Griff! I. Background
Austin Clarke:
– Biography:
• Barbadian- Canadian identity:
• Born in Bardados in 1934  Left
for Toronto in 1955 (University)
Barbados in 1975
Austin Clarke:
– Career:
• Broadcaster
• Civil right leader
• Professor.
Austin Clarke: Writing Style
– Theme:
• Overall pattern:
–Peasant poverty in Barbados
–Immigrant experience in Canada
–Canadian and Caribbean
nationhood
• Immigrants:
–Exterior and interior life
Austin Clarke: Narration:
• Third person narration
• Italic  Griff’s mind
• Repetition
• Irony
Black Experience in Canada:
– Exterior Life:
• Racial discrimination:
– Example of Racism
• Unemployment
– Interior Life:
• Alienation, exile
• Hollowness
Griff! II. Caribbean Community
& Griff
• A. Griff’s distance from
community
• 1. Feeling superior to the other
blacks
• His British experience and breeding
• Master of Arts
• Control over his wife
• Pretending being affluent (“Money is
naught all.”)
Griff! II. Caribbean Community
& Griff
• B. People’s viewpoints of Griff
• Princess- fooling
around/proud/hypocrite
• The stranger- weak/impotent
• Masher (the barman)Discrimination-- Canadian—Griff--Black
Griff! II. Caribbean Community
& Griff
• C. Friday Club
• For Caribbean immigrants-- escape
from reality
• (“Friday night is forgetting night.
West Indian night.”)
• For Griff—not warm, a place remind
of his loss, weakness and failure
Griff! II: Self-Contradiction
• Griff’s language shows his selfcontradiction. His speeches and his action
are always contradicting each other.
• -- He seems not to care about anything,
though, in fact, he does care.
Griff! II: Self-Contradiction, examples
“I don’t come on strong”
– (p.233-234) After he knowsthat someone
has said something about his behavior.
– (p.236--237) When he sees another man
hugs wife.
“Money don’t mean anything to
me…money is naught all”
– -- He always tells people that money is not
important to him. However, his favorite
hobby is gambling.
– (p.229-230) He says this after losing on the
Griff! III. Gender Relationship
I. What is Griff's view toward his wife?
• A. keep his wife in control
• 1. drapes his wife in an aura of sanctity
• 2. Griff's wife must dress well, and look
sharp, even in the house
•
Griff! III. Gender Relationship
• B. Griff's vulnerability and doubts
toward his wife
• 1. Griff stares at his friend, Stooly, invade
his wife
• 2. The big Jamaican man asks his wife for a
dance
– a. The man says, "I thought the missis
was by-herself, tonight, again."
– b. Masher's words stir up the flame
Griff! III. Gender Relationship
II. What kind of woman is Griff's wife?
A. She is pretty and attractive
B. She carried burdens of fear and failure for
his husbands' ambitionless attitude.
– 1. Covering her embarrassment for her
husband--- She never criticized Griff in
public
– 2. The way she responses to Griff
• a. She always carries a SMILE on her face
• b. She often says "Griffy, dear!" and "Haiii!
How?"
Griff! III. Gender Relationship
III. The interactions between Griff and
his wife
A. Griff was so centered around his own
problems that he did not, for one moment,
consider any emotion coming from his wife
B. Griff does not understand his wife,
especially her smile
– 1. Griff was not able to keep things in
control
– 2. Griff wanted to kill her smile more
than he wanted to kill his wife
Griff! IV. Symbols
• horse racing
– an environment for Griff to seek
a sense of security
– the feeling of being in control
– Griff’s unwillingness
laborious work
to
do
Griff! IV. Symbols
• A. dress
– . limited understanding of British
culture
– . best-dressed man ←→adjust his
jacket constantly
( ) how much Griff cared about the
way he dressed
( ) discrepancy between reality and
appearance.
Griff! IV. Symbols
• B. smile
– . part of the Britishness
– . the smile was shared by others
– . the smile as a mask to cover up the
wife’s burdens
Griff! IV. Symbols
• C. scar
– . implies something shameful
– . lack of communication
– . the symbolic meaning of covering
the scar with a scarf
– . the symbolic meaning of the falling
scarf
• D. the beach, fishermen, fish