TransAtlantic is a particularly haunting version of Douglass’ time in Ireland, building on academic texts of his time there and Douglass’ own reflections. There is something of the rainy, foggy mythos of Ireland that permeates the text, like the weight and presence of your clothes when they get damp. Though Douglass feels free there, not chased by people who would place him back in bondage (or very likely worse), he is still heavy — the memory of his burdens, both his own past and his visions for the future of his people, dowsing and permeating his being like the cold of Dublin, the “huddled city.” (McCann, 49) The juxtapositions of Douglass’ moments of freedom and moments of weight are striking within the text and interact well with one another to create a sense of Douglass’ inbetweenness, as we talked about in class. He cannot be just Douglass. He is not a man for himself. Rather he becomes an emblem for his people and the Irish people, both a hero and a specimen. In McCann’s text Douglass wonders to himself if he is “just a curio” (McCann, 55) to the Irish, some strange other to be stared at behind glass. In class we talked about how this otherness may have more to do with his Americanness than his race, but even putting someone on a pedestal places them apart, and the Douglass of McCann’s text very clearly feels put on show — or at least that he must tread very, very carefully and always be his best self. This edge he walks, the line of inside outsider, is key to the placelessness he develops in Ireland and also seems to be the calling card of participation in the Circum-Atlantic. The question of identity, place, and home and how they relate are central to this conception of the Atlantic and it will be interesting to see how other literary figures attempt to find their place in the crossing of that water.
Gulliver and Belonging
This week I thought a lot about Gulliver as a reputable and trustworthy character. While relatively neutral in part one, I found Gulliver to be very unlikeable in part four. This was mostly due to his rejection of his family and all of humanity as he comes to believe he is above them after his time with the Houyhnhnms. Is this forgivable? Gulliver spurns his wife and children to the point of only letting his wife eat all the way across the table from him. He cannot stand the smell of his wife or the sight of his children. But, Gulliver rejects them because he has no home. He is constantly on the move, feeling out of place where-ever he ends up. With the Lilliputians, he is a giant unable to be sustained by their society. To the Houyhnhnms, he is a yahoo – a kind of pet for them to play and converse with but never fully relate to. While this does not fully excuse Gulliver’s rejection of his family and the rest of humanity, it helps me understand why he makes this ultimate decision. If he never feels at home, how can he reintegrate himself within society without a certain sense of trust and companionship?
Gulliver is very similar to Helga Crane in Quicksand. Quicksand is about a young biracial woman who struggles to find a home as she moves between America and Denmark. After being rejected by her European relatives, Helga moves schools, communities, and countries, always feeling as though she is in-between or out of place. She doesn’t fit in with the strict atmosphere in the school she teaches in, Harlem’s rigid ideas of race, or the lavish Denmark lifestyle. She ends up in an unhappy marriage and fails to find fulfillment in every move she takes. This novel has a very pessimistic outlook, matching the tone of Gulliver’s Travels. Helga and Gulliver both end up unhappy without a home or family, due to their constant movement and rejection. Looking at Gulliver through the lens of Helga Crane, I can understand his rejection of humanity as not just thinking he is “above”, but that he does not belong.
Questioning “Proximity” and Legitimacy in the Atlantic
In Gilroy’s “The Black Atlantic as a Counterculture of Modernity,” he explores Martin Robinson Delany and his views and impacts on the Black community. He starts off by introducing Delany and claims that he is viewed as being more relevant or legitimate as he has a closer “proximity” to Africa than people such as Frederick Douglass. I am not sure, however, whether this added sense of legitimacy is justified, especially when the content of what Delany speaks about is considered. Delany proposes an idea that he and the Black community should ultimately seek to go back to Africa, or what he calls the “fatherland.” Delany’s notions of belonging and returning “home” are troubling, however, as he sees Africa from a viewpoint very similar to that of colonizers. He does not truly see Africa as home and would require multiple things to change before he would find it to be a suitable place to live. He thinks that simply going back to the place of his ancestors is not enough; one must bring that place up to speed with today’s world and craft it in order to make it a better fit. What’s most disturbing about this perspective is that it is similar to those same colonizers that ripped his ancestors from their home. Looking back on Delany’s viewpoints from today’s society, one can easily see how Delany’s ideas are problematic. His condescending views towards the African people and the inherent sexism that he feels the need to detail in his efforts should cause one to question whether he truly deserves to be privileged because of the proximity of his heritage.