(Part) AnalysisByHIX Chat AI-volume 9-ShortStory-Comorians--8April2025

 

SOMAN RAGAVAN

8 April, 2025

Subject : Short story : “It brings Comorians...”

https://allpoetry.com/poem/18359010-AnalysisByHIX-Chat-AI-volume-9-ShortStory-Comorians--8April2025-by-Soman-Ragavan (full analysis)

                                                                                           

 

Analysis by HIX Chat AI

(Artificial Intelligence)

Volume 9

(Used DeepSeek-R1)

 

 

(1)

Soman Ragavan :

Hello. I will post a short story of mine for you to analyse. This is about the Comoros Archipelago, Indian Ocean. A referendum was held in the archipelago about independence. About 97 % of the people voted in favour of independence, with the island of Mayotte voting to remain French. As the majority had voted FOR independence, the whole country should have become independent. But the French detached Mayotte and gave independence to the rest of the country. This has been opposed by the United Nations and the African Union.

Occasionally people travel from the rest of the country to Mayotte on flimsy boats called “kwassa” in the hope of getting French nationality. Some of those boats have sunk, with loss of lives. The French President derided the “kwassas” saying it did not fish much and that it brought Comorians…

I will post the story in batches for you to analyse.

At college in 1968, I studied some poems of Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), Gordon Byron (1788-1824), Samuel T. Coleridge (1772-1834), William Wordsworth (1770-1850), Robert Browning (1812-1889), Mathew Arnold (1822-1888), Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) and some other poets of that era. 

 

(2)

HIX Chat AI :

 

 

Thank you for sharing this context. I’ll analyze the themes and connections in your story as you provide it. Here’s a preliminary breakdown of what you’ve shared so far:

 

---

 

### **Key Themes and Observations** 

1. **Colonial Legacy and Post-Colonial Fractures**:

   - The Comoros Archipelago’s 1974 referendum highlights the lingering effects of colonial borders and France’s selective application of self-determination. By detaching Mayotte (despite the overall majority voting for independence), France perpetuated a geopolitical divide rooted in strategic interests (Mayotte’s location in the Mozambique Channel is economically and militarily significant). 

   - This mirrors broader post-colonial struggles where colonial powers manipulate divisions (ethnic, geographic, or economic) to retain influence. The UN/African Union’s opposition underscores the international community’s rejection of such fragmentation. 

 

2. **Human Cost of Displacement**:

   - The “kwassa” boats symbolize desperation and inequality. Risking lives to reach Mayotte reflects the stark disparities between French-administered territory (with access to EU resources) and the independent Comoros (one of the world’s poorest nations). 

   - The French President’s derision (“it did not fish much and brought Comorians”) dehumanizes migrants, framing them as burdens rather than victims of systemic inequality. This echoes colonial-era rhetoric that dismissed colonized peoples as “unprepared” for self-governance. 

 

3. **Literary and Historical Parallels**:

   - Your study of Romantic and Victorian poets (Goldsmith, Byron, Coleridge, etc.) suggests a thematic bridge between their works and your story. For example: 

     - **Byron’s critique of imperialism** (e.g., *The Giaour*) and **Wordsworth’s focus on marginalized voices** could inform your portrayal of Comorian struggles. 

     - **Goldsmith’s *The Deserted Village*** (lamenting displacement/enclosure) mirrors the dislocation of Comorians risking kwassa voyages. 

     - **Arnold’s *Dover Beach*** (cultural decay amid progress) might parallel the fractured identity of the archipelago. 

 

4. **Irony of “Independence”**:

   - The 97% vote for independence becomes tragic when juxtaposed with Mayotte’s retention by France. This reflects the paradox of decolonization: “freedom” often comes with strings attached (economic dependence, neocolonialism). 

 

---

 

### **Potential Narrative Angles** 

- **Character Perspectives**: Contrast a Comorian activist quoting Byron (“Freedom’s battle… must be fought”) with a French bureaucrat dismissing kwassa migrants as “statistical noise.” 

- **Symbolism**: Use the kwassa boat as a metaphor for fragile hope (like Coleridge’s *The Rime of the Ancient Mariner*, where the ship becomes a prison). 

- **Historical Echoes**: Link France’s divide-and-rule tactics in Comoros to Britain’s partition of India or Spain’s enclaves in Morocco. 

 

---

 

Let me know when you share the story itself, and I’ll refine this analysis further! Would you like me to focus on specific literary devices or historical parallels?

(3)

Soman Ragavan :

Here is Part One of my short story “It brings Comorians...” (Posted).

 

(4)

HIX Chat AI :

 

 

**Analysis of Part 1 of Soman Ragavan’s Short Story “It Brings Comorians”** 

*(Fictionalized Narrative Rooted in Real-World Contexts)* 

 

---

 

### **1. Structural and Stylistic Choices** 

- **Documentary Realism**: 

  The story opens with a curated list of real-world sources (news articles, videos, political reactions) from 2017–2024, grounding the fiction in verifiable events. This creates a hybrid narrative that blurs the line between reportage and fiction, forcing readers to confront the lived reality of Comorian migrants. 

  - Example: Macron’s 2017 quip (“Le kwassa-kwassa pêche peu, il amène du Comorien”) is reproduced verbatim, anchoring the story in a specific moment of political callousness. 

 

- **Epistolary Framing**: 

  By presenting links and headlines as a collage, the story mimics the fragmented, often dehumanizing way migration crises are reported in media—reducing human tragedy to “clickable” content. 

 

---

 

### **2. Central Themes** 

- **Dehumanization and Political Rhetoric**: 

  Macron’s joke reduces Comorian migrants to a commodity (“il amène du Comorien”), framing their perilous journeys as a logistical nuisance rather than a humanitarian crisis. This mirrors colonial-era dehumanization, where marginalized groups were dismissed as “problems” to be managed. 

  - Contrast: The Anjouan man’s lament, “The sea is a cemetery,” personalizes the loss, countering Macron’s abstract, statistical view. 

 

- **Colonial Legacies and Neocolonial Power**: 

  France’s retention of Mayotte (despite the 1974 referendum) reflects a neocolonial strategy: maintaining control over strategic territories (Mayotte’s location in the Mozambique Channel is geopolitically valuable) while disavowing responsibility for neighboring islands’ instability. 

 

- **Migration as Survival**: 

  The kwassa boats symbolize both desperation and resilience. They are not just vessels but lifelines for Comorians fleeing poverty, political neglect, and climate crises (the Comoros is highly vulnerable to rising sea levels). 

 

---

 

### **3. Symbolism and Motifs** 

- **The Kwassa Boat**: 

  - **Fragility**: The flimsy structure mirrors the precariousness of Comorian migrants’ lives. 

  - **Irony**: Named after a dance (kwassa-kwassa), the boats are associated with joy in Congolese culture but evoke tragedy in the Comoros. 

  - **Cycle of Exploitation**: The boats “don’t fish much” (per Macron) because overfishing by EU trawlers has depleted local waters, pushing Comorians to risk migration. 

 

- **The Sea**: 

  - **Graveyard**: Described as a “cemetery,” the sea becomes a metaphor for systemic abandonment. 

  - **Border**: It physically separates Mayotte (French/EU territory) from the independent Comoros, symbolizing the arbitrary divides of colonialism. 

 

---

 

### **4. Literary and Historical Parallels** 

- **Byronic Critique of Imperialism**: 

  Like Byron’s *The Giaour* (which critiques Ottoman oppression), the story exposes France’s hypocrisy in championing *liberté* while denying self-determination to Mayotte. 

 

- **Wordsworthian Marginal Voices**: 

  The Anjouan man’s grief (“every family has a kwassa story”) echoes Wordsworth’s focus on marginalized figures (e.g., *The Solitary Reaper*), giving voice to those erased by political narratives. 

 

- **Goldsmith’s Displacement**: 

  The Comorian exodus mirrors the forced displacement in *The Deserted Village*, where enclosures destroy communities—here, economic enclosures (EU policies, franc dependency) drive migration. 

 

---

 

### **5. Narrative Potential and Direction** 

- **Character Arcs**: 

  - A kwassa survivor grappling with trauma, juxtaposed with a French bureaucrat defending border policies. 

  - An Anjouan mother who lost children to the sea, channeling her grief into activism. 

 

- **Temporal Layers**: 

  Flashbacks to the 1974 referendum could contrast with present-day crises, highlighting decades of unresolved colonial trauma. 

 

- **Climate Justice**: 

  Integrate climate change (e.g., cyclones, erosion) as a push factor, linking environmental collapse to migration. 

 

---

 

### **6. Critique of Macron’s Rhetoric** 

The story’s title (“It Brings Comorians”) weaponizes Macron’s words, turning his dismissive joke into a refrain of indictment. By juxtaposing his quip with firsthand accounts of drowning migrants, Ragavan exposes the moral bankruptcy of reducing human lives to punchlines. 

 

---

 

### **7. COVID-19 as Amplifier** 

The pandemic’s mention (link 3) deepens the story’s urgency: lockdowns likely restricted kwassa travel, exacerbating economic desperation. This could be a narrative turning point, where characters face impossible choices—risk death at sea or starvation on land. 

 

---

 

### **Conclusion** 

Part 1 establishes a searing critique of colonial legacies, political dehumanization, and the resilience of Comorian migrants. By weaving factual sources into fiction, Ragavan forces readers to confront the human cost of geopolitical gamesmanship. The kwassa boat—fragile, persistent, overloaded—becomes an enduring symbol of resistance against erasure. 

 

Would you like me to delve deeper into any specific theme or literary device as you share more of the story?

(5)

Soman Ragavan :

Here is Part 2. (Posted).

 

(6)

HIX Chat AI :

 

 

**Analysis of Part 2 of Soman Ragavan’s “It Brings Comorians”** 

 

---

 

### **1. Central Themes** 

- **Hope vs. Despair**: 

  The refugees’ journey is framed by a tension between unwavering hope (“the promised land”) and existential dread. The kwassa boats symbolize this duality: they are vessels of salvation and potential coffins. Pope’s “Hope springs eternal” underscores the human capacity to cling to optimism amid peril, while the imagery of passengers becoming “food for fish” starkly confronts the fragility of that hope. 

 

- **Humanity and Dehumanization**: 

  The refugees’ fear of being reduced to “dinner for the fish” or “live or dead fish” critiques the dehumanizing rhetoric of politicians (e.g., Macron’s quip). This metaphor strips migrants of their humanity, reducing them to commodities or prey, mirroring colonial and neocolonial narratives that depict marginalized groups as disposable. 

 

- **Nature as Antagonist and Arbiter of Fate**: 

  The sea, wind, and mist are portrayed as indifferent forces that amplify the refugees’ vulnerability. Nature here is not just a physical barrier but a metaphor for systemic oppression—the “ocean of life” (Longfellow) becomes a chaotic, uncaring expanse where survival is left to chance. 

 

---

 

### **2. Literary and Symbolic Devices** 

- **Intertextuality**: 

  - **Longfellow’s “The Theologian’s Tale”**: The excerpt (“Ships that pass in the night…”) evokes transient human connections and the ephemeral nature of migrant solidarity. The fleeting signals between boats mirror the fragmented, precarious lives of refugees, whose communities are scattered by survival. 

  - **Pope’s “An Essay on Man”**: The line “Hope springs eternal” contrasts with the refugees’ dire reality, highlighting the irony of hope as both sustenance and delusion in oppressive systems. 

 

- **Irony and Paradox**: 

  - The “promised land” (Mayotte) is ambiguously described as both “terre d’accueil” (land of welcome) and “terre d’exil” (land of exile), critiquing France’s exclusionary policies. Mayotte represents salvation and rejection, a paradox rooted in colonial history. 

  - The kwassa’s name, derived from a Congolese dance associated with joy, clashes with its tragic role in Comorian migration, underscoring the dissonance between cultural heritage and present suffering. 

 

- **Rhetorical Questions**: 

  Questions like “Would the small, flimsy boats ever make it?” and “Will we end up as dinner for the fish?” force readers to confront the refugees’ uncertainty. These unanswered questions mirror the unresolved geopolitical neglect of the Comoros. 

 

---

 

### **3. Structural and Narrative Techniques** 

- **Collective Voice**: 

  The refugees are portrayed as a collective (“families,” “passengers”) rather than individuals, emphasizing the scale of the crisis and the erasure of personal stories in political discourse. This choice critiques how systemic issues render marginalized groups faceless. 

 

- **Sensory Imagery**: 

  Descriptions of the “cramped, cold, and windy” boats and the “mist” enveloping the flotilla immerse readers in the physical and emotional turmoil of the journey. The mist symbolizes the obscurity of the refugees’ fate—both literally (reduced visibility) and metaphorically (uncertain futures). 

 

- **Juxtaposition**: 

  The refugees’ hope (“stepping stone to a brighter future”) is contrasted with the kwassa’s fragility and the sea’s brutality. This tension mirrors the broader Comorian struggle: the promise of independence versus the reality of neocolonial abandonment. 

 

---

 

### **4. Political and Historical Resonance** 

- **Neocolonial Neglect**: 

  The journey reflects the consequences of France’s retention of Mayotte, which destabilized the Comoros economically and politically. The refugees’ desperation is a direct result of policies that prioritize territorial control over human rights. 

 

- **Climate of Impunity**: 

  Macron’s joke (“il amène du Comorien”) is echoed in the narrative’s dehumanizing metaphors, linking political rhetoric to systemic violence. The story indicts leaders who trivialize migrant lives while enforcing borders that force such perilous journeys. 

 

---

 

### **5. Foreshadowing and Symbolism** 

- **The Mist**: 

  Represents the obscurity of the refugees’ fate and the international community’s willful ignorance of their plight. It also alludes to the “fog” of political narratives that obscure the human cost of migration policies. 

 

- **Fish Imagery**: 

  The passengers’ fear of becoming “food for fish” foreshadows potential tragedy while critiquing how systemic neglect turns humans into casualties of nature and policy. 

 

---

 

### **6. Connection to Broader Themes** 

- **Colonial Continuities**: 

  The refugees’ journey mirrors historical patterns of displacement under colonialism, where borders and resources were manipulated to serve imperial powers. France’s retention of Mayotte perpetuates this legacy, forcing Comorians into modern-day odysseys of survival. 

 

- **Universal Migration Narratives**: 

  By invoking Longfellow and Pope, Ragavan universalizes the Comorian experience, linking it to global histories of migration, from the Irish fleeing famine to Syrians crossing the Mediterranean. 

 

---

 

### **Conclusion** 

Part 2 deepens the story’s critique of colonial legacies and political dehumanization through visceral imagery and intertextual richness. The kwassa journey becomes a microcosm of the Comorian struggle—a fight for dignity amid systemic indifference. By juxtaposing literary elegance with brutal reality, Ragavan forces readers to confront the moral contradictions of a world that romanticizes “hope” while perpetuating the conditions that make it necessary. 

 

This section sets the stage for potential tragedy or resilience, leaving the reader to grapple with the unresolved tension between hope and despair—a tension that defines both the refugees’ voyage and the broader Comorian quest for justice.

(7)

Soman Ragavan :

Here is Part 3. (Posted).

 

(8)

HIX Chat AI :

 

 

**Analysis of Part 3 of Soman Ragavan’s “It Brings Comorians”** 

 

---

 

### **1. Central Themes** 

- **Tragedy and Human Suffering**: 

  The storm’s violence and the ensuing drownings underscore the human cost of migration. The personal tragedy of the mother and baby—symbolizing innocence and generational loss—serves as a microcosm of broader systemic neglect. Their "final clasp" in a "watery grave" humanizes migrants, countering dehumanizing political rhetoric. 

 

- **Natural Indifference and Systemic Cruelty**: 

  The storm’s brutality reflects the indifference of both nature and political systems. The phrase "natural selection had done its work" critiques social Darwinism, exposing how marginalized groups are left to perish under structural inequalities rooted in colonialism. 

 

- **Inequality and Opulence vs. Desperation**: 

  Ragavan’s embedded poem juxtaposes migrants’ suffering ("screaming boys," "ruthless natural selection") with images of luxury ("Haut-Brion," "posh restaurants"). This contrast indicts global inequity, where the privileged thrive while the vulnerable are consumed by crises they did not create. 

 

---

 

### **2. Literary and Symbolic Devices** 

- **Storm as Metaphor**: 

  The storm symbolizes colonial and neocolonial upheaval—a violent force that disrupts lives but is met with societal indifference. Its progression from chaos to "deathly stillness" mirrors the cyclical neglect of migrant crises. 

 

- **Shark Imagery**: 

  Sharks represent predatory systems (political, economic) that exploit migrants. The poem’s line, "sharks have just spill’d barrels of *Saint-Émilion*," ties literal sea dangers to metaphorical ones, critiquing how elites "feast" on the vulnerable. 

 

- **Intertextuality and Metatextuality**: 

  The inclusion of Ragavan’s poem *The Balseros (3)* creates a layered critique, connecting the fictional narrative to real-world themes of migration and exploitation. This bridges art and activism, amplifying the story’s urgency. 

 

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### **3. Structural and Narrative Techniques** 

- **Fragmented Pacing**: 

  Short, choppy sentences ("Cries, screams all around…") mirror the chaos of the storm and the migrants’ panic. Rhetorical questions ("Had the mariners really made the right choice?") immerse readers in the refugees’ uncertainty. 

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See full analysis on allpoetry.com 

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