Response to Notebook of a Return to the Native Land

In lines 261-275 of Cesaire's piece, we can see a reference to the horrible outcome that colonization had on Africa. Cesaire declares that he is "coming back to the deserted hideousness of your sores," as he refers to his home country that has been left in dispair. This is a prime example of the negritude movement which reflects the movement's style of appealing to Africans all over the world. The horrible situation of their homeland is something that all Africans can relate to no matter where they may be at the present time.

I think Cesaire is expressing a feeling of patriotism due to post-colonial sentiments, as he claims that he will return "to this land of [his] and would say to it: 'Embrace me without fear...And if all i can do is speak, it is for you I shall speak.'" I think he feels that he needs to now stand up for his weakened homeland, which is again a feeling that many Africans from all over may endure. The narrator says that "above all, [his] body as well as [his] soul, beware of assuming the sterile attidtude of a spectator," meaning that he does not want to simply watch what happens to his homeland but wishes to have an active role in its future.