Miguel Street

By V. S. Naipal

V.S. Naipal Vidiadhar Surajprasad

Naipaul Born: Chaguanas,

Trinidad, 1932 Most of his writing

depicts his exodus from Trinidad to England

Critics note his negative portrayal of Carribean

“…paint[s] portraits of the outcast roaming through civilizations of the world.”

The Caribbean

Trinidad

Characters The narrator: 1st person, limited perspective;

unnamed boy who comes of age Bogart: called “Patience”, “bored and

superior, left to Find a wife and have a child, but each time he leaves and comes back, he becomes more Americanized; accused of bigamy

Hat: authoritative voice, appears in almost every chapter

Titus Hoyt: runs a school; influences the narrator

Popo: “man-woman”, carpenter who builds “the thing without a name”

Key Facts Published: 1959 Genre: Coming of age; Bildungsroman POV: 1st person, limited perspective Setting: World War II, Port-o-Spain,

Trinidad Themes: disintegration of life through

outside influence; societal assimilation; human depravity

Tone: mixture of pathos and humor to evoke sympathy and understanding about human character

Style

-chapters organized around individual characters

-each one illuminates some aspect of the culture

-viewed through the perspective of diaspora, the assimilation of one culture into another and it’s residual and lasting effects

Key Facts, cont. Symbols: “the thing without a

name”, Titus Hoyt school certificate, education, poetry

Motifs: calypso music, travel Plot Synopsis: a day-in-the-life of a

variety of characters who experience human depravity and react in specific ways that highlight social issues; a young boy who witnesses this culture and matures as a result

Calypso music “Banana Boat Song”—1956

Harry Belafonte