Black Shack Alley Essay

How often do we spend quality time with our family? Black Shack Alley by Joseph Zobel is a compelling novel that reveals the common day of five-year-old, Jose, ending and starting his day with his grandmother, M’man Tine, in Martinique. The story effectively weaves together, like M’man Tine’s dress, the everyday ritual, culture, and social class of plantation life to show representation and pride. Although there is minuscule excerpt available from the entire work; however, the writing style and flow of the story is so alive, it is easy to grasp the quality and depth of the work.

Furthermore, the everyday ritual includes Jose waiting alongside other kids his age for their parents to arrive from work. Then, being greeted with leftover food

from M’mam Tine. This grand yet personal celebration shows the sincere care they have for each other. The day slowly transitions from day to sunset as M’mam Tine relax smokes a pipe sitting on a stone outside their shack. The process is established to be a routine as she has her specific way of handling her tin box, pipe, and tobacco. As the sun goes down, we observe the characters cooking and eating cassava flour, bits of salt codfish, vegetable, and breadfruit. Lit by the kerosene lamps, they share their day. Throughout the day without reliance on time, M’mam Tine continually installs knowledge in Jose to not stare at adults, break plates, and play with fire. They may or may not include scare tactics.

In addition, culture is delivered through unfamiliar words that stand out in italics, clothes, songs, religion, and food. It reads that Jose approaches his grandmother after a day, “...I would rush off to meet her, imitating the flight of the mansfenil, the gallop of the donkeys..”. The word, mansfenil, is used to show his intelligence and his silliness as a child. It is acknowledged next, “...a completely yellow macata or a blood-streaked flamboyant- the colors of the sky behind the hills…”. Culture is also displayed through fashion, particular songs, and little hums, references to religion, and the source of avoiding illness is eating salt. A significant part of their culture is displayed through the slow cooking process includes a canari, “an earthenware cooking pot”, that is filled with meat and vegetable from the surrounding environment that is all cooked on an open fire.

Moreover, the social class is communicated through M’man Tine and the community's job to work on a sugar cane plantation.

The work requires abundant physical labor. Although these people are very hardworking, they are only capable of meeting basic needs. Their socio-economic standing takes physical representation in their clothes and their house. M’mam Tine’s clothes are gradually and consistently being eaten away by the cane leaves. Specifically, the dress she wears is mentioned to have gone through a metamorphosis from formal Sunday communion wear to an unfit and heavy ensemble for work. Jose describes the conditions to be to be, “swollen, hardened, cracked feet of this old black woman, to the hut we lived in…”. The author also chooses the words,”habitation”, “hut”, “shack” that have far different connotations from “house” or “home”. They lack the privilege we have today in having to use open fire, kerosene lamps, and water for brushing teeth. Nonetheless, Jose is capable of finding beauty in his

situations.

Ultimately, it would not have been as genuine if not for the literary devices used.

The first sentence in part one starts, “Whenever the day had been without incident or misfortune, the evening arrived with a smile of tenderness”. The personification of the evening is used to create the initial atmosphere of at feeling ease. A personal favorite that stood out to me was the simile, “When I finally said ‘Goodnight, M’man’ and collapsed onto my bedding, I was like a drowned man coming back up to the surface”. It casts a very strong visual of him feeling drunk with sleep, and having the exhaustion overwhelming his whole state. Another simile describes M’mam Tine as, “... the daylight poured onto her back, which showed a withered skin through the holes in an old dress that had become as perforated as a net…”. The comparison is effective in showing a vivid scene and their economic standing.

The author, Joseph Zobel, had lived from April 26, 1915, to – June 18, 2006. In his lifetime, he moved from Martinique to Alès, France. He claims that Black Shack Alley, published in 1950, is a semi-autobiographical novel. It was later adapted into a movie in 1983. It got 17 national

awards.

I was initially drawn to this story through the dynamic relationship one shares with their grandparents. They, together, have a special bond that is different from the relationship kids have with their mother and father. The honesty shown is so refreshing. Zobel uses great literary devices, adjectives, and transitions, that only makes me wonder how much effort he put into this work. I realized that the transitions of the day and story were shown through the light sources. It left a significant effect to know what was happening between Jose and M’mam Tine if it was daylight during waiting for her to arrive, sunset during her smoking, kerosene light during dinner and sleep, and morning sunshine of preparing for a new day. The overall purpose to overcome social issues from the French cultural saturation is impressive. It puts things into perspective for me. It made me appreciate the privilege, education, and economic standing I have. Moreover, the story reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Although the stories differed in the social class, setting, and time period; however, the authors were able to fully apprehend the mentality of a child. Worrying about getting caught by adults, observing the habits adults carry, and partaking in family rituals all are so familiar to children. I really got to go inside Jose’s head and realize that his knowledge is so precise to his environment. I can honestly say that I would most definitely check out this book at a library to finish it in my own time and see the movie, Sugar Cane Lane. Maybe then, I can figure out what happened to his mother and father and would hope to see him gradually better his standing in society.