Lovemore Ranga Mataire
WHEN George Lamming was asked about the essence behind his novel, “In the Castle of My Skin”, his answer was ambiguous but poignant. “I am always feeling terrified of being known; not because they really know you, but simply because their claim to knowledge is a concealed attempt to destroy you. That is what knowing means. As soon as they know you they will kill you, and thank God that’s why they can’t kill you.

“They can never know you. Sometimes I think the same thing will be true in Trinidad. The likenesses will meet and make merry, but they won’t know you. They won’t know the you that’s hidden somewhere in the castle of your skin.”

In his exploration of the real condition of the African in colonial Barbados, Lamming chose both the first and third person narratives through his protagonist, G.

The fact that G’s evolving life is similar to the transitional stages in George Lamming’s life make it plausible for the novel to be read as an autobiographical presentation of life in Barbados under British colonial rule.

Written in 1970, “In the Castle of My Skin” has a laborious preamble which is at times seemingly irrelevant in its detailed descriptions of the rain, the house and the village.

But as the reader gets further into the text, s/he realises that the long descriptive prose about the weather and multifarious characters are not accidental as the plot and the themes start to unfold.

One of the themes that emerges is the inevitable social change within the small Barbadian village in which the book is set.
Typical of most colonies at that time, the set-up is feudal with the white plantation owner Mr Creighton owning the whole village characterised by uneasy relationship of resentment and dependency between him and the villagers.

This uneasy relationship is clearly exemplified when a young white man arrives in a vehicle loaded with food after the devastating flood. In painting the mutual resentment existing between the villagers and their white “feudal” rulers the narrators says: “The villagers move back, and the young man, urbane, smiling, makes his way through the passage and gives order.

“He makes no demand, but accepts privilege which they offer. They may be a silent protest, but no one is really angry. Acceptance is all. The young man returns to the car, and the villagers try to recognise the dark girl seated behind the wheel.”

Mr Creighton seems to have a paternalistic attitude of caring for the villagers and the villagers return the favour by giving respect.
But the villagers are also quick to join a strike for unfair wages and one of them contemplates killing him. It is sad and tragic that while the villagers saved up their meagre wages to own the houses they nevertheless don’t own the land where the houses.

When Mr Creighton sells the land, the villagers have to move and the whole village is destroyed and some desperately tried to move the houses but when tried to move from the foundation they crumble as they are mainly old wooden houses.

The tragic end of this story reflects G’s gradual development from a nine-year-old boy into a man.
Like his childhood friend, Trumper, he is also obsessed with the idea of going abroad.

The land has been bought by a savings bank which the villagers have been investing their savings in after being promised that they will own the land in future.

The bank is owned by Mr Slime, a former teacher in the village who brought investors from outside the village and have no sympathy with the fate of the villagers who have lived on the land for centuries.

Broadly, “In the Castle of My Skin” explores the effects of colonialism on the cultural and social well-being of the colonised people, just as most Caribbean authors from the period of formal Empire to the post-independence era.

But in order to tell their stories, they had to get published, and getting published meant leaving one’s native land for the burgeoning cultural metropoles of Western capitals – just like what Lamming did.

Lamming’s writing is therefore well-suited to represent the major literary themes of the era: colonialism and exile.
Many of the details of his life and times, from his experiences growing up in an island village in the 1930s and 1940s to his experience sailing to England in 1950, are all found on the pages of his works.

In fact, all of Lamming’s novels – including “In the Castle of My Skin” (1953), “The Emigrants” (1954), “Of Age and Innocence” (1958), “A Season of Adventure” (1970), “Water With Berries” (1971), and “Natives of My Person” (1972)- seek to illuminate particular phases of the colonial experience.

Not only does he explore colonialism and exile through his works of fiction, but also sets out to communicate the ways in which colonialism and exile have influenced the Caribbean writers of his generation.

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