Contemporary Literature

Tayeb Salih’s “The Doum Tree of Wad Hamid” fits neatly into the contemporary era

both chronologically, with it being written after World War II by an author who was alive to

during the war, and whose country was included in the conflict, and thematically with the

content and emphasis being placed on the social issues important to the author at the time of its

release. Within the story we are shown several external political entities attempting to forcefully

modernize the village and by doing so, disrupt and destroy their traditions and long held beliefs.

This theme is reminiscent of the events that unfolded in Sudan and Egypt following

World War II and lasting until the present. The story also symbolizes the incredible instability

within Africa and the middle east following the “end” of the war, which included so many

concurrent conflicts that it seemed more akin to a continuation of World War II than any form of

peace or political refractory period. While the conflicts most likely to have influenced Salih’s life

and writings are the Anglo-Egyptian War, the Egyptian revolution of 1952, the Suez Crisis, and

the First Sudanese Civil War, it is not difficult to see similarities or make connections to the

concurrent conflicts in Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Kenya, Algeria,

Congo, Ethiopia, Angola, Somalia, Dhofar, Zimbabwe, Zambia, or many other African or Arabic

countries, all of which occurred at or near the same time. Further the story could even be tied

into the many conflicts of the cold war period occurring outside the geopolitical quagmire of the

African and Arab worlds.

However, the connection to the conflicts of Egypt and Sudan are definitively the most

palpable. During Salih’s life a series of political conflicts between Britain and Egypt, who jointly

ruled Sudan via the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, led to a flurry of conflicts in the area and
eventually led to Sudan achieving independence and many more conflicts, such as the civil war

which somehow began four months before Sudan even had its independence.

Just as the various government entities in the story made plans to modernize or

“improve” the village without consulting the inhabitants so too did British and Egyptian leaders

make unilateral decisions on Sudan to benefit themselves and each time they attempted to

enforce their will upon the governed people, they fought back and repelled the intrusive

governments. By use of the shrine tree as the focal point of the conflict and the utilization of the

local narrator explaining the situation to an outsider, Salih demonstrates the cause of such

rebellious mentalities and expresses the need for oppressive governments to stop trying to

control others and allow for self-determination.

Similarly, Mahfouz's "Zaabalawi" fits both chronologically and thematically within the

contemporary era, however, where Salih focused on the external geopolitical issues of the time,

Mahfouz focused on the internal and spiritual issues he found in the modern era. The seeking of

the religious icon of Zaabalawi symbolizes the seeking of spiritual fulfillment, enlightenment, or

even faith itself, with the sickness the protagonist needs to cure being a loss of faith following in

a post war, increasingly materialistic, and scientifically advanced world which had pushed many

religions to the sidelines. The ending of “Zaabalawi" expresses the need to forego materialism

and wealth to find the fulfillment and happiness one seeks. In this way, Mahfouz seemed to

blend Buddhist Zen with his Islamic ideology.

Conversely, Kincaid's "Girl" fits into the contemporary era not due to its chronological

proximity to World War II, but due to the social issues it highlighted and the experimental means

in which it did so. The single sentence story showcased the double standards placed on woman,

the stigmatization of female sexuality, and the unrealistic cultural and social expectations placed
on them, with many of the gender inequalities existing unto the present day. One of the less

obvious examples of this is the section instructing her on the different ways of smiling at

different people, there is no option to not smile, which brings to mind the modern sexist mantra

of telling women to smile.

Of the four stories, Siko's "Yellow Woman" seemed the least contemporary. Its emphasis

on nature, spirituality juxtaposed against modernity, the role of myth in reality, and the fluidity

of normally concreate concepts likened the story to the works of the earlier Romantic era. Yet

the seemingly regressive nature of the story belied the social and cultural issues detailed in the

story. Within the story the issue of identity is the dominant conflict with the unnamed narrator

first refuting the role of Yellow Woman and denying the possibility that Silko could be anything

but a normal man. As the story progresses, she becomes less and less convinced about the

mundanity of Silko and of her own identity. In the end, she decides that she can be both herself

and the Yellow Woman. This individual identity conflict and the issue of ancient myth in the

modern era mirror the cultural identity crisis of many Native Americans of the time.

The loss of cultural identity stemmed from the near extinction of their people and the

systematic erasure of their culture, which was not actively opposed until the American Indian

Movement of the late sixties. Additionally, the story showcased the continued pervasive racism

that continues to plague Native Americans through the White Rancher who chooses to address

Silko with a racial title and accuses him of theft with no evidence before demanding he submit to

his dictates. The seemingly ambiguous end of the story asserts that someone can be both a

modern member of society and also be spiritually tied to the ancient and traditional ways of their

ancestors, and that the two need not be mutually exclusive.