Plantation and Race in the Caribbean Essay

“My mother's education was the product of the riots of 1937 and the industriousness of Mr. Chance. These were history's gifts to my family and if the resources of that grocer, the fruits of those riots, the possibilities of that culture, and the privileges of that skin tone and been extended to others, how many more would now live a life of fulfillment, in a beautiful house high on a hill? (Outliers, Gladwell, 2008, pg.285).” The way how his grandmother well-to-do concerted cultivation. The last extrinsic factor was Mulatto in the American South, when slave woman would have been socially ostracized, and any offspring form the union of black and white would have been left in slavery. However, in Jamaica, the attitudes were very different than America South. In Jamaica, if people are mixed then they did not have any discrimination. Gladwell was wrong when he wrote that “If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires (Outliers, Gladwell Chapter 5, section 10, pg.151)” because individual cultural legacies, time of birth, and opportunities are more important factors when achieving

The main reason Clare is an outsider is because she is “passing” as a Caucasian. The act of “passing” is a very interesting concept that can be quite troubling. “What is troubling about the concept of racial “passing” is that it necessitates placing people of mixed ancestry in one racial category over another” (Nisetich 2013). This is exactly what Clare is doing with her life, she is saying she’s part of a race that she really isn’t. She has even taken it as far as fooling her husband, John Bellew. They became a couple because he is a wealthy, white business man. On the other hand, John is an extremely racist man. This is shown from his comments when he had lunch with: Clare, Irene, and Gertrude. On this day, is when Clare realized she’s going to be in a lot of trouble when John finds out the

Slavery represents an important part of Jamaican history and the cultivated dominant atmosphere. For one, plantations highly depended on slave labor to maximize profit margins. Between 1655 and 1808 one million slaves were forcefully brought to Jamaica (Waters, 1985: 21-23). Persaud (2001: 72) suggests, “the plantation system, the totality of institutional arrangements surrounding the production and marketing of plantation crops, has seriously affected society in Jamaica”. In other words, the slave mode of production was a crucial factor in the establishment of Jamaica’s structural society. “Jamaica’s class structure today reflects its history as a colonial plantation society and its beginnings of industrial development

As time continues, the boy struggles with what to make of himself and his future. His musical aspirations begin to hold more weight in his decisions, but are still rather questionable. Whenever he seems to be making the steps to pave his future, he seems to continuously be redirected from his intended path. His inability to fully strive for a profession can be directly related to his inability to choose how he wants to be viewed, or rather who he wants to be viewed as, by society; he lacks the confidence to potentially make the “wrong decision.” The narrator becomes increasingly likely to make a career of music, and is greatly inspired by spirituals he hears at a church service. As he leaves to “settle down to work” (Johnson 133) , he witnesses a gruesome and cruel scene. A black man was to be hanged in town, but instead a white mob burns the black man alive. The narrator is terrified and scarred, committing to live his life as a white man. Shame is what the young boy now feels, for whether he lives as a white man, he is indeed a black man. Shame is responsible for the choice he made, because he wished not to be “identified with a people that could with impunity be treated worse than animals" (Johnson 139).

Jamaica Kincaid successfully convinces her audience that post colonial impact still remains. Through the use of rhetorical appeals such as pathos, logos and imagery she successfully explains her claim. Through this novel she gives an insightful explanation of what antigua is like from a person who comes from that area. Kincaid being born in antigua, she gives us a view from her eyes on what antigua is really like while going through post colonial impact. Kincaid incorporates historical background in text to convince her audience that this impact is holding back antigua from the good and enjoyable place it can really be. She develops a connection with the audience when she makes them feel like the tourist that is figuring out what's going on in the background of antigua. This connection serves as pathos as it makes the audience feel the emotion of anger and disappointment for not knowing what mess is really going on in this small island. This demonstration shows how cultures everywhere are affected by postcolonialism and how there is a negative global commonality between tourist and natives.

During her shopping trip with her friend, Felise, Irene accidentaly met Jack Bellew. Irene considered warning Clare that Jack might aware of her racial status and possibly Clare’s too. However, Irene told nothing for she was worried that Clare’s divorce might encourage Irene’s husband, Brian, to leave her for Clare. Irene relationship with her husband was not good at that time, and she noted that Brian might like Clare more than friend. On one night, Clare accompanied Irene and Brian to Felise’s party which was held on a top of a building. Clare husband, Jack, suddenly came and shouted at Clare “You’re a nigger, a damned dirty nigger!, and tragically, the story ended with Clare’s death which she fell from an open window of the top of that

She remembers small details like how her friend only had black dolls to play with. She didn’t realize this at the time because she was so young, but she thinks that the reason why her friend’s parents weren’t too fond of her wasn’t necessarily because she was white, but because they were probably afraid of what would happen to them for associating with a white person, or if something bad had happened to her while under her supervision. Like in Mosaic, Ida B Wells discusses some of the reasons why black people were lynched. A lot of those reasons included being falsely accused of committing acts against a white person. Even if the black person did nothing and just happened to be there at the scene, they were almost always punished for it. For example, when white landowner’s wives would get pregnant and the baby ended up being of mixed race, even if it was never the black worker’s fault, they were blamed for it. This is why a lot of the times many African Americans fled from where they worked and were never to be seen again. “The daily papers last year reported a farmer’s wife in Alabama had given birth to a Negro child. When the Negro farm hand who was plowing in the field heard it he took the mule from the plow and fled… In Natchez, Mississippi, Mrs. Marshall,... [gave birth to a child who was] unmistakably dark. All were alarmed, and ‘rush of blood, strangulation’ were the conjectures, but the doctor, when asked the cause, grimly told them it was

Novels are produced for a cause or purpose for the readers. The author either talks about their own experience or stories that they have learnt in life, and then they transform it into a text that we can all understand. In the text ‘Dougy’ by James Moloney, he states real life problems, inviting the readers to learn from the themes and problems that occur. James Moloney tells us that children are not born racist. There will always be critics in life and rules are there for a reason.

This stated prejudice can be noted in a scene where Clare, Irene, and Gertrude are discussing the skin tones of their children. Clare addresses them, “No, I have no boys and I don’t think I’ll ever have any. I’m afraid. I nearly died of terror the whole nine months before Margery was born for fear that she might be dark. Thank goodness, she turned out alright. But I’ll never risk it again. Never! The strain was simply too–too hellish” (Larsen, 25). The extent to which the social stigma of the 1920s had tainted the views of Clare, though she is light-skinned, who is a black woman. She dreads over the thought of having a dark skinned child as if that would be the most despicable thing that could happen to her. Clare describes her African-American genetics as “hellish” and further speaks to the effects of colorism on black women. At this point, Clare is not only passing but she is denying her race in its entirety, making it out to be something wrong. Passing no longer exists as a social construct for African American social mobility, but rather a means for inhibiting any upward mobility through self-deprivation in regards to their culture and race.

Kidds foster the idea that racism is to be acknowledged. In the first couple of chapters of the novel the reader sees Roseleen, an African-American nanny to Lily Owens standing up to a group of white guys. “Rosaleen lifted her snuff which was filled with black spot, and calmly poured it across the shoes of the men’s shoes moving her hand

The Caribbean is a vastly diverse area representing the effects of colonialism, slavery, and the combination of many cultures.

Even though his mother is horrifically racist, Julian’s thoughts reveal to the reader that he is no better than she is. He even fantasizes about how he could terrify his mother by marrying a black women. O 'Connor writes, “Instead, he approached the ultimate horror. He brought home a beautiful suspiciously Negroid woman. Prepare yourself, he said,” (10). The lengths Julian goes to degrade his mother say more about him than they do about her. His criticism of her racism identifies him as a complete hypocrite.

Crossing the Mangrove by Maryse Condé first published in 1989, offers a fitting representation of French Caribbean history and culture. The novel stands out for its celebration of diversity and the concept of root identity throughout French Caribbean society. Condé’s novel reflects on the people living in Guadeloupe and the complex system that colonialism has created in the Caribbean. Also, it links the créolité movement from its counterpart Negritude and demonstrates how it shapes the identity of individuals living in the French Caribbean. The population of Rivière au Sel exemplifies the mixture of Guadeloupian people and how they interact with each other in a small community. Countless waves of immigrates to the Caribbean have brought African, East Indian, Europeans, Asians and other racial groups to live in close proximity to each other in Guadeloupe. In Praise of Creoleness, it explains the emergences of créolité and how it is a metaphor for a unique Caribbean identity completely separated from other movement in the Caribbean.

Racism is one of the main themes in “Bye, Beautiful”. The book mentions the other black children. But we mainly read about Billy and his family. Billy is called a “Half-caste” by the townspeople (though not to his face). This term refers to the fact that Billy is half black and half white (but in-fact he is a “quarter-caste”) This generally discouraged as it is regarded a racist insult to Aborigines.

To begin Latin America and the Caribbean as many countries that make up it group of countries. These countries each have an individual national identity which can be built in bountiful of ways. Firstly, a national identity is something that can presented by a single country using the greater of a wealth of topics, for example politics, culture, historical, climate and tourist attraction, this is just a small amount that can make up a country national identity. The country that this writing assignment is specifically about the one country of The Bahamas. The Bahamas as a country has many elements to its national identity and many of those elements will be discussed in detail throughout this paper. The first component of that national