This first stanza of the poem uses very emotive language. The phrase 'the uncivilized ripen like pawpaw are best slightly raw' has sexual connotations and I think Selina Tusitala Marsh may be alluding to the artist Gauguin's fancy of young native women. Made more explicit by the words "prepubescents buds" and "nymphomania"
The next stanza continues with the sarcastic tone, thanking Balboa for naming the seas the south seas which is heralded by history books as a feat and ignores the fact they were only new seas to foreigners and did not need a name. The mention of 'opposite to all' seems to closely align with Edward Said's ideas of Orientalism. I think the 'inversion of all your laws' is a poignant line. Law and justice seem to be something that colonialists felt that they should oppose on countries who they saw as intellectually inferior. I think they believed their use of logic and law making were far superior. I am not trying to justify this but I can see how this would come about. Sometimes when I read about human rights overseas, particularly for women, I do think that it would be better for them to have western rights and justice systems.
The third stanza seems to poke fun at the colonizers sense of rational thought. I think the allusion to "Masculine orderly fashion" refers to the fact that rational thinking has historically been seen as a male characteristic.. It seems very outdated in this day in age. I think the divide between rational/irrational is very interesting. Especially as western thought still seems to be seeking 'toward the light'. Knowledge being seen as up most importance. Eastern philosophy tends to be seen as new age. Ideas that can not be scientifically proven tend to be ridiculed. I think this is largely because of the schooling system where a western model of epistemology has been used.
The final stanza refers to 'the new world'. The other, seen as dark, feminine, sexual and irrational in comparison to the north. While I don't agree with this labeling, it doesn't really annoy me because I guess I don't find the dark, exotic stigma insulting, although I think it is limiting.
I really enjoyed this poem and find it really thought provoking.
Hi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteA good post here, with interesting observations.
I agree with you about sometimes 'catching' ourselves having our own 'superior' notions, and think the international women's rights concerns is a good example of this. I try to understand and hear the voices of women who say they feel protected by, for example, covering the face in some way, but I still feel like they don't have a 'choice' and so feel there is an inequality present.
As you say, I think this poem ties in well with the notion of 'other' and 'oriental' as detailed by Said and fellow theorists and thus a good solid postcolonial framework can be used to analyse it.
There seems to be a lot of commentary in the literature taking offense at the 'dusky maiden' Gauguin type imagery so I interpret that it does feel limiting to pacific women, and the associated sense of sexual availability also seems of concern.