By Valerie Browne Lester, 2019
An exotic locale, a superficial sham of English culture, ruthless egotism and acquisitive colonial commerce are the backdrop to this story of one woman’s survival and the launch of her son into another form of English culture.
I first heard of this novel as an imagined pre-history of
Heathcliff, the romantic hero of Wuthering Heights. It does not touch at
all on the events of Wuthering Heights, as it ends with the arrival of an
uncouth youngster in Liverpool harbour, and the barest hint that he is the
orphan Heathcliff, adopted into the Earnshaw home in Yorkshire. But The West
Indian does recreate the impassioned emotions and extravagant behaviours
that Emily Bronte conceived.
Wikipedia says Wuthering Heights “was controversial
because of its unusually stark depiction of mental and physical cruelty, and it
challenged strict Victorian ideals regarding religious hypocrisy, morality,
social classes and gender inequality. The novel also explores the effects of
envy, nostalgia, pessimism and resentment.” All of these are themes in The
West Indian. Here, however, instead of heroic romantic passion, Valerie
Browne Lester presents a kind of inverse – the male protagonist makes his
fortune in colonial trade (and keeps slaves on his plantation and in his home),
is obsessively possessive and self-centred but without a reciprocating love. Like
Heathcliff, he ignores or abuses his actual wife, Martha, but also demands that
she allow his lovers to dominate her home. Initially, this arrangement works
because his lover is a charming and generous domestic slave and Martha makes a
deep friendship with her. A later lover, Antonietta, is lazy and self-centred,
and antagonizes Martha. Meanwhile, Martha has formed her own relationship with
the local pastor, in an enlightened and idealized model. There is even a passionate
story of a horse-back struggle through a storm to find help and save the life of
a loved one.
Browne Lester also makes a lot of the contrast between the cultured
Martha, from a destitute middle class family in England, and the pretense of high
culture among the English Jamaican colonials, again echoing the contrast
between the Earnshaw and Linton households in Wuthering Heights, though
drawn with greater extremes. While the violence and uncouth behaviour in Wuthering
Heights seems confined to Heathcliff’s household, it is at the centre of the
Jamaican colonial culture, reflected even in the behaviour of the women and men
at the top of its European society.
The landscape similarly contrasts in the two novels, with the
Yorkshire moors being bleak and threatening, while Jamaica features the exotic
beauty of colourful flowers, lush vegetation and gorgeous birds. The Yorkshire
setting represents the bleak world of Heathcliff versus the cultured charm of Thrushcroft,
while the beauty of Jamaica contrasts with the venality of its white residents.
Browne Lester shows some incidents from the perspective of young
Peter, a wild child raised with few boundaries who wonders at the foolishness
of civilized society. Through his eyes, we can see what life might be in a
tropical paradise outside of colonialism. Again, this both parallels and contrasts
with young Heathcliff, who finds himself banished from the established culture
and is fiercely resentful as a result.
One frequent theme in The West Indian that is not
represented in Wuthering Heights is literature. Martha and her friends
enjoy literature and find comfort and inspiration in making up songs, sharing
books, translating the classics, even reading Tristram Shandy. Perhaps for
Browne Lester, this is a beacon of hope that an elevated culture will
eventually transcend the violence of colonialism and slavery. Her Jamaican character
does live on through his appearance in Wuthering Heights.
No doubt because the author is a scholar of 19th
century lives, this novel has the details of life, language and character that
are illuminating and interesting. It’s an enjoyable, provocative read.
