Migration Themes in Caribbean Literature: More Social Problems Than Solutions
Migration Themes in Caribbean Literature: More Social Problems than Solutions
Migration is a prominent theme within Caribbean literature. Despite the migrants’ initial perceptions of good fortune, the foreign countries are invariably a place of social inequalities and uncertainty. This paper discusses the varying ways in which migration is portrayed through the medium of Caribbean writing. Migration is exhibited in novels, short stories, and poems. Migration itself is portrayed with curiosity, trepidation, regret, but most often with fear; fear of being discovered, fear of ‘not making it’, fear of not being accepted, fear of the unknown situations. These elements are exposed in George Lamming’s novel The Emigrants, Edward Brathwaite’s poem The Emigrants, and Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners and “When Greek Meets Greek”. The common link within each of these works is that they all portray individuals who have left their native West Indian homelands in search of a better life. In Lamming’s novel, the emigrants are unknowingly searching for a different life, as they somehow find themselves traveling to Europe. Some have a more definite goal while others have just come to the inner realization that their reason for leaving was for this better life. In the initial exposure of the novel’s theme, an anonymous voice states, “…we all know it…every man want a better break, and you know what ah mean by that. ‘Tis why every goddam one o’ we here on this boat tonight. You says to yuhself ‘tis no point goin’ on as you goin’ on back home. You can’t live yuh life over two or three times, chum, an’ you want to do somethin’ for yuhself with the life you got here an’ now” (Lamming, 37). This statement seems to set the stage for the aura of the entire novel. The response to this statement indicates a universal feeling among the men lying in their dark bunks, en route to the shores of Europe. The response is silence, a silence which indicates that everyone is
Migration is a prominent theme within Caribbean literature. Despite the migrants’ initial perceptions of good fortune, the foreign countries are invariably a place of social inequalities and uncertainty. This paper discusses the varying ways in which migration is portrayed through the medium of Caribbean writing. Migration is exhibited in novels, short stories, and poems. Migration itself is portrayed with curiosity, trepidation, regret, but most often with fear; fear of being discovered, fear of ‘not making it’, fear of not being accepted, fear of the unknown situations. These elements are exposed in George Lamming’s novel The Emigrants, Edward Brathwaite’s poem The Emigrants, and Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners and “When Greek Meets Greek”. The common link within each of these works is that they all portray individuals who have left their native West Indian homelands in search of a better life. In Lamming’s novel, the emigrants are unknowingly searching for a different life, as they somehow find themselves traveling to Europe. Some have a more definite goal while others have just come to the inner realization that their reason for leaving was for this better life. In the initial exposure of the novel’s theme, an anonymous voice states, “…we all know it…every man want a better break, and you know what ah mean by that. ‘Tis why every goddam one o’ we here on this boat tonight. You says to yuhself ‘tis no point goin’ on as you goin’ on back home. You can’t live yuh life over two or three times, chum, an’ you want to do somethin’ for yuhself with the life you got here an’ now” (Lamming, 37). This statement seems to set the stage for the aura of the entire novel. The response to this statement indicates a universal feeling among the men lying in their dark bunks, en route to the shores of Europe. The response is silence, a silence which indicates that everyone is