Adrian Horczak
People of New York
Professor Lutton
February 28, 2015
Brown Girl Brownstones
The second part of Marshall’s novel Brown Girl, Brownstones describes Selina’s entrance into the adult world and Deighton’s controversial relationship with his family and his prospects. In addition, the novel continues the theme of people feeling close ties with race, while Selina, the protagonist, does not want to be categorized with her race.
Selina demonstrates how she is becoming a grown-up by taking action to possibly change the outcome of things. Even when her mother threatened to kill her if she told anyone about her plan to sell Deighton’s land, she told Deighton and others about it. Then she went to Silla’s job to let her know she did that hoping she does not proceed with her plan. Nonetheless, Silla still sold Deighton’s land in Bimshire. However, when he picked up the money from Silla’s selling the land, he spent it all on gifts for his family rather than on a down payment for a new house in New York. Therefore, Silla had to take out a loan to buy a house. The Bajan community looked down upon Deighton, while praising her.
When Selina visits her new white friend, Margaret, she meets her mother, who seems quite interested in her race. Margaret to her dismay, compares Selina to other people in her race, but not people in general. The irony of this is that she wished to live among white Americans in the future. Eventually, this fate does not occur because she goes to Barbados to examine what her culture really is. Like Margaret’s mother, she is interested in her ethnicity, and decides she should learn more thoroughly since people associate her so much with it.
From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational Migration explains how people immigrate to the United States of America and keep close ties to their countries of origin. These kinds of people, known as transmigrants, go back and forth between the two and base their economic achievements on the business of bringing their cultural traditions and material to the U.S. Furthermore, transmigrants often sent money that they made from working in the U.S. back to their families in their country of origin, especially women. From bases in the United States, transmigrants built strong national movements not only within the country, but abroad as well. In addition, they feel as though they have a dual nationality of both American and the country they immigrated from because they are active in both places. However, the important work transmigrants are doing in this country is despised by politicians and the media because the money transmigrants make takes away profit from the citizens of this nation. Even the immigrants who reside her legally, are starting to believe there should be more policing of undocumented transmigrants.
Ivy Wilson and Ayo Coly’s “Black is the Color of the Cosmos” describes the diaspora of African people in the Caribbean. Since the continent of Africa was colonized, people from there often communicate with one another in European languages. They split up into Dutch, English, and Spanish territories and are made strangers when they are not. Europeans took over much of the world and made people who live in other places feel like strangers when they are at home.
I believe the Bajan community was right to look down upon Deighton because he wasted the large sum of money on gifts instead of buying land in New York. Even though, Silla should not have sold Deighton’s land without his permission, Deighton should have at least put the money to good use. He went from having something, to having the potential to buy something, to having nothing, but presents that would only lose value overtime. In other words, he made a bad situation worse.
Coming from a family of immigrants, I believe that transmigrants should not be sent away from the United States since it serves such an important place for them. However, any participating in any big business or unlawful activity should be deported because they take advantage of the country’s generosity.
