To Da-Duh, In Memorandum

 To Da-Duh, In Memorandum by Paule Marshall

    This story covers the narrator meeting her grandmother Da-Duh, in her ancestral home in the Caribbean. The story quickly reveals the stark difference between New York City and the natural beauty of Barbados and the cultural offerings of the area. "Whether she might not be some child the same time she was a woman"(160), the story quickly jumps into meeting Da-Duh who is described as visibly very old. I was intrigued by the comparison that this draws between people in their old age and children both physically and mentally. I had heard of this concept that old age is similar to being a child in that someone needs to care for you. I find the parallels interesting but I don't exactly agree that old age is the same as childhood. Many old people have disabilities but are entirely capable of advanced thought and processing, and many of them need care at different levels some need almost no care at all. Infants all need care to survive or they will die, many old people do not require that extent of care but some do, I still don't think that they being called children is fair. 

    "Beating up white people now! Oh the lord, the world is changing"(165), this line offers a lot to unpack and points to the long history of colonial minority oppression. The irony in this line is that Da-Duh has known a life where white people have always beat and oppressed her people and now she sees a change where white people are being beaten up and minority groups are standing up for their rights. This doesn't fix the long history of racism and oppression but it seems like a start. "Well the empire state building is way taller than that"(166), this again shows a changing world to Da-Duh, where everything she seems to know is shifting due to modernization. This line is what breaks DA-Duh largely because she can't handle how much the world has changed. In the last century, we have been given the choice to either adapt with the rapidly changing times or get left behind. People that are stuck in their ways and can't handle change don't find the world very inviting nowadays.

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