Yams
Yams
After reading Chapter 13 of Invisible Man, I haven't looked at yams quite the same. At first, it was hard to understand how such an ordinary food could be symbolic of a heritage that the narrator grew to recognize to be shameful to unavoidably his. I’m sure we all thought he was just getting crazier. But then fifth-grade memories started to filter back, and I remembered uncomfortable recesses when I tried to eat my mom’s home-cooked Chinese meals as fast as possible, before the other girls with their peanut-butter jelly sandwiches could realize -- maybe from the rich but unfamiliar smell of Asian spices -- that I was having “weird Panda Express” for lunch. It was the same vague feeling of shame for not conforming. But dumplings and stinky tofu, foods connected to Chinese culture that goes back hundreds to thousands of years are one thing to be awkward with. Why would the narrator feel as if eating yams was out of place in New York?
We can first establish that the yam isn’t just a random potato-like food without cultural significance. In fact, it’s unlikely that what the narrator was eating in Chapter 13 was actually even a yam -- true yams are hard, starchy, and not quite ‘nectar-like’ as our narrator so vividly describes (204). He was probably holding a sweet potato, which is a tuber that has a long and confusing history with the yam.
Yams are native to Africa, and they were taken in bulk with slaves as a primary food source during the long voyage to America, Europeans even planning slave raids to coincide with peak yam season. Many tribes centered important traditions and rituals around yams, such as the New Yam Festival. When slaves arrived, sweet potatoes were the closest thing to a staple food from back home that could be found, and so they eventually became known as yams. The renaming was a way to preserve the culture the slaves had been bitterly torn from, and became cemented in African American heritage.
Though it’s unlikely that the narrator knew the history of yams/sweet potatoes specifically, he still makes the important connection of yams and home sweet home that the first generation of slaves did: “I took a bite… and was overcome with such a surge of homesickness” (204). Furthermore, he’s painfully aware of what home is to him represents in white society; knows that prominent black figures being associated with that brand could result in headlines like “Prominent Educator Reverts to Field N*****ism” -- perhaps not so drastic, but you get the idea (205). So this kind of overthinking isn’t a sign of the narrator losing his mind; it’s a symptom of the deep-rooted racism from bitter enslavement hundreds of years ago. Yams are more than weird potatoes-- they’re culture, they’re history, as much so as my dumplings and stinky tofu are to the Chinese. Though I suppose the narrator and I had a similar epiphany -- now in the diverse halls of Uni filled with too many smells to distinguish who is eating what, I enjoy cultural foods without a second thought, and I’m certain I would now do the same in a cafeteria full of peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches.
Hi Tracy, I never thought about how the yams and sweet potatoes actually go back not just to the South but to Africa. I really liked how you broke down what the yams really mean - they're so much more than just a food; they're literally a root. It was also cool how you connected that back to a personal experience of eating a food from your culture and feeling slightly uncomfortable about it - I felt that too.
ReplyDeleteHey Tracy, this was a really well written post! I definitely agree with the point you make about how the yams are more than just a food, as they represent a whole culture and its history. I also think it's great how you relate the narrator's experience with yams to your relationship with your own cultural foods, as it's something I can relate too as well. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHello. I never really thought about the yams that the Narrator eats as representing him being ashamed of his heritage before reading your post. Now I think that this contributes to the overall idea of invisibility by showing that the Narrator wishes to hide his true self, while trying to become successful in New York. I think it's really interesting how you went into went into the history of Yams, and related that to the passage in the story. I also think it's cool how you added a personal anecdote and related that to how the Narrator must have felt while eating the yam. Really great job!
ReplyDeleteTracy, I always love reading your blogs posts because of how eloquently you write. Your history of yams and sweet potatoes adds a lot to my interpretation of these chapters from the book. In connecting to his life in the South, the narrator is also connecting to his culture that dates back hundreds of years through these yams. I'm so sorry that you felt uncomfortable eating your cultural foods at school in the past, but I'm glad that through this novel and Uni (and I'm sure plenty of other factors) you are able to feel comfortable with it now.
ReplyDeleteI love how you put this scene in the book into more context! I think that I can better understand the significance of this event knowing how yams (or sweet potatoes) play into the protagonists culture. I think that although the narrator may be unknowing to the entire history and how this came to be such a popular food within his culture, it's still quite symbolic to understand it when reading.
ReplyDeleteI agree, yams are completely different to me now after reading the yam scene. I also wrote about yams in one of my blog posts and I had not thought to include much about how the narrator was nervous to enjoy a yam because of the history behind it. It is so great that you dived into the history of the yam and it really strengthened the post. Great job!
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