Triumph C.L.R. James

 Triumph C.L.R. James 

    Triumph depicts the struggles of low-income women on the island of Trinidad. This story depicts the effects of poverty in the post-colonial world, and while slavery no longer exists at this point hard labor is still very present. This story does a good job of showing how difficult life in poverty is at this point in Caribbean history. The women the story centers around are subject to beating and mistreatment by the men in their lives in a way almost reminiscent of slavery. This story causes you to greatly empathize with the citizens of the island and their struggles. This story also emphasizes the struggles that women faced during this period in being unvalued by a patriarchal society that couldn't seem to find a place for women. "He had beaten her once more, very badly indeed and left her. Even this was not an irremediable catastrophe"(Page 37), this line speaks to how used to beatings the women had become to a point where they just accepted it in their daily lives.

    "She lived with a cab-man, whose income was good enough but irregular"(page 39), this line enforces the dependence that women have on men in Port-of-Spain. Irene lived with a man having an affair because it was her only shot at a decent quality of life, to make it as a women in Port of Spain meant to find a man doing well for himself. "She went out asking for washing or work as a cook"(page 37), this line shows the difficulties women faced in finding work on their own and when they could find work they were competing for low-level menial jobs. What I found most startling about Triumph is how the characters essentially accept their terrible lives. There almost is an all-around lack of aspiration in the people of Port-of-Spain and I don't know if that is true to the time or just how it is shown but I was taken aback by this notion. I struggle to understand how any women could be content in a society where being badly beaten by men isn't a big deal and where you have value only based on your looks and can't make a living wage on your own. The acceptance and lack of drive for more is the worst part for me, I suppose these women needed to be shown a life outside of what they had to realize the subjugation that they were under. The irony is that despite their quarrel, Irene, Mamitz, and Celestine are all on the same losing side but yet can't help but fight with each other. It's unfortunate that they couldn't see that they were all losing and work together to push for a collective good rather than fight over the broken pieces of a society built on misogyny.

Comments

  1. Sara PelletierSeptember 11, 2020 at 12:44 PM

    I agree that the story does well pointing out the poverty and unjust situations of the people on the islands at that time. It's interesting how the author points to the fault of the colonialism times as a reason for it, as it is only really mentioned in the first paragraph. The author set the reader up to see the world as the characters did- the colonialism was simply a passing thing that encompassed their lives, but it was on the outer sphere of influence.

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