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Brown Girl In The Ring Analysis

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Brown Girl in the Ring, written by Nalo Hopkinson, is set within a Caribbean-Canadian community in Toronto and it is a reflection on the unique national and ethnic identities of the Caribbean diaspora. The language plays an important role in the story, since it serves as a means to identify not only the various national distinctions within this Caribbean community, but also the relationship between the Caribbean community and the larger Canadian society. However, through Hopkinson’s description of “serving the spirits”, the story depicts a pan-Caribbean identity inside the Caribbean diaspora Toronto. In this concept of “serving the spirits”, the author gathers numerous African-derived religious traditions that are found throughout the Caribbean and combines them into one religious practice, creating a unique pan-Caribbean identity. …show more content…

The city center is inhabited by the poor and homeless and ruled by the story's antagonist Rudy. The protagonist is Ti-Jeanne, a young Caribbean-Canadian girl. She lives with her grandmother, Mami Gros-Jeanne, who owns a business in herbal medicine and is a faithful follower of the spirits. However, Ti-Jeanne does not believe in the effects of herbal medicine and thinks that her grandmother's African-derived spirituality should play no role in the lives of practical and sane people. Nevertheless, Ti-Jeanne finally has to face her spiritual heritage or risk her own life and the lives of her family. In the climatic scene in Brown Girl in the Ring, Ti-Jeanne manages to summon the Eshu Legbara , connecting the earthly and the spiritual world and finally being able to end the evil which is plaguing her city, starting the process of healing and

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