The Bad Social Phenomenon in School Days and Ayiti (Book Review Sample)

The Bad Social Phenomenon in “School Days” and Ayiti
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The two books, ‘Ayiti’ and ‘School Days’ discuss the suffering of the black people and the disguise placed on them to hide this misery and portray a condition of comfort that fails to exist in the societies. The books begin with the introduction of the White culture to the Blacks which raises the hopes of the black people of a better life. The communities portray the White culture as superior to other religions and need the Blacks to adopt the new lifestyle and abandon their native cultures. Despite the high exaggerations placed on them, the Black finally establish the discriminatory nature of the Whites. In the School Days, the author narrates how the little boy admired schools and demanded to go to college. On reaching the school, the little boy found the Racist nature of the teacher and even upon the replacement of the teacher. The students still rejected the new teacher who tried to discuss more the Creole. The author of the Ayiti narrates similar scenario as the Haitians thought that becoming a free nation would make elevate them from sufferings only to continue in poverty. The books inform the blacks to be strong enough to free themselves from the problems.
School Boy exposes how the Blacks undergo racism in France. The teachers talk ill about the Creole which is the language used by Black people in the country. The hate that the White teachers have for Creole makes them discriminate the Black students who continue using it. One of the challenges that the little boy and fellow Black pupils in the schools face is that they find it challenging to adopt French upon their admissions in the colleges immediately. The teachers, however, insist that the students must use French despite their little knowledge in it. Such treatments for the black pupils made the little boy to hate school. He only went to college due to his desire to read and write so that he would write stories one day. The author even narrates that the little boy and his fellow pupils thought their problems would end with the coming of the new teacher only for them to realize that the teachers were similar in their treatment of the children at school.
‘Ayiti’ exposes same sufferings by the Black people. At the beginning of the story, the author cites rich descriptions of Haiti such as “the first free black nation in the world,” raw and sweet sugar, warm sands, clear blue water among other beautiful descriptions of the nation. The Haitians, however, suffer a lot and they do not enjoy the roses that the world thinks to exist in their land. Haitians lack employment; they live in poverty, their health conditions are devastating. The author discusses the hypocrisy in the worldview of Haiti as its citizens do not enjoy the benefits purported to be in the country. Cases of unemployment, legal and illegal migration, kidnapping, coup, as well as zombification are some of the problems that the Haitians experience despite the world’s notion that Haiti is the best Black nation. ‘Ayiti’ exposes how the Whites overlook the sufferings of the Black people with the only determination of spreading the White culture.
Both books discuss attempts by the Whites to assimilate the Blacks. “School Days” talks of the efforts by the teacher to force the students into abandoning Creole. The teacher is very cruel to the pupils such as the little boy who hail from homes that Creole is the only language. The teacher despises the blacks so much that he does not need to hear any of the pupils using Creole in class. The hate makes the black pupils to hate the teacher. The author cites Big Bellybutton as one of the students who stood firm for their rights and fought discrimination in the school. The same bias occurs in Haiti as the tourists come to enjoy the warm beaches while the locals continue to suffer. Just like the little boy’s failure to find any fruit any schooling, the Haitians failed to benefit from the much-celebrated independence. Haiti made history to be independent of the white rule. Despite the freedom, they discrimination regarding poor services and lack of jobs never ended.
Both the authors talk about the zombification. The Big Bellybutton chose to tell stories about zombies and Creole magic when the teachers tried to discuss the French culture and the fairy tales of European origin. Big Bellybutton wanted to address the stories that explain the real suffering that the Blacks face in France. The European fairy tales that the teachers championed for never meant to solve the problems facing the Creole but to hide them. Hence, the mentioning of the zombies in ‘School Days’ is an indication of the death of black people arising from the mistreatment and lack of services in the country. In ‘Ayiti’ the author mentions zombification and the 1937 Parsley Massacre as some of the problems facing Haitians. It shows how the black people continue to lose their lives from discrimination. The zombification implies several deaths experienced in Haiti as the citizens lack proper health services and basic needs. The Haitians are poor despite the rich image that the Whites attempt to portray of the nation. Hence, the two books narrate the sad deaths that Back people face but get hidden by the Whites that only intend to create a false image of satisfaction.
The author of Ayiti used haunting images at the covers of the book to show the pictorial evidence of the suffering experienced by the Haitian citizens. The only funny aspect of the pain experienced by the blacks is the wrong picture portrayed the world citing better conditions. It would be difficult for a person leaving away from Haiti to believe in the problems facing its locals based on the news spreading around the world furnishing the nation as one of the best tourist destinations. The author, however, relates the Haitian situation with the depleted copper reserves of Michigan’s Upper Penisula. The locals of Michigan’s no longer listen to news of unemployment or depressions since they understand its true meaning. The little boy in the “School Days’ had the same experience when he went to school. He had to request his mother to stop escorting him to school so that he would play in the marbles with the black colleagues despite facing imminent punishment from his mother for lateness. The little boy understood that suffering they met in school as the teacher discriminated them. He therefore never worried of extra punishment from his mother but needed a real experience of the situation facing the black children in school and on their way from school.
The books teachers about being bold enough to challenge the situation rather than lying low in suffering. The children in the school underwent strong discrimination against their culture as the teacher never wanted to hear anything about Creole which is the native culture of the French people of African origin. It was quite a difficult situation for the children as they faced high bullying from White students as well. Big Belly Button was however strong enough to withstand the students who bullied his fellow black children. He promised to fight them and even booked a fight with the bullies on the way home. The same Big Bellybutton challenged the teachers who told the stories of French Culture and European fairy tales. He instead narrated to the students about the Creole culture and zombification. Big Bellybutton wanted the students to never forget their culture due to the discrimination they faced in the school. He wanted the blacks to challenge against racism for their lives to improve. It was an incredible idea for the teachers served pupils with milk powder to help them against malnutrition. The students, however, poured the milk into the river and as they embraced the magical Creole ingredient. They considered milk powder to be a European ingredient served to them by White teachers to make them abandon their culture due to the hatred the teachers had for Creole.
Gay, the author of Ayiti similarly vilifies the Caribbean nation by strongly condemning the suffering that the Haitian citizens both in the island and outside it faced. Gay never wanted to avoid the trap of trying to show that Haiti is different from other nations inhabited by Blacks. She criticized the way Haiti made wrong headlines as the best nation occupied by the people of Black origin. Haiti had a high rate or both legal and illegal migrants, several mudcake-eating people, many unemployed citizens, top speed of kidnap, zombification. Parsley Massacre left several people dead in 1937. Gay used images of mudcake-eating people to show how Haitians lived in abject poverty. She was strong enough to condemn the wrong messages that were in circulation about Haiti as the best nation in the Caribbean region. The talking such as ‘clear blue water,' ‘the sweet sugar cane’ ‘and warm sand’ used to describe Haiti never reflected on its citizens. The Hait...