The Humming-Bird Tree

I read the book many years ago, but remember nothing about it, apart from the name, testimony to the lasting effects its content had on me. I remember having studied it during the earlier stages of my literature training at Fatima College, reputable in those days for impeccable quality of educational training, trusted to produce a handsome handful of young men who would have shaped the country in some form or other, contributed something to the society, utilised the knowledge gained, formal or ‘on the field’. I’ll argue the principle in this case.

It is not shocking that our Ministry of Education has no backbone. ‘Four letter words’ being the cause of the current brouhaha over ‘The Humming-Bird Tree’ and the subsequent decision by many school principals to revoke its inclusion in their literature training. Four letter words. Are we saying that, by the same argument put forward by these close-minded parents, Crazy’s ‘Nani Wine’, Roaring Lion’s ‘Dorothy’, Tony Matterhorn’s ‘Dutty Wine’, Buju Banton’s ‘Boom Bye Bye’ or Mad Cobra’s ‘Gyal Flex’, just to name a few, should all be pulled from the radio, their content disguisedly, but conspicuously ‘inappropriate’ for our children, mind you, more youths know how to ‘dutty wine’ and ‘flex’ than they know about plot, theme, symbolism, metaphorical reference, poetic license or freedom of speech, for that matter.

Am I missing something here? Is this a triumph for the voice of the people, but a defeat for common sense, evolution and development? How is it that a nation so rich in cultural identity, an intellectual population by any standard, a country injected by facets of so many far reaching societies and their traditions, a country that openly embraces globalisation (read: americanisation), that is saturated with external images and sounds of every theme and tempo, can so brazenly, cowardly, ignorantly argue about a few ‘four letter’ words in what has been described as a marvellous representation of West Indian culture, a journey of development, a text rich in trinbagonian creole language and symbolism, as deftly described by Bunny Rambhajan in her article to the Express newspaper dated 6/9/06, entitled ‘A Literature Lesson for Adults’.

So, what of cuss-words in literature? Isn’t literature an expression of art, isn’t art a representation of life, derived from the profound, sometimes incomprehensible souls of those blessed few who can create with ease that which humans use to identify its own humanity? Shakespeare, Chaucer, VS Naipaul, they all invoke the spirit of their chosen gift with, authenticity. This is what makes a credible work of art, understood.

Censorship at any level is not only repressive, it is also insulting to a developing society. Naturally, when the shit, oops, hit the fan, the MoE passed the buck, stating that it was the schools’ responsibility to choose apt books for study, critique and enjoyment of its student body. The choice was made, someone barked, the MoE cowered, and now, these same parents take it a step further, in true trini mocking style, by approaching bookstores for refunds. Come on Trinidad & Tobago. If all you were seeking was a lil’pocket change for a beer or an upcoming all inclusive, then you shoulda say so! Let us not deprive our kids the benefit of literature, in exchange for what, Cinemax after dark? MTV Cribs? Big Brother?

Parents don’t want their children learning 'cuss-words' from literature, arguing that the MoE is irresponsible for not vetting the booklists, the MoE stating that this is the schools’ responsibility. Fair enough. The schools go on to choose this particular text, which mind you have been on the syllabus for many years, perhaps not year in year out, but given that I graduated in 1996 from Fatima College and having read it before that, then is it that children ‘in de ol’ days’ were more mature to read and comprehend, critique and learn from prose, than the children today whose parents feel sheltering them, at this late stage!, is some panacea for the ills of society today? Instead of depriving your children of good West Indian literature, why not uninstall the cable tv. That’s a perfect start. You want to shelter your children from the simple reality that is the evolution of language, yet the internet is at their fingertips. Do you know how to surf the internet? Perhaps when you try, you may want to sell the computer too.

It’s sad that Hazel Manning didn’t have the foresight, perhaps not the time, to put forward an informative, intelligent argument in defence of one of the oldest bastions of human cultural expression, it’s even sadder for the children who do not have a say, but perhaps, when they learn how to use expletives responsibly in ‘form 4’, they can borrow The Humming-Bird Tree from a friend and find out for themselves what all the brouhaha was about. Ian McDonald, kudos to you, please don’t be offended, for they know not what they do.