Segu Literary Analysis free essay sample

Maroon Millionaire Black Studies AAA proof. Miseries Wednesday @ 1 :Mom March 10 2009 Segue Literary Analysis The historical novel Segue by Mares Condo is set in the African country of Segue during a time of great cultural change. The African Slave Trade, the spread of Islam, and personal identity challenges were all tremendous and far-reaching issues facing Africa from the late 1 sass to early 1 sass. Condo uses the four brothers of the Terror family, Tickers, Mailbag, Saga, and Nab, to demonstrate the impact that the issues of Islam, slave trade, and identity ad on African people through the development of each character.The Oldest Of the sons, Tickers exemplifies the influence and spread Of Islam through out Africa at the time. When the reader is first introduced to Tickers, he is portrayed as a boy unhappy with his religion and desperately searching for one that focuses on love rather than fear like the native religion he was raised with. We will write a custom essay sample on Segu Literary Analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Tickers is intrigued by a new religion and in Condogs words, Islam was new to the region, brought there by the Arab caravans like some exotic merchandise! (Condo 22). In this way, Tickers saw Islam as a means of escaping from a oral of sacrifices and old ways to one that offers an exotic, loving appeal. With Tickers, Condo is able to show how Islam spread through trans Sahara trade routes, as well as the opportunity it provided for Africans during the time period. Tickers ventures off in pursuit of Islamic studies and after being expelled from an Islamic university begins to teach Islam in the city of Jennet. It is in Jennet that Tickers states, How strange that the name of God is should divide people when god is love and power. The creation of all living creatures comes from His love, and not from any other power Condo 149). It is in this insight that Tickers again demonstrates the nature of Islam. Unlike the religion he was born into in Segue that focused on sacrifices and ancestor worship, Islam is a religion of love that offers him comfort and strength. It is because of this new knowledge and faith that Tickers is unable to fathom how religion could split people apart instead of bringing them together. Upon his return to Segue, Tickers is praised and respected for his journey to distant lands. He is also made a member of a high council and consulted on issues of relations with neighboring people (Condo 163).The respect and admiration given to Tickers demonstrates how Islam was eventually perceived. Tickers, much like Islam as a whole was eventually respected for his worldly knowledge and different opinions, which made him a very powerful person in his community. In this sense Islam, although at first different to the people of Segue, provided helpful diversity to the people Of Africa. In the same way that Tickers exemplified the spread of Islam in Africa, his younger brother Mailbag is a symbol for the treatment of women in African society, as well as one aspect of the African slave trade.First, Mailbags attitude toward women in Africa will be examined. In her first description of Mailbag, Condo writes, He was a violent, quarrelsome little boy, completely spoiled because of his extreme good looks (Condo 127). Mailbag is a violent boy who will ultimately reach his end because of it, and after he leaves Segue, Mailbag joins a group of warriors with his friend Jodie and falls into a world of immoral behavior. While digging yams from the ground that did not belong to them, Mailbag and Jodie came across a girl wandering in the field.As she ran away Mailbag chased ere and he pinned her down; She flashed him a look of defiance unusual to anyone s o young. So he penetrated her. (Condo 231). This is not the first woman Mailbag has raped, and in doing so in such a casual way, he demonstrates his lack of respect for women. During this time especially in Africa, women as a whole were not respected when compared to men. Mailbags actions therefore represent this generally held belief by Africans at this time that women were inferior to men. Eventually Mailbag evolves as a character and makes smarter decisions regarding his treatment toward women.When in the presence of the woman Roman trying to attack him, Condo writes, He was about to throw himself on her, knock her down, kill her perhaps, when a voice reminded him of his difficulties in the Shanty kingdom after the rape of Aviva. What would happen if he now committed murder? (Condo 265). In two ways here, Mailbag has grown up. First he realizes that all his actions have consequences and that he must realize them before making unwise decisions. In realizing this, Mailbag represents Africans evolving as a whole to recognize that they must work together as a people.Secondly, Mailbag realizes that Women are people too who can be reasoned with and respected rather than literally beat into submission. On a grand scale, Mailbags second revelation represents a change in attitude toward women by African people. Still, more important is Mailbags evolution in the context of the African Slave Trade. Later in the story Mailbag gets involved in the slave trade. Condo writes, So Mailbag was to be seen being rowed out to the slave ships, coming back with their captains And going with them to inspect human cattle whom he myself had made presentable beforehand by various tricks (Condo 271). Here, by assisting the slave ship captains, Mailbag is playing an active role in the propagation of the African Slave Trade. Mailbags actions and active involvement in the slave trade as demonstrated above, point to the idea presented in class of Africans as active agents in the slave trade. This idea of agency focuses around Africans actively manipulating the slave trade for economic gains because they knew how to work the system. With this understanding of agency, it can be understood that Mailbag was definitely acting as an agent in the African slave trade.In a grander sense, Mailbag thus represents Africans as a whole who acted as agents in the slave trade. These people did exist and Mailbags character in Segue serves as an example of this idea. Mailbag kept working his way up, and soon he managed slaves on plantations; Now Mailbag could be seen taking droves of slaves out of the town to the palm groves and supervising their work (Condo 272). This further supports the idea of agency and demonstrates the effect of historical circumstances on everyday peoples lives.Mailbag is a native African with strong community ties coming from being brought up in a small village. The historical progression of European involvement in Africa and within the slave trade however, provided the economic and personal incentives for Mailbag to turn against his African brothers and become an active agent in the slave trade. In the same way that Mailbags active involvement in the slave trade was a result of situational consequences, his brother Sagas struggle with identity was a consequence of his birth. Saga is unlike his brothers in the sense that his mother was a slave.She omitted suicide when he was young, and through out the book Saga struggles with grasping the nature of his true identity. He feels neglected, not because he is treated poorly, but rather because he is simply ignored by everyone. He lives in the shadow of his legitimate brother Tickers and although they are the same height, age, and are often mistaken for each other, Tickers is favored over Saga. Condo captures Sagas frustration by stating, Alas, the hazards of birth! If hed been born of this womb rather than that, his life would have been quite different (Condo 30). This is the reason or Sagas identity struggle through out the book. He is plagued by the constant reminder in Tickers of what he could have been, and constantly haunted by nightmares of his slave mothers horrific suicide. Sagas identity crisis presents itself in his struggle to prove himself to his father Dousing. Because Tickers always overshadows him, Saga is constantly struggling to gain his fathers approval. Condo writes, He had passed too soon, without waiting for him, Saga, to prove himself. Now Dousing would never know what his son was really worth, this son whom he regarded as a bastard (Condo 80). Sagas need for approval from his father is a result of his constant struggle with identity. Because of his insecurity with his own self, he longs for the approval of his father and is heartbroken when he realizes that he will never be able to prove himself. Sagas Character in Segue parallels the struggle of Africans on the continent with their common identity. The disconnectedness of the regions and the intervention of Europeans on the continent serve to stratify Africans living on the continent. Saga serves as a metaphor for the Africans struggle with identity in the 19th century.The youngest brother of the Terror family is Nab who, in contrast with Mailbag, represents the horrors of the African slave trade. Nab is the youngest, and most reliant Of the brothers. He tags along with Tickers until Tickers journeys to Jennet to study Islam. After Tickers, Nab begins to tag along with a peer named Teflon. Nab goes on a hunting expedition with Teflon one day and gets captured by slave traders. Nab is sold into slavery and lives as a slave. His journey is one from a child of wealth to a common slave, exemplifying the horrors of the African slave trade.After becoming a slave, Nab becomes a broken man. Before his death, Condo writes, Ever since that fateful hunting expedition had parted him from his own people, he had lost interest in everything (Condo 215). Slavery made Nab lose faith in everything. He once was a happy youth playing with his friends and brothers, but before he dies, he feels nothing. He does not even fight for his life because he feels that it is not worth anything. Becoming a slave destroyed his spirits and even his will to live. Nabs story shows the dark side of the slave trade.While his brother Mailbag benefited from the same game of slave trade, Nab ended up paying the ultimate price. The same event had different consequences for both brothers, and in doing so, represents the two sides to the slave trade issue. Slavery can be beneficial to some in certain contexts, but at the same time there will always be those who suffered because of those who prosper. The Slave trade had dire effects on Nab, whose character served as an example Of all those lost and forgotten in the African slave trade. Africa in the late 1 7005 and early 1 8005 was a time of great significance.Religions and cultures were being fused, personal and generational identities were being developed and questioned, and the African slave trade was beneficial for some while proving detrimental to the lives of others. Mares Condogs Segue, uses the four brothers of the Terror family to embody the effects of these historical events and make grander claims about Africa as a whole. Through this story we are able to gain insight about Africa during this time period while seeing the effects these historical events had on the people of this time. References Mares, Condo. Segue. Word Count: 1,887 New York: Viking Penguin Inc. , 1987.