Pet 2nd half Reflection

 Joshua Singh

Dr. Ellis

EN 376

20 November

Emezi ends Pet on a thought-provoking note that is fitting for a post-colonial future class. After the revolution, one major event that occurred is the carrying on of history. Within the context of this class, that usually means that tradition rooted in the way things were is replaced with the victor’s history. Rather than culture being an inclusive aspect in one’s life, it usually devolves into a portion of their identity that they use to separate themselves from others based on differences disseminated by history’s victors. 

One instance in which this morphed history causes people to use identity as a divisive tool is through the interaction between Bitter and Redemption. Because of history’s victors deciding which identities are the “correct” ones and which ones are not, Redemption must put himself out of his comfort zone and push against these notions that history has perpetuated for so long. When sharing a meal with Redemption and Bitter, Jam notices that Redemption “was eating with a casualness that was only a little forced, doing a good job of keeping his mask up…Masks were useful then; not quite lies, not quite truths. Just decisions about what to be and what to show” (Emezi 152). This is interesting because this follows the same reactions of other characters we have explored. In Children of Blood and Bone, the protagonists, specifically Inan, must work with others that they have been taught not to associate with. For Redemption, this means keeping face and pretending that he does not still feel the divisiveness of the perpetuated definitions of monsters and angels. 

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