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| Emancipation Park in Jamaica |
Listening to Oprah and Tyler Perry discuss his writing on tv,
yesterday, I came away with the impression that he was saying that African American
writing (and by extension writing from oppressed people) tends to focus on themes of oppression
at the expense of character development."We don't write people"
I had to think about that for awhile. Probably this extends
to ex- colonials also. Then I started thinking about writing from the
Caribbean. We are mostly ex-slaves and ex – indentured and ex-colonial people. Do
we spend 'too much time' and place 'too much emphasis' on the themes from oppression
at the expense of developing our characters?
Is our (best) writing mostly protest, in one form or
another? Would that mean that our characters are merely mouthpieces, rather than
being individuals, in their own right?.
Something to think about. I am wondering if so many of our
most endearing characters are endearing because, despite, the 'oppression' they
can see the humour in life. Our comedic characters are mostly really funny, as opposed
to the serious characters whose stories we can discuss, at length, for their success
as social commentary.
Whew! I am by no means a literary writer, but I thought I
would look at some of my own writing in light of the above.
My favourite story comes to mind -. Emancipation Park in my ebook, My Darling You. I consciously set out to write about a girl, Melissa, totally
repressed by her controlling mother. It should have been a sorry- for- herself,
weepy sort of story which would have women readers clucking at the misguided
mother stifling the daughter because the father had seduced her and
disappeared. She didn't even give Melissa her father's surname, and was determined that Melissa would constantly be aware of how 'evil' men were..No man was going to take advantage of her daughter. .Oppression, no? Too common
in our societies; something women complain about a lot. (I don't think runaway men
are necessarily unique to 'oppressed' people. I just like this story.)
Perhaps it was the setting in Emancipation Park which shifted the focus. Somewhere after the introduction, a male character
introduced himself into the story. Honestly, I don’t know where he came from. He just jumped
into the story and turned it completely around - no more weeping. Melissa learned to laugh.. As, I have said elsewhere, I
find him delightful. I would have liked to meet up with him, in my younger days,
in real life. I like it when characters write themselves.
What I am looking at, and will now become more aware of, is strengthening
my characterization even if my theme
comes out of my colonial 'oppressive'
experience.
DISCLAIMER
If the above does not make sense, I was writing at three a.m.
In any case a long paper could be written disputing this idea (emphasis on 'protest'
themes and social commentary over characterization) with reference to writing from the Caribbean. My
first candidate would be Naipaul's House
for Mr. Biswas. What a character he was!
When Times are Strange http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EEAWWCG
My Darling You http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC
Mr King's Daughter http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ESEWI6I
When Times are Strange http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EEAWWCG
My Darling You http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007U78HEC
Mr King's Daughter http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ESEWI6I
