QUEST FOR FREEDOM AND IDENTITY IN SELECTED MARYSE CONDÉ AND SIMONE SCHWARZ BART’S NOVELS

Abstract

The quest for freedom and identity connotes a desire for rebirth and an assertion of a people’s ‘raison d’être,’ as evident in various Caribbean literary texts. Existing studies on Caribbean literature have focused mainly on the Caribbean struggle for emancipation from mental slavery, with less attention paid to the issues relating to identity and the search for freedom. This study was, therefore, designed to examine the quest for freedom and identity in the novels of Maryse Condé and Simone Schwarz-Bart, with a view to determining the coping strategies through which the characters dealt with racial discrimination in the Caribbean society.

Bill Aschroft’s Postcolonial Utopianism was adopted as framework. The interpretive design was used. Four Francophone Caribbean novels: Traversée de la Mangrove and Une saison à Rihata (Maryse Condé), Pluie et vent sur Télumée miracle and Ti jean l’horizon (Simone Schwarz-Bart) were purposively selected for exploring the quest for freedom and identity. The texts were subjected to textual analysis.

Stereotypification orchestrates the quest for freedom and identity across the four selected novels. In Une saison à Rihata, anyone born by a black woman is stereotyped a worthless individual. Francis Sancher, in Traversée de la mangrove, is regarded as a deadly criminal in Rivière au Sel due to his black skin; Gabriel is considered an outcast by his family members for marrying a black woman. Emile Etienne laments the fact that his childhood is without joy because he is born by a black woman. Télumée, in Pluie et vent sur Télumée miracle, is adjudged evil due to her dark skin, while Ti Jean and other characters in Ti Jean l’horizon are portrayed as lost due to their dark skin. As a result of the stereotypification, these characters in the selected novels suffered discrimination. Zek’s father, in Une saison à Rihata, treats his wives and children as slaves. Télumée, in Pluie et vent sur Télumée miracle, is discriminated against and made to remain a slave worker, but she expresses joy in her black skin in order to resist the racial stereotypification. Ti jean, in Ti Jean l’horizon also embarks on several voyages to discover his Caribbeaness. Christophe and Madou, in Une saison à Rihata, make several travels to France and Africa respectively in their quest for socio-cultural freedom. Madou, in Une saison à Rihata, travels to Africa in his quest for political freedom and Marie Hélène, in Une saison à Rihata, returns to France in her bid to be free from racial discrimination she suffers in the hands of her mother-in-law and other women on the Island of Rihata. Francis Sancher, in Traversée de la mangrove, embarks on a journey to the Island of Rivière au Sel in his quest for freedom. In Pluie et vent sur Télumée miracle, Télumée has to quit her marriage to Elie who beats and enslaves her.

The characters in the selected novels by Maryse Condé and Simone Schwarz-Bart mediate their racial stereotypification through self-esteem, travels and divorce.