Canada was the first nation to adopt the multiculturalism policy in 1971. The nation aimed at drawing importance of cultural diversity in the modern world and until today, it is evident that Canada still sees itself as being a precursor when it comes to the aspect of interacting with immigrants. However, decades have passed by, and the nation is still faced with the brutal reality of discrimination and racism. In Austin Clarke’s short story The Man, the reader gets to know the racial conflicts and the struggles of a man who migrates from Barbados. The Barbadian man goes to live in Canada and has high hopes of leading a better life in the nation that portrays to be welcoming to him. This story is abundant in symbolism, and the protagonist is confronted by hardships, oppression, and sufferings in the context of multiculturalism that haunts Canada. This paper seeks to explain the various themes in Clarke’s short story, the man. The paper will also explore the importance of the symbols in the story and how they help to propel the central theme.
Analysis of The Man Short Story
Clarke in his story The Man details the experiences of a man who moves from Barbadian and goes to Canada, and he is eventually confronted with the unfamiliar culture of the society. The story has themes including discrimination, hardship, suffering, and oppression. Furthermore, I believe that the story highlights the interactions of the immigrants with the Canadians in downtown Toronto and the experiences bring out themes of segregation, stereotyping, and the frustration based on the class difference. In Clarke’s book, it is highly evident that the man focuses is drawn from the everyday life of the immigrants' discrimination in Canada. There is the symbol of flashbacks and the Barbadian man used to reveal the inner thoughts of the characters whose suffering forms the main basis of the author’s inquiry. Notably, the lives of the characters are shaped through an identity crisis, racism as well as intense isolations which agitate alienation. In this short story, Clarke manages to chronicle the individual struggles through brilliantly detailing the social backdrop of the immigrant community. The Barbadian man goes through hardships and is forced to endure the sufferings and the oppressions that are perpetrated against him. These factors combine to the tragic ending of the story.
More importantly, he zooms the life of the immigrants through a wide-angle of view on the spectrum of segregation, colonialism and the oppression of the people. I can confirm that the characters struggle with self-hatred and estrangement. For this reason, the cruel experiences ignite individual’s plight to take control of their own lives which ends into tragedy. The story is heavily characterized by isolation, racism perpetrated on the black people, death, and segregation. The violence in the story is the key factor that characterizes the unhappy institution of marriage and men only struggle to assert authority. Notably, the author links the violence to the pain of self-hatred as well as self-denial. Racial conflict perpetuates brutality, and he presents a complex social scene through the skilled prose style Camille 17). In view of this, Clarke effectively mirrors the forces of racism articulating inhumanity and envisions a society which is grounded on discrimination. The other themes in the story include marginalization, the emasculation of the black’s male as well as the concept of black identity.
I believe that one of the major themes in the story is centered on multiculturalism. This forms the unifying element concerning the Canadian identity and forms a clear separation of the layers of cultural heterogeneity from the diverse cultural background. The story delineates the situation of the man that brings up the issue of identity in the diverse cultures. Camille states that “the protagonist re-lives the forming of the identity of the country which determines his reflection” (Camille 15). Particularly, this concept becomes clearer as the story progresses and the man sees that he does not belong to the society. According to Clarke, it is the skin color which makes the man unable to experience the Canadian dream and hence cannot fully fit into the Canadian society. Certainly, the story showcases that the color of the skin denotes to be a vital factor in adapting to the Canadian life and forms the basis of discrimination. Clarke even writes that “They are laughing … because they have become accommodating to a hostile society” (Clarke 17). More importantly, the whites view the black people as an inferior race, and this undermines their position in the society. Some people do not have a choice but to face the reality of discrimination.
The use symbol of using flashback in the story cannot be ignored. This is a symbol of how the man longs to have his Barbados life back after coming to know that Canada cannot make him happy. The aim of the flashback is to draw a comparison between the life in Barbados and that of Canada. The flashback makes the reader understand that racism in Canada damages the hopes of many immigrants who expect to live a better life. Through the flashback, one is able to know the struggles of the Barbadian man in the segregated society (Camille 17). Through this, it becomes evident that moving to a new country could be one of the most difficult transitions in one’s life. The flashback portrays the many changes that the protagonist undergoes against his will in the multicultural setting. He is forced to change his morals, and the fear of failure drives him to the edge.
William Jefferson is also a symbol of the many people who wish to get assimilated into the white society and gain their identity. Clarke says that "Immigration had transformed Jefferson; and after five years made him deceitful, selfish and very ambitious… Jefferson had his mind on a house and a piece of land around the house. ‘I must own a piece o’Canada!" (Clarke 51). Jefferson’s obsession with the white identity made him get arrested at night in one of the wealthiest and respectable districts in Toronto. Jefferson tries to get assimilated and alienated into the Canadian ways. Finally, Jefferson manages to buy the house of his dreams, but he is still viewed to be a gardener by his neighbors. This aspect mimics how difficult it is for one to get integrated into the white community and Jefferson's life comes down to a mimicry. His motif in the story is to elucidate how people battle with issues of identity in the white society and the influence it has on the other races. He suffers the predicament of isolation and lack of identity. Brown and Wickham state that "Given that family, influence is a tremendously strong factor in the development of one's sense of self and often impacts everyday decisions, it is fitting to first look at the ways in which family pressures and interactions shaped the life of the man” (Brown and Wickham 5). According to Brown and Wickham, this played an important role in shaping the identity of the character.
The final scene of the story is tragic and the closing metaphorical moment showcases the ultimate shuttering of the hopeful immigrants. The tragic end portrays the inability of the characters to help themselves through the adversities of multiculturalism and this mold s and reshapes the image of the immigrants in the Canadian society. The negative state of mind that the man has caused him to be unhappy. Besides, the societal and cultural pressures make the tale to end tragically creating emotions of empathy in the reader. The frustration associated with being an immigrant in a new country is indeed unbearable to many people. The tragic ending where the protagonists die is a symbol of the reality on the ground and alludes to the central theme of multiculturalism. Here, the Barbadian man is unable to fit in the Canadian society and opts to end his life. This means that many immigrant people, not only those found in Canada but numerous white nations struggle with identity to a breaking point where they lose hope. They become confronted by underlining notion of multiculturalism which undermines their worth and views themselves as being inferior. The central theme of the search for identity in a new environment is revealed in the tragic ending. The author focuses on the themes of hardship, suffering, and oppression in the Canadian multicultural society as a way of enlightening the reader the true nature of being an immigrant. Many nations are pledged with racism, and this makes one's living to be a significant problem.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that Austin Clarke was the first Caribbean-Canadian writer to gain international fame. He is credited for his outstanding works including The Man short story. Certainly, Clarke centers on the plight of the immigrants and specifically the Barbadians. His short stories are a clear reflection of the experiences of discrimination and offer insights into the problem of alienation and the search for identity. Oppression of the black race is highly evident in the story. Immigrants are forced to endure suffering and hardships in the new land and the struggle against victimization which jeopardize the black identity.
Works Cited
Brown, Stewart, and John Wickham. The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001.
Clarke, Austin. The Man. Toronto, Mcclelland and Stewart, 1999.
Camille A Isaacs. Austin Clarke. Toronto, Guernica Editions, 2013.
