brandon received his m.a. in English from the National University and currently serves as an Adjunct Instructor at Bryant & stratton university.
“Don’t you like strawberries? ‘no, and I don’t like daffodils either’”
You are reading: The day they burned the books
– jean rhys, “the day the books were burned
jean rhys
Dominican author Jean Rhys was fathered by a Welsh doctor and a Creole mother in the Caribbean in the early 20th century (Bozzini, Leenerts, p. 145). At the age of sixteen, she lived in Britain, and later married a Dutch poet and lived in Paris and Vienna for about 10 years. Rhys’s cultural background seeps into his stories and draws representations of his early childhood cultural values, methods of creating identity or autonomy, and unique social constructions of otherness. In Rhys’s short story “The Day the Books Burned,” a cultural tension emerges between Western and Caribbean values, identity, and otherness that were personally relevant to Rhys’s early life, growing up as a “colonial” ( or half white half non-white person).
eddie’s mixed race
In Rhys’s story, a British boy, Eddie, finds himself in a unique position in his Caribbean residence. his father mr. sawyer is an educated brit who hated the caribbean islands. his mother, mrs. Sawyer, however, is an educated woman of color who grew up in the Caribbean and embodied its cultural ideals. these ideals were in sharp contrast to mr. Sawyer’s Western ways of thinking that ultimately resulted in a strained and hate-filled relationship between them. Still, simply by examining the creation of the character’s unique situations, it’s pretty clear that Rhys drew on her own cultural experiences to contribute to the story because she, too, was born to “mestizo” parents in the Dominican Republic.
cultures in conflict
rhys must have seen firsthand the tensions between Western culture and Caribbean culture. these tensions between concepts are exemplified through his writing. for example, while mrs. sawyer has a general distaste for books, mr. sawmill gravitates towards them and accumulates them. ultimately the tension here is caused by a misunderstanding of what the books mean. To Mrs. Sawyer, the books are a symbol or reminder of her Western oppressors. to mr. sawyer, books are a symbol of the “fatherland” and of the western world. this distinction carries significant weight throughout the story.
cultural heritage and acculturation
before mr. Upon Sawyer’s death, Eddie seemed to identify with her mother’s Caribbean roots. for example, eddie makes this clear during a conversation with the narrator:
“I don’t like strawberries,” Eddie once said.
“don’t you like strawberries?”
“no, and I don’t like daffodils either. Dad is always talking about them. he says that here they lick the flowers in a cocked hat and I bet it’s a lie “(bozzini, leenerts, p. 147).
however, despite his cultural adaptation to the caribbean, after the death of his father, eddie began to gravitate towards books and to identify with his father. So while Eddie saw the books as a symbol or reminder of his father, Mr. Sawyer’s library also became an emblem of British nationality and Western culture within his Caribbean home; this was an object of identification incompatible with his mother’s culture. Perhaps he felt that way because he felt that books, like Britain, would infiltrate the home, the families’ consciousness, their Caribbean ways of life, threaten the colonial community, and ultimately contaminate the Eddie’s identification with his culture. inheritance in favor of the oppressors of him.
multicultural self-identity
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at the conclusion of rhys’s tale, eddie identifies with his father, hence the quote: “he was white as a ghost in his sailor suit, a bluish white even in the sunset, and the mockery of his father was attached to his face” (Bozzini, Leenerts, p. 149). Thus, after Eddie’s active act of defiance as opposed to his mother’s act of burning his father’s books, Eddie becomes symbolically completely white or completely western. thus, while eddie identifies with british culture, he is now also subject to seeing himself as a minority in the caribbean. this idea is exemplified in a conversation between eddie and the narrator, “who is white? ? damned few’” (bozzini, leenerts, p. 149).
a response from the reader
While I can’t personally relate to the Creole characters in rhys or even fully understand Caribbean culture, I can empathize with them. my family tree has a native american branch, and from my understanding of native american culture, i can understand why mrs. sawyer would burn mr. sawmill books; an act of rebellion through civil disobedience and cultural intolerance is a powerful tool to avoid conformity. Native Americans struggled against the oppressive forms of Western culture and stubborn Americanism for a long time; There is still a bad taste in most natives’ mouths about the many American exploitations of their culture.
Still, I can also relate to rhys’s British characters, perhaps even more strongly. i grew up in the united states, got used to western culture and always had an intense passion for books. during my first read i was naturally horrified by mrd. sawyer to burn mr. sawmill books. i felt sorry for eddie because i thought how much the books had changed my life and eddie was going to miss out on that learning and growing experience. after a second reading, I began to understand his perspective. Even so, though, I still identified more with Eddie and her father. and you and why?
references
bozzini, g. r., leenerts, c. a. (2001). Literature Without Borders: International Literature in English for Writing Students. the day the books were burned (ed. 1, pp. 145, 147, 149) upper saddle river, new jersey: prentice hall.
© 2015 instructor riederer
comments
fernando ruwani on April 13, 2020:
Very interesting and good structures have been used in the language
trinika on July 21, 2019:
very useful thanks
nikki on May 03, 2018:
I don’t think mildred is the mother. she is just a servant. I’m Mr. Sawyer and Mrs. Sawyer
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muhammad din khan on March 28, 2018:
the white man’s burden
constance owens on February 22, 2017:
I am very confused by your comment, since mildred is a servant in the sawyer’s house and a different person from mrs. sawyer. His comment tends to conflate the two as if Mildred is the lady. sawyer. I’m not sure why you would infer that the two are the same person. now, i have a theory that mrs. sawyer could be mr. sawyer’s slave with whom she shared a child.
gilbert arevalo of hacienda heights, california on october 8, 2015:
interesting hub brandon, it’s terrible to deprive a child of an education. but the light book burning makes the tale stand out.
lori colbo from united states on september 23, 2015:
excellent review of this book. I will definitely read this book.
stella vadakin of 3460nw 50 st bell, fl32619 on September 20, 2015:
hi brandon, this sounds like a very interesting story. I think most cultural differences could add stress to any family. I believe in the old Italian way, don’t mix cultures, marry your own guts. good center, stella
emese fromm of the desert on September 16, 2015:
interesting center. although I never read the story you refer to, now I feel like I will have to. I created a mixed culture in my family, I’m not quite sure how my children feel about it, although under no circumstances would I agree with any character, real or fictional, who would burn a book. I would probably understand the underlying issues, however burning books, in my opinion, is never an answer to anything. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this story.
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