Volume 10, Number 1
Gendered Tropes: Optimism and Nationalism in CLR James’ “Triumph” and Ismith Khan’s the Jumbie Bird
Authors
Kerry-Ann Abdool, The University of the West Indies, USA
Abstract
In a pre-independent Trinidad, C.L.R James published his widely acclaimed story, “Triumph” which features Mamitz as the protagonist. Some years later, with Trinidad on the ripe cusp of independence, Ismith Khan published his first novel, The Jumbie Bird which features Binti as the main female subject. What knits these works together is an acute sense of optimism towards the nation space and national identity. This paper takes a comparative approach, reading James’ Mamitz and Khan’s Binti as nation tropes, uniquely positioned within the city space of Port of Spain and more specifically, the barrack yard. It engages issues relating to race and gender and how these inform the creation of these female subjects as metaphors by these two writers. The paper engages the discourses of other critical thinkers who have written extensively on the subject matter. However, it simultaneously treats the texts themselves as theoretical commentary on the nation space. The conclusion is that this commentary is exceptionally optimistic.
Keywords
Indo-Caribbean Literature, West Indian Literature, Nationalism, Ismith Khan, C.L.R James.