Banana Bottom (Magill’s Choice: American Ethnic Writers)
At a glance:
- Author: Claude McKay
- First Published: 1933
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The early 1900’s
- Setting: The town of Jubilee and the village of Banana Bottom, Jamaica
- Principal Characters: Tabitha (Bita) Plant, Jordan Plant, Malcolm Craig, Priscilla Craig, Squire Gensir, Herald Newton Day, Hopping Dick Delgado, Jubban
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Regional fiction
- Subjects: Caribbean, Blacks, Love or romance, Race, Sex or sexuality, Twentieth century, Missions or missionaries, Religion, Rural or country life, Villages
- Locales: Banana Bottom, Jamaica, Jubilee, Jamaica
The Novel
Banana Bottom is the story of a young Jamaican woman’s discovery of her country, her people, and herself. The novel begins with the return to Jamaica of twenty-two-year-old Tabitha “Bita” Plant, who has been abroad for seven years. After a flashback in which he explains the reasons for her absence, McKay tells the story of Bita’s life from her homecoming to her marriage, concluding with a brief epilogue that shows her as a contented wife and mother.
The tone of the book is detached, the pace leisurely. Like a loquacious village storyteller,...
[The entire page is 3115 words long]
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