Introduction
The term pan-Caribbean does not have a single definition. The very geographical parameters of pan-Caribbean are debatable. However, within this instability, this essay is grounded in the Caribbean perspective of what constitutes the pan-Caribbean. This is most significant as the Caribbean has not always been depicted from a Caribbean perspective and has often been stereotyped as an idyllic destination of sun, sex, sea and sand. The pan-Caribbean perspective offers a view of the Caribbean as it is held by territories that identify as Caribbean, regardless of definitions. Tracey Skelton lists some Caribbean elements that this pan-Caribbean perspective highlights:
an articulation of Pan-Caribbean pre-history; an examination of European colonialism; a consideration of the development factors of the contemporary independent and dependent/colonial Caribbean; an analysis of the migratory patterns and social transformations throughout and beyond the region; and a scrutiny of the region’s role in respect of globalization and tourism.
The pan-Caribbean is represented through time and space but always from the perspective of an inclusive definition. These elements represent the facets that comprise the pan-Caribbean and shape the perspective from which the Caribbean is discussed in this study. In order to understand the pan-Caribbean ethos in which the study is interested, it is therefore more important to understand the meaning of ethos. The culture of a people can reflect their moral ideas and attitudes. Culture is often a result of ideology and history. The changes in a society can be interpellated in ideology and culture over time. The pan-Caribbean ethos can therefore be encapsulated by the elements described by Skelton which account for the Caribbean’s development and history of colonisation. It is important to explore these elements from a Caribbean perspective.
Various Caribbean authors have done this, including Nalo Hopkinson.
Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber follows the development of the young female protagonist Tan-Tan on the technologically advanced Caribbean-colonised planet Toussaint and its mirror planet, New Half-Way Tree, which is devoid of technology. Toussaint is managed by the artificial intelligence Granny Nanny and its extensions, Eshus, named for Yoruba’s trickster god and messenger between the gods and the people. Lawbreakers are permanently exiled to New Half-Way Tree, a forested planet with strange creatures and beings that echo the folkloric characters of the Caribbean. Tan-Tan spends the first seven years of her life on Toussaint with her mother, Ione, and her father, Antonio, the mayor of Cockpit County. Her parents’ unstable relationship results in Antonio’s murder of Ione’s lover, which lands him in prison with only exile on New Half-Way Tree as a chance for freedom. Antonio abducts Tan-Tan and escapes to New Half-Way Tree. Antonio, Tan-Tan and Antonio’s second wife, Janisette, stay in the human exile settlement Junjuh. However, Antonio begins to sexually abuse Tan-Tan on her ninth birthday. At the age of sixteen, the abuse ends when Tan-Tan kills Antonio in self-defence and escapes Junjuh’s harsh laws, and Janisette’s judgement, with the aid of the douen Chichibud. Tan-Tan temporarily lives with the douen community but subsequently finds her voice through the Midnight Robber persona of the Robber Queen, who helps her to survive and save other lives after she loses the comfort of all community. As Tan-Tan comes to terms with her past trauma, unwanted pregnancy and her place on New Half-Way Tree, her acts are immortalised in the mythical folktales of Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen.
The pan-Caribbean ethos of Hopkinson’s science fiction bildungsroman Midnight Robber resonates with the Caribbean reader, despite the novel not being set in the Caribbean, because the alternate universe or fictional world evokes a sense of familiarity with the Caribbean region, history and culture. Science fiction facilitates the exploration of cultural elements which are unique to each Caribbean territory. Zimbabwean writer Ivor Hartmann notes the ability of science fiction to convey the culture of a people: “Most speculative fiction, be it fantasy, sci-fi or horror, is firm- ly rooted in cultural mythologies” (Bryce 3). For example, the allusions to certain figures, folklore and cultural events of the various Caribbean territories evoke a pan-Caribbean ethos. This represents the culture, history and colonial legacy which impacted the development of the Caribbean from a Caribbean perspective. Hopkinson has lived in three Caribbean countries: Jamaica, her birthplace, Guy- ana and Trinidad (Joy 343). Hopkinson is therefore familiar with these Caribbean territories and is in a good position to speak about the Caribbean from a Caribbean perspective, which is important when representing the pan-Caribbean. The unique allusions to each Caribbean territory root Midnight Robber’s alternate universe within a familiar Caribbean aesthetic. Each allusion resonates with the Caribbean reader as it evokes Caribbean history and culture, thus creating a pan-Caribbean ethos for the alternate universe of the novel. Cultural and historical elements from numerous Caribbean territories, rather than a single territory, contribute to creating the pan-Caribbean ethos of Midnight Robber.
Jamaica
Jamaica, Hopkinson’s birthplace, greatly influenced her creation of Midnight Robber. New Half-Way Tree references the parish of Kingston in Jamaica, in which New Half-Way Tree is located. According to Ann Mary Joy, “the penal colony of New Half-Way Tree is a shadowy replica of both Jamaica and Toussaint, a space in which the processes of colonisation, discrimination and exclusion replay themselves through a number of metaphors, like the barren land, labour culture and the marginalised natives” (Joy 345). Whereas Half-Way Tree and Toussaint have significantly progressed from colonisation and discrimination, New Half-Way Tree has not. New Half-Way Tree and Toussaint are juxtaposed. New Half-Way Tree references the Caribbean’s colonial past, whereas Toussaint is an imagined and advanced future away from the struggles faced on New Half-Way Tree as well as the realities of the contemporary Caribbean. Half-Way Tree may be considered a halfway point between the Caribbean’s colonial past, represented by New Half-Way Tree, and the Caribbean’s imagined future, Toussaint. Half-Way Tree in Jamaica contains several successful businesses and includes the “historical landmark, Devon House, the Government-owned mansion, built by Jamaica’s first black millionaire, George Stiebel in 1881” (Rose). These successes exhibit the Caribbean’s current developing status. The Caribbean is no longer colonised, but is not yet advanced like Toussaint. The resonance of the Caribbean’s colonial history and social and economic development in the name New Half-Way Tree therefore lends a pan-Caribbean ethos to Midnight Robber.
Also, Cockpit Country in Jamaica is refashioned as Cockpit Country on Toussaint. Cockpit Country was a refuge for runaway enslaved who became known as Leeward Maroons (Sivapragasam 9). This makes it an ideal place name for a county on Toussaint, a place that is free of oppression and discrimination, all of which parallel the role that Cockpit Country served for the Maroons. Hopkinson’s use of real place names helps to engage the Caribbean reader by giving her alternate universe a sense of familiarity. However, it goes deeper than a mere passing reference. These place names are carefully chosen because of the things they represent. Half-Way Tree bridges the gap between the painful past and the advanced future. Cockpit Country, on the other hand, evokes a sense of freedom and revolution from slavery.
While Hopkinson’s use of Cockpit County recalls the Leeward Maroons, Granny Nanny, the artificial intelligence, invokes the Windward Maroons. Granny Nanny is named after Queen Nanny, the Maroon leader who freed several enslaved people in Jamaica and fought numerous successful wars against the British using guerrilla warfare. Jamaica has celebrated Nanny as a heroic and mythical figure: for example, “in 1976, Grandy Nanny of the Windward Maroons became the seventh Jamaican to be conferred with the Order of National Hero” (Williams). Her military prowess is accompanied by fantastical stories, since “Nanny was said to have supernatural powers that drove fear into the heart of the British” (Williams). She transcended European gender roles and served as a leader and mother for her people in the face of adversity. The legendary Queen Nanny represents the strength and power of the black Caribbean woman due to her military, maternal and mystical ways.
Queen Nanny’s magic is exchanged for advanced technology in science fiction. Queen Nanny’s stance against the British in defence of her people is encapsulated in Hopkin- son’s artificial intelligence, the Grande Anansi Nanotech Interface, who upholds the laws of Toussaint and even manages to make her way to New Half-Way Tree to attempt to right the wrong done to Tan-Tan. Granny Nanny is a maternal protector for Toussaint who evokes the matriarchal nature of some African cultures. The name Granny Nanny grounds the technology within Caribbean pride and strength, eliciting a pan-Caribbean ethos within Midnight Robber’s alternate universe.
In addition to this, Jamaican folklore features in Midnight Robber as the “duppy” known as the rolling calf. A duppy can be defined as “the soul of the dead manifest in a variety of fabulous beasts, and also in the forms of real animals like lizards and snakes” (Leach 207). The notion of the duppy may have originated in Africa (Leach 207). The enslaved Africans would have brought the concept to Jamaica, and the folktale would have passed down through oral tradition.
Within Midnight Robber’s alternate universe, the rolling calf folktales from Toussaint inspire the colonists of New Half-Way Tree to name an animal after it. “That is why the first colonists did name the animal ‘rolling calf’, the rattling noise remind them of the scary Anansi stories their grannies tell about the Rolling Calf, a jumbie bull-calf all wrap up in chains, with eyes of fire, that does chase people travelling alone at night.” (Hopkinson 293). The name assigned to the animal accentuates the impact and resonance of stories. The exiles brought their stories from Toussaint to New Half-Way Tree just as the enslaved Africans managed to retain aspects of their culture through folktales. The use of Jamaica’s rolling calf adds to the pan-Caribbean ethos by mirroring Caribbean history and foregrounding the science fiction within the cultural mythology of Jamaica.
Trinidad and Tobago
While Jamaican influence is undoubtedly important to the overall Caribbean essence of the text, allusions to the history and culture of Trinidad and Tobago also contribute to the pan-Caribbean ethos. Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival is a significant cultural event that features prominently in the novel. After the French Revolution, several French planters came to Trinidad and Tobago and hosted masquerade balls. The enslaved used mas to express themselves and mock the whites. Carnival became a form of cultural expression and resistance for the enslaved, who had been stripped of their cultural identities. Carnival therefore became a defining aspect of their identity.
According to Nanette De Jong and Christian Mieves, “Carnival creates a world where acts of representation flourish: objects are liberated, however temporarily, from perceived definition. A piece of cloth transforms a boy into a dragon, a cardboard hat turns a man into a king” (7). Carnival’s freedom of expression and adaptability make it empowering to people. People from different groups can all participate and express themselves freely. Trinidad and Tobago’s multicultural landscape thrives in Carnival celebrations, as it does not belong solely to one group but to all. In Midnight Robber, depictions of Carnival are therefore significant in contributing to the pan-Caribbean ethos because of its historical and cultural significance.
On Toussaint and New Half-Way Tree, Carnival’s adaptable, dynamic and expressive nature is empowering and symbolic of the diversity and heritage of Caribbean colonisers. Carnival revelry on Toussaint encompasses calypso, mas and stick-fighting. Carnival contributes to the plot: it allows Antonio and Ione’s lover, Quashee, to express themselves within the confines of the stick-fighting competition. Carnival also inspired the name of one of Hopkinson’s most ferocious creatures on New Half-Way Tree, the mako jumbie. Most importantly, Toussaint’s Carnival gives Tan-Tan the opportunity to learn of the Midnight Robber, who lends his name to the novel’s title. Tan-Tan’s fasci- nation with the Midnight Robber comes full circle during New Half-Way Tree’s Carnival, where she confronts Janisette as the Robber Queen.
The Midnight Robber in Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival spins boastful and powerful tales of himself and his exploits. His speech, or “Robber talk,” imitates the slave master and is foregrounded by David Findlay’s poem “Stolen”, which prefaces Midnight Robber. The persona steals the antagonist’s language and uses it to empower himself. Robber talk can be likened to Edward K. Brathwaite’s “nation language” as “the Midnight Robber subverts upper-class Standard English, spoken by the former white ruling elite, and his language functions as a device to deceive as he bends and changes it to suit a Caribbean context” (Marshall 217). Robber talk also resembles Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s signifyin’, which is “a boasting, mocking playfulness in language, a type of linguistic dexterity and the ability to ‘show off’ with words” (Marshall 217), that is characteristic of rap battles in African American culture.
The Midnight Robber often boasts of a great or royal ancestry, which possibly inspired the title Robber King. The Robber King describes an identity which was lost because of slavery and speaks of his escape from the plantations, but not the New World (Joy 345-346). This character, with his Robber talk, forges a powerful identity in the New World with ties to Africa by empowering people who were once silenced. The Midnight Robber’s escape also serves as a form of wish fulfilment for the enslaved and their descendants, who lament lost ancestral ties. The Robber King’s story parallels Tan-Tan’s story of forced exile from Toussaint and later Junjuh. Tan-Tan even steals and builds a legendary reputation like the titular Midnight Robber. The Midnight Robber embodies the voices of the enslaved and their descendants throughout Caribbean history.
The Robber King’s female counterpart is the Robber Queen. While the Robber King empowered the black man, the Robber Queen empowers Tan-Tan and the oppressed black woman. The Robber Queen allows Tan-Tan to grapple with the horror of her sexual exploitation. It is the Robber Queen who defends Tan-Tan by killing Antonio. This violence is evocative of the enslaved black woman’s suffering on the plantation. The Robber talk empowers Tan-Tan by giving her the ability to speak after being disempowered and silenced. Tan-Tan’s Robber talk commands the crowd’s attention and overpowers Janisette’s accusations, as victorious rappers would in a rap battle. Tan-Tan’s empower- ing Robber talk is also cathartic as her split personality merges, showing the healing of her mental psyche. “Rough with emotion, her cracked voice came out in two registers, simultaneously. Tan-Tan the Robber Queen, the good and the bad, regarded Janisette with a regal gaze and spoke” (Hopkinson 325). The Robber Queen persona makes Midnight Robber a bildungsroman, as Tan-Tan grows and gains self-discovery by finding her voice. The creation of this identity from Carnival’s Midnight Robber contributes to the pan-Caribbean ethos as it attempts to address the trauma of black women throughout Caribbean history.
While Carnival characters are central to the narrative, there are also folkloric characters from Trinidad and Tobago, such as the douen that play an important role in the story. The term “douen” is used by the exiled humans to refer to the natives of New Half-Way Tree. In Trinidad and Tobago’s folklore, douen are the spirits of children who are not baptised. They are recognised by their triangular-shaped hats and feet, which are turned backwards. These lost souls lure living children away, making them lost as well. The naming by the humans of New Half-Way Tree’s indigenous civilisation evokes the sense of being lost, as the folkloric douen are lost souls. The humans’ naming of the indigenous civilisation without considering what they call themselves mirrors the way that the Europeans dubbed the indigenous Kalinago as Carib and Taino as Arawak. The humans even view the douen as inferior. Tan-Tan notices, for example, that the adults speak to Chichibud in the same way that they speak to her, as a child (Hopkinson 120). Janisette, like many exiles, is condescending and refers to Chichibud as a “nasty douen” (Hopkinson 137). The exploitation of the douen for manual labour in Junjuh adds to New Half-Way Tree’s reflection of the Caribbean’s colonial history.
It is noteworthy that the indigenous douen, mako jumbie and jumbie bird of Toussaint were destroyed in order to make the planet habitable for humans (Hopkinson 32). Like the douen, they were given names based on the colonisers’ Carnival and folkloric characters. The douen and these creatures have become extinct on Toussaint after colonisation mirroring the genocide of the indigenous civilisations of the New World and in this way evokes a pan-Caribbean ethos.
Aside from Carnival and folklore, aspects of several religious denominations in Trinidad have been referenced in Midnight Robber through the allusion to the goddess La Divina Pastora. This allusion is used to exaggerate the way that Chichibud speaks about his wife: “Chichibud does talk about he wife like she is the living goddess. Pastora Divina she-self come down to Earth” (Hopkinson 128). La Divina Pastora is revered by various religious denominations. “This Good Friday tradition of honouring the dark-skinned statue is mainly observed by Christians and Hindus, although the First Peoples are said to offer her devotion, too. Those of the Christian faith consider the statue as being of the Virgin Mary, while Hindus worship her as Supari Mai” (Persad). The Spanish name of La Divina Pastora denotes the Spanish influence on Trinidad prior to British colonisation. La Divina Pastora is another Trinidadian reference that lends to the creation of a pan-Caribbean ethos in Midnight Robber through its significance to the religious, cultural and historical landscape of the Caribbean territory.
Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana
The Indo-Caribbean people who went to Trinidad and Guyana are also referenced in Midnight Robber. When describing one of Ione’s lovers, the history of indentured labourers is recalled. “Jairam was a dougla boy, Indian and Euro blood from Shipmate Shiva that had settled two continents away. Jairam’s mammy was descended from the longtime ago East Indians, the ones who had crossed the Kalpani, the Black Water on Earth to go work their fingers to the bone as indentured labour in the Caribbean” (Hopkinson 49). Shipmate Shiva is named after the god Shiva, who is worshipped by Hindus who comprise a large part of the Indo-Caribbean population. This representation of Indo-Caribbean people further contributes to the pan-Caribbean ethos of Midnight Robber.
Jamaica and the Bahamas
Jonkanoo, a prominent expressive and dynamic celebration in the Bahamas and Jamaica, is celebrated on Toussaint. Jonkanoo grew out of the seasonal breaks that were granted during the Christmas period to the enslaved on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day (Reid 350). Jonkanoo surrounds the mythical royal figure of John Canoe or Conny. “John Conny was likewise known on the islands as a ‘personage’ who showed up as a king once a year, dressed in freakish attire, wild and weird in appearance—cow tails, animal head, boar’s tusks—cavorting in wild dances with a basket on his arm asking for handouts” (Reid 353). John Canoe is notable for outwitting the Dutch and sacrificing himself to kill his enemies (Reid 356-357). Jonkanoo challenges society’s power structures while also allowing people to express themselves. According to Peter Reed, Jonkanoo denotes “cultural difference, the sign of a New World pan-Africanism—the product of a history of forced migrations and slavery” (Reid 69). For Jamaica and the Bahamas, Jonkanoo is a significant part of their cultural identity and therefore captures the pan-Caribbean ethos of Midnight Robber.
Trinidad, Guyana, Jamaica and Suriname
Midnight Robber’s alternate universe has a halwa fruit, which is a reference unique to the Muslim ethnic group in the Caribbean. According to Nnedi Okorafor, halwa “originally means Arabian sweet meat” (quoted in Mukherjee). The Muslim community consists of both Indo-Caribbean and Afro-Caribbean people who dwell in Caribbean territories such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname and Jamaica (Warner-Lewis 259). Hopkinson’s representation of the Muslim ethnic group further reflects the Carib- bean’s multicultural landscape and the pan-Caribbean ethos of Midnight Robber.
Haiti
Haiti’s revolutionary hero Toussaint L’Overture is alluded to in the name of the planet, Toussaint, which provides comfortable living conditions and fosters equality and diversity. The planet resembles the conditions that L’Overture attempted to foster among the discordant groups within Haiti, which included the former enslaved and their former slave masters. Toussaint is a place where everyone can feel like they belong and have a home: “Time to remember the way their forefathers had toiled and sweated together: Taino Carib and Arawak, African, Asian, Indian even the Euro, though some wasn’t too happy to acknowledge that-there bloodline. All bloods flowing into one river, making a new home on a new planet” (Hopkinson 18). Science fiction allows the developing Caribbean to imagine a future of comfort through the fictional Toussaint.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Midnight Robber also alludes to Anacaona, a heroine celebrated by both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. According to Samuel M. Wilson, Anacaona was “a Taino queen who attained legendary status in narratives of anti-colonial resistance in Hispaniola during the early years of Spanish conquest. Anacaona, known as ‘Golden Flower’, is claimed by both Haitians and people of the Dominican Republic, since she was both the widow of Caonabo, chieftain of the cacique of Maguana (in present-day Dominican Republic), and sister to Bohechio, chieftain of the cacique of Xaragua (in the southern part of present-day Haiti)” (Boyle 188).
Tan-Tan asserts herself as Anacaona in her confrontation with Janisette: “Not woman, I name Tan-Tan, a ‘T’ and a ‘AN’; I is the AN-acaona, Taino redeemer” (Hopkinson 320). The reference strengthens the Robber Queen’s female agency, as she opposes injustice like Anacaona. Wilson has argued that research about the matrilineal Taino culture and society suggests that Anacaona may have been equal or even greater in power and status than her brother (Boyle 188). The comparison to Anacaona is also suitable since the powerful Robber Queen is not afraid or constrained by men. The reference to Anacaona and Taino culture reflects the multicultural Caribbean region and therefore adds to the pan-Caribbean ethos of Midnight Robber.
Grenada
Another significant figure in Midnight Robber is the Marryshow Corporation, which is responsible for bringing the settlers to Toussaint. The name “Marryshow” is an allusion to the Grenadian politician Theophilus Albert Marryshow. While the corporation bears his name, a calypsonian also named Marryshow is credited with facilitating Granny Nanny’s development of Nannysong (Hopkinson 51-52). Marryshow the calypsonian is responsible for the artificial intelligence; Marryshow the corporation is responsible for the colonisation of Toussaint. The allusion to the Grenadian politician foregrounds the Marryshow Corporation in Midnight Robber in a position of power as the coloniser of Toussaint. Marryshow the calypsonian maintains the power structures on Toussaint because of his contribution to the artificial intelligence which governs Toussaint.
Language
The language of Midnight Robber is also evocative of the pan-Caribbean with its blend of various English dialects. Despite not being a part of the Caribbean, America and England have had a major influence on the region. This influence is reflected in the language of the text: both of their standard varieties are present alongside Jamaican Creole English and Trinidadian Creole English. Joy believes that the combination of the languages allows for the creation of a hybridised language for the planets within Midnight Robber’s alternate universe. “Hopkinson mixes standard British and American English with Trinidadian and Jamaican creoles and thus, hybridizes the language as well” (Hopkinson 344). The Creole languages which are often oral rather than scribal set the tone of the tale by foregrounding it within the oral tradition of Caribbean culture. This is significant, as Midnight Robber showcases Eshu narrating Tan-Tan’s story to her unborn child, Tubman. Chichibud draws further attention to the languages spoken by the humans of New Half-Way Tree, “Anglopatwa, Francopatwa, Hispanopatwa, and Papiamento” (Hopkinson 95). These languages parallel the English-speaking, French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and Dutch-speaking territories of the Caribbean, highlighting language as an important aspect of their cultural identities. In this way, Hopkinson manages to accentuate the pan-Caribbean ethos of Midnight Robber.
History
Each Caribbean territory is unique in many ways. However, the colonial past is a commonality among them. The Caribbean shares a history of genocide, colonisation and enslavement that continues to haunt its people. While Midnight Robber draws on several unique aspects of certain Caribbean territories, this shared history of the region seeps into the story through the various allusions. The characters recognise the horrific history as illustrated in the difference drawn between the journey from Earth to Toussaint and that of the Middle Passage. “This is the right way to play Jonkanoo, the old-time way. Long time, that hat woulda be make in the shape of a sea ship, not a rocket ship, and them black people inside woulda been lying pack-up head to toe in they own shit, with chains round them ankles. Let the child remember how black people make this crossing, as free people this time” (Hopkinson 21). Hopkinson acknowledges Caribbean history while refashioning it through science fiction to empower the characters who are still troubled by the horrors that their ancestors suffered. Tan-Tan, a child born on Toussaint, is terrified when learning about the experience of the enslaved:
Tan-Tan squinched up her face at the nasty story. Crêche teacher had sung them that same tale. Vashti and Crab-back Joey had gotten scared. Tan-Tan too. For nights after, she’d dreamt of being shut up in a tiny space, unable to move. Eshu had had to calm her when she woke bawling. Nursie shut Ben up quick: “Shush now, don’t frighten the child with your old-time story. (Hopkinson 21)
The characters of Midnight Robber, including young Tan-Tan, commiserate with the past trauma and distressing history of Caribbean peoples. The illustration of this key part of Caribbean history contributes to the pan-Caribbean ethos of the story.
Science fiction allows Hopkinson to provide comfort and consolation for the trauma of slavery by imagining an ideal future for Caribbean people. The juxtaposition of the slave ship and the rocket ship allows for both an acknowledgement of history and a refashioning of it. “Tan-Tan’s rocket ship...rewrites the Middle Passage on the slave ship to the dystopian New Worlds as a space travel to a utopian New World outer space.” (Thaler 98). The event of Jonkanoo celebrates the consensual movement of black people as opposed to the forced crossing from Africa to the New World. Ingrid Thaler explains that, “instead of imagining the slave ship as a symbol of forced dislocation, exile, and displacement, its ‘shape’ is rejected and inverted to become the passage to freedom on the rocket ship” (Thaler 99). Consolation and catharsis are invoked when Tan-Tan names her child after Harriet Tubman, who fought against slavery. The name Tubman induces the catharsis and healing described by Eshu as in “Tubman the human bridge from slavery to freedom” (Hopkinson 329). Hopkinson’s treatment of the Caribbean’s shared history is significant to the pan-Caribbean ethos of Midnight Robber, especially as it recognises historical horrors, while attempting consolation and recovery through the imagining of a comfortable and technologically advanced future.
Distinguished Differences
The Caribbean has not lost its essence or ethos in the imagined future. The Caribbean has not become utterly assimilated into American culture and hegemony. The allusions to elements that are unique to each of the Caribbean territories allow for each territory to stand out and be represented, rather than be lost in the grouping of the overall term “Caribbean”. Capturing defining aspects of each territory allows them to shine. Their differences, even if they are small, allow them to be distinguished. Yet their similarities are also noted, identifying the Caribbean as a region without allowing the uniqueness of each territory to be lost. Given the fact that Midnight Robber has a Caribbean author, it manages to evoke a stronger pan-Caribbean ethos than one described by a writer not of the region, who may be unable to capture the distinctions among the territories and instead may resort to stereotypes.
The pan-Caribbean ethos of Midnight Robber is manifested through the various elements that represent Caribbean territories. Caribbean territories share a history of slavery and colonialism. The region shares this with America. What separates Caribbean territories from America, and in turn each other, is their languages, unique cultural celebrations, distinct heroes and folkloric characters, all of which allow them to have an impactful presence within Midnight Robber. Each allusion has a certain resonance within the narrative as it invokes a Caribbean history and culture which allows Caribbean readers to identify with a futuristic science fictional alternate universe. The pan-Caribbean ethos is not simply evoked by any one Caribbean territory. It is not purely Jamaican because it is Hopkinson’s birthplace, nor is it solely central to Trinidad and Tobago because of the title. Both Caribbean territories, though undoubtedly prominent in the story, only partially contribute to the pan-Caribbean ethos. The pan-Caribbean ethos is further evoked by other Caribbean territories, such as Guyana, Suriname, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Grenada, and the territories that are encompassed by the reference to the various languages. It is the presence of cultural and historical aspects from numerous Caribbean territories that encapsulates the pan-Caribbean ethos in Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber.
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