美国国家公共电台 NPR A Ghanaian 'Housegirl' Navigates A Complex Maze Of Culture And Class

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

When you open the pages of the new novel "Housegirl," you find a glossary¹, dozens of words and phrases in Twi, a Ghanaian dialect. Author Michael Donkor was born in London and is the child of Ghanaian parents. These words hint at the push and pull between those two worlds, like this one, the phrase for second-hand² clothes.

MICHAEL DONKOR: Oburoni wawu - oburoni wawu literally³ means the white man is dead. And the idea is that when the white man dies, his family send over all of his second-hand clothes to Africa, and they're sort of sold in the market.

CORNISH: And then there's this word.

DONKOR: Abrokyriefoo, which means foreigners, is a word that is thrown at me (laughter) and my family when we come home from London to Ghana the whole time as a kind of clear marker that, you know, we are different from, you know, Ghanaians that live in Ghana.

CORNISH: Now, the two teenage girls at the center of Donkor's debut⁴ novel are trying to find their place between these two cultures. Amma is growing up in London to Ghanaian parents. When we meet her, a gap has opened up between the once-outgoing girl and her family. And so the parents hire a house girl named Belinda who leaves Ghana to come live with them. But Belinda's job is not to clean or cook. In exchange for an education, she's asked to befriend Amma.

DONKOR: It's based more than kind of drawing Amma out of her shell. I think Belinda's real task that she's given by Nana and Dr. Otuo, the parents of Amma, is that she's meant to kind of teach Amma how to be a proper Ghanaian woman and, by that, a woman who is submissive and obedient and quiet and conforms, essentially⁵. And when Belinda meets Amma, she is not doing any of those things at all. She's being kind of sullen⁶ and rebellious⁷. And Nana and Doctor are really concerned as to why that's the case. So that's sort of really what Belinda's job is in London. It's to kind of tame Amma, I suppose, and also maybe to try and find out why she's suddenly changed the way she's behaving.

CORNISH: It's interesting. At one point, Belinda is talking with Amma about what it means to be an adult. And she sort of says something along the lines of, like, well, you just can't be anything you want to be.

DONKOR: Yes, yeah.

CORNISH: It's both - right? - pragmatic, depressing.

(LAUGHTER)

CORNISH: There's a lot of things wrapped up in that moment to...

DONKOR: Yeah, absolutely.

CORNISH: ...Be coming out of the mouth of a 17-year-old because she does not come from privilege. And so she's not completely wrong.

DONKOR: Yeah. And I think, you know, the - that description you offer there of Belinda's words kind of sums Belinda up quite brilliantly. She is sort of incredibly insightful at times, but often what she says is really just saddening (laughter).

CORNISH: Yeah, yeah.

DONKOR: There's sort of no...

CORNISH: But she has such a different background, you know?

DONKOR: Absolutely.

CORNISH: And I think that's the thing. Like, if you're poor, you're from another country, your paths out of whatever situation you're in are just so limited...

DONKOR: Yes.

CORNISH: ...Compared to a Western teen that's like, I say anything that comes into my brain (laughter).

DONKOR: Yeah, and I don't police my thoughts at all.

CORNISH: I want to be rewarded for it.

DONKOR: Yeah, absolutely.

CORNISH: Like, I mean, it just - it feels so different.

DONKOR: Absolutely. And I really enjoyed writing those conversations between Amma and Belinda for that very reason, because you get this uncomfortable clash of upbringings.

CORNISH: Right, which is another theme of the book. Amma is somebody who in a lot of ways is divorced from her culture.

DONKOR: Yeah.

CORNISH: She sees it through the lens of her parents. And she looks at it as something of like, oh, what do they know?

DONKOR: Yes. Yeah.

CORNISH: And they look at her completely confused (laughter).

DONKOR: Yeah, absolutely.

CORNISH: It's weird⁸ having that double vision, right?

DONKOR: Yeah.

CORNISH: You sound empathetic to both sides of it.

DONKOR: I try to be. I think there are lots of things about Ghanaian culture that are quite troubling, and I try and address some of those particular issues in the novel. So I think there's a kind of traditionalism which lots of people kind of talk about in the vein⁹ of kind of wanting to preserve culture and kind of not - wanting to not kind of lose a sense of the great kind of rights and rituals that have been going on in various parts of Ghana for centuries.

But there's also a kind of repressive aspect to that traditionalism as well that means that people who feel that they don't necessarily conform to the kind of expected behaviors or identities of Ghanaian people feel quite trapped. And I think it also means that some of the young people who don't fit the mold, as it were, find themselves in terrible positions and find themselves deeply troubled and fractured by being pulled between this desire to fit in with the culture around them and the desire to be true to themselves.

CORNISH: So one aspect of the book - and this is very much a spoiler for people who want to pause - is that the character of Amma, her outsiderness is compounded in that she is wrestling with her sexual identity. How did you want to illustrate¹⁰ this story? Like, what is it about the character of Amma that you thought maybe hasn't been told before?

DONKOR: I think there's a feeling for LGBTQ young people that mainstream¹¹ society has a problematic attitude towards non-heterosexual sexuality. And that problematic attitude is even more aggressively presented in lots of cases by black communities. This is something that I've encountered a lot in my life where, you know, your people, as it were, are supposed to be a source of kind of warmth and comfort from perhaps a kind of hostile world. But the moment that that kind of black community finds out that you aren't straight, that kind of source of comfort and communality¹² is immediately withdrawn¹³ from you. And so it's that kind of tension that I was interested in sort of hinting at with Amma's story.

CORNISH: You also have an ear for dialogue and accents. And I am thinking of the scene where Belinda takes on a group of Jamaican girls on a bus.

DONKOR: (Laughter).

CORNISH: Very vivid language.

DONKOR: Yeah.

CORNISH: Are these accents you can do out loud as well? Like, how does this work in your mind?

DONKOR: Yeah, I don't know. I think I listen very closely and try to kind of pick up on the kind of tics and kind of singular features of any given kind of accent or dialect that I'm hearing. And I also enjoy doing, like, imitations (laughter).

CORNISH: Really?

DONKOR: And I think - yeah, I do.

CORNISH: Can I ask, like, what?

DONKOR: Oh, my Ghanaian accent is my favorite thing to do.

CORNISH: OK.

DONKOR: And I've been honing it for years and years.

CORNISH: Do it. Do it. Your poor parents - they've probably been brutalized by this. But please...

DONKOR: (Imitating Ghanaian accent) My mother feels so mocked, so mocked and belittled¹⁴ by my renditions of her voice. She can't stand it. She won't have it. But I persist in taunting¹⁵ her with my very accurate imitation of her voice (laughter).

CORNISH: That is so sweet. I love it.

DONKOR: You know, when we sit down to write novels, we're often quite imaginative with the way that we get our narrators to talk about setting and so on. And I think we should be equally inventive and creative with the way that we present speech as well.

CORNISH: The book begins and ends roughly the same way, with the scene of a funeral. What about this story lends itself to a kind of loop?

DONKOR: I suppose in one way, the loop I did - I think it came from my sort of sense that I wanted to think about progression and kind of movement and how this is a novel in lots of ways that feels like it's about kind of moving forward. So, you know, Belinda moves from the village to the city, and then she moves from the city to the U.K. But then there's always a kind of longing¹⁶ to go back. We can sort of move on in all sorts of ways, but there will always be a kind of core of us that's sort of deeply related to that place that we sprang from I think.

CORNISH: Well, Michael Donkor, thank you so much for speaking with us.

DONKOR: It was a pleasure to speak with you, so much fun. Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOMBAY DUB¹⁷ ORCHESTRA'S "STRANGE CONSTELLATIONS")

CORNISH: Michael Donker's new novel is called "Housegirl."

(SOUNDBITE OF BOMBAY DUB ORCHESTRA'S "STRANGE CONSTELLATIONS")

1 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。

2 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

7 rebellious   

adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的

参考例句：

• They will be in danger if they are rebellious.如果他们造反，他们就要发生危险。
• Her reply was mild enough,but her thoughts were rebellious.她的回答虽然很温和，但她的心里十分反感。

8 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

9 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。

10 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

11 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

12 communality   

公社性，集体性，团结

参考例句：

13 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

14 belittled   

使显得微小，轻视，贬低( belittle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She felt her husband constantly belittled her achievements. 她觉得她的丈夫时常贬低她的成就。
• A poor but honest man is not to be belittled. 穷而诚实的人是不该让人小看的。

15 taunting   

嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落

参考例句：

• She wagged a finger under his nose in a taunting gesture. 她当着他的面嘲弄地摇晃着手指。
• His taunting inclination subdued for a moment by the old man's grief and wildness. 老人的悲伤和狂乱使他那嘲弄的意图暂时收敛起来。

16 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

17 dub   

vt.（以某种称号）授予，给...起绰号，复制

参考例句：

• I intend to use simultaneous recording to dub this film.我打算采用同期录音的方法为这部影片配音。
• It was dubbed into Spanish for Mexican audiences.它被译制成西班牙语以方便墨西哥观众观看。