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Random MUSE
Gillian Slovo's Black Orchids
Gillian Slovo is someone who I enjoyed after reading a number of
normal books. I wanted to buy it right away without even removing its
wrapper when I read what was in the back cover:
 "'After the heat and grit of the main road it was dark and cool under
the dense canopy of trees. Dappled light kept breaking through, washing
everything, including the arms that she had wrapped around him, with
green. She wished that whatever it was the he wanted to show her would
be very far away.'
When the genteelly impoverished and rebellious Evelyn marries the
charming Emil, scion of a rich and privileged Sinhalese family, she
thinks that her dream of a life in England can now at last come true. So
the couple and their young son Milton make the long journey from Ceylon
to Tilbury Docks. But this is England in the 1950s and, no matter how
hard Evelyn wishes, England will not take kindly to strangers,
especially families who are half black and half white.
A profound and moving novel about outsiders, race and Britain, Black
Orchids is a story - humorous and poignant - about the search to feel at
home in your own skin."
Style
I was curious when I saw the reference to outsiders. What is it to be
an outsider? Is it talking about Eurasians or niggers as condemned in
the Western countries such as England? It was still with me even when
read the descriptions about Evelyn who is an English-looking blonde who
knew she has the attraction from the local guys. It was somehow cleared
off, when the plot progressed with Evelyn falling in love with Emil;
Evelyn belonging to poor English family while Emil coming down from a
well-to-do Sinhalese family.
Slovo's language has a smooth flow, though her style sometimes makes
the reader confused. An average reader might take some of her sentence
constructions as grammar errors.
She schemes the plot in a way that earns the reader's trust. Both
families are against this interracial union leaving a question for the
reader. It's not just that racism, but the fear that their grandchildren
will be mistreated too for being half-caste. This is what Evelyn's
mother expresses, when she comes to know about her daughter's affair
with Emil. However both families let them go their ways, and the
couple's union takes place without much hassle, a rare feature in most
of the creative fiction.
So this is a simple story about outsiders, in which issues like
immigration and post colonialism are subtly taken up.
Roots
Gillian Slovo is a South African born writer who has been living in
London since 1964. But her novel makes a bad picture of Britishers; may
be the irony how so-called democratic people act differently at times.
All events in 'Black Orchids' more or less criticise the thinking system
in Britain. Slovo is an author of eleven novels, including Ice Road
which was shortlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize for fiction. Her other
works include Morbid Symptom, Death by Analysis, Death comes Staccato,
Ties of Blood, Façade, Catnap, Close call, Every Secret Thing, The
Betrayal, Red Dust and Ice Road.
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Gillian
Slovo |
The novel ends with Milton coming back to his roots in what is now
called a Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. But can he survive in the
country or can he claim this to be his mother country? He has many
issues to face, more than eating a hopper or anything.
He has to get used to the country, but still he wouldn't be the first
class citizen in the country his both parents were born into. This is
the story most of the outsiders all along the world share.
Evelyn goes for brown-skinned Emil, but ironically she wishes her
child not to be dark-skinned, though fate decides otherwise. She was
radical in marrying a man out of her caste. But the practical
environment makes her sort of regret, though it is brought up
indirectly. Her mother's warning still seems to haunt in her mindset.
Racism
I see Black Orchids as a poetic work on poisonous racism. We have
been thinking that it is now being wiped away from the Britain. But we
can no longer entertain that happy thought, since European Elections
recently brought more seats to British National Party who emphasises
racism.
Perhaps someone can work on a similar type of novel in future as
well. We may not be short of racist mistreatment cases.
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