WITHIN THE RESTLESS WAKE OF TRAUMA: ORIGINS AND PURPOSES OF HAUNTINGS IN CARIBBEAN LITERATURE

Abstract

In this thesis, I have delved more deeply into a research paper I wrote for Dr. Seodial Frank H. Deena’s graduate course in Caribbean Literature. I have extended my research by providing deeper historical background of the West Indies and the people who were subjugated and brutalized for the purposes of colonialism. The added historical research is necessary in making the connection between the origins of the cultural beliefs of the people of the West Indies (mysticism/spiritualism), the loss of identity they were forced to endure, the devastating trauma they experienced as their bodies were sacrificed to colonialism, and the consequential element of hauntings frequently found in the works of Caribbean writers. The Caribbean’s history itself could be regarded as a restless spirit. Through history books that for years favored a flattering narrative of colonialism, its eulogy was erroneously delivered; its grave incorrectly marked. The overarching purpose of my research is to provide compelling evidence, through analysis of the works of Edgar Mittelholzer, Wilson Harris, and Jean Rhys, that the presence of hauntings in Caribbean literature is to expose the deep scars that have resulted from the insidious means of colonialism—hauntings which demand that the false narrative of American history be reviewed and set straight.