|
Being born in one place but raised in
another is just one of the ways a person develops confusion about one’s
self-identity. Caryl Phillips understood this situation quite well. Syrine C.
Hout’s statement, “To be a stranger in a strange land, to be lost…is perhaps a
condition typical of contemporary life” characterizes Phillips’s situation (Hout
1). Caryl Phillips’s writings in The European Tribe reflect his awareness of his
conflicting dual nature. Born in St. Kitts, West Indies and raised in Britain,
Caryl Phillips, in his work The European Tribe, depicts the irony of his
situation: belonging to two different nations, but feeling no tangible
connection to either.
Caryl Phillips and his family
moved from St. Kitts, West Indies in the Caribbean when he was twelve weeks
old. The family entered England via France and Italy. As a European man of
color, Phillips was matriculated in a European educational system. He later
went to Oxford University. Since the British curriculum focused mainly on
European figures, Caryl had no exposure to black role models until in his
adult life when he encountered Richard Wright’s Native Son and Ralph
Ellison’s Invisible Man. These exquisite literary works displayed to
Phillips a newly found realization that blacks could indeed be successful
writers, thus creating confusion early in Phillips’s developing identity.
One of Phillips’s experiences that
demonstrate his lack of identification with a particular homeland emerges in The
European Tribe. In this text, he writes that there are few blacks at Oxford and
those who are there will eventually return to their respective homes, which were
usually countries in Africa. Phillips wrote, “Like Patrick [one of the African
students], their affair with Britain was conducted on the understanding that
they had a home to which they could return. I envied them” (Phillips 4). He does
not feel as though England is his home. Therefore, he has no home to return to
after his studies are complete.
Also, while at Oxford, Caryl
meets Emile, an African American, who has more confidence than Phillips is
used to observing in black people. Emile became a good friend of Phillips,
and he eventually convinced Phillips to take his break from school in
America.
While in the U.S., Phillips
experienced racism. For example, in Detroit and Chicago, he was questioned by
the police for being a black man in a white residential area. But it is also in
the U.S. where, Phillips learns that blacks could build a source of income as
writers. This type of exposure to successful blacks was uncommon to most blacks
in England. This lack of information caused him to resent England even more, and
Caryl questioned what he had learned there.
This trip to America brought on a
stronger urge to connect Caryl to a sense of home. Also, he became less
secure about England as his home. He wrote: ”The fundamental problem was, if
I was going to continue to live in Britain, how was I to reconcile the
contradiction of feeling British, while being constantly told in many subtle
and unsubtle ways that I did not belong”(Phillips 9). Caryl knew he needed
to find something that would make him feel more complete; He had so many
questions about his origins, and he needed answers.
Phillips felt that some of his
questions may be answered in the Caribbean, where he could observe his original
heritage. He needed to feel a connection to something. Caryl wanted to feel like
he belonged somewhere in particular. In short, he was on a quest to find his
home. After visiting the Caribbean, he soon realized that it only shaped part of
his existence. This man of color would have to explore all things that shaped
him as a person. So, he decided to travel across Europe.
Phillips realized that most of
Europe was very similar to England or had the same influences. Paris’s
weather and architecture reminded him of London. Gibraltar had many of
London’s cuisine. Amsterdam had banners that reminded him of the ones in
London. Phillips found that he had more and more questions as he traveled
through Europe.
Phillips returned to London at the
end of his trip. He knew he would eventually have to return because it was the
closest thing to home. Like Hout stated, “To live ‘elsewhere’ means to
continually find yourself involved in a conversation in which different
identities are recognized, exchanged and mixed, but do not vanish”(Hout 1).
Between the two different worlds
of being a black man and being British, Phillips felt displaced. Phillips
must have felt like the quote, “…How [to] choose between this Africa and the
English tongue I love? Betray them both, or give back what they give?” by
Derek Walcott (qtd. in Revelations. 303). This realization did not come
until he formed relationships with classmates whose homelands had given them
their identities. Through further exploration of the several countries,
Phillips was able to conclude that he had a home in neither place. Searching
for his cultural identity, a search that continues today, Phillips realizes
that two diverse backgrounds can lead to a lost of cultural identity all
together.
Works Cited:
Hout, Syrine C. “Going the extra
mile: redefining identity, home, and family in Hanan al-Shaykh's Only in
London.” Find Articles June 2003.
Thomson Gale and Find Articles. 11
Apr. 2005.
Phillips, Carly. The European Tribe.
New York: Vintage Books,1987.
Smith, Leah. Cleaning House.
Revelations: An Anthology of Expository Essays by and about Blacks 4th Ed.
Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2002.
Walcott, Derek. A Far Cry from
Africa. Revelations: An Anthology of Expository Essays by and about Blacks 4th
Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2002.
Stephene
Evans
|
