Every individual is ultimately biologically and emotionally human, differing only in ethnicity, religion, or background. Adichie ensures the emphasis of this theme throughout her short story, “A Private Experience”. The author chooses to describe a scene in which two women are forced to seek shelter together from a religious riot between their respective religions. Interestingly enough, in her story about two women of differing cultures and religions, Adichie utilizes numerous moments to highlight the vast similarities between them. Adichie decides to prove this theme on both a biological and emotional level. Throughout the short story the narrator, Chika, and the unnamed women aid each other through a number of physical discomforts. Chika aids the women through breastfeeding pains and the women lends her cloth to Chika during Chika’s menstruation. These two scenes play a significant role in showing the parallels between the women. Even though they arise from separate backgrounds, they are both still human. Each woman knew how to help the other despite the unfamiliarity between the two. Adichie uses these scenes in order to acknowledge the equality of all people through a biological perspective. Further linking comparisons between the women, Adichie shows that both women share emotional similarities as the display their capacity for concern. Chika has her missing sister while the woman has her missing daughter. As both console each other, it becomes evident that there the differences between the two women on an emotional level are not vast. In fact, the differences between the two women occur from things relating to culture and background. Chika is unfamiliar with the clothes that the woman wears, the praying style, and the obvious language barrier. This becomes especially evident in the charred corpse scene. When the corpse is burned and stripped of its clothes and outlier appearance, Chika cannot tell what religion it used to be. Adichie uses this scene to further prove that in the end, everyone is still human.
This is an article that furthers the discussion that race doesn’t exist per se and everyone is the same biologically:
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/gjay/www/Whiteness/realityofrace.htm
Just like we discussed in class, war brings out the animalistic side of humans. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the soldiers never gain a true understanding of why they're fighting and during battles they simply fight and kill to survive. In "A Private Experience," not only the reason for the riot was most likely an accident, but most of the people fighting had no idea why they were killing. The adrenaline triggers a blind rage in people and they begin murdering innocent people without needing a reason. It's as if they turn into vicious animals and kill just to kill.
ReplyDeleteThis short story places an emphasis on another part of war, the people who aren't fighting. These people, like Chika and the woman, portray the hidden peace that is often overshadowed by fighting.