Pioneers, Oh, Pioneers by Jean Rhys

     The short story by Jean Rhys highlights what it's like to be a social outcast like Mr. Ramage. One line from the story that really sticks out to me is, "His death was really a blessing in disguise, said one lady." This line shows how Mr. Ramage began isolating himself from society causing him to become a social outcast. This story is an example of how natives and non-natives were not to intermingle during these times, as Mr. Ramage was originally accepted and part of the high class white society. Once he began mingling with the natives he was quickly out cased by his white society. This really shows throughout history how colonization of other countries needs to take a more accepting approach rather than just deciding that the society you are taking over and colonizing is lesser than you. Another important part that the story shows is how people from European nations were buying land that wasn't even theirs to buy and sell, they were just going to go to the land and over throw the native population typically in a violent manner as they knew the weapons they had would be able to take over the existing government. This shows the abuse of power by strong more developed countries. All in all, the most important take away from this piece is that people should not be an out cast by their society for wanting to befriend other "different" societies. 

Comments

  1. shawnSeptember 4, 2020 at 12:39 PM

    Good analyzation of the quote to support him of being a social outcast.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JP RicheySeptember 4, 2020 at 12:47 PM

    This is a strong start. I like your quote. That line also stuck out to me. He was an outcast. Maybe elaborate more on that and use another quote or two. I look forward to reading more.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Triumph" C.L.R James

     In the short story,  "Triumph" by CLR James I feel that it falls under a similar short story as "Some People are Meant to Live Alone" by Collymore as by the end of the story Irene is poor and isolated and labeled as the town liar. She follows the theme that a lot of these stories tell, the tale of isolation and being like the ugly duckling. The story originally makes you want to feel bad for Mamitza as the story progresses though I personally grew a dislike toward her and feel like she got what she deserved.      James pays close attention to people's race and ethnicity throughout the story making some races look better than others. As typical fashion for this time he makes African American's look like a bad part of society. If we look at Nicholas he was looked down upon throughout the story he's referred to as, "low island people." The socioeconomic description James puts on characters in the story is something we've throughout the pi...
Read more

Girl

      This poem is a piece that is important as it shows the daily life of a Caribbean girl and the struggle of not trying to be seen as a "slut" by society, something girls in most cultures unfortunately have to deal with. It is an interesting piece as it's written in such a way that the daughter is being taught how to do all these different things to become a functioning person in society. This poem also shows how women during this time are forced to do all the household chores and are looked upon as lesser than men. There is a constant worry for the women of the society to always be seen as clean so they do not become undesirable. Her mother is trying as hard as possible to make sure her daughter doesn't become known as a "slut" in the society by teaching her the correct way to do everything. This is something we've seen throughout the semester and the constant struggles women go through in order to live up to men's standards. I feel like the writ...
Read more

"Some People are Meant to Live Alone" by Frank Collymore

In this text you can see a theme that a lot of the post colonialism text showcase, the theme of loneliness and being isolated. The story by Frank Collymore really showcases the effects of being lonely and how it can affect a person's well being even if it isn't easily noticeable at first glance. The text starts off by making Uncle Arthur seem like a normal quiet man who minds his own business and prefers to stay alone and away from others. The story talks about another man who was driven insane by loneliness and required some form of interaction, it seems that Arthur might be describing himself but it was never implicitly stated. The story seems to also show people have a dark side as the dark side for Uncle Arthur is a person named Jones. Jones is said to have killed someone and the reason Arthur might be saying it is a different person is that he is unable to cope with the fact he has murdered a man. 
Read more