Da-duh seems to be concerned and frightened by the stories about New York for a couple of reasons. First of all, even though she tries to convince the narrator that there is no place like Barbados, she seems to have some regret about not seeing the many places in the world outside her homeland. She may feel some sort of jealousy for her granddaughter’s ability to experience and see things Da-duh could never imagine. She continuously tries to catch her granddaughter in lies, but sees in the narrator’s face that she is telling the truth. The world of Brooklyn, New York is beyond Da-duh’s imagination, and in many ways, she wants to experience it. She is so insistent on proving that Barbados is the most wonderful place in the world until she realizes that there are marvels in Brooklyn, New York as well.
In addition, Da-duh realizes that the world has moved on, and she no longer feels like she belongs in the new, modern, industrial world of the present. She is from another time and way of life, and she doesn’t fit in with a society that has electricity and planes that fly overhead. She says in the story when the narrator tells her that she beat up a white girl, “Oh, the lord, the world’s changing up so I can scarce recognize it anymore.”
Her daily naps staring out the window can show her desire to see and learn more, but also her understanding that she doesn’t really belong in the modern age. She, in a sense, gives up and dies realizing that her generation has served its purpose and that the new world is for the young like her granddaughter.
At the end of the story, the narrator dreams of the sugar cane and tall palm trees that Da-duh showed her. Da-duh would have been proud that she had this effect on her granddaughter’s life and desires, and perhaps, Da-duh didn’t realize the profound influence and love for Barbados that she cultivated in her granddaughter.
No comments:
Post a Comment