Tell me who to kill

In the VS Naipaul novel, In a Free State, there is an accompanying first person narrative entitled “Tell Me Who to Kill”. The protagonist is an Asian West Indian who has emigrated to England. He appears to be at the end of his life. It is not that he is physically dying but rather that spiritually, he is dead. The life he sought to create for himself and his beloved brother Dayo is a fallacy. He works two jobs for years and with the money he has saved opens a roti and curry shop that becomes a favourite of English louts who constantly terrorise him and eventually ruin his business. He works hard to pay for Dayo’s education, to realise his dream of one family member having their ambitions fulfilled. But Dayo has no real ambition of his own.

He is weak and lacks confidence in this strange country and everyday leaves their basement apartment dressed with his books in hand to wander about the city as lost and as scared and as disillusioned as his brother. At the end of the story the protagonist (we are never given his name) is at his brother’s wedding reception. He thinks, “Oh God, show me the enemy. Once you find out who the enemy is, you can kill him. But these people here confuse me. Who hurt me? Who spoil my life? Tell me who to beat back.” It used to be straightforward. The enemy was easy to spot; it had to be these strange white people who ground him down with their prejudice and hate. But with his brother marrying a white English girl, the lines become blurred. Could it be that his brother is marrying the enemy?

Then that means they are no longer the enemy, doesn’t it? Was his brother part of the conspiracy to destroy him, what with his lies about school and failure to help him in his business? But he cannot bear the thought that Dayo could be his enemy, not when he has been the sole inspiration for his actions for so long. In a perfect world, all things are simple. The enemy declares himself as such and the battle is on. Whoever is right wins and whoever is evil is destroyed. It is the world of mythology, the world created in cartoons and comic books, the world that keeps Hollywood directors clad in chinchilla and drunk on Moet and Chandon. But this is not a perfect world and few things ever turn out to be simple. And although it is only a story, a train’s ride in the head of a man who eventually commits murder, it speaks on a wider, more national level.

In this world, often one doesn’t know who the enemy is. An early morning fire rages for eight hours, destroying a number of businesses over the weekend. Who is the enemy? Tell me who to kill. Is the enemy the traders in the People’s Mall who for years have been content to operate out of little wooden shacks, fire hazards from the day they were first constructed? If so, they were enemies to whom? To the protective services who regularly patrolled and raided the area? Were they the enemies of the other businesses that were destroyed in that inferno? Or are they enemies of themselves? Is the enemy WASA, despite their insistence that this time they are not at fault? The fire services have passed the buck, the leaky hoses and broken down fire tenders were not their responsibility.

Eventually it all passes on to the Government but, not surprisingly, the Government refuses to declare its responsibility. The salt water mains have been blamed — indeed, it is not the first time — but with our venerable Prime Minister declaring that the salt water mains system has been out of service for some time and that it is necessary to reconstruct the system, one wonders at the validity of this point. Is this supposed to explain, pacify? At the end of the narrative the protagonist knows that his brother’s wedding has constructed the final barrier between them. It is Dayo’s turn to scrounge a life from this unyielding country, to fight his own battles, stand his own ground, recognise and destroy his own enemies. He has given up. He doesn’t know who his enemy is but it did not prevent his destruction.

In this country, who is the enemy? Is it a society that judges your worth based on what you have while ensuring that few of us have access to the tools needed to obtain the very markers by which we are judged? Is it a government that feels it doesn’t have to account for anything, be it non- functioning salt water mains or blown budgets? Is it the senior comprehensive school teacher who doesn’t give a damn about his students, comfortable in the knowledge that in the prestige school his own child attends, the teachers are dedicated to the education of their students, the achievement of one more full certificate, the attainment of one more scholarship. There is your enemy. Destroy. Comments? Suszanna@hotmail.com