Histories in the Settler and Invader Colonies: Exploring Interplay Between Past and Present

Postcolonial theorist and writer, Kateryna Olinyk Arthur, suggests in “Between Literatures” that histories in the settler and invader colonies are often expressed as “allowing interplay between past and present.” (Arthur 11). This idea of “allowing interplay between past and present” (Arthur 11) looks at how the past and present (or history) of an area exerts influence on each other. The suggestion by Arthur of “interplay between past and present” (Arthur 11) in text can be seen in two Postcolonial short works: Jeannette C. Armstrong’s “History Lesson” and A.D. Hope’s “Australia.” Armstrong’s “History Lesson” and Hope’s “Australia” have parallel themes. From these parallel themes there is one theme that is central to “History Lesson” and “Australia:” the negative view that Armstrong – from Canada – and Hope – from Australia – have of colonization to their native lands. This parallel theme is developed from the historical Postcolonial background of Canada – by Armstrong – and Australia – by Hope. In “History Lesson” and “Australia” Armstrong and Hope explore their negative view of colonization through the use of parallel images of destruction. These parallel images of destruction are explored in terms of destruction to nature, to land, by industrialization, and to culture and tradition.  Parallel images of Canada’s and Australia’s historical Postcolonial background in Armstrong’s “History Lesson” and Hope’s “Australia” are used to express the negative view – the parallel theme of both poems – that Armstrong and Hope have of colonization. These parallel images can be seen in Armstrong’s “History Lesson” and Hope’s “Australia” in terms of destruction to nature, to land, by industrialization, and to culture and tradition. Armstrong expresses this destruction towards nature in “History Lesson” as: “of smoke stacks / and multi-coloured rivers.” (Armstrong 22-23). Armstrong connects the “smoke stacks” (Armstrong 22) and “multi-coloured rivers” (Armstrong 23) to show destruction to nature by means of pollution due to the establishment of settler and invader colonies. Armstrong continues to express this destruction towards nature as: glimpsed in a garden / forever closed / forever lost. (Armstrong 45-47).Here, Armstrong connects the loss of lush, indigenous botany to a “garden” (Armstrong 45) that has been destroyed – as a result of harvesting and clear cutting by settler and invader colonies – beyond repair, or as she illustrates “forever closed / forever lost.” (Armstrong 46-47). Parallel to this, Hope expresses the destruction towards nature in “Australia” as: “Her rivers of water drown[ing] among inland sands.” (Hope 11). Hope connects the destruction to nature in Australia as the loss and depletion, or “drown[ing],” (Hope 11), of natural water sources: “[h]er rivers of water” (Hope 11) – a symbol of sustenance – due to the construction of manmade land or “inland sands” (Hope 11) by settler and invader colonies. The destruction towards land is another parallel image that is used in Armstrong’s “History Lesson” and Hope’s “Australia” to interlock the parallel theme both poems illustrate. In “Australia,” Hope expresses this destruction towards land as: “... her hills, those endless, outstretched paws / Of Sphinx demolished or stone lion worn away.” (Hope 3-4). Hope compares the landscape, or “hills” (Hope 3) as he illustrates, to surroundings as beautiful as the “... endless, outstretched paws / Of [the] Sphinx ... or [a] stone lion;” (Hope 4); however, due to destruction of the land by settler and invader colonies, this majestic view has been “demolished” (Hope 4) or “worn away.” (Hope 4). Hope continues this expression of destruction towards the Australian land as: “Where second hand Europeans pullulate / Timidly on the edge of alien shores.” (Hope 19-20). Hope connects the “second hand Europeans pullulat[ing]” (Hope 19) and describing the land as “the edge of alien shores” (Hope 20) to express how the establishment and over-growth, or “pullulat[ion],” (Hope 19), of settler and invader colonies, “second hand Europeans,” (Hope 19), have destroyed the land to a point where it is no longer identifiable and “alien.” (Hope 20). Parallel to Hope, Armstrong expresses the destruction towards the land in Canada by settler and invader colonies as: The colossi / in which they trust / while burying / breathing forests and fields.             (Armstrong 30-33).Here, Armstrong combines images of destruction to land with images of destruction to nature – an image that was explored previously. Armstrong connects the destruction to land with the raising of giant statues or “[t]he colossi” (Armstrong 30) by settler and invader colonies. This erection of giant statues or “colossi” (Armstrong 30) causes destruction to the land (and to nature) “[by] burying / breathing forests and fields;” (Armstrong 32-33); ironic, as these statues where intended to be symbols of peace towards the land.  The parallel images in Armstrong’s “History Lesson” and Hope’s “Australia” that express destruction to land can be prolonged into destruction to land by industrialization; this further establishes the parallel theme of both poems. The last quotation from Armstrong’s “History Lesson” that was used to illustrate destruction to land: The colossi / in which they trust / while burying / breathing forests and fields,             (Armstrong 30-33),can be developed and expanded into the following: The colossi / in which they trust / while burying / breathing forests and fields / beneath             concrete and steel. (Armstrong 30-34).Armstrong illustrates “[t]he colossi” (Armstrong 30) to be a double entendre; this double meaning could be seen in two (or more) ways: as the (ironic) erection of giant statues, as it was discussed previously, or as the erection of societal infrastructures – factories, roads, and so on. By illustrating “[t]he colossi” (Armstrong 30) to be the erection of societal infrastructures, Armstrong connects the destruction to land (and nature) by industrialization – as a result of settler and invader colonies – as the infrastructures made of “concrete and steel” (Armstrong 34) “burying / breathing forests and fields.” (Armstrong 32-33). Armstrong reinforces images of destruction to land by industrialization – which in itself reinforces the parallel theme of Armstrong’s (and Hope’s) negative view of colonization – as:  ... farmers sowing skulls and bones / and miners / pulling from gaping holes / green             paper faces / of smiling English lady. (Armstrong 25-29).Armstrong illustrates the destruction to land by industrialization in terms of social economics. Armstrong connects “... farmers sowing skulls and bones” (Armstrong 25) and “... miners / pulling from gaping holes” (Armstrong 26-27) to the destruction, or “gaping holes,” (Armstrong 27), of the land for economic gain: “green paper faces / of smiling English lady;” (Armstrong 28-29); “green paper faces / of smiling English lady” (Armstrong 28-29) is an imagistic reference to the British Monarchy featured on the capital belonging to the settler and invader colonies. Parallel to this, Hope expresses the destruction to land by industrialization as: “And her five cities, like five teeming sores / Each drains her: a vast parasite robber-state.” (Hope 17-18). Hope compares Australia’s “five cities” (Hope 17) – established by the settlers and invaders (and continued on by their descendants) – to “five teeming sores” (Hope 17) and connects the destruction to land by industrialization as these “five teeming sores” (Hope 17) “drain[ing]” (Hope 18) Australia’s natural resources like “a vast parasite robber-state.” (Hope 18).  The parallel images of destruction to culture and tradition of the indigenous people in Armstrong’s “History Lesson” and Hope’s “Australia” is another strong illustration that draws on the history of Armstrong’s Canada and Hope’s Australia to develop the negative view – the parallel theme of both poems – both have of colonization. This destruction of culture and tradition is expressed as the inability by the indigenous people to overpower the settlers and invaders and prevent the loss of their cultural identity and tradition due to the influence of the settler’s and invader’s Western beliefs. Hope expresses this destruction of culture and tradition initially as Australia: “Without songs, architecture, history: / The emotions and superstitions of younger lands.” (Hope 9-10). Hope associates the destruction (or even lack thereof) of Australia’s culture and tradition, “... songs, architecture, [and] history,” (Hope 9), as a result of the settler’s and invader’s imposition of their “younger land[‘s]” (Hope 10) “emotions and superstitions” (Hope 10) upon the indigenous people of Australia. Hope continues this illustration of destruction to culture and tradition through the destruction (and ulitmate loss) of the indigenous tongue: “The learned doubt, the chatter of cultured apes / Which is called civilization over there.” (Hope 27-28). Hope associates the dialect the settler and invader colonies have introduced – and what may be consider imposed (on) – to the indigenous people of Australia as “the learned doubt” (Hope 27) and those who speak it – the settlers and invaders – are nothing more than “cultured apes” (Hope 27). Parallel to Hope, Armstrong expresses this destruction to culture and tradition as the settlers and invaders: standing shaking fists / waiting to mutilate / whole civilizations / ten generations at a             blow. (Armstrong 35-38).Armstrong illustrates the destruction of culture and tradition the indigenous people of Canada suffer as an act similar to being “mutilate[d].” (Armstrong 36). Armstrong expresses that this “mutilat[ion]” (Armstrong 36) does not end with the indigenous people from this period of time. This destruction of indigenous culture and tradition is lost from “whole civilizations” (Armstrong 37) and affects generations, past, present, and future: “ten generations at a blow.” (Armstrong 38). The “interplay between past and present” (Arthur 11) looks at how the past and present (or history) of a particular area exerts influence on each other. This suggestion of “interplay” (Arthur 11) by Postcolonial theorist and writer, Kateryna Olinyk Arthur, has been established through two Postcolonial short works: Jeannette C. Armstrong’s “History Lesson” and A.D. Hope’s “Australia.” The parallel theme that is central to both Armstrong’s “History Lesson” and Hope’s “Australia:” the negative view Armstrong and Hope have of colonization, is developed and drawn on from the history of Armstrong’s Canada and Hope’s Australia through parallel images of destruction. The parallel images of destruction in Armstrong’s “History Lesson” and Hope’s “Australia” have been explored in terms of destruction to nature, to land, by industrialization, and to culture and tradition. In Armstrong’s “History Lesson” these images of destruction to nature, to land, by industrialization, and to culture and tradition have been illustrated as: pollution: “multi-coloured rivers,” (Armstrong 24), the erection of giant statues or “colossi” (Armstrong 30) that “... [burry] / breathing forests and fields,” (Armstrong 32-33), the erection of societal infrastructures made of “concrete and steel” (Armstrong 34) that “... [burry] / breathing forests and fields,” (Armstrong 32-33), and the “mutilat[ion]” (Armstrong 36) of the indigenous people’s culture and tradition that will affect generations past, present, and future: “ten generations at a blow.” (Armstrong 38). Similarly, these parallel images of destruction to nature, to land, by industrialization, and to culture and tradition, have been explored in Hope’s “Australia” as: the depletion or “drown[ing]” (Hope 11) of natural water sources: “[h]er rivers of water,” (Hope 11), due to landscapes or “inland sands” (Hope 11) created by settler and invader colonies, the over-growth, “pullulat[ion],” (Hope 19), of settler and invader colonies or “second hand Europeans” (Hope 19) that causes the land to become unidentifiable and “alien,” (Hope 20), the “drain[ing]” (Hope 18) of natural resources – like land – by Australia’s “five cities, [that are] like five teeming sores” (Hope 17) caused by industrialization, and the loss of indigenous “songs, architecture, [and] history” (Hope 9) due to the imposition by the settler’s and invader’s “younger land[‘s]” (Hope 10) Western culture and traditions or “emotions and superstitions.” (Hope 10).