Caribbean Literature

♥ Angel Williams ♥

[angelkaleya]

Breath, Eyes, Memory Outside Source

Experts: Teach younger Haitian-Americans to fight stubborn stereotypes - The Haitian Times

Stories of Haitian-American youth being called names, taunted or assaulted because of their ethnicity go as far back as Haitians have been c

The article “Experts: Teach younger Haitian-Americans to fight stubborn stereotypes” relates to the novel “Breath, Eyes, Memory” because it highlights the many tales of Haitian students who come into the country for a better tomorrow yet have to bear underlying pains. A student named Eileen Ternize opens up about how she was afraid to let other American students know that her parents are Haitian immigrants and had to keep her ethnicity a secret in elementary school. In her doing this, this complicates her identity and how she expresses who she is. When you hide a part of yourself for the benefit of others and the benefit of not being harassed, it does something to you. In the sixth grade, students overheard her grandfather speaking Creole to another parent, and her student career was made for by then. Eileen had to deal with being made fun of and students chanting “you eat dirt” and “you do Voodoo.” This is similar in the novel when Martine had to prepare Sophie before she attended her NY school. Now that students with similar backgrounds have taken their power back and are choosing to speak up for themselves, this will help others come out and stand up for themselves as well.

[angelkaleya]

Breath, Eyes, Memory + Girl

Breath, Eyes, Memory reminds me of the poem Girl by Jamaica Kincaid. In Girl, the young lady’s mother is training her to be a good housewife and take care of herself as she grows into her womanhood. However, in Girl, it wasn’t nice, and her mother never considered the Girl’s feelings; it was her mother controlling her future actions. In Breath, Eyes, Memory, Martine tells Sophie not to settle for a man who is not doing something with himself and remain pure. Martine and Atie used to have vaginal check-ins, but Martine’s stopped when Sophie was conceived. Martine did not pass down this toxic trait and just chose to communicate with her daughter, which is crucial. Martine took a different approach and moved outside of gender norms. She wants Sophie to get her education, go to college, get a great paying job, not depend on a man.

[angelkaleya]

Breath, Eyes, Memory Interpretation

The novel “Breath, Eyes, Memory” by Edwidge Danticat is first set in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. The reader is first introduced to a girl named Sophie, who her Aunt Atie is raising. Atie never really had the chance to pursue her dreams because she had to work the land and support her mother. Sophie’s mother went off to New York to try and have a better life and support her family back in Haiti. Atie is the only mother that Sophie knows, and now she has to up and move to Haiti with her birth mother, Martine. Sophie is being exiled because people think America is best for her schooling and career. Sophie only knows Atie, her grandmother, the community, and the Haitian land and will face traumas being removed from her Native land so young. With Sophie being uprooted and starting fresh in New York, she had to be mentally prepared for the American kids and their cruel ways, ex. picking on Haitian students because of “HBO.” Not even that, but she had to be prepared to face issues about her identity. Martine told Sophie that she is the product of rape, and because of this, she does not have the ability to know her dad or her true self because her mother is just now trying to make things right. This novel gives me some insight into some of my friends’ lives who are Haitian and were born there. I wish that kids in school would tell their side of things, everything they went through to be here in America, and how they still face obstacles to try and have a better life. I feel like Sophie, and other children/teens/adults may face alienation when they are not around peers similar to them. They are all people of color, but they don’t share being born in America. When Sophie became 18, she met an older man close to her mother’s age and is starting to fall in love with him. I hope that this older man is not her father or will end up hurting her in the long run

[angelkaleya]

"If I Could Write This in Fire" Outside Source

What it's like to be a "White" Haitian in Haiti - The Haitian Times

We are all Haitians, whether we are black, mixed, or white, rich or poor. We all share the same culture: we eat the same food, dance to the

The article, “What it’s like to be a “White” Haitain in Haiti” by Myriam Salomon tells a story of a young woman who is considered White in a country where the population is 95% Black. The young lady’s maternal and paternal grandparents migrated from both sides at the beginning of the 20th century from Lebanon. Myriam’s grandfather never taught his future generation to speak Arabic or about their past because they wanted them (with their lighter skin tones) to be accepted by the rest of the country who may have darker skin tones and thus judge them for trying to use their land or resources. Myriam, just like the narrator, suffers from being silenced and having society push her to the side because they don’t fit the bill to be of or from a place where no one looks the same. During slavery, they would separate the light from the dark, and yet today this is still going on. There needs to be a change and people should come together to raise concern about this. I love that Myriam states, “We are all Haitians, whether we are black, mixed, or white, rich or poor.” To me it means we are all the same and we should not let what you see on the surface, tell my story.

[angelkaleya]

"If I Could Write This in Fire" + "Wide Sargasso Sea"

The book “Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys and the short narrative “If I Could Write This in Fire” by Michelle Cliff both show how the difference between racial and social class/status can divide a people. In “Wide Sargasso Sea” Antoinette was a White Creole and she too was just seen on the surface and outcast because of her complexion. She went through an identity crisis and never understood where she came from nor had control like the narrator in “If I Could Write This in Fire” over her parents actions. They aren’t seen beneath the surface and they are seen to the native people as their colonizers when in reality they are just the same. Although social status does play a significant role in both situations, they can’t control how they look. As a result of this both characters experience difficulty in their pathways to discover who they truly are.

[angelkaleya]

"If I Could Write This in Fire" Interpretation

The story, “If I Could Write This in Fire” by Michelle Cliff, speaks to the racial divide amongst White Creoles and the native Jamaican people. Michelle Cliff’s experiences brings light to how she was treated differently solely on the color of her skin then of a native Jamaican who may have a darker complexion. Michelle Cliff has a lighter complexion who can pass off as White and is very privileged to have a private education, however her friend Zoe did not have the same luxuries. That is not something Cliff had control over, and she for sure does not have control over the color of her skin. She too is Jamaican, but is outcast and put down as someone who does not belong and is invading the Native’s space. Cliff also brings light to how they are still letting colonization overpower their decisions to love and accept one another, and it will continue to happen if people don’t see beneath the surface.

[angelkaleya]

The Dragon Can't Dance Outside Source

This video displays the Trinidad Carnival taking place in the year 1969. Here you can see all of the many costumes, people celebrating, and dancing as one. The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is an annual event held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. According to www.AmplifyAfrica.org, the event came after the Notting Hill race riots when hundreds of young white men threw homemade bombs at Black residents' homes, most of whom were West Indian. After those horrendous acts, the Carnival emerged as a way to openly celebrate West Indian culture in defiance of the attacks. This display of the old time Trinidad and Tobago Carnival makes me get a real feel of what the real thing felt like before it was publicized so much. Carnival symbolizes defiance and liberation, but also a holistic Caribbean identity. Music plays a key role in molding the carnival experience, and we see this in the beginning of the novel when Miss Cleothilda was singing/dancing. In the past, Calypso music was used not only to mock the slave masters but as a way to covertly communicate between the slaves. Overall, in this video, in the novel, and in many other Carnival celebrations, dancing is a way of life and sense of identity, a way of letting go of stressors/current burdens for the people, and a way to celebrate.

[angelkaleya]

The Dragon Can’t Dance + Miguel Street

The novel “The Dragon Can’t Dance” by Earl Lovelace relates to “Miguel Street” by V.S. Naipaul. They both take place in Trindad’s capital, Port of Spain, and have an urban slum setup. I like how they both talk about the different characters and their experiences in the neighborhood. The point of Miguel Street for me was to bring awareness to a small area in Trinidad, on Miguel Street, and realize that even though there are small opportunities derived from them being in a post-colonial society, one can still be successful and escape their norms. The folks in the neighborhood always had a tragedy and lived within the norms of being abusive, going to prison, or not leveling up to a higher status. In The Dragon Can’t Dance, we see the characters trying to look for a sense of belonging and I’m hoping to see more impactful stories/successes hopefully.

[angelkaleya]

The Dragon Can’t Dance Interpretation

The tale “The Dragon Can’t Dance” by Earl Lovelace is set in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago in an urban neighborhood, Calvary Hill. Within this community we meet different characters and learn about their experiences in Calvary Hill, past traumas, and them trying to figure out their sense of identity. Miss Cleothilda is a mulatto woman, meaning that she is of a lighter complexion, and because of her skin tone, she has a sense of higher self. All the while, she is an old prune trying to hide her fragility. This brings about the white creole people we talked about earlier when reading “Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys. Since they act like they are better and of a higher class, but have the same experiences as the darker skinned people. The natives and those who actually identify with the culture and land, are confident within themselves, like Miss Olive. Caroline feels pity for Miss Cleothilda and agrees that she may have mental health problems because of the show Miss Cleothilda puts on. She acts as if she is doing the neighborhood a favor by being nice and offering them things around Carnival times, especially when she tries to offer Sylvia a dress to wear. Sylvia is getting things that she needs the best she knows how, by using her body. We see this as a common theme in Caribbean Literature where gender roles come into play and because there aren’t as many positive women role models or opportunities for young girls to thrive except by giving themselves away. Aldrick wants better for her and hopes that she will not fall into fatalism (not really serving a purpose and becoming a mother so young) and just continue to downgrade herself.

[angelkaleya]

Miguel Street's Outside Source Connection

V. S. Naipaul’s Miguel Street reminds me of the hit show on Netflix, On My Block. On My Block relates to Miguel Street because we see the many experiences the young teens go through to navigate their young lives. Like the narrator and the young boys on Miguel Street in Trinidad, the teens grew up in a rough neighborhood in Los Angeles and met people within the community that shaped their lives for better and for worse. In the show, viewers get to explore all of the characters’ lives from their points of view as they explore what’s right from wrong and start tapping into their true identities. As viewers see the themes of race, gender, identity, they also see fatalism throughout the show. As the young boys on Miguel Street, the teens in Los Angeles must fight the destiny already laid out for them set by their parents and people in the neighborhood (gangs).

[angelkaleya]

Miguel Street + Wide Sargasso Sea

Miguel Street is very similar to Wide Sargasso Sea because of the connecting themes of fatalism and agency. Although many of the characters have the freedom to make choices for themselves, they think that accepting what is going to happen to them is the better decision. Mr. Titus Hoyt is a very positive role model for young boys, and they can decide to take him seriously and have a successful life/career. However, the young teens made jokes and did not see the bigger picture. This sense of not seeing the bigger picture is the same way Lorna has a baby, and instead of becoming a better mother than Laura and giving her child a life that she didn't have, she chose to commit suicide. Hoyt believed the narrator to be witty, just as Christophine thought Antoinette would be more thoughtful and leave her situation. Just as the narrator never fulfilled Hoyt's hopes for his academic success, it is the same way Antoinette never fulfilled Christophine's hopes for her moving forward with her life and setting herself free from the fate she was destined to see determined by her mother.

[angelkaleya]

Miguel Street Interpretation

Miguel Street by V. S. Naipaul takes place on Miguel Street in Trinidad in the post-colonial period during World War II. The novel takes the readers by storm and explores each of the residents' lives and backgrounds on Miguel Street. The story adds a personal touch because the narrator explains everything about them based on his interactions with them and what the older folks (men gang) think is acceptable and unacceptable. I like that the novel is very relatable because my neighborhood would gossip about people, and as a child, you knew who to stay away from and who to interact with. In the novel, readers see gender norms and themes of fatalism, ageism, and a search for identity. Many gender norms present, such as men relaxing and cooling on the block, while the women work hard and have babies. The character George gave his wife beatings while she worked hard in the cow-pen almost every day. The theme of fatalism is shown through the story of Laura and Lorna because Laura has eight children by seven different fathers and Lorna thought following in her footsteps was the only way to go, so she took matters into her own hands and went out to sea and drowned. As the narrator navigates through the characters' lives, he gains a piece of knowledge from each character. One character, in particular, Mr. Titus Hoyt, is the street educator and provider. He sees that these young children are destined to be worthless and not have great job opportunities (the most liked job is being a cab driver), and he wants to change that and give them a fair chance to even out the playing field. Hoyt teaches the narrator and a few other young boys their street's and country's history by taking them to Fort George and explaining that Fort George was built when the French tried to invade Trinidad. Hoyt gave context into the European colonization of many Caribbean countries and how it ended up in ruins, and he wants the kids to turn those ruins into their triumphs and work harder towards their goals.

[angelkaleya]

Outside Source & Wide Sargasso Sea

My chosen media source is a YouTube video titled “The Struggle of Being Mixed Race.” The theme present within this clip and the course readings is having multiple races but not feeling connected to your people or your home. Some other themes present are exile and alienation because many of those of Caribbean descent and are mixed-race feel isolated from a group, and when it comes to knowing their history/background, they’re left in the dark. In the clip at 1:07, a woman expresses that she faced rejection from both sides as a young multiracial person growing up. Antoinette met that same reality as a child because of other little Jamaican girls singing to her, “Go away white cockroach” (Rhys, 20). It made her feel out of place and not wanted in her community. As well as for her father’s side of the family, they won’t visit her and her mother, so Annette made up a lie saying that the roads were too bad. In the video at 1:20, another woman says, “My whole life [I felt as if] I don’t fit in, [and] I don’t belong to any ethnic group 100%.” Antoinette experienced that same feeling because she told her husband, “I often wonder who I am.. and where I belong” (Rhys, 93). The feelings of abandonment, frustration, and exclusivity are present in the reading and the video clip.

[angelkaleya]

Walcott & Rhys Connection

I feel a previously assigned reading connected to “Wide Sargasso Sea” is Derek Walcott’s “A Far Cry from Africa.” Walcott expressed in his poem that he feels that he is “poisoned with the blood of both” (Walcott, 18), both meaning his English and African descent. He struggles with choosing a side, and within that, his internal conflict comes about concerning his identity. Antoinette feels the same way because with experiencing first-hand how both sides can be, she often feels that she has to be alone in the wild and face this world by herself. Walcott doesn’t have the same first-hand experiences and is only looking back on his backgrounds/history and facing the harsh truth of what both sides experienced. He is often faced with the tough decision of not turning a blind eye to what happened to his ancestors or choosing the “English tongue” (Walcott, 18) he loves. Antoinette comes to deal with this same conflict as she wonders where she belongs, who she truly is, and where her country/ancestors reside, all within facing hatred from both sides of her identity.

[angelkaleya]

My Interpretation of Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea first takes place in Jamaica on the Coulibri Estate and in Spanish Town, which I believe was a plantation, and we are introduced to a character in her early years named Antoinette. Her mother, Annette, is Martinique and her skin color is “blue-black” (Rhys,18); her father, on the other hand, was an Englishman, so Antoinette is believed to be fair or very light-skinned. In this novel, there is friction between the White Creoles and the Black Jamaicans, and insults are spewed back and forth because the White Creoles were there “before their people in Africa sold them to the slave traders” (Rhys, 93). It is true that White Creoles were born in Caribbean countries and are of English descent, but they had little to no money. After Antoinette’s father died, they were poor, and some of their “workers” left them to fend for themselves in the run-down estate. After losing the connection from her father, she received no calls, letters, nor visits from her dad’s side of the family. As a result, Antoinette’s heart longed for the other half of her identity to be filled, and she didn’t feel she belonged within their stature because of their poor class positioning. Being a poor White Creole, she is often referred to as a “white cockroach” and a “white nigger”. With experiencing hatred and being exiled from both races she’s a part of, we see a constant theme of longing for an identity or acceptance from peoples within your race/background. Antoinette and her mother feel like outcasts in their community, which doesn’t help that Antoinette has “bad blood from both sides” (Rhys, 88). Later, the theme of revolting is present when the Coulibri Estate was burned down to the ground because of the angry Jamaican workers, almost with them inside of it! With this hint of foreshadowing, I can see that Antoinette may not have a bright future, nor will she have the acceptance of both counterparts. Having been born into a lustful marriage, then being inserted by her stepfather into a marriage as part of a business deal is very daunting. A part of me is excited to continue reading. Still, another part of me longs for Antoinette to reconnect with her people and have a sense of understanding about who she truly is and where her ancestors came from.

[angelkaleya]

I believe that these poems represent a song by Cynthia Erivo called “Stand Up.” Slaves rallied behind each other to move on to brighter days, hence the lyrics, “take my people with me, together we are going to a brand new home.” The song speaks to the themes of wanting a new life filled with hope, away from the enslaved chains. They think that the colonizers will take care of them and supply them with the necessities of a better future for the next generations to come, but they are blindsided when reality comes to place them back in chains. They hope for a brighter tomorrow; however, the grass is not always greener.

[angelkaleya]

The poems have similar themes within hoping for a better tomorrow and ending up with broken promises. Walcott and Das highlighted truths about the British Navy’s involvement and the hand they played in slavery. They both felt the need to honor and respect their descendants and tell the story so many forget. The truth came out that indentured servitude is just another form of slavery, and because they are bound to a contract, there is no escaping, and they are forced to accept the conditions they are given for food, clothing, and shelter. The limes that Walcott mentions played a massive role in helping the British stay afloat financially and health-wise, but they could do so on the servants’ backs.