Mysticism in Tail of the Blue Bird

At the end of Tail of the Blue Bird, we are in a way left without a concrete answer to the mystery of the murder. It is said by the characters in the village that Kofi Atta died because of the curse, and consequently aging backwards. This may just be the cold-hearted cynic in me, but I have a hard time accepting this mystical solution to the investigation. Instead, I view Kayo's acceptance as more of a symbolic shift from his scientific approach to a more intuition based method. To me this is similar to the moment in mysterious detective stories in which the investigator considers that there may indeed be a non-logical solution. While most stories go on to the detective reasoning out the true, rational cause, Tail of the Blue Bird stops there. For stories such as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, the suspension of disbelief in necessary in order to understand the plot. I believe that belief can only be suspended, however, in the creation of the perimeters of the story. For example, in Harry Potter belief is suspended in that we believe that within the story, there is a wizarding world.  Within that world, however, there is still parameters that cannot be broken. If Voldemort suddenly turned good, I would have a hard time suspending my disbelief. That is how I feel about the ending to The Tail of the Blue Bird. I feel that within the parameters of that world, the conclusion that many in the class drew exists too far out of the realm of possibility. Consequently, I view Kayo's acceptance as more of a symbolic departure from reason, instead of the actual cause of death.

Tail of the Blue Bird

Yaw Poku is the first narrator of Nii Ayikwei Parkes' novel, Tail of the Blue Bird. Poku narrates the novel in an interesting way: he uses a combination of English and the Ghanan language to describe what is going on in his village. In his narrating, it is clear that he lives in a very isolated village, and would not be what we consider today to be "modern". One quote of his that I found intriguing was "The tale English man calls history is mostly lies written in fine dye," (Parks, 2). I thought that it was an interesting take, and reveals the almost non-linear perspective of this narrator. He is clearly a man of tradition, when he describes the umbilical cord on page 2, and when he is upset with the policemen for not showing the proper respect. He talks in jointed sentences, for example when he addresses the policeman, saying "OK, listen. I no get plenty time. I dey house for Accra wey I get call say some woman find something for here wey e dey smell. You know something for the matter?" His superstition is further revealed when he sees the after-birth like mess, saying"I was not meant to see what I saw.. no one without the right powers was supposed to see it" I think Yaw Polu is going to be a very important character in the novel.
     The majority of the works we have read this year have had to do with the westernization of Africa. So far in the course, I believe we have yet to see a character as unwesternized as Yaw Poku. He is clearly an older man, and at this point in the novel I believe the story will focus around the coming of the European ideals into this small village. Yaw Poku, as an older superstitious member of the village, will most likely have an interesting reaction to these new ideas. He also provides a good contrast to the other narrator in the novel right now, Kayo. Kayo is a forensic chemist, and is a foil to Yaw Poku as a hunter. The two professions are complete opposites. The two are also opposites in there names. Together, these two narrators should provide an interesting viewpoint into the story that is about to unfold. So far in the story, there has also been an interesting combination of English language and the native langauge of Yaw Poku. This may be some literary technique used by the author. It will be interesting to find out why he used tese two languages together from him when he comes to visit us.

Nervous Conditions Final Reactions

     The ending of Nervous Conditions was very interesting. One topic that I found to be particularly of note was the presence of the westerners. It is clear from Nyasha's state at the end of the book that the presence of western thought has not necessarily been kind to her. I wonder if that in the long run Tambu will regret the western influence on her or be proud of being a combination of Africa and the west. It seems like for the most part she was unhappy when she was subordinate to men, which was the case early in the book, but is that better than the anorexia and mental unstableness of Nyasha?
   I was also wondering about the character of Babamukuru. Is he a good, noble character or is a sort of antagonist? He displays many interesting qualities, and seems to be a combination of a hard working, more native man and a christianity influenced character. I wonder what his presence may be for Tambu, as it has evidently been somewhat alienating towards Maiguru and Nyasha. I also find Chido's role in the novel very interesting. As a man in the family I thought it funny that he would leave with Miaguru. I also thought it was interesting when Babamukuru said that "there can only be one man in this house" it was to Nayasha instead of Chido. The perspective of the novel has been extraordinarily female, without much emphasis on characters like Chido.
I wonder whether or not Tambu will be happy in life or end uplike Maiaguru. At this point Tambu is a well educated woman from Africa, much like Tambu. I am left wondering if it is socially acceptable to be this way where she is. In the west, Tambu may feel alienated from her culture, family, and history. In Africa, she may be repressed to traditional roles of a woman and be unable to use her education. I wonder which one she prefers. Based on her reaction to her parents christian wedding, I would be surprised if she prefers the western life
"But about my escape and Lucia's: about my mother's and Maiguru's entrapment: and about Nyasha's rebellion - Nyasha, fair-minded and isolated, my uncle's daughter, whose rebellion may not in the end have been successful."
Who then is central? Why is there a lack of male perspective? Is this a purely female novel? Who isn't dealing with entrapment?