Fanon repeatedly mentions the tense and contracted muscles of the colonized throughout The Wretched of the Earth. These muscles are symbolic of several things, including the immense frustration and anger of the colonized, as well as the violence that plagues the colonial situation. Tense muscles, however, also represent the colonized individual’s desire for liberation, and their tenacity in regaining nationhood and dignity. Fanon claims that whenever Western values and ethics are mentioned within the colonial situation, “the colonized grow tense and their muscles seize up.” The colonized are tense with anger at the implication that Western values—the same values that bred colonialism and the exploitation and erasure of entire nations and cultures—are considered superior to their own. According to Fanon, the only thing that can ease the tense muscles of the colonized is participation in their traditional cultural practices, which are robbed from them under colonialism. Thus, “The muscles of the colonized are always tensed,” Fanon says. Not because the colonized are anxious or afraid, but because they are alert—always ready for whatever may come their way next.
In a newly independent nation, the previously colonized intellectual takes to finding and legitimizing a new national culture. To do so, Fanon says, the intellectual must commit wholeheartedly to the national struggle, and “muscle power is required.” Colonial racism has for hundreds of years maintained that African nations and people are completely devoid of culture and intellect, and as such, the formerly colonized intellectual has their work cut out for them. As more Third World nations are liberated from colonialism, and more and more still fight for their freedom, Fanon encourages developing nations not to follow in the footsteps of Europe. “Let us decide not to imitate Europe,” he says, “and let us tense our muscles and our brains in a new direction.” While decolonization and independence mean the death of colonialism, Fanon suggests that it is best to remember—deep within the muscle memory, as it were—the oppression and struggle for nationhood, as that is where the national culture lives and thrives.
Tense Muscles Quotes in The Wretched of the Earth
Let us decide not to imitate Europe and let us tense our muscles and our brains in a new direction. Let us endeavor to invent a man in full, something which Europe has been incapable of achieving.
Two centuries ago, a former European colony took it into its head to catch up with Europe. It has been so successful that the United States of America has become a monster where the flaws, sickness, and inhumanity of Europe have reached frightening proportions.
Tense Muscles Symbol Timeline in The Wretched of the Earth
