Answer: The Poems , "Africa " and "Telephone Conversation " and the short stories : No Witchcraft for Sale " " The Moment Before the Gun Went Off "The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses " depict the theme of colonialism, slavery, and social racism. The pieces of literature shows how white people treated black African.
Explanation:
Diop emphasizes the problems of Africa that were brought about by colonialism, and shares a message to Africans to bring about change and freedom.. Lines from the poem Africa that shows hard work and hardships brought by Colonialism.
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields
The blood of your sweat
The sweat of your work
The work of your slavery
Africa, tell me Africa
2. The primary theme of "Telephone Conversation" is racism. In the poem, a Black man tries to confirm a housing arrangement with a landlady over the phone. He wishes to inform the landlady that he is Black, and a ridiculous conversation ensues regarding how dark his skin color is. Lines from the poem that show how the landlady degraded the African's color of skin.
Considerate she was, varying the emphasis--
"ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?" Revelation came.
"You mean--like plain or milk chocolate?"
Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted,
I chose. "West African sepia"--and as afterthought,
"Down in my passport." Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent
Hard on the mouthpiece. "WHAT'S THAT?" conceding
"DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS." "Like brunette."
"THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?" "Not altogether.
The No Witchcraft For Sale - has a theme that shows the strong differences in cultures. In the story, witch doctors use their supernatural powers to help heal patients; along with their imminent knowledge of the environment. In Doris Lessing short story, there are three essential themes to the story. One is love. It was shown in the part where Gideon got a snake venom. He used his extensive knowledge in his herbs of the environment to save Teddy's eyes. Second is loyalty and the third one is Trustworthiness.
The Moment Before the Gun Went Off" by Nadine Gordimer depicts the practice of the Apartheid. undesired characteristics.
The Apartheid Practice
Starting around 1950, the government of South Africa adopted a number of laws which introduced forced segregation between people belonging to different ethnic groups.
In practice, this meant that non-white South Africans - a majority of the population - were forced to live in separate areas and use separate public institutions. Even marriages and relationships between people of different ethnicities were outlawed. All of these laws had terrible human consequences, as people were forced away from their homes and families were torn apart.
In the short story, the protagonist , Van der Vyver raises and protects his territory and the community of black people who work for him. It is shown that Van der Vyver employs the the practice of Apartheid to animals and the black workers. One practice is "culling", which means separating animals from a group according to desired or undesired characteristics.
It is noticeable how white people treated the Black Africans. White are separated from blacks. If you are white, you are classified as a rich person with power. If you are black you are belong to the worker category. Likewise with how the protagonist treated the animals. They were separated according to the characteristics they have.
The Prisoner Who Were Glasses is a the story describes the political development of a glasses-wearing character named Brille, who transforms from a man who was originally attracted to the clean and attractive theories of anti-apartheid political activism into a man who is an active and practicing member of a resistance group, and who realizes how to use and wield political power to achieve tangible results.
In the poems, African are natives of Africa. They originally inhabited Africa. Before the Westerners colonized the countries of the continent of Africa, the natives had the freedom. They were the owners of the agricultural lands. They might not be knowledgeable with the civilization but they have their own culture and tradition.
When the Western Colonizers discovered and found the available natural resources, white people began to come and visit then conquer the countries.
No matter how African fought for their rights as natives of the lands, Westerners were powerful. They forced the natives to practice and adopt the WESTERERS way. The colonizers tried to erase their identities as natives of the lands. However, the Africans, as the years passed by never forget their roots and still practices some of the traditions they had up to present.