African Short Stories

One common concept that resides in many of the African stories in this book is the "story within a story." I noticed them right from the first section of West African stories where this concept was displayed multiple times. This can be shown through telling a fable of some sort or from telling a dream. There are many instances where, because of this, they switch back and forth from past and present voices. In "A Handful of Dates," Salih speaks of the past from a present point of view. It is more evident in these stories that the narrator is a person as opposed to an omniscient being. "The Bridegroom" seems to be completely focused on reminiscing as the young man realizes what will have to change to accommodate his soon to be wife. He reflects on how he lived his life before and makes constant references to the past. This idea of voice change and story within a story is far more predominant in the West African stories though.
I am also intrigued by the concept of language that resides particularly in the Southern Africa stories so far. It becomes a sort of barrier and even an exclusive club of sorts. In "Papa, Snake & I," Honwana uses the many languages to create definition between the mother and the servants. Most of the time she speaks Portuguese to her family or those at the same social standing as her, and speaks Ronga to servants such as Sartina (all evident on page 107). When she flips back and forth you can get a clear sense of how "out of the loop" the lower class would feel in this community. Speaking from experience, being in an area where people speak a language that you hardly know anything about can be frightening in a way because they could be talking about anything, even you. It is also condescending the way that she switches or when she uses Portuguese to talk to Sartina even though she knows that Sartina does not understand well. This divide was also evident in "The Bridegroom"where Gordimer uses language to create an even more substantial divide between the races and the social classes.