Book Title- Color Me English
Author- Caryl Phillips
Terms and Concepts:
When reading any text personal information about the author
can aid in understanding his/her point of view based upon their past
experiences. In Color Me English a major directing factor in Mr. Phillips’ life
is the fact he immigrated with his parents from St. Kitts to Leeds, England
when he was 4 years old. I knew St. Kitts was an island but didn’t know any
information about its’ culture or history.
I thought it was important to learn a little about St. Kitts and Leeds
in order to understand the book better because the author tells many
autobiographical stories referencing both of these locations. For example the
author discusses the transformation of the dreary city of Leeds from his
childhood perspective to then the updated multicultural city he views in
adulthood.
“There is a directness about storytelling, involving as it
does human beings as the central players, which means that we often look first
to our writers for news of who and what we are. Words cohering into language
form the bedrock of our identity, and explain our human condition”- Caryl
Phillips
“Europe needs writers
to explicate this transition, for literature is plurality in action; it
embraces and celebrates a place of no truths, it relishes ambiguity and it
deeply respects the place where everybody has the right to be understood.”
I thought these quotes were great summaries of how Phillips
views the role of the writer. Throughout the book he is trying to show through
examples that the writer plays a key role in the global society by creating
identity, working towards racial equality, and educating all members of society
on the perspective of the ‘others.’
The Author’s Conclusion:
The author, Caryl Phillips uses a variety of themes
connected by telling both biographical and autobiographical stories to convey
his perspective on the issues.
Fighting, Running, and Reading- From a mostly
autobiographical viewpoint, Phillips describes his childhood experiences in
school to show how he relied on reading to protect himself from the exclusion
he felt as an immigrant child in an all white school.
Growing Apart from Family- Phillips discusses the
differences between immigrant parents and their children in several different
stories. He emphasizes the divide created between immigrant parent and child
due in part because of the greater cultural adaptation of the child and
cultural misunderstanding of the parent. Immigrant children are more easily
able to integrate into the host society because they are exposed to various
cultural situations at an early age opposed to the parent who emigrates with a
more established set of values from their home country. Phillips stated in an
interview, “To the first generation migrant, there’s still a tentative
anxiety-fueled exchange that they have with society, that, you know, their
children, often, just don’t have that.”
Immigration in the U.S. as compared to Europe-
Phillips argues that immigration to the United States is an
easier process of assimilation for the migrant because American culture is more
accepting of immigrants than a country like Britain. Although I can agree with
Phillips that America is accepting of immigrants compared with many other
countries, the majority of people I know are anti-immigration, in large part
from lack of education on the topic. I would say the majority of Americans who
reject immigrants possess the one track mindset that immigrants are job
stealers who are using up our resources for free when in fact many migrants are
helping many local economies survive.
In Color Me English, Caryl Phillips uses a unique
storytelling style of writing in order to convince the reader of several key
points by describing to them how he has experienced and observed certain
realities about racism and cultural ‘othering’ around the world and especially in
Europe and America. Although Phillips is advocating for racial equality, he is
mainly calling upon writers to be the agent of change in creating a truly
accepting multicultural world. He describes how writers not only create
identity, but also educate society about people and cultures they are
unfamiliar with. Literature, in Phillips’ opinion, is an educational tool
which, if crafted properly, will ultimately lead to greater understanding among
different races, religions, and perspectives.
The Author’s Argument:
What assumptions underlie the author’s point of view?
1. Immigrants struggle in new cultures because they are viewed and
treated as “outsiders”
2. The role of a post-colonial writer is a leader. Their role is
diminished by the “culture of celebrity.” Going or moving abroad gives
perspective on homeland (pg 131) Writers can help create and solidify identity.
3. Literature can be used to explain immigration, migrants, and
cultural diversity.
4. The reality of racial conflicts and disparities in America are not
accurately portrayed to the rest of the world.
What evidence does she/he give?
1.1-“Successful integration does mean that immigrants adapt
to the new country, but it also means that the new country adapts to them.” (pg
15)
2.1-“There is a directness about storytelling, involving as it does
human beings as the central players, which means that we often look first to
our writers for news of who and what we are. Words cohering into language form
the bedrock of our identity, and explain our human condition.”
2.2-“In this brave new world, the writer’s voice is no more important
than that of a model or an actor.”
3.1-“…literature is plurality in action…it implores us to
act with a compassion born of familiarity towards our fellow human beings, be
they Christian, Jew, Muslim, black, brown, or white. This is truly my hope for
Europe, and I know that the writer has a crucial part to play in this.”- Caryl
Phillips
4.1- “One of the greatest
tenets of United States lore is the irrespective of race, religion, or
ethnicity, everybody has equality of opportunity.”
4.2- “Like all immigrants we arrive and metaphorically kiss
the ground, and then we stand up and look around and slowly we realize and this
process often takes many years, that the place we thought we were travelling to
is, in fact, imaginary. In 1990 I had arrived in an imaginary United States of
America.”
What is the logic of the presentation?
The author uses a unique writing style which is literary, cultural, and
autobiographical. Color Me English is a compilation of experiences and stories
from the past 20 years in Phillips’ life. The autobiographical stories are not
in chronological order and are mixed among other stories to create parallels in
the themes. The book is divided into different sections with sub chapters in
each. The main chapters are Homeland Security, American dispatches, Growing
Pains, Overtures, Outside In, and Distant Shores.
Place in Course content:
Color Me English shares common themes with other novels,
lectures, and discussions we have had in class including displacement,
othering, immigration, exclusion, connectedness, identity
The author’s argument in this book is very relevant on a
global scale today. The struggles Phillips personally experiences as an
immigrant as well as the larger social issues he addresses are at the forefront
of geopolitical society worldwide. Community adaptation to immigrants has been
an issue for centuries and continues to create conflicts today. Take, for
example, the recent dramatic rise of Latino immigrant population in the U.S.
South. The increasing presence of Latino
communities in North Carolina alone is changing the economy, culture, politics,
and job market whether native North Carolinians accept it or not. Part of the
cultural conflicts between Americans and immigrants is
The changing notions of culture we are experiencing are also
major themes of Phillips’ that is present in our everyday lives. Cultures around
the world are mixing and being redefined at a faster rate than ever before.
Just as this course is providing us with a multitude of
different perspectives to understand different cultures, Caryl Phillips also
argues that literature is a major vehicle to be used for integrating migrants
into new cultures and for natives to understand the migrant perspective. His
belief that storytelling is a method for cultural education is the exact goal
of this course; to provide insight and exposure to a certain point of view via
literary work. Several times throughout the book Phillips references how he
identifies with other writers of the same discourse and goals including Chinua
Achebe, James Baldwin, and Ha Jin.
Phillips speaks directly about America in several chapters
of Color Me English. He questions the United States from an immigrants
perspective of a false ‘American Dream,’ as well as criticizing American
citizens for being “indifferent to any narrative, and interested only in
pursuing their own non-scripted roles as studio guests in the reality show
called The United States of America.” As an American, I feel the questions
Phillips raises about the lack of empathy for immigrants in the U.S. are valid,
mainly due to a lack of education. I also agree with Phillips’ point that
writers possess the power to improve multicultural understanding by raising
awareness of the post-colonial perspective.
“There is white America, black America, brown America, and
yellow America, and they are all to some degree separate and undeniably
unequal. This is not the face of the United States that is exported to the
rest of the world.”
Racial injustice is also discussed in several chapters of
Color Me English which made me think of the nobel speech by Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. When reading I found parallels between Caryl Phillips and Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. based on the way they discuss their hope and desire for racial
equality. They both advocate for the U.S. being a country that truly embraces
“dignity, equality, jobs, and citizenship” for all. (MLK, nobel speech) While both men are hopeful that racial
injustice will be eliminated, Caryl Phillips describes the current global
situation from a jaded point of view, especially in regards to the United
States. Phillips desires the changes MLK
spoke about during the civil rights movements of the 60’s, but knows in reality
today different races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes do not have equal
opportunities in the U.S. and in many places around the world. The idea that fighting
for racial equality is an ongoing struggle is one that appears not only in Dr.
King’s nobel speech, but in many of the other texts from class including
“Colonization and Canonization.”
Interesting
Additional Information
BBC Interview- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-noEjVuXeMk
In this youtube video Caryl Phillips is being interview by
the BBC on Color Me English and his perspective on racism and writers. Since a major theme of the book is that
writers serve as educators against racism, I thought of the various videos
online, this one gave a succinct summary of Phillips’ point of
Caryl Phillips’ website- http://www.carylphillips.com/
NPR Interview- http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-09-21/caryl-phillips-color-me-english
This interview NPR is somewhat lengthy, but gives great
insight into Phillips’ motivation to write Color Me English and the messages
and actions he hopes the book will achieve.
Guardian Article- http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/17/caryl-phillips-edinburgh-once-upon-a-life
When reading any text personal information about the author
can aid in understanding his/her point of view based upon their past
experiences. In Color Me English a major directing factor in Mr. Phillips’ life
is the fact he immigrated with his parents from St. Kitts to Leeds, England
when he was 4 years old. I knew St. Kitts was an island but didn’t know any
information about its’ culture or history.
I thought it was important to learn a little about St. Kitts and Leeds
in order to understand the book better because the author tells many
autobiographical stories referencing both of these locations. For example the
author discusses the transformation of the dreary city of Leeds from his
childhood perspective to then the updated multicultural city he views in
adulthood.
“There is a directness about storytelling, involving as it
does human beings as the central players, which means that we often look first
to our writers for news of who and what we are. Words cohering into language
form the bedrock of our identity, and explain our human condition”- Caryl
Phillips
“Europe needs writers
to explicate this transition, for literature is plurality in action; it
embraces and celebrates a place of no truths, it relishes ambiguity and it
deeply respects the place where everybody has the right to be understood.”
I thought these quotes were great summaries of how Phillips
views the role of the writer. Throughout the book he is trying to show through
examples that the writer plays a key role in the global society by creating
identity, working towards racial equality, and educating all members of society
on the perspective of the ‘others.’
The Author’s Conclusion:
The author, Caryl Phillips uses a variety of themes
connected by telling both biographical and autobiographical stories to convey
his perspective on the issues.
Fighting, Running, and Reading- From a mostly
autobiographical viewpoint, Phillips describes his childhood experiences in
school to show how he relied on reading to protect himself from the exclusion
he felt as an immigrant child in an all white school.
Growing Apart from Family- Phillips discusses the
differences between immigrant parents and their children in several different
stories. He emphasizes the divide created between immigrant parent and child
due in part because of the greater cultural adaptation of the child and
cultural misunderstanding of the parent. Immigrant children are more easily
able to integrate into the host society because they are exposed to various
cultural situations at an early age opposed to the parent who emigrates with a
more established set of values from their home country. Phillips stated in an
interview, “To the first generation migrant, there’s still a tentative
anxiety-fueled exchange that they have with society, that, you know, their
children, often, just don’t have that.”
Immigration in the U.S. as compared to Europe-
Phillips argues that immigration to the United States is an
easier process of assimilation for the migrant because American culture is more
accepting of immigrants than a country like Britain. Although I can agree with
Phillips that America is accepting of immigrants compared with many other
countries, the majority of people I know are anti-immigration, in large part
from lack of education on the topic. I would say the majority of Americans who
reject immigrants possess the one track mindset that immigrants are job
stealers who are using up our resources for free when in fact many migrants are
helping many local economies survive.
In Color Me English, Caryl Phillips uses a unique
storytelling style of writing in order to convince the reader of several key
points by describing to them how he has experienced and observed certain
realities about racism and cultural ‘othering’ around the world and especially in
Europe and America. Although Phillips is advocating for racial equality, he is
mainly calling upon writers to be the agent of change in creating a truly
accepting multicultural world. He describes how writers not only create
identity, but also educate society about people and cultures they are
unfamiliar with. Literature, in Phillips’ opinion, is an educational tool
which, if crafted properly, will ultimately lead to greater understanding among
different races, religions, and perspectives.
The Author’s Argument:
What assumptions underlie the author’s point of view?
1. Immigrants struggle in new cultures because they are viewed and
treated as “outsiders”
2. The role of a post-colonial writer is a leader. Their role is
diminished by the “culture of celebrity.” Going or moving abroad gives
perspective on homeland (pg 131) Writers can help create and solidify identity.
3. Literature can be used to explain immigration, migrants, and
cultural diversity.
4. The reality of racial conflicts and disparities in America are not
accurately portrayed to the rest of the world.
What evidence does she/he give?
1.1-“Successful integration does mean that immigrants adapt
to the new country, but it also means that the new country adapts to them.” (pg
15)
2.1-“There is a directness about storytelling, involving as it does
human beings as the central players, which means that we often look first to
our writers for news of who and what we are. Words cohering into language form
the bedrock of our identity, and explain our human condition.”
2.2-“In this brave new world, the writer’s voice is no more important
than that of a model or an actor.”
3.1-“…literature is plurality in action…it implores us to
act with a compassion born of familiarity towards our fellow human beings, be
they Christian, Jew, Muslim, black, brown, or white. This is truly my hope for
Europe, and I know that the writer has a crucial part to play in this.”- Caryl
Phillips
4.1- “One of the greatest
tenets of United States lore is the irrespective of race, religion, or
ethnicity, everybody has equality of opportunity.”
4.2- “Like all immigrants we arrive and metaphorically kiss
the ground, and then we stand up and look around and slowly we realize and this
process often takes many years, that the place we thought we were travelling to
is, in fact, imaginary. In 1990 I had arrived in an imaginary United States of
America.”
What is the logic of the presentation?
The author uses a unique writing style which is literary, cultural, and
autobiographical. Color Me English is a compilation of experiences and stories
from the past 20 years in Phillips’ life. The autobiographical stories are not
in chronological order and are mixed among other stories to create parallels in
the themes. The book is divided into different sections with sub chapters in
each. The main chapters are Homeland Security, American dispatches, Growing
Pains, Overtures, Outside In, and Distant Shores.
Place in Course content:
Color Me English shares common themes with other novels,
lectures, and discussions we have had in class including displacement,
othering, immigration, exclusion, connectedness, identity
The author’s argument in this book is very relevant on a
global scale today. The struggles Phillips personally experiences as an
immigrant as well as the larger social issues he addresses are at the forefront
of geopolitical society worldwide. Community adaptation to immigrants has been
an issue for centuries and continues to create conflicts today. Take, for
example, the recent dramatic rise of Latino immigrant population in the U.S.
South. The increasing presence of Latino
communities in North Carolina alone is changing the economy, culture, politics,
and job market whether native North Carolinians accept it or not. Part of the
cultural conflicts between Americans and immigrants is
The changing notions of culture we are experiencing are also
major themes of Phillips’ that is present in our everyday lives. Cultures around
the world are mixing and being redefined at a faster rate than ever before.
Just as this course is providing us with a multitude of
different perspectives to understand different cultures, Caryl Phillips also
argues that literature is a major vehicle to be used for integrating migrants
into new cultures and for natives to understand the migrant perspective. His
belief that storytelling is a method for cultural education is the exact goal
of this course; to provide insight and exposure to a certain point of view via
literary work. Several times throughout the book Phillips references how he
identifies with other writers of the same discourse and goals including Chinua
Achebe, James Baldwin, and Ha Jin.
Phillips speaks directly about America in several chapters
of Color Me English. He questions the United States from an immigrants
perspective of a false ‘American Dream,’ as well as criticizing American
citizens for being “indifferent to any narrative, and interested only in
pursuing their own non-scripted roles as studio guests in the reality show
called The United States of America.” As an American, I feel the questions
Phillips raises about the lack of empathy for immigrants in the U.S. are valid,
mainly due to a lack of education. I also agree with Phillips’ point that
writers possess the power to improve multicultural understanding by raising
awareness of the post-colonial perspective.
“There is white America, black America, brown America, and
yellow America, and they are all to some degree separate and undeniably
unequal. This is not the face of the United States that is exported to the
rest of the world.”
Racial injustice is also discussed in several chapters of
Color Me English which made me think of the nobel speech by Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. When reading I found parallels between Caryl Phillips and Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. based on the way they discuss their hope and desire for racial
equality. They both advocate for the U.S. being a country that truly embraces
“dignity, equality, jobs, and citizenship” for all. (MLK, nobel speech) While both men are hopeful that racial
injustice will be eliminated, Caryl Phillips describes the current global
situation from a jaded point of view, especially in regards to the United
States. Phillips desires the changes MLK
spoke about during the civil rights movements of the 60’s, but knows in reality
today different races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes do not have equal
opportunities in the U.S. and in many places around the world. The idea that fighting
for racial equality is an ongoing struggle is one that appears not only in Dr.
King’s nobel speech, but in many of the other texts from class including
“Colonization and Canonization.”
Interesting
Additional Information
BBC Interview- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-noEjVuXeMk
In this youtube video Caryl Phillips is being interview by
the BBC on Color Me English and his perspective on racism and writers. Since a major theme of the book is that
writers serve as educators against racism, I thought of the various videos
online, this one gave a succinct summary of Phillips’ point of
Caryl Phillips’ website- http://www.carylphillips.com/
NPR Interview- http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-09-21/caryl-phillips-color-me-english
This interview NPR is somewhat lengthy, but gives great
insight into Phillips’ motivation to write Color Me English and the messages
and actions he hopes the book will achieve.
Guardian Article- http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/17/caryl-phillips-edinburgh-once-upon-a-life
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