A High Wind in Jamaica
Apr. 3rd, 2010 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anteros_lmcHughes, R., (1929), A High Wind in Jamaica, Penguin Books.
After two week's of determined reading I have finally finished A High Wind in Jamaica. I can't remember the last time it took me so long to read such a short book. Seriously, this is one of the grimmest books I've read in a long time.
Quick plot summary (spoilers galore but I wouldn't recommend reading this anyway, so whatever)... The children of two English families living in Jamaica in the mid 19th century are shipped back to England following a devastating hurricane that hits the island. Their ship, the Clorinda is intercepted by "pirates". The "pirates" carry no guns, their favoured method of capturing prizes being to disguise themselves as a passenger ship and launch boat loads of transvestites. The children are taken on board the pirate ship while the cargo is transferred. The captain of the Clorinda promptly takes off leaving the children behind and tells the authorities in Havana that they have been murdered by vicious pirates. The pirates stop at Saint Lucia where one of the children is killed in an improbable accident. The boy's siblings are utterly unconcerned and promptly forget him. The children take to life aboard the schooner and the oldest girl, Margaret, takes up with the mate Otto. Meanwhile the pirate Captain Jonsen, and ten year old Emily circle round each other in a deeply unsettling relationship. The pirates eventually capture a brig carrying a cargo of circus animals. The brig's captain is tied up and left in Jonsen's cabin with Emily, while the pirates take the rest of the children to the brig to watch a "circus" fight between a lion and a tiger that are too seasick to leave their cages. Back on the schooner Emily kills the bound captain with a knife. The pirates return, assume Margaret is responsible for the killing and throw her overboard where where she is picked up and returned to the schooner by the ship's boat. Jonsen realises there is now a noose round his neck and that they must get rid of the children. Disguised as a cargo ship the schooner intercepts a steamer and transfers the children. The adults on the steamship assume the children have been subjected to unspeakable tortures by the pirates and the children play along as they realise that is what the adults want to hear. The pirates are duly apprehended and taken to England for trial. As it is post 1837, piracy is no longer a capital offence so the prosecution must prove murder. Emily is taught a confession and implicates Jonson in the murder she committed. The crew are condemnded to death. Jonsen cuts his throat the night before the execution...
The end, more or less.
There are many things about this book that I hated but at the same time I have to admit to a grudging admiration for certain aspects. The children are horrifically disturbing but there is something frighteningly believable about the way Hughes describes the world through their eyes. The only really sympathetic characters are the pirates and the relationship between Captain Jonsen and the mate Otto is genuinely touching. Although the fact that Otto is described as follows may have influenced me:
The trial scene is very disturbing, specifically the way the adults teach Emily to recite her evidence and her almost willful blindness to the reality of the situation and the fatal consequences for Jonsen and Otto. Equally disturbing is that fact the the book is eye-wateringly racist, with the author making frequently use of the n-word in the Jamaican scenes. Ok the novel is of it's time, and the language if probably authentic for the period but that doesn't make it any less offensive to read. The whole book has the lurid hallucinogenic quality of a bad trip but some of the writing is really quite startlingly beautifully. The cover notes describe the author as being "a not very widely known poet" and this shows in some of the writing. I particularly liked this description of the Clorinda departing
All in all though a very unsettling book and not one I would recommend unless you have a particular interest in portrayals of the Caribbean in the mid-19th century or in the evolution of the representation of children in literature in the early-20th century. Oh and if you are liable to be traumatised by young fair seamen dying tragically and unnecessarily following a sham trial, avoid this like the plague. It made me cry.
There is also a 1965 film of this novel, of which more later.
After two week's of determined reading I have finally finished A High Wind in Jamaica. I can't remember the last time it took me so long to read such a short book. Seriously, this is one of the grimmest books I've read in a long time.
Quick plot summary (spoilers galore but I wouldn't recommend reading this anyway, so whatever)... The children of two English families living in Jamaica in the mid 19th century are shipped back to England following a devastating hurricane that hits the island. Their ship, the Clorinda is intercepted by "pirates". The "pirates" carry no guns, their favoured method of capturing prizes being to disguise themselves as a passenger ship and launch boat loads of transvestites. The children are taken on board the pirate ship while the cargo is transferred. The captain of the Clorinda promptly takes off leaving the children behind and tells the authorities in Havana that they have been murdered by vicious pirates. The pirates stop at Saint Lucia where one of the children is killed in an improbable accident. The boy's siblings are utterly unconcerned and promptly forget him. The children take to life aboard the schooner and the oldest girl, Margaret, takes up with the mate Otto. Meanwhile the pirate Captain Jonsen, and ten year old Emily circle round each other in a deeply unsettling relationship. The pirates eventually capture a brig carrying a cargo of circus animals. The brig's captain is tied up and left in Jonsen's cabin with Emily, while the pirates take the rest of the children to the brig to watch a "circus" fight between a lion and a tiger that are too seasick to leave their cages. Back on the schooner Emily kills the bound captain with a knife. The pirates return, assume Margaret is responsible for the killing and throw her overboard where where she is picked up and returned to the schooner by the ship's boat. Jonsen realises there is now a noose round his neck and that they must get rid of the children. Disguised as a cargo ship the schooner intercepts a steamer and transfers the children. The adults on the steamship assume the children have been subjected to unspeakable tortures by the pirates and the children play along as they realise that is what the adults want to hear. The pirates are duly apprehended and taken to England for trial. As it is post 1837, piracy is no longer a capital offence so the prosecution must prove murder. Emily is taught a confession and implicates Jonson in the murder she committed. The crew are condemnded to death. Jonsen cuts his throat the night before the execution...
"...but they found him in time to bandage him up. He was unconscious by the morning and had to be carried to the gallows in a chair: indeed he as finally hanged in it. Otto bent over once and kissed his forhead; but he was completely insensible."
The end, more or less.
There are many things about this book that I hated but at the same time I have to admit to a grudging admiration for certain aspects. The children are horrifically disturbing but there is something frighteningly believable about the way Hughes describes the world through their eyes. The only really sympathetic characters are the pirates and the relationship between Captain Jonsen and the mate Otto is genuinely touching. Although the fact that Otto is described as follows may have influenced me:
The mate was a small man: very fair, and intelligent-looking beside his chief. He was almost dapper, in a quiet way in his dress.
The trial scene is very disturbing, specifically the way the adults teach Emily to recite her evidence and her almost willful blindness to the reality of the situation and the fatal consequences for Jonsen and Otto. Equally disturbing is that fact the the book is eye-wateringly racist, with the author making frequently use of the n-word in the Jamaican scenes. Ok the novel is of it's time, and the language if probably authentic for the period but that doesn't make it any less offensive to read. The whole book has the lurid hallucinogenic quality of a bad trip but some of the writing is really quite startlingly beautifully. The cover notes describe the author as being "a not very widely known poet" and this shows in some of the writing. I particularly liked this description of the Clorinda departing
....that dwindling speck which bore away on the land breeze, hung a while stationary in the intervening calm, then won the Trade and climbed up into the blue.
All in all though a very unsettling book and not one I would recommend unless you have a particular interest in portrayals of the Caribbean in the mid-19th century or in the evolution of the representation of children in literature in the early-20th century. Oh and if you are liable to be traumatised by young fair seamen dying tragically and unnecessarily following a sham trial, avoid this like the plague. It made me cry.
There is also a 1965 film of this novel, of which more later.
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-04 10:01 am (UTC)And it starts so promisingly...
I'd still be fascinated to hear more of Hughes back story, was he a WW1 survivor? Did he have a particularly unpleasant time at school?
ETA: Fun facts from wiki, he caused a scandal when he wrote about homosexual love between public school boys and was pals with Robert Graves and Dylan Thomas. On seeing he was friends with Graves I thought, "Ah, that explains it then".
no subject
Date: 2010-04-04 10:19 am (UTC)Interesting to see that he had a desk job with the Admiralty during WWII.
I'll write a wee thing about the film later, although I haven't since I've seen I was a kid.