Identity and Language from the perspective of Postcolonialism in Louis Bennett’s poems “Colonization in Reverse” and “Bans a Killin”

Louis Bennett, being a writer who has lived in a colonized Jamaica and got fame during the time of independence of Jamaica, is one of the most famous writers of Jamaica. She has always celebrated Jamaican identity in her poems. She has written in a way to encourage her people to stick to their own identity, and not to get influenced by the colonizer's culture. When it comes to the language/dialect of her people, she was a great proponent of Jamaican dialect and wanted Jamaicans to value their language. As the situation of Jamaican dialect at that time was critical because even though they had got independence from the British rule but they still considered their language superior to the Jamaican dialect. So, to let the Jamaicans out of these odd notions of considering their identity and language inferior, Bennett has produced a lot of works that includes: Colonization in Reverse and Bans a Killin.

Also Read: Degree in English Literature

1. Colonization in Reverse: 

 Looking at her poem, Colonization in Reverse, we can see that Louis is so much in love with her Jamaican identity that she wants to celebrate it in a kind of fantasy and also want to encourage her countrymen by making them feel the pleasure of this fantasy. In this dream-like poem, she wants to show to her people that they are also people worth of great position and identity in the world. They want them to muster up the courage to make their name rank higher in the world. She wants them to realize that they can live this dream by turning it into a reality. 

 Right from the first stanza, we can feel the gladness of the narrator as they start with, “What a joyful news…..Jamaicans are colonizing England”. This shows that the narrator always wanted this to happen; she is so much in love with her Jamaican nation. She mentions that how the Jamaicans are pouring in into the Colonized England to get good jobs are a step higher in their lives and step higher in the sight of the world. She wants to “turning history upside down”; and get the Jamaican identity rise and shine like that of the British. Feeling happy in the happiness of the Jamaicans she says “they're opening their very own 'cheap-fare-to-England' agencies”, as the Jamaicans are prospering all over England.

Also Read: Internal Colonialism in poem Civilians and Soldiers

 Further, she adds that now the Jamaicans are the ones who are settling down over there in England in the same way as the British used to settle in the colonies, and the Jamaicans like the British are getting a good income for doing nothing useful but “sits on Aunt Fan’s couch/ and reads her romance book”. She wants to refer to the way the colonizers enjoys their rule and get money without doing anything valuable. She wants her nation to make themselves capable of getting out of the influence of their colonizers, instead, they should celebrate their own identity and after that, they can even rule the British in the same way as they did. She ends the poem with the hope that one day the Jamaicans will make their own identity shine brighter than any other nations’ identity after that if they rule their colonizers in the way they did then “how they will manage colonizing in reverse”. 

 Further, if we look at the aspect of language mentioned above regarding Louis Bennett’s works here we can see that in the poem she has used her Jamaican dialect along with the language of the Empire. This shows that she likes her dialect and wants to give it equal worth as the people at that time used to value the English language

2. Bans a Killin: 

 Focusing on this poem of Bennett we can see that this poem reflects her love for her Jamaican dialect, which in turn indicates her love for her own Jamaican identity.

 She has written the poem by the perspective of an anonymous Jamaican speaker who is angry against a British man, “Mr Charlie,” who claims that he will kill dialects. This Jamaican speaker can’t stand this aggression of that British; suggesting the poetess’ discomfort against someone who speaks anything odd against the Jamaican dialect or the Jamaican nation. The Jamaican speaker wants to confirm it whether Mr Charlie will “all English dialects/Or just the Jamaican one?” The speaker wants to know this because if that British man will kill all the dialects then he should also have to take the English language under consideration as it also contains several dialects. The speaker is outrageously asking this because he is furious at the claim of the killing of the Jamaican dialect.

 The Jamaican speaker highlights the fact to that British speaker that “don’t you see that/ It (English) springs from dialects!” so if Mr Charlie is going to kill dialects it will ultimately end his English language from its roots. Further, he adds that English has got more dialect than the Jamaican so it is going to suffer more than the Jamaicans. After that, the speaker starts mentioning various English dialect that Mr Charlie would have to kill along with the Jamaican dialect. Then the speaker mentions various English writings that are written in dialects rather than Standard English so that British man would also have to tear those books down. The Jamaican speaker ends up his scornful speech in the same rage by saying that either have “to find a way to kill/Originality” or will “Have to kill yourself”. By writing the poem in such a scornful tone, Louis Bennett in a way is giving a warning to all those who look down on the Jamaican dialect or who are trying to finish the Jamaican dialect. It shows her love for her dialect and her identity. 

 In addition to the theme of the poem, if we look at the language of the poem so Bennett has used English language and the Jamaican dialect both together in the poem. It also emphasizes how much she values the Jamaican dialect and how much she loves it.

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Salman Ali

Hi. I’m auther of Blog English Literature for students. I’m huge lover of books. I’m happy to share my views about different topics related to English Literature. I am inspired to help any student, who have any problem related to English Literature.

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