Western Civilization Essay Example for Free

Western Civilization EssayThe themes dominating Netos poetry are quite indicative of the occurrence that the veracity and practice of luso-tropicalism, the idea that the Portuguese went to Africa to civilize and christianize Africans, and the notion that the assimilation project was a widespread one, were more myth than reality. The poems included in Sacred Hope illustrate well the oppression, apartheid, (un)civilization, and (un)Christianity brought to Africa by the Portuguese.The poem which in its English translation is called Western civilization (Civilizacao ocidental), constitutes a good example of that questionable civilization and Christianity brought to Angola (and other parts of Africa) by the Portuguese colonizers. The title of the poem might lead rough contributors to believe that what is to come is an apology for Western civilization and culture and for its good deeds in Africa.It could be suggested that such readers have fallen into what can be described as the Eurocentric trap that is, they went into the training of the poem with the preconceived idea that Western colonizers did thus go to Africa to civilize Africans. These readers testament only be disappointed and horizontal confused for what is to be painted in the poem is not civilization hardly rather (un)civilization.The poems title is in fact highly ironic it is used by the poet to make the reader reflect about the veritable nature of Western civilization, see its many (un)civilized sites and make him/her question the motives arse the colonial enterprise. For example, in this poem, the houses of Angolans are described as Tins fixed to stakes / driven in the ground whose intimate landscape is completed by rugs (18). And these houses are full of cracks through which the sun enters just to awake its inhabitant, who is banal from twelve hours of slave / labour (18).The poet then proceeds to describe the endless hard work performed by the Angolan Breaking stones / carrying sto nes / breaking stones / carrying stones (19). The repetition carrying stones / breaking stones, used three times in this stanza, is precise successful in transmitting the intensity and never-ending hard work performed by the worker. The worker becomes a slave precisely because he never stops working he works continuously without notwithstanding being interrupted by harsh weather conditions he works in the sun and in the rain (19).The poem ends by explaining and illustrating when, how and under what circumstances this slave worker dies Old age comes too soon / A reed mat on dark nights / enough for him to die / thankfully / and of hunger (19). For even though the worker works very hard all his life, he ends up without the most canonical necessities no proper bed, no food and no light, and thus is grateful to die. Death represents freedom from a life of slave work it represents the end of his physical and psychological oppression and immeasurable pain.This poem is indeed a good il lustration of the (un)civilization, the (un)Christianity brought to Africans by the Portuguese hunger, cold, physical and mental exhaustion, and alienation. To put it metaphorically, if the lights of the civilized did not reach the Angolans (as colonialists have claimed to be the case) before the arrival of the colonialist, they surely were not bright enough to alight the life of most Angolans after.The questions I would like to ask in relation to this poem are will the reader feel enough revolt and disgust against Western civilization that he/she will trust to work towards the independence of Angola? Will the sites of Western (un)civilization displayed in this poem be sufficient for the oppressor to see the true nature of the colonial enterprise and convince him/her to refuse to be part of such sordid seam? Or will this poem just sound like the unfounded lament of an Angolan who is grasping of the so-called higher successes and intelligences of his colonial master?