Product Description

Trinidad is in the turbulent throes of the Second World War. For Tiger, young and inexperienced, these are years in which to prove his manhood and independence. With his child-bride Urmilla, shy, bewildered and anxious, with two hundred dollars in cash and a milking cow, he sets out into the wilderness of adulthood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119972 in Books
• Published on: 1979-05-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review

This book is absolutely brilliant. It captures the true multi ethnic fabric of Trinidadian society through the trials of an Indian boy struggling to make it in early 20th century Trinidad. This book brings to light many ethnic and cultural issues that are a now inherent part of Trinidadian life, and is not only a brilliant piece of literature that should be cherished, but a piece of Caribbean history.

About the Author

Samuel Selvon (the unusual Indian surname appears to be Tamil) was born on 20 May 1923, into a middle-class Presbyterian family in San Fernando, the southern city of Trinidad. His half-Scottish, half-Indian mother looked after the home, while his Madrasee father tended his dry-goods store in San Fernando. His mother, who spoke Hindi and English fluently, encouraged her children to be similarly bilingual, but Sam confesses that he eventually managed only a few swear words and common phrases. Young Sam attended two Canadian Mission primary schools. One in San Fernando, and the other nearby. He remembers fondly that at the latter, Grant C M School, he received warm encouragement in English Composition from a particular teacher. Sam moved on to Naparima College in San Fernando, another Canadian Mission institute, and during an undistinguished academic career, developed an abiding love for his two favourite subjects, English Language and English Literature. It was at Naparima College that he became a voracious reader.

In 1944, Selvon won a short story contest with a piece submitted to The Naval Bulletin, a publication of RNVR. He wrote both prose and poetry, often discarding what he wrote. One poem, however, was kept, and was later broadcast on the BBC radio programme 'Caribbean Voices' while Selvon was still in Trinidad. From RNVR, at the end of World War II, Selvon became a wireless operator with the Port of Spain Gazette, and shortly after, moved to the rival Trinidad Guardian. He spent three years with the newspaper, and left as sub-editor of special features.

Feeling that Trinidad was stifling his growing interest in creative writing, Selvon left for England in March, 1950, aboard the same ship as George Lamming, whom he had met before but did not know well. In London, Selvon, unable to secure a position in journalism, freelanced, publishing articles on various subjects. He later became a clerk in the Indian Government Civil Service Department in London. Needing a change, after twenty-eight years, Selvon left England in 1978 for Canada, where he resides. At present, he is writer-in-residence at the University of Calgary, teaching and working on a new novel, which seeks to explore the rich intricacies of the  Trinidadian psyche.                                                 

Customer Reviews

1930's Trinidad
Samuel Selvon, one of the three first writers of the Caribbean along with G. Lamming and V.S. Naipaul, caputures the attitudes in late 1930's Trinidad. While the rest of the world are dealing with Nazi Germany, the main issue at hand in Trinidad, for young East Indian, Tiger was coming to grips with what it is to be a man. In the first few chapters, Tiger in thrown into married life and providing for a family. It is the suddenness of these events and the naivety of a sixteen-year old Tiger that cause him to become dissatisfied with his lot in life. This dissatisfaction causes him to lose the one thing he wants the most. While tackling the progress of the main character Tiger, Selvon manages to intertwine issues of racial roles, gender roles and the effects of neocolonisation by the USA's military base in Trinidad. This book lends itself to the reader to discover the true life of the Caribbean; not just the one in travel brochures. It is also a great coming of age story which I myself read at age 15/16 as part of my secondary education. It is a book that will transcend generations. It is a classical Caribbean novel.

Problems of those of East Indian Decent in 1970 Trinidad
A the inception of the book selvon opens by describing the East Indian cultures in society. The continuing struggle a West Indian - East Indian has to face. The clash of cultures. An arranged marriage, no place to run. Tiger has to take care of his "new" family and in ther process struggle to at last "become a man". This causes him to drink and beat his wife. When the road development is coming to Deigo Matin Tiger now has to ensure thathecold be able to provide for the "family".

From the back cover of this book....
The master-storyteller turns his pen to rural village life in Trinidad: gossip and rivalry between the village washerwoman; toiling cane-cutters reaping their meagre harvest; superstitious, old Ma Procop protecting the fruit of her mango tree with magic. With equal wit and sensitivity, he reflects the depression of `hard times' in London, where people live in cold, damp basements, hustling for survival.