Abeng

“This is a book about the time which followed on that time. As the island became a place where people lived. Indians. Africans. Europeans.”

This quote from the beginning of the novel introduces a slightly colloquial style reminiscent of Jamaican English. It introduces the idea that the experiences of all the groups living there shaped Jamaican history, rather than giving precedence to the European version of events. This passage also re-frames the concept of history as a whole, implying that a person’s view of time has limits and that momentous events have been happening long before the arrival of humans. 

“It was as if the island was host to some ripe sweet plague. Because of the visitation, peppermint and chocolate sales had dropped off.”

This quote sets the stage for the narrative. The description of mango season as a plague suggests that it is not an entirely positive event. This description also establishes an indirect connection between Jamaican society and the concept of sickness.

“It seemed that English people must sing softer—or not at all—and that the climate of that place—damp and dreary—surpassed the clear light and deep warmth of Jamaica. They had always thought their island climate a gift; the harpsichord told them different. The schoolteacher advised the congregation to tone down their singing, to consider the nuances of harmony and quiet—but this didn’t work.”

This quote is a metaphor that reveals some of the control mechanisms used by the British in their project of colonizing Jamaica. The local population learns subjective opinions as facts and the colonizers expect them to fit in with these ideas despite the fact that the island context is fundamentally different from the English one. The description of the Jamaican climate as inferior because it is not like the British one, for example, applies to the supposition of other aspects of life in the novel as well: social structure, customs,