As Yenjela (2017: 13) notes, colonialism is one of the chief historical burdens that
…African literature spiritedly grapples with. Correspondingly, Woods (2007: 20) notes:
African literatures represent history through the twin matrices of memory and trauma.’
Matlwa’s Coconut defines the colonial mindset that South Africans have adopted and applied in the democratic society.
Coconut echoes how black youngsters are swayed by white influence. There are things that black youngsters commit as a result of colonial intervention such as impersonating white people through skin bleaching and hair extensions. Matlwa portays this through the character of Fikile and some of Ofilwe’s actions that attempt define her as a white person.
Poor individuals like Fikile envy the luxurious lifestyle that majority of white people delight in. This could be substantiated by Fikile stating that she recalls telling her teacher that when she grows up she wants be a white person. ‘White, Teacher Zola, I want to be white’
(p. 135). When asked the reason, she states it is ‘better.’ Then her fellow classmate said she will be ‘black as dirt forever’ (p. 135). To achieve her wish to be a white person, Fikile says she is afraid of ‘losing complexion’ (p. 51). She goes to extreme lengths to maintain her complexion which makes feel close to whiteness. She uses sunscreen to sustain the whitening effects of her ‘Lemon Light skin-lightener cream’ (p. 117).
Most young black girls are bleaching their skins to be brighter. It could be suggested that these girls were not satisfied if not abhorring their black skin colour and therefore consider the white or brighter skin more beautiful which could be why they bleach their skins. Black South African women marched against skin bleaching in August 2016. The march was organised by, among others, the University of Kwazulu Natal and yhe provincial health department. DailySun newspaper 26 August 2016 present the story of Nombulelo Pakkies (49) frm Lamontville who confirms that she used a face lightener for over 18 years not knowing harmful it was to her health until her skin started become itchy when exposed to the sun. She states: ’I didn’t know there was a problem until a doctor told me hpw the cream was affecting my skin.’
Figure 3.1 Skin bleaching
Analysis
The aforementioned image shows the image of young black South African woman. On the first picture, her skin colour appears to be dark. That was before she resorted to skin bleaching. On the second image, her complexion is dramatically brighter than before. This is after she had opted for skin bleaching which brought her skin colour close of the whiteness.
Another challenge for women that Matlwa unravels in Coconut is the practice of hair extensions that appear to be critical issue in the lives of women in the novel. Erasmus (1997: 12) argues: ‘racial hierarchies and values of colonial racism have left a deep mark on our conceptions of beauty.’ By the same token, Weitz (2001: 667) notes: ‘women's hair is central to their social position and that women can use hair to attempt to access power, however limited such power might be.’ The infatuation with hairstyles in Coconut could be expatiated by the quotes below:
‘The most beautiful hair…..all eight years of life’ (p.1)
‘straight and silky soft’ (p.1)
‘…. spoilt, haughty, rude and foul-mouthed, hair …glorious’ (p.1)
‘Charming young waitress…soft, blow-in-the-wind caramel-blond hair’ (p.117)
Fikile envies to be a white woman and this could point out that she is not proud of who she is. She wishes to be ‘white, rich and happy’ rather than ‘black, dirty and poor’ (p.118).
Furthermore, the coloniser perhaps influenced the mindset of people to define beauty on the basis of skin colour. The eager to live a fancy life like white people made Fikile to develop hatred for black people and be ashamed of them. She views black people as an insignia of failure and poverty and hence, she associates whiteness with wealth and black with poverty.
Another factor that contributes to Fikile’s revulsion for black people is her sexual abuse incident that she unearthed at a later stage. Her uncle sexually abused her when she was young and at that time she had no idea of what was going on. When she eventually found out, she got disappointed to an extent of not only developing hatred for her uncle, but also regarding every black man as a rapist. ‘…thief like all the other men in this train, and probably an alcoholic and a rapist too’ (p.133).
Ofilwe also mirrors a colonised mindset. She embraces the English language and places a premium on it. She speaks English at home and she believes that it is her first language despite her skin colour not being in her favour. When asked about her mothertongue at school she points out English but this seems to be far-fetched to her teachers. Although she could be physically referred to as black, she considered herself as white until she decided to find out about her parents’ background.
Matlwa has demonstrated the colonial influences in the lives of Ofilwe and Fikile. Both of them are challenged by the immeasurable desires to be white and live according to white people’s cultures. Moreover, Fikile struggled to accept her black identity and hated it because of some of the legacies of apartheid in the post-colonial South Africa such as