Kataru Yahya’s ‘Charcoal Street’ and ‘The Rotten Fig’ examine violence through different settings, characters, and narrative approaches. ‘Charcoal Street’ follows a girl growing up in a community where girls are sexually harassed, socially controlled, and abused by adults. On the other side of the flip coin, ‘The Rotting Fig” tells a similar story from the perspective of a young woman called Lina. Although both stories explore the challenges of confronting and stopping violence when it has become normalised and embedded in community norms, the two protagonists experience violence differently, and the narration employs different techniques to drive this notion.
The house I lived in, Bidie Fie—or Gidan Gawayi to those who preferred its Hausa name—loomed in the distance. It was old and unpainted, a typical Atta Kwame house in these parts. The roofing was weak and rusted, prone to lifting off the house each time it rained, as though it didn’t want to be there. On countless occasions, tenants discussed contributing money for corrugated iron sheets, but it was just talk. Bidie Fie’s main gate was made of sickly wood and never shut properly. The house was so called because the old woman who lived at the entrance was the first to convince the landlord to allow her to sell charcoal in front of the house. Three more houses had followed suit, earning the street the name ‘Charcoal Street’. My footsteps stalled when I reached the crowd gathered in front of the house. I suppressed an irritated groan. If I’d known there would be an event, I would’ve left school later or taken the circuitous route home. The scolding I would’ve received from Mama was better than having to speak to adults who would look too closely at me and comment on how I’d soon be ready for marriage.
— excerpt from ‘Charcoal Street’
The stories discuss the themes of love and violence through different perspectives. The girl in ‘Charcoal Street’ reflects on the violence she witnessed, which helps her to recognize the challenges that she and Barkei are facing. In contrast to her, Lina in ‘The Rotting Fig’ is quite aware of the problem, but no one told her that it was a problem. She has to go through a number of situations and experiences to understand that the way she was treated by her boyfriend and his family, as well as her parents, was wrong.
The stories differ in their setting as well. In ‘Charcoal Street’, the setting shapes the narration because the author uses it to describe who the characters are and their background. Mirakle Herbal’s kiosk, the smell of pito, communal kitchens, rusty sheets, Trotros, and the call to prayer from somewhere far away create a vivid sense of place. Through these details, readers get a sense of where the characters are from and the communities they live in. The setting provides not only a description of the community but also a context for the protagonist’s experiences.
Also, the protagonist in ‘Charcoal Street’ is a young girl who grows up experiencing violence. This allows her to reflect on adult behaviour. Her observations allow the readers to understand what is happening at a deeper level. Like how, girls are more likely to become victims of sexual harassment or assault. Lina in ‘The Rotting Fig’ is also quite young and can be described as inexperienced in her attitude towards her boyfriend and his family. Her experiences shape her understanding of violence and abuse. Lina tells herself that her boyfriend loves her despite his abusive behaviour. She is in denial and unable to fully recognise that she is a victim of violence. Denial is the only way she can make sense of her feelings and experiences.
In ‘Charcoal Street ‘, the protagonist is shocked and outraged by the fact that Barkei was raped by Zulfa’s father. The girl’s mother and other family members decide to take the issue into their own hands, and this decision speaks of their attitude towards violence against girls in general. With this, the story discusses social violence, focusing on how the community deals with it. The narrator points out that the families of the victim and the offender got together to address the issue secretly because the offender’s family would not allow them to do anything else.
Harmattan returned at a time when Lina was unloved. The sky was devoid of pregnant clouds. Dust blew hard without a care—dust with nowhere to go, dust that didn’t require approval. This dust settled in the creases of her eyelids and coloured her hair brown. Her tenth call to her boyfriend went unanswered. She tried again. When the phone trilled, she recited mentally, he loves me, he loves me not and imagined plucking the petals off a rose. She recited it the fifteenth time she called him, the twentieth time—she recited it so much it became the day’s prayer. He did that sometimes, kissed other girls in front of her and told her she wasn’t woman enough, then ignored her calls and called her a ‘fucking whore’. He would grab her hair and kiss her hard enough to break the skin of her lips. But it was all right; he always remembered later that he loved her: he showed it with chocolate, grilled chicken and the way he touched her.
— excerpt from ‘The Rotting Fig’
Both stories are concerned with a sense of normalcy around the issue of violence and abuse in the community. In particular, the fact that the narrator states that Barkei was not the first and probably would not be the last victim of sexual assault demonstrates that assault is not uncommon in the community. However, it is not openly discussed or addressed. Such an approach works because it demonstrates that the people in the community lead their regular lives despite the atrocities that they have to go through. For example, in ‘Charcoal Street’, men go to bars, children go to school, women cook, and people visit their neighbours even though girls are constantly exposed to assault, harassment, sexual advances, and other forms of violence.
Another similarity between the two stories is that they both discuss silence as a mechanism for allowing violence to persist. In ‘The Rotting Fig’, Lina experiences years of family abuse, and her boyfriend continues to treat her badly even after she decides to end the relationship. Similarly, in ‘Charcoal Street’, Zulfa’s father raped Barkei, and the families decided to keep it a secret. Barkei’s family kept silent about it for the sake of family reputation.
The strengths of the stories by Kataru Yahya lie in the fact that her words resonate with the readers. In other words, the readers can see how girls grow up within families and communities where violence is normalised and how this affects their relationships and social interactions with others.
About Kataru Yahya
She is a Ghanaian writer and medical sonographer. She is the author of the novel Home Is a Silhouette. Her work, consistently exploring themes of identity, womanhood and familial dynamics can be found or is forthcoming in Ta Adesa, Eunoia Review, The Disappointed Housewife, Mouthful of Salt, The Hemlock Journal, 20.35 Africa, Scribbled and elsewhere. You can find her on social media at @kforkataru or read her work at kataru.co.