The Theme of Conflict and Violence in Nalo Hopkinson's "A Habit of Waste" and "A New World Order" by Caryl Phillips

Introduction

It is quite unfortunate and concerning that despite the various attempts to create awareness of racism, it is still a major issue in the contemporary world. It is even more disheartening to learn that our forefathers and those before them struggled with the same issue we are struggling with today. Although it is presented as a delicate topic among many people and many more others consider it a joke; it is not treated with the seriousness it deserves and this explains the reason behind its persistence. A whole lot of people don't understand how much racism and prejudice go ahead in our day-by-day life, and in the event that they do acknowledge it, they couldn't care sufficiently less to make a move. With respect to racism and prejudice, this paper is going to expound the aspects of conflict and violence as portrayed in Nalo Hopkinson's "A Habit of Waste" and "A New World Order" by Caryl Phillips.

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In the first reading, "A Habit of Waste" by Hopkinson, there is a conflict of culture and lifestyle between Africans and Americans. There are various instances where the depictions are quite evident and distinct. The persona of the story states that the difference in dressing culture bothered her. For starters, she could not understand how one could have the nerve to wear such short skirts leaving a very part of her lower body exposed. The choice of words she uses is enough depiction that the conflict that exists between these two races is far-fetched,

"She had a lot of nerve, too, wrapping that behind in a flower-print sarong miniskirt. Sort of like making your ass into a billboard." (Page 179)

There is also the theme of internal conflict within Cynthia. Cynthia had loathed her bends and her skin shading when she occupied her body, yet now that she sees somebody who parades her benefits as opposed to concealing them, she views her body as excellent, and inquiries her choice to switch bodies, notwithstanding condemning her new body and its blemishes. For a minute, it appears like Cynthia would release her second body to squander by overhauling again because of her steady disappointment. The issue isn't the bodies, as Cynthia's first body was delightful and her second body was fabricated to elevated expectations, yet Cynthia's recognitions and voracity.

In the second reading, "A New World Order," by Caryl Phillip, conflict and physical violence is the dominant theme. Being an African in the New World was extremely horrendous from various perspectives. The constrained movement the damaging impact of the dread and dehumanization process that African individuals needed to experience required a particular requirement for self-articulation. Scholarly works that portray the account of subaltern gatherings and the mistreated incorporate a wide assortment of themes regarding the matters of embarrassment, torment, and sufferance. This dehumanization period definitely makes the general population of diaspora develop the sentiments of self-disdain and loss of confidence. It is decisively these subjects which have led to research concerning traumatic experiences affiliated with such acts of violence.

By expounding on the removal of the blacks, i.e. subjugation, Caryl Phillips has attempted to offer voice to the truant voice of history. Caryl Phillips investigates the injuries of frontier history and the Caribbean's different associations with Europe. By expounding on subjection, Caryl Phillips is endeavoring to fill-in the holes and hushes made by the white convention of expounding on subjugation. The white convention neglects to perceive either the enduring or culture of the slaves. While the Black British journalists' works endeavor to address both the anguish and the way of life of the slaves, Caryl Phillips reproduces the monstrosities of imperialism in his books. He acquaints with his perusers the legacy of servitude in British Caribbean history. Caryl Phillips in his books centers around the left out of customary historiography.