The last two books of “Brown Girl, Brownstones” brought a great deal of adventure and unexpected plot twists to the book. It also helped to culminate the book into a great central theme regarding every man’s search for identity, which often must occur outside of the context of things that are familiar.
The most shocking part of the last half of the book was Marshall’s treatment of Deighton. Reading about the unfortunate loss of his arm greatly impacted me as this event was preceded by the complete erasure of his brilliant personality due to Silla’s dishonest sale of his land in Barbados. It was hard to read of the complete loss of hope that Deighton underwent and, for this reason, I believe that Marshall did a fabulous job of using Deighton to illustrate the contrasting highs and lows that a single person can experience in as an immigrant. Though the book does not specify the exact details of Deighton’s passing, it can be debated that his loss of all hope drove him to commit suicide.
Though it is hard to narrow the extremely broad scope of the second half of “Brown Girl, Brownstones” to a single most pivotal moment, it is possible to compile the moments in the last two books into the central most theme of the book. The theme is first hinted when we see Selina begin to develop into a woman by gaining the physical features associated with womanhood. Though Selina can be considered a “late bloomer” in one sense, her great maturity of thought far outweighs the physical maturity of all the women around her. For example, though Beryl became physically mature at an early age, her mental immaturity is shown when she is unable to make independent decisions as an adult. Selina tells us that having breasts does not make one mature.
Though I will not discuss each scenario in its entirety, the book gives many other situations in which the central theme is illustrated. From Silla, we learn that having a house does not bring one into a place of belonging. From the wedding scene, we learn that having flashy a nuptial does not make a person happily married. From the Bajan community in Brooklyn, we learn that having a community association does not make a community truly invested in the well being of each of its members. The overarching theme exemplified in each of these instances is that the pursuit of material success without a focus on internal wholeness brings misery and confusion.
In the other reading for this week- “From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational Migration”- Nina Glick Schiller, et al. use historical evidence and evaluations of current social climates to assert that today’s immigrant is not a lonely vagabond with no hope or connection in the world. They eloquently show how immigration is becoming a transnational process in which the migrant has strong connections to their homeland and their new country through familiar and financial ties.
For me, the most impactful point made in this paper was the discussion of the push and pull factors that cause immigrants to leaves their homelands and maintain ties to it. The biggest “push” on immigrants in the 1950s and 60s who were fleeing from newly decolonized nations was the horrendous political and economic conditions that colonizing nations left behind when they liberated a society. The unfortunate truth about this issue is that newly decolonized nations had no way of knowing how to establish or support a new governmental system. This sort of instability made it possible for IMFs to enter these developing countries, put them in debt, and then use them as tax-soft markets for trade. I did not know of this history until I read this paper and, for me, it simply provided another example of how governing powers do not give of their resources unless it will benefit them in a very big way.
The two pull factors that encourage immigrants to maintain ties with their homeland and, thereby, become transnational migrants, were lack of equality in new countries and a strong sense of nationalism. I think that these two factors are born from the simple fact that human nature tends to encourage us to find a place to belong. The pursuit of a better life in a new country is a grueling undertaking and without strong support from one’s family, it would probably be too heartbreaking to complete.
