Parody of the Western Development of Africa in Norman Rush's Mating

Much of Norman Rush's novel Mating is a critical indictment of the Western mentality, especially as it relates to Africa. Rush creates two characters, Nelson Denoon and the narrator, who are generally despondent about the Western way of thinking. They therefore go to great lengths to develop social and political ideologies that are different from normal Western modes of thought, which they hope can truly be enacted to better mankind. However, it becomes increasingly clear throughout the course of the novel that their predominantly anti-Western modes of thought are irrevocably based in Western ideologies. The social conditioning they received in their American upbringings is only escapable to a certain degree. Denoon and the narrator, perhaps unwittingly, carry traces of the West with them in their endeavors. These traces are manifest in the inescapable idea of "otherness" that consumes those who are in an unfamiliar place, such as Denoon and the narrator, and in the very foundations of the utopian African village of Tsau, which was conceived and designed by an American.

One way in which Rush seems to parody Western development in Africa in Mating is through the sheer mentality of the novel's main characters. The narrator explains that "whites in Botswana needed to feel they had come to an exotic place" (10). She is describing that innately tourist predisposition of Westerners that seems to consume them whenever they are in a situation they consider "foreign." Though they wish to believe it untrue, Denoon and the narrator are both subject to this mentality to some degree, being inescapably American. The concept of "otherness" that pervades their psyche, however unconsciously, is what keeps them from truly being able to meet with Africans on their own terms, i.e., to relate to them in any real way. On these grounds, Rush is calling into question the very foundation of these seemingly benevolent Western enterprises, for if Denoon and the narrator wish to help Africa, they cannot continually think of Africans as the "other." This mentality is thereby being parodied in Mating by the very presence of these Americans in Africa.

In Mating, the village of Tsau is considered by Denoon and the narrator to be a prototype for the sort of village that is going to be the Third World's salvation, so to speak. By empowering women and making efficient use of natural phenomena such as the sun, wind, and rain, Denoon hopes to redefine the African village as an autonomous, self-sufficient commune, whereby dependence on the West is infinitely diminished. However, this method is visibly paradoxical, for how can a village that is conceived, designed, and, to some degree, maintained by an American, truly identify itself as African? What is being parodied in this paradox is a tenet of the West which states that whatever is wrong in the world, particularly the Third World, can be assuaged through the "assistance" (i.e., interference) of the civilized West. This burning mentality has left an irrevocable trail of ashes in its wake throughout the history of the West. The narrator describes a common reaction amongst Africans, which is "an outburst against Americans for breeding a taste for luxury wherever they go" (36). This is just one of many ways the West leaves their mark on the rest of the world. Tsau, in this sense, is no different than any other Western plan designed to enlighten and better the less "civilized" of mankind through the means provided by the West, operating under the assumption that these societies need or even want the West's assistance (interference). However, the information needed to decide whether or not Tsau is a success is not really provided for us in the novel. Denoon, of course, is acting out of the best intentions, but who isn't? Perhaps Denoon is just another controlling hand of the Great White West, or perhaps he is the savior he claims to be, the solution to the Third World's problems. Either way, Rush presents the matter in such an ambiguous way that the reader cannot seem to decide if he is celebrating Denoon's ambitions, or denouncing them entirely, or something in between. What is clear is his intent to parody the Western modes of thought, showing them to be present even in the seemingly predominantly anti-Western ideologies of Denoon and the narrator.