Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - Judit Molnár: The Spatio-Temporal Dimension of Diasporic Discourse from the Carrebian on the Canadian Literary Scene

revealing essential dichotomies he was brought up amongst and which have deeply penetrated his psyche. The novel's basic theme is education. The very school and the church have become the places to describe the colonial space. I shall eleborate on these places

, the way they form a space. It is only through "proper'' education that one could move up in the caste-ridden society of Barbados, based on class and race. Clarke happily compiled with his mother's wish; "Go 'long, boy and learn

! Learning going make you into a man." (5) His mother did not want him to miss out on what she could never have hence her wholehearted support. In the discursive narrative, built on association rather than chronology, we move in and out of different educational institutions primarily schools and the church. The British school-system that was imported to Barbados and the Anglican Church have had long-lasting effects on Clarke. After primary school where flogging was in the centre of teaching, Clarke happily immersed himself in Western culture avidly reading Keats, Byron, Shelley, Dickens, the classics, studying Latin, French and becoming familiar with British history. Years later he clearly saw the one-sidedness of the knowledge acquired in Barbados. I knew all about the Kings; the Tudors, Stuarts and Plantagenets; and the Wars of the Roses; but nothing was taught about Barbados. We lived in Barbados, but we studied English society and manners. (72) Clarke's devotion to the literary history of Britain became stronger and stronger. He lived through the important events in the history of the Empire. I was not a "History Fool": I just loved and cherished my past in the History of England book. I did not use it as a stepping stone to the Civil Service or the Department of Sanitary Inspection. I decided instead to live it, to make it a part of me. (73) The boys' brains were filtered with the idea that everything Englishmade was superior. To acquire knowledge was important because it led the way to possess wealth coming from outside into the country: "We were the English of Little England. Little black Englishmen." (52) So, they tried to imitate English accents, but ironically enough: 207