When Black Men 's Teeth Speak Out
Colonial oppression and the danger of stereotypes were one of the popular themes in 19th century’s literature. According to the historical recording, Brian (2004) emphasizes that during the late 19th century, Mali was under French’s control with full of darkness and violence, and Mali even became the main slave supply market for French Sudan (p.425). Ouologuem Yambo was one of the famous postcolonial African authors who came from Mali; he grew up in a wealthy family and received high education (Wise, 1998, p.165). In his poem “When Black Men 's Teeth Speak Out”, Yambo uses a sarcastic humor style to reveal the stereotypes of African culture. He uses satire, repetition, situational irony and onomatopoeia to reveal and counteract the cultural misperceptions inherent in racial stereotypes. The speaker in the poem is labelled a “cannibal”, echoing the prevailing assumptions of the French during their operative colonial rule in Mali. African scholars started to face the colonialism and racism in the nineteenth …show more content…
The main character says “They opened my belly/And there they found a tomato field in bloom” (56-57) which shows the harmless and miserable fate of African people. By comparing with the white girl said before, it remained readers that who was correct. Finally, these colonial masters cut the black man’s body and realized that they can only found beauty, truth, and love inside the black man’s belly. The poem is ended by “Hurrah for tomatoes” (39), which turn the tone into mocking sense of bitter humor and leave readers an endless thinking space. So who is the real cannibal? The ending is thought-provoking and powerful. It made readers realized that theses colonist tried to find the real cannibal, but ironically they did the same things as
Colonial oppression and the danger of stereotypes were one of the popular themes in 19th century’s literature. According to the historical recording, Brian (2004) emphasizes that during the late 19th century, Mali was under French’s control with full of darkness and violence, and Mali even became the main slave supply market for French Sudan (p.425). Ouologuem Yambo was one of the famous postcolonial African authors who came from Mali; he grew up in a wealthy family and received high education (Wise, 1998, p.165). In his poem “When Black Men 's Teeth Speak Out”, Yambo uses a sarcastic humor style to reveal the stereotypes of African culture. He uses satire, repetition, situational irony and onomatopoeia to reveal and counteract the cultural misperceptions inherent in racial stereotypes. The speaker in the poem is labelled a “cannibal”, echoing the prevailing assumptions of the French during their operative colonial rule in Mali. African scholars started to face the colonialism and racism in the nineteenth …show more content…
The main character says “They opened my belly/And there they found a tomato field in bloom” (56-57) which shows the harmless and miserable fate of African people. By comparing with the white girl said before, it remained readers that who was correct. Finally, these colonial masters cut the black man’s body and realized that they can only found beauty, truth, and love inside the black man’s belly. The poem is ended by “Hurrah for tomatoes” (39), which turn the tone into mocking sense of bitter humor and leave readers an endless thinking space. So who is the real cannibal? The ending is thought-provoking and powerful. It made readers realized that theses colonist tried to find the real cannibal, but ironically they did the same things as