The Purpose of Education

           Kasaipwalova and Voltaire both recognize the dishonesty of their societal structures. Kasaipwalova seems to offer education as a solution to this. The university students in “Betel Nut is Bad Magic for Airplanes” utilize their education to not only “get on the White Man’s level” to defend themselves, but to publicly outcry the hypocrisy of oppressive policing. The majority of the narrative is written in a vernacular “island speak,” suggesting that the narrator has maintained his cultural identity, despite receiving an education on the mainland. The dialogue indicates that the narrator can easily transition to speaking “properly,” almost to the point of legalese—a result of education. 

          Because the students are aware of injustice and have the ability to speak against injustice, we can assume that they won’t grow up to be like the black police officers, eager to make arrests “to please the White Man,” They will not end up complicit in the oppression of their own people. At the end, the narrator says, “We three university students, we come back to Waigani. We was chewing our betel nut on the way.” These students intend to use the skills they have gained as a force for change. Kasaipwalova takes the stance that education is not simply a ladder to professional success, but a real tool against the oppression that plagues society.

          Voltaire, does not take the same stance on the power of education. He knows that education can change what people think, but is pessimistic about the simplicity of offering philosophy and human reasoning as a solution to all of society’s ills. Education is no panacea for Voltaire. In Voltaire’s version of utopia, Eldorado, science and philosophy are highly valued and there is no religious persecution. Everyone believes the same thing. However, Eldorado’s isolation demonstrates Voltaire’s belief that human greed and selfishness pervade even the most educated circles. The riches that Eldorado sits on could bring thousands of people out of poverty, but sharing the riches would diminish Eldorado’s elite, unreachable status. Voltaire’s truth seems to say that human nature will always create oppression. The people of Eldorado are well aware of their power to positively impact the world, but they are comfortable amongst themselves.

The Humanity in the Abstract

Both works peruse comparably horrific themes and although Candide may do so with more breadth, both Voltaire and Kasaipwalova adopt a similar tone. It is one of simple innocence, construed as sarcastic by the reader but, at its most superficial it is innocent, trusting. Neither work allows its protagonist to take into account their context and their own history. In a sense, ironically, the bigoted, and inhumane institutions that dictated the situations of these characters, be it war, greed, sexism, nationalism or any of the like in Candide or racism in “Betel Nut is Bad Magic for Airplanes” are not taken into account by the characters. That which occurs, occurs in a vacuum, each writer insists that his characters are unaware of their larger historical context in order to remain simple, innocent, essentially unable to see the forest from the trees. “Betel Nut…”’s narrator sees the large policeman and is scared by his menacing stature, not all that he represents. Candide blindly trusts anybody who speaks to him, be he a Dutch pirate or a deviant friar.

On one hand, this simplification could be read as just that, a simplification, in fact an over simplification, i.e., bad people are bad. Even more offensively it could be read as a condescension, that those oppressed by the greed and vice of humanity are hardly aware of the larger forces at work of which their oppressors are merely an extension. However, I think Voltaire and Kasaipwalova both seek to boil the institutions down to their bare, very concrete roots and, in doing so, bring forth the humanity, in all of its menacing ugliness, from them. A policeman threatening an innocent bystander is, Kasaipwalova seems to suggest, ultimately, a policeman; s/he is an abstract concept no more! S/he is somebody at his/her job, trying to do his/her job and when s/he is oppressing another, notions of larger institutions grinding the vulnerable into dust for their own greedy ends, do not occur to the oppressed. Moreover, what runs the risk of being lost, when these institutions are too deeply considered, is the humanity. Yes, there is a systemic violence aimed at addressing specific social groups, one can note readily note that in the police shootings that have peppered the news for decades and the systems in place are important to break down. But one cannot forget, there is a gun pulling the trigger, there is human being on the other side of the unlawful death, and that cannot be lost in the larger examination of these societal issues.

The Serious to the Absurd

     “Kasaipwalova” deals with a remarkably serious topic, that is, racial discrimination. As others have noted, it is similar to Tale of the Tikongs in terms of documenting a native way of life being encroached on by outsiders. But the tale is told relatively lightly. It does not have the same subtle sharpness to it as Tale of the Tikongs and is told in a more triumphant manner as our narrator dismisses the officers as “puppies” and ultimately succeeds in standing up to them. The narrator’s general blasé attitude allows for the story to be more palatable while still grappling with the unpleasantness of the actual events, and the humor makes the narrator and the other students more sympathetic to us. The police are not just the villains because of their abuse of the law, but from a story perspective, because of their humorlessness too.

     Voltaire’s Candide also discusses what should be serious topics; Candide faces war, disaster, and believes that many people he cares about are lost or dead. Different characters get abducted or enslaved or sentenced to death. And yet the humor is not in spite of but because of these things. Voltaire uses the absurdity of the magnitude of their misfortune to inspire laughter. Of course these are all horrible things, but the fact they keep piling up causes readers’ sympathy to reach a breaking point and turn into disbelief, which then allows for amusement. It is no different than when someone going through a rough time might burst out laughing at the next misfortune. At a certain point, humor provides a release that helps to puncture the painful pressures of bad luck and bad experiences, and Voltaire plays with this by amping up the misfortune and presenting us with more and more ridiculous situations, like El Dorado. 

Humor in Authority

     I graduated from one of the largest public high schools in Mississippi in 2015. Throughout those four years, I witnessed theft, bullying, bomb threats, violence, and accidents caused by carelessness. So to counteract these disruptive behaviors, the school hired a squad of approximately 10-15 security guards to do everything from monitoring booths in the parking lot to handling fights in the hallways. In theory, these new employees should have solved problems but instead, the student body viewed these “guards” as jokes, causing more issues. Perhaps this is because the average security guard was overweight, did not speak distinct English, and had one job… to suck the “fun” out of high school.

     It is interesting to me how the perception of being overweight has changed over time. In Candide, being obese like the Baron’s lady meant having “the honours of the house with a dignity that commanded still greater respect” (Voltaire 1). However 200 years later, the “white papa dog” (Kasaipwalova 433) with his red face and big stomach shows that we no longer perceive obesity as a demand for respect. Reading about the rotundness of the authoritative figure and how he could not grab the narrator of the story reminded me of the annual backpack race in my high school. Every year, the majority of the senior boys would race from the cafeteria to the baseball field with their backpacks after lunch for a chance of winning a child’s backpack (my senior year it was a One Direction backpack that was definitely purchased on sale). The overweight security guards would normally drive around the campus in golf carts in attempt to see and stop any trouble. But when 100 18 year old boys started running full speed through campus, I watched as the security guards either drove out of the hoard’s way or attempted to chase it down (the boys were much faster than the golf cart). I was very amused watching the authoritative figures make a slight attempt at catching the group of boys racing, as for a split second it was a switch in the power of our high school. It also was just a visual representation of how the student body perceived the security guards – to us, they were nothing more than fat people riding around on golf carts attempting, and mostly failing, to maintain order. Looking back on the situation from a more mature perspective, I understand that the backpack race was probably a dangerous situation and the guards were just trying to avoid accidents, similar to how section 32 was securing the safety of the airplanes in Batel Nut Is Bad Magic for Airplaines. 

      Although the South is much more open to African Americans today than it was in the past, there are still many examples of racial profiling and stereotyping in Mississippi. Similar to the Black Lives Matter argument in Baltimore, the majority of disciplinary actions at my high school were taken against black students. To be fair to the guards, the African American students were seen causing trouble far more often than the white students. Because fights and violence happened so often at my school among this demographic, there was a lower tolerance for troublemakers who were African American. The black students were rarely given a warning and were watched more carefully than the white students. For example, if one white boy shoved another, the guard would look the other way, assuming it was just a playful push. But if a black boy shoved another, he would be told to stop and possibly taken to the man in charge of handling discipline. Many of the students would further the situation by arguing with the guards in public, similar to how the narrator did in Batel Nut. These confrontations were always humorous and amusing to the other students watching but looking back on it now, it was unfair how differently black and white people were treated by authoritative figures. This is similar to how the guard in Batel Nut is a “bloody white racist” (438), trying to get the black men in trouble at the airport. I think it is sad how we are still judging a man’s character and violence based on the color of his skin and how in some parts of the country, this is seen as normal, everyday life, starting at the age of 14 when students enter high school. Looking back at it now, from a different perspective as a student in a private university where most students are from the Northeast, I can see the differences in discipline and wish the authoritative figures would give the same chances to all students, regardless of race.

Kasaipwalova and Voltaire

Voltaire’s Candide describes a young optimistic man in an absurd world. His outlook on life is always positive, and things do eventually play out in his favor. Voltaire writes this story with a ton of separate climax’s and unique literary devices, like bringing characters back to life after he has already killed them off. The source of Voltaire’s humor comes from the satire of the play. The hero’s conflict is so exaggerated that it is unrealistic and there are several chapters written with irony. Candide was injured by a few falling stones during the earthquake and asked Pangloss for some oil and wine for his pain. Pangloss ignores his pain until the end of the chapter and receives a glass himself (Candide 11-12). Voltaire uses satire to demonstrate how he feels about many common issues, such as religion, or politics.

            There are a few reasons why this could be funny to people. The absurd plot could catch them off guard and perhaps spark a laugh, like a joke would. The incongruity theory is consistent with the absurd plot, and the compacted short chapters tell a little funny story. Another reason we could laugh at this is the relief theory. Voltaire creates an upbeat character, so we can share in his enjoyment of life without feeling his pain. If you are struggling through a week of tests and always seem to be on the move your roommates will notice. If you break down and cry they will probably try to console you, but if you make joke or are able to be optimistic, they will most likely laugh.

            John Kasaipwalova’s Betel Nut is Bad Magic for Airplane demonstrates a common injustice in his home country. He writes the short story in broken English to resemble a native English lingo. In this story, airport security guards are harassing three university students for no reason. He is writing the story in the language that the security guard would expect him to write it in, but he really speaks perfect English. The humor also comes from Descartes’ idea that laughter comes from scorn. The reader gets so frustrated at the security guard that when Kasaipwalova makes fun of him, it is funny to us.

Humor as a Veil

Voltaire’s Candide quite clearly deserves its place among the all-time great satirical works. Every single character in this work is quite clearly representative of either a different person or specific class of person in society, and are portrayed in a way that is not overtly insulting, but is scathing regardless. What is arguably the best part Candide is the fact that not a single group is safe from Voltaire’s wrath, though he does seem to have a particular dislike for the Jesuit order. Various types of humor are used throughout this entire satirical work, however, Voltaire seems to be particularly fond of the incongruity and superiority theories of humor, and much less on any of the more biological based theories. Voltaire’s seemingly relentless on the conventions of his time begins on the very first page, when he describes Pangloss as “a professor of metaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-nigology” (Voltaire, 1). Pangloss is an amalgam of all of the supposedly great thinkers of Voltaire’s time, a man who claims to be proficient in everything, yet is a master of none. One of the best examples of the incongruity theory is in the reappearance of Pangloss, who had been thought dead for quite a while at this point in the book. He tells Candide that “the executioner of the Holy Inquisition was a sub-deacon, and knew how to burn people marvelously well, but he was not accustomed to hanging” (Voltaire, 80) which sounds rather awful given that this man is quite proficient in executing people, and as we see early in the book, sometimes for no reason. The fact that this useless philosopher of sorts was able to escape death at the hands of this man is rather comical simply because it is such a far-fetched idea that he would ever possibly survive his ordeal.

            The work Betel Nut is Bad Magic for Airplanes by John Kasaipawlova, whose name alone could be an example of the superiority theory of humor, as Kasaipawlova would most likely find humor at our struggling to pronounce or spell his name, is of a similar mind as that of Voltaire’s. Like Hau’ofa and Voltaire, Kasaipawlova uses humor in order to address something that would, without any sort of humor attached to it, likely be incredibly dense and controversial. By creating his work under the cover of humor, he is able to address the colonial inability to accept a native groups culture, without necessarily causing any sort of large scale outrage. Much of Kasaipawlova’s work takes advantage of the incongruity theory of humor, as he has his central character thinking in a local pigin English. In the main character’s thoughts to himself he says things like “my face blooded because many black, white and yellow people, they was watching us too and this white papa dog, he was talking bad like that way to me” (Kasaipawlova, 434). The second he addresses the authority figure in the play, however, he is suddenly able to articulate sentences such as “this is a free country of which we black people are citizens and unless you can show me the moral basis for your ‘so called laws’ I cannot recognize and therefore comply with to law” (Kasaipawlova, 434). Kasaipawlova create a character that was seemingly entirely based on the incongruity theory of humor. One minute this character is thinking in an almost unintelligible version of English, and the next minute he is articulating himself as if he were being his own defense attorney. The disconnect between this character’s thoughts, and his actions are part of what make this play so funny, but also what allows it to speak on a social issue. The antagonist likely views the main character as inferior given that he is one of the local population and likely things that he is only able to communicated in a manner similar to the way in which he thinks. The eloquence with which he speaks is actually incredibly funny both because of the incongruity theory, but because of the reaction it elicits from the “white papa dog” (Kasaipawlova, 434) as he calls him, and the embarrassment it brings him. Given the portrayal of the white papa dog, the reader has determined that he is deserving of this small evil that has befallen him and when it does it causes them to laugh.

           In both of these works, the authors are using their humor not just to be funny, but to comment on something on a much larger scale. Voltaire is quite clearly addressing all of the failings of life during his time, however, directly attacking the Spanish Inquisition, or the Catholic Church, would likely not be very beneficial to one's life expectancy. Kasaipawlova is doing the same thing as Voltaire, only instead of going after society as a whole, he focuses specifically on the idea of colonialism. Generally colonial powers did not like being treated poorly by their territories, and were likely to not be very supportive of any work that impugned their dignity in favor of one. 

The Danger of Assumptions

The short story Betel Nut Is Bad Magic for Airplanes portrays an act of civil disobedience, in which Papa New Guineans speak up against Australians who are trying to colonize them. Similar to Tales of the Tikongs, Kasaipwala uses humor to criticize an injustice he sees in his world and provoke his audience to reflect on their actions that may contribute to a larger injustice in their world.

In both stories, an entire group of people being is disenfranchised by a foreign power, but in Betel Nut Is Bad Magic for Airplanes, Kasaipwala uses a particular case of racism to comment on the injustice of imperialism at large. Kasaipwalova begins by writing from the perspective of a native university student who is treated unfairly by an officer. Throughout much of the story, the university student uses his country’s vernacular, which is viewed as unintelligent by the colonists. He refers to a security officer that tells them to stop chewing betel nut as a “brown puppy dog of white man” who “angried himself for nothing.”

Both the reader and the security officer assumes that he is only capable of using the broken language, so they are surprised when he addresses the injustice with well formulated arguments in perfect English. The native responds “all right white man, on what moral grounds is it unlawful for me to chew betel nut here?” His language is dramatically more eloquent and the shift makes the reader laugh because it is completely unexpected. Kasaipwalova not only uses the incongruity to evoke laughter, he uses it to remind the audience that they are guilty of stereotyping. The audience also assumes the native is unintelligent and incapable of articulating his thoughts. They neglect to realize the native may have been using his native dialect as a form of resistance in which he refuses to conform to the new regime. In this unexpected, humorous moment the audience also realizes their assumptions are often based on stereotypes and they need to be more conscious of it.

It is worth noting that the reader finds out at the same time that the security officer. Kasaipwala strategically withholds the information from the reader to remind them that they are not always given the whole story, so naturally fill in the holes with assumptions. These assumptions are natural and harmless, unless the reader accepts them as the truth and fails to question their validity. Kasaipwala is implying that his audience often fails to question their assumptions in their daily life. and he wants his audience to realize that they often don’t know someone’s full story so they accept stereotypes as the truth.