Jamaican British - Raymond Antrobus

Short sentences - blunt tone - perhaps angry by their ignorance - doesn’t fit into preconceived ideas concerning either identity - declarative mood

Anglo nose. Hair straight.

“school” - themes of childhood → ignorance stems from childhood - shapes Antrobus as a person

“made” - harsh verb - lack of freedom - feels restricted within identity - pressured to conform - artificial SEPARATION

“English” - they have a singular heritage - he doesn’t - jealousy, resentment?

caesura : - indicates the severity of the choice

caesura “Jamaican, British” - emphasises the divide (SEPARATION) between the two cultures - structured as an oxymoron - conflicts between dual heritage

Interrogative mood - questioning his identity

but the English boys at school made me choose: Jamaican, British?

“half mule” - hybrid offspring - symbolises lack of BELONGING to either cultures - feels unnatural, inhumane

Epistrophe - can’t escape the truth (that he belongs to both)

More derogatory terms to describe Jamaican British - weight of historical and social prejudice - the conflict has deeper underlying roots

Alliteration/consonance “h” - harsh sounds - reflect bitter tone

Isosyllabic - reflects how they both have equal presence within Antrobus

Half-caste, half mule, house slave - Jamaican British./ Light skin, straight male, privileged - Jamaican British.

No determiner for British - references the entire culture, society and history behind it rather than individuals - highlights their ignorance

Us vs them mentality - dichotomy between enslavers and enslaved

British don’t know how to serve our dishes; they enslaved us.

Caesure (-) - SEPARATES his heritage from his life/personal story

Themes of childhood

“Jamaican” - no possessive pronoun

Jamaican dialect (Patois) - Ironic - can’t fully reject part of your identity

In school I fought a boy in the lunch hall - Jamaican./ At home, told Dad, I hate dem, all dem Jamaicans - I’m British.

Binary opposition (love and hate) - hybrid identity - continuous theme of duality

Themes of Family - helping him to accept himself Metaphor for his culture

Caesura -

, you cannot love sugar and hate your sweetness,

Family leads to acceptance

No personal pronoun “their” - maybe doesn’t feel connected - still feels a separation

proud to have someone in their family - British

Unresolved ending - feeling incomplete - lonely - unable to understand himself - unanswered question

Further references to the historical divisions between Jamaica and British

Internal conflict (how can he describe himself with a single identity) vs external conflict (war, slavery, dark history between the two)

Plantation lineage, World War service, how do I serve Jamaican British?/ When knowing how to war is Jamaica British.