Sugar and Slate
This essay shall explore the identity of Charlotte and her Father as presented in Sugar and Slate, Williams, C (2002), Wales: Planet, and how their experiences of Africa, Guyana and Wales have shaped their personal identities as black people.
Charlotte’s Mother is Welsh and her Father Guyanese, this heritage that has been bequeathed upon her has presented itself as a conflict of identities. Her Father leaves his family in a quest to pursue his own identity in Africa, creating a further struggle for Charlotte in discovering her own identity.
Charlotte’s identity is presented as fragmented particularly when she discusses her early life in Wales and Africa. ‘…the Africa thing hung about me like a Welsh Not, a heavy encumbrance on my soul; a Not-identity; an awkward reminder of what I was or what I wasn’t’ Williams, C (2002, p. 1), Sugar and Slate, Wales: Planet. In Wales she feels like an outsider because of her appearance. She mentions in her book about using a hot comb to straighten her hair and how it is a secret. It seems as though she is almost ashamed of her Guyanese heritage and wishes to hide it from the world and even herself. This is quite apparent as Charlotte states that encountering her sisters at school ‘…was only to see things about my shameful difference’ Williams, C (2002, p. 38), Sugar and Slate, Wales: Planet.
She refers to herself as Alice during her earlier School life as in Alice from ‘Alice in Wonderland’. She does this because like the character of Alice she finds herself in a world that she does not fit into and that does not make any sense. Additionally Charlotte desires her appearance to mirror that of Alice’s. She describes the girls in her class as being ‘…the natural angels and fairies, the fairy-tale princesses. They were beautiful.’ Williams, C (2002, p. 40), Sugar and Slate, Wales: Planet. Charlotte also makes references to life as being ‘tospy turvey’ several times when mentioning this period of her life much like ‘Wonderland’.
Charlotte’s Mother is Welsh and her Father Guyanese, this heritage that has been bequeathed upon her has presented itself as a conflict of identities. Her Father leaves his family in a quest to pursue his own identity in Africa, creating a further struggle for Charlotte in discovering her own identity.
Charlotte’s identity is presented as fragmented particularly when she discusses her early life in Wales and Africa. ‘…the Africa thing hung about me like a Welsh Not, a heavy encumbrance on my soul; a Not-identity; an awkward reminder of what I was or what I wasn’t’ Williams, C (2002, p. 1), Sugar and Slate, Wales: Planet. In Wales she feels like an outsider because of her appearance. She mentions in her book about using a hot comb to straighten her hair and how it is a secret. It seems as though she is almost ashamed of her Guyanese heritage and wishes to hide it from the world and even herself. This is quite apparent as Charlotte states that encountering her sisters at school ‘…was only to see things about my shameful difference’ Williams, C (2002, p. 38), Sugar and Slate, Wales: Planet.
She refers to herself as Alice during her earlier School life as in Alice from ‘Alice in Wonderland’. She does this because like the character of Alice she finds herself in a world that she does not fit into and that does not make any sense. Additionally Charlotte desires her appearance to mirror that of Alice’s. She describes the girls in her class as being ‘…the natural angels and fairies, the fairy-tale princesses. They were beautiful.’ Williams, C (2002, p. 40), Sugar and Slate, Wales: Planet. Charlotte also makes references to life as being ‘tospy turvey’ several times when mentioning this period of her life much like ‘Wonderland’.
References: Sugar and Slate, Williams, C (2002), Wales: Planet Bibliography Sugar and Slate, Williams, C (2002), Wales: Planet Other Leopards, Williams, D (1963), London: Heinemann http://www.walesliterature.org/books.cfm?lan=e&switch=book_info&book_id=61 http://www.planetmagazine.org.uk/html/newsite/books_details/sugarspice.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Williams