Gray GBS3299 Blogs

 The film Moko Jumbie is about a young woman who returns to the Caribbean after being in the United Kingdom. The young women's name is Asha, and she came back to the Caribbean to find her history, and her family in Trinidad. Asha arrives in the Caribbean and goes to her aunt's Mary's house. At her aunt's house, she received a family heirloom. This necklace she received brought her closer to her female ancestors who had the necklace prior. The aspect of the supernatural is very prevalent throughout the film. While Asha is on a date with Roger, there is a mysterious dark figure in the streets. The dark figure doesn't get too close because it seems like Roger is keeping it away. Roger later tells Asha that he has a connection with the supernatural world. His job is to protect Asha from the supernatural. When I saw this it brought me to think about how common the supernatural is within the Caribbean. We always hear about voodoo rituals and the supernatural in the Caribb...

 The film Elza   is a story about a young woman who decides to leave her home in Paris and travel to her native home in the Caribbean on the island of Guadeloupe. Her main dream and goal are to find her father who had left her when she was only a girl. Elza soon realizes that her father is a wealthy businessman who lives in a large mansion with his wife, daughter, son in law, and his granddaughter. Elza got caught spying on the family one day and made up a lie that she is going to nanny the granddaughter. Elza does not say anything and is hired as a full-time nanny for the family. It takes Elza a lot of courage to tell her father that she is one of his daughters. I can imagine how difficult this is for Elza to do. When she finally gains enough courage to tell her father he says "with your kinky hair, you couldn't be my daughter" (Elza). This examines a prejudice about the types of hair in the Caribbean islands. This could possibly be seen as a social class status. Many of...

 This short story is an autobiographical story about a woman looking back on a childhood memory. The memory was a trip to Barbados, more specifically Bridgetown. Her family had originated from Barbados and had traveled to Brooklyn for a new life. The narrator's mother left 15 years ago and now they are going to made a trip back to see her grandmother, Da-duh. Da-duh was still sharp and active when they traveled back. Da-duh takes her granddaughter, the narrator by the hand, and takes her to meet the rest of the family. Da-duh takes the narrator out to see the beautiful island. She shows her all the fruit orchards and cane sugar plantations. Da-duh then asks the narrator about New York City. She said that people said they New York has no trees. She cannot believe in a place with no trees. The narrator tells Da-duh about the city and how it is completely different from the island. There are two different cultures between the narrator and Da-duh, nature and industrialism. The language...

  The documentary titled the   Caribbean Crucible  talks about how African slaves arrived in the Caribbean. It originally started in Britain when the British empire started to expand. The British took goods to the West African coast in exchange for slaves. The slaves were then taken onto the ships and were sent across the Atlantic and sold into the Americas. In exchange for the slaves in America, the British wanted cotton, tobacco, and molasses. The slaves had a vast knowledge of the wilderness and survival. These were the slaves of the Spanish that were left on these islands. When the British arrived, they would surround them without the British even knowing. These people were called the Maroons. They were very victorious against the British and the British eventually begged for peace. After they made peace the island became a much better place to live. The word Maroons come from a Spanish word that means runaway slave. These were very common within all types of slave so...

 The short story titled The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship  is a story about a boy who always sees a ship in the darkness and everyone else in the town does not believe them. The theme of the villagers not believing him was very prevalent within this story. He would always want to prove them wrong and show the people that the ghost ship is there and exists. "drooling with rage, now they're going to see who I am, but he took care not to share his determination with anyone, but spent the whole year with the fixed idea, now they're going to see who I am" (Gabriel García Márquez, The Last Voyage of the Ghostship). The people of the town ignore the boy year after year until he eventually goes out one night to meet the ship in the channel. He stole a boat one night and went out to see the ship up close and to feel the power of the ship. The boy brought a light with him so he could guide the ship into the harbor so the town people could believe him. The ship eventually follow...

 This story is about an elderly man who just recently was moved into a retirement home. Many of the other individuals in the home dislike it and are not used to it. This man is very different. Before this man was moved into the home he was a teacher at the local school. He enjoyed painting with watercolors and had hundreds of canvases stored in his basement. He lived along far off the main road in the woods where the light would just barely make it through the thick vegetation. He lived alone and enjoyed being alone, away from other people. He liked the light not coming through the trees. "All those years behind those trees in that dark house. The light use to trickle through the leaves, only trickle, never flow. Mark you, I used to like it, I didn't complain. I thought the gloom was pleasant" (John Wickham, The Light on the Sea). When he had to leave his home to go to the retirement home he decided to leave all of his painting at the house. He felt relieved he was able t...

 The short story titled The Walk  is a story about a young girl who has to go on a long tiresome walk for her mother. The young daughter whose name was Queen had to go and pay the society and go to visit Cousin Kamay. Queen listens to her mother very clearly throughout the story. She shows much respect for her mother. Even though Queen does not like the walk to River Sallee her mother demands that she must go and Queen does not question it. "She was thinking of the following morning's walk as she pulled the pile of bedding from under the sofa in the corner and spread it out. Queen did not like having to walk all the way to River Sallee. The road was long. She was always afraid to walk that long road" (Merle Collins, The Walk). Queen went on the walk with Cousin Liza in the morning becuase they are both heading to River Sallee to pay the society and to meet with Cousin Kamay. Cousin Kamay knocks on the door at five in the moring to start the walk with Queen. They have to s...

  Many individuals who travel through the Dominican Republic quickly believe it is a beautiful tropical island. The travel resort of La Romana is an exclusive luxury resort where all the famous and rich come to vacation. Many of the lands that the resort sits on were taken by the peasants of the area to build their resort. Many of the other reports still keep the same mentality as the more expensive exclusive resorts. That is to keep everyone happily enclosed within the resort area. The tourist is offered everything at the resort in order for them to not leave and travel to another place. Outside of the resort, some places resemble sexual tourism. These places are essentially an open-air sex market. There is someone for everyone in these areas. The area seems like a constant party for many of these people. Prostitution is not something to be taken lightly in many of the areas though. Many of the women who part take in prostitution do not like their job. They find it very repulsive ...

 The story of The Cricket Match  is about a group of West Indies people who have a cricket match with a group of men from England. The main character Algernon starts talking with a few of the cricket players from England. Algernon talks about how he loves cricket and all the West Indies people do is eat, sleep, and play cricket. The English man asks if they are willing to play a game over the weekend to have some friendly competition and some fun. Algernon realizes that he got himself in too deep because he hasn't played cricket in years. "You see what your big mouth gets us into. My big mouth! Algernon say". (Sam Selvon, The Cricket Match). Algernon had trouble finding eleven guys to play cricket this weekend. The tone of the text seems to really change throughout the story. In the beginning, there is a lot of confidence and almost pride. Then when he has to prove his skill the tone becomes more worried and stressed about play the game. On the day of the game, only eight...

 The article The Folk Roots of Jamaican Cultural Identity  had an in-depth insight into how Jamaica received their cultural identity. From the very beginning when they are born, most children do not drink enough milk which can affect them developmentally. Many children are underweight and do to the lack of nutrition. Typically the infants eat cornmeal porridge which is lacking many of the essential nutrients. Poor nutrition during infancy has been found to lead to a lower level of cognitive functioning, specifically in language development. It is crazy to believe that mothers are not able to sufficiently provide enough nutritional food for their infants. The powder milk helps solve this problem, but I still believe it is an issue. Space is also very limited in households. "One large bed generally accommodates several family members in the poor household. Even space under the bed, or on the floor, is used for sleeping at times, in some very poor households" (The Folk Roots of ...

 The story of Dream Haiti  is told through the narrator's point. The narrator is a refugee from Haiti who is currently on a voyage towards a better life. Even though he is moving towards freedom, he still feels trapped. The boat he is on is a one-way ticket to a better life and yet he still feels confined and stuck. There is no turning back which makes the narrator uneasy. He feels stuck until they reach the shore. Once he reaches the shore he realizes that he is there to stay and he has to now help the other refugees with their jobs. What was also significant about this reading was the type of text that it was written in. The text grabs the reader's attention more and turns the story more into a diary about the narrator's story. It gives the story a more realistic point of view, almost a more raw view of the story. The story almost has a metatextual aspect of it. The story was aware that it was trying to make a point in the story. "I mean we were not goin anywhere alt...