Caribbean Lit

The novel “Miguel Street” by V. S Naipaul and “Breath, Eyes, Memory” by Danticat Edwidge can share some similarities not only do both characters have roots in the Caribbean such as Trinidad and Haiti but the themes of dreams and opportunities are present in both. In the novel Miguel Street, the narrator told the stories of the people that lived in the slums and how they had dreams they hoped to accomplish but their little resources and their environment caused them to fail all the time. At the end of the novel, the narrator had to leave Miguel Street for England where he would have better opportunities and resources to accomplish his dreams. Likewise in the novel “Breath, Eyes, Memory” Sophie had to leave Haiti to become more than what the women in her family were, and Haiti would not give her that opportunity and resource to accomplish something with her life. Sophie’s mother dreams of her becoming a doctor a dream that was once her own hope that by having her daughter in a land with better resources she will be able to achieve that dream.

The Short YouTube video displays the casts of the tv series “ Underground” where they answer and share their thoughts on the division that was very much present between field slaves and house slaves, where the latter was the darker tone and the former a lighter complexion. The two lead stars share how this division was intentionally put in place by white oppressors to keep the slaves from having unity and to see each other as rivals. The stars of the show also challenged the conception that lighter skin/house slaves had it easier than field slaves which they say is a false narrator for, in the end, they were all slaves with no ownership to themselves. The idea of being one and having unity is what I also believe Cliff was trying to emphasize in her writing, that though there are lighter skin Jamaicans and darker skin Jamaicans in the end they were all still Jamaicans and this was their home.

The novel “Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys and the essay “If I Could Write This in Fire, I Would Write This in Fire” by Michelle Cliff share many similarities not only in the settings of their writing pieces, Jamaica but the racial and social division among the light-skin/creoles Jamaicans and darker skin tone Jamaicans. To reference back to blog post three of a short summary of Wide Sargasso Sea, in which it states, “In Wide Sargasso Sea readers are introduced to Antoinette Cosway a white creole in Jamaica who looks for acceptance from those around her from the whites living in Jamaica and the blacks both groups deny her and she is left to search for her identity which only leaves her more confused and alone,” (Blog Post 3). The main character Antoinette highlights also the racial tension that arises among the creoles and darker skin toned Jamaicans. In their perspective, though both are born to the land they see one another as enemies, where the creoles rise to take on the role of the oppressor creating division among the groups. Likewise, Cliff highlights the point of racial and social division among the people of Jamaica because of the complexion of their skins, still adapting the very ideology of slavery, where blacks are inferior to whites because of this. Another similarity Cliff and Antoinette share is their self-identity, which they are perplexed about, both struggle to accept the identity that is given to them by society and discover their true selves.

This old Trinidad Calypso titles `` Old Time Days” I believe connect with the culture that resonated throughout the novel “The Dragon Can’t Dance” it gives a look into a time capsule box where we as the readers can get a visual and auditory connection to the culture aspect of postcolonialism Trinidad. The video also features pictures of some key locations mentioned in the text such as Port of Spain during the olden days, this only heightens the senses of a real connection to the characters and places in the novel.

The Novel “The Dragon Can’t Dance” by Earl Lovelace takes place in Port of Spain, Trinidad in a slum neighborhood called Calvary Hill. The novel focuses on this community and the several lives of its residents. This novel takes place during postcolonialism. Most of the characters are trying to discover their own independence and how to strive to be part of the community. In Chapters 5 and 6 readers are introduced to Pariag or Boya, who himself and his wife are the only two Indo-Trinidadians, and Aldrick who is the main narrator of the novel. In Chapter 5 readers get to learn about Pariag who came from the countryside to the city with his wife to be more than just the “country boy” he had aspirations and most importantly he wanted to fit in with the people of Calvary Hill. The residents of Calvary Hill were majority Afro-Trinidadians and isolated Pariag and his wife Dolly but Pariag wanted the community to see past the barrier of racial identity and just to see him as human-like they were living in this community together. Pariag really wanted to be seen and believed by buying a bike and starting a small business within the community will allow him to be seen, belong, and have an identity aside as "the Indian." Pariag purchasing the bike turned the community against him by Ms. Cleothilda and Mr. Guy doing the two most financially established individuals in the poor community. They saw Pariag lavish purchased as a threat to their own superior standing but disguised it as Pariag trying to ruin the dynamics of everyone in the slums being equal meaning poor.

The novel Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and Miguel Street by V.S Naipaul can share some similarities in their exploration of identity and acceptance. In Wide Sargasso Sea readers are introduced to Antoinette Cosway a white creole in Jamaica who looks for acceptance from those around her from the whites living in Jamaica and the blacks both groups deny her and she is left to search for her identity which only leaves her more confused and alone. Likewise in Miguel Street, readers learn about many characters whose sole identities made their significance to Miguel Street but the greatest mystery of all is the narrator. Readers are aware that the narrator also grew up on Miguel Street but he mostly took on the role as a spectator observing those around him like Antionette who had to sit back and watch as everyone lived her life for her because she had no self-identity.

This image accompanied by Kristen Koster’s article “A Primer on Regency Divorce and Annulments,” focuses on women’s little rights in marriage during the 1800s. The image itself can describe Antoinette Cosway’s situation where she has no real freedom and faces one of isolation and captivity by the men in her life from her stepfather to her husband. The woman in this image is chained around the neck by a man at an auction and in that sense, it can reflect Antoinette’s doomed life of bondage.

The poems “A Far Cry From Africa” by Derek Walcott and “Notebook of a Return to the Native Land” by Aimé Césaire share some similarities in which they speak on colonialism, the detriments of it, and their battle with themselves on the case of self-identity. In Walcott’s poem, he speaks on the injustice of colonialism in Kenya by the British. In his poem, he speaks on the uprising by the people of Kenya to stop the continuous injustice, pain, and death brought on by British settlement on their land. Walcott also describes how he is conflicted for his identity belongs both to his African ancestors and his European ancestors. Césaire too faces that same sense of desperation. Césaire and Walcott both take on the war on self-identity and describes their guilt on how they use the language and education of those that oppressed them to shine a light on the injustice their African root faced and continue to face. Though Césaire and Walcott battle themselves on their connections to the oppressed and oppressor readers can see that by choosing to shine a light on the detrimental effects of colonialism and racial injustice in their literary work they have already come to a sense of awareness in their identity crisis.

The novel “Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys is a prequel to the well-known novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Rhys allows readers into the childhood of Antoinette Cosway also known as Bertha Rochester before she was labeled as the insane first wife of Edward Rochester in the novel Jane Eyre. In the first few pages of Wide Sargasso Sea, readers learn that Antoinette grew up in Spanish Town Jamaica, and her childhood was not as easy and expected for a white creole in the Caribbean. Her family was poor after the death of her father so they did not fit well with the other white Jamaicans nor were they welcomed by the black Jamaicans there. Being cast out by the two different racial groups Antoinette can only observe as her childhood crumbles around her. Her mother becomes distant and isolated so Antoinette mostly relies on their servant Christophine. In Part one of the novel, a lot takes place, the racial tension between Antoinette’s families and the black Jamaicans increases. Antoinette loses her disabled little brother to a house fire that was set by the local residents while they were all inside. Her mother becomes estranged and later dies and she is sent to live in a covenant where she feels at peace which does not last long. In the first few pages, readers also learn that Mr. Mason her stepfather sells off Antoinette into an arranged marriage. Antoinette’s life can be seen as constant isolation, never belonging, and always managed by others showing she had no freedom. Through the constant foreshadowing in the first few pages, it is seen that Antoinette’s life is one set for endless doom and a pitiful ending.

To connect the poems “Ruins of the Great House” and “They Came in Ships” by Walcott Derek and Mahadai Das to today’s time, the documentary 13th by Ava Duvernay is an excellent example of how the aftermath of a perils time in history such as slavery still has its mark on modern time. Derek, in his poem, focused on slavery, and even though it was over, it was still very much visible in his surroundings. Likewise, the documentary 13th shows that slavery may have ended, but in honesty, it just disguises itself through America’s prisons system. The documentary reveals how the majority of the population in prisons are African-Americans, and this disproportion was made so intentionally to further keep the same idea of slavery alive. This shows that even though America as a society has progressed, the same backward mentality of injustice and racism remains. Similarly, Das shows the brutality of slavery and how it was forced on a select group of people. This is also reflected in the prisons system where African Americans are most often times unjustly imprisoned, are badly treated, and forced to work under poor conditions from little to no pay, only to be later furthered rejected by society because of their imprisonment status.