An Explication Of Neala Bhagwansingh's Jumbie Daddy
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An Explication of Neala Bhagwansingh’s “Jumbie Daddy” “When I was four years old my father was a jumbie. I was the only one who knew. Mama said he was dead. That’s what she said that day when he walked out of our house. They were fighting as they always did and she chased him out the door and into the yard. She saw me when she came back in, sitting on the floor with my knees tucked under my chin. ‘Your father is dead, you hear!’ Mama’s nose flared. ‘He’s dead!’ Gramma had told me stories about jumbies who were people who had died but could walk about in the night. They lived in dark shadows and all the bad scary places. But my jumbie daddy was different. He walked about in the daytime. I’d see him standing by the shop on mornings,…show more content… The author opened a Pandora’s Box of issues that are predominately affecting the Caribbean for many generations. While the speaker does not directly state the connection between the bitterness that is displayed by the adults and its negative effects on the innocence of a child, this explication will reveal the underlying association between the both issues in relation to…show more content… At four years old, being able to say “Mama said he was dead!” can terrify a child simply because at that tender age, it is instilled by the authoritarian elders to believe what is told. Even though the speaker is not at the age to fully grasp the concept of death or a “jumbie,” the child still makes the connection that even though his/her mother said the father is dead, “I’d see him standing by the shop on mornings, waiting for me and then walking behind me all the way to school,” the child understands that if someone is dead but can still be seen, that would make them a “jumbie.” It is clear that the grandmother of this child encourages this belief, which is revealed in this line, “Gramma had told me stories about jumbies who were people who had…” The dysfunctionality of the child’s innocence continues to be exposed. “They were fighting as they always did and she chased him out the door and into the yard.”
Afro-Caribbean women are stereotypically known to be strict, angry, and bitter, especially towards their baby’s father. The bitterness is displayed even further when the grandmother expresses to the child that “we mustn’t talk to jumbies.” This is giving the child additional motivation to convince herself that her father is indeed a jumbie. In reality, the adults within the household are transferring their