iAN MCDONALD

COURSE:
DEPT: ENGLISH LANGUAGE
PROGRAMME: M.A ENGLISH LITERATURE (PART TIME)
SESSION: 2011/2012
SEMINER TOPIC: TO WHAT EXTENT THE IAN MCDONALD’S THE HUMMING BIRD TREE REFLECT WEST INDIAN IDENTITY ISSUES.

Introduction
The western Indian literature has gradually gained prominence over the years. What we have today is corpus experiences of a group of people known as the west Indians which comprises of a group of island such as Trindad and Tobago, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbados.Generally, Literature is majorly concerned with mirroring the experiences of individuals and the communal experience of a group of people. It tells the story and it is important to appreciate the place of the story in human history, it is the story that remains long after the we are gone. On the power of the story Achebe submits that: So why do I say that the story is chief among his fellows? …….because it is only the story that can continue beyond the war and the warrior. It is the story that outlives the sound of war drums and the exploits of brave fighters. It is the story, not the others that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars Into spikes of the cactus fence. The story is our escort, without it we are blind
Indeed the power of the story is captured in the western Indian literature as her writers poignantly tell the story of a history that is riddled with cruelty, callousness, enforced labor and suppression. This was brought about by the European colonization of the region and consequently it played a major role in defining the themes of alienation, exile, survival and identity formation for the West Indian people in their literary works.
Perhaps the most pressing concern for the West Indian writer is the struggle for self-identity, it is a major concern in west Indian literature as these writers continue to battle to establish a feeling of identity in there works. Thus, a reading of the west Indian Literature leaves one with a feeling the western Indian people are plagued with a feeling of rootlessness as they are in a continues state of cultural limbo. They felt themselves to be caught off from their ancestral roots and thrust into an European culture they do not understand. Hence, Self-identity becomes a major preoccupation of the West Indian writers, Nobel laureate, poet and dramatist Derek Walcott, laments in his poem “Laventile” that slavery exiled the west Indian from his root and his very sense of self.
It is against this milieu that this essay will attempt to explore the extent to which Ian McDonald’s The Humming Bird Tree reflects West Indian Identity issues. We shall also concern ourselves with the themes, and characterization to further appreciate the invaluable role identity plays in
Biography
Ian McDoanld was born on April 18, 1933.He is a Caribbean born writer who is a Trinidadian by birth and Guyanese by adoption. He has also described himself as Antiguan by ancestry.
He revived his secondary school education at Queen Royal college(1942-1951) in port of Spain, he attended clare college and Cambridge University where he was awarded a B.A degree in History and later received his M.A. He was elected president of the Cambridge University of west Indian society. He came to British Guyana in 1955. He has lived and worked in Guyana ever since.
His novel The Humming bird tree was first published by Heinemann in 1969 when it won the Winifred Holby memorial prize from the royal society of literature for the best regional novel. It was made into a film by BBC broadcast in 1992.McDonald has also written short stories and poem some of which have appeared in anthologies. He has been a fellow of the Royal society of Literature (FRSL).Some of the works include The Tramping Man(play).
Setting
The novel is set in post-colonial Trinidad in the earlier half of the nineteenth century. It focuses on an East Indian novel that captures the racial prejudice between the whites and the people of colour,
Synopsis
Ian McDonald The Humming Bird tree is a poignant emotional story of a grown up boy Alan who recollects his growing up days in Trindard.The story centers on a warm friendship he shares but eventually falls apart due to racial prejudice cast upon them by society. As a young boy he hore worship Kaiser who is an older boy but a servant in his father’s mansion and also falls love with Kaiser’s younger sister who is equally a servant. The three spend many memorable hours together in the village river and at a cockfight. But what always cast a shadow on their friendship is his parent disapproval. His mother continually reminds him that he is from a different class and encourages him to play with his fellow white children. On his birthday, his parents do not invite Kaiser and they stand at the door to watch. His whites friend insult and Alan succumbs to peer pressure and joins in insulting them too.
But, Kaiser and Jaillin are trained to accept their place and the friendship is quickly repaired. However the break in their friendship comes when Kaiser and Jaillin are fired after Alan and Jaillin are caught skinny dipping together. Alan experiences no real heartbreak over it until years later when he is able to value the friendship he lost. By this time the gap which seemed great as a child is now a huge chasm. While Kaiser has forgives him because he has always understood that the gap between them him, Jaillin does not, perhaps because she expected him to have the strength of character to acknowledge their love. She therefore grows up hating whites.
Identity Issues in The Humming Bird Tree
History has described the west indian people as being an accident of history to some extent.After the Island was discovered by Christopher Columbous, the European conquest came , but they found the indigenes too physically weak to work on the plantation. They turned thier attention to Africa exploiting the world territories to there own economic advantage. Hence we have the notorious atlantic slave trade where an estimated 50M were sold into slavery and transported across the atlantic ocean. Mnay slaves died underway others committed sucide, thos who survived found themselves in a starnge land bereft of family and friends in a stange lange with different religion nad history.All the thing the thing which go into forging an identity were stripped away from these slaves.Slaves of a particular tribe were deliberately separated so were families, this was doen to preven the formation of group and alliances.After the emancipation of slavery in 1933, the black population were reluctant to contine work on the plantion which reminded them of the slavery and pain.Th eindians where shipped in and forced into forced labour, They were need to plant sugar cane.Colonialsm has been described a sbeing damaging degrading and inhumannot only from the economic angle but from the psychological angle.It rips the colonized of his self respect and makes them see themselves as inferior .The white man is given a demigod status .The direct implication of this is that the colonized tend to copy the whites man culture and mannerism which he has been subconsciously brainwashed to think that it is better.But the irony is that while they discarded their culture and sought to embrace the white mans ,it was still beyond there reach. The result was naturally the growth of extreme frustration and a deep feeling of alienation coupled with identity crises , because it is almost immposible to feel at home and develop roots under such conditions.
Hence it is therefore natural that literature that emmate form the west indian region will be preoccupied with identity issuesThe Oxford Dictionary of English language defines Identity as. the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing
Therefore identiy issues in the Humming bird tree means the problem or challenges that is associated with knowing or defining who the west indian is and also the challenge they have to grapple with in defining their identity.

Eric Dane the former prime minister of India has commented that a commodity so sweet as sugar could cause so much bitterness in the human heart.
Hence west indian writers have taken it upon themselves to lead the struggle for identity in their works