We Killed Mangy Dog and Other
Stories
We
Killed Mangy Dog and Other Mozambique Stories (Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso) is a collection of short
stories by Mozambican writer Luís Bernardo Honwana. The book was originally published in Portuguese
in 1964 and translated into English in 1969.
The
book consists of seven stories, including one with the same title as the book:
"Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso" [We Killed Mangy Dog], "Papa, Cobra,
Eu" [Dad, Snake, and Me], "As Mãos dos Pretos" [The Hands of
Blacks], "Inventário de Móveis e Jacentes" [Inventory of Furniture
and Effects], "A Velhota" [The Old Woman], "Nhinguitimo,"
and "Dina" [Lunchtime]. The writer, who is also a documentary
filmmaker and photographer, wrote the novel when he was 22 years old, while a
political prisoner of PIDE.
According to Patrick Chabal,
"Honwana greatly influenced the post-colonial generation of younger prose
writers and has rightly been regarded as stylistically accomplished." The
Mozambican world is at the center of analysis in each of his narratives.
Several of the stories are told from the point of view of children. The
innocent and naive characters are used to expose "the inherent racism in
the Portuguese colonial government." Honwana's stories were written for a
greater purpose than entertainment and amusement. They "raise questions
about social exploration, racial segregation,
and class and education distinctions." Each character in every story
represents a different social position (white Portuguese man, the assimilated
black, the indigenous black, and mixed race).
Plot summary of We Killed Mangy Dog
This
first and longest story in the volume is narrated by a young, black, assimilado
boy named Ginho. He is marginalized and alienated by his peers in school and
out of school. The other boys in the narrative all have different racial
backgrounds: Quim is the white leader of the gang, Faruk is an Arab, Gulamo is
Indian, and Xangai is Chinese. The story centers around Mangy-Dog
(Cão-Tinhoso), a stray that is diseased, helpless, and dying. The narrator
begins to identify with the dog, who is an outcast among other dogs, and
develops compassion and sympathy for the mutt. One day, the narrator and the
group of boys from his class are manipulated into killing the dog by Senhor
Duarte. He presents the act as a kind of hunting game and appeals to them as a
friend. Ginho is the one chosen to shoot the dog. Even though he is emotionally
attached to the dog, he feels the pressure to eliminate the dog for the sake of
being accepted. After many pleas with the other children, he is unsuccessful in
trying to save the dog's life. The story ends as a guilty confession despite
his reluctance to participate in the crime.
Themes and symbols
The
meaning of the Mangy Dog
According
to Pires Laranjeira, the story casts light on Mozambique's political situation
of the time. He cites an interpretation (by Inocência Mata), according to which
Mangy Dog represents a decadent colonial system that is in need of being
destroyed in order to make way for a new pure society, free of discrimination
and racism. Mata points out that Mangy Dog is shot to death with firearms, the
same way that Mozambique
gained its independence through the use of military force.
Blue
eyes
In
the story "We Killed Mangy Dog", the dog is said to have blue eyes.
According to Niyi Afolabi in The Golden Cage: Regeneration in Lusophone
African Literature and Culture, this characterization is ambiguous. It can
simultaneously point to the black colonial subject or to the European
colonizer. Cláudia Pazos Alonso adds to that interpretation by stating that the
blue eyes of the dog could symbolize a black assimilado.
The
murder of the animal
The
murder of Mangy Dog could symbolize a process of initiation into manhood. Many
critics, including Pires Laranjeira, have explored this possibility. He states
that in "We Killed Mangy Dog" Ginho and the others go through an
initiation rite, or a kind of apprenticeship, in order to find affective
solidarity.
Gender,
race, and violence
In
Lusophone Studies 2, a volume in a series published by University of
Bristol, Mark Sabine analyzes the aspects of gender, race, and violence found
in Honwana's short stories. According to Sabine, "Focusing almost
exclusively on male protagonists and their humiliation and disenfranchisement,
Honwana depicts colonial rule as the literal emasculation of Africa"
(24).
Sabine
describes the act of killing Mangy Dog as a "painful initiation into a
grown-up social order" (24): "The killing constitutes a grotesque
substitute for the elaborate rites marking a boy's passage to manhood in indigenous cultures"
(34)."The aggressive effacement of the figure of the black patriarch not only necessitates the valorization of violence as
'manly', but also marginalizes the values which Honwana ascribes to an
indigenous paradigm of masculinity: bravery, endurance, dignity and deference
to elders" (25). Sabine also states that "Ginho's gang prizes
physical prowess, power, and aggression". The reasoning behind it is that
"Ginho lacked a role model who stresses the ideals of courage, leadership,
compassion, and the dedication of physical strength." This lack of proper
role model in addition to the "corrosive impact on an indigenous social
order" led to the atrocious murder of the dog.
In
the stories, the institutional denial of equal human
rights to colonized Mozambicans is
apparent and linked to the betrayal of an implicit promise based on shared
masculine identity: "Men classified as assimilados or civilizados,
who have assumed a Portuguese cultural identity on the promise of equal civil
rights, might expect equal access to the patriarchal dividend" (29). Ginho
is the victim of both racial and gendered discrimination when in the novel Quim
and Gulamo call him "maricas" (sissy) and "Preto de merda"
(you black shit) for not being able to kill Mangy Dog. In addition to being
insulted with a racial epithet, he is emasculated by the other boys.
As
Sabine also notes, "Honwana's women are most often not protagonists
capable of acting and learning, but a social resource under the control of
men" (42). There are three women in the story of Mangy Dog: Ginho's
mother, his teacher, and his classmate Isaura. Ginho's mother attempts to
discipline him but her protests are futile as he leaves the house with his
father's rifle. Isaura attempts to stop the killing, but is yelled at by the
boys' leader Quim and told to leave. Her values of compassion and pacifism are
considered "feminine" by the boys and the colonial patriarchy they
serve (Sabine 43).
References
· Chabal, Patrick, et al. The Post-Colonial
Literature of Lusophone Africa. London: Hurst & Company, 1996.
· · Ferreira, Manuel. Literaturas
Africanas de Expressão Portuguesa. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação e
Cultura, 1986.
·
Laranjeira, Pires. Literaturas Africanas de Expressão Portuguesa.
Lisbon: Universidade Aberta, 1995.
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