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Sam Selvon
Sam Selvon
Selvon’s best stories written throughout his lifetime and pulled from various different literary
works. Selvon is a key figure of the West Indian Literary Renaissance because he opened the
door for West Indian literature to gain an international audience while inspiring and influencing
many well known Trinbagonian writers through his characterization, his humor and the “calypso
ballad” style while also criticizing the ethnic division in the caribbean using his experience as a
Selvon engages in characterization that focuses on the struggles of life and people’s
reactions to them and seeks to highlight both the strength and weaknesses of his characters which
make them feel authentic and relatable. Such an example can be observed in the short story The
Village Washer where the characters of Ma Lambee and Ma Procop are introduced. Ma Procop
abilities and diligent work ethic as a woman who had endured the hardships of slavery were
emphasized before he gave any consideration of her physical attributes. This creates the surface
of her characterization which is only then expanded upon with distinctive physical characteristics
like her knees that were described as being “bent like a bow”. However, her true character is
revealed only in her reactions. First, her reaction to the War saw Ma Procop diminishing her
standards of handiwork and raising her prices in order to take advantage of her customers.
Selvon's portrayal of Ma Procop subtly implies her greediness and unkindness, without explicitly
stating it. She was never described as greedy or unkind by Selvon, only her actions and reactions
were put on display for the reader to find characterization. This style of characterization was
chosen by Selvon due to his interest in people’s reactions as mentioned in his interview with
Kenneth Ramchand where he stated “I would say that my interest would lie more in my
characters' reactions to issues and situations than in the issues themselves.(1982)”. A character’s
reactions show a deeper level of characterization that cannot be reproduced through the use of
flowery language and surface level description thus creating characters that are more authentic.
from another town and eventually takes all of Ma Procop’s customers due to her superior service
and general kindness. Unlike Ma Procop’s reaction to the war of being selfish and greedy, Ma
Lambee reacts with kindness and selflessness to the village. The contrasting responses exhibited
by the two characters exemplify the concept of conflicting attributes typically attributed to a
characters successfully surpass the conventional roles of a protagonist and antagonist, emerging
as genuine individuals.
Selvon would portray profound societal concerns such as immigration, employing a blend
of humour and the distinctive "calypso ballad" style. He deviates from the conventional method
of addressing grave societal matters with a tone of seriousness and sincerity, opting instead to
tackle these subjects with a touch of humor, a choice that is then substantiated by his “calypso
ballad” writing style. The emergence of this writing style can be attributed to its resemblance to
the characteristics commonly associated with calypsos as Susheila Nasta describes the oral
calypsonian ballad as “ well known for its use of a subversive irony, the melodramatic
exaggeration of farcical anecdotes, racial stereotyping, repetition for dramatic effect and the
inclusion of topical political material(2012)" which are all elements present in Selvon’s short
story Down the Main. The focus of this narrative does not lie on the political subject of
immigration; rather, it centers on the characters' approaches in addressing this matter. This
manner of promiscuity towards subject matters is also a prevalent element in calypsos as many
songs are known to “dance around the topic”. Similarly, the story exhibits the presence of racial
stereotyping through the use of character names such as Ling Ping, a Chinese shopkeeper, and
Lalsingh, an Indian. This stereotyping is used not to offend but rather to add humour to the story
There are many more instances of Selvon applying calypso elements in this story such as in the
irony of Fredrick underpaying Enrique when he promised he would not but Subsequently, Selvon
and appealing to the majority of readers. It is this ability to demonstrate a deep understanding of
a topic in a way that is humorous and easily understood by the masses that is common in Calypso
and praised by Birblalsingh when they said “what one misses of intellectual interest and
technical control in Selvon's work, one gains in humor, compassion and ultimately
pathos(1977)”.
Selvon leverages his personal struggle with his Caribbean identity in England to advocate
for the creation of a cohesive national identity and to lend his support towards this cause. Despite
the presence of ethnic divisions within the Caribbean, namely Indo-Caribbean and Afro-
Caribbean, these divisions are not apparent to outsiders who perceive both groups simply as
Caribbean. Selvon shows his Caribbean experience with such division in his short story Three
Into One Can't Go where he portrays the character of Changoo, who is of Indian descent and
who struggles to find his place in a society that is dominated by Afro-Caribbean culture. This
story mostly criticizes the segmented and isolated population of Trinidad and Tobago citizens at
the time as seen in his other short stories like Holiday in Five Rivers where the village was
mostly made up of Indo-Trinidadians. In contrast, his stories that take place in England show no
such ethnic division between characters such as in Calypso in London where the St. Vincent
Afro-Caribbean character MangoHead is friends with two Trinbagonian characters of Afro and
Indo Caribbean descent. Hyacinth M. Simpson sees Selvon’s London-based fiction as “Selvon’s
investment in collective national and regional identities as opposed to more singularly ethnic- or
varying origins and ethnicity are perceived the same by the Englishmen as they collectively
strive to combat the impending loss of their cultural identity to the English. Selvon shows this
assimilation of culture through the character’s language use where most dialogue is written in
standard English except for a few Caribbean lexicals like “Limin”. On the other hand, Selvon
shows the resistance that is possible through unity when all three characters came together to
Ultimately, Selvon crafted a unique writing style that captured the attention of many
Caribbean and foreign readers while also inspiring many writers. The incorporation of both
humor and the components of calypso within his literary works enabled him to construct
storylines that addressed significant societal matters in a manner that was both pleasurable and
effortlessly comprehensible for readers. Many of his characters are distinguished not by mere
adjectives or descriptions, but rather by their actions, thereby enhancing their genuineness.
Utilizing his unique perspective as a Caribbean individual residing outside of the region, he
Houlden, Kate. Sam Selvon's "The Lonely Londoners" (1956), White Sexual Desire and the
Calypso Aesthetic. Journal of West Indian Literature, vol. 20, no. 2, 2012, pp. 24–37.
Simpson, Hyacinth M. “Is all o’we one?”: Creolization and ethnic identification in Samuel
Selvon’s “Turning Christian." The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 53.1 (2018): 169-185.
Birbalsingh, Frank. Samuel Selvon and the West Indian Literary Renaissance. ARIEL: A Review
of International English Literature 8.3 (1977).
Selvon, Samuel. Sam Selvon talking: a conversation with Kenneth Ramchand. Canadian
Literature 95 (1982): 56-64.