TRAVELER'S TALESALL CLEAR, 1928BY OLIVE SENIOR

Presented by Rishika Ramkay

Presented by Rishika Ramkay

All Clear, 1928

I was beating chaklata when someone

Came shouting: A stranger man come!

I dropped everything. Same way In my sampata, my house dress,

My everyday head-tie, I rushed to the square wondering: could it be?

How many gathered there so longAfter our men disappeared into

The black water dividing us from Puerto Limon, Havana, Colon

Knew it was he? Not his sons lost To a father fifteen years gone.

There he was. Leather-booted and Spurred, sitting high on a fine horse

Never spoke a word. This Spanish Grandee sat on his horse and

Looked at us. Looked through us.Never could lump poverty. Used

To say: Esmie, when I strike it rich In foreign what a fine gentleman

I’ll be. And you with your clearComplexion will sit beside me,

Your hands stilled from work Like silk again (silk of my skin

My only dowry!) Ashamed now of my Darkened complexion, my work-

blackened

Hands, my greying hair, a loosening Of my pride (three sons with Mr Hall

The carpenter who took me in) ILowered my eyes and tried to hide

I needn’t have bothered. He looked So troubled, as if he’d lost his way.

And suddenly, with nothing said,He wheeled his horse and fled.

And ever after we talked of the Wonder of it. The stranger never

Spoke to anyone. Forgotten the young Man who left home with a good white

Shirt (stitched by these hands) andA borrowed black serge suit ( which

The owner never recovered), a heng-pon-meWith four days ration of roasted salt fish,

Johnny cakes, dokunu and cerasee for teaTo tide him over to the SS Atrato

Lying in wait in Kingston Harbour.All, all the men went with our dreams,

Our hopes, our prayers. And he With a guinea from Mass Dolphy

The schoolteacher who said that boy Had so much ambition he was bound

To go far. And he had. Gathering To himself worlds of experience

Which allowed him to ride over usWith a clear conscience. I never

Told anyone. For I would have had To tell his children why he hadn’t

Sent money for bread, why his fineLeather boots, why is saddle,

His grey mare, his three-piece suit,His bowler hat, his diamond tie-pin,

His fine manicured hands, his barberedHair, his supercilious air. Never

Was a more finely cut gentleman seen in our square. And I trembled

In anger and shame fro the black limbo Into which my life had fallen

All these years till my hands touched The coarse heads of my young sons

Recalling me to a snug house clad With love. And I cried then, because

Till he came back I had not known My life was rooted. Years later

I learned that his fine gentlemanly air,His polished boots, manners, and Ecuador

Gold bought him a very young girl of very Good family in Kingston. And they wed.

He, with a clear conscience.She, with a clear complexion.

Summary

The poem deals with the large scale emigration of West Indian males to work on the Panama Canal and elsewhere in Latin America in the 19th century to early 20th century and the women they left behind.

The Title “All Clear”

An all-clear is a term used by civil defense or military authorities to inform others that an imminent physical danger has passed. This typically will end an alert or warning status that was previously issued.

permission to proceed because obstacles have been removed.

In the poem it is a metaphor-clear complexion, clear conscience, free to move on

Meanings of Phrases

“Beating chaklata”

- parched cocoa pods are pounded in a mortar as part of the process of making chocolate for tea

“Same way in my sampata…”- sandals made of old car tyres; any old shoe – also sampat, zapat. From Spanish “zapata”.

“Heng-pon-me”- knapsack made of thatch used by farmers and travellers.

“Johnny cakes, dokunu, cerasee”

- fried dumpling

- pudding wrapped in banana leaf and boiled

- tea made from a bitter plant – all foods carried by poor travellers in the days before “fast foods”.

“The SS Atrato”- SS Atrato was a 3,184 tons iron built paddle steamer built by Messrs Caird & Co of Greenock, in 1853 for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. She ran on the South American service for 17 years.

- She was sold to John Morrison & Co London and in 1870 converted into a single-screw vessel with compound engines and three double-ended boilers. - She has been listed as the largest passenger ship from 1853 to 1858.

“Guinea”

- British gold coin that was formerly used in the British West Indies; then worth twenty-one shillings.

All Clear, 1928 critically examine the repercussions of history on the lives and place of women in society.

Esmie is a victim of the repercussions of history in Jamaica. 

The word “limbo” is used to indicate a life lived in suspension (gone for fifteen years and came back as a Grandee)

She hoped and had much fate he would return

“All, all the men…prayers”indicates the hope and fate the women had for them, the legitimate expectations of the men who went off in search of a better life for them and their families.

Repetition of “clear conscience” is evidence of how ungrateful the men were. Additionally, this is seen through the man neglecting his family while adorned himself. (“For I would have had To tell his children …his supercilious air.”)

Esmie’s hopes all went to a younger more beautiful Kingston girl.

Senior’s autobiographical content – “gold bought him a very young girl of very good family in Kingston. And they wed. He, with a clear conscience. She, with a clear complexion.”

Class distinctions where emphasis is placed on “clear complexion” – social mobility difference of the persona being mixed and his new wife is not she is fair.

In black society, the colour of one’s skin had he ability to disenfranchise or boost a person.

Coming to the end of the poem Esmie becomes enlightened and things ‘clear up’ for her, her life is liberated limbo to being “All Clear” she is finally able to focus on things more sharply.

15 years is sufficient time for her and him to move on. He becomes a grandee or great man and is literally above everyone, on a horse.

He opened up to her his dreams and ambition – he married a woman of clear complexion (social mobility)

Her clear skin is one of the main reasons he married her – aftermath of slavery and the emphasis on colour in relation to class is clearly seen in this scenario.

She was forced to turn to another man in a kind of business agreement to support herself. Formality of the subject – Mr. Hall and she mentions his profession as a carpenter

However this was no romantic alliance

She is ashamed of her situation with Mr. Hall, what her life has come to etc.

She in end realizes that she has no reason to be ashamed and when he leaves she gets the bravery to reminisce some more – about how humble his beginnings where (his borrowed suit, how she took care of him)

Everyone supported him and the reader hears her bitterness as he never sent any money, not even for bread.

He managed to move on yet she did not have that strength and financial security to stand on her own, she realizes that she has been depending on these men.

In the end these things are clarified for her in the end and she takes this as a signal for change

Turning point where the horse turns around, her speech changes or turns around as well as her mind set.

Limbo is used in religious mythology - the soul is unsure of whether it will ascend to heaven or descend to hell. It signifies a place of ambiguity and uncertainty for the persona. Additionally it is also a place where on has no control over and her past decisions have put her in such a state. Thus the poem not only discusses clear complexion but clear of obstacles as well.

“Black Limbo” – she describes the heads of her sons are described as coarse, she is reminded of how comfortable her life is now. “snug house clad with love”. Her tears are her release

She looks back and realizes that what she has now is her reality and this is not something to be ashamed of

Sarcasm “very young, very good girl in Kingston”

He moves on with a clear conscience and her with her clear complexion – she now has the knowledge to move on with her life.

Structure Couplets (run on lines) : 2 lines each , in

narrative style, use of 1st person narrator Contributes to meaning in the poem to

examine the relationship of man and woman

39 (odd number) uneven “wed” line ends abruptly Run on lines linked to the feeling of being

in limbo, uncertaintyAlso dependent on their marriage “bread”

Narrative Perspective “I didn’t find my own writer’s voice

until I allowed my characters to speak on their own voices. Speakers do not arrive empty-handed. They bring entire worlds with them” – Olove Senior

1st person narrator – Esmie reveals her internalized obsession with complexion which feeds her perception of loss, both of social standing and self – esteem “the black limbo into which life had fallen”

Repetition “clear” used to reiterate or give a

sense of finality to the poem. It shows the cycle of migration. The persona shows that not only this is her story but the story of many.

Irony

“fine gentleman” lacks gentleman like qualities, just maintains an appearance

themes Betrayal Rejection Disillusionment to Enlightenment Migration Racism Effects of slavery/Colonial History Gender roles Relationships (male/female,

parent/child) Class

Characterisation

Esmie – hard working, industrious, hopeful

The stranger – selfish, hypocritical (issue of the nature of gentleman: appearance against reality), always ambitious

Intertextuality

Intertexuality (def) – the way in which a text mirrors another text in the process of producing meaning.

“All Clear” – mythical figure, the ColÓn man (a Jamaican figure who had gone to work in the Panama Canal and returns home wealthy and prospersous) refers to a Jamaican understanding of economic centrifugal forces that propelled Esmie’s lover to migrate.

Recruiters of Jamaican labourers would manipulate this myth in advertising campaigns

This figure was also later on immortalized in the Jamaican folk song of the same name

Fin