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Thread of Violence Across the Globe
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Added on 2020-05-04
Thread of Violence Across the Globe
Added on 2020-05-04
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Running head: THREAD OF VIOLENCE ACROSS THE GLOBETHREAD OF VIOLENCE ACROSS THE GLOBE Name of the Student:Name of the University:Author note:
1THREAD OF VIOLENCE ACROSS THE GLOBE Violence is a kind of behavior, which involves physical force and hurting to kill ordamage something or someone. It is related to brutality, ferocity and barbarity. Violence is arecurring phenomenon that happened on earth to exert power or force. It could be the resultof colonial force or war. Throughout the history, the violence has occurred due tointervention of the colonial power or war. During 15th century, the Europeans started to showinterest for land of Africa. The Europeans entered into the land by sailing. They firstestablished a trading relationship with the people of the continent. However, after many yearsof Christian missionaries’ acquisition in the land to spread their religion, the colonizersfinally settled down in the land and started to exploit the indigenous people of Africa. As thepower rest in the hand of the colonizers in the African land, they were able to do whateverthey want. To maintain their power in continuum, the colonizers took many strategies.Violence is one of their strategies to maintain their power relation with the colonized. Violence is the result of war. It could be a tool for creating damage and sometimeswinning the war. The Sri Lankan Civil War was an armed struggle occurred in the island ofthe Sri Lanka. It has begun on 1983. In the war total 23, 327 people were killed and morethan 60,000 people were wounded. The war occurred between the Sri Lankan army andLTTE or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In 19 May 2009, then president of the Sri Lankahas declared the end of the civil war by defeat of the LTTE. The aim of this essay is to show the contrast and comparison between two texts, oneis from Sri Lanka and another is from South Africa. The common thread in these two texts isviolence. The essay will show how violence has been portrayed, which occurred on theterritories. The chosen texts are Into the Dark Chamber: The Ovelist and South Africa by J.MCoetzee and Noontide Toll by Romesh Gunesekera.
2THREAD OF VIOLENCE ACROSS THE GLOBEThe South African text into the dark Chamber: The Ovelist and South Africa hasportrayed the violence in the context of colonialism. J.M Coetzee who has won Nobel Prizefor literature writes it. The author has illustrated violence by showing different author’s textswho have worked on the violence in the colonial era of Africa. For example, the Lead of thetext has started with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work “The Scarlet Letter” in which Nathanielhas stated that the colony is established with necessity of lands for cemetery and prison. Thecemetery is important for burial and prison for political imprisonment in the colony. The South African text is the illustration of strategies that had been taken by thecolonial power to build resistance against revolution. The colonial empire had bannedphotography or visual claiming that illustrated the violence act of the ruler. The cruelestaction of the ‘white electorate’ was place the violence out of the site of the public. Forexample, ‘If people are starving, let them starve far away in the bush, where their thin bodieswill not be a reproach’ (Coetzee). However, in the poem named ‘In Detention’, which wasmentioned in the text, the poet Christopher van Wyk had accumulated rumors against a deathof a political prisoner in the land where documentation with photography is banned. Therumors were in the air, thus, the poet had told three lines about the cause of the death inseveral ways. On the other hand, the Noontide Toll is set in Sri Lanka after twenty-six years of civilwar between the Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tigers. Here the narrator Vasantha is a vandriver who believes in constant movement from darkness to hope. The reader hears a voice ofhope even after the war. Vasantha commented, “You don’t have to feel trapped. If you are onthe move, there is always hope’ (Gunesekera). Thus, the violence here illustrated completelyin different manner. This episodic novel is obviously a product of violence. However, theprotagonist is optimistic about life and the author has shown him in very different way thanthe other text. The text has shown some postwar devastation through the chronicles of
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