After a very hectic week, I decided to take off for the weekend with Breadfruit by Célestine Vaite. Initially I thought this was a novel coming out of our local 'breadfruit land' - Westmoreland, Jamaica. Little did I know that I was about to spend 334 pages travelling the customs and stories characterising islandlife in Tahiti, some 2,800 miles away. I came head on with my own stereotypes, rode them through until they crashed and burned. My experience on this faraway island brought me up close and personal with characters I could appreciate, understand and relate to because of our similarities in climate, hardships of island living, colonial history, duality of religion and language and of course, love and family relationships. My finds proved essentially that Jamaica may just be a pinch off of Tahiti that got distributed somewhere on the other side of the world.
A breadfruuit tree is a very nurturing tree that gives its fruit as food that can provide for many families over and over. In fact, breadfruit is a staple food item as are potatoes, rice and flour in some cultures. They are also known to come in at least two varieties - white heart (core) and yellow heart (core) - with the latter having a sweeter, more palatable and succulent flavour.
The tree is also known to weather many devastating storms. A breadfruit will stay content hanging from a branch until it is full. When it gets too heavy however, it comes crashing down without warning, unexpectedly and with incredible force.
The breadfruit tree is pretty much symbolic of the relationship between the main characters Pito and Materena. Materena is an expressive woman who shows her love with openness, tenderness, patience and endurance. When Materena sees Pito for the first time, she immediately falls in love with him and eventually bears him three children. Although Pito has 'man' up to his obligation of providing for his family materially, he is very critical of Materena, caustic even (calls her "stupid bitch woman") and shows no emotion of love and appreciation. He hates the stupid love songs and love movies that she adores and is quite content with their de facto relationship which has now spanned 13, 14+ years.
One night after one of Materena's love movies, Pito comes home drunk and in his stupor proposes marriage to Materena. Materena knows that she cannot take this drunken proposal seriously but it strikes a desire within her that only gets brighter and brighter. She secretly starts to plan her wedding - getting quotes for the music, gifts, ride and cake. As the months pan out however, she realises that Pito doesn't want to be married at all and that in fact, that he doesn't love her and eventually lets go of the fantasy of being married. It all weighs on her and she finds herself becoming very emotional even depressed. Just when it seems that Materena has let go of the fantasy, through some misunderstanding, like a falling breadfruit, Pito is suddenly hit with agonizing fear of losing Materena and so he doesn't rest off proposing to Materena until she gives him her hand in marriage.
The relationship between Materena and Pito bring to the fore issues of gender and the expected role of man and woman; values of marriage, love relationships and family life. While for much of the novel Pito is quite caustic and appears as the last man any woman would want to find herself with in a relationship, Materena is admittedly his match. Though she is often wounded by his criticisms, she knows how to disarm him either with her tenderness, nurturing goodness or just by putting her foot down. She knows how to gauge situations with Pito and this in the end forces Pito to recognise that she is in fact a good woman. The presence of Cousin Lily (known for her sexual freedom)who appears only in reported speech contrasts all the women who appear in the novel. Her presence raises the relevance of perseverance in de facto dead-end relationships; the relevance of marriage and explicitly distinct roles for a man and a woman in present day society. The novel doesn't fail however, to underscore the significance of women in holding the customs and families together.
Breadfruit allows a reader to experience Tahiti as more than sun, beaches and thatch huts. The reader gets to see Tahiti as a developing society en route to modernity as a creolised/ hybrid society. While the novel is written in English, the French and Polynesian identity of the island is unmistakable and is evident in the fusion of French and native Tahitian lexicon in ordinary speech. By the end of the novel the words fiu, ioarana, merde, titis and moa are unforgettable. The hybridity continues in religion where the characters admit to praying to the Virgin Mary, Mother of Understanding while holding fast to the native belief system of their ancestors that empowers them to make a man's moa soft, gives the protection of a totem, etc. The structure of the novel is organised to reflect the Tahitian culture of storytelling and the significance of its role in preserving access to the past as this hybrid society journeys to the future.
All in all, Breadfruit made a delectable read, takes you to a charming place with humourous and intuitive characters, but it is still very much like home.
During my student years, I was urged by a friend to have a read of The Lonely Londoners. Now some seven years later, I finally forced myself to read the first page. That was enough to keep me turning. It's a funny novel which represents the experience of West Indian migrants in the old city of London. It's a wonderful read, and if you ever really wanted to understand or really try out the West Indian accent, it should help with that too.
