Comparing Our Sister Killjoy and Crick Crack Monkey

The novels Our Sister Killjoy, by Ama Ata Aidoo, and Crick Crack Monkey, by Merle Hodge are both stories depicting the lives of young African women. In Our Sister Killjoy, Sissie, the main character, travels to Europe and discovers the disillusionment that European thinking has on the African mind. In Crick Crack Monkey, Tee, the main character, discovers this disillusionment through the actions of her aunt Beatrice. In both novels the main characters undergo a process of self-discovery, which inevitably reveals to them that they have been living under post-colonial oppression. The struggles that Tee and Sissie face are not only struggles of race and class, but that of gender. Being women in a post-colonial civilization placed restraints on them that would not otherwise be there if they were men. These two novels represent the struggle of African Feminism at its most difficult point in history, defining what it means to be an African Feminist as well as what it means to be African.

Although both characters journey in reverse directions through the realization of European disillusionment, they are still both journeying through what it means to be an African woman in their societies. Tee is only a child during Crick Crack Monkey, and may not even realize the impression that her society is having on her development, but Sissie is a young adult, and is able to see what the European influence does to Africans. As Tee begins to conform to the ideals and beliefs that her aunt Beatrice is trying to enforce, she is still holding on to her "old world" views and her innocence. Sissie, on the other hand, is beginning to realize that the European views and beliefs that she has been taught have been imposed upon her by colonizing forces throughout Ghana. Both women are traveling through this process of discovery, and during this process they are discovering that the European ways of thought are not only oppressing them as Africans, but also as African women.

In Crick Crack Monkey, Tee is sent to live with her Aunt Beatrice, who is a Europeanized African Woman. Because her mother has died, Aunt Beatrice becomes the central female role model in Tee's life after she moves out of Tantie's house. While her mother, father, and Tantie represent the "old world," Aunt Beatrice represents a "new world." She arrives at Aunt Beatrice's house and is greeted by the mocking and ridicule of her cousins, "Soon I discovered there was muffled giggling at each garment I drew out of the suitcase." (Hodge 70). Tee's clothing was not considered "respectable" by the white European standards that Aunt Beatrice's household was used too. Her cousins laughed because Tee's African lower-class clothing was not at the standard that their European clothing was.

While Tee realizes that Aunt Beatrice is extremely Europeanized, she still is somewhat in awe of her. Tee has created Helen, who is a "white" version of herself, and this creation is an example of the direct result the influence that the colonizing forces of Europe have on the citizens of Trinidad. To Tee, "…Aunt Beatrice…represents middleclass, urban, respectability and symbolizes all the neurosis of a colonial subject obsessed with imitating the master." (Adisa), meaning that Tee witnesses the effect of European colonizing powers first-hand in her everyday experiences. This factor in her upbringing is what leads to further growth of European ideals and influences in the minds of Trinidad's youth. Aunt Beatrice represents, to Tee, what can happen to an African woman when she is consumed by the European ideals. Although it is not stated in the novel, this example will help Tee in her future to understand the potential strength of the African woman. By witnessing her aunt's weakness to the system imposed upon her, Tee can better understand how to become the strong woman in adulthood that can reject this system of ideals and beliefs.

Aunt Beatrice believes that the "blackness" in her family is a trait that needs to be wiped out, that gradually it will disappear through the generations if reproduction is done properly. Tee finds a photograph of a white ancestor and Beatrice says to her, "If it hadn't been for him,' she reflected mournfully, �you might have looked like her." (Hodge 81). This statement reflects how Beatrice holds the ideals of whiteness as the highest standard in a person's appearance, and begins to make Tee feel bad because she is dark. Tee begins to grow a double-consciousness during this part of her life, between her culture, and the culture that Beatrice is subjecting her to. Tee is caught between these worlds and this is what makes her a strong character. She begins to become a part of this "new world" while still holding the beliefs that she ad in her "old world."

Although Aunt Beatrice tries to Europeanize Tee, she is still displaying to Tee how to be a strong woman. She is often referred to as the bitch by other characters in the novel, but it is her strength and boldness that make her appear this way to the other characters. While she is not a good influence as far as culture is concerned, she is a strong figure in Tee's life that she can aspire to. As much as Beatrice tries to Europeanize Tee, she is for the most part unsuccessful in her aspirations. It is apparent that Beatrice is trying to make Tee more like her, "Aunt Beatrice announced her firm intention to haul me out of what she termed alternately my ordinariness and my niggeryness." (Hodge 95). However, Tee does not blindly accept the ways of Beatrice, and questions her authority throughout the entirety of her stay with her. She begins to display qualities of a strong African woman who is presented with the problem of double-consciousness, and learns how to establish her identity within these two worlds.

Like Tee, Sissie in Our Sister Killjoy also has to face post colonial influence as a young African woman. She is given the opportunity to go to Germany for schooling, represented by the Ghana government. While an opportunity of this magnitude is a great achievement in the eyes of most, there is a deeper influence behind this award. By sending African women to Europe, the Europeans can further embed their ideals and sentiments in to their minds. This study-abroad opportunity acts as another means to spy on the African, and to enforce their morale on them. Sissie is apprehensive to the idea of this trip to Europe, but still begins her journey with the idea that Europe holds great opportunity for her. She has heard the stories of the been-to's and is looking forward to experiencing what they speak of. When she arrives in Germany she is enlightened to a different aspect of the trip that will inevitably shape how she views European civilization for the rest of her life.

Before Sissie left for Europe she had never considered the idea that she was Black. She had grown up with people who all looked like her, so to her there was no such thing as race. When she arrived in Germany she was faced with this concept for the first time, "Ja, das Schwartze Madchen…From the little German that she had been advise to study for the trip, she knew that �das Schwartze Madchen' meant "black girl"." (Aidoo 12). For the first time Sissie began to tell the difference between people of different skin tones. This revealed itself to be the first experience that she has had with race, and would mold her through process about race. Unfortunately Sissie would have to remember the first time that she knew she was the "black girl" when for many, it is common knowledge where they are from. Sissie would consciously know now from this point on that she was black and that meant something to Europeans.

While Sissie leaves Ghana in order to experience the European lifestyle, she does not use this as an excuse to flee from the colonizing threat within her own society. Many who read this novel would be inclined to believe that an African would travel from their homeland to Europe as a form of "political exile" but in Sissie's case this is far from truth. Political Exile, for the purpose of Our Sister Killjoy would not mean an exile for political reasons alone, but rather "that of the so-called third world colonial who seeks the benefits and opportunities in a European country, perceived as culturally superior, thus avoiding the socio-political situation at home." Sissie refers to people such as these when she speaks of the "been-to's." In the minds of the Africans in Ghana, the opportunities that wait in Europe are far greater than those that are available in their own countries. When referring to women's opportunities, it may seem to the African woman that there is a much greater chance in Europe for them to thrive in their struggle for equality. Sissie travels to Germany with a hope that there will be an opportunity for her there that is not present at home, but she is disappointed when she discovers that there is also oppression in Europe,

"They lied.
They lied.
They lied.
The Been-tos lied." (Hodge 90).

Sissie discovers that's the descriptions of grandeur that the people who had been to Europe came back with were nothing more than a programmed response on the part of the white Europeans, in order to keep the African people under their control.

Exile is not strictly reserved to groups of races, but also to can be used when referring to the struggle that women face in their fight for liberation. Gender discrimination is added to the discrimination that African women face due to their race, and forces them to become exiled. They search for an escape from the societal restrains that are placed upon them, and with the influence of European ideals, which seem to offer more leniency, it is easy to see Europe as a route to more societal freedom. While Sissie travels to Europe with this in mind, she is disappointed by the way that the German women live their life. When she sees how Marija is living a life of loneliness, she discovers that women suffer all over the world. She can not understand, however, how the Europeans can say that they are lonely when they have every opportunity offered to them, that they have to struggle for nothing in life, but still find emptiness in that fullness.

While Ama Ata Aidoo uses a Europeanized way to format her novel, she appropriates this form and makes it her own, "Ama Ata Aidoo mixes European realism, in which an omniscient author carries the burden of the narrative, with frequent interpolations of another sort of voice-a communal or choral commentator." (Gardner). She mixes a style of poetry and stream-of-consciousness writing throughout the novel in order to modify the European style of writing. By appropriating this style of writing Aidoo is not only finding her own voice in the European style, but also empowering African women writers.
The audience of the novels of African writers such as Aidoo and Hodge is not limited to African readers alone. These novels serve as a testament, not only to Africans, but also to the rest of the world of what European colonization has done to people of African nations, as well as the women of these nations. Western feminists have read and studied these texts and have found them to be prominent voices in the African movement for women, "Some of the popularity of African women writers in the West is surely due to the reception academic feminists have given them." (Gardner). This statement displays how it is universally acknowledged by feminists that these novels, and others like them, display to the world that as African women, these novelists can be influential of our understanding of European colonization and the effect it has on Africans.

While there has been much controversy over the idea of African feminism, especially with African women writers, their novels and texts are still regarded as a liberating claim and are effective in delivering this message. "There has been a successful intimidation of African women by men over the issues of women's liberation and feminism. Male ridicule, aggression and backlash have given the term �feminist' a bad name." (Gardner), displaying that the males, along with African males, have had a difficult time accepting the women's views as part of the feminist movement, which is completely false. Writers such as Aidoo and Hodge do not present a novel that is completely composed of elements of the women's movement, but rather display how African women are thriving within not only sexual repression, but also racial oppression. The novels Crick Crack Monkey and My Sister Killjoy present an aspect of post-colonial oppression that is not otherwise received through writings of African males, "In their concern for Black women's contradictory positions both within and outside post-colonial societies, Aidoo…has far surpassed the narrow, nationalistic focus of…male counterparts." (Gardner).

Sissie and Tee both represent empowering female figures in African literature. Sissie embarks on a voyage not only through countries but also through the European ideals and their influence upon the African people. Both Sissie and Tee display that a woman can take on responsibilities such as discovery of race and gender, and the most important component of this discovery is that they did this not only as women, but as African women. Along with the discrimination that gender brings for women, Tee and Sissie also had to encounter discrimination based on the fact that they were African. This displays to the reader that they, as characters, are strong enough to endure both discriminatory aspects of African life, making them admirable characters in literature as well as in their societies.

Aidoo and Hodge represent the backlash that there is on women writers, and because they are African, their message is even more potent. They remain to be strong voices not only in the movement for Africans to appropriate literature and writing, but also for African women. They exemplify how African Women writers can offer a different view to aspects of oppression by Europeans, as well as views on gender. Crick Crack Monkey and My sister Killjoy offer a woman's view to post-colonial oppression, and in the process stand as a testament to African women's suffrage.