Summary Of Crossing The Mangroves

Also characters in the novel, demonstrates the multiracial and interracial interaction of a small community in the French Caribbean. Mira, Vilma, Xantippe and others are created to represent a different aspect of the town of Rivière au Sel. In Praise of Creoleness argues that the créolité is similar to a braid.
Our history is a braid of histories. We had a taste of all kinds of languages, all kinds of idioms. Afraid of this uncomfortable muddle, we tried in vain to anchor it in mythical shores (exterior vision, Africa, Europe, and still today, India or America), to find shelter in the closed normality of millennial cultures, ignoring that we were the anticipation of the relations of cultures, of the future world whose signs are already showing. …show more content…
Mitsch, also explain the important of diversity in Crossing the Mangrove and how it contributes to créolité. Mitsch wrote, “Crossing the Mangrove gives life to many of these same ideas, that is, of promoting Antillean culture but not asserting its superiority or asserting the supermany of one Antillean group over another.” Chamoiseau also wrote in her article, “We no longer have the monolithic black man of Negritude; we have diversity, the astonishing cultural and biological complexity of Haitians, of Indians, of Mulattoes, of combines. ” In Crossing the Mangrove, créolité is shown in the characters of Sylvestre and Rosa Ramsaran. These characters are alienated from other racial groups in Rivière au Sel because of their race and traditions. The Ramsaran’s are East Indian, financially successful and is very well respected in the community of Rivière au Sel. As East Indian immigrants, Sylvestre have different beliefs on marriage and love compare to others in the French Caribbean. Sylvestre’s views material wealth as the most important factor in his families life. When he discusses his daughter, Vilma, he describes her in the term of money and how beneficial marriage can be if she get an arrange marriage. Sylvestre then later try to force Vilma to marry a man she does not love. This logic of Sylvestre can be viewed as how créolité works in specter of human …show more content…
I can relate to some of the themes in Crossing the Mangrove because of my own experience growing up in the Caribbean and coming from an East Indian family. I was born in the Guyana and saw first hand how different racial group interact with each other in small communities. In Guyana, there is a large population of East Indian and Asians living there because of the practices of indentured servitude. However, unlike other racial group, East Indian tends to stick with their own culture and