Adapting vs. Rebellion - Caribbean Flair Meets Industrialized Society

Résumé ou Introduction

It was in the aftermath of the Second World War when a bulk of Caribbean immigrants came to the UK. In 1948, a ship called “Empire Windrush” brought the first men to cover the need of industry workers. Later, their families followed. The immigrants’ hopes, however, were mostly destroyed by discrimination and prejudices. That leads me to the question whether there is a way out of an aggressive clash of cultures due to immigration. Actually, both adapting and integration may be good solutions. But how much of one’s identity does one have to give up by adapting oneself to a completely different culture? At the same time, is it possible to adapt oneself and remain one’s old self? The story “Let them Call it Jazz” by Jean Rhys raises these questions. In brief, it is a story about a young Caribbean immigrant called Selina whose different cultural background makes it difficult for her to cope with the problems of her new environment. She is not able to find a job, looses her apartment, feels often misunderstood and finally ends up in jail.
By trying to understand the inner development of Selina the reader will get a notion of how difficult it is to find its own identity in a foreign country. This paper presents her psychological changes embedded in the context of her environment. First of all, the character of the protagonist of the story will be analyzed. In the third paragraph, an outline of her psychological development throughout the course of the story will be given. In this chapter, also the meaning of the title and the point of the story will be explained. Finally, the quest of a middle course between adapting and rebellion will be explored in a more general context. In a final conclusion, I will try to give a satisfactory answer to several crucial questions of this paper. Is Selina’s way of coping with integration problems a right way? What can the reader learn from the end of the story? Is it a good end or a bad one, especially for Selina herself?