Character Analysis: What We All Long For

We often think of borders as physical boundaries separating political regions or countries. Invisible borders, however, such as spatial, cultural, or social ones may also exist within a city. Tuyen, one of the protagonists in Dionne Brand’s What We All Long For, claims that the characters in the novel are “in fact, borderless” (213). I, however, disagree and believe that there are rather many instances throughout the novel that prove that borders do in fact exist. Jamal and Oku, for example, are two young, black men within the novel that are constantly running into borders throughout the city. In my paper, I will prove that Brand suggests that invisible borders within the city negatively affect the way black men live their lives compared to …show more content…
At one point in the novel he is put in a correctional institute for a case of carjacking and on page 34 he is asking his sister, Carla, to help bail him out. After listening to his stories his sister says, “‘Jamal you realize that you’re black right? You know what that means? You can’t be in the wrong place at the wrong time’” (35). Just like Oku, Jamal doesn’t have the freedom to move freely within the city, because he will be stopped due to the color of his skin. His sister tries to explain to him that he needs to keep himself out of trouble because since he’s black he will already be thought of as a criminal in the eyes of the police even if he’s innocent. Jamal, however, doesn’t understand that he’s not an accepted member of the city. Similar to Oku’s case where he gives up his rights, a lawyer had told Carla that “‘it would be best if Jamal pled guilty because then he would probably get a judge who would give him a lighter sentence’” (35). Carla had replied to the lawyer by saying, “‘what if he isn 't guilty? Should he plead being black?’” (36) In my interpretation, I think this is an example of an unfair justice system in which black people are not treated equally, and are expected to give up and simply do what they are asked. In this case, I believe that the border that segregates Jamal from others is one within the justice system. Even though Jamal is a citizen of …show more content…
In the case of Oku, he understands the fact that he is black and needs to be careful about how he acts, whereas Jamal doesn’t. When Oku encounters the police he gives up his will but he says “some of his friends didn’t. They resisted, they talked, they asserted their rights. That only caused more trouble. They ended up in the system fighting to get out. They ended up hating everyone around them. Homicidal” (165). I believe that Oku accepts that there is a border present and chooses to be oppressed by it in hopes of making things slightly easier for himself, whereas Jamal is one of the people that ends up in the system fighting to get out. Therefore, in my opinion, the presence of the border affects Jamal more because he’s trying so hard to cross it that he ends up getting caught up in negative actions. According to Oku, people end up hating each other and turn homicidal and by the end of the novel that is exactly what happens as Jamal “jumps in the silver Beamer X5 and his friend takes the Audi and they drive away, leaving [a] man half-dead by the road” (317). In my opinion, Jamal stealing a car and possibly killing Tuyen’s brother after attacking him, shows how Jamal is affected by the border segregating him from white people. According to “The Colour