A Plot Summary of Merle Hodge's Novel "Crick Crack Monkey" Essay

When the Caribbean was "discovered" by Columbus in 1492 the Europeans quickly invaded the area. With the invasion came their way of life. The Europeans eventually killed off the natives of the Caribbean and thus needed to import new labor. With that came the African American and the African American culture. The Europeans would have nothing to do with the Africans way of life and language. "Europeans insisted that the language should be only that of European" (Brathwaite 627). Even though the blacks were forbidden to speak and express their ways of life, the two cultures (African American and European) slowly began to merge. "The African's language was influencing the way in which the Europeans spoke their own language" (Brathwaite 628). Edward Brathwaite addresses how the educational system in the Caribbean did not notice these various languages existed. Instead the educational system enforced the European language "and the contours of an English heritage" (Brathwaite 628). Novelist Merle Hodge writes in her novel Crick Crack Monkey about a child in the Caribbean who enrolls into school. Hodge illustrates just what Brathwaite's description of a typical Caribbean school is and how the Europeans enforced their language and heritage.Crick Crack Monkey begins with Tantie, the narrator's aunt, taking her niece to school. When they get to the school there are crowds of people protesting to let them in. The crowds where told by a man by the name of Mr. Thomas that the school was full. I presume that the school wasn't full at all, but rather racist towards blacks and would not let them enroll. Tantie as well as the rest of the crowd moved on to the RC (Private Roman Catholic) school, but there too was a sign outside of the entrance gate that said the school was full. A nun stood behind the gate praying with a regretful smile on her face. "The nun swayed on and smiled regretfully, as if she had been wound...

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