blog
media download page
Essay / Ethnic Identity Presented by Marshall and Phillips ethnic identities find their unique vision? Paule Marshall and Caryl Phillips, both authors of Caribbean origin (Saint Kitts and Barbados respectively) raised in distant countries (Marshall in Leeds and Phillips in Brooklyn), attempt to articulate the change in identity that results from a such diaspora. Marshall explores the ethnic identity of Barbados through the struggles of its people, survivors of imperialism. In The Chosen Place, The Timeless People, Marshall uses the Bournehills Conflict to represent the conflict on a historical and global scale. Phillips examines his own ethnic identity in The Nature of Blood through stories about European citizens, the imperialists themselves. He writes on a large scale; his works span six centuries. Phillips thus employs a technique completely opposite to that of Marshall, who personalizes history and contains his history within a single continent. Both authors use silence and space to examine the characters' sense of self and otherness. History manifests itself in both novels as an important isolating and unifying force. At the center of each text are the questions of how ethnicity is defined within one's culture, how it changes when one becomes the "other" in the dominant culture, and how the notion of cosmopolitanism can help or hinder these questions of identity. These questions dominate the texts so fully that their presence modifies the aesthetic structure of the stories themselves. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayUnderstanding the idea of cosmopolitanism is essential to understanding the issues surrounding identity and culture change. For Homi Bhabha, this must be discussed from a majority/minority perspective. The dominant culture is a construction; once defined, the one who does not “fit” becomes “the other”. Imperialism and racial constructions rely on this division, justifying the oppression or annihilation of the “other”. Bhabha sees cosmopolitanism as a method of breaking away from this mindset by not trying to "fit in" with the identity that arises from one's gender, race, language, religion or his country of birth. Anthony Apier believes that this "allows people to name themselves", even if that name is not linked to a particular ethnic or cultural identity. Marshall's childhood in a Caribbean home in New York—a benefit of what Werner Solles calls America's “polyethnic” quality—facilitates this sense of fluid identity. This is a little easier for her to achieve than for Phillips, whose upbringing and environment were quintessentially “British.” This helps the reader understand why Phillips tends to write in "Western" English about "Western" topics, while being just as keen as Marshall to understand his place in the culture, both as a member and as a than foreign. Although Marshall speaks of "homeland" and the scars his people bear from literal (and now cultural) imperialism, his portrayal of Merle conveys the same sense of "placelessness." In The Chosen Place, The Timeless People, ethnicity is firmly tied to community; This is the easiest way to separate the categories “us” and “them”. The central conflict is between the people of Bournehills and the American research team (whose well-meaning but paternalistic attitude isplayed by the lost and conflicted Harriett). But within each camp, there are still foreigners. Saul's identity as a Jewish man sets him apart from Americans, and Merle's time in Europe and his eccentricities also make her feel out of place in the community. The bond they form in the novel is firmly tied to each character's recognition of the other as a "hybrid" comrade. The importance of community is emphasized by the ambiguity of the novel's protagonist. It is conceivable that the protagonist is either Merle or the people of Bournehills as an entity. The function of the community as a refuge from imperialism and an oppressive environment is illustrated in the celebration of Carnival. Unstoppable revelers push past markers of economic imperialism, overpowering the screams of Harriett, who believes the crowd will stop just because she tells them to. It’s a small triumph, but a terrifying one. At the same time, while Carnival is presented as a celebration of culture and history in Bournehills, it is itself imported and feels uncomfortably like a tourist attraction. Similarly, the Bournehills community oscillates precariously between cultural preservation and oppression. As the environment penetrates each character, they almost become a character themselves. Saul's importance as an outsider (and oppressor) to the people of Bournehills is closely linked to Othello's experience of the Jewish ghetto in The Nature of Blood. As a man of power, Othello also stands out and slightly above the inhabitants of the ghetto, but at the same time, as a Moor, he is completely isolated in Venice. The cultural division between individuals is more pronounced in The Nature of Blood than in The Chosen Place, The Timeless People. Each character is the "other" and yet has another "other" character - and the penalty for such "otherness" is the worst imaginable. Eva wonders how she will ever be able to reenter the human race, let alone return to a home she no longer has. This feeling of total homelessness, of "placelessness", is essential to the content and poignant style of The Nature of Blood. Faced with the challenge of writing a moral novel about the Holocaust, Phillips's writing must play with the very nature of the conventional novel. The non-linear, overlapping passages confront the reader with the intertwined nature of these forms of oppression, separated by time and targets, but all stemming from the same fear and hatred of “otherness.” This is what makes Othello's ghetto experience and Saul's Bournehills experience so compelling: it would take an outsider to see the objective truth of the experience of the oppressed, but for Saul to understand the emotional horror who is behind this, he must have experienced oppression. himself. One of the techniques Marshall and Phillips use is silence, which serves as a metaphor for both resistance and oppression. Silence can be used as a refusal to recognize an oppressor or a hesitation to speak out against injustice. DeLamotte describes Marshall's use of silence as a "duality" (DeLamotte, 3). It manifests itself in different ways, such as the silence of Bournehills and the silence of desolate places that have outlived their usefulness. Merle's incessant words are a defense against a history of silence that she, as a black woman, is expected to continue, regardless of what she has experienced in her own life. Phillips uses silence in a slightly different – but no less important – way. For him, silence is less an expression of submission than a manifestation of a tortured inability to speak. Giacobbe, Moïse and Servadio are unfairly judged. It's a form of legal silence, because nothing they say, 237-58
Navigation
« Prev
1
2
3
4
5
Next »
Get In Touch