Race Identity in School Days

For me, Chamoiseau's novel was hard to get used to at first, but once I did, I really enjoyed the language and the details of Chamoiseau's narration. What stood out to me, however, was the race/cultural identities that were threatened during his school days.

The students in Chamoiseau's class were constantly criticized for their use of Creole and Creole is viewed as backwards by the teachers. Chamoiseau and his fellow classmates ignore the rules about speaking only French, and still speak in Creole when interacting with each other. The desire for the students to learn and speak French comes from the idea of "whiteness" being the ideal to strive for. "Whiteness" is associated with European ideals and mannerisms, so in taking away Creole from the children, the teachers were taking away part of their culture and their identity.

The introduction to French in the classroom is a direct intrusion to the narrator's lifestyle and his culture, and those around him. The stability of Chamoiseau's world is threatened by his Teacher demanding he gives up Creole, a part of his identity and culture, for French, something that is seen as superior because it is a language based in Europe. The students are belittled for not speaking the dialect of French that is seen to be academically "superior". Chamoiseau states that "-really speaking-to say something, give vent to an emotion, express yourself, think things over, talk for any length of time- required the Mama-tongue that...was proving useless in school" (48), and this is the first glimpse into Chamoiseau's younger self's struggle between his identity and what is expected of him.

The Teacher, the man who is responsible for enforcing this attitude, comes from the same societal structure as Chamoiseau himself. Creole is in his roots, yet he demands all of his students to focus on becoming more like educated individuals, or more like white people- in his mind. His merciless bullying focuses on the narrator's schoolmate, who calls himself Big Bellybutton, and his name itself is a direct violation to the Teacher's teachings. Big Bellybutton is his Creole nickname, and in not calling himself by his given name, Big Bellybutton is demonstrating his ignorance- in the mind of the Teacher. Big Bellybutton represents everything that is wrong and backwards about the narrator's culture. That is why it is so surprising to the Teacher when Big Bellybutton is mathematically a genius. Chamoiseau states that the Teacher couldn't believe Big Bellybutton's intelligence "-because that gift for figures didn't jibe with the rest, with his hayseed air, his blackblackblack skin, his kinky wool, his flat nose, his Creole accent...-" (78), and in Big Bellybutton being so mathematically intelligent, he is proving everything the Teacher was saying wrong. Big Bellybutton overcomes the stigma surrounding his culture and social construct to rise as high as the lighter-skinned boys who are the Teacher's favorites and who represent what is seen as the "ideal student" in the eyes of the Teacher.

The lighter-skinned boys, the ones who have had the opportunity to speak and learn French, are not just the favored ones in the eyes of the Teacher. The whole academic institution values the European ideal over their own culture, and enforce their opinions on the students. The lighter-skinned boys are put on a pedestal and are safe from the same punishments that their classmates must go through. Their stakes are not as high and they do not have to work as hard to survive in the classroom setting. This favoritism in the classroom is also teaching a different lesson to the children- that the lighter-skinned boys are the ones who will succeed, while the darker-skinned boys are the ones who will fall because of stereotypes surrounding skin color and how European ideals have blinded members of their own society, so not even in their own homes will darker-skinned boys be seen on the same level as their lighter-skinned classmates.

The third person point of view allows Chamoiseau to remain somewhat distant from the erasure of his racial/cultural identity as a child. But there are some instances where Chamoiseau's narration slips from third into the first person, and at one point, even second person. The second person creates even more distance between the reader and the prose, but Chamoiseau himself is directly in the narrative. The reader is distanced from the sprawling streets Chamoiseau (the narrator) finds himself walking, but in distancing the reader from the prose, Chamoiseau is able to reconnect with his roots that only he is familiar with. The switch to "you" on page 95 signals Chamoiseau's attempt to reconnect with his childhood and to keep his identity to himself.

Best,
Dani