Cultural differences are rather specific matter for the discussion. These differences are based mainly upon the skin color and complexion of people who suddenly happen to live in the new and unfamiliar culture. Thus, the issues of cultural differences are very important for these people and are hard for them to adjust. The difference between the two worlds, Africa interior and the rest outside world, are also rather significant, and the book by Eugene Jeffers focuses on this difference. The heroes of the book live in their own, understandable, society but one of them has to face another society, Parisian, and all others are also indirectly connected to his experiences. The present paper will focus on then relations between the book characters and on the differences in the world outlook they possess compared to Frenchmen.
Thus, the major characters of the book by Eugene Jeffers are L’Yon, the man from Le Val Joyeux who leaves his settlement for Paris in order to find his parents; Noah Bennett, the person who had to take care of L’Yon and his mother when Lieutenant Lyon, L’Yons father left them never to come back; Si’iwa, L’Yon’s girlfriend who has to wait for him while he is in Paris and undergoes numerous advances from other men in the village she lives in; Le Pere Jeremiah-N’Tika, the Christian priest of African origin who took up serving in the mission and became its head soon and his wife Mary N’lazii who is the mother of Si’iwa. All these complicated family ties are reflections of the multicultural community of Le Val Joyeux, which can be explained by the French colonization and enforced conversion of Africans to Christianity. The native people had to live together with foreigners in this village and to blend with them racially and culturally. Thus, L’Yon and Si’iwa were the products of this intercultural blending (Jeffers, 2000).
To be more exact, L’Yon was the son of an African woman whom all people and she herself called Bijoux, and a French soldier who spent some time in their village and had relations with Bijoux. Sonn, however, he had to return to France, and L’Yon was brought up by Noah Bennett, the Frenchman who was the friend of his father. Needless to say that Bennett gave L’Yon the European values in combination with his native ones, and this fact makes L’Yon a rather specific character. He has never been outside the interior Africa but is ready to take a trip to Paris looking for parents. This fact shows that L’Yon was a rather courageous young man who knew what he wanted to reach. His appearance was also convincing as he had wide shoulders, was tall and combined African features with the European ones. He differed considerably from typical Parisians in his appearance and in life ideals as well. L’Yon’s values were family and native land, and he did everything to return their after successful search of parents (Jeffers, 2000).
However, the life L’Yon had to face in Paris was absolutely different from what he had seen in his native village Le Val Joyeux. The reality of Parisian life was the hard struggle for surviving but this struggle was different in his native land. There, people used their force and honest means of fighting their rivals, while in Paris there was the atmosphere of betrayal and scorn displayed by people towards each other. For instance, the episode when L’Yon got acquainted with the prostitutes whom he defended from their pimp is a bright example of it. For the first time in his life L’Yon came to know about such a way of making money, and was shocked at facing this directly. Moreover, the bureaucracy of the French society and the impossibility to find his parents added to L’Yons perception of the new way of life (Jeffers, 2000).
At the same time, the native village of L’Yon was under a serious threat of internal conflict and devastation. The chieftain N’tuipaa M’ganaa was dead and the warriors in the village were hostile to each other regarding the supreme power over the land and major directions of their policies against the so-called “plateau people” (Jeffers, 2000). The very danger of the situation was in the fact that one of the pretenders for the chieftain position claimed N’tuipaa M’ganaa’s last will was to wage was against plateau people and this could mean serious hazards to the peaceful inhabitants of Le Val Joyeux. Noah Bennett as a rather experienced person foresaw this dangers and was right in his fears regarding them. It was clear that L’Yon and his mother, whom he had to take care of, would be in danger is any armed conflict involving the village members will begin. This was also dangerous for L’Yons girlfriend who was the object of constant wooing by one of the most powerful warriors in the village, Nge (Jeffers, 2000). Thus, the reasons for Noah Bennett to fear the consequences of the chieftain N’tuipaa M’ganaa’s death were quite clear and grounded. Noah Bennett was a rather experienced person in both cultures, African and European, and knew that despite the differences they had, they both had the same drawback – people’s desire of power and danger that this desire brings to others. In this point all the people irrespective of the culture they represent are the same.
To conclude the present paper, it is necessary to say that the book by Jeffers is a valuable source of information on cultural differences and issues of multiculturalism. The characters of the book reflect the major problems of both interior African and exterior European societies exemplifying them by their own lives and actions. The conflict of cultures and their similarities find their reflections in this book and in the fates of all its characters irrespective of the culture they represent (Jeffers, 2000).
Works Cited
Jeffers, Eugene. Beyond Darkness: A novel of interior Africa. Eagle and Palm Publishers, 2000.