A Space Of Ambiguity In Matlwa's Coconut

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Matlwa’s Coconut dispels Bhabha’s idea that being suspended between two spaces is “positive, liberating and dynamic”. The opposite is true when the said space is based on race; instead it breeds a state of mental colonisation and internal hate as they are trapped in their in-betweens. This essay will demonstrate this through the discussion of the different ways the characters have responded to being in a space of ambiguity.
Fifi’s character wants to desperately fit in with all the wealthy white people whom she is constantly surrounded with. She is constantly seeking, not only approval, seen in the way she proudly thinks of the white boy who said “[she] is not like other black girls” but she also seeks to be included in their communal activities. She must be like them …show more content…

Although it may seem as though he much more conscious of the issues that come being in the space he occupies. In his attempt to avoid aspiring to be like those who will never accept him, he romanticises being Black as wearing Dashikis and writing poetry about the African sunset. This is problematic because it essentialises being black. Hlongwane points out that some people who believe in racial difference will consider “acting black” as for example “using fingers instead of utensils and slaughtering livestock in the suburbs”. It is said that w]e may not be black in restaurants, in suburbs and in schools. Oh, how it nauseates them if we even fantasise about being black, truly black‟ (Matlwa 2007: 31-32) the problem then becomes what does being truly black mean? If it boils down to the qualities mentioned above then that ignores the idea of multiple blacknesses which is the opposite of the suggestion that there is such a thing as a „truly black‟ self (Hlongwane 16).Tshepo’s efforts to become more the other side of the space he is trapped in becomes hollow and superficial the way a coconut is on the

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