Morris, Bhaiya

 Morris, Bhaiya by Clyde Hosein

"Morris was an island in a sea of Indians"(277), the story opens with this line and instantly gives the reader insight into the theme that Morris as an African man feels like a minority. Morris is one of two Africans in his predominantly Indian community along with Miss. Jenny, and has adopted many Indian tendencies as a result. Morris knows their language, will dress in their clothes, works with them, and worships with them, yet he is still not one of them. "All them creole people in Kora renting house and room from Indian"(280), this shows not only are there more Indians but there is inequality that exists between Indians and Africans on the island. With Africans being the minority group their cultural differences lead to them being discriminated against and this is the unfortunate truth in the post-colonial Caribbean. I thought that people could live together harmoniously in the post-colonial world regardless of ethnicity since all the nationalities that reside there were once subjugated by white people. Clearly common subjugation and former slavery isn't enough to prevent a culture from discriminated from another one. Indian independence from British rule is even referenced, yet the Indians on the island can't seem to realize that they are almost as bad as the British in their treatment of the Africans on the island. "Morris flinched in horror when he heard the mouth that had praised the ways of harmony and mental advancement instructing the gathering to vote for the Indian party" (281), the element of politics adds additional division to Africans and Indians on the island as the competition between the next leader on the island is between an Indian and African individual. As is relatable in the current political environment in the United States, politics can drive a massive rift between nationalities and racial groups. Even in his church, Borris is forced to hear political propaganda in favor of the Indian party even in his church, which ran contrary to his own personal views. This truly showed the extent of the division on the island in that even the politics discriminated against people of African descent. I think this was mainly because the Indian party had no interest in making peace with other groups on the island and wished for everyone to homogenize into their culture. I empathized for Morris because outside of his physical appearance he was just like all the people around him, he adopted their language and culture and did everything he could to fit in but at the end of the day was still alienated. I think this story stood out as a prime example of the damage done to equality by post-colonialism. 

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