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Slavery in the Caribbean sugar plantations
Slavery in the Caribbean sugar plantations
Slavery in the Caribbean sugar plantations
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The film “Sugar Cane Alley” is focused primarily on a young African American boy by the name of Jose, who is trying to create a new future for himself outside of the sugar cane fields. Jose, lives with his grandmother in the small poverty stricken community of Martinique, which has a French colonial presence. During the course of this film, one sees Jose going through the process of becoming a young man and learning from the mistakes he made as well as the people within his community. Jose does something non typical for someone living in Martinique, which is utilizing his determination and drive to gain more knowledge and become educated, all with the help of his grandmother and Mr. Medouze. Jose’s strong desire to be educated shows how …show more content…
they don’t have much in Martinique, but most in the community have dreams outside of the plantation system. Van Onselens’ examination of the compound system in the mines of Southern Rhodesia, confirms that no Africans were given any form of education, much like the people of Martinique. The majority were never given an opportunity to get an education, with the exception of Jose who decided to set out and achieve this and reach out to the limited resources available to him. Jose didn’t learn everything by himself, as Mr. Medouze, an elderly wise father figure would share his knowledge and wisdom with Jose and test him by giving him daily rituals and telling detailed stories using words he had never heard. We also witness racial tension with Leopold's father who is a white rich man from France who won’t accept Leopold’s friendship with Jose or other African children in the community. In Van Onselen’s examination of South Rhodesia, you can find many comparisons with “Sugar Cane Alley”. As you see throughout the film, it’s evident that the African adults in both communities work long and extremely difficult days. When the day in the cane fields are complete, they only have time to rest their bodies to get ready for another long day in the fields, with no real hope in sight. This was very visible in the elders and you see it many times with Jose’s elderly grandmother. Van Onselen’s mentions that the minors ideal compound system is that the natives should be working, resting or in hospitals. This gave them total control of the workers even during non-working hours, showing that even though they were free of slavery, they still weren’t completely free. The people within Southern Rhodesia also have a unique craft of their own which is creating beer, better known in Southern Rhodesia as tshwala. It was believed that the consumption of alcohol improved the health of the workers, which made them able to work longer and be even more productive. Sugar cane workers in “Sugar Cane Alley” also had a love for alcohol. Jose along with the other children of the workers were influenced by them. They would get themselves a bottle of rum, which they would proceed to get drunk on and burn down Julien's’ chickens and garden. After the punishment Jose got, he began to understand that he made a mistake by getting influenced to drink the rum. He quickly realized that if he wants to achieve his dreams of getting educated and out of the fields, he could not allow himself to be easily influenced or he would end up working in the cane fields for the rest of his life. This responsibility shows that Jose is already more wise than the average child in his village. Van Onselen talks about the workers being unskilled or semi-skilled with the state not allowing Africans to get an education in Southern Rhodesia. The community that Jose lives in lack’s education just like those in Southern Rhodesia. The absence of education became a motivator for Jose to reach his goals as opposed to a hurdle, helping Jose realize how gifted he is and understand that his set of skills isn’t common in his community. The confirmation came from making his accomplishments in school and his ability and skill in teaching others. With Jose growing up without a father he looked to Mr. Medouze as a father figure. Jose would go to Mr. Medouze for entertainment and for knowledge. The wise and elderly Mr. Medouze taught Jose that the end of slavery hasn’t made them free, but only changing slave owners into their current bosses. Mr. Medouze explained that it’s out of their control and they must accept it. Mr. Medouze also mentioned that when he dies he will be back in Africa because that is his true home, enforcing Jose to take pride in his native homeland. This is when Jose began to understand his own African identity and have a genuine interest in his genealogy. Mr. Medouze and Jose had a very strong friendship as they both see parts of themselves in one another. Mr. Medouze sees Jose as himself when he was a young boy full of curiosity, while Jose sees Mr. Medouze as his future self staying trapped in the village working in the cane fields for the rest of his life, if he doesn’t make it into the school located in Fort de France. Spending the extensive time with Mr. Medouze gave Jose the extra motivation to be educated and driven to succeed . Jose’s mentor Mr. Medouze, played a major role in Jose becoming as educated as he did providing guidance, knowledge and wisdom while directing Jose as Mr. Medouze taught Jose items that couldn’t be taught in a classroom. In the film we get a flash of societal tension.
It is first visible when the overseers are refusing to pay the field workers a fair amount of pay and what the workers believe they have deserved. Showing a lack of respect and discrimination towards the sugar cane field workers more tension is surrounded by Leopold. Leopold is a friend of Jose that he meet in school and Leopold is the son of a white overseer of Martinique, proving to be cantankerous among Leopold’s father. Leopold’s father forbids him of hanging around Jose and the other children from the sugar cane village of Martinique because they are both poor and black. Leopold is a mixed child but he is being treated like he is white by people because his father is a powerful, rich, and white but Leopold is struggling to understand his race and his high class ranking. His father does not treat him like he is white and while he becomes ill, he says that he will not pass his name down to him as Leopold’s mother begs him to. This strips Leopold’s ability can carry on his legacy. He said his name is not for him because he is not white and that the name came from whites and is only for white and that it will stay with whites. Leopold feels betrayed by his father all because of race. Once Leopold’s Father dies, Leopold doesn’t receive the same respect he once had amongst the community. Leopold was only respected because his father was white and rich and had power over the Martinique community. Leopold eventually is accused of stealing something and is arrested, showing that because of his class dropping due to his father he will now be treated differently. This shows that the tension isn’t only about race but it’s about class as well in this
community.
...he class barriers that exist in society and the differences between these different groups. She comes to see the differences and the similarities between her life and that of the two boys.
Except using the analogy method to analyze the two cities in Caribbean, Mintz also include people’s real living story to enhance his research. For example, Worker in the Cane, a story of a Puerto Rican sugar can worker, Don Taso, his family and the village he lived. “Don Taso portrays his harsh childhood, his courtship and early marriage, his grim struggle to provide for his family” (Mintz 1974: 1). Although Worker in the Cane is not Mintz’s most famous book, it provided people a direct impression of ethnographic contact, and the detailed description and vivid storytelling of a human’s life explain the reason this book continuing appeal young anthologists.
He grows up to become a nerdy, fat, and awkward adolescent with few friends and even less interest from girls. This phase persists throughout his life and he never develops out of the nerdy boy he was as a child. The Dominican Republic was a hostile and poor place during the time of the novel. The dictator Trujillo controls the lives of the people of the country. This influenced the de Leon family’s present and future.
A common theme in books that involve slavery, but extremely important. Race can be defined as a group of people who are grouped together because they are related by similar descent. Throughout the book the whites were grouped together and separated by their power. The blacks as well were grouped together and was withheld from freedom. Even in the book when Celia persistently told the lawyer that she worked alone in her crime. They did not want to come to terms with the fact that no other slave helped, especially given her gender and physical state. They categorized the slaves based on there race, in wanting to punish someone for the death of Mr.
José, the protagonist, is a young man of African descent living in Black Shack Alley with his grandmother, M’Man Tine. The people who work harvesting sugar cane are the close descendants of only recently freed slaves – they live in conditions of poverty similar to that of slavery due to the wealthy, ruling white class. Catholic imagery is found throughout the film – notably, M’Man Tine keeps a portrait of Jesus Christ in her shack in Black Shack Alley, and later, above her bed. This portrait serves as a visual cue to the reach of French colonialism and an iteration of French power – the idols of white religion hang in the houses of black oppressed peoples. Perhaps Jesus, to M’Man Tine, represents the notion of life after death and a means of escaping the physical and psychological toil of harvesting cane, much in the same way the converts in Things Fell Apart looked for solace in
In his poverty, José learns basic education, but also about the society he lives in. His school in Petit-Bourg is with other kids who have the same lifestyle as he does. José receives his elementary education in Petit-Bourg. His path of education starts at this school and José thrives and forms a good relationship with his teacher, Mr. Roc. “Mr. Roc told me all of that without betraying any emotion[. . .]which I could sense a feeling of anticipated joy”(119). Mr. Roc sees José’s potential and works with him so he can pass the Scholarship Examination and go to
After reading The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat for summer reading, I have decided that there is one, broad, underlying theme of the novel: the exploration of racial prejudice, the impact of nationality and race on human life, and a closer look into the inequality and discrimination against people of color. Specifically, in this story, the discrimination against Haitian people in the 1930’s Dominican Republic. The story is presented by a Haitian girl named Amabelle, who shares firsthand the acts of cruelty she witnesses, making it impossible for anyone reading to ignore the wrongful actions of the Dominican soldiers surrounding her. Besides the violence, she shares the unfairness in the daily life of a Haitian worker in the 1930’s Dominican
The most important component of the story is Abuelo. Arturo is forced by his mother to visit Abuelo in Golden Years nursing home and figures his time will be slow, dull, and stodgy. Arturo complains that he needs time to study to get into AP English due to his declining grades. In addition to that, he hates the place as expressed in the statement, "Besides, I hate the place, the old people's home, especially the way it smells like industrial-strength ammonia and other stuff I won't mention, since it turns my stomach." However, Arturo eventually gives into his mother's request and goes into the building. He then sees Abuelo writing in a notebook and waits until time passes.
This story takes place in the south during the civil rights movement when people were trying to eliminate poverty and racism from the society that they lived in. There are four important characters in this story, and the two main ones are Julian and his mother. Julian is a recent college graduate who lives with his mother but knows “some day [he’ll] start making money” (Mays 448). Julian sees the world as ever changing during the civil rights movement and does not like or condone racism. Although this is true he subconsciously is small minded and petty just like his mother. His mother often makes racist remarks and will not find herself sitting next to a black African American adult. She often would bring up the topic of race to Julian “every few days like a train on an open track” (Mays 449). She also makes her son ride the bus with her to the YMCA because of the new changes due to the civil rights movement and in some ways this makes Julian mad. As they begin to board the bus Julian and his mother argue but quickly board. Shortly later a black woman and her son named Carver board. Carver sits next to Julian’s mother, she does not mind, and Carver’s mother sits next to Julian. Carver’s mother is an impatient woman who ironically wears the same hat as Julian’s mother. The hat in many ways is a symbol of the ever changing south during the civil rights movement. It symbolizes the social equality between
The story clearly illustrates that when one thinks of their ideal lifestyle they mainly rely on their personal experience which often results in deception. The theme is conveyed by literary devices such as setting, symbolism and iconic foreshadowing. The abolition of slavery was one step forward but there are still several more steps to be made. Steps that protect everyone from human trafficking and exploitation. Most importantly, racism is something that needs to stop, as well as providing equal opportunity to all without discrimination.
The 1920’s were the singularly most influential years of farming in our country. The loss of farms following the war, and new agricultural practices resulted in the dawn of modern agriculture in our country. The shift from small family to big corporation during this time is now the basis for how our society deals with food today. Traditional farming in the 1920’s underwent a series of massive transitions following WWI as the number of farms decreased and the size of farms increased.
This novel is based on the lives of Clotel, her mother Currer and sister Althesa They are a mixed race family whom are slaves of Thomas Jefferson. After the death of Jefferson Clotel, Currer, and Althesa are all sent to the slave trade. This is an example of how unrecognized slave lives were; when one master died, they would be shipped off to a new one without any say or consent. In the salve trade, Horation Green, a white man, purchases Clotel to be his common-law wife. Just like the Gaires Horation Green and Clotel couldn’t become married due to the laws against miscegenation. Although they are not wed, Horation Green and Clotel have a child together. They live a fairly normal live until Horation decides to get into politics. Soon after he abandons Clotel and Mary and marries a white woman who forces him to sell Clotel and Mary to the salve trade. Clotels skin color was the reason that her “husband” had the ability to leave her without any say. It shows us how mistreated African Americans were, aside from having no rights their master were allowed to dispose of their slaves whenever they pleased. Aside from Clotel her mother and sister remain “in a slave gang” until Currer is purchased from Mr. Peck. Currer remains enslaved until she dies from yellow fever. Soon after Althesa marries her white master after passing as a white woman. This is a prime example as to why blacks only received mistreatment based off of skin color. If you were able to pass as a white
Black people held a very bitter perspective of the white people that lived in Medallion because of the way the white people treated them. From the very beginning of the story where the slave got the land from his master, the master had tricked the slave into picking the top of the hill because the farming conditions were worse. Over t...
.... This factor ties in another theme of the novel, oppression. The novel informs the readers of how the African- American culture felt oppressed by the color of their skins and their status on the economic spectrum.
Sugarcane is an important industrial crop for the tropical and subtropical region of the world. It is produced in more than 100 countries, with global production of 174 million tonnes sugar. It accounts for about 80 percent and sugarbeet for about 20 percent of total sugar produced (FAOSTAT, 2008). In 2010, 1,682 million metric tonnes (MT) of sugarcane were produced worldwide in a total area of 23.8 million hectares (ha). Brazil is the largest sugarcane producer, contributing with 40% of the world production (719 MT) followed by India (278 MT), China (111 MT), Thailand (68 MT), Pakistan (50 MT), Colombia (38.5 MT), Australia (31 MT), Argentina (30 MT), United States (27.5 MT), Indonesia (26.5 MT) and the Philippines (23 MT) (FAOSTAT, 2011). India rank second among the sugarcane growing countries of the world in both area and production. Globally it is cultivated over an area of 20.1 million hectare, with annual production of 1381.1 million tonnes and productivity of 65.5 tonnes per ha. In India sugarcane is cultivated over an area of 4.36 million ha, with an annual production of 281.8 million tonnes and productivity 64.6 tonnes per ha. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh are the important sugarcane