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Sample Final Exam submissions 2015 (2015 final exam assignment) Essay 1 Sample |
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Assignment: Describe and evaluate your learning experience, referring to texts, seminar, objectives, research, and midterm. (may incorporate or overlap with midterm essay[s])
Joseph Bernard
Mining the depths
Colonization has carried a stigma in my mind. Whether the concept was
plastered across a movie screen wherein the noble and genteel civilized
attempted to “educate” the “savages” in their care or perusing almost any
history book, colonization bears a millstone around its neck. Even in the origin
story of America, there are countless droves of Native Americans who were
oppressed by incoming British invaders, pushed onto reservations. After studying
the material in this course, I can honestly say that the concept of colonization
has morphed from a superficial, one-dimensional understanding to a multi-faceted
comprehension that Colonial and Post-Colonial studies do not just deal in the
oppressed and the oppressor, but rather in attempting to understand how the
individual mind reacts when confronted with the difficulties presented through
the concept of identity.
Identity is a simple idea in the minds of most. It makes up “who you are”
as an individual, group or nation. There are traits and characteristics that
mesh together to formulate a cohesive pattern of behaviors, thoughts and ideas.
The colonializing powers have the identity of “oppressor”. They are overseers
that beat the colonized into submission through sheer power and force of will.
Slave trading between colonizing nations that took innocent African citizens and
placed them in unfamiliar surroundings, Columbus and his crew sweeping through
the Indies with a taste for blood and gold and the Conquistadors ripping
Mexico’s ancient civilizations apart are just a few examples of how the
colonizers are given the oppressor identity. This naturally allows for a
tradition to seep into modern curriculum, one that brands all colonizing powers
as wronging the civilizations conquered and those who were oppressed have every
right to rise up against the powers that be. But what occurs when those
identities are challenged? Take, for instance, the positive benefits that occur
from colonization such as the railroad system extensively discussed in
Train to Pakistan or the healthcare,
education and alternative belief systems introduced by the British in
Things Fall Apart. Again, consider
that Crusoe takes Friday into his care and even through marked differences,
Crusoe cares for Friday just as much as any other citizen in a colonizing
nation. Colonizing powers can be a force for good, which challenges their brutal
identity as presented to the general public (especially in the secondary
curriculum).
To be
honest, I never attempted to see colonizing powers as anything other than evil
oppressors that rival the worst of humanity. Yet, that limits dialogue, which
does not allow further exploration of identity. I believe this is a rather easy
defense mechanism built into the Western curriculum to protect the psyche of the
American public. Objective three deals with the difficulties that most Americans
could face when challenging the fixed identities of colonizers and colonized;
more specifically, 3A asks “Is America… ‘an empire in denial?’” As Americans
(and Westerners), we believe that we could never stoop so low as the colonizers
of old. Yet when I was conducting research for my project over the Philippines,
America was quick to take over the archipelago and make it a territory of the
United States, only ceding the country after leadership agreed the colony was
“not worth the trouble.” Native Americans were pushed onto reservations as the
country became dominated by the white man, the former colonized by those who saw
them as a threat to the expansion of the United States. Western thought would
label these examples as “merciful” and “necessary”, but not classified anywhere
close to the treatment given out by other colonizing powers. Western thought has
created a barrier, a self/other dynamic that allows for America to divorce
itself from the “other”, which allows the West to have a fixed, stable identity
that can be exalted over the “evil” identity of colonizing powers.
What
has been described so far is the traditional way that Colonial and Post-Colonial
discourse is examined by most of the general public, which includes myself
before the course. Thankfully, there is a solution to broaching the self/other
concept imposed onto the minds of Western civilians. Instead of analyzing
Heart of Darkness through just the
lens of traditional self/other (“How DARE those Europeans invade Africa!”), one
can look at the text utilizing the lens of modernity. Modernity seeks to
equalize identity rather separate and breaks past the notion of static identity
that is one-dimensional. Choosing to analyze Marlow’s quest to discover what
happened to Kurtz over the snide and overtly uncomfortable comments by the side
characters of the novel, can aid in understanding how a figure from the
colonizing power can lose himself in tradition, in a sense forming a new,
modernist identity that is more concerned about personal fulfillment and
self-discovery rather than oppressing natives. I cannot help but think about
Apocalypse Now in the same context. Rather than looking at Kurtz as a barbaric
man that is a by-product of the colonizing United States, one can see him as a
deeply troubled character who has chosen to shape himself anew in the face of
deep trial. Identity is not hushed, but discussed or is placed in dialogue with
tradition AND modernity instead of having to choose a side.
As I
scanned my mid-term, I realize that my discussion about Kincaid and Defoe
relates to my now fuller realization of how modernity and tradition work in
conjunction with each other to form a complex picture of identity. Characters
within both novels are attempting to maintain some of their traditional identity
while adapting in a very modernist way to the new world that has engulfed them.
Crusoe’s hearty disposition to rule his newly erected kingdom and Lucy’s desire
to hang onto old letters written by her mother clash and are cajoled against new
ideas, which in turn help both characters grow in their understanding of
themselves. Both characters are essentially microcosms of how tradition and
modernity are supposed to work. I am happy to know that I am not the only one
who has come to the realization that Colonial and Post-Colonial literature is
richer than what curriculum paints it as. Lori Arnold’s final makes mention of
ignorance I can relate to: “Taking this. . .has opened my eyes to my own
ignorance of other literature, cultures, and history.” Instead of avoiding the
kinds of literature read in this course due to the “stigma” of colonialism, I
have learned to embrace the struggles and enrich my perspective even further.
I
have never scrutinized identity so closely, but the journey has been fulfilling.
By analyzing the works within the course, I have seen how the once fixed and
static identities of the colonizers and the colonized are actually dynamic. The
traditional mind is one that can be used, but adding the lens of modernity
allows one to truly comprehend the struggles that author and character endure in
the context of identity. My hope is to continue to mine the depths of colonial
and post-colonial literature in order to sharpen and enlighten my concept of
identity.
