"Pioneers, Oh, Pioneers" by Jean Rhys

    In this reading, there is a situation unlike the ones we have previously studied, but one that was certainly not one of a kind on the Caribbean islands. We have the white community coming at Ramage for being married to a Black woman. I think in Rhys' writing, we see our most significant case of double consciousness yet with Ramage and he ultimately cannot handle it anymore. While he is living in the Spanish Castle, wanting a happy life with his wife, he is being tormented and treated poorly by the surrounding community. It is like having to live two lives and losing a sense of self. It comes to a boiling point when Ramage kills himself. Then one person says, "His death was really a blessing in disguise...He was evidently mad, poor man." This further shows the inner struggle he was having, that supposedly people in the town knew about. Ramage was truly caught between two cultures, living in his home with a wife he loved, but with 'his type of people outside, "throwing stones, they do that sometimes" as he said. He was being torn apart between two sides of life.
    Another thing Rhys does in this text is foreshadow Ramage's downfall through some dialogue from Dr. Cox. He said, "Nothing lasts in this island. Nothing will come of it. You'll see." Once you feel Ramage fall apart and eventually kill himself, you see this quote come true. This story shows us how not only were the slaves and Black people being treated as inferior, but it was also people connected to them that had hate thrown there way, physically and through word of mouth. These people could not live the lives they wanted to, even on what was described as a secluded island. 
-cs

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rosario Ferre's "When Women Love Men"

      The story story told in Ferre's "When Women Love Men" was an interesting look at how love, relationships, gender, and culture all come together in Puerto Rico. The story also hits on several other issues like societal class, race, and death, which we have seen become commonalities in the literature in the Caribbean. In this story, we see the relationship and interaction with two women who contrast one another as practically opposites. These two, who share the same first name of Isabel are the wife and mistress of Ambrosio, who has died and forced these two into the interactions we see in this story. From the beginning, there is an awkward tensity here and no punches were being held back, even at the man who had passed away.       In a pretty bizarre story at times, the story says, "Because we, Isabel Luberza and Isabel la Negra, in our passion for you, Ambrosio, from the beginning of time had been grow...
Read more

Breeze, "Sunday Cricket" & Sam Selvon's "The Cricket Match"

    In these two stories, we get a look at how sport and competition can be an equalizer in a postcolonial world. The stories also touch on how much sports can tie into a culture's identity. In "The Cricket Match" we see a more traditional idea of what we might think of cricket, a British game, but with some people from the West Indies playing. In "Sunday Cricket," we see a full-on West Indies story, from diction to how the characters acted. The common ground, though, was the game of cricket. It did not matter where they came from, on the field, each person had an equal opportunity to perform and compete. While it's thought of as a traditionally British game, the men from the West Indies were impressive in "The Cricket Match," the narrator saying, "Them Englishers never see a stroke like that in their lives. All heads turn up to the sky watching the ball going." In this game, preconceived superiority and social class did not matter. This ...
Read more

Wickham's, "The Light on the Sea"

      Similar to "Blackness," I saw this story as one that arrives at self-actualization and realization. Mr. Farley was an artist who was never satisfied with his work. He could never complete it because he would lose his vision. Our narrator introduced Mr. Farley as someone who might be seen as dealing with 'otherness,' generally seen as an outcast from the rest of the society. The story says, "It did not surprise me that Mr. Farley never succeeded in his career, never became talked about but always remained a kind of butt, outside the swim of things, a harmless figure of fun." Mr. Farley had to deal with this bit of social isolation like we have seen so many characters have to do in this Caribbean literature. He has to feel this way most of his adult life, dealing with the idea of  unhomeliness, uncomfortable with his work and not feeling satisfied. That is, until he finds somewhere he foes like to call home.     This p...
Read more