Parentheses Of Blood Essays - Humour, Sony Labou Tansi, Tansi, Irony

Parentheses Of Blood Adam Brassard 4/15/99 Parentheses of blood By Sony Labou Tansi Dramas are classified into four sub-fields: tragedies, comedies, melo-dramas, and satires. Each sub-field has characteristics, which makes it identifiable. It is common to find any combination of the sub-fields within a play. To classify drama one must look at the more prominent theme. This paper is focusing on the drama ?Parentheses of blood?, by playwright Sony Labou Tansi. Tansi was born in Congo in 1947. Of his fifteen plays most were published in French. In 1986 his work was commissioned for English translation. Tansi has lived through Africas period of colonialism and the dictorial governments that followed. Congo was under French colonial rule through his adolescent years. It went through periods of military dictatorship before democratization. Tansi was a member of the opposing party in Congo and won himself a seat in the National assembly in 1993, just two years before his death. Like many others in post-colonial Africa, Tansi felt oppressed and untrusting of government, this is clearly evident in ?Parentheses of blood.? This play is an African Drama. Three-dimensional characters are common in African dramas, this is necessary in order to make the drama believable. Another theme of African plays is the presence of a storteller. This is common because many plays have been passed down through generations by word. A third distinguishing feature is an audience that has an active role within the play. A final identifying source is the presence of song and dance. The characters in Tansi's play were unquestionably three-dimensional. They all had distinct personalities and body, an essential for making the drama believable. How can the absence of the three remaining elements of African drama be explained? Tansi's work was done in the post-colonial period. Because of French influence African song and dance became less prominent. It was not totally wiped out, but because of French policy many once common tribal songs and dance became less common among Africans. Writing in a modern period Tansi had no need for a storyteller. This play is a depiction of the way Tansi saw life in Africa from his own point of view. Tansi did not choose to have an active audience. Not all African dramas had this characteristic, but this could be another consequence of the transition to the post-modern literature of Africa. All literature changes with time and specific elements of literature can be associated with a given period; this transition in African drama can be compared with the identifiable periods in American literature. Tansi's piece of literature can be classified as a satire. There are three identifying themes in a satire; they deal with societal vices, reject individuals so the society can be cleansed, and are highly ironic. Each of these themes is found in this play. The setting of Tansi's piece is in an African community in postcolonial Africa. This small community is symbolic of many African countries after colonialism. After independence was granted the imperial empires of France and Britain picked up and moved out of Africa. Most African states were left without stable political institutions. This made it easy for powerful army leaders to take control of the government. Once in power the leaders would establish fake democracies. Elections were held in African societies, but the ruling party often rigged them. In a sense dictators ruled each country. In the play the vices of the African society are clearly identified, ?The law forbids belief in Libertashio's death, whether he is dead or not. Therefore he is not dead?(11). The vice of this society is with its political institution. The army had orders from the capital to kill Libertatio and anybody who denied that he was still alive. The irony of the situation was seen when Martial asked Mark what would happen if they brought back a fake. ?Mark: Send us back for another. Martial: And what happens to the fake? Mark: He is killed. What else? Libertatio has a different face every time. His body changes as often as most people's moods. He's tough as they come?(14). Who is Libertatio? He symbolizes the feelings that many African people had. As was said earlier fake democracies were established in Africa, Libertatio stands for those that were