ENG 375: Emily’s Blog

Jamaica Kincaid - born as Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson

“I’m someone who writes to save her life,” Kincaid says, “I mean, I can’t imagine what I would do if I didn’t write. I would be dead or I would be in jail because — what else could I do? I can’t really do anything but write. All the things that were available to someone in my position involved being a subject person. And I’m very bad at being a subject person.” (wikipedia.org)

Antigua

Antigua is a Carribean Island (West Indies) with a tropical climate. It was colonized by the British and only recently gained independence (1981).

How does My Brother address the issue of colonization?

Is the colonization of Antigua by the British evident in the story?

The first thing that I would like to note is the style of writing that is used in My Brother. It is a fairly informal style of writing, almost more like a journal. It was interesting to see the amount of things that Kincaid noted in parentheses. The writing style is also incredibly repetitive. Often the notes in parentheses were repeated everytime that person or situation was mentioned.

Also, despite the title My Brother, perhaps the book should have been titled My Mother, though Kincaid uses her sick brother as a vessel to talk about her mother.

Themes:

Religion - How is religion displayed throughout My Brother?

-The mention of Methodist as the Religion

-The prescence of the Anglican church as a small sign of colonial fallout

-The mention of Obeah

-Jablesse:

Unlike many spirits, La Jablesse prefers a matinee schedule, appearing only during the day, not at night. She is incredibly beautiful, with long black hair flowing to her waist.

She has one obvious flaw: a cow foot that she conceals under her clothing. She generally dresses in either a long robe or in tight, figure-enhancing jeans (and how do you hide a cow foot in those?).

La Jablesse is known for stealing men away from their wives and girlfriends, treating the hapless victims to a passionate, sex-drenched experience and then stealing their spirits. It’s said that such a man is never seen again.

The sociological implications of this story are profound: La Jablesse is always described as either Indian or Caucasian, never Negro. At one time, men and boys in rural areas were taught never to entertain any beautiful strange woman who might accost them. She could be La Jablesse.

How do you tell if La Jablesse or just a mortal woman of extraordinary beauty is accosting you? The answer is easy if you have a cigarette or a dog. La Jablesse is afraid of smoke; and dogs will scare her away. (http://www.guidetocaribbeanvacations.com/st_lucia/BarredeLIsle.htm)

(p 122-123, 139-140, 77, 38)

How does the book become less of a novel about Kincaid’s family and more of a novel about herself?

Could it perhaps be seen as a kunstlerroman?

Race in My Brother:

-Descriptions of Devon and Kincaid’s self description

-”butter women” (39-40)

-Page 44 “Does the world really need one more somewhat brown person singing?”

-Guianese girl (66)

-(71-72) European women “THE OTHER”

Blue

How is the color repeated again and again?

Why this particular color?

The first thing that I found that especially interested me was all of the foreshadowing that occured in the doctor’s office.  The women are knitting black wool, and the doctor remarks how he doesn’t see the men who come back from Africa, and that the changes take place inside. 

Marlow is perturbed by his aunt’s wishes for him to do good will in Africa as his journey is profit fueled, not for the good of man.  Is this saying something about colonialism, masked as “good will” or “taming the savages” when really exclusively for profit?

 Ivory

Symbol for many things: Africa, power, purity 

English taking ivory; taking power or purity?

Also English respect ivory, are somewhat in awe by it.

Kurtz plays an interesting role in Heart of Darkness, as he is absent for most of the book.  Most of their journey involves seeking out Kurtz.  Is Kurtz a god-like figure? He is a crucial character in the story without actually being present.

 Kurtz’s mistress is a beautiful native much like the black mistress in Ligon’s narrative. What is the significance of accepting certain natives, i.e. beautiful, female natives? How does this add to the objectification of females in that time period?

There are a few short things I found especially interesting in this narrative.  The first of them is regarding the Indians and their capture of the boat as well as Hammon.  This really surprised me because I suppose I am so used to hearing about the colonists taking over Indian possessions or people, it surprised me to hear that the Indians had managed to take over British property.  I also found it strange that Hammon was treated as a slave by the Native Americans, and that he was so eager to go back to the British, who were still enslaving him, nonetheless.

The other part of this narrative that I found most fascinating was the thanks Hammon gave to God at the end of the narrative.  This was especially interesting because of the fact that the colonists were torn over how someone could be both a slave and a christian.  I know at one point the attitude towards Christianity changed from not allowing the slaves to be Christian to attempting to convert all of the slaves to Christianity.  At what time did the missionary attempts begin?

For starters, this reading was fairly difficult, not necessarily to read, but to actually absorb.  I am going to try to make sense of my reading although I have read it in full twice now and I feel like I haven’t really absorbed parts of it. (I hate theory). 

I suppose what I found most interesting was the discussion of being both European and Black, and finding this “identity” or “ethnicity”. 

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ethnic

One part that I found especially interesting was the fact that according to dictionary.com the second definition for ethnic is “ Relating to people not Christian or Jewish; heathen”.  I feel as though during the settlement of the early american and carribean colonies, this was the primary definition.  This also relates back to the Ligon article in which one of the slaves wished to be Christian, but was informed that you could not be both Christian and a slave. 

Back to the original idea of dual identities though, like African and European, there is a need to integrate one’s self into the culture of one of those identities, and in this case those who are African and European find that they must become more European in order to become more accepted.  This even relates back to Oroonoko and Ligon’s article where the beautiful people who are described (Oroonoko and the black mistress) are described in a fashion that makes them seem more European “cultured” and less African “savage”.  By putting them in European clothing and if they show “European” qualities i.e. grace, poise, good speech, than they are humanized in a way.  By allowing the Europeans to identify with these people, then they can accept them more easily. 

Also, what is cultural identity? In America does this even exist at all?  There is no real American identity, no definite qualifying physical features that make someone distinctly american.  But does physical appearance make an ethnic identity?  There is also no official language.  How are we supposed to judge what qualities create someone’s “ethnicity”.  I know when people ask me what I am, they usually immediately assume that I am Swedish or Norwegian.  (Naturally blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin).  However I am neither.  And then I have to spend the next ten minutes explaining how I’m part Irish, British, French, French Canadian, and German, “but my last name is Alsatian, you know like Alsace-Lorraine the provence in France it’s both German and French?”  It seems so silly that we feel this need to have some sort of cultural identity, when in reality we’re all so completely blended and mixed.  (Except for on St. Patrick’s day, then I’m just straight-up Irish.)

Alas, I have digressed from the original topic, but still I can understand Gilroy’s statements about identity when it comes to culture and the inability to just blend identities without maintaining allegiance to both (or all if there are more than two).  The question of things like “race”, and “ethnicity”, and “culture” just seems so fleeting when you look at all the different interpretations of each word.

Aphra Behn’s description of Oronooko and Ligon’s description of the Black mistress are very similar upon a first reading.  Both writers are immediatley enthralled with the beauties they see, but as you read on, the descriptions differ once you get past the point of physical beauty.

In Ligon’s description, he discusses the black mistress by beginning with an elaborate description of her clothing.  He then moves on to describe her body, face, and her teeth.  He paints a beautiful picture of her physical appearance, and though he discusses how he would like to hear her speak, he never does.  Towards the end of the description she changes from being viewed as an exotic person to an object that he would want to use.  His description of her is so completely a physical description that she loses her identity as an actual person.

 In the same way, Behn begins by describing Oroonoko’s physical appearance.  She is shocked by his beauty and air when she meets him.  Behn describes his body, clothing, and face as well.  However, she moves past the physical aspects of Oroonoko by discussing his speech and the grace that he has when he speaks.  Oroonoko is more than just a pretty thing, rather he is an exotic human who speaks and thinks for himself, and Behn describes all of this after she discusses his physical state.

The first part that I found interesting in this article was the section about the young woman’s teeth, and how tooth color could be associated with class. In a way I guess this correlates to modern society’s way of looking at poeple. People who are of a lower social class, or from a very rural area are often depiced as having teeth missing, while upper class men and women afford dentist cleanings, whitenings, and put on veneers to make their smile “perfect”.

Are plantines the same thing as plantains?

plantains

If so, I really couldn’t imagine eating bananas as my main food all of the time, and plaintains are heavier than bananas.

Also, when women had twins they were hung because the men thought they were cheating on them?

The part about slaves versus Christians was also very interesting, how the one planter states that someone cannot be a christian and a slave. Also I guess I found it strange that the servants were treated in a harsher manne than the slaves because they only worked for a short period of time, even though they were considered of a marginally higher class.

In Act III, scene i, Ferdinand and Miranda finally decide to marry, while Prospero overhears their conversation.  He is happy with their decision, but I think he made a very fast turn around from deciding to put trouble in their relationship to immediately accepting. 

I also found it interesting how Miranda looks down on Caliban.  Since she was so little when she came to the island, the only way she would know to treat him differently is if she was taught by her father.  In this same way it is interesting to see how children develop ideas and value systems based on their parents’ teachings.

I also find the obsession with Miranda’s virginity to be interesting.  Prospero even tells Ferdinand not to break Miranda’s “virgin knot” (Act IV). What is this blatant discussion of sex attempting to convey to the audience?  Is it showing a tendency toward strict morals?

 At the end of the play when the characters are united again, I found it interesting that Antonio describes Caliban as “no doubt marketable” (line 269 Act V, Scene i).  Is this him making a reference to slavery?  I find that despite Caliban’s plan to kill Prospero, I often feel sorry for him and the fact that he is treated so cruelly; referred to as “monster”.

I found that the discussions about race to be an especially interesting issue, especially with how it correlates to both Shakespeare and modern society. I agree with Ania Loomba’s idea that definition of race has calcified over time.  Although I think that perhaps in some ways race is now something that is less of an issue of destruction and violence (not to say that this does not exist, it has just evolved), I think that modern society has a definite obsession with the defining race.  Even the concet of acceptance of all races still comes with defining each group of people in a “politically correct” manner.  i.e. african american, asain american, etc.  However, I do not think that society will ever be completely distanced from the concept of defining a person by race.  Not defining, rather, but still using the idea of race as a trait to a person.  I do however think that it can come to a point where “race” (in quotes because of the ambiguity of the definition) is nothing more than a description like the color of someone’s eyes or their hair color.  I think that race is so difficult to define, is it defined by language? skin color? attributes such as eye shape?  I think that perhaps one day society will blend so much that race will be obsolete.  But would humankind really benefit from this? And would we forgot the struggles that certain races faced?  I feel like I can only begin to shape my understanding of race because it is a concept that is constantly morphing and taking on new aspects of the definition.

images courtesy of flickr user mihay

Free Association based on the word exotic:

color

tropical

ethnic

cultural

different

wild

bright

vibrant

golden

organic

Exotic is a complicated word, in my opinion it is often associated with different cultures in tropical regions.  Also, I associate is with vibrant colors and things such as flowers.  These two pictures depict exotic in my opinion due to their colors and the fact that the pictures are so intense, filled with different flowers and from interesting angles.