The African Experience, The Healers
The novel the healers, showcases major factors that have certain effects on the survival and destruction of the African community in the 19th century. According to the author, the factors that contributed to the potential destruction and survival of the African continent are; disunity and fragmentation as well as efforts put in place to consolidate individuals in this empire. These factors have been well illustrated by the characters in the novel and the severe effects they had in the Asante empire. These factors are seen to also affect Africa in the 21st Century.
The writer has also made extensive use of metaphors that illustrate background of the conflict in a cultural perspective. These metaphors are healing, impotence, and disease, which used to imply to the different aspects that show the conflict that is rampant in the empire. This paper seeks to outline two different factors and their contribution to the destruction and survival of the Africans in the 19th century giving relevant instances from the novel. It will also outline and explain the different metaphors that the writer uses in the novel.
The first factor is disunity and fragmentations. Africans have lost their sense of unity because of disunity and divisions among the indigenous people. This disunity greatly contributes to more exploitation of the Africans by the whites in the 19th century. In the novel cases of disunity have been highlighted in various instances both individual disunity and disunity in the entire group. The characters that show aspects of disunity include Asamoa Nkwanta, Araba Jesiwa, Buntui and even Ababio.
The white invasion of the African land is something most African countries can attest to. In this novel, the story is more or less similar to what took place in other African colonies of Britain. The chiefs and people in power have seen the necessity of collaborating with the whites because they want to maintain their positions of power. This is done at the expense of their citizens and fellow countrymen and this blinds them to the ills that crop in as the white people begin to exploit their people. In the Asante Empire, the royal families welcomed the whites(Stoeltje 19). This caused a division among individuals who supported the choice of welcoming the whites and those who believed in fighting to maintain their autonomy and freedom. In the novel, a member of the royal family readily surrenders to the British rule. She states “we have done so many things to bring the curse of God on our own heads, and the God is punishing us.”(Armah 279) this shows the extent to which African beliefs contributed to the disunity among the people with some believing that they had sinned and were being punished, allowing for father exploitation by the whites(Fanon 229).
Ababio, who is Densu’s guardian, is seen putting an effort in to have good relations in collaboration with the white people. He believes the white people hold more power and he would like Densu to become the next king. Resisting them would be foolish and this would cause them to become insignificant. Unable to do anything for their people or for themselves and he terms it as being “less than impotent” meaning, extremely unproductive and useless.
Individual disunity is seen in the case of Asamoa Nkwanta, the leader of the Asante army. He is torn between the loyalty to the people and the army which is under the royal family ( these royals dictate collaboration with the British). This type of issue helped fuel the suffering of the people since they did not have one voice speaking out at once against colonialists. Princess Araba Jesiwa, also elicits the aspect of individual disunity. She is in a difficult position of having to choose who to marry and ends up having to comply to marry a man she doesn’t love because of their royal status. It is evident that a lack of one voice among the Africans caused them more suffering because apart from the exploitation they experienced from the British, they had to deal with wrangles amongst themselves.
The second factor portrayed in the novel, that lead to survival of the Africans was that of consolidation. This is where the healers come in(Wodajo 157). These healers were especially skilled people trained in the art of wellness of the body. The term is used metaphorically to represent those of the Asante community who took it upon themselves to bring about unity in the dysfunctional community. The lack of unity was compared to a disease that required to be made well to create a sense of wellness making it possible for the Africans to speak with one voice against their colonial invaders. The aspect of healing is shown to be a pressing endeavor, and is a necessity if the African people are to survive against the white invasion together.
In the novel, these healers are people who consider inspiration as a virtue. They believed that in order to get someone to do something with you or for you, you had to be able to see their spirit. Spiritual blindness meant one only identified with the physical body. Thus they used this virtue of inspiration to get people to want the unity and the change in as much as it would have taken long. What mattered was the seed for change had been planted.
Densu, the main protagonist abhors conflict, and any competition that promotes division. He refuses to resettle as well as to kill a pigeon, which were all competitions that marked the passage to manhood. He refuses to do so because believes that such competitions promote conflict. As such he is aspiring to become a healer and join in their profession because they stand for what he believes in he is trained by Damfo who also becomes his mentor. Healers lived in the forest in order to detach themselves from the division that was occurring because of the disunity brought by the whites. They believed that healing was a process that touched on the physical as well as the psychological levels. Damfo who is considered a master healer in the novel, gives Densu words of wisdom through teaching him the difference between inspiration and manipulation. He terms manipulation as a disease caused by spiritual blindness. Inspiration was deemed to blend the spirit and the body making it possible to influence positive actions.
Damfo, greatly warned Densu against greed for power and termed it as one of the main factors that caused disunity. He encourages Densu to acquire the power to inspire. The inspirers involved in advocating for unity included Damfo, Densu, Asamoa Nkwanta (who received healing and latter led an army to fight Against the British forces) and Princess of Eswano. This goes to show that though only few people believed in what was right, they believed they could change the mentality of others and they were able to inspire change, which helped the Africans survive colonialism during these hard centuries.
Unity played a great role in helping the Africans fight the whites and giving them a single voice against their colonizers this is vividly seen at the end of the novel where in the victory celebrations, Africans from different countries and communities come together I one place. Ama Nkorna, one of the healers speaks to Damfo with tears of joy in her eyes saying “It’s a new dance alright and its grotesque.” She is also amused that even though the whites wanted to divide them, they actually made them work together for the future.
One of the clear metaphors used in this Novel is the aspect of “healers” or healing. Healing is done to someone who is sick or suffering from a disease, i.e. unwell. In this context, the writer uses the term “healer” to refer to the people who reconciled the African people by inspiring them to look beyond manipulation and the strife brought about by conflicting people in order to become one people with one voice. It is the essence of renewal of the mind so to speak to rationalize things by eliminating spiritual blindness to become one. Therefore, it makes sense for those whose minds are renewed and ways of doing things are changed to be termed as healed e.g. Asamoa Nkwanta, who changed his perception and began to wage war against the real enemy-the colonialists.
The second metaphor is “impotence”, this term is used by Ababio when trying to convince Densu that collaboration with the white man is the way to go. It basically means that the people who are going to fight the colonialists will be unable to be productive or make anything of themselves in terms of progress. This view made sense since the British colonizers had the power over the people and they had collaborated with the rulers and the royals. Opposing them meant fighting the rulers, which included the army and that was nearly impossible. The metaphoric language here is a way of showing just how limited one would become if their way of thinking didn’t resonate with those of the collaborators.
Finally, disease is used to show the disunity among the people. The lack of wellness brought about by conflict, malice, and strife that made it nearly impossible for the community to function properly in unison making them turn against each other instead of working the way they ought to. It has been likened to a pathological illness of the body that would cause malfunction and in turn affect the working capability of the body as a whole.
WORKS CITED
Armah, Ayi Kwei. The healers: An historical novel. Vol. 194. London [etc.]: Heinemann Educational., 1979. Print.
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. First Ever. N.p., 2008. Web.
Stoeltje, Beverly J. “Asante Queen Mothers: Precolonial Authority in a Postcolonial Society.pdf.” Research Review 19.2003 (2003): 1–19. Web.
Wodajo, Tsegaye. “Healing Strategies in Selected Novels of Ayi Kwei Armah.” N.p., 1997. Web.
