Silencing

Silencing Women & Silencing the Past

• Silencing Women

• Silencing the Past

• The Evolution of TSB

• Generations represented in TSB

• Mona's journey to revolutionary

• Cecile Fatiman & Gainder

The Swinging Bridge

Title & Allegory

• Identity

• Carelessness

• Mona's connection with Indian history

Oppression

General, Cultural, Gender, & Sexual

• Migration & Oppression: 

Alex Graham and Kayli Smendec

   The term “double diaspora” used in this section refers to the initial immigration of Indians, Africans, and Asians to Trinidad, as well as the later migration of Indo-Trinidadians to America and Canada.  The initial migration to Trinidad across the kala pani was a journey to start a new life free from India’s caste system.  However, these groups were enslaved and indentured for sugar plantations.  The second migration, from Trinidad to North America, occurred after Eric Williams came to power and independence was granted.  These groups migrated with the similar purpose of escape and expected new opportunities. 

         Families who participated in the double diaspora over the course of generations never found freedom.  Rather, they were oppressed wherever they went.  Our analysis focuses largely on the oppression of these marginalized groups.  We assert that these groups suffered from oppression on the basis of culture, gender, sexuality, and class.  Furthermore, we analyze these forms of oppression through the lens of intersectionality, which is the study of intersections between systems of oppression.  Therefore, we view oppression as a result of a combination of different, yet interdependent factors.

• Intersectionality: 

Berta Gonzalez and Kayli Smendec

     Intersectionality, the study of intersections between systems of oppression, is a critical concept to examine in Espinet’s The Swinging Bridge. In “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color,” Kimberlé Crenshaw presents intersectionality as a means of theorizing the reality that colored women experience oppression that cannot be explained by racism and sexism separately. Rather, women of color experience oppression through multi-faceted, intersecting dimensions on both social and political levels. 

     One of the main problems that Crenshaw stresses is the widespread silence regarding domestic violence amongst women of color. She states that, “Some [women] worry that attempts to make domestic violence an object of political action may only serve to confirm such stereotypes and undermine the efforts to combat negative beliefs about the Black community” (Crenshaw 1253). Here, Crenshaw refers to the apprehension many women of color have that by reporting domestic violence and rape, they will contribute to the negative stereotype of the violent, hypersexual black man, thereby doing a disservice to the black community. This is a prime example of how intersectionality is at play; in such cases, black women are pressured to defend their race over their gender. The result from such cases, in Crenshaw’s words, is that, “...women of color can be erased by the strategic silences of antiracism and feminism” (1253). Conversely, feminism also contributes to such “strategic silences.” For example, Crenshaw recounts the case of a Latina woman who wanted refuge at a women’s shelter with her teenage son, fleeing from her husband’s threats to kill them. Because the woman was not proficient in English, the shelter refused to take her in. The son then agreed to translate for his mother, since he was fluent in English. However, the shelter still refused to accept the woman because, “utilizing the son was not an acceptable means of communication...since it further victimized the victim” (1263). In this case one can see the “absurdity of a feminist approach,” which fails to resolve the woman’s language barrier (1263). Consequently, the feminist shelter failed in their fundamental mission to provide a Latina woman assistance, leading to the imminent silencing of the woman because of race and ethnic limitations. Although the examples above are just two out of innumerable cases and dimensions from which intersectionality can affect women of color, the intersecting oppressions women of color face lead to their marginalization and the suppression of their voices. 

     Similarly to Crenshaw’s model, The Swinging Bridge illuminates the intersecting forms of oppression that its Indo-Caribbean women characters experience and which lead to the vicious cycle of silence prevalent in Mona’s maternal history. The novel narrates the story of families who, over generations, experience a double diaspora – first migrating from India to the Caribbean and then to Canada—without ever finding full freedom or citizenship. The first generation found themselves enslaved by sugar plantations, and the later generation found themselves ostracized from society. Our analysis focuses on the oppression of the marginalized group of Indo-Caribbean women. We assert that these groups suffered from oppression on the basis of culture, gender, sexuality, and class in an interconnected manner. 

• Cultural Oppression: 

Kayli Smendec

        Related to the double diaspora, the immigrations of Indians, Africans, and Chinese to both Trinidad and Canada resulted in the marginalization and cultural oppression of these groups.  These three groups were oppressed by society due to their “deviating” races and cultural practices.  In Canada, Mona observed: “Why did people leave the place they were born for an illusion of a better life?  I wondered.  All of us migrants, the Chinese man, the black waiter, Da-Da never finding a place here, Babs turning into a brittle magazine girl, Kello dying – why did anyone leave?” (Espinet 26).  These diverse cultures became intertwined in Trinidad and Canada.  Yet, they remained isolated and oppressed in both places, raising the question of whether or not immigration was worthwhile.  Da-Da ultimately concluded that immigration was a mistake, largely due to the cultural oppression that his family experienced and observed on a daily basis.

        As Indian immigrants, Mona’s family experienced cultural oppression in both Trinidad and Canada.  Since the time of Gainder, whose Hindu songs were silenced, progress had not been made.  Indian traditions were kept secret within the family and not publicized due to the perception of “backwardness.”  Therefore, the Indian families were forced into a practice of cultural assimilation.  They converted to Presbyterian religion.  Indian cuisine was considered a source of shame.  In Trinidad, being Indian was stigmatized.  In Canada, Mona saw the message: “Keep Canada White.”  There, looking anything but white was stigmatized.

Africans were another oppressed cultural group.  Represented by the Creole culture, Africans in Trinidad were perceived negatively.  Although Mona’s family identified with the Creole culture, stigma was still attached to African descent.  The term “coolie” was frequently used in a derogatory manner.  Da-Da expressed extreme disapproval toward a black male companion for Mona.  Therefore, he contradicted himself as even he, who stood for equality, participated in the oppression of Africans.

         As proven by “Encountering Cultures: Beyond the Counter: The Chinese Shop in Context,” by Victor Chang, the Chinese were integral elements of Caribbean society through their shops despite the isolationist attitude toward them.  Chinese shops are featured in various works, such as Susan Proudleigh and Tree of Life.  The prevalence of setting fire to Chinese shops is symbolic of rebellion, as portrayed by Chang’s “A Summer’s Tale.”  In the context of the double diaspora, the Chinese shop fire in The Swinging Bridge (92) may relate to the rebellious acts of fire to the sugar cane fields and the symbolic dance both occurring in other parts of the novel.  Mona also observed the isolation of the Chinese in Canada.

• Gender Oppression:

Kayli Smendec   

     Next, the theme of gender oppression focuses on the oppression of women.  Interconnected with cultural oppression, we focus on the oppression of Indian women.  Ramabai Espinet is an Indo-Trinidadian woman just like Mona.  The element of feminism is strong throughout the novel.  “The Invisible Woman in West Indian Fiction” highlights the marginalization of women in both society and literature, also through the historical archive.  In this source, it is made clear that Espinet had a powerful feminist influence and aspired to overcome gender oppression in the text.

        In The Swinging Bridge, women stood secondary to men.  Mona works for a women’s film company.  Yet, the film company still silences women.  Mona rejected the idea of domesticity.  Her relationship with Roddy was based on the ideal of love.  However, she did not intend to move in with him or marry him despite his wishes.

          Domestic violence against women occurs in the novel through wife beatings and the concept of the wife murder, which is later portrayed through carnival.  The relationship between Gokool and his young wife, Jasmine, best portrays domestic violence.  As illustrated, “Gokool beat her regularly, she said, and most times, even after the beating, he would force her. Force?...None of it made sense to me, especially the way Jasmine complained daily about his beatings and about being forced at night while she continued to look so pretty and so happy” (89).  Jasmine was regularly beaten and raped by her own husband, yet society conditioned her to act happy any way.

         Through the novel, Espinet told the untold stories of multiple generations of women.  The story began with Gainder and ended with Mona.  Although women were repeatedly marginalized and confined to domesticity, every female figure revealed a greater purpose in the novel, whether it be exposing sexual oppression or exemplifying the issue of silencing.  Mona described Muddie as being "the force holding together the fragments" (40).  It could be argued that women have the most powerful influence over the family generation after generation.  The women experienced a complex, but intimate bond among each other.  This powerful feminine relationship ultimately interconnects women: Ramabai Espinet, Gainder, Grandma Lil, Muddie, Mona, and all women who have been oppressed and silenced.

         The education of women in the novel is an indirect form of gender oppression.  Women, Indian women in particular, were educated differently than men.  They raised to believe that education was their only form of escape.  Yet, the education system was dominated by patriarchic ideals.  Indian parents were extremely strict with their young daughters, instilling in them the importance of education as a form of advancement and reprimanding them for “slackness,” which entails boys, especially boys of African descent.  Women were also trained to repress their sexuality.

• Sexual Oppression:

Christine Csencsitz and Kayli Smendec

    Sexual oppression is a direct form of gender oppression. Recurring sexual violence relates to the themes of feminism and sexuality. The first instance we see involves Muddie and Uncle Baddall. Mona, a young child at the time, observes the attempted attack on her mother through a hole in the floor at her grandmother’s house. Mona describes her mother’s appearance as quite different from her “classy” Church-going demeanor. At the time of the attack, Muddie looked “wild, desperate, squirming and wriggling in his grasp as Baddall bent and tried to kiss her” (chapter 2). Ultimately, Muddie fights Baddall off and leaves the room. Muddie doesn’t say a word about the incident. Muddie’s silence—an unquestioning silence, at that—seems to, perhaps, be illustrative of the time and her generation; sexual violence and attempted rape, as well as actualized rape, were things that happened but were not talked about.

       Contrast this with Mona’s own experience of attempted rape and sexual violence. A few pages after the narrator’s account of her mother’s incident, we are given a rather lengthy expose on “the day [Mona] escaped from rape and probably murder, although Muddie never used those words about the incident” (chapter 2). The abduction and attempt pushed upon the young narrator were scarring and traumatic, but what is most interesting about this account is its relationship in comparison to Muddie’s own attempt. Muddie says nothing about Baddall’s actions, but Mona tells her mother straight away about the man who took her. Mona is not predisposed to silence; she sees that a crime has been perpetrated against her and she feels the need to speak out. Mona is silenced, however, by her mother, who seems to be more concerned about her daughter’s reputation than her emotional state.

       One may argue that these diverse reactions are a product of the differences in generation. Muddie grew up in an era where rape and sexual violence were not spoken of; they were a source of shame and something to be hidden away. This stigma exists in some ways today, but, comparatively and as a whole, such violence is more often spoken of—or at least acknowledged—and reported to authorities. Mona’s experience seems to have fallen somewhere in between these two extremes—that of Muddie’s silence and today’s relative openness.

        Like so many other things in Mona’s life, with this violence she is, again, situated in a type of double diaspora, both socially and temporally. Socially, her situation is precarious not only because she is a woman, but because she is an Indo-Caribbean immigrant—a classification from which a whole slew of social issues arise, as we see play out later on with the incident with Da-Da and the dress, along with her father’s racial issues with her teenage boyfriend. Temporally, Mona’s generation is a type of bridge between the old and the new—Muddie’s silence and contemporary openness. 

        Sexuality determined one’s respectability.  Mona and her friends expressed curiosity about sexuality starting at a very young age.  Yet, their sexuality was repressed by society.  Later in the novel, the young girls rebelled and formed the “Dirty Skirts Club.”  The notion of sexuality was also explored across cultures.  While sexual relations across different cultures were prominent, it was oppressed.  Furthermore, homosexuality was considered a stigma.  Kello exemplified the stigma against homosexuality through the revealing of his AIDS and partner, Matthew.  Kello only came out about his sexuality to Babs and Mona.  He felt obligated to lie and tell people that he had lymphoma rather than AIDS.  On numerous occasions, Mona questioned what others would think, emphasizing the oppression of sexuality in society in both Trinidad and Canada.