Annotated Bib #5

Black Girl Inference




- The movie Black Girl, shows how British colonization affected African culture and their values. In the beginning of the film the main character, Diouana was excited to work for a white family in France. She danced and sang showing her excitement to her peers in Dakur, and they were all happy for her. She thought her life was going to be ten times better than what it was before. She presented her new employers with a gift to show her gratitude and how thankful she was for the opportunity. It did not take Diouana long to regret her decision to go to France

Diouana worked as a servant for the white family in France, in which she cooked and cleaned on a daily basis. Her daily duties caused her to question her own purpose in life and self-identity. She has said to herself, "What am I here?" Everybody in Dakur probably assumed she was happy living a great life in France, but it was the opposite. "France for me is the kitchen, living room and bathroom." She continues to question her self-identity, "What am I here?", "The cook, the cleaner", "I'm alone", "I spend my life between the bedroom and the kitchen...Is that living in France?" These quotes from the film shows how many Africans may have had similar psychological problems to Diouana. British colonization   influenced Africans to become foreign to their native tongue and practices in order to have any chance in the colonized society. In the article "Decolonizing the Mind", the writer talks about the education in the colonial system. The writer states, "All the papers were written in English. Nobody could pass the exam who failed the English language paper no matter how brilliantly he had done in the other subjects" (12). This shows how colonization enforced young African students to practice the English language in reading and writing for them to receive a "proper" education.

The other scene of significance was when the white family presented Diouana with the letter from her mother. In the letter the mother was unhappy about how Diouana was probably living comfortably and how she has not sent her and the family any money, and that she should think about her family. The white family knew Diouana could not read or write, and so they used their own words to speak for Diouana, in which they described her situation as a great one even though she felt the opposite inside. She did not want her mistress to write the letter for her. Diouana says to herself, "I'm a prisoner here", and if she could write that's exactly how she would describe her situation to her mother.