1
In "The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the
Kitchen" (1983), Marshall evokes the talking and
storytelling that went on in her mother's kitchen and how
it influenced her writing. Particular critical attention
to Marshall's craftmanship is given by Denniston
(1983).
2
The best explanation of the title is perhaps offered by
Deniston, who associates it "with another, earlier
'chosen people' of another 'timeless place'. By shifting
these terms in the title, Marshall plays upon the
biblical concept of 'the chosen people' to suggest, first
of all, cyclical repetitions of oppression and resistance
and, secondly, the common cause uniting Saul with the
Bournehills people. In both cases, she suggests that
there is something marvellous - perhaps even sacred -
about the resilience and faith of a people who, though
oppressed, yet endure with dignity and purpose and keep
alive hope for restitution and freedom". (Denniston:
1983, 105). 2 See
her statement in the above-mentioned interview with
Ogundipe-Leslie: "It is set in a mythical island in the
West Indies. Readers spend a lot of time trying to
identify the place rather than seeing its larger meaning;
the fact that it makes a statement about what is
happening in the Third World in general".
3
The derogatory definition is attributed to Allen's mother
(p.17).
4
To put it as Joyce Pettis does, "The paradox of the
center's involvement in Bournehills is easily
transparent; it is funding an anthropological and
philanthropical expert to hypothesize the solution to a
problem that, in significant part, its parent
organization has created" (1995: 49).
5
To put it as Joyce Pettis does, "The paradox of the
center's involvement in Bournehills is easily
transparent; it is funding an anthropological and
philanthropical expert to hypothesize the solution to a
problem that, in significant part, its parent
organization has created" (1995: 49).
6
Harriet is a truly tragic character. I would agree with
Barbara Christian who considers her both victim and
oppressor (1980: 126).
7
DeLamotte expands on the Conrad link and on Marshall's
subversion of the "heart of darkness trope", pointing
out, among other things, that "from Harriet's point of
view the landscape is a fearful objective correlative of
her buried interior reality, signifying her inner dramas
but lacking any significance of its own" (1988:
43).
8
As Pettis has noted "Marshall's technique of bonding the
public history of the setting with the private history of
the characters illustrates this interdependency" (1995:
97). Or, as DeLamotte puts it, "Bourne Island becomes a
trope for the interpenetration of the social, political,
and economic worlds with the world of the psyche" (1988:
43).
9
Merle addresses Saul with these words: "All we're asking
is that you fix one little machine. That's enough for
now. And that shouldn't be difficult for you. Afterall,
you're from a place where the machine's next to God,
where it even thinks for you, so I'm sure you know how to
repair something as simple as a roller. Machines come
natural to your kind" (389).
10
While American literature has often been characterized by
a sense of the frontier and Canadian literature by the
sense of survival, the dominant feature of West Indian
literature might be considered the preoccupation with the
past (McWatt: 1982, 12-19). The idea of history is
central to the cultural debate in the Caribbean, stemming
from V.S. Naipaul's provocative statement: "History is
built around achievement and creation; nothing was
created in the West Indies" ( Naipaul: 1969, 29). The
challenge for many writers consists in bringing to light
what has often been cancelled from
memory.
11
Mosts critics evoke "the numerous uprisings that occurred
in the Caribbean islands, the most famous being Toussant
L'Ouverture's rebellion in Haiti" (Pettis: 1995, 54).
Denniston recalls the Berbice Rebellion led in 1765 by
Cofee (Kofi-Akan), now a national hero of Guyana
(Denniston: 1983, 101).