Background

Paule Marshall was the daughter of Barbadians who

several years before her birth had migrated to the
US. Though living in the US, the Caribbean
influence was very strong in her life. They lived in a
locality with a concentration of immigrants from
the Caribbean. This way, Marshall picked up the
accent and idioms of the language of the islanders.
In this story we see the liberal use of their
language and references to their culture. This story
is about the first visit the author paid to her
ancestral place to meet her grandmother who is
simply called, Da-duh.
Relevance of the Title
This story is about a visit the author made to
Barbados when she was nine years old and met her
grandmother for the first time. The story ends with
the death of the Grandmother who was called Daduh by everyone. The story is a kind of tribute to
the spirit of the grandmother which enabled her to
live happily in her country, following age old
customs.
Main themes
There are several themes woven together in this
story. The dominant theme is the inevitable
comparison between rural areas of the Caribbean

and urban sprawls of the US. There is also the

division between extreme youth and old age (Daduh is eighty). The way the elderly woman viewed
the whites (she cannot believe that her
granddaughter had the temerity to beat up a white
girl in her class) and the way the child who lived in
US did, is another theme.
Characters
The narrator
The author is the nine year old child who goes to
Barbados for the first time to visit her
grandmother, Da-duh. Though they have not seen
each other ever before, there is a bond between
them. The grandmother is sharp and probing but
the narrator is able to hold her own easily. She
does not let herself be browbeaten by the
grandmothers questions. The grandmother has
some pre-conceived notions about US; she is not
ready to change it. Hence she asks the same
questions again. The child answers her truthfully
though she knows that her answers will disappoint
Da-duh who is proud of her land.
Da-duh
The grandmother took immense pride in her land.
Though she does not say anything complimentary
about her granddaughter, she seeks out her
company recognizing the bond that exists between

them. Da-duh had several notions about how

things were in the US. She thought that there were
no trees in the US and nothing ever bore fruit.
Initially she has the better of her granddaughter
but when she hears the description of snow, her
confidence takes a beating. She also has no answer
to the towering skyscrapers of US. Somehow she
takes it personally and seems to lose her
confidence. She loves her house and land so much
that she refuses to move out when the planes from
UK come. They flew very low and perhaps the fear
that they would crash into her house killed her.
Plot
The author, as a nine year old girl, goes to
Barbados to visit her grandmother for the first
time. The grandmother is most comfortable in the
countryside where she lives. She has some fixed
notions about US from where the granddaughter
has come. She thinks that there are no trees in the
US as nothing grows there. She asks the child for
confirmation of her notions. The girls answers
sometimes make her proud of Barbados. But
sometimes she has to admit that there is more to
the US than she knows. The child tells her about
the largeness of the Empire State Building and she
promises to send her a picture postcard of it. But
the grandmother dies soon after the childs visit.

Summary
The author, as a nine year old girl, goes to
Barbados along with her sister and mother, to visit
her eighty year old grandmother whom all calls Daduh. The old lady is an indomitable character who
takes fierce pride in her land and her way of life.
There is an unspoken bond between the author and
her grandmother. But they are also in competition.
The grandmother believes that her land is superior
to that of US. The child agrees that in some ways,
it is superior but there are things in US that are
larger than anything in Barbados. The Empire State
Building, for example. For the grandmother, the
tallest object was Bissex Hill. The child explains
about the significance of snow in their lives in New
York. These revelations leave the grandmother
severely shaken. The child leaves soon after,
promising to send a picture postcard of the Empire
State Building. But before she can do that the
grandmother dies. In 1937, British aircrafts fly low

over Barbados. While the rest of the family run to

safer places, Da-duh stays behind in the house.
When the rest return, Da-duh is found dead in her
chair. She had a terrible mistrust of machinery.
Perhaps, she died of fright expecting the planes to
crash on her house.

Metaphorical inferences
The people of the Caribbean followed a religion
that was a mixture of pagan concepts and
Christianity. Symbols were common in their liturgy.
This story which is narrated by the author as a nine
year old has no significant metaphors. The
grandmothers fear of the lorry in which they travel
and her death after the planes fly low seem
related.
Language
Though the author was born and bred in the US,
her mother and her friends often spoke in a
language that was filled with the native idiom of
the islanders. Later in life Paule Marshall used this
native idiom and slang in most of her writing. She

explored the African heritage of the American

Africans extensively and language was one of the
areas that she concentrated on.
Important quotes
1.

Perhaps she was both, both child and

woman, dark and light, past and present, life
and death all opposites contained and
reconciled in her.
The authors first look at her grandmother
makes her conscious of the power and
control that exist in the old woman. Her face
is like a mask and she subjects the author to
close scrutiny. She is eighty years old and her
body displays the effort it takes to keep
herself straight. But she gives nothing away.
Though her face was expressionless, her
eyes were alive with curiosity. Within her,
many opposing forces seem to have
reconciled creating harmony of a kind.

2.

2. Da-duh ashamed at their wonder,

embarrassed for them, admonished them the
while. But oh Christ, she said, why you all
got to get on like you never saw people from
Away before? You would think New York is
the only place to hear wunna. That is why I
dont like to go any place with you St.
Andrews people, you know. You all aint been

colonized.
Once the initial scrutiny of the grandchildren
is over, Da-duh leads her daughter and
children out of the building. Outside a large
gaggle of people are waiting beside an old
decrepit lorry. Seeing the visitors from New
York they surge forward, exclaiming in loud
voices about their appearance and clothes.
This irritates and embarrasses Da-duh who
admonishes them for going overboard. She
does not consider then colonized enough
implying that the colonial powers civilized
the natives to some extent.
3. I din think so. I bet you dont even know that
these canes here and the sugar you eat is one
and the same thing. That they does throw the
canes into some damn machine at the factory
and squeeze out all the little life in them to make
sugar for you all so in New York to eat. I bet you
dont know that.
2. Da-duh took immense pride in her land
and what grew there. She was derisive of the
ignorance of city folk. She expects her
granddaughter to know nothing of trees
considering that Da-duh believed that no
trees grew in New York. She shows off the
trees in her orchard, every now and then

saying that she did not expect anything so

nice to be there in New York. The child is
made to feel that her world is in some way
inferior. Da-duhs pride and joy are the sugar
canes. She sarcastically explains to the child
that sugar comes from sugar cane, a fact she
does not expect her to know.
4.

I laughed. What dya mean, I said. The

white people have it even better. Then: I
beat up a white girl in my class last term.
Beating up white people! Her tone was
incredulous.
Da-duh initially believes that New York is arid
with no trees anywhere. Its only when the
child starts speaking about snow that she
truly comprehends the difference between
the two places. From then on the child tries
to open her grandmothers eyes to life in
New York. She tells her about the amenities
that they use in US which have not arrived in
Barbados. She is incredulous that the
coloured people living in US have access to
all. The child tells her that the whites are
even better off there. Da-duhs ingrained
belief in the superiority of the whites is
shown when she almost cannot believe that
the child beat up a white girl the previous
term in school for being abusive.

5. She remained like this until we left,

languishing away the mornings on the chair at
the window gazing out at the land as if it were
already doomed; the, at noon, taking the brief
stroll with me through the ground during which
she seldom spoke, and afterwards returning
home to sleep till almost dusk sometimes.
The childs description of New York unsettles Daduh and she becomes listless; she who had been
till now perfectly happy in Barbados. All her pride
in her land disappears. It is almost as though she
feels that her land is in some way inferior to the
US.
6. For a brief period after I was grown I went to
live alone, like one doing penance in a loft above
a noisy factory in downtown New York and there
painted seas of sugar cane and swirling Van
Gogh suns and palm trees striding like brightly
plumed Tutsi warriors across a tropical landscape,
while the thunderous tread of the machines
downstairs jarred the floor beneath the easel
mocking my efforts.
The few days that the author spent with her
grandmother made a profound impression on
her. Da-duh had a profound mistrust of all
machinery whether it was the lorry in which they
all travelled from the port or the aircraft which
came in a show of strength from England. When
the author grew up, in a tribute to her

grandmother, she spent some time in a loft that

was located above a noisy factory. Da-duh was
critical about the way city people were not aware
that sugar was manufactured from sugar cane. In
the loft, the author painted scenes that she
remembered from her Barbados visit. She
painted violently coloured tropical suns and
spreading palms that looked like warriors from
the Tutsi tribe in Africa, dressed in their war gear.

Questions

1. What were the authors first impressions of her

grandmother?
2. Perhaps she was both, both child and woman
How does the later behaviour of the grandmother
bear out the truth of this statement?
3. The capitulation of the grandmother when she
hears of the Empire State Building is not in keeping
with her general bearing. Is there truth in this
statement? Support your answer with relevant
quotes.
4. The grandmother is a true child of the soil.
Explain this statement with relevant quotations.
5. The death of the grandmother was an avoidable
incident. Why was this so?
6. What did the author do as penance to the
memory of her grandmother? Why do you think
she did it?