Book Review…Race and Class define real life drama

Apr 26, 2015 Book Review…, Features / Columnists

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Book: The Last Ship
Author: Jan Lowe Shinebourne
Reviewer: Dr Glenville Ashby

Race, ethnicity, and class are natural bedfellows in any region blighted by colonialism.

This is Guyana’s past. It is there that identities are twisted, reason is turned on its head, charity is eclipsed by hubris, and dignity is sullied in racial mud.
‘The Last Ship’ forays into an unfathomable abyss of racial pride and bruised psyches. Throughout this provocative tale, decency jockeys with insensitivity while charity wrestles with greed. The saga begins in British Guiana in the late 19th century and transitions through watershed moments in the nation’s turbulent history.
In 1878 the Admiral docked in British Guiana with Clarice and kinship, setting off events of unimaginable twists and turns. The author traces the lineages of two families obsessed with identity, class, and bedeviled by their own past. Mary Leo whose daughters marry into Clarice’s clan emerges as one of the most tragic figures. She is consumed by despair, poverty and even self-loathing as she trades her Chinese identity for everything Indian. The backlash is painful. She is maligned by her own daughters.ý More telling, though, is Clarice’s boast of racial purity and an enviable aristocratic past in China that turns out to a farce. The Admiral, not unexpectedly has brought only Hakas to British Guiana.
As Indentureship ends, acculturation and identity collide. At the centre of this drama is the Wong family. What unfolds is a searing insight into the human psyche.  Clarice is obdurate, crude and manipulative. Her personality screams for attention. She breathes prejudice even against her people. She longs to salvage her identity from the ashes of servitude. She’s no Haka; no common Chinee, is her refrain. She’s from a Punti lineage; affluent back home and only invited to help build Guyana. “British gov’t send we to run to B.G., to run the country. Dat is why dey help Uncle Arnold get rich.”
But Clarice is not that fortunate. We understand her alienation, her angst at her lot in life; her existential struggles. She works tirelessly and is bitter. Unlike her uncles, her father’s inability to climb the social ladder leaves her angry, biting and defensive.ý Yes, this is one drama that psychoanalysts crave.
Throughout, we wrestle with Clarice’s overwhelming, onerous spirit.
“What kinda Chinee is you,” she spews at a woman she hardly knows. “You get plenty pickney with Coolie man; he lef’ you an you give ‘way you pickney to black people? You ain’t no prapa Chinee.. all me pickney is Chinee; you pickney ain’t Chinee, you pickney is half-breed. I prefer me pickney marry real Chinee.”
And not long after we realize how deep her bigotry runs. Shinebourne writes, “(Clarice) did not like the Christian religion; it was for black slaves…she saw how the Leo’s knelt at the altar with black people and drank wine from the same cup. It repelled her….it was like their obeah ceremonies where she heard, they drank the blood of animals they sacrificed. The Indian Kali Mai followers drank raw blood at their rituals, too…”
Later, she sinks further: “I sorry I ever come to dis country. I want to dead an’ go ‘long me way an’ never see dis country again. It can only turn Chinee people into coolie an black people.”
Shinebourne offers more than a glimpse into the travails, aspirations and success of Diasporic communities. It captures the tenacity and enviable work ethic of the Chinese immigrant. Itý is a celebration of traditions and heritage, and we learn a thing or two about Chinese culture.  But paradoxically it cautions against cultural overreach as exemplified in Clarice’s extremism; and it questions the need for non-whites to mimic ‘Western’ ways to validate their worth.
Shinebourne tells a disturbing tale surrounding Clarice’s uncle, Arnold, whose hard-nosed determination and exploitation of his own blood embodies naked capitalism.
“They raced to keep up with the whites, mimicking their lifestyle in every detail…Arnold and Majorette Chung had long determined to join this class, and worked their way up until they were wealthy enough to own a big house full of the latest luxury goods and be invited to the best parties. But Arnold was never content….”
One can only wonder if such ostentation is a defence mechanism, a symptom of their insecurities.
‘The Last Ship’ parades a line-up of psychologically disfigured ‘actors.’ It is a statement on the pathology of racism.  Sadly, this disease shows little sign of letting up. It is as stubborn as Clarice.
As we fast forward to 2015 and beyond, we are faced with a sobering reality. Racism and tribalism remain embedded in the Caribbean archetype. And for all the pronouncement of nationhood, the ghost of Clarice lived in Guyana’s race riots as it does in the hearts of today’s politicians and so called religious leaders. And ‘The Last Ship’ is that cruel reminder of our failed nature.

Feedback: [email protected] or follow him on Twitter@glenvilleashby
The Last Ship by Jan Lowe Shinebourne
Publisher: Peepal Tree Press Ltd, Leeds, England 2015
ISBN13: 9781845232467
Available: amazon.comý
Rate: Recommended

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