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LET 430 Literatures of the African Diaspora

6 July 2018

Diasporic Displacement in Paule Marshall's "Barbados"

The Atlantic slave trade, through which Europe underdeveloped the African

continent, forcefully brought millions of African people to the Americas in order to maintain

the colonial project in the so called "New World". The hardships faced by African people and

their descents in the Americas has often been represented in the literatures black people

through the years. In this paper I discuss Paule Marshall's representation of home and

displacement in narratives diasporic individuals in "Barbados".

Marshall opens her short story with a description of the Barbadian seashore and Mr.

Warfort's house. He, a Barbadian who has lived most of his life in the United States to only

return to his home country after retirement, owns a house that mirrors his life, his sense of

identity: it is incomplete and unarranged. The house, though never finished, "when the mist

cleared (...) remained — pure, proud, a pristine white — disdain the crude wooden" (1324).

That description is very significant to the story because that was also how Mr. Warfort

presented himself to other Barbadian people. After having stayed so many years in the United

States he had internalized much of the American discourse and thought himself to be better

than his compatriots in many ways. He thought of himself, too, as being pure, pride, and

pristine white. His whiteness did not come from his skin color, which was dark, just like his

fellow Barbadians. It came from the fact that had had learned to "whitewash" his identity, his

blackness through his accent, his clothes and other aspects of his life. Furthermore, Mr.
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Warfort house was also "Colonial American in design" (1324) and, just like its owner,

showed the traces of a past marked by injustice and subjugation.

Although being back to his home country, Mr. Warford still holds strong ties with his

life in the United States. In many ways, he still tries to mimic his life in America during "his

fifty-year exile" (1325). He somewhat tries to keep the same routine even though "America,

despite the money and property he had slowly accumulated — had meant nothing to him".

That contradiction exposes his identity crisis between America and Barbados; neither of them

quite feel like home to him.

In the United States, Mr. Warford had worked in a boiler room of a hospital. The hot

room probably resemble Barbados' hot weather in the cold city of Boston, which shows that

he also held ties to Barbados during his time in America. His work white uniform, though, as

mean to fit into white American society. Although he worked in the boiler room he dressed

himself in white, just like the doctors of the hospital he worked in. His white uniform might

also be a way to whitewash his identity.

Mr. Warford, after being back in Barbados, seems quite indifferent to many thing

until he encounter a young boy that would help him pick coconuts who, at first, reminded him

of himself. He remembered the time when he had to work for a white family and, even

though he had to be submissive because they were white and healthy, he could not resent

them. Instead, "his rancor, like a boomerang, had rebounded, glancing past him to strike all

the dark ones like himself" (1326). The heatread he feels for people like him is a common

experience in the lives of diasporic individuals who are taught they are worthless. That

self-hatred helps to maintain the structures of societies of a history of colonization.

When Mr. Warford looks closely at the boy, he realizes that the boy has a bottom

pinned to his shirt that reads: "Vote for Barbados People's Party" and also "The Old Shall
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Pass". That infuriates Mr. Warford because he feels like the message is directed at him. He

assumes the boy know nothing of politics. The encounter with the boy is significant because

it forced him to confront his life away from Barbados. He left the country when he had the

change and did nothing to improve the situation of the people living there. Mr. Watford is

now old and going through an identity crisis. The boy, on the other hand, is part of a new

generation who want to contribute to the their community. Mr. Goodman, who had sent the

boy, said that the new generation is tired of the abuses Barbadian people had endured over

the years and that the older generation was responsible for the country's current state.

Mr. Goodman, who does not seem to have left Barbados, still has the traditional local

mindset. He thinks it does not look good a men to do his own cooking and cleaning when he

can afford to hire help. According to him, he should hire a local house girl, which would not

only keep her from being hired by white people but would also help employ the younger

generation. Mr. Goodman insinuates that cooking and cleaning can emasculate Mr. Watford

and he sends a girl to to work for Mr. Warford as a maid. The girl arrives and has to insist in

working in the house. Mr. Watford seems uncomfortable with the idea of having her there,

but, after she insisted on staying, he gave in. He started to get used to the girl's presence in the

house.

One day he girl is not found in the house. She left for a party and Mr. Watford feels

uneasy he does not know where the girl is and what she is doing. After seeing her with the

boy that could take the coconuts to sell — the one he despised so much —, Mr. Watford feel

uneasy. He finally decided to confront the girl about the situation, which may be interpreted

as a way to regain control (of the girl, of his masculinity, of his life, of this new generation).

When confronted, the girl does not show fear. For Mr. Watford surprise, she talks back and,

after criticizing him for having Americanized himself, says he "ain't people". That closing
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scene is very significant because it shows also how sexism is present in that society. Mr.

Watford feels like he owns the girl in a way and does not respect the girl to resist.

One of the main issues in Paule Marshall's "Barbados" is the displacement of people

of African descent. This theme is rather recurring in the literatures the African diaspora

because the experiences of displacement and unhomeliness portrait in the literary oeuvre of

people who in the oppressed end of Atlantic slave trade. Furthermore, her character, Mr.

Watford, shows the struggles of people who are in search of their identity and their home but

cannot completely find neither.

Works cited

Marshall, Paule. "Barbados". In: Hill, Patricia L. ​Call & Response​: The Riverside

Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition, 1997.