The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi

Be warned. This post is long, and goes into the current election by the end.

The book continues to be readable & enjoyable. It has not decided, yet, what it wants to be. Is it the recently finished (by me) Aztec, an in-depth look at a foreign culture coupled with cheesy melodrama? Is it Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart- an ethnographic study of a particular people? Is it Garcia-Marquez’ Love in the Time of Cholera- an old man looking back on the things that have shaped his life? To some extent, the first hundred pages also recalls Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oluduah Equiano. (But enough name dropping. I’m not McCain in a presidential debate.) The book has not decided which it wants to be yet; elements of all four persist.

 

Two instances from Kawsi’s youth have stuck out to me. The first is something I, as a teacher, have always loved- and that is how people learn. One of the Hollanders has taken it upon himself to teach Kwasi the principles of multiplication and squares, using a chessboard (the same Hollander also has taken it upon himself to teach Kwasi Chess). The following sequence stays with me, and I, of course, have tried to duplicate it myself (with numbers, pencils, and papers, not grains of wheat):Van Drunen also devoted an entire afternoon to exciting our interest in another use of the chessboard. With a few words and many gestures he demonstrated to us the wondrous multiplication of a grain of wheat. On the first black square he laid a single grain, on the white square next to it two grains, on the follwing squares four and sixteen grains respectively. While he was counting out hte two hundred and fifty -six for the fifth square, Kwame’s interest flagged and he wandered off in search of someone to tell him a story with the magic lantern. But I wanted van Drunen to go on. When he saw that the principle was dawning on me, he traced what were to me then incomprehensible ciphers in the sand, and enthussiastically poured two handfuls of grain on the board, thereby flooding all the squares. Then he brushed all the grains, pointed to the heap of wheat and the ciphers in the sand by turns, and stabbed his finger meaningfully at the sixth square. I jumped up, took the sack of wheat from him and emptied the contents over the chessboard…. (p. 47-48)

The other piece to stay with me 24 hours after reading involves Kwasi’s race, and, to a lesser extent, “Uncle Tom.” Japin opens his novel with the following statement:

The first ten years of my life I was not black. I was in many ways different from those around me, but not darker. That much I know. Then came the day when I became aware that my colour had deepened. Later, once I was black, i paled again. (p. 3)

Kwasi and his cousin/friend/lover Kwame later in the novel have been ‘adopted’ by the Hollanders- sent by the Ashanti people to Holland. Their clothes are burned, and the boys dress as Europeans, and begin to learn the European languages. Later, when an African king is imprisoned, Kwame and Kwasi come, dressed as Europeans, to offer food to the imprisoned African King. The following exchange occurs:

“A black king,” replied the [prisoner's] interpreter with downcast eyes, “does not eat from white hands.” Meanwhile, the king raved on. Kwame, horrified, held his hand out to him. (p. 63)

 I thought of two gentleman’s blogs (Andrew Sullivan and Kristoffer Diaz, the latter of whom I will discuss in more detail later, in a forthcoming post) as I reflected on the racial implications of this exchange. Sullivan praises Obama’s appearance in the Sept. 26 debate. He talks about how Obama must bear McCain’s contempt without returning any offensive shots due to the risk of being perceived the “angry black man.” I agree with this. Obama handled himself with dignity and grace, subtly returning McCain’s challenges of naivete and inexperience with facts, specifics, and without anger (see the comment about “this is a strategy,” and also the retort re: the soldier bracelets.) I combine this with Diaz’ comments about white male privelige; his ability to wear whatever he wants and still be priveliged above the women in the room. McCain can take whatever tactic he wants and not be questioned. If Obama goes on the offensive, he will be questioned. The respective posts can be found at : http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/obama-and-debat.html  and

http://kristofferdiaz.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/white-privilege-male-privilege-and-obama/

 

Done with Part I of Two Hearts. Looking forward to Part II.