adminLovemore Ranga Mataire The Reader
WHILE Petina Gappah’s cynicism that runs through her short stories in “An Elegy for Easterly” maybe repugnant to some readers, there is no denying the fact that she is endowed with a certain creative prowess and an ability to sieve through the debris of a dreary environment- fishing out elements of the malaise that have taken root in Zimbabwe as a result of the economic meltdown experienced more than a decade ago.
Her debut collection of short stories encompasses cross social and political struggles, with characters trying to make sense of life and ultimately their struggles to overcome the economic situation that has gripped their country.
All the stories are sarcastically lacerated with humour powerfully woven to the extent that the book can be described as tragic.
Gappah’s language in “An Elegy for Easterly” is described by some critics as “clean and crisp, with musical quality that frequently draws on her first language,” Shona. The themes range from love, promise, betrayal and disappointment.
However, while art is supposed to be the mirror of society, it must in some way be able locate the genesis of the problems and if possible offer solutions of how the situation could be remedied.
Sadly, it seems cynicism runs through Petina’s book piercing every character as being either unaware of something or lacking in some way.
The narrator rarely has any positive things to highlight in a dreary and grim post-liberation Zimbabwe.
More like Vincent Naipaul in Miguel Street, the narrator assumes an omnipotent persona that somehow empowers her to caricaturise most characters as either trigger happy, blatantly ignorant or simply being swept in the wave of survival antics that leads them to commit several vices.
In other words, the social decadence inherent in society has shaped characters’ behaviour to suit the flux environment.
In “An Elegy for Easterly”, the cynicism is apparent as the government is the main subject with its public posturing ahead of the Queen of England’s visit.
People are relocated to temporary settlements on Easterly Farm, where there is grinding poverty and serious social dislocation.
Within the Easterly community, everything is restless and people literally live from hand to mouth.
The social and economic degradation has also affected family cohesion to the extent that Martha Mupengo is at her own peril without anyone concerned about her welfare.
It is within such an environment that in a drunken stupor Josephat rapes her and she eventually dies soon after labour.
“The Annex Shuffle” is about a law student’s mental breakdown, temporary yet long-lasting in its effects. One gets the sense that it is easy to slip into insanity in the absence of social system to assist people to cope with issues of love and disappointment.
“Something Nice from London” is the most heart-breaking story in the collection. It begins at Harare’s airport, largely deserted since the disappearance of tourists. A boy in an orange shirt tells Mary Chikwiro that his mother is bringing him something nice from London. Mary, who narrates the story, is waiting with her family for her brother Peter, but it turns out that he is not on the flight. It is some time before the reader realises that Peter is no longer alive. The family has been waiting for Peter’s body to arrive only to receive a box wrapped in gaudy purple and silver paper ad tied up with a ribbon and his name is engraved on a brass plate on the lid.
“In the heart of the Golden Triangle”, the story focuses on the fate of so-called ‘small house’ who is pampered by her old husband who is never present. The search for a good life and riches has corrupted society. Unhappiness is felt inwardly by that lack of presence and the perennial fear of having contracted Aids because of her wayward partner.
There is a certain detachment visible in all the stories of someone who thinks she/he has arrived and can therefore see things from a point of view of someone who can no longer be contaminated by the ignorance, poverty and stupidity that characterise most Zimbabweans who have no clue of how to overcome the problems that confront them.
One of the saddest stories is “The Mupandawana Dancing Company” where a retired old man – a coffin maker assumes fame by winning a dancing competition in a “place of few public pleasures”.
The old man later dies on the dancing floor with onlookers assuming that he is doing a unique dancing routine wriggling prostrate on the floor.
Gappah’s cynicism is pursued in “Our Man in Geneva wins a Million Euros” where Zimbabwe is depicted as having an incompetent bureaucracy and cast aspersions on its lack of workmanship and technologically backward.
The narrator’s cynicism is so apparent like someone on a pedestal of enlightenment. It seems there is virtually nothing good coming out Zimbabwe as the country has been rundown by an incompetent regime bent on haranguing the masses and paying lip-service to issues of service delivery.
The same trend is pursued in The Maid from Lalapanzi where the main characters look redundant and their attempt to escape their dreary lives is futile.
Again the narrator seems to be on a pedestal of superiority seeing through the stupidity and futility of her characters. Even though Sis Blandina seems to be the rationale and hardworking one but she is blinded by love and in the end duped by Mukoma George which leads her to commit suicide as she can’t bear to face her parents in Lalapanzi.
There is a certain detachment visible in all the stories of someone who thinks she/ he has arrived and can therefore see things from a point of view of someone who can no longer be contaminated by the ignorance, poverty and stupidity that characterise most Zimbabweans who have no clue of how to overcome the problems that confront them.
Online Reporter