Harassment of the underprivileged

Harassment of the underprivileged

“The poor outside the law, and if you outside the law you get priority attention when the law in search of some criminal.” (Lamming, Season of Adventure, 267)

Secondly, the villagers do not think of the policemen as investigators, who came to solve the vice-president’s murder. They expect only harassment from the police officers, because it is what they are used to. When there is a need to find a suspect, the police search the slums, and nobody is safe from them, as it is revealed a few moments later, when a group of villagers notice that Powell is missing. They are wondering where he might be, and one of them suggests that the police might have taken him to prison. One of the women in the group implies that Powell has not done anything wrong and that there is no reason for him to be locked up in prison, but Chiki abruptly interrupts her.

“Nobody ain’t do nothing, but it don’t make no difference!” (Lamming, Season of Adventure, 299)

Even if someone is innocent, the police find a reason to punish or imprison them. When the policemen are searching for the murderer of the vice-president, the only evidence they have is Chiki’s painting with the face of the suspected culprit, and their tactic is to lock up and question all the people that bear a resemblance to the man in the painting. It is most likely that Powell is among those men, but one of the women states that Powell does not at all look like the man in the painting, to which Chiki replies:

“Look or no look, if the police collect you, then you done collect.” (Lamming, Season of Adventure, 300)

This is only another confirmation of the common folk’s view of the police as instruments of “The Man” for bullying the villagers rather than peacekeepers and servants of justice. If somebody in high places wants you to be punished, they will find a reason and use the police to do the dirty work under the pretence of law. The fear of false imprisonment is so strong that some of the people on the island even go that far as to disfigure themselves in order not to look like the man in the painting.

“It have a man in the Belle view pull out all his teeth to make sure his face change. A’ a next done cut off one o’ his ears. It got men doin’ terrible things to themselves for the sake of disguise. Every place it happenin’ soon as the posters put up that face in the open air.” (Lamming, Season of Adventure, 300)

Here, the police utterly fail at their role of peacekeepers. Their presence inspires only fright and chaos in the villagers they are supposed to protect. The people of the village are afraid of the police as if they were expecting the worst from them, are are willing to take such drastic precautions as debilitating themselves.

“The police were prominent among their enemies. The corporal knew what they thought of him; for he has lived, as a boy, among men whose loyalty to crime was similar. The police were a separate race of spies, despicable pimps and hired slaves whose lives were a dedicated act of treachery to the poor.” (Lamming, Season of Adventure, 263)

Here, the reason for the implicit mistrust towards police that is deeply rooted in the Caribbean mentality is depicted. The poor are outside the law, meaning that the law is not there to protect them, as it should. There are historical foundations to this way of thinking. During the long period of slavery in the Caribbean, the laws that were effective served to help only the white people. For a long period of time, the slaves, according to the English law, were not regarded as persons, but as material possessions, and they were denied even the basic human rights. The law did not protect them. Instead, it served the whites to subjugate them.

Reciprocity of the hostility

“Low-down nigger people was a special phrase the overseers had coined. The villagers were low-down nigger people since they couldn’t bear to see one of their own kind getting along without feeling envy and hate.” (Lamming, In the Castle of My Skin, 26)

A society that is reluctant to respect any laws forced upon them by authorities, or as they are often called in the novels, “The Man”, creates an environment where mutual hatred between the authorities and the ordinary folk is ever-present and considered normal. This, in consequence, creates a vicious circle of constant enmity between the two groups.

“Each represented for the other the image of the enemy. And the enemy was to be destroyed or placated. The overseer was either authoritarian or shrewd. The villager hostile or obsequious.” (Lamming, In the Castle of My Skin, 26)

This claim is supported by the actions of the villagers in the Season of Adventure, during the investigation of vice-president Raymond’s murder. The villagers refuse to disclose any information to the police, even if they are innocent, simply because the police are their sworn enemies. Even if the task the police are trying to accomplish is to solve a murder, the villagers still view them as instruments of terrorizing the common folk of the village and expect nothing but harassment from them, and in consequence, the policemen are universally not trusted. However, the distrust of the police constable towards the village folk is also apparent in the Season of Adventure. When Gort and Crim are questioned about the murder of the vice-president, they remain silent, and the mental process that takes place in the policeman’s head is described.

“He distrusted the men, Crim and Gort, whose silence was a habit of making plans.” (Lamming, Season of Adventure, 262)

Even though Crim and Gort did not give the police officer any reason to think that they are guilty of murder, other than their silence, he immediately suspects them. The silence in which they respond to the questioning is meant as an act of defiance, a protest against “The Man”, but at the same time, it arouses suspicion in the eyes of the police officer. Gort and Crim are, however, so content of the police, that they do not even try to convince them about their own innocence. To them, the police are simply the enemy, the image of the usurpers is so strongly imprinted in their minds that they do not even consider the fact that the police are trying to preserve law and order.

Overlapping of the hostility

“They were both cautious; cautious and afraid that neither could entrust his future to the other. The junior constable could rise to stripes if the corporal uttered one error which he could relay to Piggot’s ears.” (Lamming, Season of Adventure, 282)

Here, it can be seen how the mutual distrust encompasses whole society and transfers even to the policemen themselves. The senior constable is afraid that his subordinate is only waiting for him to make a mistake so that he can tell their superiors and have him demoted, and perhaps take his place of a superior officer. The subordinate constable, on the other hand, does not see the senior policeman as a man who is to be obeyed because of his seniority, experience and abilities. He sees him as a figure of authority, and he cannot help but feel the distrust towards him, because he cannot simply abandon the way of thinking in which he was raised.

The common hostility towards authorities even goes so far that the people in the village are refusing to use other aspects of public service, as is depicted in the situation after the murder in the Season of Adventure, when the villagers are even reluctant to use public transportation, because of its label of a state institution.

“People had grown weary of anything that was named public. They seemed to think that public transport and the public posters were part of the same intention.” (Lamming, Season of Adventure, 302)

For the villagers, everything connected with the state and the government is imprinted with the image of the enemy, because in their experience, these institutions served only purposes of the European colonizers, who dragged the population onto the islands along with their laws and rules. The Barbados Slave Code, which became effective in 1661, and served as a legal basis for other slave codes that were the source of law in the Caribbean region, hypocritically states that its purpose is to protect the slaves. However, further reading reveals that the slaves are considered to be a Chattel property, not human beings. Because of this, the slaves were denied even the most basic human rights that were otherwise guaranteed by the British law. The Slave Code was designed to protect the slaves, but it did not protect the slaves themselves, it ensured that they remained in service of their master, and that if anything was to happen to a slave, only their master was compensated for his “material loss”.

This is a depiction of how colonial legacy of mistreatment of the common folk by the colonizers and slave owners results in an utter distrust for the people with a position of power or authority, the reason being that historically, such positions were reserved for the enemy and for their collaborators. In time, the social dynamics have changed, although it was a slow process, and for people of color there was finally an opportunity of gaining and maintaining such positions. Dark skin complexion was still an obstacle to gaining social rank, but even if some of the islanders managed to overcome it, they still had to struggle with the image of the enemy that was imprinted upon them by the long history of colonial domination. Members of the government, the police and people in public services are still somehow engraved with the image of the former enemies, who abused the public laws and institutions for achieving their own selfish purposes, and this applies people of all colors, occupying such positions.

Conclusion

Firstly, the thesis deals with the problem of education in the Caribbean. Throughout the novels, certain reluctance or even hostility that ordinary people feel towards education is depicted. This can be attributed to the fact that education system in the Caribbean derives from a European tradition, which is reflected in both organization and curriculum. Because of this, for some Caribbeans, schools are still a reminder of the era of colonial oppression.

The thesis also deals with problems of race and complexion in the Caribbean society. Historically, racism served a foundation for slavery in the Caribbean. Coloured people served as slaves for the whites, and their inferiority was both assessed and justified on the basis of the color of their skin. Even after abolition of slavery, social stratification according to skin-color has been present in the Caribbean. The non-whites still suffer from the prejudice of inferiority, and on the other hand, the whites are still imprinted with the image of slave owners who were willing to strip their slaves of basic human rights on the basis of such prejudice.

The last part of the thesis focuses on the negative attitude towards authorities that is depicted in Lamming’s novels. Historically, laws and public institutions in the Caribbean did not protect interests of the common people. Rather, they were instruments that the colonizers abused to assert power over their slaves. This association of figures of authority with oppression of the common folk has remained imprinted in the mentality of the Caribbean people. As it is portrayed in Lamming’s novels, the villagers do not see the policemen as keepers of order. If there is a problem, they do not expect any help from the authorities and they do not ask for any. For the ordinary people, authorities are always on the other side of the barricade.

Bibliography

Bacchus, M. K. “Education for Development or Underdevelopment: Guayana’s Educational System and its Implications for the Third World.” Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. 1980. Print.

Brown, Carolyn T. „The Myth of the Fall and the Dawning of Consciousness in George Lamming's "In the Castle of My Skin" World Literature Today 57.1 (1983): 38-43. Web.

Campbell, Carl C. “The Young Colonials: A Social History of Education in Trinidad and Tobago 1834 – 1939.” Kingston: The Press University of the West Indies. 1996. Print.

Campbell, Elaine. “Two West Indian Heroines: Bita Plant and Fola Piggott.” Caribbean Quarterly 29.2 (1983): 22-29. Web.

Chandler, G. Lewis. “Review: At the Edge of Two Worlds.” Phylon 14.4 (1953): 437-439. Web.

Donnell, Alison, and Sarah Lawson Welsh. The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature. London: Routledge, 1996. Print.

Donnell, Alison. Twentieth-Century Caribbean Literature: Critical Moments in Anglophone Literary History. London: Routledge. 2005. Print.

James, Louis. Caribbean Literature in English. London: Longman, 1999. Print.

Jonas, Joyce E. “Carnival Strategies in Lamming's In the Castle of My Skin.” Callaloo 35 (1988): 346-360. Web.

Lamming, George. In the Castle of My Skin. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2001. Print.

Lamming, George. Season of Adventure. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2002. Print.

Paquet, Sandra Pouchet. “West Indian Autobiography.” Black American Literature Forum 24.2 (1990): 357-374. Web.

<http://www.jstor.org/stable/3041712>

Rivers, Gertrude B. “Review: In the Castle of My Skin by George Lamming.“ The Journal of Negro Education 23.2 (1954): 154-156. Web.

Summary

The aim of this study is to investigate various aspects of Caribbean mentality through portrayal of the Caribbean society in two novels by George Lamming (b. 1927), In the Castle of My Skin (1953) and Season of Adventure (1960). In both novels, the author reflects on cultural, social and political aspects of the Caribbean society by capturing everyday lives of villagers in the Caribbean. A strong European influence has remained in the Caribbean even after decolonization, and the author often deals with the issue of the cultural dualism in the Caribbean, which is also the major focus of this work.

Firstly, the thesis discusses problems of education in the Caribbean. Negative attitude towards education and social refinement is often portrayed in Lamming’s novels. This can be attributed to the fact that the curriculum in Caribbean schools is designed to educate children for a life in European environment, and as a result, many people in the Caribbean do not think of formal education as a useful endeavor. Moreover, history of colonization and slavery is taught only vaguely or even excluded from the curriculum, and such lack of historical awareness creates an obstacle in creating a distinct Caribbean identity.

The thesis also deals with problems of racism in the Caribbean society. Slavery in the Caribbean was based on racism, and even after the abolition, social stratification according to skin-color has been present in the Caribbean society. In Lamming’s portrayal, the whites are still imprinted with the image of slave owners and tyrants, and non-whites still suffer from the prejudice of inferiority, which creates an unhealthy relationship between the two ethnic groups.

The last part of the thesis focuses on the negative attitude towards authorities that is depicted in Lamming’s novels. For ordinary villagers, people in a position of power are associated with the colonial usurpers, and perception of the police or the government as public enemies rather than public servants deeply lodged in the collective unconsciousness of the Caribbean society.

Resumé

Cílem této studie je prozkoumat mentalitu obyvatel Karibských ostrovů skrz jejich vyobrazení ve dvou románech George Lamminga (nar. 1927): V Hradu Mé Kůže (In the Castle of My Skin, 1953) a Doba dobrodružství (Season of Adventure, 1960). Autor v obou románech popisuje každodenní život karibských vesničanů a poukazuje tím na sociální a politické problémy společnosti. V oblasti Karibiku můžeme stále pozorovat silný evropský vliv, a z toho vyplývající kulturní dualismus se stal významnou součástí karibské identity. Tento střet dvou kultur v Karibské společnosti je hlavním tématem této studie.

První část bakalářské práce se zabývá negativním postojem ke vzdělání, který je zachycen v Lammingových románech. Důvodem pro něj může být fakt, že učební osnovy v karibských školách byly určeny pro přípravu dětí na život v evropském prostředí. Důsledkem je, že velká část karibské společnosti nepovažovala vzdělání za užitečné. Dalším problémem je, že historie kolonizace a otroctví byla v karibských školách buďto záměrně zamlčována nebo vyučována jen velmi povrchně. Neznalost vlastního kulturního dědictví a historie je překážkou ve vytvoření národní identity.

Bakalářská práce se také zabývá rasismem v karibské společnosti. V minulosti se lidé stávali otroky na základě jejich barvy pleti, a jistá stratifikace společnosti na základě rasy přetrvala v karibské společnosti i po zrušení otroctví. V lammingově vyobrazení jsou bílí stále spojeni s obrazem otrokářů, a obyvatelstvo tmavší pleti je postiženo předsudkem méněcennosti, což vytváří napjatou atmosféru mezi oběma etniky.

Poslední část práce je zaměřena na negativní postoj vůči autoritám, který je v Lammingových románech vyobrazen. Běžní vesničané osoby zastávající pozici moci asociují s kolonizátory a otrokáři, v důsledku čehož nejsou policie a státní správa považovány za instituce, které by měly sloužit lidu, ale za veřejné nepřátele.

Download 92.9 Kb.

Share with your friends: