has a penal code, like most of the countries of North Africa, which supports wife beating.  Beatings also go unnoticed because some women do not report to anyone about it.  They either keep it to themselves or tell a close friend or relative.  However, these women may choose to keep silent due to the lack of help available to them.  The woman of the earlier incident sought the aid of the police, her father-in-law, and her local pastor.  They all told her the beating was normal and not to make her husband angry.  It is important to note as well that she sought aid from men, who would naturally agree with her husband.  She finally found support at Project Alert on Violence Against Women, a nonprofit organization that is, naturally, headed by women.  It is also important to note that women would side with each other when it comes to issues such as violence.  The program head commented that most of the women who seek support from the organization despise getting a divorce because it would mean social isolation; a woman is expected to make her marriage work and if it fails, it is her fault.  These women believe the society as a whole should be educated that abuse is not normal behavior but a violation of human rights.  The question is who decided that abuse is not normal?

            Things Fall Apart coincides with the wife beating article.  The story takes place in Nigeria and centers around the village life of the main character, Okonkwo, who is determined to keep from becoming a man like his father.  Okonkwo rules his household with a heavy hand and is abusive verbally as well as physically.  As the wife beating article entails, Okonkwo used abuse to establish his dominance and right of authority.  He expected everything to be routine when it came to his well-being, and if there was an interruption in this routine, he beat whoever disturbed it.  Okonkwo was so determined to make sure everyone knew he was to be obeyed that he forgot important events.  The week of friendship meant that there was no ill act towards anyone on this week.  When Okonkwo’s third wife failed to be in her hut in time to prepare his meal, he was so upset that when she returned he beat her so hard and loud that the neighbors heard.  The elders heard of this and fined him.  Okonkwo also talked down to everyone, no matter what position of power they held in the village.  At a meeting concerning the boy, Ikemefuna, one of the elders had made a comment about the boy which prompted Okonkwo to speak to him in a way that demoted him from the position of respect allotted to him.  This made the other men side with the elder and turn against Okonkwo.  In these examples, we can also see how abuse can work against the one who is doing the abusing.  In some odd way, the abusive actions of Okonkwo illustrates how although abuse is acceptable because it is a traditional value, it can also lead to misfortunes.  His violent temper cost him some yams and also his son, Ekwefi, who converted to Christianity and left the home of his father.

            Abuse was heavily evident in Train to Pakistan.  After the partition of India in 1947, the country had split into India (Hindu) and Pakistan (Muslim), which left uncertainty for the Sikhs who were faced with the dilemma to join India or Pakistan.  Thousands of Muslims and Hindus were killed on both sides of the divide.  The novel also includes physical and verbal abuse, both to establish dominance and create fear.  The trains passing through the village of Mano Majra on the way to Pakistan or to India contained the dead bodies of Muslims and Hindus.  This was a message to both sides, which sent fear to everyone who dared to travel.  The main character, Juggut Singh, was verbally abusive to his mother.  From his tone, one can tell he was the head of the household, and the term budmash that was used for him may have given the reader the sense that he had ended up like his father.  He would tell his mother to “shut up” and give her orders, thus establishing his figure as male over her subordinate gender.

            Jasmine includes verbal and physical abuse like the other two novels.  The abusive forms used were for the purposes of subordination; so that one can know their place.  When she was still in India, Jasmine’s brothers were speaking to a friend of theirs who had become one of the Khalsa Lions, a fundamentalist group.  One of her brothers asked the friend, “Anything else you want us to do?” in which he replied in an angry tone, “Yes.  Keep your whorish women off the streets!”  Another instance is when Jasmine makes it to America and is raped at a motel the captain of the ship brings her to.  He rapes her because he feels that she owes him for what he did for her, but the abuse symbolizes that she is a female and he is a male, and so therefore she must do what he says.  As in the first instance, informing them to keep their whorish women off the streets means that these fundamentalist want a traditional society when women stayed home to do domestic chores.  In a way, Jasmine served as defiance to her submissive role when she killed her rapist and worked outside the home.

            Abuse seemed to be the subject of Heart of Darkness as the narrator points negative scenes of the trip through the Congo.  One passage in particular reveals the inferior position whites viewed Africans of having.  On page 28, the narrator witnesses the beating of an African who made such a “row.”  After his master finished beating him, he said serves him right and that should teach him to know his place.  Abuse is used here as an act of setting one right when they have done wrong.  By beating them, this would teach them a lesson in hopes of setting them straight, and know the consequences behind getting out of line.  The use of the word “nigger” also portrays abuse in that it carries a negative tone regarding the skin color of the Africans.  The idea of self and other in regards to the relationship between Europeans and their contact with non-Europeans provided the basis for the idea of race.  The Europeans viewed those who were not Christian as inferior; those of pagan religions, namely Africans, Indians, Arabs, and Asians, were believed to be barbaric and uncivilized.  Thus, skin pigmentation was confused with religion, providing grounds for the justification of whites to dominant the other races.

            Throughout the semester, these novels and those from the first half have provided an understanding of the colonial and post-colonial world.  Creating a dialogue between them helps us to answer Objectives 1, 2, and 3, that when combined asks, by bringing these literatures into dialogue, can we as Americans come to understand how cultures grasp the idea of modernity?  In the case of abuse, most Eastern cultures view it as a traditional value whereas we in the West view it as a violation of human rights.  The question is who had the right to determine that abuse is evil?  If it is a traditional value in some cultures, how do we deal with it in a way that does not give off the impression that the West knows what is right compared to the barbarian East?  If it is in deed a violation of human rights, how can we in the West make those in the East understand this is not the way to treat women without seeming like an imperialist power?  In accordance with my cross-cultural background, this course has contributed more to my understanding of cultures and how important dialogue between us and them is if we want to maintain peace in our diplomatic missions.  This is something that I hope will make me successful in my future career with the U.S. government.